Plan OK’d to distribute Indiana stage collapse donations

INDIANAPOLIS — The families of the seven people killed in the Indiana State Fair stage collapse will receive $35,000 each from a relief fund that collected donations for the victims.

The Indiana State Fair Commission approved a distribution formula on Friday that would allocate smaller amounts to the more than 40 people injured in the Aug. 13 collapse.

The formula recommended by victims compensation specialist Kenneth Feinberg will give $25,000 to those hospitalized for at least 10 days and $7,500 or $3,000 to those hospitalized for shorter periods.

Attorney John Trimble says that formula could distribute about $700,000 of the just under $800,000 that has been donated to the fund. The relief fund is separate from the $5 million the state says it will pay toward legal claims.