Here are the most-read Evansville Courier & Press stories of 2023
EVANSVILLE – Marijuana, motorcycles and mansions.
Judging from the most-read Courier & Press stories, that’s what Evansville readers really wanted in 2023. Articles on those topics dominated traffic on the Courier & Press app and website. They were joined by everything from tragic breaking news events to the fate of an Ohio River sandbar.
In all, C&P stories were viewed more than 8 million times between January and late December.
Here are the top 10 most-viewed stories news and sports stories written by staffers. In honor of David Letterman, we’ll go in descending order.
10. “Here's when a marijuana dispensary will open less than an hour from Evansville” (May 24)
This is one of two times a cannabis-related story will appear on this list. The story announced the then-impending opening of Terrabis, a recreational marijuana retailer that has since set up shop just over the state line in Grayville, Illinois, making it the closest provider of cannabis for the southwestern slice of prohibition-shrouded Indiana.
The store opened on June 17 and drew a line of customers that curved around the building.
9. “Corps of Engineers: Ohio River sandbars could go away if another camper pops up” (July 5)
The P*** Saloon still reverberates in Evansville.
A year after the decrepit camper mysteriously ended up on a sandbar in the middle of the Ohio River, the U.S. Corps of Engineers – the people responsible for dredging the sand from the bottom of the waterway that then congeals into a makeshift beach – announced that the sandbar could go away if they saw a repeat of 2022.
“USACE can dispose of the dredged material below the water surface such that no sand bar is created, if needed to protect the environment and to mitigate risks to public safety,” a Corps news release read. “A previous incident in 2022 involving a camper that was abandoned on the sand bar is an illustrative example of the types of violations which could lead to the loss of the recreational amenity.”
Boating season came and went without a sequel. But on Dec. 23, a Christmas tree showed up in the saloon's former home.
8. “Employee killed in 'tragic event' at Toyota Boshoku plant identified as Evansville man” (Aug. 7)
On Aug. 7, 49-year-old Evansville man and Toyota Boshoku employee Thierno Balde was killed while working on a machine at the plant.
A native of Guinea, Conakry in West Africa, Balde ran track at Vincennes University in the late 1990s and early 2000s. He served as a production worker at Boshoku.
He is survived by his wife of 22 years, Cynthia Balde, as well as two stepchildren and a biological daughter and son. He also had four grandchildren, two sisters, and “several extended family members in Guinea, Conakry, with a host of nieces and nephews,” his obituary reads.
7. “University of Evansville AD: Ford Center kicking out player families 'won't happen again’” (Feb. 3)
After the UE men’s basketball’s Feb. 1 loss to Indiana State, Ken Strawbridge – the father of UE star Kenny Strawbridge Jr. – was waiting around the Ford Center to talk to his son.
But soon after the game ended, he said Ford Center employees ordered him to leave the building. According to a subsequent statement from VenuWorks, which operates Ford Center, the building has to be cleared within 30 minutes of an event for several reasons, including the cleaning and the dismissal of first responders.
His inability to talk to his son frustrated Strawbridge, though, and he soon took to social media.
“The disrespect of @TheFordCenter is real,” he posted on Twitter, now X. “Kicking the parents and family out of the building before they can see their kid is ridiculous. Drive 3 hours, then have to wait in the cold to see your child. Game after game….sad.”
Several others joined in on the criticism. Within days, UE athletics director, Kenneth “Ziggy” Siegfried, issued an apology and VenuWorks announced that athletes’ families would be exempt from their dismissal policy.
6. “The most expensive residential property in Vanderburgh County history is for sale” (Feb. 14)
After hosting presidents and presidential hopefuls, Steve Chancellor’s sprawling estate on Heinze Road went up for sale.
The 33,000-square-foot home has five bedrooms, as well as five full- and six half-baths. It’s hosted everyone from Donald Trump to Mitt Romney to George H.W. Bush. According to the Vanderburgh County Assessor’s office, the property is valued at about $5.9 million.
The sale, since reconfigured, comes as Chancellor is embroiled in a contentious bankruptcy case with the Evansville-based mining company he once owned: White Stallion.
