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2012 1099 Forms from NRCS Payments to be Reissued

The 2012 IRS 1099 forms issued last month to farmers and ranchers, who receive NRCS financial assistance are incorrect and are scheduled to be reissued by the USDA March 8^th. Apparently the IRS forms may be in the wrong amount or no 1099 was issued when one should have been and NRCS financial experts are reportedly working with the USDA to help get forms out to the appropriate people as quickly as possible.
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Bill to Protect Farmers from Tax Increase Goes To Gov

A bill to prevent an estimated 57 million dollar property tax increase on Indiana farmers now heads to the Governor's desk, after unanimously passing the House of Representatives today. Senate Bill 319, the first bill to be passed by both the House and Senate, would delay, for an additional year, the implementation of new soil productivity factors by the Department of Local Government Finance, or DLGF. The bill would also require the DLGF, with the Purdue University College of Agriculture, to...

Saturday Registration for Valpo Parks Sports on 2/23

(Photo Courtesy of Valpo Parks)
Valpo Parks is offering a special Saturday registration opportunity to get your children signed up for spring sports before the upcoming deadlines. Youth Program Director Phil Blasko says their office doors will be open on February 23^rd, from 9am to noon, at 3210 North Campbell Street, in Valparaiso. The deadlines for each sport is as follows: Softball, ages 5-16, February 28^th; baseball, ages 9-15, March 1^st; and soccer, ages 4-12, March 8^th.
Blasko...

Wilson Removed from Calumet City Election Ballot

A Calumet City Mayoral candidate has been removed from April 9^th municipal election ballot. Today's Times reports the Electoral Board met today and voted to accept challenges made by Calumet City's Mayor, and mayoral candidate Victor Green, which argued Wilson made himself ineligible to run when he first filed nominating petitions to run as a Democrat in next weeks primary, and that Wilson had debts owed to the city, as well as not having enough valid signatures of his nominating petition due...

Authorities Shut Down East Chicago Bar

Indiana State Police Excise Police shut down an East Chicago bar over the weekend. The Times reports authorities entered Alexis Hall, located on the four-thousand block of Alder Street, around 9:30 Friday night, and allegedly found two 16 years along with another minor inside the establishment. Published reports say the bar was cited for numerous illegal activities and code violations, after receiving a compliant of illegal activities there.
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Crown Point Man's Death Ruled Accidental

The death of an 87 year old Crown Point man has been ruled “accidental” according to the Lake County Coroner's Office. Charles Green was pronounced dead at 2:40 Sunday afternoon, after suffering burns to his body and smoke inhalation. The Coroner's Office reports Green was burning debris in a field, just east of his home, in the 69-hundred block of East US 231, when the incident occurred.
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Portage Reports Reduction in Crime for 2012

Police in Portage say their city saw significant reductions in crime last year. They report the lowest number of thefts/stolen property incidents and vehicle thefts in more than fifteen years. They also say 2012 saw the lowest number of burglaries in Portage since 2001.
Police credit their department's efforts, and note their police reserve program assists with thousands of donated hours in daily operations. Also a second school resource officer has been added, and an officer has been assigned...

Region Gas Prices Continue to Climb

Gas prices continue to go up, with prices at the pump in Indiana and Illinois among the highest in the country, according to the latest AAA Fuel Gauge Report. In the Gary metro area, a gallon of regular unleaded is averaging nearly $3.87-- 65-cents more than a month ago. ABC's Linzie Janis says in California, some drivers now paying more than 5 dollars a gallon for gas, but in almost every corner of this country, prices are skyrocketing. The average price now 3 dollars 71 cents a gallon, a...

Marriage License Applications Online in Most of Ind

Applying for a marriage license is becoming easier in most Indiana counties thanks to an Indiana Supreme Court initiative. Online marriage license applications are now available in 78 counties, including all of northwest Indiana , and most recently, Marion County.
Couples can enter basic information online to get the process started instead of having to answer questions in person at Clerk’s offices around the state. Then, applicants go to the Clerk’s office to provide required identification an...

