5 counties move to Eastern time zone

Come Nov. 4, five Indiana counties will catch up with the rest of the state and move into the Eastern time zone.\nThe U.S. Department of Transportation announced in a press release Thursday afternoon its final decision to move Daviess, Dubois, Knox, Martin and Pike counties to the Eastern time zone. The change is effective Nov. 4, when residents can catch up by not setting their clocks back at the end of daylight-saving time.\nAt the same time, the DOT denied a separate request from Perry County to make the same switch because “the county appears to be orientated to Central time, and ... the petition did not provide sufficient justification to make the change,” according to the press release. \nAll six counties had requested to remain on Central Standard Time in 2005 and as a result have been on Central time since April 2006. According to the press release, the DOT approved the five counties’ joint petition to move back to the Eastern time zone because they “demonstrated the benefits of moving to Eastern time based on the counties’ economic ties, schooling, recreation and regional connections.” \nDOT will not consider petitions for time zone changes in Indiana again for at least one year, according to the press release.