South Bend

The Hoosier State’s third baby box will be installed in a central Indiana fire station. Indiana lawmakers approved legislation this year to expand the state’s Safe Haven law to allow 24 hour fire stations to install baby boxes. 

Monica Kelsey is a firefighter and founder of Safe Haven Baby Box. She says the option is safe.

South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s veto of a zoning request from a pro-life, non-medical facility stands. In a packed room, which included both pro-life and pro-choice supporters, the city’s Common Council voted 5 to 4, missing the majority needed to override the veto.

The council cited five rezoning criteria they used to allow Women’s Care Center, a pro-life, non-medical facility to open an office next to Whole Women’s Health Alliance, which could soon become an abortion provider in South Bend.
 

St. Joseph County officials have released more details regarding yesterday’s officer-involved shooting on South Bend’s West Side, which they are calling a “justified homicide.”
 

A new grassroots movement based in Washington, DC hopes to encourage South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg to run in the 2020 presidential election.  

The movement has no association with Buttigieg or his campaign. Mark Meier lives in Washington DC, and launched the effort, despite never meeting the South Bend mayor. But, he says Buttigieg has a lot of the qualities the Democratic Party needs in a candidate. He said it all began when he read an article about the mayor.

The city of South Bend announced it will join dozens of other cities across the country and file a federal lawsuit against opioid manufacturers and distributors alleging misinformation about the effects of opioids.

The Indiana State Board of Education hosted a hearing Thursday seeking public comment on proposed revisions to school accountability grades.

The majority of those present at the hearing were school teachers and administrators.
 

They raised concerns about the timeline for the changes, and how they could affect their students standardized tests and graduation pathways.
 

South Bend Mayor Pete Buttitgieg said it’s going to be a while before the river falls back to normal.

“It’s going down slowly. We’re still going to be above 12 feet probably for the balance of the day and it will be the month of March before we’re out of flood stage.”

Researchers at the University of Notre Dame are working on a program with community college students found those who receive mentorship support had a greater chance of completing an associates degree than those who didn’t.

Two Indiana state agencies received approval to use federal money to expand lead testing, particularly for low-income Hoosiers.

The Indiana Family and Social Services Administration will be able to use $3 million a year for the next five years to provide lead testing and prevention services.

A baby from South Bend spent the first eight months of her life at Riley Hospital for Children at Indiana University Health when she was born a so-called micro-preemie at 23 weeks. Now she is headed home for the first time.

The baby, named Miracle Mullins, was also the first in Indiana to undergo a rare brain surgery.

Premature babies often suffer from hydrocephalus, where an excess of cerebrospinal fluid causes the brain to swell. What’s not so common, says Riley neurosurgeon Jeffrey Raskin, is a procedure Miracle Mullins received.

The federal plan to end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, in six months, would impact nearly 1,200 people in Michiana and 10,000 people statewide. Michiana non-profits hosted a rally urging Republican Representative Jackie Walorski to support protection for undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children.

Executive Director of the South Bend non-profit La Casa de Amistad, Sam Centellas said the message is simple.

South Bend and a local non-profit supported Barack Obama’s executive order Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, on its fifth anniversary. The order defers deportation of children brought into the country without legal documentation. People gathered at a rally urging the federal government to make DACA a permanent law.

A black RV wrapped with the slogan “Drive for Our Lives” parked outside of the Old Courthouse in South Bend. People gathered to hear stories about the importance of health care in the community and what advocates say is at stake if the Affordable Care Act is repealed and replaced.

For 31 years David Capp was the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Indiana, which covers Gary, Hammond, East Chicago, South Bend, Fort Wayne and Lafayette.  Now Capp is out of office.  The former United States Attorney was planning on retiring in June, but after the new Presidential administration took over, he ended up leaving earlier than he had planned.  He spoke with Lakeshore Public Radio Reporter Sharon Jackson.