Starting Monday, over 470 civilian employees at Grissom Air Reserve Base will have to take off one unpaid day each week until the end September.

The furlough days are the result of the federal government sequestration that took effect earlier this year. Lieutenant Colonel Gary Lockard in the Public Affairs Office says base employees have been preparing for the furloughs for several months and are taking everything in stride.

The original call for the furlough days was 22 days, however base leadership were able to reduce that number to 11 days. In order to maintain mission requirements and other duties, civilian employees will be able to chose their day off each week to best accommodate their job requirements and personal schedules.

Snoring may annoy your spouse, but it can also mean a danger to yourself.

Dr. Adam Fisch, a neurologist with J-W-M Neurology in Indianapolis and board-certified sleep specialist, says while snoring may be simply an annoyance, it could also be a warning sign for sleep apnea. He says studies are showing that sleep apnea is becoming more and more common. He says in the past, experts may have said one in 20 people have sleep apnea, but now it‘s more common in one in four people.

Dr. Fisch says the best and most common form of treatment is C-PAP therapy which involves the patient wearing a mask that opens up the airways. He says dentists can make can make oral devices to pull the jaw forward to get air flow in and Ear, Nose & Throat doctors can snip the uvulua to open up the airway.

Dr. Fisch says sleep apnea can disrupt your sleep structure which means you‘ll wake up from a less restful slumber. He says if you snore, have daytime sleepiness, wake up gasping for air or if someone sees you not breathing while you sleep, you should see a doctor to get checked out.

More than 250 new state laws take effect today — including a few unusual ones.

Starting Monday, the penalty for minors boarding a riverboat casino is scaled back from a misdemeanor to an infraction — that carries a fine, but no jail time.
School bus drivers will have to explain each semester how to fasten your seat belt, on buses which have them.
Hunters will be allowed to use silencers. Indiana Deer Hunters Association president Joe Bacon says manufacturers sought the change — his group took no position.

Legislators instructed the Department of Natural Resources to redefine what a minnow is. Bait dealers must follow laws on shipping and handling minnows.

The D-N-R says a definition passed in 1995 goes beyond biological minnow species, but uses language that’s too ambiguous.

Another new law allows motorsports trailers to be four feet longer and three feet wider than other trailers.

South Bend-area legislators passed a law limiting the potential liability of the Compton Family Ice Arena, which Notre Dame opened in 2011.

Most new Indiana laws take effect on July 1 because it‘s the start of the state fiscal year.

The Indiana Youth Group has its specialty license plate back.

The Bureau of Motor Vehicles reinstated the plate that was revoked last year after a complaint was filed by 20 Republicans state senators against the Indianapolis group that offers support to gay young people.

BMV Commissioner Scott Waddell announced the reinstatement in a letter to ACLU of Indiana legal director Ken Falk. Falk had recently sued the BMV after Waddell rescinded a ruling from BMV administrative law judge Melissa Reynolds saying the Bureau was wrong to revoke the specialty plates in 2012.

The lawsuit said Waddell violated IYG‘s right to due process.

The case was based on the low-numbered plate allocation program, where agencies who are granted specialty plates are allowed to give away specialty plates numbered 1 through 100 to staff or supporters. The BMV had revoked the plates from IYG, the Indiana 4-H Foundation and the Greenways Foundation, saying the groups violated state law by selling or auctioning those plates.

Waddell‘s letter to Falk says that while the BMV will reinstate the IYG plate, the group will be barred from participating in the low-numbered plate program. IYG had claimed it gave the plates as gifts to those who had donated a certain amount of money to the group, similar to gifts given to donors to public television stations.
Waddell‘s letter states that Falk agreed to drop the federal lawsuit if the BMV agreed to forego further appeals of Reynolds‘s ruling.

Indiana pharmacists now can offer more immunizations to customers.

A new law that went into effect today, (Mon-July1) allows your local pharmacist to now vaccinate you against pneumonia, tetanus, diphtheria, acellular pertussis, HPV infections and meningitis.

The goal is to make immunizations more available to the public and drive down health care costs.

The state already has more than 27-hundred pharmacists trained to provide the shots and several hundred new ones are added annually.

A historical marker to memorialize the late Governor Ralph Gates will be dedicated Tuesday (July 2nd) in Columbia City. The 37th Governor of Indiana was born in Columbia City in 1893.

He served as Governor of Indiana from 1945 to 1949. During his administration, state departments were created to address issues on revenue, flood control, veterans‘ affairs and traffic safety.

Additionally, he focused on education reform, development of Indiana’s highway system and industrial growth. Senator Jim Banks says the historical marker is a overdue honor for someone who played a major role not only in the Columbia City community, but in the state.   

The ceremony will be at 1:15 p.m. on the Whitley County Courthouse lawn.

Good times await the thousands of people who will visit 4-H fairs this month in more than 80 Indiana counties, but so does the risk of getting sick.   

Health officials say remember those common safe hygiene practices when you pick up your favorite fair food and then head to the livestock barns. Pigs especially can be infected with influenza strains that occur in different species.

Influenza A -(SWINE FLU) made its way around Indiana last year with 138 cases in 24 counties. One of the easiest and most important precautions we can take is to wash our hands often with soap and avoid face-to-face contact with animals.

Symptoms of variant influenza A include: fever, cough, sore throat, chills, headache and muscle aches. Diarrhea and nausea can also occur in children.

Fort Wayne is the smartest city in Indiana according to a new survey.

Real estate blog Movoto.com has released its latest ranking.

The 2013 list ranks Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania as the “Smartest City In America.” The ranking uses six criteria that include: the number of colleges, libraries, media outlets and museums in each city along with public school ranking and education levels.

Fort Wayne comes in at number 35. Indianapolis doesn‘t even make the top 50. Orlando, DC, Atlanta, Honolulu, Tampa, Seattle, San Francisco, Cincinnati and Miami round out the top ten.

A new Harvard University study takes a sobering look at the nation‘s housing market.

The study called, “The State of the Nation‘s Housing 2013,” says despite rising home prices, growing demand and historically low interest rates, Americans remain in a state of housing crises.

The study says many Americans remain delinquent on mortgages and owe more than their homes are worth. On the rental side, the study says many Americans, especially low income renters are spending much of their income on housing. Indianapolis-based Greg Cooper is a real estate broker with The Richwine Group of Prudential.

Cooper says the market is improving, but major red tape in the credit process remains a big hurdle for would-be homebuyers. Cooper says there are also issues with valuations and appraisals needed for refinancing.

Cooper blames government regulation for many of the issues consumers face. Cooper says simplifying the process is definitely needed.

The grain elevator explosion in LaPorte County is the latest in a series of grain bin mishaps involving farmers or elevator operators… some of which can be fatal.

The Jasper County Farm Bureau is making sure that their member farmers can survive any grain bin accidents.

They‘re presenting “Liberty Rescue Tubes” today (Thurs) to each of the county‘s four volunteer fire departments. The tubes are rigid, can be expanded and can be pushed thru the grain to protect a trapped person until the bin can be opened and the person freed.

Farm Bureau president and CEO Daryl King says the rescue tubes, provided by Liberty Rescue Systems are part of their grain safety education effort.

King says volunteer firefighters have gone through training and classroom courses on how to use the tubes, and the Sheriff‘s Department and Indiana State Police know that they have the equipment in case they‘re called out to a grain bin accident.

The Tri-County FFA paid for the rescue tubes, which cost $12-thousand dollars.