South Bend Tribune
Afghan family reciprocates hospitality with Cultural Bites
Editor’s note: To protect the safety of himself, his family and uphold location anonymity after fleeing the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan, The Tribune is referring to the main source of this story by the nickname Khan. SOUTH BEND — In October 2021,...
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City gearing up to move Amtrak to Union Station
There are still many years down the road before South Bend residents can hop on an Amtrak train at Union Station and head to the destination of their choosing, according to Mayor James Mueller. But that dream will become a reality sooner rather than...
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EARTH ENERGY
The University of Notre Dame has been able to decrease its carbon footprint by 48% since 2005 with the integration and construction of geothermal plants around campus. And most students don’t even notice the plants are there. In 2017, Notre Dame...
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Cattle ranchers fume over Trump plan
POWER, MT – When Tim Brunner was at an auction barn recently, he was surprised to see decent cows selling several hundred dollars cheaper than they were just a few weeks earlier. He largely blames President Donald Trump, and he’s not the only...
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Colfax Streetscape moves forward with opening
SOUTH BEND — It’s only a matter of time before Colfax Avenue between Niles Avenue and Eddy Street reopens to full traffic. The city began milling, and paving is expected to be completed by Thursday, Aug. 27, and open to drivers Tuesday, Sept....
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LOVE, ALWAYS
Dolly Parton, the “Queen of Country” singing and songwriting icon with a personality as bold as her signature blond coif and rhinestone-encrusted outfits, has died. She was 80. Parton’s death was announced by her family on her social media pages and...
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Century Center fate unknown
SOUTH BEND — The South Bend Museum of Art expects to learn Thursday, Aug. 27, whether the city will begin a required three-year lease expiration process. As for the fate of Century Center itself, where the museum is located, that remains...
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‘Mayor Pete’ headed to South Bend Hall of Fame
Former U.S. Secretary of Transportation and former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg leads the 2026 induction class for the South Bend Community Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame will welcome him and six other noted Hoosiers with local ties at its 39th...
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EPA says Beck’s Lake not a threat to public
SOUTH BEND — After nearly two decades of assessment, testing and excavation, Remedial Project Manager for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Demaree Collier said there is no imminent threat at Beck’s Lake. “The big take away right now is that...
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DATA DOMINION
NEW CARLISLE — On the frigid morning of Jan. 27, the Department of Energy ordered Amazon’s massive data center in northern Indiana to cut off 50 megawatts of electricity, about the amount needed to power 40,000 homes for one hour. Backup diesel...
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Iran vows ‘devastating’ response to threat
DUBAI – Iran said on Aug. 21 that its response to any new U.S. threats would be “devastating” after Washington pledged to impose the toughest financial penalties in history with the aim of toppling the Iranian leadership. Washington prepared for...
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South Bend, PHM students begin school year
The summer came and the summer went, as South Bend and Penn-harrismadison students began the school year Wednesday with hype and hoopla. South Bend’s Coquillard Elementary had firefighters and the mayor on site to greet kids. P-H-M’S Horizon...
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Freedom rolls into town
Ascreaming eagle landed in South Bend. h Canadian National commemorative locomotives traveling on a three-day Hometown Whistle Stop Tour to celebrate the United States’ 250th year of independence brought between 200 and 300 people outside Union...
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‘Several years of work finally becoming visible’
The South Bend Tribune moved into its longest-lasting home in April 1921, a custom-built building at 225 W. Colfax Ave. And from the corner of Colfax Avenue and Lafayette Boulevard, The Tribune helped draft the history of South Bend. The Tribune...
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Art Beat starts with rain, still gets sunshine
SOUTH BEND — A little bit of rain didn’t stop local residents from showing up to downtown South Bend’s largest annual event on Aug. 15, Art Beat, put on by Downtown South Bend Inc. and Everwise Credit Union. From 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Jefferson Boulevard...
