(Photo Courtesy of the Times)
The South Central School Corporation Superintendent was arrested Monday night and charged with misdemeanor battery. According to a LaPorte County Sheriff's Office incident report, 51 year old Christopher Smith is accused of physically assaulting the head of maintenance for South Central Schools, Daniel Glassman. The Times reports, an argument between the two men occurred while heading home that night following a South Bend Silverhawks baseball game and a stop at a Michigan City lakefront bar.
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Authorities are seeking the public's help to find a missing 15 year old girl last seen on May 9^th. The Lake County Sheriff's Office says Celeste Guzman was listed today as an endangered runaway. Guzman is described as five-feet tall, weighing 145 pounds, with brown hair, brown eyes, and was last seen wearing a pink and black Notre Dame hoodie. The Sheriff's Office reports Guzman is known to frequent the Black Oak area of Gary. Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Celeste Guzman is asked to contact the Lake County Sheriff's Office.
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(Photos Courtesy of the Porter County Substance Abuse Council)

Over 15-hundred Porter County students were recently given the opportunity to experience the hazards of impaired driving. The Porter County Drunk Driving Task Force visited four high schools: Boone Grove, Morgan Township, Valparaiso, and Wheeler, helping students through a series of challenges meant to simulate a variety of impairment levels. The Porter County Substance Abuse Council says the message of not drinking and driving is especially important this time of year with students attending proms, graduations, parties and other events, and remind parents to set an example and share the message not to drink and drive.
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A documentary about four living World War II veterans and a Midwest community coming together to give them the trip of a lifetime will be showing this evening for one night only. “Honor Flight, One Last Mission” shows how volunteers race against the clock to fly thousands of WWII veterans to Washington, DC to see the memorial constructed for them in 2004, nearly 60 years after their epic struggle. The film will be at 5:30pm, at the AMC Showtime Theater 12, in the 14-hundred block of Eagleridge, in Schererville, and the cost per ticket is eleven dollars. For more information about the film, visit http://www.honorflightthemovie.com.
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The latest crop report from the U-S Department of Agriculture says warm, sunny days allowed Hoosier farmers to make good progress planting corn and soybeans, with the most acreage planted across northern Indiana and some central counties. 64-percent of intended corn acreage is now in the ground, compared with 96-percent last year, but 65-percent is the five-year average. Thirty percent of soybean crops are planted, compared with 84-percent last year, and 36-percent for the five-year average. Just a couple weeks ago, there had been little to no progress on planting corn because of rain and soggy field conditions, especially in portions of southern Indiana.
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Whiting Police are asking for the public's help as they investigate a shooting near the Community Center Saturday night. At about 7:30 pm, officers responded to Clark Street and Community Court in reference to a shooting. Whiting Police say their preliminary investigation indicates a 19-year-old Robertsdale resident and an unidentified male individual were in the area when words were exchanged, and the unidentified male pulled a handgun and fired at the 19-year-old, striking him in the back, then fleeing in a dark-colored vehicle. Police say the victim was taken to a local hospital in serious condition, then later airlifted to a Chicago-area hospital. Whiting Police say they believe the incident was gang-related, and they are currently following leads. Anyone with information is asked to contact Whiting Police Police Department Detective Bureau at 219-659-2131.
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Hoosier school kids will be getting their eyes checked more often. Indiana Governor Mike Pence has signed into law a measure that expands vision testing to students entering fifth grade. Current policy only requires screening for students entering kindergarten or first grade, third grade and eighth grade. Senate Enrolled Act 553 also requires exams for kindergarteners and first graders must be performed by a licensed opthalmologist or optometrist
Photo provided | Pictured, from left to right at desk: Sen. Jean Leising (R-Oldenburg), Sen. Becker, Gov. Pence, Rep. Ed Clere (R-New Albany); from left to right in back: Yara Catoira-Boyle, MD; Kim Williams, Executive Director of the Indiana Academy of Ophthalmology, Inc.; Rep. Ron Bacon (R-Chandler); Derek Sprunger, MD; Polly Hendricks, OD, Indiana Optometry Immediate Past President; James Stewart, OD, Indiana Optometry President; Rep. Suzanne Crouch (R-Evansville); Jim Zieba, Executive Director of the Indiana Optometric Association.
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Munster HS Science Olympiad Team [provided]
Region students were among more than a-hundred teams to compete in the Science Olympiad National Tournament at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, Saturday. Munster High School placed 18^th, and Thomas Jefferson Middle School in Valparaiso placed 19^th. The local schools advanced to the national tournament after winning at the state competition at Indiana University in Bloomington in March. This was the 24^th consecutive year T- J students competed in the national championships. Science Olympiad competitions are like academic track meets, consisting of a series of 23 team events in each division, with a division for middle school and a division for high school.
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Paving crews in Valparaiso will hit the streets toward the end of next month for their annual repaving program, starting with Montdale Drive in Montdale Industrial Park. Parts of several other roads in the city are also having work done, including Academy Street, Andover Drive, Don Hovey Drive, Howard Street, Linden Street, and Sheffield Drive. Some sidewalks are also being replaced in parts of the city.
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Tuesday May 21, 2013, is the next deadline to sign up for Indiana's Do Not Call List. Since January, Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller's office has gotten more than five-thousand complaints about telemarketing calls either with a live operator or prerecorded message. Zoeller says nearly one-thousand consumers got an automated call from a woman from “Cardholder Services” offering to lower credit card interest rates, asking for money but not really providing any service.
Nearly four-hundred complaints have been filed this year about an automated call that mentions an FBI report on home break-ins offering a “free” home security system, but Zoeller says they'll sell your info to a home monitoring company that will charge you. Zoeller also says these telemarketers have no relationship with federal law enforcement agencies.
Individuals do not need to re-register for the Do Not Call list unless their address has changed. To sign up or to confirm a number is already on the list, visit www.IndianaConsumer.com or call 1.888.834.9969.
Zoeller's office says out-of-state area codes can also be added as long as the billing address is located in Indiana. Those consumers who are registered and receive an unwanted call can file a complaint with the Attorney General’s Office by visiting www.IndianaConsumer.com  and clicking on “file a complaint.”
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