PERU — A broken elevator at a courthouse in northern Indiana has caused problems for months for people who can’t make it up three flights of stairs to pay taxes or get to court hearings.

The elevator at the Miami County Courthouse in Peru broke down in mid-May and officials have been waiting for a company to make a replacement part. The Kokomo Tribune reported that in at least two instances county officials said a person in a wheelchair was carried up the stairs by a family member for a court hearing.

Miami County Circuit Court Judge Tim Spahr said at least one court case has been postponed for more than two months. He said judges have also been forced to conduct hearings via cellphone or hold sessions in empty first-floor rooms.

GREENWOOD — Charges have filed against another 27 people suspected of being involved in the April 15 brawl at a suburban Indianapolis Sikh Temple.

The Johnson County prosecutor’s office says the charges are in addition to the 18 people charged in early July, bringing the total now to 45 individuals facing charges stemming from the brawl.

Authorities say the brawl was triggered by disagreements over temple leadership.

Prosecutor Brad Cooper said Tuesday investigators continue to pour through security and cellphone video footage. The video enabled investigators to identify the 27 additional individuals who allegedly took part in the fight.

Some of those newly charged have publicly condemned the violence, claiming to be victims or bystanders. Cooper says the surveillance video tells a different story.

All 27 people are being charged with disorderly conduct, a class B misdemeanor. They each will receive a summons to appear in court.

INDIANAPOLIS — United Way of Central Indiana has some social service agencies worried with its plan to refocus its funding on a comprehensive attack on poverty.

The United Way chapter evaluates its partner agencies annually and gives each a score that determines how much funding they’ll get.

But under a new model that will be phased in over two years, United Way will instead accredit organizations, which can then apply for funding based on United Way’s poverty-fighting goals.

David Siler is president of the United Way partner agency Families First. He tells the Indianapolis Business Journal that “nobody can even come close to saying” what the change will mean for nonprofits’ funding.

Ann Murtlow is United Way of Central Indiana’s president. She says its partners need to be ready to adapt.

MUNCIE — Central Indiana police say a man allegedly drove into a group of pedestrians outside a Muncie bar, injuring three people.

Muncie police say Keith Chavez Childress, 29, was involved in an angry encounter with patrons at Brothers Bar and Grill before he allegedly struck the pedestrians early Saturday with his car and fled.

None of the victims suffered life-threatening injuries.

Childress surrendered Tuesday. He was being held at the Delaware County Jail on a $73,500 bond and faces preliminary charges that include criminal recklessness with a vehicle and aggravated battery.

The Star Press reported that a police report states that cellphone video shows a car back up, turn toward a group of people and then accelerate “toward the victims and striking them before backing up and fleeing the scene.”

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — An Indiana woman whose husband and three children drowned when a duck boat sank in a Missouri lake has filed a federal lawsuit requesting an end to the manufacture and operation of the amphibious vehicles in the U.S. and elsewhere until they are redesigned for safety.

Tia Coleman, of Indianapolis, filed the lawsuit Tuesday against Ripley Entertainment and five other companies that manufacture and operate the Ride The Ducks tourist attraction.

Besides her husband and children, Coleman lost five other relatives on the boat. Seventeen people died when the boat sank July 19 at Table Rock Lake in Branson. Coleman is seeking unspecified financial damages.

Ripley said it can’t comment on litigation but continues to offer support for victims and their families.

— Associated Press