(Photo Courtesy of the Gary Police Department)
Family and friends of a missing 62 year old Gary man are asking for your help in locating him. Gary Police report Lonnie Watkins has been missing since he left his mother's home, in the area of 4^th Avenue and Durbin Street, the afternoon of January 9^th, when Watkins road his bicycle about six-blocks away to an empty rental property his sister owns on the 700 block of Burr Street. Police say Watkins, who is a diabetic, and had just been released from...

Read more: Police/Family Seek Help to Find Missing Man

An investigation continues into the death of a 80 year old Hammond woman reportedly found unresponsive behind the wheel of her vehicle, at the intersection of Ridge Road and Howard Street, in Munster today. The Lake County Coroner's Office reports Mary Bales was pronounced dead at 11:30 this morning, in the Emergency Room of Munster Community Hospital. Published reports say an autopsy has been scheduled, and no further information is available at this time.
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Read more: Eldery Woman Found Dead Behind Wheel

A bill designed to expand benefits for family members of state employees who die in the line of duty now moves on the the Indiana House of Representatives, after passing through the Senate. Senate Bill 324, co-authored by Democrat Jim Arnold, of LaPorte, would raise benefit amounts from 50 to 100-thousand dollars for employees killed while on duty, and an amendment to the bill approved naming dependent stepchildren as beneficiaries, if the spouse of the deceased was no longer living. The...

Read more: Expanding Benefits to Employees Killed in Work Zones

ABC News is reporting new government numbers show gas prices are on the rise, with the national average up four-cents to three-dollars-71-cents a gallon. According to gasbuddy-dot-com, the highest and lowest price for a gallon of regular unleaded fuel in Lake County at last check can be found in Merrillville, with the low being three-dollars-20-cent and the highest at three-dollars-77-cents. Statistics show in the Gary metropolitan area, the average is three-dollars 50-cents a gallon, up about...

Read more: Gas Prices Up Nationally and in the Region

First District Congressman Pete Visclosky has announced a couple of events coming up in the Region... He's hosting a job fair Saturday, March 9 (1 to 4 pm) at the Genesis Convention Center in Gary, and featured participants will include the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority and contractors who serve the RDA. A full list of participating organizations will be available in February.
… a couple days later, Monday March 11^th, (6-8pm) at the Radisson in Merrillville, .the Congressman...

Read more: Visclosky Announces Events in the Region

The Schererville Police Department and Chief David Dowling have announced a new program for Schererville residents called “Morning Call”.  Schererville Police Corporal Timothy Arvanitis says the new program is designed to reach out to senior citizens or shut-ins in our community who may have no family, or family not in the immediate area. Each weekday volunteers from the town's VIPS (Volunteers in Police service) program will call each individual on their list to check in on them to make sure th...

Read more: Schererville PD Announces 'Morning Call' Pgm

Company officials say estimated bills for NIPSCO customers could soon be a thing of past. The utility today announced mobile meter readers are coming. The multi-year project to upgrade gas and electric meters across the northern part of the state is expected to improve customer service, efficiency and safety. The Automated Meter Reading (AMR) System takes readings through a receiver mounted in a NIPSCO vehicle, eliminating the need for people to walk door to door to read more than 900-hundred...

Read more: NIPSCO Announces New Mobile Meter Readers

South Shore service has resumed with westbound Train 14 and eastbound Train 7 following a derailment in Michigan City early this morning. The westbound train was running about 20 minutes late, and the eastbound train is expected to be running about a half-hour late. Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District (NICTD) Spokesman John Parsons says early this morning, at about 5 am., the rear car of one of their trains derailed in Michigan City as it was moving from the yard to the main to...

Read more: South Shore Service Resumes

Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District says they expect regular westbound South Shore service to resume with Train 14 scheduled to arrive in Chicago at 10:28 a.m. with an expected delay of approximately 15-20 minutes.
Earlier this morning a derailment in Michigan City forced the cancellation of 6 South Shore rush hour trains scheduled to arrive in Chicago between 7:21 a.m. and 8:52 a.m. There were no injuries. Metra Electric will honor South Shore ticketed passengers who rode Metra...

Read more: South Shore Service Resuming This Morning

All South Shore trains scheduled to arrive in Chicago after 6:40 a.m. remains temporarily suspended due to a derailment in Michigan City. There are no injuries but service is affected. We expect this disruption to affect the balance of the morning rush hour. Metra Electric will honor South Shore tickets.
We are working on a plan to provide limited unscheduled service between East Chicago and Chicago using 2 trains unaffected by the derailment. Expect limited seating and crowded conditions.
We...

Read more: Derailment Affects South Shore Svc -- Latest Update