A look back at the top stories of 2022 in South Bend and across Michiana
There were highs, lows and lots in between in the South Bend area over the course of the year. Here is a rundown of some of the biggest stories of 2022.
Dante Kittrell shooting
South Bend police took a call the morning of July 29 about a man possibly armed and possibly suicidal in a field outside Coquillard Elementary School. The confrontation may have lasted less than an hour, but the community is still wrestling nearly six months later with 51-year-old city resident Dante Kittrell being fatally shot by police officers.
Kittrell, who was Black, was suffering from an apparent mental health episode when he was shot to death. Body-camera footage of the incident, which the city released, showed him waiving what looked like a handgun (though it was later determined to have been an Airsoft pistol) as he spoke to and shouted at police.
'Somebody is dying': Advocates protest commissioners pausing mental health crisis center
The shooting was ultimately ruled legally justified by the St. Joseph County Prosecutor’s office. But it sparked cries from residents about how police should respond to mental health incidents and other related issues such as interactions between people of color and law enforcement. That debate will reverberate into the new year, with funding for a mental health crisis center is still unresolved and drew about 70 protesters to a county commissioners meeting Dec. 20.
Real Time Crime Center
Another major policing development in South Bend in 2022 was the announced Real Time Crime Center — a centralized hub where various pieces of surveillance technology feed into, which will allow officers and analysts to track incidents as they happen.
Year in sports:Looking back at top Notre Dame and South Bend-area moments of 2022
The crime center will monitor feeds from a few different sources including: city cameras (both new and existing ones) in public areas, license plate readers and cameras installed by private businesses who have entered agreements with the city. The center will also include facial recognition technology. Many of those technologies spark debate about the balance among civil liberties, security and what areas are policed more heavily.
Congresswoman Walorski dies in crash
The community and the halls of Congress were shocked Aug. 3 when South Bend native and 5-term U.S. Rep. Jackie Walorski was killed along with three other people in a car crash in Elkhart County.
After mistakenly saying a car carrying U.S. Rep. Jackie Walorski was hit by a driver who went over the center line, Elkhart County Police eventually revealed the results of the county police's investigation: Zach Potts, the chairman of the St. Joseph County Republican Party and driver of the car carrying Walorski, was traveling about 80 miles per hour when he crossed over the center line and hit a car traveling the opposite direction on Indiana 119. Police concluded Potts was likely trying to pass a flatbed truck in front of him at the time of the crash.
The coroner's office ruled all four deaths, which also included 56-year-old Nappanee resident Edith Schmucker and Walorski staffer Emma Thomson, were accidental and stemmed from multiple injuries related to the crash. Toxicology tests on the drivers came back negative for any substance that could have affected motor skills.
National and local issues affect area schools
Multiple scandals drew national attention to Michiana teachers. One included a Jimtown High School teacher caught on video striking a student, and another involved a Notre Dame professor whose writings were cited by a white supremacist shooter suspected of killing 10 people in a Buffalo, N.Y., grocery store. Both educators retired amid public scrutiny.
School board elections, however, emerged as a dominant storyline across the country. Hot button issues like how to teach students about race and gender as well as academic performance and health safety dominated races in suburban districts as conservative-backed candidates ran for seats that, in Indiana, are traditionally non-partisan. Locally, in the Penn-Harris-Madison school district, candidates launched unusually robust fundraising campaigns and educators felt called to defend their practices as one slate of candidates, backed by a conservative parent group, circulated exam data without fully contextualizing changes in recent testing and standards. One candidate, Matt Chaffee, from the slate of three conservative-backed candidates, was elected in November and will be sworn into office in January alongside reelected incumbents Christopher Riley and Larry Beehler, and first-time candidate Dana Sullivan.
Meanwhile, in the neighboring South Bend district, corporation leaders this year focused on a significantly different conversation: how to best “right size” and invest remaining referendum money amid financial challenges and declining enrollment.
Over the course of the year, long-range facility planning ideas ranged from repurposing Clay High School to developing a county-serving career center or athletic complex. After community opposition to high school changes, planners shifted their attention to elementary and middle school feeder patterns. More meetings are expected early in 2023, but no dates have been announced. A South Bend schools spokeswoman said to watch the district’s website, sb.school, for updates.
Landmark federal abortion decision
As spring turned into summer, the lone abortion provider in South Bend had plans to expand.
