Four Democrats have announced their candidacy for the Lake County Sheriff race in 2026, an open seat since Oscar Martinez Jr. cannot seek a third consecutive term.
Retired Federal Agent of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Jason Gore, 52, announced earlier this month his run for sheriff.
With the ATF, special agents have a mandatory retirement at 57, Gore said, and he couldn’t be promoted further without leaving the Chicagoland area. As he started looking at his “exit plan,” Gore said he decided to run for Lake County sheriff.
“This being an open election, and it being my home, it was an opportunity for me to consolidate all my training experience, partnerships and bring it home to one county and see what I could do here,” Gore said.
Gore, who was born and raised in Hammond, said he became a Merrillville Police officer in 1998. By 2000, Gore was promoted to detective, where he served on a Drug Enforcement Administration task force where he worked on mid- and upper-level drug trafficking cases, he said.
In 2004, Gore said he was hired as a special agent for the ATF, where he was assigned to South Bend, where he created a violent crimes task force. In 2008, Gore said he was transferred to the ATF Merrillville office, where he worked on violent crime, firearm and drug trafficking cases, he said.
Jason Gore (Jason Gore/provided)
Gore said he joined the Northwest Indiana Major Crimes Task Force in 2010, and by 2014 he was named the deputy commander of the task force. As deputy commander, Gore said he led the investigations, along with the Lake County Sheriff’s Department detective bureau, into the murders of Gary Police Officer Jeff Westerfield and Merrillville Police Officer Nick Schultz.
By 2017, Gore said he was promoted to the resident agent in charge of the ATF Merrillville office. In 2023, Gore said he became the assistant special agent in charge of the ATF Chicago field division.
If elected, Gore said six pillars would guide him: leadership, partnership, intelligence and technology, crime reduction strategies, accountability and transparency.
“I want to bring the best of policing, police tactics and leadership to Lake County. I want to adjust the culture within the sheriff’s department, and I also want to adjust the external view of the sheriff’s department seen by the public,” Gore said.
Lake County Sheriff Deputy Police Chief Edward Jenkins, 54, announced earlier this month his run for sheriff to bring his nearly 30 years of experience with the department to its helm.
“I know the sheriff’s department inside and out. The sheriff’s department is running well, I think I can take it higher,” said Jenkins. “In the almost 30 years that I’ve been here, I have served the citizens of Lake County very well. There’s not a city, town or township in Lake County in which I have not been a policeman in.”
Jenkins began his career in public safety in 1997 for Lake County as a correctional officer, he said. In 1999, Jenkins became a Lake County Sheriff’s Department police officer, and by 2003 he was promoted to detective for the county sheriff’s department, where he investigated burglaries, homicides, thefts and robberies, he said.
In 2015, Jenkins said he was named the main supervisor for the Lake County metro homicide unit. After Martinez took office in 2017, Jenkins said he was promoted to deputy chief, where he has served for the last 8 years.
In addition to his experience with investigations, Jenkins said as deputy chief he has gained administrative experience including hiring police officers, reviewing budgets and working with other agencies and departments, like probation or courts.
Edward Jenkins (Edward Jenkins/provided)
“There is not a lot I have not done,” Jenkins said. “I just believe that I am the most qualified person to be the next sheriff.”
If elected, Jenkins said he’d like to expand the technology officers could use, ensure correctional officers and staff as well as the inmates feel safer inside the jail, and attack the distribution of fentanyl throughout the county.
St. John Police Chief Steven Flores, 47, announced his run for sheriff in January 2024 after family, friends and police officers encouraged him to run for the office.
Growing up, Flores said all he wanted to do was become a police officer just like his father, who served as East Chicago police chief, as well as his uncle and cousin, who also served the East Chicago Police Department.
In 2001, Flores said he served as a volunteer firefighter serving in unincorporated Schererville and as a reserve police officer in St. John. In 2004, Flores said he was hired full-time by the St. John Police Department, and he’s been with the department ever since.
Flores said he started as a patrol officer, and then he went on to work with the K-9 unit. After 8 years in the K-9 unit, Flores said his dog retired and he went on to join the detective bureau, where he rose through the ranks to commander.
As a detective, Flores said he was a member of the Northwest Indiana Major Crimes Task Force, where he worked on a lot of homicide cases and enjoyed collaborating with other law enforcement agencies throughout Lake County.
Steven Flores (Steven Flores/provided)
In 2020, Flores was appointed as the St. John Police Chief. As chief, Flores said he’s been most proud of lobbying the state legislature for $5 million to build a new police building and increased funding for mental health services.
If elected, Flores said he’d like to focus on officer training and connecting with Lake County residents. For officer training, Flores would like officers to be trained in crisis intervention, which they could use in responding to mental health crisis calls.
