Local News

The Indiana Department of Revenue (DOR) is partnering with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to share the top tax filing season concerns referred to as the IRS Dirty Dozen tax scams for 2018. The first scam in the 12-part series is phishing schemes, designed to gather personal information or money from the taxpayer. These new or evolving phishing schemes work specifically to target taxpayers during filing season. One new phishing scam victimizing thousands of taxpayers includes depositing money into the taxpayers bank account. The scam artist gains access to client data from tax professionals, and then files a fraudulent tax

In an update to a story WIMS has been following, Valparaiso Fire and Police responded Wednesday morning to Valparaiso High School for a reported fire in a bathroom garbage can. The fire was quickly put out with damages contained to the garbage can. School Resource Officer Lt. Ed Blakley, school officials, Valparaiso Fire Department and members of the police department’s Investigation Division began to investigate the incident. Lt. Blakley located video of a 16 yr old male student, in the general area, near one of the restrooms, just prior to one of the fires being discovered by a teacher. He

This year, Washington Park Zoo in Michigan City is celebrating its 90th Anniversary. Educating the community and involving the community is part of the zoo’s mission this year as they prepare to celebrate the 90th anniversary by partnering with Artspace and Michigan City High School art program students. Artspace, a mixed-use space, offers a ground-floor studio, where a line-up of various zoo events will take place. The 90th Anniversary-Zoobilee committee has planned various family friendly activities throughout the two-month celebration. The celebration calendar will end with the zoo’s annual fundraiser Zoobilee “For the Art of Animals” – scheduled for Saturday,

The Indiana Builders Association, the Indiana Construction Roundtable Foundation and the Builders Association of Greater Indianapolis (BAGI) have formed a strategic partnership in order to assist in recruiting a skilled workforce in the construction and building trades. The three-year partnership, coined Build Your Future Indiana, comes in an effort to create awareness and resources that attract young workers to commercial, residential and road building industries. Build Your Future Indiana works to fight the skilled labor shortage by curating career information from professionals industry-wide to highlight key aspects and opportunities for each trade career path. This information has been developed into

Have you ever wondered what’s behind closed doors at the historic Barker Mansion? The popular Behind the Scenes Tours journey into the nooks and crannies of the building which are normally off-limits. Guests discover remnants of the past such as the central vacuum system, the furnace, and intricate electrical panels. The two-hour tour takes participants on back stairways and into the basement. The Barker Mansion is located at 631 Washington Street in Michigan City, IN. The 38-room mansion was built by freight car industrialist and philanthropist John H. Barker in 1905, after he expanded onto his father’s original 1857 home

Yesterday, Congressman Jim Banks (IN-03), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, introduced the Education Savings Accounts for Military Families Act. This legislation would provide military families with the option of establishing an education savings account (ESA). Under this legislation, a small portion of funding from the federal Impact Aid program would follow military-dependent students through an ESA rather than schools.

INDOT will be reconstructing the State Road 51 bridge over Burns Ditch near Lake Station. Old Hobart Road will be closed to through traffic at the intersection with S.R. 51/Ripley St. Southbound S.R. 51 will be restricted to one lane and SB traffic will shift to the northbound side of the bridge with two lanes remaining for NB traffic. Work to reconstruct the bridge is expected to be complete by October 2018.

A trooper and two other people were hit Wednesday morning while standing outside their vehicles. Preliminary investigation showed at 4:40 a.m., 24 year old Trooper Nicole Maenza, a 1 ½ year veteran of the Indiana State Police, was on the south bound Cline Avenue to I-80/94 east bound ramp investigating crashes. The ramp was snow covered and slick from earlier weather conditions. While Maenza was investigating one of the crashes she saw a Ford Expedition crash further down the ramp into the sound barrier wall and went to see if the occupants were okay. Both occupants, later identified as 41

The Senate yesterday passed State Rep. Jim Pressel’s (R-Rolling Prairie) legislation that would help victims and their families obtain trial records free of charge. Pressel said this legislation would allow a victim, an immediate family member or spouse of a deceased victim, to obtain an electronic copy of transcripts in the victim’s case at no cost. The prosecuting attorney or local victim assistance program would be required to notify the victim or family members of this right and would also be required to assist them in obtaining the court records. Currently, victims or their families must pay a fee in

Yesterday, U.S. Senator Joe Donnelly announced his formal support for bipartisan legislation, the Fix NICS Act, which would improve the nation’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) for firearms purchases. Currently, many federal agencies and state governments often fail to provide NICS with relevant information on dangerous individuals or violent criminals, leaving the system open to significant error. The Fix NICS Act would improve federal agency compliance through new accountability measures and would incentivize states to transfer all of their relevant information by rewarding them with federal grant preferences. In addition to efforts to increase compliance from federal agencies

