Rayonna Burton-Jernigan

Capital B Gary •

Gary Playwright Inspires Next Generation Through Theater - Capital B Gary

From a young age, Charbria Shine knew the stage would be part of her life, even if it meant starting as a mascot and finishing as a playwright.

A cheer mascot in kindergarten, she went on to dance at church and landed the lead role in a play on her first try. Her place in the entertainment world seemed predestined, even before she understood what that meant.  

Shine attended Emerson School for Visual and Performing Arts in middle school, but ultimately graduated from Andrean High School in Mer...
Capital B Gary •

Gary to Get $100M Convention Center in Major Win for City - Capital B Gary

Robert Buggs stood alone amid a sea of applause. Clad in a baby-blue fedora and matching sport coat, he was the only person to rise in the county Government Center’s second-floor chamber as the Lake County Board of Commissioners named Gary the new convention center site.“I’m very ecstatic about it, because now’s the time for Gary,” he stated after hearing the announcement. The board’s unanimous decision to build the 145,000-square-foot convention center in Gary sent waves of excitement through t...
Capital B Gary •

New Lake County Convention Center Is Coming to Gary - Capital B Gary

It’s official. The Lake County Board of Commissioners selected Gary as the site for the new Lake County Convention Center.

The commissioners announced the decision Wednesday morning to a packed room and were met with rousing applause from an audience that included Gary residents and city officials. What began as proposals for 14 sites across the county was narrowed to five in March 2024 and ultimately down to two finalists: Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana in Gary and Patriot Park in Hobart....
Capital B Gary •

Sankara McCain Styled Beyoncé’s Tour. Rebuild the Arts Is Next. - Capital B Gary

When Sankara McCain walked across the stage to graduate from Emerson School for Visual and Performing Arts, she didn’t know where her arts journey would take her.Never did she think it would lead to her working with everyone from Phylicia Rashad to Saweetie to Beyoncé and Blue Ivy Carter for the “Cowboy Carter” tour.“I’ve probably touched every female rapper,” she said. Through her brand Sankara Xasha Turé — or Sankara XT, as she’s known in the industry — she’s an international wardrobe stylist...
Capital B Gary •

Here’s a First Look at Gary’s New YMCA and Boys & Girls Club Design - Capital B Gary

City officials, community leaders, and residents gathered in Gary’s Tolleston neighborhood to mark the start of construction on a $35 million YMCA and Boys & Girls Club campus. The groundbreaking ceremony took place on Wednesday at the site of the former Tolleston Middle School, where the 91,000-square-foot facility will be built.“When we invest in our residents and create spaces for connection, we build the strongest possible foundation for our city’s future,” Gary Mayor Eddie Melton said durin...
Capital B Gary •

Gary’s Seniors on Edge as Tariffs Threaten Their Savings - Capital B Gary

On a recent weekday afternoon, the Gary Public Library’s community room was filled with dozens of seniors seeking community, friendship, and a game of bingo.For members of the Senior Citizens Friendship Club, it’s a welcome escape from the stress and uncertainty of daily life. It offers a brief window to laugh, unwind, and connect with others.“Trump ain’t getting this,” one woman said as she walked out the door, waving her bingo winnings envelope. A lighthearted joke to some, and for others, a r...
Capital B Gary •

‘This Is About More Than Just Food’: Inside a Grassroots Effort Feeding Hundreds in Gary

On a windy Sunday morning this month in downtown Gary, families lined up outside the Family Life Community Center. They weren’t there for church, but for nourishment.

“Number 1!” “Numbers 25-30!” a volunteer shouted into a bullhorn, his voice cutting through the jazz music that filled the air. The parking lot next to the Family Life Community Center, located at 555 Massachusetts St., was packed with pallets and tables loaded with boxes of food, shelves of canned goods and perishables, and volun...
Capital B Gary •

When the Tornado Hit, Their School Was Damaged. Now These Gary Students Are Rebuilding.

The roof was damaged. Classrooms were emptied. The building where hundreds of children once learned and laughed sat silently behind locked doors.

Nearly three weeks after a tornado tore through the Tolleston neighborhood, students and staff of Frankie Woods McCullough Academy are returning to their school.

The Gary Community School Corporation said classes will resume at McCullough on Tuesday, April 8. Although the gymnasium roof remains under repair, students will return to the building.

“Pl...
Capital B Gary •

From Eyesore to Opportunity: Gary’s Side Lot Program Gives Hope to Homeowners - Capital B Gary

Gaynette Ford remembers the day she danced in the street.

After years of living next to a crumbling drug house, where strangers loitered, and needles littered the ground, she had all but given up on getting it torn down. Then, one afternoon, she came home to a sight she never expected: a demolition crew leveling the eyesore to the ground.

“I danced in the streets, just to have the comfort of knowing it was gone,” she recalled.

Ford, 81, has lived in her Gary home since the early 1980s, when s...
Capital B Gary •

Possible tornado Tears Through Gary - Capital B Gary

Toppled power lines. Caved-in roofs. Lumbering trees crashed into the Earth. And residents left stunned.

These were just a few of the images greeting Gary this morning after a tornado whipped through the city Wednesday evening, devastating dozens of homes in the Tolleston neighborhood and leaving thousands of Northwest Indiana residents without power.

By Thursday morning, residents were still coping with the damage, as flooded streets, garages caved in on cars, and debris littered the ground c...