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$27M Habitat for Humanity housing project is underway
MISHAWAKA — By next November, the former Oak Grove Mobile Home Park at the corner of Mckinley and Byrkit Avenues will be transformed by Habitat for Humanity of St. Joseph County into nine acres of affordable housing dubbed Woodfield Crossing. Before...
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‘What we do here matters’
There’s a saying at the South Bend Community Re-entry Center: Everybody has an out. Everybody shops at Walmart. The residents at SBCRC are men who were formerly incarcerated at high-level state prison facilities, often for many decades. They come here...
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U.S. tells Iran it will step up pressure
LONDON – Transit through the Strait of Hormuz appeared to grind to a near standstill on Aug. 14 after two more ships were attacked there and the United States said it could maintain a naval blockade of Iran indefinitely. A senior Iranian source said...
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Students eager as first day of class arrives
MISHAWAKA — School is back in session at School City of Mishawaka. Wednesday, Aug. 12, was the district’s first day of the 2026-27 school year, and the atmosphere at Lasalle Elementary was celebratory as faculty and staff welcomed students...
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Hums Elementary transformation continues
School City of Mishawaka leadership says construction on the new Hums Elementary School building is progressing well, with the $41 million project around halfway completed and on track to open in time for the start of the 2027-28 school...
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Making the transition back to school easier
The back-to-school season is officially here, and the last days and weeks before school is back in session are the perfect time for families to start helping their students prepare for the new school year. Here are eight tips and tricks to set...
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Island Eleven rolls out red carpet for customers
SOUTH BEND — At Island Eleven, where the food transports customers to the warm Caribbean islands, co-owner Courtney Graham said her business partner, also the head chef of the restaurant, Kerwin Huggins, often reminds her to slow down, take a breather...
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Mural honors local leaders who have made a difference
SOUTH BEND — With the unveiling of a new mural, a wall on South Bend’s West Side has been marked in honor of community members who left their own mark on the city. The mural, on the side of Faith Deliverance Center, 1415 Lincoln Way W., features...
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Safety tips for South Bend bicyclists
With summer in full swing, it’s the perfect time to enjoy the warm weather with a bike ride. But whether you’re cycling through the streets of downtown South Bend or exploring some nature bike trails with the kids, it’s important to practice safe...
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U.S. employers shed 23,000 jobs in July
U.S. employers shed 23,000 jobs in July, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Aug. 7, a figure far below analysts’ expectations, and downward revisions to job growth numbers for May and June reflect a weaker labor market than previously estimated. The...
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Groups demand schools act after justice report
Local activists say the findings in the recently released reparatory justice report codify what they have been admonishing for years: Disproportionality and inequity within South Bend schools have negative impacts on the district’s Black student...
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LIGHTS, CAMERA, COMEBACK
Grab a bag of popcorn and get comfortable. h A new movie theater might be making its way into the historic State Theatre thanks to a $4 million award of READI 2.0 Arts and Culture grants from the state. h In April, the South Bend Redevelopment...
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Buttigieg leaning toward running for president
Pete Buttigieg, the former South Bend mayor and U.S. transportation secretary in the Biden administration, is leaning toward running for president in 2028, he said on a podcast Aug. 3. But the Democrat is far from making any promises, only admitting...
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Inclusive Normain Heights Park to grow
MISHAWAKA — After receiving no bids last month, the Mishawaka Redevelopment Commission unanimously voted Monday, July 27, to demolish the former Mishawaka Fire Station No. 2 building at 2332 N. Main St. and use the land to expand Normain Heights...
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Project sees foundation work, internal demo prep
SOUTH BEND — Main Street Row has been stripped nearly to bare earth while the historic South Bend Tribune building remains seemingly untouched. But looks can be deceiving. As The Tribune has reported, development on the Colfax Corner project is well...
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Spinning community
SOUTH BEND — Alec Hoogland spent childhood nights in their bedroom in Northwest Indiana dreaming of becoming an architect. In the daytime, they fondly remember drawing houses with whatever medium they could get their hands on. “I’ve always had this...