Two Indiana Cities Land on List of 100 Safest

Two Indiana cities both just outside Indianapolis, have landed in Neighborhood Scout's list of "Top 100 Safest Cities in the U.S." The website looked at cities with 25-thousand or more people, and ranked communities based on the total number of property and violent crimes per one-thousand residents. Crimes include burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, murder, forcible rape, armed robbery, and aggravated assault.-- Fishers was number 19, Carmel number 33.
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Elderly Lake Co Man Dies in Fire in Yard

A Crown Point man suffered burns to his body reportedly while burning debris in his yard in the 69-hundred block of East US 231, according to the Times today, and the Lake County Coroners office says 86-year-old Charles Green was pronounced dead at the scene shortly after 2:30 Sunday afternoon. Manner of death was currently listed as pending. Lakes of the Four Seasons Fire Department responded.
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NW Ind Crash Claims Life of Indianapolis Woman

Indiana State Police say an Indianapolis woman lost her life in a single-vehicle crash in northwest Indiana Saturday evening. Troopers say a preliminary investigation revealed, at approximately 6:15 p.m., Saturday, February 16, 2013, a 2001 Ford Explorer, was north bound on I-65 at the 226 mile marker, four miles south of the Demotte exit, in the right lane, when for unknown reasons, the vehicle lost control, over-corrected, and rolled onto its driver’s side, skidding a short distance on the ro...

Visclosky Warns Cuts Could Affect Water Projects

First District Congressman Pete Visclosky says flood control projects and more could be affected by sequestration – automatic, across-the-board spending cuts of 85-billion-dollars, approved by Congress, that take effect next week, if Congress can't compromise on a spending plan. Visclosky says the U-S Army Corps of Engineers alone would face cuts totaling 225-million dollars, likely resulting in the defunding of 65 ongoing construction projects and 43 dredging projects. He says the Corps’ flood...

Reader's Digest Files for Bankruptcy

An iconic magazine goes bankrupt. ABC's Aaron Katersky reports Reader's Digest, which has been around more than ninety year, is steeped in debt and the publisher has filed for bankruptcy. It says more than 25 million people still read the magazine but fewer in print and more on a digital device where advertising just isn't the same. Reader's Digest is the latest in a string of iconic brands to seek protection in bankruptcy court, including Hostess and Eastman Kodak.
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Ind Atty Gen Says Watch Out for Tax-Time Fraud

Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller is urging Region tax filers to take precautions to protect themselves from identity thieves who can steal their information and file a tax return in their name. Last year, Zoeller's office got nearly 70 complaints of tax-refund fraud, and in most cases, Zoeller says thieves used a legitimate taxpayer’s personal information to file a tax return and the victim was unaware – until they were notified by the IRS. Also, Zoeller cautions if you receive an uns...

Tri-Creek Wants Input on New Learning Center

Tri-Creek Schools in Lowell have scheduled a series of meetings called “Listening Posts” to get input on plans for a new Learning Center to be built on the site of the former middle school. Tri-Creek is partnering with Ivy Tech Community College, who'll lease space in the new building... and plans for the center also include space for the district's Opportunity Center suspension/expulsion alternative program... employee health clinic... preschool/daycare center... community center and mul...

Singer Mindy McCready Dies in Apparent Suicide

ABC News reports 37-year-old country singer Mindy McCready has died in an apparent suicide at her home in Heber Springs, Arkansas. Authorities discovered McCready's body on her front porch, the same place her boyfriend David Wilson died last month in an apparent suicide. The local sheriff says it appears McCready died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. McCready - who soared to the top of the charts in the mid-90s has in recent years received more attention for her troubled personal life than...

Region Road Work in Progress

Weather permitting, IDOT says the northbound Stony Island feeder ramp from the Bishop Ford Freeway (I-94) between 103rd St. and 95th St. will be temporarily closed overnight from 10 p.m. Saturday (Feb. 16th) until 10 a.m. Sunday (Feb. 17th) to allow for repairs to the Norfolk Southern Railroad bridge. Ramp traffic from the Bishop Ford Freeway during this outage will be detoured via 103rd St. Motorists will have to follow the posted detour via Torrence Avenue and 95th St. Updates on the im...

Old Grade School in Lowell Nearly Leveled

Listed one time on Indiana's "Most Endangered List", a majority of the Old Grade School in Lowell has been demolished. Tom Trulley, of the Lowell building Department tells the Times that "once the old school's foundation is leveled, a buried storage tank will have to be removed." While future plans for the site remain undecided, the article says, for the time being, the nearly one acre lot will be planted with grass seed. Funding for the $175,000 thousand demolition cost is expected to come t...

Portage School System Considering Alternative Energy

Alternative sources of energy may soon be coming to a Portage school near you. According to the Times, Superintendent, E. Ric Frataccia told the school board that it's time to join the alternative energy game noting that other school districts are moving in that direction. The article says school officials have checked out a windmill at North Newton High School that reportedly lowers the winter utility bill to 20-dollars a month, and the solar collectors recently installed on the roof of the...

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