KOUTS

Morgan Twp. gets $30K for full-time counselor

A state grant has allowed Morgan Township Elementary School to move its social services specialist from part-time to full-time status. The $30,000 Elementary School Intervention and Career Counseling Development Grant will allow counselor Rebecca Whited to work full-time for the next two school years. Morgan Township will join the district's other two elementaries in having a full-time counselor. If the competitive grant is not renewed in two years, the Morgan position would return to a part-time position.

VALPARAISO

Author to be featured during VU inauguration

An author and scholar of world Christianity will take part in an Oct. 15 academic symposium celebrating the inauguration of Valparaiso University's 18th president, Mark Heckler.

The symposium will feature Lamin Sanneh, a professor of world Christianity and history at Yale University and the author of several books on religion and history. Sanneh was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI to the Pontifical Commission on Religious Relations with Muslims.

A panel will respond to Sanneh's speech and audience members may pose questions.

The event will take place at 3:30 p.m. in the Christopher library and is free and open to the public.

Heckler's inauguration will be 2:15 p.m. on Oct. 17 in VU's Chapel of the Resurrection.

VALPARAISO

Sports law clinic database available

A database of the Valparaiso University Sports Law Clinic containing more than 20 years of cases, arbitration decisions and current rules governing various sports is available to interested athletes, coaches, athletic officials, attorneys, media, scholars and fans.

The searchable database can be accessed at valpo.edu/law/sportsclinic.

It encompasses over 500 cases and arbitration decisions going back to 1986.

The clinic was founded in 2005 and provides need-based pro bono legal assistance to amateur athletes and coaches.

GARY

Groups to host green jobs meeting Oct. 22

The United Steelworkers of America, Save the Dunes Council and the Sierra Club will sponsor a Green Jobs Town Hall Meeting from 6 to 9 p.m. on Oct. 22 at McBride Hall, 1301 Texas St.

Congressman Pete Visclosky will be among panelists at the event designed to help area residents learn about creating "green" jobs.

The sponsors invite businesses, organizations and entrepreneurs of the emerging green economy to display information at the event.

For more information or to reserve a table for displays, call Tom Anderson or Erin Crofton at (219) 879-3937.

INDIANA

DNR seeking memories for state parks video

The Indiana Department of Natural Resources is seeking photos, slides, film, videotape, stories and souvenirs from visits to Indiana's 24 state parks for inclusion in a video history to commemorate the 100th birthday of the state's parks and reservoirs in 2016.

Items may be loaned or donated. Bloomington television station WTIU will create digital copies of loaned items, then return the originals.

The video will air in fall 2009.

To contribute, download a release form at interpretiveservices.IN.gov, then mail it with photos or other memorabilia to: Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Division of State Parks and Reservoirs, c/o Leslie Nocton, Historian, 402 W. Washington St., W298, Indianapolis, IN 46204.

If you would like to have items returned, please include a self-addressed, stamped envelope.

For more information, email lnocton@dnr.IN.gov or call (317) 234-6442.

INDIANA

Schools may apply for Abe Lincoln designation

State officials are encouraging schools to become official Indiana Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Schools.

To earn the designation, local educators agree to develop programs including interdisciplinary academic studies, writing assignments, service projects and other activities around the 200th anniversary of Lincoln's birth.

The deadline for submitting proposals is Tuesday. So far, 33 schools have pledged to participate.

Participating schools will be recognized with a certificate and a President Lincoln Lilac Tree.

Lincoln spent his formative years in Indiana from ages 7 to 21.

The Indiana Department of Education has created an online resource guide at doe.in.gov/lincoln.

Essay, PowerPoint and art contests to engage students in the Lincoln Bicentennial are described at IndianasLincoln.org. The deadline for entries is Nov. 1.