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Gov. Holcomb announces largest EV investment in state history attracting a more than $3B battery plant

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New General Motors, Samsung SDI EV Battery Plant to Create 1,700 Jobs in St. Joseph County

NEW CARLISLE, Ind. – Governor Eric J. Holcomb today announced plans to bring a more than $3 billion EV battery cell plant to St. Joseph County, creating 1,700 manufacturing jobs. The new battery cell plant, a joint venture between Michigan-based General Motors and Korea-based Samsung SDI, is scheduled to begin operations in 2026.

“GM has long been one of America’s most iconic brands and deeply rooted in Indiana. For decades, Hoosier communities like Marion, Bedford and Fort Wayne have been part of the production of countless firsts for family vehicles. And, now today, I couldn’t be more excited to again see GM alongside one of Indiana’s newest world class companies, Samsung SDI, take this giant leap and make this $3 billion commitment that will transform the automotive industry aided by our proud Hoosier workforce,” Gov. Holcomb. “This historic investment is further proof that Indiana has turned it up and shifted into a higher gear when it comes to helping create the future of mobility and more customer options out on the open road.”

GM and Samsung SDI, which announced their joint venture in April, will build the plant just east of New Carlisle at Larrison Boulevard and Indiana 2 to supply GM’s growing EV production needs. GM plans to install more than 1 million units of annual EV capacity in North America in 2025 and accelerate from there.

The new facility will house production lines to build nickel-rich prismatic and cylindrical cells and is expected to help significantly increase the accessibility and affordability of EVs. Once complete, the plant will have more than 30 GWh of capacity.

“This joint venture and the 1,700 people there will help supply cells for millions of all-electric vehicles for customers across North America,” said Mary Barra, GM Chair and CEO. “The strong support of local and state leaders in Indiana and the combined resources and expertise of GM and Samsung SDI will help us move faster than we could on our own.”

“Through establishment of a battery joint venture with GM, we are grateful that Samsung SDI can contribute to boosting the economy of Indiana and creating new jobs here,” said Yoonho Choi, President and CEO of Samsung SDI. “Securing Indiana as a strong foothold together with GM, Samsung SDI will supply products featuring the highest level of safety and quality in a bid to help the U.S. move forward to an era of electric vehicles.”

GM has a considerable presence in Indiana with five facilities across the state that employ more than 5,700 Hoosiers. The company recently announced plans to invest $632 million in its Fort Wayne Assembly to expand operations and upgrade equipment to support its growing full-size truck business. GM also announced plans to invest $491 million to expand and upgrade its Marion, Indiana, facility to support its growing EV production.  

“GM and Samsung SDI doubling down on their commitment to growing in Indiana further solidifies our state’s pole position in the growing EV space,” said Indiana Secretary of Commerce Brad Chambers. “Indiana has long been a global business destination, and our momentum continues as we further build Indiana’s future-focused economy and usher in incredible opportunities for Hoosiers. Transformational projects like these not only help bolster Indiana’s economy but enrich the surrounding communities and will directly benefit Indiana residents for decades to come.”     

Construction is planned to begin within the next year and support more than 1,000 jobs during the build. The companies plan to start production in New Carlisle in 2026.

“St. Joseph County is deeply appreciative that General Motors and Samsung SDI have selected our community for its EV battery plant,” said Carl Baxmeyer, President of the St. Joseph County Board of Commissioners. “This project represents the largest single investment and job commitment in St. Joseph County in the last 75 years and will impact our region for decades. Our region has a long history of innovation in the automotive industry, and for generations have built vehicles or parts that have been included in vehicles around the world. As the industry evolves, we’re thrilled to once again be at the center of this transformational time for the industry, and we look forward to a long partnership with GM and Samsung SDI as they move forward on their first battery plant as partners.”

The Indiana Economic Development Corporation is working with GM and Samsung SDI to finalize a performance-based incentive offer to support the joint venture’s investment and job creation plans. St. Joseph County, Indiana Michigan Power, and Northern Indiana Public Service Company offered additional incentives.

