(Photo Courtesy of the Times)
In Hammond Federal Court Monday two Gary residents indicted on charges related to the alleged purchasing of a child to produce pornography pleaded not guilty, according to nwi-dot-com. Arraignment was scheduled today for 39-year-old Christopher Bour and 24-year-old Natisha Hillard. The US Attorneys Office says Hillard is accused of selling her 18-month-old child for the production of child pornography, and Bour is charged with buying a child to produce child pornography. Those and other charges were filed as the result of an investigation by the FBI, the Indiana State Police, and Gary and Michigan City Police Departments.
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Read more: 2 Gary Residents Plead Not Guilty on Child Porn Charges

[Photo provided/Indiana State Police]
Indiana State Police say a semi taking the ramp from Calumet Avenue to I-80 eastbound too fast, this morning caused a multi-semi crash that blocked lanes for about three hours. Troopers say a preliminary investigation showed the first semi rolled onto its drivers side and slid onto the interstate. A second semi pulling an empty covered wagon trailer hit the rail container, but stayed upright and a third rig pulling a box trailer tried to swerve to avoid the other two, causing it to jack-knife, hitting the second trailer and crashing into and through the concrete median barrier wall. The second trailer ripped open and parts of its load, rolls of Styrofoam came out onto the interstate. Troopers say one of the drivers suffered a fractured knee, and the other two were unhurt.

[Photo provided/Indiana State Police]
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Read more: One Injured in Three-Semi Crash

Indiana Regional Silver Alert on Donald Eugene Hickman Sr. has been cancelled as of 9:10 a.m. EST today. Mr. Hickman has been located. This cancellation was requested by the Carroll County Sheriff.
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Read more: Silver Alert Canceled

Two public meetings are scheduled this Wednesday in Lake and Porter Counties on the Deep River-Portage Burns Watershed. The Indiana Department of Environmental Management is determining the maximum amount of pollutants, or pollutant load, a stream can receive and not violate state water quality standards. The first meeting is 2 p.m.at the Lake County Soil and Water Conservation District & Extension Office in Crown Point; the second meeting is 6 p.m. at the Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk.  Citizens who attend either meeting will also learn about water quality monitoring that will begin this April and how to be involved.
Additional info:
Who:  Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM)
What:  Public meetings about the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for the Deep River–Portage Burns Watershed
When and Where:  Wednesday, March 13, 2013
• 2 p.m. (local time), at the Lake County SWCD & Extension Office, 880 E. 99th Court, Suite A, Crown Point, Indiana
• 6 p.m. (local time), at the Portage Lakefront & Riverwalk, Riverwalk Drive, Portage, Indiana
On the Web:  www.watersheds.IN.gov/2347.htm    
The Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) is ready to begin developing a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for the Deep River-Portage Burns Watershed in Lake and Porter counties. To kick-off the process, IDEM will hold two public meetings on Wednesday, March 13, 2013. The first meeting is scheduled for 2 p.m. (local time) at the Lake County SWCD & Extension Office, 880 E. 99th Court, Suite A, in Crown Point. The second meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. (local time) at the Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk, Riverwalk Drive, in Portage.
TMDL is the term for a calculation to determine the maximum amount of pollutants, or pollutant load, a stream can receive and not violate state water quality standards. Where streams violate water quality standards, IDEM develops TMDL reports that include calculations and describe sources of pollutants within the watershed, methods used to analyze data, pollutant reductions needed to restore water quality, and actions for improving water quality.
Citizens who attend either meeting on the Deep River-Portage Burns Watershed TMDL will learn about water quality monitoring that will begin in April 2013, steps in the TMDL process, and how the community can be involved.
Water quality can be impacted by “nonpoint source pollution” and “point source  pollution.” Nonpoint source pollution happens when rain water and snowmelt wash contaminants off of the land into lakes and streams. Common nonpoint source pollutants include excess chemical pesticides and fertilizers used in residential, business and agricultural areas, bacteria from animal waste and failing septic systems, excess salt and oil residue on roadways, and erosion and sediment from bare soils. Point source pollution happens when a contaminant is discharged from a specific source into a lake and or stream. Water pollution from a combined sewer overflow is an example of point source pollution. 
More information about sources of water pollution, watershed planning, and Total Maximum Daily Load Reports is available on the IDEM website at www.watersheds.IN.gov
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Read more: IDEM Watershed Meetings in Lake, Porter Co

