Sunday
NFL Playoffs Colts fall to familiar foe Page B1
‘House of Cards’
Fish, Doughnuts
Netflix show entertains during winter wasteland
KPC staff share favorite local foods
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January 12, 2014
Weather Partly cloudy today. High 40. Low 33. Winds 10-15 mph. Monday, high of 40. Page B8
GOOD MORNING Stutzman joins ranks of millionaires WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Marlin Stutzman has joined the growing ranks of millionaires in Congress — but barely — a new study concludes. The Center for Responsive Politics estimates Stutzman’s average net worth during 2012 at $1,031,008 Stutzman in its annual report, released Thursday. Stutzman’s worth has moved up sharply since the report for 2011, which estimated his average net worth at $548,507. The study looks at a range of values for assets reported by each member of Congress. The range varies widely for Stutzman. The study estimates the minimum value of his assets at $314,021 and the maximum value at $1,747,996. A Republican from Howe, Stutzman is involved in a family farming business. The study concludes that for the first time in history, a majority of members of Congress are millionaires. Of 534 current members of Congress, at least 268 had an average net worth of $1 million or more in 2012, the Center for Responsive Politics said. Stutzman ranks just slightly above the midpoint net worth of $1,008,767 for all members, but further above the midpoint for House members of $896,000. The same study estimates the 2012 average net worth of Sen. Dan Coats, R-Ind. at $4.67 million. Sen. Joe Donnelly, D-Ind., ranks outside the millionaires in Congress with an average net worth estimated at $749,004. Former Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Indiana, is listed with an estimated average net worth estimated at $472,506.
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Inside • Classified.............................................. D5-D6 Life................................................................ C1 Obituaries.....................................................A4 Opinion ........................................................B6 Business ......................................................B8 Sports.................................................... B1-B5 Weather.......................................................B8 Vol. 105 No. 11
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Legislators aim to pass own bills INDIANAPOLIS — Three local state legislators — all returning for their second year in the House of Representatives — are ready to push for bills they are sponsoring to be enacted into laws.
David Ober Rep. David Ober, R-Albion, is sponsoring four bills. One would help a proposed winery-brewery on the former Kneipp Springs farm north of Rome City. The bill would make it legal to
operate a winery and a brewery in the same space, Ober said. Nathan and Rachel Schermerhorn of Wawaka are proposing to open the business on Ober Northport Road. “When that finally goes in, it’s going to be a significant economic generator for Rome City and central Noble County,” Ober said. “Hopefully,
we can figure out how to help them get started. There’s nothing in state law right now that prohibits it, but there’s nothing that grants permission.” Ober said his plan would legalize a common tasting room so a visitor could buy beer or wine by the glass and carry it through a shared space or even to an exterior venue. Among his other bills, “the one that I’m most excited about,” Ober said, would protect students who have food allergies. It would
Affordable Care Act
specify who can administer emergency care for food allergies in schools and universities, who can train those people and how to stock epinephrine in cafeterias or residence halls. As a young legislator, Ober said, “I feel it’s important to represent issues that are important to young people.” He said college students run a higher risk of food allergy emergencies than other age groups. “I hope we can take these SEE LEGISLATORS, PAGE A6
Ariel Sharon, 85, dies Former Israeli PM was political bulldozer
OCTAVIA LEHMAN
Therese Bunn, middle, sits in the office at DeKalb Health hospital where visitors can receive assistance in signing up for the Affordable Care Act. Bunn, along with Marissa
Cantrell, left, and Jennifer Beebe, right, are three employees at DeKalb Health who are certified Indiana navigators helping area citizens sign up for health insurance.
Help available for health sign-up BY BOB BRALEY bbraley@kpcmedia.com
AUBURN — Signing up for the Affordable Care Act can be a confusing process, even if the websites for doing so have improved in recent months. Choosing a marketplace and determining which plan is right can be a challenge. It’s become a bit more complicated since another marketplace vendor came into Noble and LaGrange counties recently. Open enrollment began Oct. 1, 2013, and was scheduled to end Dec. 31, 2013, but the deadline was extended by the federal government. With sign-up extended, help is available from certified application organizations and certified Indiana
navigators. There are a total of six in Steuben, LaGrange, Noble and DeKalb counties. The federal law calls for certified application counselors to be available for the marketplaces, Marissa Cantrell explained. Indiana navigators were created by the state to help people better understand the process. Cantrell has received both the state and federal certifications. She’s one of three people to do so and provide those services through DeKalb Health, an Auburn-based hospital. Each had to complete 10-30 hours of government-provided training for the certifications. People most commonly get in touch with the navigators in two ways, Cantrell said, adding,
NEW HEALTH CARE PLAN providers enter two local counties SEE PAGE A6.
“Usually it starts with a phone call from someone in the community.” Some people walk in to the hospital or make an appointment so they can use the hospital’s computers, since access to the plan is all Internet-based, Cantrell said. In DeKalb and Steuben counties only three of the four state-approved marketplace plans — Physician’s Health Plan, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield and AmBetter — are available, Cantrell said. The navigators’ role is to SEE HEALTH, PAGE A6
JERUSALEM (AP) — It was vintage Ariel Sharon: His hefty body bobbing behind a wall of security men, the ex-general led a march onto a Jerusalem holy site, staking a bold claim to a shrine that has been in contention from the dawn of the Arab-Israeli conflict. What followed was a Palestinian uprising that put Mideast peace Sharon efforts into deep-freeze. Five years later, Sharon, who died Saturday at 85, was again barreling headlong into controversy, bulldozing ahead with his plan to pull Israel out of the Gaza Strip and uproot all 8,500 Jewish settlers living there without regard to threats to his life from Jewish extremists. The withdrawal and the barrier he was building between Israel and the West Bank permanently changed the face of the conflict and marked the final legacy of a man who shaped Israel as much as any other leader. He was a farmer-turned-soldier, a soldier-turned-politician, a politician-turned-statesman — a hard-charging Israeli who built Jewish settlements on war-won land, but didn’t shy away from destroying them when he deemed them no longer useful. Sharon died eight years after a debilitating stroke put him into a SEE SHARON, PAGE A6
Winter storm shows necessity of flexibility BY MATT GETTS mgetts@kpcmedia.com
AUBURN — Having an emergency plan is critical. Realizing that everything won’t go according to plan may be the biggest lesson emergency responders learned during last week’s winter storm that dumped more than a foot of snow and brought below zero temperatures to northeastern Indiana. “You have to be flexible in your plans,” said Kristy Clawson, Steuben County’s director of Homeland Security. A house fire during the inclement weather had officials in Steuben County contacting farmers to assist county plow crews in clearing paths for fire trucks in the Fremont area. In Noble County,
Homeland Security Director Mick Newton worked with his counterpart in LaGrange County, Stewart Bender, to get the Indiana National Guard to take a woman to a hospital in Goshen.
Problems mount in DeKalb Nowhere was flexibility needed more than in DeKalb County, which saw a chain reaction of problems develop because of the weather. “We had a lot of obstacles thrown at us,” said Roger Powers, director of DeKalb County Homeland Security. Powers was looking for stranded motorists with DeKalb County Sheriff Don Lauer Monday SEE STORM, PAGE A6
PHOTO COURTESY DEKALB COUNTY HOMELAND SECURITY
Last week’s snowfall had most residents of northeastern Indiana stuck at home, including these properties at the entrance to the Woodland Trail edition off S.R. 427 in DeKalb County.