Hammond Mayor Believes City Will Land Chicago Bears

Hammond Mayor Tom McDermott believes the northwest Indiana city will become the new home for the NFL’s Chicago Bears.  McDermott says he thinks Illinois is “out of the picture” after lawmakers adjourned their spring session early Monday without an agreement on proposals that were aimed at keeping the Bears in the suburb of Arlington Heights.  Team officials say they will finalize their evaluation of Arlington Heights and Hammond either late this spring or early in the summer and “will provide an update when we have a decision to share.”  Indiana lawmakers approved a billion-dollars in taxpayer money for the stadium district infrastructure in late February.