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Different kinds of justice
WASHINGTON – Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett likes to note that the black robes she and her colleagues wear show that the nine justices are “united symbolically.” h Despite different personalities, legal philosophies and backgrounds, the robes...
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Resident input sought for budget process
SOUTH BEND — How do you think South Bend should spend tax dollars? South Bend residents have an opportunity to weigh in on the city’s budget planning process until Sept. 27 as the 2027 budget season begins. The city announced the sixth year of Build...
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Notre Dame develops AI coaching platform
The University of Notre Dame has received a nearly $40,000 grant from the State of Indiana to develop an artificial intelligence-powered business coaching platform for low-income and disadvantaged entrepreneurs in its Urban Poverty and Business...
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Mural Mania brings seven artists to South Bend
SOUTH BEND — Local muralist and curator Alex Ann Allen defines her artistic style as “a colorful combination of geometric shapes blended with realism.” This style is something she has curated as an individual, but she’s not alone in her family in...
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Fresh take on an a classic local
MISHAWAKA —The Silver Bar. Union Station. Oliva’s. Since the 1920s, the building at 327 Union St. in Mishawaka has lived multiple lives, many in which involved serving the community, literally and figuratively. Most recently, it has existed as Oliva’s...
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County council, Microsoft talk Granger data center noise
SOUTH BEND — As a Microsoft Data Center plans to go vertical in Granger next year, St. Joseph County Council members have reached out to the company with a handful of specific requests — ones they said they’ve heard from local residents. In 2024,...
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LASTING LEGACY
To understand the full picture of how important South Bend’s Black community is, highlighting the present and future are just as important as honoring the past. Standout athletes from South Bend like Saint Joseph 1,000point scorer Elijah King are...
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U.S. strikes shipping point on Red Sea
DUBAI – U.S. missiles struck targets across Iran, reaching as far as its Caspian coast, on July 24 after President Donald Trump vowed “major military punishment” for Tehran and its Houthi allies in Yemen for extending the war to a second major shipping...
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RIDE ‘EM COWBOY
The image of the American cowboy is incomplete without Black cowboys, whose story has largely been left untold. As more people work to tell the longoverlooked story of Black cowboys, who made up about one in four cowboys in the late 1800s, South Bend...
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Artistic conversations
What began in summer 2022 as a way to get people back into the South Bend Museum of Art (SBMA) after the COVID-19 pandemic has become a biennial tradition in the community as the third “Around the Bend” exhibition continues through Aug. 23 at 120 S....
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Meet Big Red
For the first time in five years, Potawatomi Zoo has a new infant red panda, but the cub could still face challenges. Born on June 13 to mother Raya and father EJ, the baby red panda, now named Big Red, was one of five cubs Raya gave birth to. The...
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Opinion split on multi-use trail
SOUTH BEND — The Midwest Continental Divide Trail has officially been tabled as of earlier this month, according to county officials, but that’s not stopping residents from making sure it doesn’t come back. At least not in its current form. At the St....
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BIG BOY, BIG CROWDS
KNOX — The Union Pacific’s Big Boy No. 4014 drew thousands of people, including four siblings who came together from locations across the Midwest, to share the historic moment in remembrance of their father. Beverly Sandvold and her three siblings...
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‘CRUCIAL PIECE OF TECHNOLOGY’
The year is 1835. James Oliver, a Scottish-born preteen at the time, has ventured to America with his parents and six of his eight older siblings, the other two of whom are already waiting to warmly receive the family in the land of opportunity. By...
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U.S., Iran trade infrastructure attacks
DUBAI – The United States struck bridges and an airport in Iran on July 17 and Tehran responded by hitting a power and desalination plant in Kuwait, as the warring foes risked further escalation by expanding their targets to include infrastructure. In...
