Local News

Attorney General Curtis Hill has filed a complaint against a Porter County woman alleging that she is acting as an unlicensed midwife for Indiana families. The complaint alleges that Julie Lentz, doing business as Sacred Lotus Midwifery Services, has failed to obtain either a certified nurse midwife license or a certified direct entry midwife certificate. Under Indiana law, an individual must achieve one of these designations in order to legally provide services as a midwife. The Office of the Attorney General also filed a motion for a temporary restraining order (TRO), which the Porter County Superior Court granted. The TRO

Indiana State Police are investigating a crash on Interstate 80 that left one young woman seriously injured. Preliminary investigation by Trooper William Carlson determined that at 5:35 AM on Saturday a Ford F-150 pickup truck traveling eastbound on I-80, struck the rear of a semi-trailer and spun out of control. The crash occurred just west of Calumet Ave. The pickup came to a stop facing westbound in the eastbound lanes and the semi-truck stopped at the scene, also in the eastbound lanes. The pickup was a 2019 black Ford F-150 being driven by 33 year old Patrick Clinton of Bolingbrook,

Water searches were postponed late on Sunday for a 17 year old South Bend boy last seen Saturday night offshore in the area of Washington Park. The search for Rahem Mason was postponed until conditions improve on Lake Michigan, according to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. The search for Mason began shortly after he was seen going under the water around 7pm on Saturday, the DNR said. The condition of the lake will be evaluated on a daily basis to continue the search.

Last week, U.S. Senators Todd Young (R-Ind.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), and Jim Risch (R-Idaho) introduced the Investing in Main Street Act to increase investment in small businesses by permitting banks to invest up to 15 percent of their capital in Small Business Investment Companies (SBIC). The dramatic increase in capital for the SBIC program would be deployed to domestic small businesses at no cost to the taxpayer. SBICs have invested more than $451 million dollars in 135 Hoosier small businesses over the last ten years. 

The Barker Mansion in Michigan City will be having their first Behind-the-Scenes-Tour since the Barker Mansion's extensive renovations during the spring. View the basement, closets, and former servants’ quarters of the basement, first and second floors. Cost is $15 for adults and $10 for youth and seniors. Tickets may be purchased on Eventbrite.com or by calling the Mansion at (219) 873-1520. 

LaPorte County Commission President Dr. Vidya Kora this evening advised county employees and those in the public needing to access any county government email or website that the system will beinoperable for at least a couple days as authorities respond to a “malicious malware attack that occurred on Saturday morning, July 6, 2019 that has disabled our computer and email systems.” “Fortunately, our county liability agent of record John Jones last yearrecommended a cybersecurity insurance policy which the CountyCommission authorized from Travelers Insurance.  We informed Travelers Insurance late yesterday of the malware attack and they immediately referred us to the Wayne, Pennsylvania incident-response law firm of

Teens in grades 6-12 are invited to a new offering at Queen of All Saints Catholic Church in Michigan City: an overnight lock-in. The free event takes place July 16-17, beginning at 6 pm on the 16th and ending at 6 am on the 17th. Teens of all faith backgrounds are welcome, though programming will rely heavily on Catholic teachings.Activities include a bonfire and s’mores, SoulCore prayers and stretching, packaging baby supplies for the hospital, crafts, a movie with popcorn, breakfast prepared by the Knights of Columbus, a sunrise walk and more. Opportunities for growth in faith include a Holy

The Indiana Poet Laureate represents Indiana and the art of poetry through the development and implementation of programming to the education community and general public. The Poet Laureate makes formal presentations at various educational facilities and events, pursues individual initiatives to advance the knowledge and appreciation of poetry, and offers advice to the IAC regarding ways to further the art of poetry in Indiana. Nominations for Indiana Poet Laureate should be limited to one, single-page cover letter and a resume or CV detailing the nominee’s qualifications and accomplishments. No additional materials should be included with the initial nomination. Successful nominees

This week, Attorney General Curtis Hill asked Hoosiers to watch for car dealers posing as private sellers on Craigslist — and to alert the Office of the Attorney General if and when they come across such listings.Craigslist.com allows a seller to post either as a dealer or as a private party under “by owner.” Consumers are then able to search either category according to their preferences. Dealers are prohibited by Craigslist from advertising under “by owner.” Dealers who post misleading ads by posing as private sellers often run afoul of Indiana’s Deceptive Consumer Sales Act.The Office of the Attorney General

State health officials have confirmed the presence of West Nile virus in mosquitoes in two counties and are urging Hoosiers to take steps to protect themselves from the insects and the diseases they can carry. As of July 1, mosquitoes in Elkhart and Clark counties have tested positive for West Nile virus. No human cases of West Nile virus disease have been detected so far in 2019; however, the Indiana State Department of Health (ISDH) expects to see increased West Nile activity throughout the state as the season progresses. To see the latest results of ISDH’s mosquito surveillance, go to https://gis.in.gov/apps/ISDH/Arbo/. To

