Improvements will be done to the North Bend Township polling location thanks to a Help America Vote Act (HAVA) grant.
According to Starke County Clerk Vicki Cooley, the county was awarded the grant worth $24,459.35. The money will be used to upgrade the handicapped accessibility at that site. The improvements will be done this spring. Proposals for the work will be taken soon.
The West Central School Board heard a report from Principal Patrick Culp and others who recently went to Indianapolis to accept a $82,355 Region 1 Works Council for a Career and Technical Education innovative-curriculum grant.
The grant will fund a Pulaski County Repair and Maintenance Technology program at West Central High School. Superintendent Don Street says a program for machine maintenance will assist students in giving them the skills they need to be productive in local industry.
A new experience for 8th grade Language Arts students was reported on the Spotlight on Success agenda item at the recent Knox School Board meeting.
Mrs. Cotto arranged for her students to speak by live video with a survivor of the Nazi holocaust. The elderly survivor of the Auschwitz concentration camp told of hiding in the countryside with other teenagers only to be arrested and confined. He told them he knew Ann Frank, whose similar WWII experiences have been documented in a book, on stage and in a movie.
The Town of Winamac recently launched its new website, and they hope it will eventually provide better services for residents.
The Winamac Town Council was updated on the website’s progress at their February meeting. Now that the website has been launched, officials with the Town say there are a few glitches needing to be worked out.
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Third-grade students across Indiana are encouraged to interview county government officials as part of an essay contest. April is National County Government Month. The Association of Indiana Counties is sponsoring the “Counties Moving Indiana Forward: The Keys are Transportation and Infrastructure.” Continue reading
Several Knox Community High School students were honored recently by their SCILL Center welding program instructors. They pick students of the month based on test scores, class participation, attitude, attendance and initiative in the shop. Recent honorees include Brock Majchrzak in January; Jonathan Rowe and Logan Schwenk in February; and Aidan Hollingshead and Nick Runkle in March. Continue reading
Indiana saw an uptick in the number of fish being stocked in water systems last year.
A report from the Department of Natural Resources says their department and organizations with proper permits stock nearly 32-million fish in 2014. The DNR says that typically, between 22-million and 24-million fish are stocked each year.
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Starke County Highway Superintendent Rik Ritzler has the blessing of the county commissioners to seek funds for a third mechanic. Right now the two mechanics maintain 106 county-owned vehicles and pieces of equipment, with top priority given to those used by EMS and the sheriff’s department. Highway vehicles are third on the list, and those used by other departments are fourth. All of the money for repairs comes from the highway department’s budget. The mechanics are also responsible for completing all of the necessary paperwork. Continue reading
A change of oxygen vendors is expected to save Starke County EMS a significant amount of money. Director Keith Emigh told the county commissioners Monday he’s been comparison shopping from several suppliers. The county presently uses Praxair from South Bend for tank rentals and refills. However, Emigh says Plymouth-based American Welding charges quite a bit less for the same supplies. The county will save $225 per month on portable oxygen tank rentals and will also realize a savings on M and K tanks. Over the course of a year the savings will total nearly $3,000. Continue reading
Income surveys continue to be gathered in Winamac.
The Town has decided to apply for grant funds to help fund for the exploration of a water well in the area. Part of the OCRA grant is meeting income requirements. Surveys with two questions were sent out to several Winamac residents to complete the task.
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Knox School Superintendent A.J. Gappa discussed with school board members recently a plan to provide students and teachers with new personal computers for the school’s completed four-year one-to-one computer program. The warranties are expiring on the current computers. He reported the cost for the next four years may be less than the last four years.
He said students who have had personal use of computers leave high school with technical knowledge that translates into many areas of life and they are better prepared for a college education.
A North Judson-San Pierre Middle School student is a semifinalist in the 2015 Indiana National Geographic State Bee. Eighth-grader Cameron Kolasa finished first in the school level competition. School bees took place at schools with 4th through 8th grade students. Winners at the school level took a qualifying test, which they submitted to the National Geographic Society. Up to 100 of the top-scoring students in each of the 50 states, District of Columbia, Department of Defense Dependents Schools and U.S. territories were invited to compete in the state bees. Indiana’s will take place Friday, March 27 in Indianapolis. Continue reading
A new program in Culver looks to improve the look of some of its buildings.
The Town’s Plan Commission says applications have been available for almost a month for façade improvement grants.
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A woman accused of interfering with a custody exchange will spend the next 12 months on home detention through Starke County Community Corrections. Amy Lowe pleaded guilty to the felony offense this week in Starke Circuit Court. Judge Kim Hall sentenced her to 12 months in the Department of Correction with none of the time suspended. However, she will be allowed to serve it on home detention with electronic monitoring.
A popular children’s author’s birthday was this month, and the Culver-Union Township Public Library is celebrating it for him.
The Library is hosting a “Seuss-a-Bration” to help honor the work of Dr. Seuss. The author’s birthday is celebrated March 2nd around the country.
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New Prairie High School in LaPorte County went on lockdown again this morning, and for a similar reason.
According to information released by the LaPorte County Sheriff’s Office, administrators at the school said a bullet had been found in their building. The building was placed on lockdown around 9:15 a.m.
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A Knox man has been arrested after he allegedly failed to register as a sex offender or a violent offender.
A press release indicates that a warrant was issued for 36-year-old Billy E. McKinney III. The outstanding warrant was executed at a residence in the 11-thousand block of Windmill Lane near Westville. He now finds himself facing two counts of the Level 5 Felony.
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An area state Senator wants to give terminally ill patients more options with their healthcare.
State Senator Ed Charbonneau is a sponsor of the Indiana Right to Try Act. It would give those patients access to medicines that have passed Phase 1 of the FDA approval process, but aren’t quite on pharmacy shelves.
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A program designed to promote information about the Court of Appeals in Indiana will make an appearance at Culver Academies.
Three judges from the court will hear oral arguments from a criminal case on appeal from Vanderburgh County. This is the courts’ fifth appearance for their Appeals on Wheels program this year.
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