Today: Lake County Assessor Jerome Prince has won the Democratic mayoral primary for city of Gary beating out a crowded field of eight other candidates. We talk to him about his victory as well as his plans for turning around crime, addressing blight in the city as well as other concerns that stifle Gary’s economic growth.
We also talk to Karen Lauerman, the president and CEO of Lake County Economic Alliance, about the organization's work with the city of East Chicago to find commercial and industrial project proposals that can transform the once-lead-tainted West Calumet Housing Project into safe and developable property. The housing complex was one of the three lead-contaminated zones within the USS Lead Superfund site. More than 1,000 residents were moved out and the housing units they lived in were demolished. Four proposals turned in to the LCEA will soon be offered up for East Chicago city review. Regional Health Systems CEO Bob Krumwied joins us in the studio to talk about his organization and the latest expansion of Geminus Head Start's St. Mark Early Learning Academy in Gary. The facility nearly doubles the number of families and children served from 80 preschoolers to 144 infants, toddlers and preschool children.
