(Photo Courtesy of the Times)
A 50 year old Portage man pleaded guilty Monday to leaving the scene of an accident and drunk driving resulting in death. The Times reports James Lohman III, on September 3^rd, 2011, ran over an off-duty bartender in parking lot of the Shift Change Bar on U-S 20, at State Road 149, in Burns Harbor, and dragged the woman's body for more than a mile before she finally became dislodged from underneath the vehicle. Published reports say sentencing is expected for May 6^th.
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Read more: Guilty Plea from Portage Man Accused in Dragging Death

Starting this Friday, you can expect to encounter sobriety checkpoints during the late evening hours in Porter County. Indiana State Police Lowell Post, in conjunction with the Northern Porter County Traffic Safety Partnership, and Portage Police, will be conducting the checkpoints, as part of “Operation Pull-Over Blitz” that begins March 8^th and runs through March 24^th. Authorities say driver's that encounter a check point are required to produce a valid driver's license and registration, and if you are not impaired, then you shouldn't spend more than a couple of minutes in the checkpoint.
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Read more: Sobriety Checkpoints in Porter County Start Friday Night

"Thanks to Indiana's strong fiscal position and careful management, the state will be able to manage the budget cuts with minimal impact to Hoosiers," said Chris Atkins, Director of the Office of Management and Budget. 
State agencies are making every effort to absorb the cuts administratively wherever possible, to minimize the impact on programs and services Hoosiers rely on. For example:

• The sequestration cut will eliminate $4.1 million in food funds from the state's Women Infants and Children program (WIC). Due to Indiana's low transportation cost, administrative cuts of $1.6 million and a declining WIC caseload, Indiana will continue to provide full benefits to all recipients.
• The Department of Workforce Development (DWD) will see funding for job seeker services reduced by $1.1 million and GED remediation cut by $515,000. DWD will mitigate the impact of these cuts completely with a discounted contract extension and a performance-based funding model.
• The Department of Labor (DOL) will lose some federal matching dollars for the Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Administration and INSafe, but can minimize the cuts with other funding sources. In addition, DOL is implementing new technologies later this year to increase efficiency and minimize personnel redundancy. The department expects significant cost savings that will mitigate any effects of sequestration. 

Cuts to federal unemployment benefits cannot be mitigated by the state. Per instruction from the U.S. Department of Labor on Friday, March 1, EUC benefits to 33,000 Hoosiers will be reduced by 10.7 percent beginning March 31.
The Indiana National Guard will put 1,000 Army and Air National Guard full-time military technicians into unpaid furlough one day a week from the end of April through September. The Guard also will hold off on awarding $30 million in military construction projects at Terre Haute and South Bend for fiscal year 2013. The Guard will implement changes to training methods and will stagger furloughs to reduce training costs and ensure that mission requirements are still met. 
The state will not backfill the federal cuts, but thanks to Indiana's hard work in balancing the budget and holding the line on spending, the state is poised to make strong investments in some of the very areas the federal government is cutting, including education and job training. Governor Pence's budget includes $127 million in new funding for Indiana schools, full funding of our state-funded college aid, and $18 million in additional job training funds, all of which would help mitigate the impact of sequestration.
A number of state agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, the Family and Social Services Administration, and the State Department of Health have not received guidance from the federal government about how the cuts will be administered. These agencies have put together their best estimates on the impact and are preparing to handle the cuts with as little impact on services and programs as possible.
The Bureau of Motor Vehicles, the Department of Environmental Management, the Department of Natural Resources, the Department of Revenue, the Department of Transportation, and the Department of Veterans Affairs will see either no impact or minimal impact that can readily be absorbed by the agency.
As agencies continue to learn more from the federal government about how they are to implement the reductions to their funding, the state will continue to provide additional updates.
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Read more: Efforts to Minimize Impact of Sequester on Hoosiers

Forecasters say the Region could get pounded by heavy, wet snow, with accumulations of six to eight inches in some areas, in a winter storm Tuesday afternoon and evening. Valparaiso University Meteorology Professor Dr. Bart Wolf says the heaviest snow looks to fall sometime in the afternoon to early evening, making the evening rush hour especially challenging. The City of Gary reports the Department of General Services is asking residents to adhere to the two-inch parking rules in area areas where signage is posted.
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Read more: Winter Storm Expected Tuesday

