Local News

The fourth annual Prairie Magic Music Festival at Sunset Hill Park is set to take place on Aug. 17. Rock legends Los Lobos are heading out all the way to Northwest Indiana from Los Angeles to perform as headliners at the music festival. Prairie Magic Musical Festival is a celebration of rock, Americana and blues music, and will provide food vendors, a beer garden, free water on-site all day and children’s activities. Doors open at 12 p.m. and the music begins at 1 p.m. Also performing in the festival lineup are Robbie Fulks, Bottle Rockets and Big Road. The official

The northbound ramps connecting I-65 and 109th Avenue in Crown Point have reopened as northbound traffic is now flowing in the northbound right lane and shoulder. In the coming weeks, the southbound ramps at 109th will close. 

State Road 39 will close Monday between Joliet Road and U.S. 6 in LaPorte County for chip seal operations. Weather permitting, the road is anticipated to reopen by Tuesday evening.

South Shore Line service updates will be in effect to accommodate passengers attending Lollapalooza, which is taking place Thursday, Aug. 1, through Sunday, Aug. 4, in Grant Park.Bikes will not be permitted on South Shore trains Aug. 1-4. All available space will be needed to provide service for additional passengers.On Thursday & Friday, alcohol will not be permitted on South Shore trains after 7 p.m. Glass bottles are always prohibited.-Millennium Station ticket agent hours will be extended until 6:30 p.m.-Alcohol will not be permitted on South Shore trains all day Saturday/Sunday. Please be advised that glass bottles are always prohibited.As

A group of Indiana artists is getting financial support to turn their creative outlet into a business venture. The Indiana Arts Commission says 33 creative entrepreneurs will receive funding through IAC’s On-Ramp 2019 Fellowship. The fellows are part of an entrepreneur accelerator class where they learn skills necessary to run a business. “Like most creatives, I have experienced stress relating to financial knowledge, business law, marketing skills, and overall personal confidence,” said On-Ramp fellow Olivia Ulch. She says the skills learned during the three-day course alleviated those fears. IAC says each participant was eligible to request up to $2,000 to implement

The Burns Harbor Town Wide Yard Sale is tomorrow and Saturday, July 27 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Find a map for this event online at burnsharbor-in.gov . Printed maps are also available at the Burns Harbor Town Hall, 1240 N. Boo Road, in Burns Harbor.  

This week Fugitive Apprehension Street Team (FAST) officers traveled to Tupelo, Mississippi and Carbondale, Illinois to return two fugitives who had fled from justice and law enforcement officials for lengthy periods of time. Juan Burdine was recently apprehended in Tupelo for a Dealing Cocaine. Burdine remains housed in the La Porte County Jail on a $20,005 cash-only bond through La Porte County Circuit Court. Tiffani Coates was recently apprehended in Carbondale for a Robbery, and Auto Theft. Coates remains housed in the La Porte County Jail on a $25,005 cash-only bond through La Porte Circuit Court. Both fugitives had been sought by FAST

The Office of the Dean of the College of Business is pleased to announce Godwin-Charles Ogbeide, Ph.D., as the next director of the White Lodging School of Hospitality and Tourism Management (HTM) at Purdue University Northwest (PNW) . Ogbeide comes to PNW after having served as an associate professor and director of strategy and hospitality and founding director of the Events and Tourism Institute (ETI) at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI).  Ogbeide is vice president and immediate past president of the Council on Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Education (CHRIE), a nonprofit association working to promote global education, research, service and business in

Rural and volunteer fire departments from 46 counties have been awarded more than $297,000 in Volunteer Fire Assistance grants. DNR Forestry staff reviewed grant applications and selected recipients on the basis of population density, acres of public wildlands protected, and wildland fire reporting to DNR Fire Control Headquarters. Grants may be used for training, installation of dry hydrants, or to purchase necessary firefighting equipment and gear to combat wildland fires. As in past years, the Wildland Fire category was highlighted.  The awarded grants range from $1,500 to $5,000 and were given to 71 departments. Fire departments interested in applying for VFA grants should

Law enforcement officials from throughout LaPorte County gathered on Tuesday with organizers of the Bolt for the Heart Family 5K to tout the effort to bring lifesaving automatic external defibrillators (AEDs) to every squad car in the county. The inaugural Bolt for the Heart 5K Family Run/Walk, presented by Franciscan Health, will be 8AM on Sunday, Sept. 8th in Washington Park. The eight law enforcement departments in LaPorte County are partnering with Bolt for the Heart and Play for Jake in this event, where 100 percent of the proceeds will go toward the goal of placing AEDs in police cars

The ramp connecting westbound I-94 to southbound I-65 will close Monday, July 29, for approximately one week. Crews will be working on a bridge deck overlay and doing joint repairs. The detour will have drivers use the ramps at SR 53 (Broadway) to get to eastbound I-94 and access southbound I-65.

