Two Indiana cities both just outside Indianapolis, have landed in Neighborhood Scout's list of "Top 100 Safest Cities in the U.S." The website looked at cities with 25-thousand or more people, and ranked communities based on the total number of property and violent crimes per one-thousand residents. Crimes include burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, murder, forcible rape, armed robbery, and aggravated assault.-- Fishers was number 19, Carmel number 33.
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A Crown Point man suffered burns to his body reportedly while burning debris in his yard in the 69-hundred block of East US 231, according to the Times today, and the Lake County Coroners office says 86-year-old Charles Green was pronounced dead at the scene shortly after 2:30 Sunday afternoon. Manner of death was currently listed as pending. Lakes of the Four Seasons Fire Department responded.
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Indiana State Police say an Indianapolis woman lost her life in a single-vehicle crash in northwest Indiana Saturday evening.  Troopers say a preliminary investigation revealed, at approximately 6:15 p.m., Saturday, February 16, 2013, a 2001 Ford Explorer, was north bound on I-65 at the 226 mile marker, four miles south of the Demotte exit, in the right lane, when for unknown reasons, the vehicle lost control, over-corrected, and rolled onto its driver’s side, skidding a short distance on the ro...

First District Congressman Pete Visclosky says flood control projects and more could be affected by sequestration – automatic, across-the-board spending cuts of 85-billion-dollars, approved by Congress, that take effect next week, if Congress can't compromise on a spending plan. Visclosky says the U-S Army Corps of Engineers alone would face cuts totaling 225-million dollars, likely resulting in the defunding of 65 ongoing construction projects and 43 dredging projects. He says the Corps’ flood...

An iconic magazine goes bankrupt. ABC's Aaron Katersky reports Reader's Digest, which has been around more than ninety year, is steeped in debt and the publisher has filed for bankruptcy. It says more than 25 million people still read the magazine but fewer in print and more on a digital device where advertising just isn't the same. Reader's Digest is the latest in a string of iconic brands to seek protection in bankruptcy court, including Hostess and Eastman Kodak.
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Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller is urging Region tax filers to take precautions to protect themselves from identity thieves who can steal their information and file a tax return in their name. Last year, Zoeller's office got nearly 70 complaints of tax-refund fraud, and in most cases, Zoeller says thieves used a legitimate taxpayer’s personal information to file a tax return and the victim was unaware – until they were notified by the IRS. Also, Zoeller cautions if you receive an uns...

Tri-Creek Schools in Lowell have scheduled a series of meetings called “Listening Posts” to get input on plans for a new Learning Center to be built on the site of the former middle school. Tri-Creek is partnering with Ivy Tech Community College, who'll lease space in the new building... and plans for the center also include space for the district's Opportunity Center suspension/expulsion alternative program... employee health clinic... preschool/daycare center... community center and mul...

ABC News reports 37-year-old country singer Mindy McCready has died in an apparent suicide at her home in Heber Springs, Arkansas. Authorities discovered McCready's body on her front porch, the same place her boyfriend David Wilson died last month in an apparent suicide. The local sheriff says it appears McCready died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.  McCready - who soared to the top of the charts in the mid-90s has in recent years received more attention for her troubled personal life than...

Weather permitting, IDOT says the northbound Stony Island feeder ramp from the Bishop Ford Freeway (I-94) between 103rd St. and 95th St. will be temporarily closed overnight from 10 p.m. Saturday (Feb. 16th) until 10 a.m. Sunday (Feb. 17th) to allow for repairs to the Norfolk Southern Railroad bridge.  Ramp traffic from the Bishop Ford Freeway during this outage will be detoured via 103rd St.  Motorists will have to follow the posted detour via Torrence Avenue and 95th St.  Updates on the im...

Listed one time on Indiana's "Most Endangered List", a majority of the Old Grade School in Lowell has been demolished.  Tom Trulley, of the Lowell building Department tells the Times that "once the old school's foundation is leveled, a buried storage tank will have to be removed."   While future plans for the site remain undecided, the article says, for the time being, the nearly one acre lot will be planted with grass seed. Funding for the $175,000 thousand demolition cost is expected to come t...