Road closures surrounding the two-block area of the structure fire in downtown Valparaiso at Lincolnway and Michigan continue, and are expected to remain blocked off through at least tomorrow morning, according to Valparaiso fire officials. Smoke is reportedly still smoldering at the site at last check, and the facade of the building was pulled down around 4pm today, the last major piece of the structure to be razed. Fire crews are reportedly still searching for hotspots at the site, monitoring the stability of surrounding buildings, and forklifts are digging through the rubble searching for a cause of the fire, which at this time remains unknown.
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Read more: Rd Closures Around Fire Scene Until Tuesday Morning

(Photo Courtesy of the Porter County Museum)
Residents near where the fire occurred to the two-story brick building, at Lincolnway and Michigan, say they awoke to the distinct smell of burnt wood, and one of those residents including Mayor Jon Costas, who says he could smell the smoke when he got into his car this morning. Our own Jay Stevens spoke with the son of the building's owner, Duwayne Dermaylen, at the scene, who stated he received a phone call about 1:45 this morning about the fire at the building, which was built back in 1905, and was one of the first commercial building's in Valparaiso.


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Read more: Valpo Residents: Awoken to the Smell of Smoke

Today's fire in downtown Valparaiso has caused some outages in the area of Lincolnway and Michigan. NIPSCO spokesperson Nick Meyer says they have about 38 customers, most of which are businesses, that are without power at last check. Meyer says crews are on-scene, waiting for the okay to switch the power back on, but with the damage, there is a number of inspections and steps that the city must take first before power is restored, but that process should be relatively quick, and they anticipate power being restored sometime tonight.
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Read more: NIPSCO: Power Could Be Back by this Evening Due to Fire

Several pieces of fire fighting equipment remained at the scene of a fire that was reported around 1:30 a.m. this morning in an over 100-year commercial building located at the southeast corner of Lincolnway and Michigan Ave.   

 

Valparaiso Fire Department Assistant Fire Chief, Dan Lamb says crews were still finding hot spots and were pumping water on those areas with some of the hot spots unreachable.  Chief Lamb says the fire destroyed and weakened the structure of the building making it potentially hazardous to the general public and because of that the remaining walls, especially located on the west side along Michigan Avenue will come down.

 

As of two o'clock this afternoon, Laura Waluszko of the Region News Team reporting from the scene, said a crane had begun to knock down the compromised walls of the burnt out structure.  Assistant Fire Chief Lamb earlier said that the fire department hopes to have Lincolnway reopened by four o'clock this afternoon, but that is no guarantee.  Currently, Lincolnway is closed between Morgan Avenue and Franklin Street.

The over 100-year old building was one of the first commercial buildings to be built in downtown Valparaiso. 
                                                                                                    
   
 






(photos courtesy of Jay Stevens)
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Read more: Fire Fighters Still On Scene Downtown Valpo

[Photo/Karl Berner, Region News Team]

Water collects in on Morgan St., a half block from the fire scene in downtown Valparaiso as officials discuss the situation. Crews remained on scene at the fire, contained to one historic building at Lincolnway and Michigan St., at 8:15 this morning, and were expected to be on scene most of the day.

[Photo/Courtesy Andy Urschel]

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[Photo/Camie Marfoe, Valparaiso]

Road closures -- Lincolnway, from Morgan to Washington... Michigan closed in both directions... The fire is at building at Lincolnway and Michigan.
There is a fire hose running down the middle of Lincolnway from the Porter County Courthouse all the way to the fire scene. The fire hose is also blocking Franklin.
City parking lot west of Round the Clock restaurant is closed with fire equipment
Expect fire crews to be on scene for most of the day
Llincolnway EAST of Morgan (where many people turn north to get to Calumet Ave) is open... CAN'T go south on Morgan, but you can go NORTH
Fire apparently under control, but heavy smoke still in the area, and winds from the west are blowing the smoke into the downtown area.
Also – there are some power outages, including the Lifestyles building... outages due to fire and power being shut off... NIPSCO has been on scene
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[Photo/Camie Marfoe, Valparaiso]

One firefighter has been transported to the hospital after a major fire breaks out overnight  in a building that takes up about a whole block,  in downtown Valparaiso. There's also fire damage to other structures on either side.  The extent of the firefighter's injuries wasn't available at this time.   The Valparaiso Fire Department got the call around 1:30 am.  Crews from Morgan Township and Washington Township were also on scene.  
Officials say the fire was in a two-story brick building at Lincolnway and Michigan, a structure that includes a mortgage company at that corner, plus businesses that face Michigan south of Lincolnway, including a barber shop and at least one other store.   Authorities say almost the entire inside of that building has been destroyed.   For those who are familiar with downtown Valpo, the building is a block east of Lifestyles.
Power is also out in some of the downtown buildings, east of the square, including the Lifestyles building from what we've been told this morning, and it's unknown how long those businesses will be without power.

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