Muscatatuck to be used for homeland security training\nINDIANAPOLIS -- The Muscatatuck State Developmental Center property in southern Indiana's Jennings County will be used as a future site for national homeland security training.\nGov. Joe Kernan planned to travel to the site about 80 miles southeast of Indianapolis Wednesday to announce the agreement, his office said.\nA media advisory issued Tuesday said Kernan would be joined by Rep. Baron Hill, D-Ind., Indiana National Guard Adjutant Gen. Martin Umbarger, representatives from Purdue University, and state and local officials.\nKernan spokesman Jonathan Swain would not immediately provide further details, but the National Guard had previously proposed conducting urban combat training at the center for the developmentally disabled once it closes in the coming months.\nState officials agreed this past spring to turn part of the center's 800-plus acres over to Purdue University for agricultural research projects. But the fate of the site was still undecided as the center's final patients are scheduled to leave by Jan. 1.\nMuscatatuck had more than 2,300 residents at its peak in the 1960s.\nSince the late Gov. Frank O'Bannon announced in 2001 that the center would be closed, more than 150 residents have been moved to community-based settings. State officials have been working to relocate about 100 remaining residents.
Ex-Lake County Councilman pleads guilty to fraud\nHAMMOND -- A former Lake County Council member has pleaded guilty to a federal fraud charge and has agreed to testify against others in return for a lighter sentence.\nJoel Markovich had agreed earlier in August to plead guilty to one count of submitting false bills to East Chicago's city government and one count of violating interstate banking law. Those charges were in connection with the $755,088 the city paid his company in 1999 and 2000 as part of what prosecutors say was a concrete-for-votes scheme.\nThe plan called for the city to pay to pave sidewalks and driveways on private property to help East Chicago Mayor Robert Pastrick win re-election in 1999, authorities have said.\nMarkovich told U.S. District Court Judge Rudy Lozano Monday that he "cheated the taxpayers and citizens of East Chicago," by submitting false and inflated bills for work done by JGM Enterprises Inc., his landscaping and concrete business.\n"East Chicago officials directed me to do the work and submit the invoices to the city," Markovich said in his first public comments since being charged Aug. 13. "It was wrong for me to submit the bills. ... I take full responsibility for my actions, and I apologize to my wife and family."\nMarkovich attended two federal hearings Monday accompanied by his wife, Sandy, and defense attorney Jonathan Cyrluk.\nSix East Chicago city officials have pleaded not guilty to criminal charges related to the sidewalk paving. Pastrick has not been charged.\nMarkovich, 43, of East Chicago, likely faces 21 to 27 months behind bars, based on federal sentencing guidelines and the reductions recommended in his plea agreement. The charges carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. How much time he will spend in federal prison depends on how he continues to cooperate with the U.S. attorney's office in the ongoing investigation.\nMarkovich, a Democrat who resigned in August from the council seat he won election to in 2000, remains free on a $20,000 bond.\nBecause the investigation is pending, Cyrluk said he could not comment on who directed Markovich to submit the falsified bills.
