FROM the FARM: Happy 90th Birthday Auntie Lottie

Phil Potempa's weekly farm column recipe.

YOUNG VOICES: Encourage students to challenge themselves

As students finish up their studies in the coming weeks, schools will evaluate the results of year-end testing to see if improvements were made during this academic year. More than ever, these results are used to access the effectiveness of curricula and the teachers who deliver them.

FROM the FARM: Corn planting slow for 2013 growing season

Phil Potempa's weekly farm column recipe.

Preschool teacher ends 24-year career with reception

MUNSTER | Pam Domasica has been teaching preschoolers for 24 years and will complete her career at Westminster Preschool with a reception in her honor from 2 to 5 p.m. Thursday. Former students, their parents and friends are invited to the celebration at the school, located at Westminster Pr…

Top Bears pick Long has school to wrap up

LAKE FOREST | The Bears' draft picks have plenty of obstacles to overcome in the next few months while trying to fit onto the roster.

Former C.P. teacher fired from Florida school district

A former Crown Point teacher has been terminated from his position in a Florida school district after an investigation relating to his conduct in another state.

FROM the FARM: Join me this month for my free 'Spring Cooking Show'

Phil Potempa's weekly farm column recipe.

FROM the FARM: School cafeteria menus have changed from staple offerings

Phil Potempa's weekly farm column recipe.

Investigation reveals other educators talked about guns in school

LAKE STATION | Three Lake Station School Corp. educators posted comments on Facebook talking about "solving problems and needing guns," Police Chief Kevin Garber said Monday.

Get involved in schools, you'll appreciate teachers

My volunteer work at Marquette Elementary School in Gary proved to be much more rewarding than my original intentions.

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD: Let's try to assume less about our students

At the beginning of each year, we search for personal resolutions and opportunities to improve on ourselves based on what we did or did not do the previous year.

Late Tuskegee Airman was favorite teacher of state senator

INDIANAPOLIS | Quentin Smith was a Tuskegee Airman, a former Gary city councilman and a living legend when he died Tuesday at age 94.

4 local schools selected to receive portion of $10 million state grant

Four region schools are among 40 selected statewide to receive a portion of a $10 million state grant to recognize their best teachers.

Crafters send mittens with a message to Newtown

"Chester Raccoon stood at the edge of the forest and cried. 'I don't want to go to school,' he told his mother. 'I want to stay home with you. I want to play with my friends. And play with my toys. And read my books. And swing on my swing. Please may I stay home with you?'" — "The Kissing Ha…

How to talk to your kids about Conn. mass shooting

The killings at a Connecticut elementary school left parents struggling to figure out what to tell their children.

Two Portage teachers honored by state group

PORTAGE | Two Portage teachers were honored recently by the Hoosier Association of Science Inc.

Te'o leads Irish defense, key to perfect season

SOUTH BEND | If Manti Te'o's career at Notre Dame has seemed like something straight out of a Hollywood script, perhaps it is fitting the linebacker is cast as a underdog in the final two scenes of his collegiate career.

Illinois sparking a refugee health care revolution

A movement spreading across Illinois is creating a health care revolution for refugees from countries including Burma, Bhutan and Iraq.

GUEST COMMENTARY: School superintendents welcome call for accountability

It is the age of accountability. The superintendents of the Northwest Indiana Public School Study Council welcome the call to be accountable.

The Parent Connection: What you can do to improve your child's education

A new study of the American family's "passion points" from Just Kids, Inc. reveals that most families (45 percent) agree schools and education are their top priority.