IS IT TRUE? January 16, 2012
IS IT TRUE that during the past week that the City County Observer has made many subtle improvements most of which were suggested by our readers?…that the font of the content part of the articles has been enlarged to accommodate reader requests that have been stating that it was too small for a while now?…that a couple of color changes have been made to draw attention to article content?…that our tab bar has been expanded to make more information at the touch of a tab for our readers?…that the blogroll has eliminated several links that no one ever used and is being expanded to include links that our readers requested such as links to crime maps, sex offenders, and outstanding warrants?…that the number of words as the teaser for each article has been truncated to allow us to have more current articles in the home page?…that we will be changing the word Evansville on the mast head to Evansville-Vanderburgh County to reflect the top local issue on the 2012 ballot which is CONSOLIDATION?…that the CCO has secured the writing services of a chef to tell our readers all about some cool recipes and Lifestyle Lil is being brought back from the dead to tell our readers about social life?…that we hope that our changes will be well received and will further enhance our ability to serve our readership?
IS IT TRUE that Evansville’s Jeff Overton will be arriving in the Palm Springs area to compete against the world’s most skilled golfers in pursuit of a substantial payday if he can beat their butts in the Humana Challenge that was formerly called the Bob Hope Desert Classic?…that President Bill Clinton will be here during the later part of the week and will be having breakfast with certain leaders of the area on Thursday?…that CCO columnist and Managing Director of the California Innovation Hub for Renewable Energy Joe Wallace is hoping for an invitation to that breakfast?…that after being named one of the 12 to watch in the Coachella Valley for 2012 that Joe (Mole #1) may just get to have breakfast with President Clinton?
IS IT TRUE that the graduation rates of USI and IVY Tech were published and that the performance with respect to how many students that enter actually graduate in a reasonable time frame is simply abysmal?…that IVY Tech that has programs designed to be completed in two years currently has an 8.7% graduation rate over 3 years?…that such a graduation rate is a slap in the face of the taxpayers of Indiana?…that many of the 91.3% who do not graduate in 3 years end up saddled with debt that ruins their lives?…that USI has a graduation rate of 14% in the 4 years that college is designed to take to graduate and only 32.2% graduate in 6 years?…that national rates are 31.4% and 56.1% respectively making the USI graduation rate basically half of the national rate?…as far as IVY Tech goes the national graduation rate is 22.1% or nearly TRIPLE what IVY Tech is graduating?…that these two paltry and embarrassing performances should serve as evidence that bricks and mortar do not really help in the education process as each institution has built building after building with no improvement in graduation rates?…that IVY Tech was more than 50% better in graduation rates before they build the palace on North 1st Avenue?
IS IT TRUE that if one wants to know why college loans are defaulting at record rates that appalling graduation rates like these should be examined?…that when some student that either had no business in college in the first place or did not receive sufficient motivation to believe in the value of education winds up in dire financial straits over college loans for attending a place that added no value to their lives it is no wonder that they can’t pay off the loans?…that this is probably going to be the next financial meltdown that the USA will have to endure?…that a bunch of classes on credit that yield no tangible life advantages is not much different than an internet stock with no revenue or a nothing down home loan on a million dollar trailer that had its price collapse to $30,000?
IS IT TRUE that every American has some skill or potential?…that federally guaranteed debt always seems to distort that skill, inflate prices, or even worse damage or destroy the people that these programs were designed to help?…that this recession should be an opportunity to hit the reset button and restore practicality and sanity to life in these United States?
I am sick to death about hearing about “federally insured debt”. If FID was a legit term, there would not currently be a depression caused by the bursting of a housing bubble.
Why is it that virtually everyone, EXCEPT the federal government (and possibly AIG), who insure risk in peoples lives, whether it be life insurance, health care insurance, etc., are required to keep a substantial amount of liquid assets on hand to meet contractual commitments.
The sub-prime mortgages were being made at the rate they were because Fannie-Mae and Freddie-Mac said they were “federally insured”.
Everyone who knew the size of the pie, and the big players obviously had to know, knew that the promise of federal insurance was nothing but a damned illusion that was allowed to exist so the selling of mortgages could continue!
Any intelligent person would have to ask the question: Just how much of this current debt that is supposedly federally insured, across the entire spectrum of federally insured debt, would ever see a dime of federal insurance money if the debt were called?
We have to get back to reality here. The same Wall Street firms that created the current crisis are still in business and still TOO BIG TO FAIL in they eyes of the people running the US Treasury in the current administration, all of whom had a part to play in creating this crisis, as they all came out of the Wall Street firms who created this mess.
Some of these people should be in federal prisons, and not just the people at the top. Traders who used client money to buy cocaine and prostitutes, and rating agencies that prostituted accounting standards for client fees are just as guilty!
If you want to see some turnaround in public trust in the financial industry, start filing some actions that will almost certainly result in many of these most deserving individuals doing some time in a federal prison!
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When I read the graduation rates, I thought I was misunderstanding the data. How pathetic. This speaks volumes about Evansville.
I wonder what percentage of those who do graduate stay in Evansville…?
By the way, I like the improvements to the site. Thanks.
The new font size is great…but the style not so much.
There is too much yellow. Other than that, I like the changes thus far.
the blue is nice but a little too electric, maybe something more subdued or a little less purple. I do like the new font size
The font is way too small now. I do miss the Arizona flag colors of Red, Yellow, and Blue on here but I guess the Yellow/Blue combo is more appropriate given that Evansville and Indiana’s colors are yellow and blue and we are not in Zona.
Speaking of official colors, we need a real flag, not just a recolored seal on a blue background. It has gotten so embarassing that only the US and state flag were on the stage at the inauguration.
Other cities are way ahead of us…
http://www.nava.org/Flag%20Design/city_survey.htm
Hardly anyone I know who has ever attended IVY Tech or USI attended as a full-time student. Many have also had to stop and start for various reasons. These numbers don’t mean anything without knowing why students are taking longer to graduate.
My wife is a full time student at ivtc and will take 3 years to do a 2 year program. they have so many students she cannot get into the classes she needs during the semesters she needs them, so she has had to wait for them to be offered again. and not all of them are offered every semester. My daughter was able to graduate from USI in 4 years but went to school every summer to do so
Congratulations to your wife on being among the winning graduates. I am sure it took planning and discipline on her part but that is what it is all about.
I’m just proud of her for going back to school at 51
Like the C-CO’s evolution, so far. The font, the weather forecast and the colors.
Am looking forward to the chef’s articles. I have a killer recipe to share.
In a perfect world, (not Evansville) the publishing, prior to public meetings, of Council and Commission agendas would be wonderful.
Long live C-CO, her readers and sponsors! …
When colleges lower admission standards (because everyone has a right to a college education), graduation rates drop. Colleges should not be teaching high school skills makeup courses.
These unprepared students are set up for continued failure. The choice is to let the unprepared receive a degree just like they received a High school diploma.
This run to failure should be stopped in grade school.
When did the term “flunked the grade” disappear from our educational system? Social promotion is the enemy of an educated society. We had several 20 year old people in high school that “flunked” some grades but they by God graduated and had some knowledge to get on with life. The privilege to fail and teachers with the guts to hold a kid back are needed again.
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