Around The State

MICHIGAN CITY, Ind. -- A body found by a LaPorte County judge has been identified as an Illinois man, Indiana State Police said.\nThe body of Miguel Angel Ayala, 27, of Chicago Heights, Ill., was identified through fingerprints in a federal database, detective Dave Kirkham said Tuesday.\nAyala's fingerprints were on record because of a drunk driving charge, he said.\nInvestigators declined to comment on the cause of Ayala's death.\nLaPorte Superior Court Judge Walter Chapala found the body March 6 while walking in a State Department of Natural Resources fishing site along Trail Creek near the city about 30 miles west of South Bend. The body was wrapped in plastic and covered with yard debris and tree limbs about 6 feet off the edge of a road, police said.\nAyala's body has been kept at a morgue in Fort Wayne since an autopsy. Family members are working with the LaPorte County coroner's office to return his remains to Illinois for burial, Kirkham said.\nSOUTH BEND -- Scientists at the University of Notre Dame say they may have found a new way to kill the bacteria that causes tuberculosis by shutting off its supply of the vital nutrient, iron.\nNormally, a molecule in the bacteria's outer membrane allows it to absorb and process the iron which is essential to germs and people alike.\nThe Notre Dame researchers created synthetic, altered versions of that molecule, called siderophores. When the TB bacteria is immersed in a solution containing some of those molecules, it dies, apparently because it cannot absorb iron, they said.\n"TB has a very specialized iron-transport process and we think we're interfering with that. Without iron, it can't survive," said Marvin J. Miller, a bio-organic chemist at Notre Dame.\nMore than 1,000 variations of the molecule have been tested by a national lab for their effectiveness against TB, with at least two showing great promise, he said.\nMiller cautioned that the work by his team and researchers at the University of Illinois in Chicago is preliminary and any new drug would be years away.\nTB kills about 2 million people worldwide each year and is becoming increasingly drug-resistant, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.\nVALPARAISO -- LaPorte County farmers have asked three northern Indiana counties for help in leasing a rail line that carries grain.\nThe rail line runs for about 33 miles in rural areas in southern LaPorte and Porter counties.\nDean Kaesebier, general manager for the LaPorte County Farm Bureau Association, said the track serves loading areas in southern LaPorte County.\nGrain is then shipped to a key operation in Malden, about 20 miles southeast of Gary.\nThe association wants to lease the line with monetary assistance from county governments of LaPorte, Porter and Starke.\nIf CSX Transportation abandons the line, farmers would have to ship grain in trucks, a more expensive option, Kaesebier said.\nBut a CSX spokesman said Wednesday the railroad does not plan to abandon the line. It was taking bids from short-line railroads to lease that portion of track, said Tom Drake.\n"It's a relatively common thing," Drake said. "They will continue to receive rail service."\nFarmers might find the shortline can provide better service than a main line, he said. The shortline would connect with CSX tracks, he said.\nKaesebier said CSX wants $1.8 million, which Drake did not confirm since the company is still taking bids.