“I have the experience. I have the knowledge. I’ll be a working sheriff, I’ll be out on the street interacting with officers every day,” Flores said. “There’s been a lot of great successes in law enforcement in Lake County over the last several years. I want to maintain that and create even a safer Lake County.”
In June 2024, Indiana State Police Major Jerry Williams, a Gary Native, announced his run for Lake County Sheriff.
Williams began his law enforcement career as a corrections officer for the Lake County Sheriff’s office before going to work for the Indiana State Police, where he’s worked for the last 31 years, he said.
Over the years with Indiana State Police, Williams said he was a road trooper in Lake County and then a member of a gang task force, where he worked investigations in East Chicago, Gary, Hammond, Munster and Highland.
Gary key to the city
Michael Gard/Post-Tribune
Indiana State Police Maj. Jerry Williams, pictured Tuesday, December 5, 2023. (Michael Gard/Post-Tribune)
Williams also worked in the Indiana State Police internal investigations division before being assigned as lieutenant of the Indiana State Police Lowell District, which encompasses seven counties, he said.
As lieutenant of the Lowell district, Williams said he oversaw urban areas like Gary and East Chicago to rural areas like Pulaski and Starke counties.
Williams said he currently serves as a member of the Indiana State Police executive staff as assistant chief of staff of logistics, which means he supervises the state police’s supply, maintenance, engineering, transportation as well as overseeing all property and facilities the police agency owns.
“At the end of the day, I’m a crime fighter. I pride myself on being that. I’m passionate about doing just that,” Williams said. “Being able to bring that level of understanding to an office like the Lake County Sheriff’s department will be paramount. It’ll give me a leg up, I believe, because it will shorten my learning curve.”
WASHINGTON — As the Christian world commemorates Holy Week leading up to Easter Sunday, the State Department has issued an appeal for its employees to report instances of alleged anti-Christian bias, including formal or informal actions due to opposition to vaccines or personal pronoun choice, that may have occurred during the Biden administration.
The call comes amid heightened fear and anxiety in the American diplomatic corps, which is bracing for a new update on the Department of Government Efficiency -inspired budget and staff cuts that is due to be presented to the White House on Monday. That update is expected to include the State Department’s latest estimates of voluntary retirements and separations and how those will affect potential future layoffs to meet benchmarks from Elon Musk’s DOGE and the government’s human resources agency, according to officials familiar with the process.
But these officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters, said the update to the White House Office of Personnel Management would not be the final word on the reorganization of the State Department. And, they denied speculation amongst the rank and file that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had refused to sign off on the document.
While foreign and civil service employees await word on their futures, the State Department has moved ahead with an initiative aimed at rooting out religious bias in its policies and hiring practices with a specific emphasis on anti-Christian activity that may have occurred under President Joe Biden.
There is no immediate indication that such discrimination, as defined by President Donald Trump’s State Department, took place under Biden.
In a cable sent Friday to all U.S. diplomatic missions, Rubio asked that staffers report any perceived discriminatory actions taken against Christians or employees advocating on their behalf between January 2021 and January 2025. The cable, copies of which were obtained by The Associated Press, says that all reported allegations will be investigated by a government-wide task force on anti-Christian bias and if discrimination is found the culprits may be disciplined. It also makes clear that allegations can be submitted anonymously.
“The task force will collect information and ideas from individuals and groups, including Department employees, affected by anti-Christian bias or other religious discriminatory conduct,” the cable says.
“The task force is soliciting examples of anti-religious bias, particularly from the past four years, where the Department targeted anyone for their religion, including discrimination, harassment, exclusion, disciplinary action, adverse security clearance determinations, or any other adverse action, or in retaliation for exercising their religious rights,” the cable said. “This includes anti-religious bias committed by department employees in their official duties against members of the public.”
Examples of potential violations include formal or informal actions taken against a person because they requested religious accommodation “from taking mandatory vaccines or observing religious holidays ” and “mistreatment for refusing to participate in events and activities that promoted themes inconsistent with or hostile to one’s religious beliefs, including policies or practices related to preferred personal pronouns,” according to the cable.
Others include “mistreatment for opposing displays of flags, banners or other paraphernalia on or in government facilities because of religious objection or for opposing official media content due to religious objections, forcing employees to remove personal displays of religious faith or conscience, whether as part of clothing/accessories items on desks or in personal workspace,” the cable said.
In non-governmental chat groups and elsewhere, some State Department employees expressed alarm over the cable, particularly as it was issued shortly after the promotion of a junior foreign service officer to temporarily run the department’s human resources office, the Bureau of Global Talent Management.
Lew Olowski assumed that job last week and in his first comments to employees gave a welcome address to a new class of incoming diplomats that cited both Biblical verses and religiously themed quotes from President Abraham Lincoln.
