James Hill

The Hammond City Council has agreed to borrow $9.6 million, to settle a lawsuit. A jury had awarded $25.5 million to James Hill for civil rights violations, but the city ended up negotiating a $9 million settlement while preparing for an appeal. On Monday, council members passed ordinances authorizing the city to issue the necessary bonds and spend the money.

Hammond taxpayers are on the hook for $9.6 million, in the case of James Hill. Mayor Tom McDermott Jr. told the city council last week that Hill served almost 18 years in prison in connection with a rape case from the early 1980s but ended up suing the city after he was cleared by DNA.

CROWN POINT, Ind. (AP) — A man's murder trial in the 1980 shooting death of an off-duty northwestern Indiana police officer has been moved to this…