Indiana State Police (ISP) and Portage Police Department have each received a report about a possible police impersonator who came into contact with two different women within nine days of each other. ISP received a report of a female who was stopped on I-65 south bound at the 249 mile marker (109th Street exit-Crown Point) on July 8th at approximately 9:50 p.m., she stated that the vehicle was a late model black/dark blue Ford Crown Victoria with red/blue lights inside the windshield.  The male white driver, described as older, with short gray hair and a moustache, wearing brown/khaki pants with a

The LCSO is partnering with Bolt for the Heart, a Carmel based non-profit organization, Franciscan Health and the Play for Jake Foundation, for a Family 5K Run/Walk. The event will be Sunday, September 8th, at 9AM, in Washington Park. The event will assist by raising awareness of heart disease and equip EVERY police vehicle in La Porte County with an Automated External Defibrillator (AED).To learn more and sign up check out www.boltfortheheart.com

Last summer, the Chesterton Branding Leadership Team (CBLT) conducted the Downtown Chesterton Survey to learn what residents and non-residents do in downtown Chesterton, what activities and businesses they want in the downtown, and if they support Chesterton becoming a quiet/safe train zone. The survey had three open-ended questions, and each question had over 1,000 responses. The responses are summarized in the final report. People were asked what changes they wanted to see in downtown Chesterton. Responses covered both downtown and other parts of Chesterton. Respondents were asked what kinds of activities they would like to see in downtown. The report

Governor Holcomb and Indiana Department of Natural Resources director Cameron Clark recently announced details of the second round of the Next Level Trails grant program, including three workshops in August for interested applicants. Next Level Trails, which will dedicate $90 million of State funds over the life of the program, is the largest infusion of trail funding in state history. The grant program is divided into two components: a $70 million fund for regional projects and a $20 million fund for local projects. Each requires a minimum 20 percent project match, which can include monetary contributions, land value, and in-kind donations

Yesterday, executives of Tri-Pac will celebrate the grand opening of its new manufacturing facility in South Bend. The company will be joined by state and local officials. Tri-Pac, a chemical manufacturer of aerosols and liquids, confirmed plans in 2017 to relocate its medical device, over-the-counter and specialty chemical manufacturing operations from Michigan, to South Bend. The new $8 million, 65,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art manufacturing facility is located on 10 acres in St. Joseph County and is already operational. To support its new Indiana operations, Tri-Pac committed to creating up to 70 new jobs by the end of 2020 and has already hired nearly

INDOT announces that the intersection of U.S. 41 (Calumet Avenue) and Conkey Street is closing Wednesday as part of a project initiated by the City of Hammond to build a pedestrian bridge connecting the Erie Lackawanna Trail.Crews will be installing beams on that new bridge. The intersection will close by 6 a.m., reopening by 8 p.m. 

Yesterday, Senator Mike Braun, Senator Todd Young, Representative Pete Visclosky (IN01), Representative Jackie Walorski (IN-02), Representative Jim Banks (IN-03), and others around the state introduced legislation honoring the 50th Anniversary of the return of the Indiana Rangers. An official statement from the Press Office of Senator Mike Braun explained, “The Indiana Rangers and all members of the armed forces who served in the Vietnam War continue to be held in the highest possible regard by their community and the United States; we honor the service of this unit on the 50th anniversary of the return of the Indiana Rangers; and for

State Road 39 is closed in LaPorte and Starke counties while crews perform chip seal operations. The road will close between U.S. 30 and State Road 8 and is anticipated to reopen by the end of Tuesday, weather permitting. State road detours must use state-maintained roads only. Detours will be posted.

The Indiana State Police along with Troopers from Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, Michigan and Pennsylvania will be conducting state-wide patrols targeting violations of the “Move Over” laws in each of those states beginning Sunday, July 21. The project, which was initially started by the Ohio State Highway Patrol, encompasses the five states that border the State of Ohio. Troopers in all participating states will be conducting high visibility enforcement and education of the “Move Over” law. Indiana state statute 9-21-8-35(b) requires vehicles to “move over or slowdown.” Indiana statute 9-21-8-35(b) and (c) states: (b) Upon approaching a stationary authorized emergency