About General Motors  General Motors (NYSE:GM) is a global company focused on advancing an all-electric future that is inclusive and accessible to all. At the heart of this strategy is the Ultium battery platform, which will power everything from mass-market to high-performance vehicles. General Motors, its subsidiaries and its joint venture entities sell vehicles under the Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, Cadillac, Baojun and Wuling brands. More information on the company and its subsidiaries, including OnStar, a global leader in vehicle safety and security services, can be found at gm.com.   

About Samsung SDI  Samsung SDI is a manufacturer of rechargeable batteries for the IT industry, automobiles, and energy storage systems (ESS), as well as cutting-edge materials used to produce semiconductors and displays. Our executive managers and staff members focus efforts to develop the next generation’s growth drivers in order to secure Samsung SDI’s place as a creative leader in the energy and cutting-edge materials industry.  

Four TSF Reporters Receive National SPJ Honor

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Four TSF Reporters Receive National SPJ Honor

  • Staff Report
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Four TheStatehouseFile.com reporters have been recognized by the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) as Mark of Excellence National Winners for the best collegiate work published or broadcast during 2022.

Taylor Wooten, a 2022 graduate from Clarksville, captured first place in the Breaking News Category for her story on the 2022 transgender sports bill before the Indiana General Assembly. Alexa Shrake, a 2022 graduate from Martinsville, Isaac Gleitz, a 2023 graduate from Corydon, and Sydney Byerly, a senior from New Albany, claimed first place in the General News Category for their series onthe criminal case involving former Franklin College President Thomas J. Minar.

Isaac Gleitz and Sydney Byerly at the Indianapolis Press Club Foundation’s Keating Feature Writing Competition.  Contributed photo.

Shrake and Wooten are both reporters in Indianapolis, with Shrake covering law at the Indiana Lawyer and Wooten covering business developments at the Indiana Business Journal. Gleitz recently graduated with a double major in multimedia journalism and Spanish. Byerly will continue reporting for TheStatehouseFile. coming the fall, finishing her last year at Franklin College.

“I am extremely proud of these student journalists,” Franklin College President Kerry N. Prather said. “The journalism profession demands creativity, critical thinking and the pursuit of truth. They not only captured the essence of these qualities in their work but have also demonstrated the ability to navigate the evolving media landscape effectively. Their accomplishments will inspire future Franklin College journalism students.”

The awards honor the best in student journalism. Franklin College students competed against students from every other college or university in the country with an enrollment of less than 10,000. Winners were previously recognized by receiving first place in one of SPJ’s 12 regional competitions held earlier this spring. Each first-place regional winner then advanced to the national competition, where judges were to choose only those entries they felt were outstanding work worthy of national honor.

TheStatehouseFile.com alums Isaac Gleitz and Alexa Shrake smile for a picture with Colleen Steffen, executive editor of TSF.Photo by Colleen Steffen, TheStatehouseFile.com.

The students’ work will now advance to the MOEy Best in Show Award contest, SPJ’s top prize given to students at the Mark of Excellence Awards on June 17.

University of Evansville to Launch Esports Program

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EVANSVILLE, IND. (06/14/2023) With competitive gaming on the rise throughout the world, the University of Evansville (UE) is excited to announce the launch of an on-campus collegiate Esports program.

UE believes the creation of this program will be a promising avenue to attract new students, integrate future academic offerings, and enhance student engagement on campus.

Esports, or electronic sports, is the term used to describe organized competitive video gaming, which is typically played in a multiplayer setting as part of a league or tournament. Esports has the potential to shape students’ knowledge, skills, and future employment opportunities in careers spanning the tech industry, communication, content creation, software and network engineering, and sports management.

Esports is one of the fastest-growing industries in the world, with programs implemented in over 8,600 US high schools and a global audience of over 500 million people.

UE’s Esports Center will be located in a renovated two-story lounge inside Schroeder Residence Hall to include areas for team practice, competitive play and open game play. Based on the enrollment and progress of the program, the University will activate a second phase of the initiative by expanding space within the Esports Center.

