The National Park Service says the lakeshore's West Beach area along the Lake-Porter county line in northwestern Indiana will be closed from Thursday through Nov. 9.

The reductions are necessary because of a decline in fish that salmon and trout eat, such as alewife and rainbow smelt.

The EPA says the projects are expected to stop or capture 13 million gallons of untreated stormwater from contaminating swimming beaches.

The Merrillville-based utility says the demolition of its Dean H. Mitchell power plant and the site's environmental cleanup will cost an estimated $18 million.

The DNR grants will fund 33 projects in 25 counties and encompass the watersheds of 36 lakes and streams.

National Park Service and DNR officials say the issue is how the pavilion will be classified.

A property rights battle over public access to Indiana's Lake Michigan shoreline is likely to go before the state Supreme Court.

The National Park Service restricted the public's access to Mount Baldy after a section of the dune collapsed in 2013, trapping a 6-year-old boy under 11 feet of sand.

It was the first year in the Ports of Indiana's history that the state's three ports handled more than 12 million tons.

Save the Dunes announced Thursday that it's acquired tracts of land totaling nearly 100 acres in Hobart, about five miles southeast of Gary.