A 20-year-old Lowell man reportedly suffered critical injuries in a single-vehicle crash shortly after 5 a-m Sunday in Lowell. Police say Cole Midgett was in the 28-hundred block of Belshaw Road when for unknown reasons the SUV he was driving left the roadway and struck a tree. He was taken to a local hospital then transferred to a Chicago-area medical center.
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In Crown Point, police say an apparent domestic dispute over the weekend left one person dead and another person seriously hurt. The Lake County Coroners office says 26-year-old Brittany Peters suffered multiple wounds in an apartment in the 900 block of Heritage Court and was pronounced dead just after 7:30 Saturday night at an area hospital. A 32-year-old man, believed to be the woman's boyfriend, also suffered stab wounds in an apparent struggle between the two, authorities say, and his condition was not available.
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Indiana Conservation Officers say they are investigating the drowning of a Lake Station man in Deep River. Officers say 25-year-old Jeffery Sandefur was with friends along Deep River near the Waterfront Lounge in Lake Station at 11:47 pm Saturday night when he told friends he wanted to go swimming. Authorities say witnesses quickly dialed 911 after Sandefur did not resurface. Indiana Conservation Officers were assisted by many agencies on scene including Lake Station, New Chicago, Hobart, Lake Hills, Cedar Lake, Crown Point, and Lakes of the Four Seasons, and the Lake County Sheriff’s Department and the Lake County Aquatics Team. Officials say Sandefur was recovered just at 3:37 am Sunday morning. The Lake County Coroners office says Sandefur sustained no visible trauma and was pronounced dead at the scene shortly after 4:30 Sunday morning, and manner of death was listed as pending. 
In northeast Indiana, Indiana Conservation Officers say they are investigating the apparent drowning death of an 18-year-old Marion man Sunday afternoon at a state reservoir in Huntington County about thirty miles southwest of Fort Wayne. Officials say witnesses stated Jordan Laute swam out past the roped barrier into deep water, and that once it became evident he was in trouble, witnesses and bystanders attempted unsuccessfully to locate him. Indiana Conservation Officers utilized side scan sonar to locate Laute in 9’ of water at 6:15pm.
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Accident blocking all lanes eastbound Borman near 6 mile marker, just before Burr Street in Gary.  Involved a car that was on fire.  Crews on scene. May be a fatality investigation. 
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43-year-old Paula Cooper is scheduled to be released from prison today. She was arrested at the age of 15 and convicted of murdering 78-year-old Bible teacher Ruth Pelke in Pelke's Glen Park home in 1985; the elderly woman, officials say, was stabbed more than thirty times.. Three other teenage girls from Gary were also convicted and went to prison in connection with the crime and have since been released. The four, authorities say, took ten dollars, and the victim's car. When Cooper was sentenced to death at the age of 16, she was the youngest person in the state to ever face the death penalty, and the youngest death row inmate in 1986. Following international outcry over the sentence, and an appeal from Pope John Paul II, the Indiana Supreme Court commuted her death sentence a few years later, sentencing her to sixty-years in prison.
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The ribbon was cut Thursday for a brand-new Meijer at US highway 6 and Willowcreek Road in Portage. The former “Super K” along US 6 has been transformed into a new 190-thousand square-foot supercenter now open for Region shoppers. The Grand Opening Celebration is this Sunday. 
Meijer also presented donations as part of the store's opening: five-thousand dollars for the Portage Police Department's K9 unit, two-thousand dollars to the Portage Township Food Pantry, and five-hundred dollars went to Hannah's Hope, a non-profit organization that tries to help children with special needs obtain various therapies and expensive medical equipment.
The Grand-Rapids based retailer, which opened its first store in 1934, opened two stores in northern Indiana Thursday – the other in Warsaw. Combined the company says the stores will create more than five-hundred new jobs. Meijer officials also say the new locations are built to “LEED”, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards.
(https://www.meijer.com)
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This reminder... All Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicle license branches are closed today while the Indiana Office of Technology staff completes a major maintenance project on the State's computer system. The myBMV.com website will also not be available to until the repairs are completed.  License branches will resume normal hours of operation the week of June 17th.

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The storm that battered Crown Point on Wednesday took a direct hit at the historic Lake Court House.
The force of the 100-mile-per-hour winds blew out windows in the Bell Tower, damaged sections of the clay tile roof, uprooted signs and downed tree limbs. Costs to repair the damage is estimated in the tens of thousands of dollars.

Marty Wheeler, president of the Lake Court House Foundation, is appealing to the community for help.

“The storm caused significant damage to the Court House and the surrounding grounds,” Wheeler said. “This is a historic building that receives no support except what we are able to get through donations from individuals and businesses throughout Lake County. We are asking anyone who has a few dollars they can spare to donate what they can to the Grand Old Lady. She has stood through many storms during her 135 years here but this one has certainly taken its toll.”

The Lake Court House Foundation Board has been hard at work drumming up support and donations for necessary repairs for the Court House and to create an endowment that would help when unexpected crises – such as storms – cause damage.

If you would like to help, please send donations to:Lake Court House Foundation, P.O. Box 556, Crown Point, IN 46308.

You may also donate online at https://www.lakecourthousefoundation.org.  For more information, please contact Wheeler at (219) 663-0660.

