Ok, the hostage story: I was coming back from somewhere when the Saturday editor buzzed me and said "We got a hostage situation in Hammond. Can you go?" "Um, well, YEAH, I'll head there right now," I said excitedly, thinking how cool is THIS!?!?

The situation was that the Hammond PD had gotten a bizarre phone call from a pay phone claiming that these dudes had a whole bunch of guns and were holding the caller hostage. Nobody knew for sure what the deal was -- not even the cops -- but it sounded big, and the times I actually get to do the big exciting stuff are few and far between.

So I get there, and the PD has Calumet Avenue, or the road on which the incident was taking place, blocked off with crime scene tape before the gas station that "Ground Zero" was behind and a few buildings after it. The side I was on? The side that didn't have the PD's command center, where the PIO and everyone else was. So, after about 20 minutes of clearance crap, the PIO gives me permission to walk over to them. And so I start.

And then everybody on the PIO's side starts screaming for me to get back. I'm like, "What the hell!?!?!"

I run back to my side and ask one of the cops there, "What the hell!?!?! and he tells me that I needed to cross the street because a sniper was stationed in one of the buildings across from the gas station, and I was right in his line of fire. By crossing the street, he'd be able to shoot over me if need be. Oooooooh. All right-y. Oh, and while I'm at it? HOLY SHIT! So, I cross the street. And as I'm walking, this NWI hillbilly gaper sitting in his pickup truck says to me, "Excuse me, ma'am, but that was the bravest thing I think I've ever seen." Ma'am my ass, I thought to myself, but I thanked him and got over to the command center without incident.

The coolest thing about the whole ordeal? Watching the SWAT team storm the house in riot gear. THAT was bad. ass. They yanked out four scum bags without incident.