Valparaiso fought hard but just could not overcome Michigan State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament today, falling to the Spartans, 65 to 54. Senior guard Ben Boggs led the Crusaders in scoring with 15 points. Also in NCAA Tournament action this afternoon were the Butler Bulldogs, who defeated Bucknell 68 to 56, and move on to face the winner of the Davidson verses Marquette game.
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Read more: Butler Moves On While Valpo Knocked Out of Tourney

The Lake County Sheriffs Office says foul play is not suspected in the strangulation death of a Schneider woman. The Lake County Coroners office says the manner of death was pending for 41-year-old Tracy Ritter-Loitz. Lake County Police responded to a medical call to the woman's Schneider residence in reference to a medical call. Tri-Creek EMS was on scene treating Ritter-Loitz, who was subsequently transported to a local hospital, where she died Monday night.. The case remains under investigation.
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Read more: Foul Play Not Suspected in Strangulation Death

Here in northwest Indiana, a statue has its own Twitter account... that would be the bronze likeness of Orville Redenbacher at downtown Valparaiso's Central Park. And that's not that unusual for the social-media-revolutionizing machine. Twitter turns seven years old today (Thursday). On March 21, 2006, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey sent the first social-media tweet, typing "just setting up my twttr". He spelled it T-W-T-T-R and used only 24 of the allowed 140 characters. Fast-forward to today, the company's Elaine Filadelfo says 200 million users tweet 400 million times a day and just over every two days there are a billion tweets sent.
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Read more: How Tweet It Is: Twitter Turns Seven

Powerball continues to climb. The jackpot is now an estimated 320-million dollars for Saturday night's drawing after no one matched all the numbers. Hoosier Lottery officials it's is the largest in the game since last November's historic $587.5 million run ended with jackpot winners in Missouri and Arizona.
Indiana leads the nation in Powerball jackpot wins with 38. A Hoosier Lottery player laid claim to the very first Powerball jackpot win in the first Powerball drawing in April 1992. Two of the game's top ten ranking jackpots -- $314.3 million and $295 million -- were also scored in Indiana.
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Read more: Powerball Jackpot Now $320M

Kouts has a new councilwoman. 36-year-old Nicole Markovich will fill the remaining term of Democrat Orville Jefferson, who left his at-large seat on the town council to become the town's building inspector. Markovich was the only person to file for the vacancy.
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Read more: Kouts Council Vacancy Filled

A broken rail is delaying westbound South Shore trains today, according to officials with Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District. NICTD issued this advisory this morning:
Westbound South Shore Trains originating out of the Shops/Carroll Avenue are expected to be 15-20 minutes late due to a broken rail causing red signals west of our 11st Station in Michigan City. Please be at your departing station on time incase delays are shorter than expected.
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Read more: Broken Rail Delays South Shore

The healthiest county in the state is Hamilton, just outside Indy, according to a newly-released study. Porter made it into the top 20; Lake County, however, was at the other end, at number 81. One Region county, Starke, ranked just five spots above the bottom of the list. That's according to the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s annual report, which not only ranks the health of all 92 Indiana counties but the overall health for every county in all 50 states using a formula to measuring health and longevity.
Health indicators used in the study include smoking, obesity, and alcohol use as well as income and education.
For all the county rankings and data click here: http://www.countyhealthrankings.org/app/indiana/2013/rankings/outcomes/overall/by-rank
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Read more: Lake, Starke Counties: Unhealthy

Chief Keith Cash (Photo provided/IU)
Indiana University Bloomington Police Chief Keith Cash passed away suddenly Wednesday evening.  The university issued a news release saying the " entire Indiana University Bloomington community is deeply saddened and shocked by the unexpected death of IU Police Chief Keith Cash, who passed away at approximately 6:20 p.m." Wednesday at Bloomington Hospital of natural causes.
Cash, a 29-year veteran of the IU Police Department, was named chief in October 2010 after serving as an operations captain on the force for nine years. During his time as chief, Cash, 50, oversaw a police force of approximately 100 officers and staff responsible for the public safety of IU's flagship campus.
"Keith served Indiana University with enormous distinction and honor for nearly three decades, culminating in a highly successful, and all too short, tenure as chief," IU President Michael A. McRobbie said. "Keith's love for this university, and the Bloomington campus in particular, was apparent to all who knew him. Our deepest sympathies go out to his family members. He will be greatly missed, and we all grieve at the loss of such a wonderful man."
Cash, a native of Jeffersonville, Ind., earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in criminal justice from IU Bloomington and in 2004 graduated from the Federal Bureau of Investigation National Academy. Cash was honored in 2011 by IU student media with the Trevor R. Brown Award, given annually to the IU Bloomington staff member who demonstrated respect and support for the First Amendment and student media.
Cash also was an instructor at the IU Police Academy and a guest lecturer in criminal justice and other classes at IU Bloomington. He served on the board of the Indiana Association of Indiana Chiefs of Police and was a member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police.
"Keith was ideally suited for the role of police chief of one of the largest college campuses in the United States," said Mark Bruhn, associate vice president for public safety and institutional assurance. "Keith was admired and respected by the entire police force and, on a personal note, I will be forever grateful for his wise counsel. Our hearts go out to his family and friends."
IU Executive Vice President for University Regional Affairs, Planning and Policy John Applegate added, "Keith had a deep understanding of the IU Bloomington campus and community, as well as an appreciation of the unique challenges of ensuring the safety of the more than 40,000 students who call IU Bloomington home each year."
Cash is survived by his mother, Judy Cash; father, Tom Cash; brother Mike; and brother and sister-in-law Steve and Nancy Cash. Funeral arrangements are pending.
Deputy Chief Laury Flint, who will serve as acting police chief until a permanent successor is named, called Cash "the type of leader you can't replace and a true mentor to me and other members of the force."
"Keith was as fine an officer as I have had the honor to work with during my more than 30 years with the IU Police Department," said Jerry Minger, who oversees the police forces on all IU campuses in his role as public safety director. "I have lost a dear friend, and the IU community has lost one of its best advocates and protectors. The entire IU Police family mourns the loss of Keith Cash."
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Read more: IUB Police Chief Dies Suddenly

Gary Police say two teenagers have been charged in connection with a double homicide that claimed the lives of two brothers. The suspects have been identified as 17-year-old Johnte Crawford and 16-year-old Donnell  Wilson.  Both are facing murder and robbery charges. The Lake County Coroners office says 19-year-old Shaqwone Ham and 18-year-old Charles Wood were both found with gunshot wounds in the 25-hundred block of 13^th Avenue Sunday afternoon; Ham was pronounced dead at the scene and Wood died Monday.
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Read more: Two Teens Charged in Double Homicide

The Lake County Coroners office says the manner of death was pending for a 40-year-old woman who died from strangulation in her home in Schneider, a community of less than three-hundred people in far south Lake County. Authorities say Tracy Loitz was pronounced dead at an area hospital Monday night. The Lake County Sheriffs Department is investigating. No other information was available at this time.
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Read more: Schneider Strangulation Death Investigated