Portage blessed with location, access

The Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk, shown during calm waters last September, is a popular spot during high winds, when waves are spectacular.

Grow economy through investment, collaboration

Shipping is a vital part of Northwest Indiana's economy, as this September photo of the Indiana Harbor Ship Canal shows.

Construction sector likely to improve slightly

A portion of the BP expansion project at Whiting Refinery is shown in this September aerial photo. The BP project is the largest in Indiana history.

A Delicate Balance

Marquette Park in Gary

A Delicate Balance

ArcelorMittal in East Chicago

A Delicate Balance

The Lake Michigan shoreline along Marquette Park in Gary.

BP has fueled resurgence in Whitiing

BP's Whiting Refinery expansion has pumped billions of dollars in the economy, boosting its Whiting's economic prospects.

BP project wind-down will involve big layoffs

The $3.8 billion BP Whiting refinery project is on schedule to wrap up in the second half of this year, with attendant layoffs of construction workers expected to affect employment in that sector.

BP

An aerial view of BP's Whiting Refinery is shown. BP revealed Tuesday that it made a net profit of $5.5 billion in the third quarter, more than offsetting the $1.34 billion loss reported in the previous three months when the company wrote down the value of some assets. It was also 5 percent …

Replacement work continues at Whiting Refinery

Work is under way at the BP Whiting Refinery to finish the process of replacing the largest of three crude distillation units as part of the facility's modernization project.

ArcelorMittal East Chicago

ArcelorMittal's East Chicago facility is shown next to the Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal. In East Chicago, the steelmaking company placed 155 hourly employees at Indiana Harbor Long Carbon on a 32-hour work schedule, said ArcelorMittal spokeswoman Mary Beth Holdford. All of the employees hav…

ArcelorMittal in East Chicago

ArcelorMittal;s East Chicago facility is shown in September.

ArcelorMittal Burns Harbor

Locally, ArcelorMittal operates integrated steel mills in East Chicago and Burns Harbor, shown here; a global research and development facility in East Chicago; a hot strip mill in Riverdale; a plate mill in Gary; and processing and finishing joint venture facilities in New Carlisle.

U.S. steel production

ArcelorMittal's Burns Harbor facility is shown. Production of raw steel in the United States is expected to rise about 3 percent in 2012 from a year earlier, according to early estimates from the American Iron and Steel Institute.

Gary Airport

Edmon Lighthall, director of marketplace development for the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce said Gary should be working with communities through Chicago and Milwaukee to incubate technology businesses and leverage core assets and unique infrastructure, such as the Gary/Chicago International…

2 Great Lakes hit lowest water level on record

A file photo shows the Lake Michigan shoreline along Marquette Park in Gary in September 2012. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Tuesday that Lake Michigan and Lake Huron have reached the lowest water levels since record keeping began in 1918.

U.S. Steel

Within the last two weeks, U.S. Steel Chairman and CEO John Surma said during a conference call with analysts the company has produced initial batches of a product at Gary Works that is expected to serve as a substitute for coke when added to blast furnaces. He said the first of two carbon a…

Finally, a pact for a new bridge

This section of Cline Avenue in East Chicago, closed two and a half years ago, will be replaced by a toll bridge.

U.S. Steel

U.S. Steel, whose Gary Works facility is shown, reported a wider first quarter net loss of $219 million, or $1.52 per share, largely from a $399 million charge related to the sale of its Serbian steel operation. But the Pittsburgh-based steel company reported income from its flat-rolled, Eur…

ArcelorMittal

Steel production facilities in Burns Harbor and East Chicago, shown here, helped ArcelorMittal win a national award for its energy management efforts and commitment to energy efficiency.