In the News

When U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Portage officials cut the ribbon Tuesday for a newly completed project, the evidence of that work was nowhere in sight.

“There’s nothing flashy about it,” Corps of Engineers Col. Kenneth Rockwell said. He is commander of the Corps’ Chicago district.

But then, sewers belong underground. They should be unseen and not heard — nor smelled.

In Portage, officials are celebrating the completion of a project they say will reduce excess flow and the risk of sanitary sewer overflows near wetlands and residential areas. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Chicago District, Indiana U.S. Representative Frank J. Mrvan, and city of Portage held a ribbon-cutting Tuesday July 29, 2025. A news release says the project rehabilitated more than 1,900 feet of existing sewer infrastructure. The event was held at American Legion Post 260 on Mulberry Avenue.

Federal and local officials cut a ribbon this week to mark the completion of the second phase of a $3.5 million sewer rehabilitation project in Portage.

Under the guidance of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Grimmer Construction, of Highland, relined or replaced more than 1,900 feet of existing sewer infrastructure located just east of Willowdale Road between Stone Avenue and Central Avenue.

Indiana wounded by last year's $1 billion shortfall in covering Medicaid costs

The future of Medicaid serving the health needs in northwest Indiana got a hearing from leaders of 8 community health centers in Lake, Porter, and LaPorte counties.

The outlook was grim from those healthcare executives in U.S. Rep. Frank Mrvan, Jr.’s First Congressional District who had gathered for a roundtable discussion at the Porter-Starke Health Center in Valparaiso.

Health care providers warned of dire consequences for patients, including those with commercial insurance, from Medicaid cuts enacted by Congress in what President Donald Trump refers to as his “big beautiful bill.”

Their remarks came from a Medicaid roundtable held Tuesday by U.S. Rep. Frank Mrvan at Porter-Starke Services in Valparaiso. Providers from across Northwest Indiana designated as community mental health centers or federally qualified health centers were represented.

Federal and state cuts to Medicaid and other public assistance programs set to take effect in the months ahead will have an "absolutely devastating" impact on Northwest Indiana's health care providers and all users of their services.

That's the message shared Tuesday with Congressman Frank J. Mrvan, D-Highland, by representatives of a number of community mental health centers and federally qualified health centers primarily serving clients in Lake, Porter and LaPorte counties.

Melissa Mitchell had a one-word response to a question posed by U.S. Rep. Frank J. Mrvan, a Democrat who represents Northwest Indiana.

“In your forecasting and with the uncertainty, what is your worst-case scenario?” Mrvan asked Mitchell, the chief executive of HealthLinc, a Valparaiso-based not-for-profit medical provider serving a five-county area in Northwest Indiana.

Northwest Indiana's representative in the U.S. House had no qualms about voting "no" Thursday on Republican President Donald Trump's tax and spending cut legislation.

U.S. Rep. Frank J. Mrvan, D-Highland, said the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act is anything but beautiful, with numerous provisions that actively harm middle-class families, senior citizens, students, children, women and other vulnerable populations throughout the Region.