Highland Police arrested a Gary man for stealing packages off Highland doorsteps.
Officers were sent at around 2:12 p.m. on Jan. 7 to a home in the 2600 block of Eder Street for a theft report, Highland Police spokesman Cmdr. John Banasiak said in a release Thursday. The reporting party told them he’d received an alert on his Ring cam showing a package had been delivered, but then three minutes later, the camera alerted him to a man in a black jacket and gray pants picking it up and leaving in a dark-colored Ford Fusion.
As officers were looking for the car, a second call of a stolen package came in this time identifying a dark Ford sedan with an Indiana “In God We Trust” plate, Banasiak said.
One of the officers saw a man fitting the description driving a matching vehicle near Kennedy Avenue and Ross Street a short time later, he said, so they conducted a traffic stop and found the car was packed to the roof with packages, he said. The man first said he was picking up packages as part of a job where he then delivered those packages to other destinations, Banasiak said, but when the officers asked him to prove it, he couldn’t.
The officer at the first call then arrived and confirmed that the person seen taking the package from the porch was this driver who had been stopped in the Ford, and they arrested him, Banasiak said. Charges are pending, and police are still investigating, he said.
Officers impounded the Ford, and the packages were taken to the Highland Police Department, Banasiak said. Anyone who had a package stolen should contact the department at (219) 838-3184, and you will need your order invoice and identification to pick it up.
Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
“February was the wettest month in downtown Los Angeles
since 1998. With over 12 inches of rain drenching the city, it was the fourth-wettest February–and the seventh-wettest month overall –in the city’s nearly 150-year recorded history,” said Judson Jones’ report on Los Angeles’ weather on March 2, 2024, in The New York Times. Just under a year later, Los Angeles is on fire and the fire hydrants have run dry from a lack of water.
“In 2014, in the middle of a severe drought that would test California’s complex water
storage system like never before, voters told the state to borrow $7.5 billion and use part of it to build projects to stockpile more water. Seven years later, that drought has come and gone, replaced by an even hotter and drier one that is draining the state’s reservoirs at an alarming rate. But none of the more than half-dozen water storage projects scheduled to receive that money have been built,” reported Adam Beam of the Associated Press on Aug. 31, 2021. We are now a decade beyond that 2014 vote and the last reservoir built for Los Angeles was completed in 1979.
Los Angeles is a victim of progressive mismanagement
–something that for far too long its wealth could cover up. But now, the fires do not care if you are Republican or Democrat, rich or poor, progressive or conservative–they burn, in some cases up to four football fields of land a minute. The reservoir sending water to the fire hydrants is dry. The mountain brush has been unpruned for some time due to environmental sensitivities and lack of manpower.
On Dec. 16, 2024, Robert Schmad reported at the Washington Examiner that the U.S. Forestry Service had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on diversity
, equity, and inclusion workshops, all while failing to meet federal goals for forest management. The Associated Press reported back on June 27, 2023, that “federal land managers are scrambling to catch up after falling behind on several of their priority forests for thinning even as they exceeded goals elsewhere. And they have skipped over some highly at-risk communities to work in less threatened areas.” The AP continued, “Hindering the Forest Service nationwide is a shortage of workers to cut and remove trees on the scale demanded, government officials and forestry experts say.”
Los Angeles set itself up for failure
. In addition to dry fire hydrants, Los Angeles has a shortage of firefighters. Like the federal government, the city prioritized DEI over core competencies. Comedian Adam Carolla testified some time ago before a legislative hearing that the Los Angeles Fire Department told him it would take seven years to become a firefighter because he was white. Seven years after signing up to take the written test, he stood in line to take the test with a young black lady behind him. He testified he asked the young lady when she had signed up. “Wednesday,” she replied.
It is not just that Los Angeles chose to elevate diversity concerns over fully staffing a fire department, but it also fired competent firefighters who would not take the COVID-19 vaccine. In 2022, Los Angeles officials made a very big deal of hiring the first female and first openly gay fire chief in county history. Last year, the Los Angeles County Commission cut the fire department budget by $17.6 million. But the fire department continued to spend over $1 million on a “racial equity plan” designed to “end systemic, institutional, and structural racism” within the fire department.
On top of all the disastrous policies and progressive failures in the run-up to today, California regulated fire insurance out of the state, prohibiting insurers from raising rates without state consent. The result has been a collapse in the ability to get fire insurance reasonably. California’s solution has been a state-funded insurance program that is costly and inefficient.
The state that has spent billions for a progressive high-speed rail idea has fired firefighters, failed to build new reservoirs, failed to cut back vegetation, and elevated diversity concerns over competence. Now, instead of appreciating progressivism is a recipe for disaster, they will blame global warming and, undoubtedly, Donald Trump.
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After visiting President-elect Donald J. Trump in November, Mr. Zuckerberg decided to relax Meta’s speech policies. He asked a small team to carry out his goals within weeks. The repercussions are just beginning.
Liberty Bible Church: 824 N. Calumet Ave. — The church hosts a Cancer Support Group on the second Monday of each month, which falls on Jan. 13. The group will meet from 6:30-8 p.m. in Room 156 of the Chesterton campus. The group is a time for encouragement and prayer for those who may be experiencing cancer, who are cancer survivors, or who have friends or family facing this disease. Occasional speakers are brought in to share health information, living with cancer, and life beyond cancer. For more information, email Cancersupport@LBChurch.org or check out https://www.findliberty.net/events.
