The NWI Fall season is defined by a number of things: temperate weather, beautiful foliage, and close proximity to a bunch of awesome pumpkin patches and apple orchards. For this autumn, however, the apple orchards are going to be a little lighter than years previous. Apple production is down by about 7% this year nationally, with many orchards suffering severe losses of crop and being forced to close early for the season. Locally, orchards like County Line have warned customers that U-Pick apples will be incredibly limited, although they will still have bags of apples for sale a la carte. Radke Orchards in LaPorte County closed early for the season due to losing 95% of its apple crop after spring weather got warmer than anticipated. Orchards in surrounding areas have also closed early for the season or never opened at all. Autumn might look the same this year, but it certainly won’t feel the same with the shortage of apples.

Customers reported a multitude of issues throughout the last week with logging into their accounts, including issues seeing their account balances or recent purchases. Some customers also reported being redirected to domains that were not clearly marked as Centier Bank, making them believe they had been victims of phishing scams and the like. Security concerns were voiced due to the diffuse nature of these updates, customers even being afraid to move funds around out of fear their money would be siphoned out by third parties. Centier’s IT phone lines were jammed up with help calls from customers trying to simply access basic features and report issues.

The car wash and lube center juggernaut (at least locally) has opened tons of locations across the Region as of late, but they’re planning their biggest expansion yet. At 740 East 80th St., near the former Star Plaza Theatre/Radisson at Star Plaza site, Drive & Shine will be building their latest facility - complete with an indoor tunnel, outdoor vacuum area and multiple bays for oil changes.

After USW Local Union 12755 pleaded NIPSCO for more full-time workers after the August 11th derecho, Michigan City Mayor and Common Council have backed USW’s plea. USW Local 12755 claims that the delayed response time after power outages suffered from the August derecho could have been lessened if NIPSCO relied less on outside contractor work and hired more full-time employees. Michigan City Common Council then approved a resolution this past week that calls for NIPSCO to strengthen its staffing and response reliability. The move to put pressure on the utility company after almost every NWI community suffered extended power outages after the derecho has been elevated in recent weeks, with state and federal level investigations into NIPSCO’s level of preparedness also on the horizon.

The former Franciscan Health Hammond site, at 5454 Hohman Ave. is in the middle of being demolished, with the Hammond Redevelopment Commission eyeing a fresh look for the downtown area. Ahead of its complete demolition, two suitors have put in $1.7 million dollar bids to take on the property and revitalize it. Holladay Properties and Great Lakes Health Campus LLC are the bidders currently, but no decision has been made at this time.

Purdue University Northwest was awarded a $2 million grant recently, courtesy of the United States Department of Commerce, to bolster their Roberts Impact Lab and boost local economic development projects. There are plans to host a program within the Roberts Impact Lab, called the Entrepreneurship, Commercialization and Innovation Academy, to support business growth and workforce development regionally. Construction will begin this year for this expansion of the Lab’s capabilities with plans to finish in Spring 2027.

A cross-country relay - the American Discovery Relay 250 - will be carrying a copy of the Declaration of Independence through NWI this week on its journey to the East Coast. The relay, put on by American Discovery Trail, starting this July in California and hopes to reach the Atlantic coastline by Thanksgiving. On the 104th day of their journey by foot, kayak and bike, they will cross through Lansing, Ill. before passing the baton off through Highland, Griffith, Hobart, Portage, Chesterton, Michigan City and LaPorte. When the relay moves through Munster on Wednesday morning, elected officials and town staff will move the baton before passing it off to the town’s cross-country teams who will take the rest of the journey through town.

Our news summaries are aggregated through local Facebook posts, as well as articles from local publications like the NWITimes, Chicago Tribune, GreatNewsLife and more. Our summaries are not a substitute for reading the full article. Seek out the whole picture on their websites.

A century ago, the Chicago-based Consumers' Company, which owned 2,000 acres along the Lake Michigan shoreline, was reported to be planning an industrial city with a large lake harbor at the mouth of Burns Ditch in northwest Porter County. The 1923 newspaper report captured a vision that took decades to fully arrive: today that same shoreline is home to the Port of Indiana–Burns Harbor and the industry around it. It's a fun reminder that the Region's lakefront has been eyed for big things for more than a hundred years.

$899,900 — 5bd/4ba, 6,150 sqft on 5.67 wooded acres in Cedar Lake. This 2006-built retreat has a finished basement with wet bar and steam shower, whole-house generator, covered and screened porches, and a standout 40x50 pole barn with radiant-heat-ready floors. Wildlife abounds and hunting is permitted on the property, yet you’re 5 minutes from the St. John shopping corridor.