VALPARAISO

New restaurant to aid area Boys & Girls clubs

The public is invited to join the Boys & Girls Clubs of Porter County on Wednesday at the new Noodles & Company Restaurant, 71 Silhavy Road, Valparaiso, for its pre-opening 100 percent Benefit Night.

Participants can stop in for lunch from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. or dinner from 5 to 8 p.m. to experience this new Valparaiso eatery.

All sales during this event will benefit the programs and services offered to the more than 5,300 youths who are members of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Porter County.

Invitations are required for entrance and available free of charge at all Boys & Girls Clubs of Porter County locations. For more information, call 464-7282.

LAKE STATION

NorthShore clinic site closing for construction

Renovations on the NorthShore Health Center's site in the offices of Dr. Fernando Rivera will prompt the facility at 3099 Central Ave. to close Monday. It will reopen on Dec. 15 as NorthShore's Fernando Rivera Dental Center along with NorthShore's new medical facility, at 2490 Central Ave.

During the next month, Rivera and two associates will be seeing patients at NorthShore's Scottsdale facility next door to Lowe's in Portage, 3564 Scottsdale Road.

MICHIGAN CITY

Acting superintendent at state prison promoted

Indiana Department of Correction Commissioner Edwin G. Buss has appointed Mark Levenhagen as superintendent of Indiana State Prison.

Levenhagen was named acting superintendent of Indiana State Prison in July. From March 2006, until his appointment as superintendent, he held the position of assistant superintendent at the prison. Prior to that, he served as assistant superintendent at the Westville Correctional Facility, Indiana's largest correctional institution. Levenhagen has held numerous managerial positions in maximum and medium security facilities, and served as a behavioral clinician in the state's only super max facility for 10 years.

He attended Ball State University and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology and a master's degree in counseling psychology.

Levenhagen and his wife, Kelly, have been married for 24 years and have two children, Lauren and Leslie.

VALPARAISO

$100,000 grant will help veterans find new jobs

The Center of Workforce Innovations received a $100,000 grant Monday from the Wal-Mart State Giving Program at the annual Valparaiso Rotary Club's Veterans Day program. The grant will support the CWI project called Talent Gain aimed at helping returning veterans find employment.

Talent Gain focuses on placing returning vets in high-demand jobs like advanced manufacturing and transportation-distribution-logistics.

VALPARAISO

Tickets now on sale for Dec. 5, 6 yule concert

The annual Valparaiso University "Christmas Concert," featuring about 200 student musicians, will be at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 5 and at 5 p.m. Dec. 6. in the Chapel of the Resurrection.

VU's premier vocal and instrumental ensembles, the Chorale, Chamber Concert Band and Symphony Orchestra, will perform together and individually during the concert.

Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for students and senior citizens.

For more information and to buy tickets, visit valpo.edu/arts or call (219) 464-5162.

WESTVILLE

PNC students collecting teddy bears for hospital

The Purdue University North Central Fine Arts, Convocations & Events Committee has collected 225 teddy bears and stuffed animals for the children in Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis.

Committee members will deliver the stuffed animals to the hospital today. The students plan to spend the day reading and playing with the young patients.

The committee also purchased 36 pillowcases that they will take to Riley and the young patients can decorate and personalize them for their beds.

To donate, contact cstambaug@pnc.edu or (219) 785-5330.