Since it opened in June 2019, Whole Woman’s Health clinic provided only medication-induced abortions. But in April, the state issued the Virginia-based nonprofit a provisional license to offer surgical abortions in South Bend, which add nearly four weeks to the time period in which pregnant people can have an abortion.
Then June 24 came.
The United States Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade, setting the stage for Indiana lawmakers to pass a near-total ban on abortions in early August. Whole Woman’s Health and Indiana’s seven other licensed abortion providers prepared to stop offering the procedure Sept. 15.
But in late August the providers, along with the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana, filed a lawsuit against the state that challenges the new restrictions.
A week after the new law took effect, a judge issued a temporary injunction against it in response to the providers’ lawsuit. Owen County Republican judge Kelsey Hanlon wrote that it’s possible the Indiana Constitution protects abortion as a matter of family planning.
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita immediately appealed.
Now Whole Woman’s Health clinic on Lincoln Way West remains open. Clinicians will continue to provide pill-induced abortions until at least mid-January, when oral arguments are made in the lawsuit.
A history of toxic waste dumping
Nearly 40 years after the Environmental Protection Agency became aware of toxic waste dumped in LaSalle Park, a city park that's the namesake of a historically Black neighborhood on South Bend’s west side, workers finished a “time-critical” cleanup this October.
The 45-acre city park was added to a list of polluted “Superfund” sites in 2013, permitting the EPA to hold the city and Honeywell International accountable for $5 million of soil testing and the $2.2 million cleanup.
Honeywell’s predecessor, the automobile and aviation parts manufacturer Bendix Corp., reported to the EPA that it dumped waste from the 1930s to the 1950s at the site of the present-day park. The waste, Bendix said, “may have included” heavy metals, solvents and “foundry and cyanide wastes,” among other potential toxins.
From August to October, contractors removed and replaced soil from the ground to remove traces of lead. Plans for rebuilding the park include adding new basketball courts, an outdoor restroom and a roller skating area.
While the EPA says the park hasn’t been an imminent threat to guests, nearby residents and the area’s representative on the South Bend Common Council shared the difficulty they have trusting such claims. Residents also lamented the low percentage of minority-owned subcontractors being paid for the cleanup.
Known as The Lake, the LaSalle Park neighborhood was for much of the 20th century one of a few places where people of color lived in South Bend. During the city’s industrial boom of the early 1900s, the area became the city’s “heart of African American life,” according to the Civil Rights Heritage Center.
The future of Portage Manor
At the end of a decade-long drain of money from Portage Manor health care facility, St. Joseph County officials expect to decide early in 2023 whether to build a new site to house more than 100 residents or to find a place to relocate them.
If they choose to build, two county-owned sites are in consideration for a new building projected to cost at least $25 million. One is the 114-acre tract just south of the Indiana Toll Road on which the facility now sits. But a potentially cheaper option is a strip of land wedged in between Healthwin senior living facility and Clay Township Park.
While plans are up in the air, residents, who are either under 65 with mental or physical disabilities or older than 65, and their families are left worried. The uncertainty has been worsened by two administrators leaving since last September, including one who stayed for only four months, as well as worries that a private developer would buy the Portage Manor site and build an apartment complex.
A historic building demolished
Historic preservation advocates were dismayed to see the former South Bend Brewing Association building demolished and replaced with a dirt lot in a matter of weeks this summer.
Built in 1905 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2001, the uniquely shaped building at 1636 Lincoln Way West was until the mid-20th century the place where a group of Polish, German and Hungarian tavern bosses made their brews.
After decades of disinvestment, a new owner bought the property for about $5,000 in 2019 with the intent to transform it into housing.
But portions of the four-story structure quickly deteriorated because of neglect. City officials said there was a legitimate concern the building’s northwestern brick face could topple into adjacent roads.
The city now seeks to force the site owner, Acme Water World owner Jason Miller, to pay nearly $786,000 for the emergency demolition — more than 150 times what he paid for the land and building.
The effort was part of more than $4 million in the 2022 budget allotted to tearing down similar large, unused commercial buildings such as the former Drewrys Brewery.
The South Bend-St. Joseph County Historic Preservation Commission voted 4-4 against the plan to demolish the building, invoking the “inglorious tradition” of urban renewal programs that gutted downtown decades ago.
Under city ordinance, historic landmarks “shall not be demolished.” But the exception is when the city proves that allowing a building to stand is a threat to public safety, which officials did with a structural survey and photos.
