Indiana

Power Station's Closing Could Create Problems
Mon, 02/13/2012
For years, environmental and health organizations have called for the closing of the 83-year-old coal-fired State Line Power Station, one of the Chicago area’s top polluters. Now the plant, which is in Hammond, just across the Indiana border on Lake Michigan and adjacent to Calumet Park, is burning through its last stores of coal. It will stop...

Study Stirs Debate on Future of Chicago Waterways
Mon, 01/02/2012
A new Army Corps of Engineers study of Chicago-area waterways has stirred the debate over whether to sever the connection between Lake Michigan and inland waterways that were created by the construction of canals a century ago. The study, released on Dec. 7, is part of the Corps’s nearly decade-long process aimed at preventing invasive species,...

Urban Decay Lures Hollywood to Gary
Wed, 08/17/2011
When Gary, Indiana was booming, the city’s factories belched a constant cycle of smoke and steel. When the industrial hub thirty miles south of Chicago went bust, those buildings decayed with equal fervor. The steel industry has not returned, but the crumbling remains of Gary’s last viable economy are offering some small hope of a new one. Last...

Green Scene: 11 wealthy families team up to invest in clean tech
Thu, 07/28/2011
Eleven wealthy families are now scouting for investment opportunities in the clean-energy sector – and the investment syndicate they’ve formed has already inked some deals. The Cleantech Syndicate was created in 2010 but only announced its formation late last month after it accumulated a large enough membership and demonstrated some investment...

Biggest Stock of Foreclosed Homes: Right Here
Fri, 07/08/2011
Although it never shared the notoriety of Miami, Los Angeles and Phoenix during America’s foreclosure crisis, the Chicago area now has the nation’s largest inventory of foreclosed homes because it is harder to unload troubled properties here than in most other metropolitan areas. The inventory data compiled by RealtyTrac, a California company...

Casino Bill’s True Believer Enters the Final Stretch
Fri, 06/24/2011
It took 20 years for state Rep. Lou Lang, one of Illinois’ most outspoken politicians, to convince his colleagues to support more gambling in Illinois. Now he faces a tougher challenge: Convincing Gov. Pat Quinn, who campaigned against any large-scale gaming expansion. “I have a very good relationship with the governor,” the 61-year-old Lang said...

Rose Validates MVP Chants
Tue, 04/19/2011
Derrick Rose validated his claim to the NBA’s Most Valuable Player award in an oddly roundabout way Monday night. Simply put, the MVP is the player who means the most to his team. Rose, far and away the best and most productive player on a 62-win Chicago Bulls team, fit that description better than anyone else who drew an NBA paycheck this season...

With or Without Stars, the Bulls May Go Far
Sat, 04/16/2011
As the Bulls began the National Basketball Association playoffs against the Indiana Pacers on Saturday, they were blithely unburdened by the legacy of failure that dogs their contemporaries on the Chicago sports scene. Six championships in 45 years of existence will do that for a team, as will the indelible memory of the best there has ever been...

Farrakhan Using Libyan Crisis to Bolster His Nation of Islam
Sat, 04/09/2011
When Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Chicago-based Nation of Islam, staunchly defended Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi recently, he seized headlines for an organization that has made little news in recent years.In an often-fiery speech on March 31 at Mosque Maryam, the group’s South Side headquarters, Mr. Farrakhan recalled the decades of friendship and...