Colonel John Wheeler Middle School dance team named state runner-up

CROWN POINT | The Crown Point Community School Corporation Board of School Trustees presented Commendation Awards to the Colonel John Wheeler Middle School dance team for being named state runner-up, at the state competition on March 16.

Salon plans Cut-a-Thon to benefit Boys & Girls Club

CROWN POINT | Vanis Salon & Day Spa in Crown Point is holding a Cut-a-Thon from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday, with all proceeds benefiting the Cedar Lake Boys & Girls Club to help enrich its academic programs.

Valparaiso kicks off spring with food, fun

Gaming director says land-based casinos coming -- someday

Land-based gaming will come to Indiana, with declining overall casino revenues and other factors making such a shift more likely, Indiana Gaming Commission Executive Director Ernest Yelton said Monday.

Urgent care serves in-between cases

From strip malls to pharmacies to freestanding buildings, medical care increasingly is being found outside traditional hospital and doctors' office settings.

Big investment fish eye Gary airport

The drive to land private investment for the Gary/Chicago International Airport already is drawing interest from some of the biggest names in the investment business.

McDonald's to put 'Fish McBites' in Happy Meals

NEW YORK | McDonald's says it is offering its first new Happy Meal entree in a decade: Fish McBites.

011713-nws-DCBOUND, local high school students head to d.c. for inauguration

Local high school students and their parents join hands in prayer Wednesday night at the Ramada Inn where they met to prepare for their trip to Washingotn, D.C. Thursday morning to attend Barack Obama's presidential inauguration on Monday. The students, who are enrolled in the The Barden Gar…

Trip of a lifetime

Local high school students and their parents join hands in prayer Wednesday night at the Ramada Inn in Hammond, where they met to prepare for their trip to Washington, D.C. The students' essays won them a spot at Barack Obama's presidential inauguration Monday.

Trip of a lifetime

Chareice White, president of the Barden Gary Foundation, top center, talks with local high school students Wednesday night at the Ramada Inn in Hammond as they prepare to leave for Washington, D.C.

Trip of a lifetime

Tacarra Holden, 18, a Lew Wallace student, joins other local high school students who won an essay contest and the right to travel to Washington, D.C., to attend Barack Obama's inauguration. The group stayed at the Ramada Inn on Wednesday before leaving Thursday for D.C.

Fewer U.S. banks failing as industry strengthens

WASHINGTON | U.S. banks are ending the year with their best profits since 2006 and fewer failures than at any time since the financial crisis struck in 2008. They're helping support an economy slowed by high unemployment, flat pay, sluggish manufacturing and anxious consumers.

Sitting, smoking our way to the bottom

Hoosiers are heavier, smoke more and are increasingly diabetic, compared to a year ago.

Santa & Mrs. Claus Available in the Old Courthouse

CROWN POINT |  The Mayor’s Office of Special Events is excited to announce that Santa and Mrs. Claus will be available for photos in the Lower Level of the Historic Lake Courthouse located at 1 Courthouse Square in the Hub of Lake County, every Saturday through December 22nd from 12-4pm. Bri…

PUC ‘Celebrating Innovation’ Thursday

HAMMOND | Recently recognized by The Society of Innovators of Northwest Indiana, Purdue University Calumet’s cutting edge Center for Innovation through Visualization and Simulation will host a day of Celebrating Innovation on Thursday.

Union says employer failed to make pension fund payments

HAMMOND | The Teamsters are suing a region company over an alleged failure to contribute to a pension trust fund, federal court records show.

Friday concert series returns to chapel at LaPorte hospital

LAPORTE | Residents are invited to a free musical performance at noon Friday in the Indiana University Health La Porte Hospital Family Chapel, 1007 Lincolnway.

Volunteers needed to provide hospice services

MERRILLVILLE | Unity Hospice of Northwest Indiana is seeking caring and compassionate volunteers to provide support to people who have a terminal illness and members of their families.

OFFBEAT: NWI stars in region romance author's steamy novel

Phil Potempa's daily entertainment news column.

RDA throws out $100,000 lifeline for paratransit

The Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority on Tuesday voted to appropriate $100,000 to keep paratransit services running for people with disabilities in the former easygo Lake Transit territory.