Mishawaka's downtown City Hall
An empty Liberty Mutual Insurance building at Main Street and Lincoln Way West — smack dab in downtown Mishawaka — posed a question to city leaders: Demolish it or put it to use?
The answer was to buy it, renovate it and to combine City Hall, the police station and the business offices of Mishawaka Utilities under one roof in a $20 million renovation of the structure at 100 Lincoln Way W.
Photos:Look inside the new Mishawaka City Hall
Construction began in 2021 and was completed in September 2022, which allowed the staged moving of the three city entities.
This "one-stop shopping" concept open its doors this fall as Mishawaka completely renovated the nearly 100,000-square-foot former insurance building for city's use.
All city governmental functions that were done at the former Bingham School on East Sixth Street were moved into the renovated building, as was the police station that sat on prime riverfront land by the Riverwalk. As for the Mishawaka Utilities business offices, the aging building at Church Street was sold as part of a land development package to Beacon Health System for future construction of a medical clinic and related services.
Plans for regional fieldhouse
Plans for a $38 million regional athletic fieldhouse got started late this year as Mishawaka Redevelopment Commission began the process to set up the bond issue for the facility that should bring in 30-40 sports events annually.
Fields of dreams:City, developer forge ahead with first phase of Mishawaka Fieldhouse proposal
Card & Associates, the sports development company that will manage the property say the facility could bring in as much as $65 million from sports teams renting hotel and motel rooms and spending money in area businesses and restaurants.
The first phase of the project — consisting of 10 indoor courts for a variety of sports — is planned to be built on Veterans Parkway north of Douglas Road on 49 acres the city has provided in northeastern Mishawaka. Four baseball fields and future expansion for the possibility of ice rinks are now set as a second phase that is not yet determined.
The state’s Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative — or READI — further helped the project with a $5 million grant awarded in September by the South Bend-Elkhart Regional Development Authority. About $1 million a year will come from the Hotel-Motel tax revenues and from money generated from operating the facility.
The Morris turns 100 and other entertainment highlights
With most venues open and booking shows again on a regular basis, the entertainment scene in South Bend made big strides again toward normalcy in 2022.
But no story was bigger or more consequential for the future than the Morris Performing Arts Center’s 100th anniversary, timed to coincidence with the theater’s reopening at the completion of Phase I of a multiyear renovation project that will bring new amenities, infrastructure and programs to the venue.
Through the years:From the Palace to the Morris Performing Arts Center
The city celebrated it with the two-day Morris 100 Fest on Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 that culminated in a concert by Barenaked Ladies and South Bend natives The Bergamot, all of which — including the Morris’ history — The Tribune covered in a special section Sept. 28.
Past performances:Past performances: Onstage at the Morris
Other entertainment highlights from 2022 include:
• Hailing from South Bend’s west side, Los de San Rafael qualified for “Tengo Talento Mucho Talento,” a popular national TV show that’s the Spanish-language version of “America’s Got Talent.” The trio of teenagers didn’t win, but the band has since become a staple of local Latinx performances.
• In addition to the Morris, two other South Bend institutions marked significant anniversaries in 2022: The South Bend Museum of Art turned 75 and celebrated with the special exhibit “Around the Bend,” a reorganized main exhibit and changes in staff, with a new emphasis on being more engaging. Throughout the year, The History Museum celebrated the 125th anniversary of Copshaholm, the Oliver family’s mansion that now serves as the museum’s main attraction. Events included special tours, lectures and the “Copshaholm 125 Arts Competition.”
• Garth Brooks became both the first and second act to perform at Notre Dame Stadium when he returned for a concert May 7. That followed his October 2018 show at “The House That Rockne Built” that later aired on CBS.
Gallery:Photos of Garth Brooks' concert May 7, 2022, at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend
• After two pandemic-caused delays, Billy Joel finally made his way back to campus for his June 25 concert at Notre Dame Stadium. He had previously performed at Notre Dame in 1996 and 1984.
Photo gallery:Billy Joel brings the melody to Notre Dame Stadium with June 25, 2022, concert
• South Bend Civic Theatre and the South Bend Symphony Orchestra joined forces for a production of “West Side Story” in October at the Morris.
• For the first time since 2006, the SBSO accompanied Southold Dance Theater for its production of “The Nutcracker” in December at the Morris.