After swearing in the new class with the oath to Constitution, Olowski told them: “Oaths and words are different. Words are for talking. Dolphins can talk. Oaths are covenants. Animals do not covenant. Only God and man can make covenants.”
“To an officer of the United States like you and me, the Constitution is our commandment. Its words are like the word of God and the words of the oath are our creation as officers,” he said, according to a transcript of his remarks.
“And these words are our beginning. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God,” he said, before praising foreign service officers who have died while in service to the country.
In a perhaps unusual coincidence, reports of anti-Christian or other religious bias are to be reported to Olowski’s wife, Heather, who is the head of the State Department’s office of civil rights.
Last week, the American Foreign Service Association, which represents U.S. diplomats, the American Academy of Diplomacy said Olowski’s appointment was an affront to the long-held standard that the post be occupied by either a current senior or retired career diplomat. His numerous pro-Trump and anti-immigrant writings in conservative publications over the past several years had been been widely shared among internal group chats.
Associated Press writer Sam Mednick in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
President Donald J. Trump holds a Cabinet meeting on Thursday, April 10, 2025 (Official White House photo)
PALM BEACH, Florida – President Donald Trump on Sunday took to social media to affirm “nobody is getting off the hook” when it comes to trade imbalances with the United States, as he blamed the national news media for inaccurate reporting.
“NOBODY is getting ‘off the hook’ for the unfair Trade Balances, and Non Monetary Tariff Barriers, that other Countries have used against us, especially not China which, by far, treats us the worst!” Trump exclaimed
on Truth Social. “There was no Tariff ‘exception’ announced on Friday.”
“These products are subject to the existing 20% Fentanyl Tariffs, and they are just moving to a different Tariff ‘bucket.’ The Fake News knows this, but refuses to report it.
“We are taking a look at Semiconductors and the WHOLE ELECTRONICS SUPPLY CHAIN in the upcoming National Security Tariff Investigations.
“What has been exposed is that we need to make products in the United States, and that we will not be held hostage by other Countries, especially hostile trading Nations like China, which will do everything within its power to disrespect the American People. We also cannot let them continue to abuse us on Trade, like they have for decades, THOSE DAYS ARE OVER!
“The Golden Age of America, which includes the upcoming Tax and Regulation Cuts, a substantial amount of which was just approved by the House and Senate, will mean more and better paying Jobs, making products in our Nation, and treating other Countries, in particular China, the same way they have treated us.
“The bottom line is that our Country will be bigger, better, and stronger than ever before. We will, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller appeared on on “Sunday Morning Futures” with Maria Bartiromo to set the record straight about the status of electronic items, including computers, smartphones, semiconductor manufacturing equipment, wireless routers, USB flash drives, memory chips and memory cards.
“President Trump had a detailed plan from the beginning that’s being executed exactly as directed,” Miller said. “And unfortunately, some in the media are deliberately misportraying that plan.
“There are no exemptions,” Miller explained. “Everyone pays at least the 20% and these particular components are being put through a separate process controlled by the Department of Commerce.”
“So this is a sophisticated, elegant, detailed plan to deal with Chinese economic aggression against the United States.”
Meanwhile, China on Sunday urged Trump to correct mistakes and heed “rational voices” on reciprocal tariffs, reports CNBC
.
Beijing’s Commerce Ministry called any U.S. tariff exemptions a “small step” and pressed Trump to “completely abolish” the tariffs, which include a 145% duty on imports from China.
“We urge the U.S. to heed the rational voices of the international community and domestic parties, take a big stride in correcting its mistakes, completely abolish the wrongful action of ‘reciprocal tariffs,’ and return to the correct path of resolving differences through equal dialogue based on mutual respect,” the ministry said, according to a CNBC translation.
Trump authorizes 90 day pause on reciprocal tariffs, for a flat 10% tariff rate across the board, because so many nations have come to the table asking for a deal!
With the exception of China, for which the tariffs have been increased to 125%.
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Pat Connaughton logró un récord personal de 43 puntos y un máximo de temporada de 11 rebotes y los Bucks de Milwaukee derrotaron 140-133 a los Pistons de Detroit el domingo en tiempo extra para cerrar la temporada regular con una racha de ocho victorias consecutivas.
Giannis Antetokounmpo de Milwaukee, Cade Cunningham de Detroit y varios otros jugadores habituales no jugaron, ya que ambos equipos ya tenían asegurada su posición en los playoffs. Los Bucks, que son quintos, enfrentarán a Indiana y los Pistons, que son sextos, se verán ante a Nueva York en la primera ronda de los playoffs.