Last week, Judge Nancy G. Edmunds of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan approved a new agreement between the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services and Children's Rights, the advocacy group that sued the state 13 years ago. Taking the place of an earlier deal approved in federal court in 2016, the Modified Implementation, Sustainability and Exit Plan reflects a slate of changes that MDHHS sought.Examples include eliminating the state's time-consuming compliance reviews of cases as much as two years old, focusing efforts to prevent child maltreatment on the activities most directly related to stopping

United Way Regional Volunteer Center is seeking volunteers to help local nonprofits during its annual Day of Caring event on Friday, August 9.As the largest single-day volunteer event across Northwest Indiana, Day of Caring brings together nonprofits, families, local businesses, municipalities, churches, civic groups and individuals to change lives one project at a time by helping local nonprofits with facility improvements and client-support projects.United Way is looking for more than 600 volunteers to help with 30 service projects. Volunteers can choose from activities such as painting, landscaping, building, cleaning, hosting picnics and taking kids fishing. Volunteers who are unable to

To provide quality behavioral health services on a sustainable basis for West Michigan, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) is cancelling its contract with Lakeshore Regional Entity (LRE) and will establish a new pre-paid inpatient health plan (PIHP) in the region, building on recent work there with Beacon Health Options. LRE is the PIHP for Allegan, Ottawa, Kent, Muskegon, Oceana, Mason and Lake counties. Medicaid behavioral health specialty services are administered through PIHPs, which are managed care entities required to provide all medically necessary services through community mental health authorities (CMHs). MDHHS notified LRE of its intent to cancel

The La Porte Police Department would like to welcome two new officers to the department. Officer Ryan Allen and Officer Zach Feldmeier were sworn in on July 1st. by Chief Owens. They will be training around the department until going to the academy in September.

Purdue University Northwest’s (PNW) Office of Concurrent Enrollment awarded its first scholarships to area high school students who participated in the concurrent enrollment program. The scholarship recognizes four highly motivated and engaged students wishing to attend PNW. Among the recipients were Nathan Karnezis of Munster, Cameron Wickersham of Westville, Antionette Yasko of La Porte, and Elise Richards of Boone Grove.Students who completed a minimum of 3 dual credit courses in high school and enrolled as full-time PNW students starting this fall semester were eligible. They also needed to have a minimum 3.5 high school GPA.Winners wrote a 500-word essay explaining the

PNW students won sixth and ninth place honors in a field of over 50 rovers in NASA’s Human Exploration Rover Challenge 2019, held at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, April 12-13. The annual event features an engineering design challenge and promotes research and development of new technology for crewed space missions to other worlds.The international competition included college teams from 20 U.S. States, Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico, as well as Mexico, Bolivia, Peru, Columbia, Brazil, Dominican Republic and India. PNW entered two rovers in the competition. Rover #1 finished in sixth place and Rover #2 came

Last week, U.S. Senators Todd Young (R-Ind.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), and Jim Risch (R-Idaho) introduced the Investing in Main Street Act to increase investment in small businesses by permitting banks to invest up to 15 percent of their capital in Small Business Investment Companies (SBIC). The dramatic increase in capital for the SBIC program would be deployed to domestic small businesses at no cost to the taxpayer. SBICs have invested more than $451 million dollars in 135 Hoosier small businesses over the last ten years. 

The Barker Mansion in Michigan City will be having their first Behind-the-Scenes-Tour since the Barker Mansion's extensive renovations during the spring. View the basement, closets, and former servants’ quarters of the basement, first and second floors. Cost is $15 for adults and $10 for youth and seniors. Tickets may be purchased on Eventbrite.com or by calling the Mansion at (219) 873-1520. 

The Mayor’s Office has released a statement on the inspection that occurred on June 23rd at Local Option. The statement reads,“In the early morning of June 23rd,, the Indiana State Excise Police requested the assistance of the Michigan City Police Department to accompany them to Local Options [sic] Bar for an inspection. Since that inspection, the Mayor’s Office has been receiving numerous questions and concerns regarding that inspection based on a video that was posted by a patron on social media.  The Mayor’s Office is investigating this matter. In addition, the Indiana State Excise Police, who were the lead agency

The Indiana State Department of Health’s Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity (DNPA) has released its Active Living Guidebook. Created in collaboration with Health by Design, the guidebook will help community leaders and advocates create more active communities throughout the state. From 2014 to 2018, DNPA worked with Purdue Extension and Health by Design to conduct 46 active living workshops in communities across Indiana. More than 1,800 participants, including city planners and engineers, public health professionals, school administrators and community leaders, attended the workshops and learned how to improve their communities’ infrastructure so residents have more opportunity to be active. According to