Local News

Franciscan Health has announced that it has entered into a professional services agreement with the department of neurological surgery at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. As part of the agreement, Kevin Jackson, MD, a full-time Northwestern Medicine neurosurgeon, is now offering services at Franciscan Health Crown Point. The agreement also includes Telestroke services at four Franciscan Health hospitals in the Northwest Indiana area. In addition to the full-time neurological surgeon, Northwestern Memorial is expanding its Telestroke program to four acute care hospitals in Indiana. The Telestroke services will be implemented at Franciscan Health Crown Point, Franciscan Health Dyer, Franciscan Health Hammond and

All veterans are invited to ride the South Shore Line for free through the weekend of November 9-11, 2018, and on Veterans Day (November 11), observed November 12. As train personnel walk through the train, please let them know that you are a veteran or active military personnel, and they will provide you a ride at no charge. No identification will be required. On Veterans Day, Monday, November 12, trains will follow the regular weekday train schedule. Up to three children 13 years of age and under may ride free with each veteran on off- peak weekday and all weekend

The annual Pumpkin Palooza is the culmination of the 2018 Chesterton European Market regular season, held on Saturday October 27th. There will be trick-or-treating throughout the market for the young and the young at heart. There will be a costume contest for children and pets too, as well as pumpkin painting, free of charge. Come out for one last celebration as the regular market season closes at Pumpkin Palooza. The celebration starts at 8 am and runs through 2 pm. Trick-or-treating runs from 8am-2pm and the costume contest is held at noon. There will be a pet costume contest at

Portage Halloween Hours are 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Halloween Wednesday October 31st. -Parents should accompany young children -Carry a flash light -Kids should wear some type of reflective marking -Inspect your children's candy -Motorists should use EXTRA caution that evening and watch for children running into the road/crossing the street -Be respectful of the timeframe -Also, as reminder, remember to check your local sex offender registry.

The LaPorte Police Department received reports of individuals receiving emails from someone claiming to be the LaPorte Water Dept. These messages state that your water bill is overdue and that you will need to call an 800 number. The emails appear to be coming from LaPorte.org. The water department will not send out an email for overdue water bills and do not have an 800 number for you to contact. Police say this is a scam and to please delete the email if you receive one.

The La Porte County Sheriff’s Office has announced that in preparation of Halloween, Operation Watchdog was initiated, which was a County-wide compliance check of all Sexually Violent Predators and Offenders Against Children. The operation was conducted on Wednesday, with deputies from the La Porte County Sheriff’s Office, investigators from the La Porte and Michigan City Police, Michigan City Fugitive Apprehension Street Team (FAST), La Porte County Drug Task Force, Indiana State Police and United States Marshals Service participating in the sex offender compliance check. All 102 of the classified and registered Sexually Violent Predators and Offenders Against Children were specifically

Attorney General Curtis Hill announced he is appealing a federal court’s consent decree setting a minimum number of five early-voting sites specifically in Marion County (Indianapolis) in perpetuity, which contravenes state law requiring a unanimous vote of the county election board each year to establish satellite offices. “In filing this appeal, we are defending the ability of the local election board to make these decisions in accordance with state law without a federal court ruling binding the board to a minimum number of locations indefinitely,” Attorney General Hill said. Further, Attorney General Hill said, his office has a statutory obligation

To accommodate passengers attending Chicago Bears home games, the South Shore Line is planning select train stops at the 18th Street Station in Chicago. These stops are in addition to regular service to Museum Campus/11th Street. For the home game at noon on Sunday, Oct. 28, Train #502 arrives at 18th St. at 9:07a, Train #504 at 10:10a, and Train #606 at 11:04a. Following the game, Train #507 will depart 18th Street at 4:49p, and Train #509 will depart at 6:28p. Click here for the full Bears season schedule of 18th Street stops.

The City of Michigan City would like to announce that the annual coat drive is now underway.  Citizens can drop off new, and or, gently worn coats and snow suits at Concord Cleaners. Concord Cleaners will clean and then deliver the coats and snow suits to the Michigan Township Trustees Office where they will be available, to those in need, beginning immediately.  The coat drive will continue throughout the winter season. “There is a large need for this yearly campaign in our community; I would like to thank our citizens for their generosity and also Michigan Township Trustee Rodney Washington

South Bend-based AM General LLC has received two major military contracts from the U.S. Army. The company will receive a total of $210 million for the production of 740 Humvees for the Army National Guard, as well as technical support services for the vehicles. The manufacturing of the Humvees represents one contract worth $89 million. The five-year contract for systems technical support for the Humvees, which includes engineering, logistics, and quality assurance projects, is valued at $121 million. Delivery of the Humvees is expected to begin in the second quarter of 2019.