El único titular habitual de Milwaukee que jugó fue Kyle Kuzma, quien anotó 22 unidades en el primer cuarto antes de descansar el resto del juego. Tyler Smith sumó 20 puntos y Pete Nance tuvo 19 para los Bucks.
Malik Beasley anotó 23 puntos para liderar a los Pistons, que tuvieron a seis jugadores con cifras dobles. Lindy Waters III y Marcus Sasser añadieron 18 puntos cada uno. Sasser también tuvo diez asistencias.
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Esta historia fue traducida del inglés por un editor de AP con la ayuda de una herramienta de inteligencia artificial generativa.
Northwest Indiana residents and environmental activists are disappointed by recently announced possible air pollution exemptions, but they’re not surprised.
“This impacts everybody, and we’re going to feel this from a public health standpoint,” said Susan Thomas, director of policy and press for Just Transition Northwest Indiana. “This is a really frightening concept. Not only are the guardrails off, but it seems the red carpet has been unrolled to pollute at will.”
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is helping corporations apply for presidential exemptions to sections of the Clean Air Act, which is to advance President Donald Trump’s executive orders, according to the EPA’s website.
Presidential exemption requests could be submitted by March 31.
“The Clean Air Act allows the President to exempt stationary sources of air pollution from compliance with any standard or limitation under section 112 for up to two years if the technology to implement the standard is not available and it is in the national security interests of the United States to do so,” EPA’s website says. “Submitting a request via this email box does not entitle the submitter to an exemption. The President will make a decision on the merits.”
Exemptions can be extended for up to two additional years and can be renewed.
An analysis provided by the Environmental Defense Fund and Environmental Law and Policy Center showed that more than 500 facilities in 45 states were invited to apply for exemptions.
In Northwest Indiana, Cleveland-Cliffs and U.S. Steel facilities were included. Cleveland-Cliffs did not respond to a request for comment, and U.S. Steel declined to comment.
Howard Learner, executive director of the Environmental Law and Policy Center, said the Trump administration is offering corporations a “get out of jail free card.”
“The Clean Air Act was passed by Congress, and it is broadly supported by the public,” Learner said. “Everybody wants healthier, clean air to breathe. The Trump EPA simply lacks authority to create an exemption or hall pass for an industrial polluter from the requirements of the Clean Air Act.”
Learner encourages companies like Cleveland-Cliffs and U.S. Steel to do what they can to reduce pollution, especially because the companies are a vital part of the Northwest Indiana economy.
Various environmental groups have filed Freedom of Information Act requests for all records related to EPA’s website and Zeldin’s invitation to apply for exemptions.
“The public is entitled to transparency here,” Learner said. “If (corporations) are not seeking an exemption, they should have no problem saying publicly that they will not seek an exemption. And if they are, they need to explain why to the public.”
Thomas encourages residents to stick together and advocate for more transparency. She encourages people to reach out to representatives or companies for more information.
“I would express concerns and vociferously express objections and tell them how this impacts you,” Thomas said.
Allan Halline, an Ogden Dunes resident and gastroenterologist, said he’s worried to see how community health will be impacted if corporations receive exemptions.
“What underscores me as a concern is that we don’t know enough about what the effects are,” Halline said. “We know that air pollution affects asthma, emphysema and can cause lung cases, but it causes a host of other problems as well.”
Halline is also a member of the Gary Advocates for Responsible Development’s green steel committee.
An October report from Industrious Labs found that most residents in Gary are in the top 10% of U.S. residents most at-risk for developing asthma and at-risk of low life expectancy. In 2020, Indiana had a lung cancer rate of 72.5 per 100,000 people, with Lake County as one of the state’s counties with the highest cancer mortality rates, according to the American Lung Association.
A 2016 JAMA Network report also found Gary as one of the top five U.S. cities with the lowest life expectancy at one point.
Incidence rates of colon cancer are higher in disadvantaged communities, where residents are exposed to higher pollution rates, Halline said. He believes communities won’t see health effects of exemptions for years to come.
“We’re not asking them to shut down, but we are asking them to be as responsible as they can to reduce their emissions,” Halline said.
Dorreen Carey, president of GARD, said she expected to see regulations rolled back under the Trump administration, but not to this extent.
“It’s not even as if (corporations are asking) on their own,” Carey said. “They are being invited to get a two-year exemption from having to conform to these rules.”
Carey is worried about how Gary will be impacted if Northwest Indiana organizations receive exemptions. She’s concerned that new development might not come to the city if pollution is worse.
Now, Carey said it’s important for local organizations and residents to work together to put pressure on local businesses to be good neighbors.
“I think the way we will be most effective is to organize ourselves into larger groups of people,” Carey said. “We have organized groups, and we need to get those groups more involved in recognizing the damage that is being done to our community by unregulated pollutants.”