(crownpoint.net)
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(Photo Courtesy of the Times)
Firefighters in Gary were called out to a garage fire this afternoon. Gary Police Public Information Officer Corp. Gabrielle King says the fire occurred near the corner of East 14^th Avenue and Aetna Street in Gary. King says the homeowner was working in the garage prior to the fire. No further information is available at this time.
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Washington, D.C. – Senator Joe Donnelly released the following statement after the Senate Armed Services Committee passed the Fiscal Year 2014 National Defense Authorization Act with bipartisan support, 23-3, last night.  Donnelly sponsored seven amendments that were included in the final bill and highlighted several additional aspects of the legislation of interest to Indiana. 
“With this bill, we make significant strides toward passing the Jacob Sexton Act, designed to better identify servicemembers struggling with mental health issues before it is too late, into law,” said Donnelly.  “I am pleased the Committee unanimously passed my amendment that would require a report from the Department of Defense on the feasibility of integrating more robust mental health screenings in servicemembers’ Periodic Health Assessments and soliciting a first-line supervisor’s input while protecting privacy.   We must get those who are struggling with mental health issues the help they need before they resort to taking their own life.
“The Committee also unanimously adopted my amendment detailing the Indiana National Guard experience in the cancellation of reserve component deployments.  The decision to off-ramp four National Guard units had wide-ranging impacts on over 1,000 Hoosier families, and it is not the way the Army should treat its soldiers.  My amendment added context to the requirement in the bill that the Secretary of Defense personally approve any decision to cancel the deployment of a reserve component unit within 180 days of its scheduled deployment date and to notify Congress of the decision.
“The Committee also considered amendments to better prevent military sexual assault, as the current system is clearly broken.  In speaking with survivors and learning more about the scope of this problem,  I concluded that only a significant, serious change to the status quo will lead to a truly ‘zero tolerance’ policy.  While I supported Senator Gillibrand’s proposal, which was replaced, I am pleased that the Committee passed a number of additional measures, including Chairman Levin’s proposal to better hold commanders accountable.  This is a start as we seek to enforce a zero tolerance policy for sexual assault in the Armed Forces.”

List of Donnelly Amendments Approved by the Committee:
1.       Suicide prevention program report language: The bipartisan amendment, co-sponsored by Senators Wicker (R-MS) and Blumenthal (D-CT) requires a DOD assessment of new tools that could be implemented to better screen servicemembers for mental health needs and suicidal risk factors.  Senator Donnelly has introduced legislation, S. 810, the Jacob Sexton Military Suicide Prevention Act of 2013,  that would implement a pilot program to integrate annual mental health assessments into a servicemember’s health assessment and to solicit the input of a first-line supervisor while protecting servicemembers’ privacy.  The design of this pilot program would benefit from further evaluation from military health care professionals, and the report required by Senator Donnelly’s amendment directs that evaluation to be completed no later than February 14, 2014, in time for consideration of the FY 2015 NDAA. 

2.       Off-ramp report language: Donnelly’s amendment details the experience of more than one thousand Indiana families affected by the off-ramping, or cancelled deployment, of four Indiana National Guard units, two of which were just six weeks away from deploying.  The Army replaced these units with active duty units and the decision had wide-ranging impacts on over 1,000 families’ health care, financial decision, educational plans, and housing. This is an addition to the underlying language that would require the Secretary of Defense to personally approve any decision to cancel the deployment of a reserve component unit within 180 days of its scheduled deployment date and to notify Congress of the decision.

3.       Coal-to-liquid technologies: Donnelly’s amendment, passed with bipartisan support during the full committee debate, requires a detailed spending plan on funding in the FY13 DOD Appropriations Act for research to reduce or capture coal-to-liquid carbon emissions. It also encourages DOD to work with the Department of Energy on the feasibility of potential technologies that could enable coal-to-liquid fuels to meet the emissions requirements for bulk purchases and requires DOD to provide a proposal to the Senate Armed Services Committee for joint research.

4.       C-130H engine upgrades: This Donnelly-supported amendment would encourage the Air Force to consider upgrades to the C-130H aircraft to meet fuel economy goals in a manner reflective of the location of these aircraft among active, Air National Guard, and Air Force Reserve units.  Fuel economy upgrades, including the replacement of engines for the C-130 legacy aircraft, will reduce long-term costs and improve aircraft reliability.  The C-130 legacy aircraft are primarily a National Guard asset, so improving the reliability of this aircraft can enhance Guard missions around the country.

5.       Meals, Ready-to-Eat (MRE) War Reserve report language: Donnelly’s amendment directs the Defense Logistics Agency to develop a comprehensive strategic plan that ensures an adequate MRE inventory, maintains the appropriate levels of MRE war reserves, and provides for a surge capability to support unforeseen contingencies. 

6.       Counter IED training: Donnelly’s amendment ensures that, despite the planned transition of the Joint Improvised Explosive Defeat Organization after 2014, counter-IED training would remain synchronized across the military departments and defense agencies.  This would ensure that the lessons we have learned in Afghanistan and Iraq are not lost.

7.       Incinerator technologies for burn pits: Donnelly’s amendment requires that the report requested by the Committee on the potential health effects on personnel in the vicinity of burn pits in Afghanistan also includes an assessment of incinerator technologies that are available to the DOD for use in Afghanistan, including any such incinerator technologies that could also contribute to energy production, and any other waste-to-energy strategies.  Several companies are working to develop waste disposal technology that could both dispose of trash in forward operating bases in a safe manner while also supplying energy to the base. 

Additional Provisions of Interest to Indiana

1.       BRAC: The bill would not authorize a new round of defense base closures and realignments in 2015.  It would require a report on the costs and savings associated with the 2005 round joint basing decisions.  The bill supports closing overseas bases before any bases in the Unites States would be closed.

2.       Biofuels: The bill supports continued DOD investment in biofuels to diversify energy and reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

3.       East Coast Ballistic Missile Defense: The bill would authorize deployment of a radar to defend the East Coast from missile threats from the Middle East, enhancing the capability of the current system to defend the entire United States.

4.       MILCON: The bill would fund an Air National Guard MILCON project at $7.3 million at Hulman Regional Airport.
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