Around the region

South Bend council member enters plea in bank fraud\nSOUTH BEND -- A City Council member accused of defrauding his employer of at least $2.5 million has agreed to plead guilty to bank fraud.\nAccording to documents filed in federal court, Andrew Ujdak, who, until early May, was director of lending operations for Sobieski Bank, has agreed to plead guilty Thursday to a single felony count.\nAssistant U.S. Attorney Donald J. Schmid told the South Bend Tribune that Ujdak authorized loans to a Mishawaka man that far exceeded his authority.\nSchmid said Ujdak acknowledges in the plea agreement that the fraud scheme exceeded $2.5 million. He said a final accounting could add several more millions.\n"With a loss like that, he will face a very substantial sentence," Schmid said.\nBank fraud carries a sentence of up to 30 years in prison and a fine up to $1 million.\n2 nurses charged with neglect in death\nEVANSVILLE -- Two Westpark Rehabilitation Center nurses were charged with felony neglect in the death of an 80-year-old patient.\nSue E. Russell, 52, of Evansville, and Nikki Lynn Wagoner, 30, of Galatia, Ill., surrendered to police Monday to face the charges.\nTheir attorney, Glenn Grampp, denied his clients did anything wrong in connection with the Jan. 7 death of Mary Mynatt.\n"I'm familiar enough with what I believe the facts of this case to be to say that (they) will be acquitted," Grampp said. "We look forward to the opportunity to try the case."\nAn autopsy concluded Mynatt had received no fluids for at least two days before her death. Her death was ruled a homicide by the Vanderburgh County coroner.\nWest Nile victim may have contracted virus in Indiana\nFORT WAYNE -- The man believed to be Ohio's first West Nile fatality, a traveling musician based in Fort Wayne, may have contracted the disease in Indiana, his family said.\nRobert H. Bell, 79, died from encephalitis Aug. 12 at Bethesda North Hospital near Cincinnati. The hospital sent samples to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to confirm West Nile virus was the cause, hospital spokesman Joe Kelley said.\nOhio health officials have not confirmed that Bell was the state's first West Nile fatality. They announced a second possible death from West Nile virus on Monday.\nRelatives said Bell, a country-western guitarist, traveled the Midwest but was based in Fort Wayne and could have contracted the disease there.\nBell had visited Fort Wayne and was back in Clermont County, Ohio, for about a week before falling ill, his son Shaun Bell said. The incubation period for West Nile virus is from three days to two weeks.\nBell stayed inside most of the time he was in Fort Wayne but could have been bitten by a mosquito while traveling, Shaun Bell said.\n"When he was here, he was indoors," Shaun Bell said. "He was inside a lot. He was old, so it's hard for him to get around."\nTwenty people nationwide have died from the virus this year, according to the Centers for disease control.\nNo Indiana residents have died from the disease this year, but seven are believed to have been infected.