Post-Tribune

For the first time in months, the Indiana State Department of Health has reported no confirmed deaths last week due to the H1N1 flu virus. Since June 1, H1N1 flu has claimed the lives of 33 in Indiana. And beginning Dec. 20, the Health Department will begin releasing doses of the H1N1 vaccine to the public to expand distribution, including through local pharmacies. In its weekly update on the ... Full Story »

When Andrew Birlson was born 9 years ago, Indiana did not require newborn screening for his rare disorder, citrullinemia. Only 1 in every 57,000 babies is born with the condition, in which the liver does not produce the enzyme necessary to digest protein. As a result, ammonia builds up to toxic levels in the body, causing vomiting, and possibly coma and death. "My husband and I are both carriers ... Full Story »

A man is charged with battering and threatening to hurt a woman in a Schererville hotel room on Oct. 16. Radovan Stozinic, 54, is charged with two counts of criminal confinement, one a Class C felony and the other a Class D felony; intimidation, a Class D felony; and a misdemeanor battery charge. According to police, Stozinic and the woman were waiting for a call from the mechanic about her car ... Full Story »

Hammond Police arrested three people in connection with heroin busts at two homes on Wednesday morning. Shortly after 10 a.m., police descended on homes at 831 Michigan St. and 6112 Willard Ave. A woman and two men are being held pending charges of dealing and possessing heroin. Robert Lumpkin, 59, resided at the Willard Avenue address, while Barry Wayne Hammonds Jr., 44, and Pamela Bobby, 46 ... Full Story »

GARY -- Neither pomp nor frills are expected today when a federal agency opens a restaurant in downtown Gary to replace the one it kicked out earlier this week. Scott Upshaw, director of the Gary-East Chicago-Hammond Empowerment Zone, said no signs will be going up at The Stadium Buffet & Grill. The name itself, Upshaw said, might be temporary. "We're on the fence with it," Upshaw said. But ... Full Story »

Post-Tribune reporter Karen Snelling entered a guilty plea in U.S. District Court in South Bend on Thursday on charges of stealing money from the guild that represents newsroom employees. In her guilty plea petition, Snelling admits to embezzling $18,100 over four years. She admits to taking $17,500 through a series of automatic teller transactions and another $600 in an unauthorized guild check ... Full Story »

GARY -- The developer who has promised for nearly three years to turn the empty 14-story Sheraton Hotel building into a senior citizen center says his project has new life. "We finally have our financing," Phillip Kupritz of the New Gary Development Group said. A stalled clean-up of the building that came to a halt last year will begin again in January, Kupritz said. Several partitions and ... Full Story »

Gov. Mitch Daniels will be raising money for fellow Indiana Republicans during a reception in Chicago tonight, his press secretary said Thursday, not building a war chest for a presidential run. "I don't know how many times he can say that he's not running for president," Jane Jankowski said. The law office of Mayer Brown LLP in Chicago will be the site of "An Evening with Gov. Mitch Daniels ... Full Story »

It was billed as a citizens hearing on health-care system reform, but the citizens didn't get to talk until the event was nearly over. More than 50 Northwest Indiana residents attended the rally to support health reform with a public option, an event co-sponsored by the Indiana NAACP, Northwest Indiana Federation of Labor and AFL-CIO. Some of the 12 speakers at the dais told personal stories of ... Full Story »

Two Gary doctors convicted of illegally selling prescription drugs lost their motion for a new judge in resentencing. Judge Rudy Lozano ruled against their request, according to a filing in the U.S. District Court in Hammond, saying their argument didn't hold water. Charles Randall Chube and David Chube Jr., who are brothers, had asked that Lozano recuse himself because he had recused himself in ... Full Story »

Post-Tribune reporter Karen Snelling entered a guilty plea in U.S. District Court in South Bend Thursday to charges of stealing money from the guild that represents newsroom employees.In her guilty plea petition, Snelling admits to embezzling a total of $18,100 over a series of four years.She admits to taking $17,500 through a series of automatic teller transactions and another $600 in an ... Full Story »

The location for a meeting to coordinate Northwest Indiana applications for Great Lakes Restoration Initiative funding has been changed. The meeting will be held from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Friday, Dec. 11, at the Portage Yacht Club north of I-94 and the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission. The meeting was previously scheduled for Woodland Park in Portage. For more information, call ... Full Story »

