Power Restoration Efforts Continue

 
 

Winter reared its ugly head again yesterday bringing a mixture of freezing rain, heavy snow and gusty winds which created power outages in the Northern Indiana area.

Transmission has been restored to all Kankakee Valley REMC substations, and crews worked tirelessly to restore power to areas where downed power lines were reported.

NIPSCO had over 20,000 outages yesterday morning and crews continue to restore power to affected areas.

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Flood Warning Extended For Area Rivers

 
 

Area rivers are under flood warnings as a result of this week’s snowfall. The flood warning has been extended for the Kankakee River at Davis Route 30 until further notice, which will affect LaPorte and Starke Counties. Officials say the stage was steady at 9.7 feet at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, with minor flooding forecast. Pulaski County Emergency Management Agency Director Larry Hoover is also keeping an eye on the Tippecanoe River.

 

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Pulaski Sheriff’s Department to Upgrade Control Pod

Pulaski County Sheriff's Department
Pulaski County Sheriff’s Department
The Pulaski County Sheriff’s Department will soon be upgrading the control pod in the jail, as the county council this week approved a $19,000 additional appropriation to fund the project at the request of Sheriff Michael Gayer. Gayer said he was asked by the jail commander to give a presentation to the council regarding the proposal for these much-needed upgrades.

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West Central School Superintendent Discusses the State of the School’s General Fund

West Central School Superintendent Charles Mellon
West Central School Superintendent Charles Mellon
West Central School Superintendent Charles Mellon gave an overview of the school corporation’s general fund to the school board when they met last week.

He explained that the school had a decline in enrollment of 52 students over the past four to five years. With that and the addition to some legislation changes, the school has lost over $800,000 within that time frame.

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Possible Relocation in the Future for the Starke County Museum

Knox City Council
Knox City Council

The Starke County Historical Society is looking to relocate their museum to the area across from the visitor’s center in Knox on U.S. 35, but they’ll need the city’s cooperation in order to do so. Marvin McLaughlin with the Historical Society approached the city council at their meeting Tuesday night with a proposal for a new building to house the museum, but he wasn’t asking for money; rather, McLaughlin said the Historical Society would like to lease the railroad right-of-way.

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Schools Look to Make Up One More Day

Dan Foster
Dan Foster
Another day of classroom instruction was lost at our local schools yesterday as a severe winter storm entered the area with a vengeance.

Freezing rain and snow prompted local school officials to cancel school and plan for yet another makeup day.

Eastern Pulaski School Superintendent Dan Foster said the school board already has set make up days for previous canceled days of school.

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Sheriff Gayer Invites You to Join the Indiana Sheriffs’ Association

Pulaski County Sheriff Michael Gayer
Pulaski County Sheriff Michael Gayer
Pulaski County Sheriff Michael Gayer invites you to join him in the fight against crime by becoming a member of the Indiana Sheriffs’ Association.

The association is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the Criminal Justice system through education, training, service and the protection of lives and property of the citizens of Indiana.

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DNR Photo Contest Celebrates 10 Years

 
 
Help celebrate the 10th birthday of the DNR Division of Historic Preservation and Archaelogy’s photo contest by entering the competition! The division is hoping to break their record for photo submissions, currently at 187 photos.

The photo contest celebrates Historic Preservation Month in May. Photographers are encouraged to take pictures of their favorite historic resource — from buildings, to bridges, to cemeteries and landscapes. Subject matter must be at least 50 years old and in Indiana.

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NASCAR Hands Down Penalties to Three Nationwide Series Teams

The teams of Elliott Sadler, Chase Elliott and Brad Keselowski were penalized after violations were found during inspection processes at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Inspections of Elliott Sadler’s car, the No. 11 for Joe Gobbs Racing, found a weight attached in an unapproved location. Crew Chief Chris Gayle was fined $10,000 and placed on probation until Dec. 31 Car Chief Todd Brewer was also placed on probation under the same time frame.

A post-race inspection after Saturday’s race found the No. 9 car of Chase Elliott exceeded the minimum front height. Crew Chief Greg Ives was placed on probation until Dec. 31.

In another post-race inspection Saturday, Brad Keselowski’s No. 22 car was found to have a shock absorber that exceeded maximum gas pressure. With that, Crew Chief Jeremy Bullins was fined $5,000 and placed on probation until Dec. 31.

NASCAR Approves Modifications to Qualifying Format

NASCAR has made modifications in the qualifying process effective immediately.

