South Shore Clean Cites Inc. recognized individuals, businesses and municipalities during the 2012 annual meeting for their efforts in implementing alternative fuels and lowering toxic emissions.

The inaugural Stakeholder Awards were presented by Carl Lisek, executive director. He said the awards recognize the results of preserving and revitalizing northern Indiana through promoting the use of clean fuels and clean-vehicle technologies.

Indiana Dunes Tourism, the official tourism bureau of Porter County, wants to know who offers the best service in Porter County.

Each year, Indiana Dunes Tourism presents R.O.S.E. (Recognition of Outstanding Service) Awards to those businesses and people who provide service that goes above and beyond.

The tourism bureau is asking people to nominate either a business or an individual who works at a business. Nominations should also include a brief explanation about why the business or person is worthy of an award.

Managing Board Welcomes New Directors

The Northwest Indiana Forum elected Don Babcock (NIPSCO) to continue in his role as Chair of the 2012 Managing Board of Directors with a unanimous vote. Jill Ritchie (United States Steel Corporation) will serve as Chair-Elect and Tom Keilman (BP) as Secretary/Treasurer.

Building on the history of strong and effective volunteer committees’ work, Charles Weaver (Starke County Economic Development Foundation) will lead the Economic Development efforts. Chairing Environmental Affairs and Public Policy are Robert Crookston (Microbac Labs) and Jill Ritchie (United States Steel Corporation) respectively. Cal Bellamy (Krieg DeVault) will oversee the Audit Committee while Dewey Pearman (Construction Advancement Foundation) will handle member retention and recruitment duties.

We’re excited to announce that Ideas in Motion Media is teaming up with Arnell Chevy-Kia to bring the Chevy Volt to the good news community, as the company expands throughout Northwest Indiana in the coming months.

“The Chevy Volt has an incredible combination of technology and is the ideal fun, fuel-efficient performance sedan,” said Dave Arnell, owner of Arnell Chevy-Kia. “The LIFE sites are the perfect partner to help us get the word out not only about Arnell Chevy-Kia, but also the awesome story behind the Volt and all that Chevrolet does to invest in the future of automobile technology.”

Frontier Communications announced its 2011 highlights for its Midwest Region which consists of Indiana and Michigan.

• Invested $56M in broadband deployment across the Midwest Region
• Made Frontier High-Speed Internet available to an additional 46,000 Hoosier households
  
• Completed 14 broadband deployment projects in the northwestern Indiana area
  
• Launched a $24 million all fiber optic ultra-high bandwidth network
  
• Established dedicated business commercial sales team across the Midwest Region
  
• Re-entered the commercial customer premise equipment market
  
• Launched Metro Ethernet and Dedicated Internet Access products across the Midwest Region

The Northwest Indiana Small Business Development Center is offering QuickBooks Essentials Part II from 9 a.m. to noon Saturdays March 24 and 31 at the Purdue University Calumet Academic Learning Center, 9900 Connecticut Drive, in Room 231.

The workshop continues an overview of the program and is for those who want to take their skills to the next level. It is recommended that participants have a working knowledge of QuickBooks or have taken the first essentials workshop.