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Todd Blanche grilled at AG confirmation hearing
Todd Blanche faced a tough grilling from Democrats at his Senate confirmation hearing for attorney general, but it’s not clear they have the votes to block his nomination. The former personal lawyer to President Donald Trump was hit with accusations...
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St. Adalbert marks 100 years
The parishioners and friends of St. Adalbert Parish will celebrate the centennial of the Catholic church’s current building with a dinner and dance at 5:30 p.m. Aug. 1 at American Legion Post 357, 5414 W. Sample St. The church, 2505 W. Grace St., will...
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Lt. Col. Laudeman can’t seem to retire
Kent Laudeman of Niles has worn many hats during his 83 years. He has been an Army officer, a professor with a PHD, an advocate for veterans, a college registrar both at IUSB and the United States Military Academy, a director of a suicide prevention...
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Elegance on wheels
A1929 Duesenberg Model J Sports Sedan-weymann exhibited by Don Ghareeb of Vestavia Hills, Alabama, won the Best of Show award at Studebaker National Museum’s 2026 Concours d’elegance at Copshaholm on Saturday, July 11. h The same car also won the...
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Big Boy train could bring over 10,000 people to Knox
KNOX — After more than 10,000 people flooded Argos last month to see Union Pacific’s Big Boy No. 4014, officials in nearby Knox are bracing for an even bigger crowd when the historic locomotive arrives Thursday, July 16. Argos, a town of 1,777, saw...
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Our American Vision
As we celebrate 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, we asked Americans across the Midwest a simple question: In a few words, what does America mean to you? The answers we received in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan,...
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Ceasefire falls apart as Iran buries slain leader
The fragile ceasefire between the United States and Iran appeared to have fallen apart over continued strife over the Strait of Hormuz as Iranians buried their supreme leader, killed by U.s.-israel forces at the outset of the war. There were no new...
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Rehabilitation coming to Lasalle Park Homes
SOUTH BEND — In about 15 months, Lasalle Park Homes, a 150-unit U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (Hud)-subsidized housing community on South Bend’s west side, will have a complete exterior and interior makeover. Originally built in...
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Maranatha church vows to keep going after fire
There is still not much known about the cause of the fire at Maranatha Fellowship 7th Day Sabbath Church, 1406 E. Ewing Ave. on Monday, July 6. The call came in around 5:15 a.m. from a nearby neighbor who smelled smoke. South Bend firefighters quickly...
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Wet opening day at county fair with storms, happy tears
Mother Nature grotesquely underestimated the Midwestern spirit on the evening of Friday, July 3, as torrential downpour in the 4 p.m. hour did not stop Hoosiers from showing up and showing out to opening day of the 101st-annual St. Joe County 4-H Fair...
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‘LOVE ONE ANOTHER’
The Venue Parks & Arts Fourth of July Celebration on July 3 at Howard Park and Seitz Park didn’t start as planned. As the event began at 4 p.m., heavy wind sliced through the city, blowing nearly every neatly set up tent off the ground. Then came the...
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‘ONLY RAIN SHOULD GO DOWN THE DRAIN’
SOUTH BEND — The storm drains in downtown have taken on a new, much more colorful life and are now visible to passersby coming through the area. Eleven murals, located on the sidewalk of Michigan Street between Colfax Avenue and Wayne Street, were...
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SWEET LAND OF LIBERTY
The 56 steps, cut from pink granite, ascend to a neoclassical temple that seems plucked from ancient Greece and deposited on a Kentucky hilltop. One for each year of President Abraham Lincoln’s life. h If the first eight steps, rising amid the site’s...
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Bison grazing rights in question
Bison are political animals. A federal decision to revoke grazing leases for bison on public lands on the rolling plains of eastern Montana is the latest manifestation of long-standing contention. The largest land animal in North America, bison are...
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20 YEARS OF PIGMENT
SOUTH BEND — Catherine Mccormick used to put pen to paper while studying journalism in college. Today, the evening instructor of pastel painting and drawing at the South Bend Museum of Art teaches about the different types of pastels and paper...
