A BP refinery in northwestern Indiana repeatedly violated air pollution standards for soot emissions between 2015 and 2018, a federal judge ruled in a lawsuit brought by environmental advocates.
A former Whiting mayor who pleaded guilty to charges that he spent about a quarter-million dollars in campaign funds to gamble and pay personal bills avoided prison on Wednesday when a federal judge ordered he be placed on two years’ probation and home detention for one year.
Federal prosecutors are recommending a 15-month prison sentence for the former mayor of Whiting, who pleaded guilty to fraud and a tax crime.
A former northwestern Indiana mayor faces a January sentencing after pleading guilty to charges that he illegally used public campaign donations to cover gambling losses.
The mayor of Whiting has pleaded guilty to wire- and tax-fraud charges related to allegations he and his wife used more than $250,000 in campaign funds for gambling, paying credit card debt and other personal expenses, then filed false or misleading campaign reports or tax returns.
Indiana will keep its current coronavirus restrictions in place for at least most of August, with Gov. Eric Holcomb choosing Wednesday to encourage compliance with safety measures amid continued concerns about recent growth in the state’s COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. Holcomb also said he would briefly extend a moratorium on evictions that was scheduled to expire this week.
A Lake County man sentenced to 16 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to two burglaries could not persuade an appellate court to lighten his punishment because he said he broke into homes in part to help his sister “get to dialysis.”
A northwestern Indiana scrap-metal dealer convicted of razing a historic railroad bridge and selling the metal has been sentenced to two years in prison.
A northwestern Indiana scrap-metal dealer convicted of razing a historic railroad bridge and selling the metal contends he didn’t receive a fair trial. Kenneth Morrison of Whiting is seeking a new trial following his December conviction on a charge of interstate transportation of stolen goods.
A 17-year-old who was found to be more than 50 percent at fault for the injuries he sustained from running in front of a moving train was unable to convince the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals that he had no warning the locomotive was coming down the tracks.
A federal jury has convicted a northwestern Indiana scrap-metal dealer of interstate transportation of stolen goods for allegedly demolishing a historic railroad bridge and selling the metal. Prosecutors said Kenneth Morrison and a work crew cut up the unused Monon Bridge that spanned the Grand Calumet River near downtown Hammond and sold it to Illinois scrapyards for $18,000. He also allegedly sold parts to an East Chicago scrap dealer.
A federal judge has denied a northwestern Indiana scrap metal dealer’s request to dismiss charges for allegedly demolishing a historic Hammond railroad bridge and selling the metal for $18,000. Kenneth Morrison argued the grand jury didn’t get an accurate picture of whether the city of Hammond or the railroad company owned the Monon Bridge, but Judge Philip Simon said prosecutors only have to prove Morrison had no claim to the scrap metal.
A northwestern Indiana city that hosts an annual festival built around a popular Polish delicacy has reached a settlement in its trademark dispute with a rival festival in Pennsylvania. Since 2014 the Edwardsville Hometown Committee has run the Pennsylvania festival dedicated to the potato-filled dumplings, abundant in a region whose coal mines drew Polish immigrants more than a century ago, while Whiting, Indiana, has hosted Pierogi Fest since 1995.
Residents of two northwestern Indiana cities are getting an update on efforts to clean up heavy metals near a former industrial smelter.
The Environmental Protection Agency has discovered more lead contamination in northwestern Indiana. Soil samples collected since October have revealed more than two dozen contaminated yards in Hammond and Whiting, the Chicago Tribune reported.