Around The Region

BLOOMINGTON -- Former U.S. Rep. Frank McCloskey has decided against entering the race for the congressional seat he held for 12 years.\nSome Democratic leaders had been pushing for McCloskey to challenge Rep. John Hostettler, the \nRepublican who unseated McCloskey in 1994.\nMcCloskey was an outspoken champion of Bosnia while in Congress and is working toward a master\'s degree in Balkan studies at Indiana University.\nThe boundaries of the 8th District were changed in the redrawing of congressional maps last year, and McCloskey, a former Bloomington mayor, no longer lives in the district.\nMembers of Congress are not required to live in their districts, and McCloskey said he believed his extensive experience in the southwestern Indiana district would have overcome any carpetbagging claims.\nHe said in January that Democratic leaders in the district had approached him to consider a run after the campaign of the only announced Democratic candidate, Brian Hartke of Newburgh, appeared to start slow.\nLugar encourages veterans to share their stories\nINDIANAPOLIS -- Bookshelves are full of stories about famous war heroes.\nBut "histories of the average GI, the men and women who carried the burden of protecting our freedom, are sorely lacking," said Sen. Richard Lugar, who is urging Indiana veterans to make sure their stories of military service are also passed on to future generations.\nThe Indiana senator, who served in the Navy, spoke at Tyndall Armory Thursday to promote the Veterans History Project authorized by Congress in 2000.\nThe American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress is collecting and preserving veterans\' audio- and videotaped oral histories.\n"The Library of Congress estimates that 1,500 veterans die in this country each day," Lugar said. "That sobering fact was an important reason Congress began this program."\nAs of last Sept. 30, there were nearly 19 million surviving war veterans, according to a count by the Veterans Affairs Department. About 559,000 of those were in Indiana.