Prosecutor asks that teenager be charged as adult in arson\nCROWN POINT, Ind. -- Lake County's prosecutor on Monday asked that a 17-year-old former student be charged as an adult for setting the fire that caused $2 million damage to a northwest Indiana high school, a spokeswoman said.\nThe New Chicago boy was arrested Friday and was being held in Lake County's juvenile detention center, police said. He is accused of setting the fire at River Forest High School Oct. 21.\nProsecutors want to file felony charges of arson, burglary and criminal recklessness against the teen, said Diane Poulton, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office.\nNo injuries were reported in the fire, which forced officials to close the high school which is located about five miles east of Gary.\nThe high school is scheduled to reopen to students Wednesday, said Lake Station Police Chief Rich Arnold, who also is president of the River Forest School Board.\nA computer and camera were stolen during the burglary and two offices on the west end of the second floor were set on fire, police said.\nThe fire damaged classrooms, the gymnasium and several offices. Arnold said it likely would take three to four months to finish repairs, though most of the damaged classrooms are usable.\nSchool Superintendent James Rice said the Indiana Department of Education had approved a waiver exempting students from having to make up two of the seven missed school days. If the state does not approve at least five days, the school will appeal, Rice said.
Storm caused plane crash that killed 4 Indiana residents\nPORTLAND, Ind. -- Federal investigators have determined that severe weather in South Carolina broke apart a home-built airplane, causing a crash that killed four Indiana residents.\nThe single-engine plane carrying the Portland residents to a South Carolina vacation crashed northwest of Savannah, Ga., May 16, 2003.\nThe National Transportation Board said in its official report released Thursday that the pilot, Greg Moser, inadvertently flew into thunderstorms and the design limits of the plane were exceeded.\nGreg and Marianne Moser, who owned a race car axle business, Moser Engineering, in Portland, died in the crash. Also killed were Moser Engineering plant manager Jeff Bickel and his wife, Eileen.\nThe home-built plane, a Lancair IV registered to Moser Aviation, had left the airport in Portland, about 50 miles south of Fort Wayne, and was heading to Beaufort, S.C., about 50 miles from Allendale, S.C., where it crashed.\nThe airplane disappeared from radar and a deputy from the Allendale County Sheriff's Department found the pieces in a wheat field.\nThe experimental airplane sustained an in-flight airframe breakup, the NTSB said in its report. Frame components found at the accident site revealed all failures were due to overload, the NTSB said.\nGreg Moser had received several preflight briefings and weather advisories warning of developing thunderstorms, the report said.
