CROWN POINT (AP) _ Several thousand homes and business in northern Indiana remained without power hours after a large storm front swept across the state.
 
  Major electric utilities reported at least 16,000 outages Thursday morning, although that was much less than the peak after the storm with strong winds moved through Wednesday night.
 
  Scattered building damage and downed trees were reported after winds up to 60 mph and golf ball-size hail hit from Gary to Fort Wayne. The National Weather Service says about 3 inches of rain fell in Marion.
 
  Northern Indiana Public Service Co. had about 44,000 outages after the storm hit. Most of those were in northwestern Indiana’s Lake County, where some 4,000 outages remained around Crown Point alone early Thursday.