5. “Indiana revokes medical license of Evansville doctor accused of groping patients” (Feb. 8)
The state’s Medical Licensing Board voted to rescind the medical license of 66-year-old Evansville practitioner James Jenison during its Jan. 26 meeting.
Two female patients had filed complaints against Jenison, saying he groped them during routine appointments at Ascension St. Vincent between March and June of 2019.
According to the board, Evansville police also collected "additional reports" from women. Investigators had been looking into potential sexual battery charges against Jenison, the board wrote, but those women didn't wish to move forward with the investigation.
Jenison was never charged with a crime.
4. “Federal government wants to seize Grim Reapers Motorcycle Club headquarters in Evansville” (Sept. 20)
After indicting and sentencing more than a dozen members of an Evansville motorcycle club accused of being affiliated with a large-scale methamphetamine ring, the federal government is now trying to seize the Grim Reapers’ clubhouse at 1104 E. Diamond Ave.
Zach Myers, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, filed a civil complaint in December asking a judge to forfeit the building at 1104 E. Diamond Ave. “to the United States of America.”
The civil case, which has featured an amended complaint and the dropping of a defendant, is still winding through court. A status conference is scheduled for Jan. 4.
3. “Standout Boonville High School softball player killed in morning car wreck” (Feb. 17)
Ashton Pryor, a standout softball player for Boonville High School who played a key role in their 2021 Class 3A state championship and was poised to be a star for years to come, died in a car wreck as she drove to school on the morning of Feb. 17. She was 17 years old.
According to a news release from the Warrick County Sheriff’s office, the crash occurred around 7 a.m. on Ashby Road, near Gentry Road, in northern Warrick County.
Pryor was driving a 2008 Jeep Wrangler when she lost control. The car stuck a guardrail and rolled over, the news release states.
Pryor was pronounced dead at the scene. Her 15-year-old sister, Peyton Pryor, a passenger in the car, suffered non-life-threatening injuries and was taken to Ascension St. Vincent.
Boonville softball coach Kalyn Gore called her a “fireball who would make the game light up.”
She worked with the YMCA Child Care, a program providing childcare for youngsters during hours when there is no adult supervision at home, at Oakdale Elementary where her mother is the principal. One of her co-workers described her as the “purest form of human.”
2. “Police identify suspect in Evansville Walmart shooting as former store employee” (Jan. 19)
Just before 10 p.m. on Jan. 19, former West Side Walmart employee Ronald Ray Mosley II walked into the store with a gun.
He moved to the breakroom, where a nightly shift meeting was about to begin. According to police and eyewitnesses, he told his former co-workers to stand against a wall, leaving two others waiting in the middle of the room. And that’s when he shot a 28-year-old employee in the face.
The woman survived and has spent the year recovering. But soon after fielding a series of frantic 911 calls, Evansville police and Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s deputies entered the store and shot and killed Mosley.
The horror lasted about 15 minutes, with Mosley roaming the store and randomly firing at others. No other people were shot, even though slews of workers and about 40 customers were inside at the time.
That’s partly because employees on scene did whatever they could to keep customers safe. They applied direct pressure to the shooting victim’s wound and kept 911 dispatchers abreast of the situation inside, even as they hid for their own protection.
Others shooed would-be customers away from the door to keep them from unknowingly walking into a shooting scene.
Mosley had a history of problems at work, according to court records. And police later discovered he’d left a suicide note at home before going to the store that night.
1. "These 12 marijuana strains can help get you through Thanksgiving with the family" (Nov. 22)
The Courier & Press spoke with workers at Terrabis to recommend the best strains to imbibe when dealing with a multitude of situations around the holidays.
They recommended the best options for getting hungry before the meal, watching football, treating soreness after your own backyard football game, and even the most logical choice for Black Friday shopping.
Possessing marijuana is still illegal in Indiana, however, so those options weren’t available for many Hoosiers celebrating within state lines. Out-of-staters, however, can legally buy cannabis at Terrabis.
And if the popularity of the 10th-ranked story on this list is any indication, many people are interested in doing so.
This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Here are the most-read Evansville Courier & Press stories of 2023