Yesterday, U.S. Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-Ind.) released the following statement after bipartisan opioid legislation, which includes provisions named for Dr. Todd Graham, was signed into law: “The opioid epidemic is taking a devastating toll on Hoosier families, but today we are taking a big step toward ending this crisis. The bipartisan, comprehensive bill just signed into law will give our communities better tools to prevent and treat addiction and assist in recovery. And it will build on the legacy of Dr. Todd Graham with provisions named in his honor. “Before he was tragically killed last year, Dr. Graham was dedicated

Several of U.S. Senator Joe Donnelly’s provisions to combat the opioid abuse epidemic were signed into law yesterday by the President as part of the bipartisan Substance Use Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment (SUPPORT) for Patients and Communities Act. Donnelly spoke on the Senate Floor earlier this month about his bipartisan efforts to address this public health crisis. A provision based on the Donnelly-Murkowski-Hassan Substance Use Disorder Workforce Loan Repayment Act, which was introduced in March. The provision will incentivize substance use disorder providers to work in areas that have high overdose rates, or a shortage of

This Saturday, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is sponsoring the 16th nationwide “Prescription Drug Take Back” initiative.  The “Take Back” initiative seeks to prevent prescription drug abuse and theft through proper disposal of prescription drugs. Collection sites will be set up nationwide for expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs which will be properly disposed of without threat to the environment.  This program is for liquid and pill medications. Needles, new or used, will not be accepted for disposal. This service is free and anonymous with no questions asked. Medicines that languish in home cabinets are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse,

Portage Halloween Hours are 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Halloween Wednesday October 31st. -Parents should accompany young children -Carry a flash light -Kids should wear some type of reflective marking -Inspect your children's candy -Motorists should use EXTRA caution that evening and watch for children running into the road/crossing the street -Be respectful of the timeframe -Also, as reminder, remember to check your local sex offender registry.

Porter County Sheriff’s Detectives are currently investigating a possible home invasion in the Center Township, Waterford Subdivision on Kinsale Avenue in rural Valparaiso. The incident took place on Monday night around 6:30pm. The victim, an 18 year old male from Valparaiso, was reportedly stabbed while at the residence by an unknown subject. Nothing is reported to be missing from the residence. The victim’s name is not being released at this time pending further investigation as he is still in the hospital in serious condition. Detectives are investigating the incident as a home invasion at this time. Anyone with information or

Rona Edquist, Supervisory Committee member of First Trust Credit Union (CU) in Michigan City is the Indiana Credit Union League’s 2018 recipient of the Leadership Achievement Award. The presentation was made at the Chairman’s Awards Banquet on October 12th as part of a special event during the League’s statewide convention. Edquist is a longtime credit union member and began her volunteer life with First Trust CU when she joined the Credit Committee in 1985. She had always loved the credit union and was interested in the lending process, so this was a perfect fit. Eventually, the lending process became more

Valparaiso Police responded to the report of a motorcycle crash in the 800 block of U.S. HWY 30 at approximately 10:30 p.m. on Monday, in which the motorcycle had struck a deer. Upon arrival, officer located a male subject in the roadway unresponsive.  Valparaiso Fire/EMS arrived on scene and determined the motorcyclist was deceased. Police were advised by witnesses the motorcycle was eastbound on U.S. HWY 30, just east of Sager Rd., when the motorcyclist struck a deer. Police continue to investigate the crash.

The Indiana Department of Revenue (DOR) has made a tremendous investment in protecting Hoosier’s identities and preventing refund fraud, stopping over $9.7 million in fraud in 2018. Since the program’s inception in 2014, DOR’s identity and refund fraud protection program has stopped over $119 million in refund theft. As the income tax return fraud program has matured, and return fraud has decreased each year due to advanced technologies, DOR staff continues to enact new prevention programs. The Schedule C verification program was the most impactful prevention program in 2018, followed by the excess withholding program. Using similar data analytics, the

The Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) announces that State Road 331 (Capital Avenue) in St. Joseph County will close Monday, Oct. 29, for up to two weeks between State Road 933 (Lincolnway East) and Jefferson Street. Crews will be removing existing beams from the bridge over the St. Joseph River as part of a bridge reconstruction project. Weather permitting, the road could reopen sooner than the two-week timeframe. INDOT will post updates via its social media channels: facebook.com/INDOTNorthwest and @INDOTNorthwest on Twitter. Northbound drivers on SR 331 (Capital Avenue) will be detoured east on SR 933 (Lincolnway East), north on

Purdue University Northwest (PNW), through its Center for Innovation through Visualization and Simulation (CIVS), was recently awarded a cooperative agreement from the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division (NSWC Crane) to research the ability to predict the lifespan of electronic components. The principal investigators for PNW’s proposal, CIVS Director and Professor Chenn Zhou, Ph.D. and PNW School of Engineering Professor Hansung Kim, Ph.D., said their research using 3D modeling and simulation will help to accurately predict the lifespan of a system component in its real-time environment, as well as identify specific factors for causing or accelerating its degradation. The cooperative