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Gov. Holcomb joins more than a dozen governors and hundreds of city and county leaders nationwide in officially recognizing School Choice Week in their area of governance. Gov. Holcomb has issued a proclamation declaring Jan. 20-26 as Indiana School Choice Week. Parents, schools, and other planners have organized 981 events and activities across the state of Indiana for School Choice Week. These events, which include rallies, cocktail receptions, roundtable discussions, festivals, and school fairs, aim to spark conversations about the educational opportunities parents have, or want to have, for their children. More than 40,000 events have been independently planned for

Indiana’s unemployment rate stands at 3.6 percent for December and remains lower than the national rate of 3.9 percent. The monthly unemployment rate is a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) indicator that reflects the number of unemployed people seeking employment within the prior four weeks as a percentage of the labor force.Indiana’s labor force had a net increase of 1,543 over the previous month. This was a result of an increase of 83 unemployed residents and an increase of 1,460 employed residents. Indiana's total labor force, which includes both Hoosiers employed and those seeking employment, stands at 3.40 million,

Jan. 21-22, 2019The South Shore Line plans to provide substitute bus service between South Bend and Michigan City Carroll Ave. on Monday, Jan. 21, until EB Train 7 on Tuesday, Jan. 22, in response to a frigid temperatures forecast. Weather conditions will be re-evaluated prior to Train 7 on Jan. 22 to determine if service will resume between South Bend/Carroll Ave.Service is suspended to and from Hudson Lake while substitute bus service is in effect. The South Shore Line encourages Hudson Lake passengers to board at Carroll Ave. Station for train service.Buses will arrive and depart with passengers to match

Honor the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. by volunteering to serve at one of Indiana’s state parks in 2019. There are many roles in which people’s talent is needed, from maintaining trails to entering computer data to helping in the nature centers.For more information, visit stateparks.IN.gov/2443.htm. Download an application and return it to the state park or lake where you want to volunteer. Send the application to jheaston@dnr.IN.gov if you don’t have a particular park in mind. Jan. 21 is a state holiday and because of that, property offices and most nature centers will be closed. Self-directed service such as walking trails and

U.S. Senators Todd Young (R-Ind.) and Mike Braun (R-Ind.), and U.S. Representative Pete Visclosky (D-Ind.-01) announced Friday that they have reintroduced legislation in the 116th Congress that would designate the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore as a National Park. Senator Young and Representative Visclosky introduced identical legislation in the last Congress.The legislation would retitle the “Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore” as the “Indiana Dunes National Park.” The designation would create the first National Park in Indiana and the 61st National Park in the United States, which would give greater recognition to the natural beauty of the dunes and potentially draw more visitors

The La Porte County Drug Task Force is releasing their yearly statistics and activity report. The La Porte County Drug Task Force, an initiative of Indiana HIDTA (High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area), is a multi-agency unit comprised of investigators from The La Porte County Sheriff’s Office, Michigan City Police Department, La Porte City Police Department, and The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF). In their second year of existence, The La Porte County Drug Task Force had the following statistics:-186 controlled narcotics purchases-151 individuals were arrested-17 search warrants were executed-36 firearms were seized/purchased through illegal trafficking-38 investigations were

State Rep. Jim Pressel’s (R-Rolling Prairie) legislation that would provide offenders the option of performing community service in lieu of paying court fees advanced to the Senate on Thursday.Currently, a convicted person who does not pay their court fees by a specified date defaults on the money owed and can be sent to jail. Pressel’s legislation would enable a court to reduce some or all of the costs owed by a person convicted of a felony or misdemeanor through community service.Pressel said courts could determine the number of hours volunteered, multiply the hours by the state minimum wage, and subtract

The Natural Resources Commission (NRC) approved the designation of Lydick Bog Nature Preserve in St. Joseph County during its regularly scheduled meeting on Jan. 15 at Fort Harrison State Park.The action increases to 288 the number of state-designated sites protected by the Nature Preserves Act.The Shirley Heinze Land Trust acquired Lydick Bog in 2015. The bog portion of the property provides an extremely rare habitat in northern Indiana. The property is 176.46 acres total and contains approximately 85 acres of upland forest, 65 acres of wetlands, and 20 acres of former agricultural land. The property contains freshwater wetlands interspersed with

The recent opening of the new Franciscan Health Michigan City hospital also meant the transition from a location where mothers had given birth for more than a century. For many of these years, Brahms Lullaby would play hospital-wide to signal that a new life had entered the world. Three days before the hospital move, the song played for the last time as the staff celebrated the final infant born at the historic location. That baby girl, Mila Jonny, was born at 4:16 p.m., Jan. 9 to parents Melissa Anderson and Kyle Richardson of LaPorte. Four days later, Brahms Lullaby played

The South Shore Line will operate a regular weekday train schedule on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Monday, Jan. 21st. All ticket offices will observe regular hours.