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Demolition makes room for Tech and Talent hub
Main Street Row looks a little different as demolition has begun at the University of Notre Dame’s Colfax Corner project, which will reimagine the historic former South Bend Tribune building and Main Street Row into a Tech and Talent hub. The project...
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‘What the city can do’
When Trina Robinson agreed to be a part of the South Bend Reparatory Justice Commission, she told the Common Council she’d do it under one condition. “I didn’t want my name attached to anything that sits on a shelf,” Robinson said. “I mean that from...
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Early fireworks show in Central Park draws crowds
MISHAWAKA – Sprinklers erupted with a cooling rinse of water and children shrieked in delight late in the afternoon Saturday, June 27, at the city’s Central Park splash pad, 235 E. Mishawaka Ave. Their laughter and exuberant screams mirrored the...
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There’s more to New Carlisle than data centers
New Carlisle has received a lot of attention lately. The town on the northwest side of St. Joseph County is on the edge of technology while trying to maintain the charm of family farms and small businesses. It has 2,000 residents and a lively main...
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AN AMERICAN COMPANY
Printed in thick, all-caps letters and inked onto the front page, “AUTO OUTPUT TO END HERE” and “Studebaker will assemble cars in Canada” greeted residents as the South Bend Tribune evening paper made its way around the city on Dec. 9, 1963. The...
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Trump sees victories on guns and immigration
WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court handed President Donald Trump victories in two immigration cases June 25. In the divide between gun rights and gun violence, the justices struck down another state law, this one in Hawaii, aimed at curbing guns in public...
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New homes in land trust must go to local residents
The Northeast Neighborhood Revitalization Organization and South Bend Heritage Foundation have partnered to build five new homes on Turnock Street that can only be sold or rented to local residents. The two organizations put together a construction...
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Community finds joy, inclusion
Local community members, crafters and food vendors alike gathered inside Potawatomi Park Saturday afternoon, June 20, to celebrate LGBTQ+ Pride Month — which is globally recognized in June — during South Bend LGBTQ Center’s annual Pride in the Park...
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Discrimination addressed by Common Council
The South Bend Common Council checked off another recommendation from the South Bend Reparatory Justice Commission’s report Monday, June 22, passing two resolutions formally acknowledging, accepting and apologizing for historical and systemic racial...
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‘We can never forget’
SOUTH BEND — South Bend rapper and Fremont Youth Foundation founder Blu Casey stepped on stage at the 27th annual Juneteenth celebration and rapped about freedom. The freedom to be a leader, to feel safe in every neighborhood and to be proudly...
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New splash pad, renovations are open at softball complex
SOUTH BEND — Local teams have once again taken the field at the Byers Softball Complex on South Bend’s westside, following last summer’s series of “away games” at other city parks while the complex underwent a $3 million, grant-funded renovation,...
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Stretch of Indiana 2 will be studied
NEW CARLISE — Residents from Laporte County and St. Joseph County gathered for the first step of a two-yearlong study on a 13-mile stretch of Indiana 2 from Chapel Lane in South Bend to County Road 600 E. in Laporte County. The Indiana Department of...
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Board OKS new $20/hour for security staff
Full-time security professionals at South Bend schools will receive a new minimum hourly wage of $20 per hour under a newly approved agreement between the district and Teamsters Local 264. This comes after the SBCSC board voted to recognize full-time...
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‘We’re really excited to see all of the teams’
OSCEOLA – The wheels are in motion as Granger Exploration and Robotics Studio (GEARS) prepares to host the second annual FIRST Tech Challenge Michiana Premier Event — the largest premier robotics event in North America — June 18-21 at Century Center in...
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‘Demonstration of unity’
South Bend feels different than it did when 80-year-old Marian Cane was raising her six children. “We need peace,” she said. “We need peace in our hearts; we need peace in our souls; we need peace in our minds and we need peace here in South...
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