Class basketball in Indiana could get a statewide vote. Oldenberg State Senator Jean Leising has introduced Senate Bill 320, a measure that would put on the ballot, for the 2014 general election, the question of whether the Indiana high school basketball tournament should be played under a single class system. It would be a non-binding referendum, so no matter what the results, it wouldn't require the IHSAA to do anything. Last year, Leising introduced a measure that would have ended class...

Read more: Class Basketball May Be On the Ballot

[Photo/www.nd.edu]
Visitation is today in Granger, Indiana, for Mirko Jurkovic, a consensus All-American offensive guard for the University of Notre Dame football team in 1991 and a monogram-winner on the 1988 Irish national championship squad. Officials say he died Wednesday evening in Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center in Mishawaka after a battle with cancer. Jurkovich, a originally from Calumet City, was 42.
From Notre Dame:
NOTRE DAME, Ind. - Mirko Jurkovic, a consensus All-America...

Read more: Funeral Services for Mirko Jurkovic, Former ND Star

Indianapolis media reporting the number of flu deaths in Indiana went up by five since the state's most recent update earlier this week... citing information from a state health official. That means fifteen deaths at this point in the flu season in Indiana. Two of the most recent deaths were reportedly in long-term care facilities.
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Read more: Indiana Flu Deaths Reportedly Up to 15

The Newtown, Connecticut, tragedy, and Thursday's incident in Taft, California, has left many who work with children struggling to find other potential options to keep kids safe and secure. Steven Gill, Northwest Indiana Field Representative, of the Indiana Youth Institute, says on January 22nd, from 11:30am to 1pm, at the Marquette Mall Office Building in Michigan City, they are hosting a forum that that will explore procedures to use in the event an active shooter and how to prevent an attack...

Read more: Tips to Prevent an Active Shooter Forum on 1/22

In local business news, an announcement today that Jewel-Osco stores are being sold to an investor group led by a New York private investment firm. SuperValu, says they're selling other grocery chains they own as well, like Albertson's and Shaw's, in a deal valued at about three-point-three billion dollars.
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Read more: Jewel-Osco to be Sold to NY Investment Firm

Three people were hospitalized after an SUV crashed through a Portage Township home and into a room where an infant girl and her parents were asleep. The Porter County Sheriff's Office reports the infant was taken to an area hospital to be checked out, while the driver of the SUV, 33 year old Joseph Tanner, of Portage, and his passenger, were taken to Hobart St. Mary's, with non life-threatening injuries. Authorities report alcohol is believed to be a factor in the crash, and are awaiting the...

Read more: SUV Crashes Through Porter Twp Home

Multiple media outlets today report a former Notre Dame consensus All-American offensive guard from the Fighting Irish's 1988 National Championship team died Wednesday night of cancer in Indiana. Mirko Jurkovic, a native of Calumet City, Illinois, is survived by his wife and three children, and a funeral service is scheduled for Saturday.
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Read more: Former Notre Dame Player Dies of Cancer

Authorities say a northeastern Indiana boy abducted by his paternal grandparents back in 1994 has been found, married and well, in Minnesota. Indiana State Police say the couple were reportedly upset over pending court proceedings regarding placement of the boy, and allegedly took the then five year old child and left from their home in LaGrange County to an unknown destination. Over the years, several detectives worked with the parents to locate their son. Last September, police say a man in...

Read more: Missing NE Indiana Boy Found Years Later in MN

The flu has claimed three more lives in Indiana, according to the latest information from state health officials. The weekly influenza report says there have been ten reported influenza deaths in the 2012-2013 season, two under the age of 18. The Indiana State Department of Health does not report the number of deaths in a county until five deaths have occurred in a specific county.
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Read more: Flu Deaths Climb to 10 in Indiana

The Cline Avenue extension bridge is gone. The Times today says explosives brought down the last of it this week, as crews have been working for the last few months to demolish the nearly thirty-year-old bridge over the Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal, which was closed on an emergency basis for safety reasons just over three years ago. Last year, officials announced it would be replaced by a new toll bridge built with private funds. The tear-down began in May. When the bridge was first being...

Read more: Cline Avenue Bridge Demolition Update