WSBT anchor Rick Schutt left viewers of the South Bend CBS affiliate wondering what was wrong with him after leaving the traces of Ash Wednesday on his forehead.

Schutt took to his facebook page to assure viewers he was OK saying, “It’s Ash Wednesday and yes I went to Mass tonight. Some viewers were wondering what was on my forward. Ash Wednesday marks the first day of Lent…”

During Ash Wednesday Mass, Catholics have ashes rubbed on their foreheads in the sign of a cross to remind them of their mortality. Some choose to wash the ashes off.  Some leave them on.

Schutt may have run into his phone’s auto-correct function by writing “forward” instead of “forehead.”

WBND chief meteorologist Jamie Martin was arrested just before 8:00 p.m. Saturday night for driving while intoxicated and leaving the scene of an accident.

Management for the South Bend, IN, ABC affiliate confirmed the news, but told TVSpy they would not comment further on personnel matters except to say meteorologist Tom Coomes will fill-in for Martin.

WSBT, the rival CBS affiliate, reported the news on air and on its website, saying St. Joseph County dispatchers confirmed the car Martin was driving flipped onto its roof less than a mile from the ABC station. Read more

WBND reporter Jessie McDonough watched her interview turn into a police investigation while her camera was rolling. (watch McDonough’s report above)

While McDonough, a reporter for the South Bend ABC affiliate, was interviewing an 18-year-old High School student about his car rear ending a school bus, South Bend police stepped in and arrested the man. “In Indiana it is illegal to have metabolites in your system while you are driving,” said Lt. Gene Eyster who approached the suspect during the interview.

Acting off a tip, police learned the man may have ditched drug paraphernalia in a nearby garbage can after the accident. “We are also going to take you down for a drug test,” said Lt. Eyster.  “Which is going to tell me exactly what is in your system and how strong.”

Ryan Klund, a reporter at WBND in South Bend, was arrested Thursday on two criminal sexual conduct charges.

According to documents filed Wednesday in St. Joseph Superior Court, Klund is charged with two counts of sexual battery, both felonies, against a woman at a party in South Bend on April 29. The woman reported the incident happened after she and Klund, along with a group of their acquaintances, had been drinking at a friend’s residence and at a local bar.

According to her account of the incident, she told friends she felt she may vomit and she went into the bathroom at the apartment. Klund came into the bathroom uninvited and began “rubbing the victim’s exposed genital area with his hand … and kissed the victim’s bare buttocks.” Klund left the bathroom after the woman yelled at him to stop. Read more

Kim Chappell begins next month at WBND, the ABC affiliate in South Bend. She will anchor the station’s evening newscasts alongside Brian Dorman.

Chappell comes to WBND from WTVF in Nashville, where she used her maiden name, Kim Gebbia. She has previously worked for WXII in Winston-Salem and WECT in Wilmington, N.C.

“Kim has spent her career digging up stories that impact the communities where people live,” news director Aaron Ramey said in a statement. “She has a passion for one-on-one interaction with the folks who are affected by the news. I think that shows in her compassionate approach to story-telling.”

Chappell replaces Krista Fogelsong, who left WBND for WBBH in May.

Daryl Bjoraas, a multimedia journalist at WBND in South Bend, was taken to the hospital on Friday night after reporting from the site of a chemical fire in Mishawaka.

“Daryl is doing fine.  He responded to the breaking news scene before mandatory evacuations were ordered,” WBND news director Aaron Ramey told TVSpy in an email. “He was feeling ill and was taken to the hospital as a precaution.”

The fire began Friday night at a vacant chemical plant that is currently undergoing a federally-supervised cleanup, according to the AP. Hundreds of residents in a one-mile radius of the factory were evacuated overnight, returning to their homes after the all-clear was given early Saturday morning. Read more

WSBT, The South Bend CBS affiliate, has added Rick Schutt and Jennifer Copeland to a three anchor rotation that includes longtime anchor Cindy Ward.  Ward’s previous co-anchor at 5 and 6 p.m., Dustin Grove, retired from TV news on Friday.

The lineup looks something like this:  Schutt and Copeland will anchor the 5 p.m., Copeland and Ward will take the 5:30 while Schutt and and Copeland will again anchor the 6.  Schutt will take the 10 pm. and will be joined by Ward for the 11.

News director John Haferkamp told TVSpy the plan is to eventually have Schutt and Copeland anchoring the 5, 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts with Ward and Copeland remaining a team at 5:30.  Read more

Dustin Grove, anchor and reporter at WSBT, CBS affiliate for South Bend, is leaving the station.  Grove posted the news on the station’s Facebook page:

Thank you for your kind words. It has been great to be a part of the WSBT family for nearly ten years and I have treasured each moment with my co-workers (and you, the viewers.)My family and I will be relocating to central Indiana to work for a family business venture. This will hopefully allow me to be home more to see my young kids.

Grove, who anchors both the 5 and 6 p.m. newscasts and reports for the station, joined WSBT in 2004.  He’s twice been named Indiana’s Best Reporter by the Associated Press.

Joel Schipper is joining Central Florida News 13 as weekend anchor, the Orlando Sentinel‘s Hal Boedeker reports.

Schipper comes from WNDU in South Bend, where he is the weekend anchor. He will sign off from the station after six years on Saturday.

As weekend anchor, Schipper replaces Adam Longo, who joined KPHO in Phoenix. Schipper will anchor the weekend evening newscasts and report during the week for Central Florida News 13, according to Boedeker.

It was just a terrible time for a typo: earlier this week, South Bend NBC-affiliate WNDU ran a graphic with the phrase “School Two Easy For Kids” for a story about education.

WNDU was reporting on a new study in which millions of kids said that school was too easy. 
[Via Gawker]