Thursday, Lt. Governor Suzanne Crouch along with the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs announced that 19 rural communities received more than $10.8 million in federal grant funding. The state of Indiana distributes Community Development Block Grant funds to rural communities to assist units of local government with various community projects like: improving infrastructure, downtown revitalization, public facilities improvements and economic development. The goals of the Wastewater Drinking Water Program are to protect the health and environment, reduce utility rates for low-to-moderate income communities and improve rural infrastructure to enable long-term economic growth. Eligible Wastewater Drinking Water Program projects

A 40 percent chance of snow. Mostly cloudy and cold, with a high near 18. Northeast wind 5 to 15 mph becoming west in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 25 mph.

The Indiana Arts Commission (IAC) announced Wednesday it is seeking qualified individuals to serve as citizen grant review panelists in 2019. Panelists receive a modest stipend for their service. Depending on eligibility, mileage and lodging reimbursements may be available in addition to the stipend. The citizen peer review panels are critical to the Arts Commission’s public funding process. Prospective panelists must represent diverse backgrounds, experiences, and knowledge in the arts. Panelists should also reflect diverse geographic areas of Indiana. Ideal panelist candidates have experience in one or more of the following: an art form, arts administration, arts project management, non-profit

A new partnership between the world’s leading marine motorsport brand, Powerboat P1 and OPA Racing has created the American Power Boat Association (APBA) Offshore Championship with Michigan City set to host the penultimate round. The two promoters have released details of the race sites in the six-venue series that will see the Great Lakes Grand Prix staged over the weekend of 3/4 August as it celebrates its 11th anniversary. Michigan City joins high-profile race events in Florida, Missouri and Michigan between May and the end of September. The aim is to strengthen the future of racing in the country by

According, to a press release from the Michigan City Police Department, on Wednesday, at approximately 7:59pm the Michigan City Police Department was dispatched to the 200 Block of Elston St. for a complaint of Shots Fired and someone in a vehicle possibly injured. Upon arrival, Officer Cody Washluske located a vehicle parked in front of 214 Jackson St. and discovered the victim, Justin Ameer Garner age 18 in the driver’s seat wounded from what appeared to be a single gunshot to the head. Officer Washluske summoned for EMS to expedite their response, but the victim was deceased. The LaPorte County

Attorney General Curtis Hill announced changes to his executive leadership team. Joan Blackwell, who has served as Chief of Staff since 2017, has been named General Counsel for the Office of the Attorney General. Previously, Blackwell worked as an attorney at Barnes & Thornburg, where she focused her practice on bankruptcy, commercial law and litigation matters; as a section chief in the Office of the Attorney General under a previous administration; and as a staff attorney to the Hon. Frank J. Otte of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of Indiana. Currently, Blackwell also teaches courses at Indiana University’s Robert

Gov. Holcomb joins more than a dozen governors and hundreds of city and county leaders nationwide in officially recognizing School Choice Week in their area of governance. Gov. Holcomb has issued a proclamation declaring Jan. 20-26 as Indiana School Choice Week. Parents, schools, and other planners have organized 981 events and activities across the state of Indiana for School Choice Week. These events, which include rallies, cocktail receptions, roundtable discussions, festivals, and school fairs, aim to spark conversations about the educational opportunities parents have, or want to have, for their children. More than 40,000 events have been independently planned for

Thursday, U.S. Senator Todd Young (R-Ind.) reintroduced the Eastern Legacy Extension Act, a bill that would extend the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail from St. Louis, Missouri to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, including all of Indiana’s southern border along the Ohio River. The proposed extension travels through seven states: Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Senator Young previously introduced the Eastern Legacy Extension Act in the 115th Congress, and it was included in S. 47, the Natural Resources Management Act, a lands package led by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), which is

All Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicle (BMV) branches will be closed Saturday, Jan. 19 through Monday, Jan. 21 in observance of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday. All branches will resume regularly scheduled business hours on Tuesday, Jan. 22.

Snow expected mainly before noon. Patchy blowing snow after 9am. High temp near 26 degrees. New snow accumulation of 1 to 2 inches possible. A Winter Storm Watch is still in effect until 9pm tonight.