INDIANAPOLIS – Today the Indiana Senate increased efforts in the fight against drugs in Indiana by passing a bill authored by Rep. Vernon Smith (D-Gary) that improves the Commission for a Drug-Free Indiana (DFI).
            House Bill 1575 changes the current status of legislator members of the commission to allow them to be voting members. According to Smith, this proposal allows for more input from the members of the General Assembly who have experience dealing with law enforcement and youth-related issues. The members also may have experience in family relations, education, civic or private affairs, medicine, local government, judiciary or self-help, among others.
            “The goal is to give voting rights to members of the commission who have valuable insight to the issues DFI tries to solve,” he said. “This is a way of improving the commission so we can reach our ultimate objective, which is to create a healthy, safe, drug-free home for Hoosiers.”
            DFI was established in 1989 by the General Assembly to help Indiana combat substance abuse. The commission works in collaboration with 92 local coordinating councils representing all of Indiana's counties.
            The Senate passed the bill on a unanimous 47-0 vote.
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(Photo Courtesy of the Times)
Sentencing is scheduled for tomorrow for 20-year-old Dustin McCowan, who last month was found guilty of murdering former girlfriend, 19-year-old Amanda Bach, of Portage, by fatally shooting her in September 2011. McCowan faces anywhere from 45 to 65 years in prison.
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A 38 year old LaPorte woman faces two felony counts of neglect of a dependent for allegedly striking her two teenage children in mid-January.. Published reports say the woman was reportedly drinking with two male friends at the residence, in the four-hundred block of Glenwood Avenue, and playing the radio at a high volume, when her 14 year old son and 15 year old daughter turned the volume down, after their mother refused to do so upon request. The girl reportedly suffered several marks and scrapes on her body, while the boy suffered a swollen foot, and punches to the face.
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Gary Police are investigating a shooting incident from Monday that injured a 19 year old. Gary Police Public Information Officer, Corporal Gabrielle King, says at approximately 8:07pm, officers were dispatched to the four-hundred block of East 41^st Avenue in reference to a shooting victim, and arrived to find Derek Woodhouse on the porch with gunshot wounds. King says Woodhouse reported to officers he was speaking with friends on the porch, when he heard a loud squeal and pop from a vehicle, and then felt some pain, and realized he had been shot. Authorities say the victim was taken to a local hospital for treatment. Anyone with information is asked regarding this incident is asked to contact Gary Police Detective Lorenzo Davis, at 881-7435.
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The name of a Gary woman who died at a local hospital shortly after being transported there from a house fire Monday night remains unknown at last check, as well as a cause of death. Gary Police Public Information Officer, Corporal Gabrielle King, says officers responded to the 24-hundred block of Buchanan Street, at 6:45pm, in reference to house fire, and upon arrival learned of a person inside. Corporal King says once entry to the home was made, a 73 year old woman was discovered, and was immediately taken out of the home, where CPR was performed before being hospitalized.
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LAKE COUNTY, Ind. – The Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) announces I-65 will be restricted to one northbound lane and one southbound lane during evening and overnight hours between the U.S. 231 exit (mile marker 247) and just south of the State Road 2 exit (mile marker 240) beginning Monday, April 1^st through early December 2013. Lane restrictions will be in place no earlier than 6 p.m. and no later than 10 a.m. during a Monday night through Saturday morning work week. Two lanes of traffic in each direction will be open during daytime hours. Crews are resurfacing the roadway in addition to pipe and drain work.
In the event of back-ups or slowed traffic, message boards on I-65 will alert drivers to an alternative route to avoid the construction zone.
INDOT reminds drivers to use caution and consider worker safety when driving through a construction zone. For the latest road closures and project updates from INDOT, like us at www.Facebook.com/INDOTNorthwest and follow us at www.Twitter.com/INDOTNorthwest.
You can find traffic restriction information at www.trafficwise.IN.gov.  Contact the LaPorte District toll free at 1-855-GO-INDOT.
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(Photo Courtesy of the City of Gary)
A groundbreaking ceremony was held this morning in Gary for South Shore Commons, a 60-unit, two-story permanent supportive housing development for the homeless going up on vacant property on 20^th Avenue east of Grant Street, between Lincoln and Pierce Streets.
J. Forest Hayes, Director of the Gary Department of Commerce and Gary Economic Development Corporation, says the project is an example of collaborative efforts underway in the city.
The units are to be placed in service by the end of this year. Edgewater Systems for Balanced Living is partnering with U-P Development, Broadway Area Community Development Corporation, and N-S-P Consultants on the 12-million dollar project.
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NEWTON COUNTY, Ind. – The Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) announces the closure of State Road 55 to through traffic between State Road 16 and State Road 114 beginning Monday, April 1^st through the end of June 2013. Crews will be replacing a bridge. All traffic will be restricted at the work site, one mile north of State Road 16.

A detour will take northbound SR 55 drivers west on SR 16, north on U.S. 41, east on SR 114, and back to SR 55. Southbound SR 55 drivers will travel west on SR 114, south on U.S. 41, east on SR 16, and back to SR 55.
INDOT reminds drivers to use caution and consider worker safety when driving through a construction zone. For the latest road closures and project updates from INDOT, like us at www.Facebook.com/INDOTNorthwest and follow us at www.Twitter.com/INDOTNorthwest.
You can find traffic restriction information at www.trafficwise.IN.gov.  Contact the LaPorte District toll free at 1-855-GO-INDOT.
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(Photo Courtesy of the Times)
Sentencing is scheduled for April 26^th after a judge accepted a plea agreement in which a 24 year old Cedar Lake man pleaded guilty to arson and murder. Published reports say Anthony LaPorta could serve 62 years in prison for murdering a 32 year old neighbor,18 years for setting the victim's house on fire, and a two-year sentence after pleaded guilty to a separate incident of sexual battery of a minor, which would reportedly be served concurrently to murder and arson charges.
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