Judge OKs sale of Indiana's oldest ethanol plant

Indiana

An Indiana woman put on death row at age 16 for killing an elderly Bible school teacher is scheduled to be released today after serving a prison term that was shortened after the state Supreme Court intervened.Monday

Woman condemned for killing Bible school teacher at 15 is freed

Paula Cooper, now 43, left prison in a state vehicle with $75 and wearing donated clothes.Monday

Ind. cave that yielded fossils opens to public

CORYDON, Ind. (AP) — A southern Indiana cave that's part of one of the nation's largest cave systems has opened for the summer with the addition of a large chamber where explorers found a trove of ice age fossils.Monday

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — A federal bankruptcy judge has approved the sale of Indiana's oldest ethanol plant three months after its owner filed for bankruptcy protection.

A joint venture bought the New Energy Corp. plant at auction last week for $2.5 million and a bankruptcy judge in South Bend approved the sale Tuesday.

New Energy President Russ Abarr tells the South Bend Tribune he'd hoped the auction price would cover the company's $54 million in debt.

The sale to Detroit-area Maynards Industries and Los Angeles-based Biditup Auctions Worldwide could spell the end of the plant's nearly 30-year run on South Bend's southwest side.

The plant cost more than $180 million to build. It opened in 1984 and could produce 100 million gallons of ethanol a year, but was closed in November.