Settlement of Afghan refugees
Local houses of faith and agencies settled more than 60 Afghan refugees in St. Joseph County early in 2022. The refugees had fled Afghanistan after their country's U.S.-backed government rapidly collapsed to the Taliban in 2021, triggering a chaotic evacuation.
The United Religious Community of St. Joseph County and Catholic Charities took the lead as they worked with volunteers from local congregations to provide food, clothing, housing, translation, jobs and other essentials so the new residents could live independently. They’d arrived with just small bags of goods.
Falcon soap opera
Peregrine falcons returned in spring to the nest box atop the County-City Building in South Bend but failed to hatch eggs for the first time in several years. It was part soap opera, part mystery.
Maltese, the female who’d been hatching eggs there since 2017, came back, but her mate for four years, Peace, didn’t. Experts presumed that he may have died. But a new mate showed up from Fort Wayne, named Flash. So did a female intruder who fought Maltese and tried to take over the nest. Maltese prevailed and laid four eggs with her new mate, Flash. But Maltese went missing from the live camera’s view for at least two weeks. And the intruder returned for more scuffles with Maltese.
Sadly, none of the eggs hatched.
Coal Line Trail opens
The first half of the new, 1.5-mile Coal Line Trail in South Bend was completed in South Bend this summer, providing a link from Lincoln Way West to the Riverside Trail.
This much-anticipated trail with lights and benches revitalized an old rail corridor that had become overgrown and filled with trash and water drainage, especially near Portage Avenue, under which it now passes.
Contractors are now working to convert an old rail bridge over the St. Joseph River into a pedestrian bridge, which will lead to the trail’s second half, ultimately connecting to the East Bank Trail.
Business takes a leap
Though inflation, rising interest rates, record-high gas prices and continuing labor shortages generated a lot of local and national headlines in 2022, there was a considerable amount of good business news in the region with three large projects centering on energy production.
Site work has already gotten underway on the $164.7 million Honeysuckle Solar Farm on the west side of St. Joseph County, which is targeted for completion at the end of 2023 or the start of 2024. The 1000-acre farm, which is being developed by Lightsource BP, is expected to create 175 to 200 construction jobs.
When the solar farm is completed, it will generate 150 megawatts of clean power ― enough for about 24,500 homes ― but it will also provide an additional $27.4 million in real and personal property taxes for local taxing authorities in the first 25 years of its existence.
Solar farm approved:Honeysuckle Solar Farm gets final approval; project should get underway this year
While the region is still waiting for that project to come on line, the $1.1 billion Indeck Niles Energy Center has been producing electricity at full capacity since July 1 on a former brownfield site just north of Jerry Tyler Memorial Airport on the northeast side of Niles.
That natural-gas fired plant ― the second in the region ― created 21 permanent jobs and generates 1,085 megawatts of electricity ― enough for about 650,000 homes and businesses. While Indeck spent about $25 million cleaning up the site, it will still pay more than that in taxes over the life of the project.
While those projects are huge in comparison to those seen in recent years, the possibility of the $2.5 billion Ultium Cells plant stands out because of the size of the massive investment, the estimated 1,600 permanent jobs it would create and the annual economic impact of an estimated $652 million.
Offer completed:Updated: St. Joseph County approves deal in effort to reel in $2.5B Ultium battery plant
Ultium, which is a joint venture between GM and LG Energy Solution, is expected to make a final decision on the project early in 2023. If St. Joseph County is selected, the 2 million-square-foot plant would be built on 680 acres at Larrison Boulevard and Indiana 2 ― not too far from the Honeysuckle Solar farm. It is targeted for completion in 2025.
While those projects would provide immediate benefits, the $50 million in matching money that the region received through Indiana’s Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative ― or READI program ― is largely aimed at spurring development of $465 million in projects aimed at improving quality of place in St. Joseph, Elkhart and Marshall counties for many years to come.
Incentivizing development:Organization awards $40 million in state grants to improve region's quality of place
Some of those projects in just St. Joseph County include a large mixed-used development proposed by Beacon Health south of Memorial Hospital in South Bend, a 350,000-square-foot athletic complex in Mishawaka, the $30 million expansion and renovation of the Morris Performing Arts Center, a new concession lodge and bear exhibit at the Potawatomi Zoo, upgrades to Wilson Park in Mishawaka, renovation of the former Ward Baking Co. Building and creation of an entrepreneurship hub.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: A look back at top stories of 2022 in South Bend and across Michiana