CROWN POINT -- Democratic Party activist and former state Department of Commerce executive director Thomas McKenna stopped at the downtown courthouse Wednesday to announce his candidacy for secretary of state to Northwest Indiana party voters. McKenna said an assault on voters rights by Republican administrations prompted him to seek to become the state's top election official in 2010, a year ... Full Story »

Tempers were heated at times when residents got the opportunity to ask state officials about waste management practices at ArcelorMittal Burns Harbor, lack of state enforcement and transparency Wednesday night. A large part of the informational meeting and public hearing on ArcelorMittal's landfill application focused on a pile of waste dubbed "Easterly's pile" after the head of the state's ... Full Story »

On the heels of its Nov. 23 bankruptcy filing, Majestic Star Casino LLC released its tough third-quarter financial numbers on Wednesday. For the three months ending on Sept. 30, consolidated net operating revenues decreased by about 9.5 percent -- $74.8 million compared to $82.7 million for the same period in 2008 -- and consolidated casino revenues saw a decline of 9.9 percent -- $75.1 million ... Full Story »

Steamed about your health care coverage, or lack of it? A coalition of labor, civil rights and faith organizations want to hear your stories at a public hearing on health care reform at 6 p.m. today at United Steelworkers' McBride Hall in Gary. Sponsors of the hearing said they hope to convince Indiana federal legislators to support the pending congressional health care reform package, said Ross ... Full Story »

A Schererville man convicted of child molesting in Porter County has been charged with sexual misconduct with a minor involving a 15-year-old girl. Joshua Peter Czajka, 23, of the 1400 block of Charlevoix Way, also was charged with a sexual offender Internet offense, a misdemeanor punishable by a maximum one-year sentence. Czajka had been hired by the girl's family to do work at their home and ... Full Story »

THE PRESIDENT: Good evening. To the United States Corps of Cadets, to the men and women of our Armed Services, and to my fellow Americans: I want to speak to you tonight about our effort in Afghanistan -- the nature of our commitment there, the scope of our interests, and the strategy that my administration will pursue to bring this war to a successful conclusion. It's an extraordinary honor for ... Full Story »

PORTAGE -- Indiana Department of Environmental Management Commissioner Tom Easterly has read the Post-Tribune's coverage of a 33-acre waste pile at ArcelorMittal Burns Harbor that company officials and IDEM staff have named after him. But Easterly did not comment when the Post-Tribune approached him at an event in Portage Tuesday night. "Based on what I've seen you write, no, I don't want to ... Full Story »

PORTAGE -- Indiana Department of Environmental Management Commissioner Thomas Easterly appeared at a City Council meeting Tuesday night to congratulate the city on becoming the 11th community to complete the CLEAN Cities Challenge. "This is a program to recognize people for doing things for the environment they're not required to do," Easterly said. Mayor Olga Velazquez congratulated the seven ... Full Story »

A former Merrillville Marine is suing a mortgage company for continuing to bill him even though he has been activated. Terence Butler filed the lawsuit Monday in the U.S. District Court in Hammond. According to the lawsuit, Butler had been working as a union carpenter when he decided to buy a house in Merrillville. In September , Butler found out he was being activated by the U.S. Marines and ... Full Story »

MERRILLVILLE -- Several members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1563 in Merrillville watched President Barack Obama 's speech with interest Tuesday night. There was a smattering of applause and several "amens" when the president lauded all veterans. Crown Point resident Dale Bowie served in the Army in Korea in the mid-1960s, and he said the focus needs to be back on Afghanistan . "I agree ... Full Story »

"You're talking a lot, but you're not saying anything." -- "Psycho Killer" by Talking Heads Talk, talk, talk. I'm tired of all the talking -- and lack of real action -- by region officials regarding key issues facing Northwest Indiana. Come on, you know who you are. For years, possibly decades, you have mastered the illusion of action by creating countless (and cleverly named) focus groups ... Full Story »

GARY -- When Hilbert L. Bradley returned to Indiana after being discharged from the Army, the World War II veteran decided he would take advantage of the G.I. Bill and apply for enrollment at Valparaiso University School of Law. It was 1947, a time when segregation was the unwritten "law." But Bradley received a surprise. "They welcomed me right away," Bradley recalled. "And three years later, I ... Full Story »

GARY -- The Empowerment Zone tossed Dusties Southern Style Buffet and Kenny's Ribs & Chicken out of Gary this week after the restaurants failed to pay all but one month's worth of rent to the federal agency which was their landlord. Lunchtime visitors found crews ripping signs off the walls Tuesday less than two years after Dusties' celebrated opening. Scott Upshaw, the Empowerment Zone's ... Full Story »