News

The Indiana Department of Transportation is offering civil engineering students scholarships and paid employment during summer breaks and upon graduation. Students must be accepted or enrolled full time in one of Indiana’s certified civil engineering schools and apply using the form at www.INDOTScholarship.IN.gov. Applications for the 2019-2020 academic school year must be submitted by December 31, 2018. INDOT’s scholarship program uses federal funds to offer $3,125 per semester or $2,083 per trimester for up to five years of post-secondary civil engineering education. Scholarship funds can be applied to educational expenses, fees and books. In return, recipients work for INDOT in full-time,

U.S. Senator Joe Donnelly welcomed new federal funding for the Indiana State Department of Health. The $1 million grant, awarded by the U.S. Department of Justice, will support the improvement of school security through the development of threat assessment and crisis intervention teams, anonymous reporting systems, and training for students, school personnel and local law enforcement officers. The STOP School Violence Prevention and Mental Health Training Program supports state and local efforts to prevent and reduce school violence. The program addresses training school personnel and educating students to prevent student violence; developing and operating anonymous reporting systems against threats of

Effective Wednesday, Oct. 3rd, improvements to the Gary Metro Center platform will shift locations, impacting passenger access to the station. On Oct. 3rd, the east end of the platform will re-open and the west end of the platform will close, including the main stairway and SSL platform elevator. During this time, passengers may access the SSL platform through the Broadway St. entrance. Due to the elevator closure, the recommended alternative ADA-accessible station location is East Chicago. The closure is expected to last until early Monday, Oct. 8th.

The effects of miscommunication within organizational communications is the focus of a new book by Purdue University Northwest Professor of English Carolyn Boiarsky, Ph.D. In her book titled, “Risk Communication and Miscommunication: Case Studies in Science, Technology, Engineering, Government and Community Organizations,” published by University Press of Colorado, Boiarsky analyzes models of good communications by Enbridge Pipeline Company in Griffith, Indiana, as well as the Kansas Army Corps of Engineers. Boiarsky also cites examples of miscommunication between engineers and managers at other organizations prior to the 1992 Chicago flood and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Her insights provide help to

2nd Annual Swap Accessories with your Friends” event to be held on Saturday, October 27 at 1:00 p.m. Central Time, at the Community Building at the LaPorte County Fairgrounds, 2581 W. St. Rd. 2, LaPorte. This event is free and open to the public. The Swap gives participants the opportunity to exchange unused accessories in their closet for new to them accessories. Bring your jewelry, belts, scarves, hats, purses and bags. Up to five (5) clean and in good condition accessories will be accepted to exchange per person. Throughout the afternoon participants will have the opportunity to choose new-to-you articles.

Business leaders in northwestern Indiana are invited to learn about the state’s new Office of Work-Based Learning & Apprenticeship and how it can help address workforce development needs. The two opportunities on Oct. 17 are: 9:30 a.m. at the Center of Workforce Innovations, 2804 Boilermaker Court, Valparaiso; and 2:30 p.m. at the Purdue Technology Center’s Main Conference Room, 9800 Connecticut Drive, Crown Point. The Office of Work-based Learning & Apprenticeship is part of the Indiana Department of Workforce Development and was created in March by an executive order signed by Gov. Eric Holcomb. Business owners in DWD’s Region 1—Jasper, Lake

All Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) branches are closed Saturday, Oct. 6 through Monday, Oct. 8 in observance of the Columbus Day holiday. Branches resume regularly scheduled business hours on Tuesday, Oct. 9. For a complete list of branch locations and hours, to complete an online transaction, or to find a 24-hour BMV Connect kiosk near you visit IN.gov/BMV.

If you want to vote in the upcoming November 6th General Election, you must register by October 9th. Citizens can register to vote online by texting ‘Indiana’ to 2VOTE (28683), or by visiting IndianaVoters.com, and can submit an application to register in person at their local county clerk's office. The Indiana Voters app also allows Hoosiers to confirm their voter registration, look up their polling place, get driving directions to their polling location, find out who's on their ballot, track their absentee ballot application or provisional ballot information and contact local election officials. In order to be eligible to register

A concrete restoration project will start Wednesday in the southbound lanes of I-65 in Lake County, between 61st Avenue and U.S. 30. During the project, southbound traffic on I-65 will be split, with one lane to the right and two lanes to the left during the day. At night, traffic will only pass in the one lane to the right as crews work in the left lanes. Also, while crews are working at night, the ramps connecting 61st Avenue to southbound I-65 will be closed. Those ramps will remain open during the day. Schedule for closures is as follows (times

SR 8 has reopened between U.S. 421 and SR 39 in LaPorte County. Following damage from historic flooding in February, this stretch of SR 8 was closed while INDOT engineers performed extensive testing, working to determine the severity of the damage both above and below the driving surface, and also what would need to be done to make the road safe for the motoring public. Once assessments were complete, a project had to be developed to execute the repairs. Over the summer, the fix for the flood damage was combined with a previously scheduled bridge project as crews aimed to

The Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) announces that a concrete restoration project starting Wednesday, Oct. 3, in Lake County will restrict southbound traffic on I-65 between 61st Avenue and U.S. 30 through mid-October. Also, while crews work overnight, ramps connecting 61st Avenue to southbound I-65 will be closed. They will remain open during the day. Traffic will be split on southbound I-65 during the project, with one lane moving on the right and two to the left during the day. At night, traffic will only flow in the lane on the right. Schedule for closures is as follows (times are

The Michigan City High School (MCHS) Marine Corps Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (MCJROTC) participated in numerous activities during September to support Michigan City Area Schools (MCAS) and the surrounding community. Among the events the cadets supported were the MCHS Open House, two Saturdays assisting an elderly woman clean her house, and the United Way Car Wash. Cadets also performed four Color Guards: two home MCHS football games, the LaPorte Veterans of Foreign Wars Veteran of the Year Dinner, and the Military Appreciation Night in Valparaiso. October will be at least as busy as September for the cadets. They will

The United States Census Bureau has released the most recent data on Indiana home building, indicating a rise for single-family construction starts for August. Single-family permits are up 8% from July 2018 when 1,497 permits were pulled and also up 8% from August of last year when 1,502 permits were pulled. Overall the state stands at a 7% total increase for the first eight months of 2018 compared to 2017. Builder confidence in the market for newly built single-family homes remains unchanged in September at 67, on the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI). Any number

  A multiple semi crash had closed all lanes of south bound I-65 with traffic being diverted at the 215 mile marker (Rensselaer exit). Preliminary investigation revealed that just after 5 am, Monday, traffic was stopped in both lanes of I-65 southbound near the 205 mile marker (Remington exit) due to an earlier crash that caused the left lane to be closed. A Freightliner pulling a box trailer, and driven by 27 year old Ikhtiyor Sulaymanov, of Brooklyn, New York, was stopped in the right lane at the 206 mile marker. Directly in front of Sulaymanov, also stopped in the

The La Porte County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a single vehicle crash that claimed the life of a rural La Porte County man on Saturday. At 5:05 am on September 29, deputies from the Sheriff’s Office were summoned to the area of County Road 400 North near the intersection County Road 850 West in Coolspring Township in reference to a traffic crash. Deputies located a Ford Ranger pickup truck overturned down a steep embankment on the south side of the road. The driver, who was the lone occupant, was found to be partially ejected and pinned under the truck. He

Current high school seniors planning to pursue a degree in education can now apply for the Next Generation Hoosier Educators Scholarship, according to State Rep. Jim Pressel (R-Rolling Prairie). The scholarship provides $7,500 a year for a maximum of four years to 200 students who attend an Indiana college or university. “Following their college graduation, students who have received this scholarship commit to teaching in Hoosier classrooms for the next five years,” Pressel said. “This program helps keep some of Indiana’s most talented and high-achieving students in our state to teach our next generation of doctors, mechanics and even teachers.”

U.S. Senators Joe Donnelly and Todd Young led a bipartisan group of Senators in sending a letter to the co-chairs of the Joint Select Committee on the Solvency of Multiemployer Pension Plans encouraging members to now reach a bipartisan agreement that provides legislative recommendations to Congress this year on the pending pension crisis. The Joint Select Committee, chaired by Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH), was created as part of the overall budget compromise enacted in February 2018. The committee was required to hold at least five public meetings and is tasked with crafting recommendations and a legislative

This past Friday, the House passed bipartisan legislation to combat the opioid epidemic, including provisions authored by U.S. Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-Ind.) and named in honor of Dr. Todd Graham that would improve access to non-opioid pain treatments. The comprehensive legislation to aid prevention, treatment, and recovery efforts is expected to reach the president’s desk for his signature in the coming days. The House passed the Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment (SUPPORT) for Patients and Communities Act (H.R. 6) by a bipartisan vote of 393 to 8 after a final agreement was reached between the House

Friday, Congressman Jim Banks (IN-03) released the following statement after voting for the Protecting Family and Small Business Tax Cuts Act: “When I travel across northeast Indiana, I constantly hear about the positive results from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Because of tax reform, Hoosiers are seeing more opportunities and taking home larger paychecks. This legislation contains key provisions to make many of the tax cuts that help families and small businesses permanent.” This legislation is one of three bills the House passed this week that comprise a Tax Reform 2.0 plan. More information about these bills below: Protecting

  Purdue University Northwest (PNW) students graduating in May 2019 will be the first graduating class to receive a Purdue University Northwest diploma. Chancellor Thomas L. Keon made the announcement to students, faculty and staff on Friday. “This is an exciting step forward for Purdue Northwest,” said Keon. “Everything we do as a comprehensive university to ensure the success of our graduates—from high-quality teaching and scholarship, to a robust campus community, to a growing alumni network—is now further reflected in our diploma.” Keon said as the Purdue system has evolved in recent years, with the establishment of Purdue University Northwest,