A group qualifying format was released at Phoenix International Raceway and through continued evaluation, officials have decided to make the following changes during qualifying including the breaks:NASCAR notified its teams this afternoon that effective immediately the following modifications apply to all elements of its national series qualifying including the breaks: Continue reading

Winter Storm and Flood Warnings In Effect

 
 

Snow is expected to continue throughout the Kankakee Valley this morning before tapering off later today. It started out as rain overnight, and temperatures dropped below freezing, so roads may be slippery. Remember, ice and snow, take it slow. If you go out, give yourself plenty of travel time, leave ample space between vehicles and avoid having to slam on your brakes. Starke County is still under a yellow-level travel advisory, which means routine travel or activities may be restricted in areas because of a hazardous situation, and individuals should use caution or avoid those areas. The same is in effect in Porter County. Otherwise, there are not any travel restrictions in effect for other area counties. Should that change we will let you know. The winter storm watch is in effect until 4 this afternoon. Continue reading

Fire Destroys Rural Marshall County Home

 
 

Bystanders are credited with saving the life of an elderly Marshall County woman trapped in a house that caught fire Tuesday afternoon. Firefighters were called to the scene on 5C Road just north of Plymouth just after 3 p.m., according to our reporting partner at WNDU-TV. More than 50 firefighters from 16 agencies worked to battle the blaze which destroyed the residence. A total of four people were in the home when the fire started. Officials say two were taken to Memorial Hospital and two were taken to Plymouth. There’s no word on the extent of their injuries. The cause of the fire is unknown at this time, and the state fire marshal’s office will investigate.

Pulaski Council Commits $10,000 to Monterey Wastewater Project

  
 
The town of Monterey has cleared another hurdle as they look to build a wastewater plant with the assistance of the Office of Community and Rural Affairs. Nathan Origer, executive director of the Pulaski County Community Development Commission, approached the county council at their meeting Monday night and requested on behalf of the town $10,000 to help in the town’s endeavor.

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IU Health Starke and LaPorte Hospitals Announce New COO

Camie Patterson
Camie Patterson
IU Health Starke and LaPorte Hospitals have a new management team member. Camie Patterson is the new chief operating officer. She worked at Self Regional Healthcare in South Carolina for nearly a decade and most recently served as the COO. Patterson also worked as the controller before moving into the senior vice president and chief financial officer roles. She also worked for 12 years as a certified public accountant. Patterson received her Master in Healthcare Administration from the Medical University of South Carolina and Bachelor of Science in Accounting from the State University of New York.

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Town of Medaryville to Move Forward with Wastewater Upgrades

  
 
The town of Medaryville held a public hearing for the proposed wastewater system upgrade Monday night.

No person from the public spoke about the project so the Medaryville Town Council will move forward with the project. The council will be working with the Kankakee-Iroquois Regional Planning Commission to submit a Community Development Block Grant worth $450,000. The town is also expected to expend an estimated $400,000 in non-CDBG funds on the project. These funds will come from the town of Medaryville and a bond issue.

The council also went ahead and hired McMann for design work and University Research Consortium to conduct an income survey.

Confusion Abounds Regarding Outdoor Displays in Knox

Knox City Council
Knox City Council

The Knox City Council last night had a difficult time explaining the desired effect of an amendment to the zoning ordinance regarding outdoor displays. When the owner of Smith Farm Stores in Knox approached the council asking about a portion of the amendment that indicates outdoor displays can only display items that are “in season,” such as jack o’ lanterns in fall or Christmas items in the winter, the question of how items that are not explicitly seasonal would be classified.

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Melody Drive-In To (Hopefully) Open April 4

Fred Heise, Sr., Tom Berg, Jerry Curtis, Anita Goodan, Fred Heise, Jr., and Lenny Dessauer
Fred Heise Sr., Tom Berg, Jerry Curtis, Anita Goodan, Fred Heise Jr., and Lenny Dessauer

The weather is slowly warming up as we approach the spring season, and many summer movie enthusiasts are chomping at the bit to enjoy the warmer air and a good movie. Fred Heise from the Melody Drive-In recently announced that the drive-in theater has set a tentative date to open this season, weather permitting.

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Marshall County Council Approves Copier Request

  
 
The Marshall County Council approved the purchase of a different copier for the prosecutor’s office.

In his presentation to the council on Monday morning, Prosecutor David Holmes said sometimes what you see on the internet isn’t always what you get. He explained that his department purchased a copier online for $7,645 which was supposed to operate just like the copier the department was attempting to retire after several years of use.

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