La Porte County Prosecuting Attorney John Espar announced that a two day trial in La Porte Circuit concluded this past Tuesday when a jury rendered guilty verdicts against Omar Dominguez for one count of Dealing Cocaine and two Counts of Dealing Cocaine. The three transactions committed by Dominguez during the concluding months of 2015, occurred in a residential neighborhood located in the 500 block of East Jefferson Avenue in downtown La Porte. The case was filed in March of 2016 following the completion of three controlled buys of powder cocaine from Dominguez by an undercover operative from the former LaPorte

The Valparaiso Police Department, Valparaiso Fire Department and school officials are investigating two separate garbage can fires that were discovered in restrooms of the Valparaiso High School on Wednesday morning. The first incident was discovered by a teacher at 8:30 a.m. A garbage can fire in a restroom was smoldering causing a strong smell of burning when a teacher located it in the restroom. No damage was caused as a result of this incident. The second incident was discovered at 10 a.m. when smoke was located, in an area, of a second restroom on a different level of the school.

The 2017 film, “Marshall” will be presented at 2 p.m., Sunday, March 18 at the Michigan City Library, 100 E. Fourth St., Michigan City, through a collaboration between the Purdue University Northwest Odyssey Arts and Cultural Events Series and the Michigan City Public Library. The screening is free and open to the public. “Marshall” is a 2017 film drama about Thurgood Marshall, the first African-American Supreme Court Justice and focuses on one of the first cases of his career. The film is rated PG-13. For more information about this film screening or about the Odyssey series contact Judy Jacobi, assistant

La Porte, Porter, and Starke hospitals, as well as physician clinics associated with the facilities, are ready to welcome dedicated, smart, scrub-wearing, friendly go-getters who want excellent training, advancement opportunities, and competitive compensation. The hospital network is hosting two job fairs in March to meet interested applicants for a variety of posted positions. The events are from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m., March 12 at La Porte Hospital Main Lobby, and Porter Regional Hospital’s Community Room from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m., March 13th,located at 85 E. U.S. Highway 6, Valparaiso. For a complete list of positions available, visit laportehealth.com/careers,

Attorney General Curtis Hill and 54 other state and territorial attorneys general today sent a letter calling upon congressional leaders to pass legislation supporting victims of child pornography. The bipartisan bill: the Amy, Vicky, and Andy Child Pornography Victim Assistance Act of 2017, would make it easier for victims of child pornography to obtain restitution. A similar bill passed the U.S. Senate in 2015 but failed to pass the House of Representatives. The letter is directed to House and Judiciary Committee leaders. A 2014 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Paroline v. United States held that while victims of child pornography

With shorelines on Lake Michigan, Indiana has a vested interest in keeping the Great Lakes clean. Today and tomorrow, a coalition representing business, industry, and environmental organizations meets with members of Congress to rally support for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. The Trump administration wants to cut funding for the initiative by 90 percent. Chris Danou of the group Gathering Waters says there's a lot at risk if that happens, and describes some of the initiative's work. In total, the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative has funded more than 35-hundred projects across the Great Lakes region.

On Monday afternoon, Porter County Sheriff's Officers responded to a personal injury crash in Pine Township, on the LaPorte/Porter County Line at Burdick Road involving a Porter County Highway truck and a 1989 Oldsmobile passenger car. The driver of the passenger car ran into the back of the stopped County Highway truck, which was filling in pot holes in the roadway. The driver, a 31 year old male from Michigan City, fled on foot from the scene prior to Officers arrival with all of the vehicles paperwork as well as the license plate from his crashed vehicle. Officer Doug Schafer

Merrillville-based MonoSol LLC is continuing to grow its Indiana footprint. The manufacturer, whose water-soluble films are used in products like laundry and dishwasher detergent pods, is planning to invest more than $70 million into a new Lebanon facility and create 89 jobs.

  The Luxembourg-based parent of one of the largest employers in northwest Indiana has announced changes at the top. ArcelorMittal Group Chief Financial Officer and ArcelorMittal Europe Chief Executive Officer Aditya Mittal has been named president of ArcelorMittal, reporting to his father, ArcelorMittal Chairman and CEO Lakshmi Mittal.

The La Porte County Sheriff's Office has announced that it is now seeking applications for the Neil Thompson Memorial Scholarship. The $1,000 scholarship is available to any senior scheduled to graduate this year from a high school in La Porte County who has been accepted to a college or university and will be studying law enforcement, criminal justice or a criminal justice related field. Applicants are required to submit an essay, no fewer than 500 words, on why they will be pursuing a career in law enforcement. The scholarship was established soon after the 1980 death of Patrolman Neil Thompson,