Last Update 7/3/2009

We start the holiday weekend with a bang by many of us hitting the roads. Over 37-million Americans are expected to travel at least 50 miles from home during the Fourth of July weekend, but that's down nearly two-percent from a year ago due to the economy. If you plan on driving throughout Indiana or Michigan, State Police Sergeant Dave Bursten asks you to move over and slow down. Indiana is celebrating the tenth anniversary of the law that requires motorists to change lanes or at least slow down if an emergency vehicle or highway work vehicle is along the side of the road. If you're caught violating the law, the maximum fine is ten-thousand dollars, but Bursten says the first offense would probably land you a 150 to 200 dollar ticket.

You'll have to wait another month to get real cheap flights out of South Bend. JetAmerica had planned to launch new service between South Bend and Newark on July 13th, with seats as cheap as nine dollars. But the company is putting off the start of service until August 14th. JetAmerica has had a string of delays, which originally said it would start flying in and out of South Bend in early June under the name Air Azul.

A series of TEA party rallies are being held here and across the country this weekend to mark the July 4th holiday and to send a message to Washington that it's time for our government to control spending and hold the line on taxes. Hundreds of people attended a TEA party rally Thursday in front of the Howard County Courthouse in Kokomo, a day after a similar demonstration in South Bend. TEA stands for "taxed enough already." Many of those attending the TEA parties want to put God back in government. A big state rally will be held Saturday in downtown Indianapolis, starting at five p.m. For more information, you can go to our website, wfrn.com.

Pro-lifers are mounting a protest against the nation's largest teachers' union, which represents thousands of educators here in Michiana. Picket lines were set up Thursday at the National Education Association convention in San Diego, along with state and local NEA offices, calling on the teachers' union to end its support of abortion. Teacher Bob Pawson of the Pro-life Educators and Students says over 80-percent of the NEA members would like their leadership to get the union out of the abortion issue, take no position at all and be truly neutral. Pawson wonders how a union, which supposedly loves children, can be pro-abortion, and he says NEA members should not tolerate it.

In the last ten years, the number of students taking classes at Ivy Tech's campus in Elkhart has skyrocketed 81-percent, outgrowing the school's current facility in the city's east side industrial park. A groundbreaking ceremony was held Thursday to mark the official start of construction at a new 20-million dollar, 70-thousand square-foot building east of Elkhart at County Road 17 and U.S. 20. The new facility is expected to open in about a year-and-a-half. Ivy Tech officials say the building is desperately needed during to the student enrollment boom due to all of the RV layoffs in the Elkhart County area.

Indiana officials are putting a little more pressure on those of us out of work, collecting unemployment checks. A new law has just kicked in that requires you to apply for at least one job a week. In the past, you only had to show the state you were looking for work with three employers a week but not necessarily apply. After four weeks of jobless benefits, you also now have to accept any job offer that pays at least 90-percent of what your old job did, 80-percent after eight weeks. Turn the job down, and your unemployment check is cut by 25-percent. Marc Lotter of the Indiana Department of Workforce Development also says employers won't be hit with higher unemployment taxes until January. Legislative analysts say closing the loophole should save Indiana 12-million dollars a year.

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels is calling the new state budget a victory for taxpayers and schools, even though a number of urban schools are seeing cuts in the amount of money from the state they'll be getting. That's because those schools have seen a big drop in student enrollment over the last few years. Daniels says those schools will still get an increase in per-student funding. The governor says the budget gives schools the best funding possible in the current economy, while encouraging reforms like charter schools. Democrats tried to put a limit on the number of charter schools, but Daniels is happy that effort failed.

The U.S. Enviornmental Protection Agency is requiring 106 cities and towns across Indiana to take steps to eliminate E. coli bacteria from every river, lake and stream where communities are dumping sewage. The EPA wants those waters to be safe enough for us to fish and swim all the time. Goshen has received word it's receiving five-and-a-half million dollars in federal stimulus money to help cleanup the Elkhart River. Goshen Mayor Allan Kauffman says the Maple City is embarking on a 34-million dollar project to build a new sewage overflow facility. Kauffman hopes the project is done by April 2011. He says the city was planning to increase sewer rates by some 25-percent to help pay for it, but the stimulus money will lower the rate hike some.