Crown Point
St. Mary’s Catholic Community School: 405 East Joliet St. — St. Mary Catholic Community School will have its annual open house from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Jan. 22 Those interested in learning more about the academic expectations, extracurricular activities, parent involvement and more are welcome to attend and tour the school and meet the teachers. For more information call 219-663-0676.
Gary
Marquette Park United Methodist Church: 215 N. Grand Blvd. — The church would like to welcome all to worship at 11:15 a.m. on Sundays. The service is followed by refreshments in the Fellowship Hall.
Munster
Munster Church: 214 Ridge Road — There will be a course titled, “Overcoming Anxiety — Through Emotional Regulation” at Munster Church from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Jan. 18. The event will feature Ron Ovitt, author, pastoral counselor, and recovery coach, to teach attendees how to become more emotionally resilient. Tickets to the event are $45 and can be purchased on Eventbrite https://www.eventbrite.com/e/overcoming-anxiety-through-emotional-regulation-tickets-1107586494019.
Portage
St. Peter Lutheran Church: 6540 Central Ave. — St. Peter Lutheran Church will have Sunday School at 9 a.m., church services at 10 a.m. every Sunday, and Bible studies at 10 a.m. on Wednesdays. For more information, call 219-762-2673.
Schererville
Immanuel Presbyterian Church: 140 U.S. 30 — Sunday school at Immanuel Presbyterian Church takes place on the second, third and fourth Sundays of every month. For more information, call (219) 865-2686.
Valparaiso
Don Quijote Restaurant: 119 E. Lincolnway — Couples are invited to join a marriage date night at Don Quijote in Valparaiso to enjoy a meal, listen to inspiring speakers and socialize with other Catholic couples beginning at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 7. The cost of the event is $100 per couple and those interested should register by Jan. 31. For more information, visit https://dcgary.org/date-night-feb2025.
First Presbyterian Church: 3401 N. Valparaiso St. — The church has an active group of women of all ages and abilities — The Comfort Stitchers — who meet at 10 a.m. every Thursday to knit and crochet prayer shawls which are prayed over as they are created, blessed during Sunday worship services, and delivered to recipients who can use the love and comfort of such a gift. For more information, visit https://www.congregationbuilder.com/active_calendar.aspx?uc=csebert.
Valparaiso Baptist Church: 612 Emmettsburg Street — The church will host Forged Men’s Ministry from 9-11 a.m. on Jan. 11, while Hearts on Fire Women’s Bible Study will be held from 12-2 p.m. on Jan. 11. There will be an all church family night at Valparaiso Baptist Church from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Jan. 15, including a team kid and teens program and a mid-week devotional for adults. Call 219-464-1443 for more information.
Americans are giving President Joe Biden harsh reviews before he leaves office
in less than two weeks, on Jan. 20. And worse than that, they appear to be judging him even more harshly than his two most recent predecessors, Donald Trump and Barack Obama.
According to a survey released on Friday by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research
, just one-quarter of U.S. adults (25%) said that Biden was a “good” or “great” president, compared with Trump, whom 36% of U.S. adults gave the same ranking after his first term in office ended, in 2021. (Notably, though, Trump had slightly higher “poor” and “terrible” ratings than Biden.)
Even more remarkable is that the survey about Trump was conducted shortly after the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. And this is backed up by other polling as well. For instance, between Jan. 7-20, 2021, Trump’s approval ratings dropped from 42% to 39%, according to 538’s average
. But at present, Biden’s job approval ratings sit at about 37%, according to 538’s average
.
The result of this past November’s election, where Trump got very close
to earning a majority of the popular vote, showed that voters preferred a return to Trump versus a continuation of Democratic rule, perhaps especially one tied to Biden. But now we have even more verification of the degree to which voters, after seeing both men govern, simply (if slightly) prefer Trump to Biden.
According to a national tracking poll by Civiqs
, just 38% of registered voters have a favorable view of Biden. In fact, he has been below 40% since Nov. 10, making the odds of a rebound ahead of Trump’s inauguration pretty slim. Meanwhile, 45% of voters have a favorable view of Trump, according to Civiqs
, and his favorability has been steadily increasing since about February 2023.
The issue? Polling suggests voters either don’t know this or believe Biden was insufficient in other ways. The AP-NORC survey
found that only 2 in 10 Americans (22%) think Biden made good on his campaign promises. A larger share, 38%, said that Biden did not keep his word. The remaining 39% said he tried but failed to keep his campaign promises.
Biden is also faring considerably worse than Obama was at the end of his presidency. AP-NORC found that Obama left his second term in office with a majority of Americans (52%) describing his tenure as “good” or “great.” This squares with data released earlier this week by Gallup
, which found Biden’s standing is similar to that of former President Richard Nixon, who resigned amid the infamous Watergate scandal. (Unlike the AP-NORC survey, Gallup’s involved a retrospective assessment of past presidents, not a contemporaneous one.)
Former President Barack Obama
As other politicos have pointed out
, Trump seems to be enjoying a honeymoon period since his win in November. It’s possible, of course, that four years of Biden caused the electorate to reassess Trump, who once had dismal approval and favorability ratings
too.
The good news for Biden, if there is any, is that Americans’ negative views toward him may change over time. After all, Gallup found that other presidents who left with low approval ratings—including George W. Bush and Jimmy Carter—saw Americans’ perception of their presidencies warm with time.
Plus, knowing Trump, he’ll surely squander his goodwill with the American electorate in due time. Every honeymoon must come to an end, including Trump’s. And with the high number of unpopular campaign pledges
he’s made, he’s likely to only accelerate that timeline.