BMD Agency, LLC, a boutique creative design firm, announced plans today to expand its operations in northern Indiana, creating up to 27 new jobs by 2016.  The homegrown-Hoosier company will invest $4.1 million to build and equip a 20,000 square-foot facility in the Silverado Industrial Park, a state certified shovel ready site in Roanoke, in Allen County. BMD Agency plans to move from its current Fort Wayne site to the new facility by the end of the year.   BMD Agency, which currently has 29 full-time employees in Indiana, is currently hiring additional writers and graphic designers. Interested applicants can apply at www.brittonmdg.com/careers. 
"Most of our new clients are from outside of Indiana and that has made it tempting to expand our operations closer to new opportunities," said Jeff Britton, principal of BMD Agency. "But our roots are here in Indiana. Our long-standing client Vera Bradley is here and we believe that our Midwestern work ethic, combined with the latest technology, a new inspiring work environment and an expanded world-class team will allow us to compete with the best. We look forward to our continued future in northeast Indiana and thank the IEDC and local officials for helping make this expansion possible."
Founded in 2006 by Jeff and Sue Britton, BMD Agency provides advertising and lifestyle marketing services to clients that specialize in female consumer goods that are influenced by color and fashion trends. The company, whose clients include Vera Bradley, Summit Brands, Benjamin Moore Paints and The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, received a 2011 RACIE Award by the Retail Advertising and Marketing Association for its work on the 2010 Vera Bradley catalog. 
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Read more: New Jobs Coming to Northern Ind

[Photo provided/Matthew Burkart testifies in committee on Tuesday, March 5.]
An Indiana House Committee has unanimously approved a bill inspired by a thirteen-year-old boy from Newburgh. Senate Bill 153 would create an exemption in Indiana's child labor laws to allow Hoosiers younger than 14 to work as youth athletic program referees, umpires or officials. Evansville Holy Rosary Catholic School student Matthew Burkart sought the change after he was turned away from taking a referee job or volunteering as an official for a local soccer club. Burkart, who testified in both the Senate and House committee hearings, said “This bill will get kids off the couches and iPads” and help teach responsibility, commitment and confidence.

[Photo provided/Matthew Burkart and his father, Bob, meet with Rep. Crouch (located far left in photo) and Sen. Becker (located far right in photo) after committee on Tuesday, March 5.]
Burkart also says the bill would potentially help 300 12- and 13-year-old Hoosiers who want to referee.
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Read more: Indiana Teen Inspires Referee Legislation

Crown Point Fire Rescue says time change is a good time to change the batteries in your smoke detector....
Meanwhile... the time zone debate continues in Indiana...
For years, most of the state, including South Bend, Lafayette and Indianapolis, was Eastern Standard all year long, but that changed in April 2006, when all counties in the state began observing Daylight Saving Time.
Carmel [car'-mll] Senator Mike Delph authored a resolution this session asking the US Department of Transportation to hold hearings on placing the entire state in the Central Time Zone.
For many years, much earlier, since 1918, Indiana was a Central Time state – but that changed in1961, when the Interstate Commerce Commission divided Indiana into two time zones, Eastern and Central.
Currently, twelve Indiana counties, in northwest and southwest Indiana, observe Central Time.
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Read more: Have You Changed Your Clocks and Batteries?

Porter County Coroner Chuck Harris says he has seen an alarming number of what appear to be heroin-related deaths recently. "We don't have the toxicology reports back yet," Harris said, " but as everything appears right now with the probable and suspected heroin overdoses we're pretty much at the same levels that we were back in 2012 for the entire year and we're not even three months into 2013 at this point. "   In 2012, Harris says Porter County had nine deaths related to the drug, and so far this year there have been eight, confirmed or suspected, linked to heroin.  Harris is urging parents to start getting "a little bit nosy", especially if they have children they might suspect are into something like heroin, or even if they don't suspect anything, to try to find out what they're into. Harris says individuals who've died in the past couple of weeks have generally been between the ages of 18 and 25.
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Read more: Alarming Jump in Heroin Deaths

Word of a second residential fire call this morning.  Multiple crews were reportedly dispatched to a house on County Road 250 South, east of Lakes of the Four Seasons in Porter County, just after 715 am this morning.
Earlier this morning, mutliple departments responded to a fire on Belmont Place in south Lake County.  The area is just west of Cedar Lake and Lake Dalecarlia, between those communities and the Indiana/Illinois state line off 151st Avenue. No other details available at this hour.  Reportedly fire crews from Lake and Porter Counties are assisting at the scene.  More information as it becomes available.
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Read more: Residential Fire Call in Porter County

Lake County commuters -- Huge delays early today on the Borman Expressway. On the eastbound Borman (Interstate 80/94) at Calumet Avenue in Hammond, authorities are responding to a  3-truck accident. As of 630 this morning, all lanes of EB 80/94 were closed; right shoulder passable. Solid congestion, 30-minute delay backed up into Illinois.  Crews on scene.  Gapers delay westbound  80/94 from Indianapolis west to Calumet Avenue.
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Read more: Crash Blocks EB Borman