Many of our home gas bills are going down this month. NIPSCO says its customers will pay about 26-percent less for natural gas in July due to a drop in wholesale prices over the last few weeks. NIPSCO officials say the typical homeowner using 50 therms of gas can expect July bills to run just under 28 dollars, compared to nearly 38 bucks in June. The price per therm has dropped this month from 58 cents to 41 cents.

We've got a heartwarming update on a South Bend dog that was shot this week while protecting her family and home. During an apparent home invasion on Prast Boulevard, a ten-year-old rottweiler, named Angel, took a bullet, was seriously hurt and had to undergo surgery at a local animal clinic. The surgery cost hundreds of dollars, but so many donations have come in to not only pay for the surgery but enough is left over to pay for any possible complications. Angel has returned home and is said to be moving around and has started to eat again.

If you have to stop at the post office today, you better do it early. Area post office retail counters will close at noon today for the July 4th holiday weekend. That also means all of the mail in those blue collection boxes will be picked up by noon. Of course, the post office will be shutdown on Saturday, the 4th. Regular hours resume on Monday.

We've got a recall alert today. Retail giant Meijer says it's recalling a type of its Meijer Brand Instant Nonfat Dry Milk. The product was sold in Meijer stores in Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Illinois and Kentucky. Food distributors across the country say they are recalling nonfat dry milk, cocoa and other products that are linked to possible salmonella contamination at a Plainview, Minnesota milk processor.

Former State Representative Dennie Oxley, who was the Democrat candidate for Indiana lieutenant governor last year, is free on bond, charged with impersonating a public servant and public intoxication. But it's possible a special prosecutor will try to put him back behind bars. Oxley was allegedly found drunk at an Indianapolis gas station last Friday and tried to get out of the arrest, claiming he was still a member of the Indiana General Assembly, which was in its special session. Oxley turned himself in to police Thursday. The judge rejected the prosecutor's request to hold Oxley without bond until the special prosecutor in an earlier drunk driving case in Crawford County decides whether to revoke the bond in the case.


...In Sports...

The Chicago Cubs have moved to within two-and-a-half games of first place in the National League Central, thanks to the effort of first baseman Derrek Lee. Lee hit a three-run homer and a grand slam, finishing with a career-high seven runs batted in to lead the Cubs past the Milwaukee Brewers Thursday at Wrigley Field, 9-5. Chicago's other two runs also came from the longball as rookie Jake Fox and Geovany Soto went deep. The Brewers fell into a first-place tie with St. Louis because of the loss.

The Chicago White Sox are the hottest team in all of baseball, winning its sixth straight Thursday night with a 4-1 victory in Kansas City. Mark Buehrle picked up his eighth win of the season, pitching eight-and-a-third innings, allowing just a run on six hits to improve to 8-and-2. The Sox are now just two-and-a-half games behind the Detroit Tigers in the American League Central and have climbed three games over the .500 mark.

The South Bend Silver Hawks rebounded from one of their worst performances of the season with a heart-stopping 5-4 come-from-behind win over the West Michigan Whitecaps Thursday night at Coveleski Stadium. The Hawks scored twice in the bottom of the ninth to steal the win. On Wednesday, South Bend committed six errors and gave up 21 hits in an 11-4 loss to the Whitecaps.

The Boston Celtics are reportedly trying to woo free-agent forward Rasheed Wallace, who spent the last five-plus seasons with the Detroit Pistons. Celtics President Danny Ainge, coach Doc Rivers, and all-stars Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen all met with Wallace for three hours Thursday in Detroit. Wallace averaged 12 points and seven rounds last season for the Pistons.

"Breakfast at Wimbledon" Saturday morning will feature an all-sister final at the All-England Tennis Club. Serena Williams will take on her older sister Venus. Serena survived a three-set match Thursday with Elena Dementieva, winning the final set in extras, eight-to-six, while Venus won 12 of 13 games she played with top-seed Dinara Safina.

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