The University has hired Samuel Henderson to serve as the Esports Coordinator and Head Coach. He comes to UE from his hometown of Moline, Illinois, and has spent the past year as a coach at St. Ambrose University in Iowa. Henderson brings prior experience as a success coach, academic advisor, and coordinator of youth programs.

“This opportunity is a testament to the growing recognition of Esports as a legitimate and thriving sport, and I am honored to be part of an institution that embraces the power of digital competition,” said Henderson. “Together, we will nurture talent, shape champions, and pave the way for the future of Esports at the University of Evansville. Let the games begin!”

Renovation efforts will begin in June with team competitions slated to begin during the fall semester.

“Esports is more than just a game; it is a rapidly growing industry that has the power to bring people together and transcend geographical and cultural barriers,” said Rachel Carpenter, DPS, Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students who served as the chair of the Esports Task Force. “I’m enthusiastic about the potential of introducing Esports at UE, as it will expand our impact on students seeking new opportunities for campus engagement and career development.”

To learn more about UE Esports, visit evansville.edu/Esports.

Robyn Scherr-Wells Inks Contract Extension With Purple Aces

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Scherr-Wells Is Entering Her Third Season At UE

JUN@ 15, 2023 

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – With two years of steady improvement to the University of Evansville women’s basketball program, University of Evansville Director of Athletics Ziggy Siegfried has announced a contract extension for head women’s basketball coach Robyn Scherr-Wells.

“Robyn is one of the most driven coaches that I have ever worked with in my career.  She has shown a commitment to academics, the student-athlete experience and competitive excellence, and her engagement with the campus and community has been fantastic,” Siegfried stated.  “Robyn is committed to being at UE and understands that commitment takes time.  We are proud to show that commitment to her.  I have no doubt that she is a leader who can and will build a championship program.”

In a short amount of time, Scherr-Wells has made significant progress in building the Purple Aces program.  The first season under her direction saw the team post its highest amount of wins in five seasons.  Her team followed that up with an 11-win campaign last season, which was marked the first double-digit win season and the highest victory total since the 2016-17 season.

“I would like to thank President Pietruszkiewicz, Dr. Siegfried, and Sarah Solinsky for their belief in me and their commitment to Evansville Women’s Basketball. I am grateful to lead the Purple Aces,” Scherr-Wells said.  “We have made great strides forward in the last two years, and I am excited to continue to build upon that. When I was hired in 2021, I wanted the job because of the top, private school education that UE offers combined with high mid-major basketball in the MVC.”

“We fit a unique niche in Division I basketball that not many schools can offer, and I am so proud to recruit student-athletes to UE. I will continue to work tirelessly to build UE Women’s Basketball into an MVC championship program!”

Scherr-Wells’ system has led to a much higher pace of play.  In four seasons prior to her arrival, UE averaged 59.5 points per game and under.  Since she took the helm, the team has averaged 66.1 and 64.6 points, respectively.  Her staff has recruited and coached four All-Missouri Valley Conference selections and that success translated to increased attendance and the first sellout in program history.

Off the court, her impact has been just as important.  The team GPA for the women jumped from 3.0 in her first season to 3.3 last year.  Her efforts have also translated to an increase in fundraising.  During the 2022-23 campaign, her program raised over five times the amount of funds as it did in the season prior to her arrival.

 

Otters,ThunderBolts trade walk-offs in doubleheader

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Crestwood, Ill. – The Evansville Otters walked off the Windy City ThunderBolts in a sudden death tiebreaker in game one of Wednesday’s doubleheader before the ThunderBolts returned the favor with a walk-off in game two.

Jacob Olson played the hero in game one. The team’s were tied at one apiece after eight innings of a scheduled seven-inning ballgame.

Windy City elected to pitch to try to win the game with a scoreless inning. Evansville used pinch runner Troy Viola at first base.

Olson led off the tiebreaker and launched a double into the left-center gap. Viola hustled from 1st to home to give Evansville the 2-1 road walk-off victory.

Zach Smith guided the Otters on the mound in game one. The righty twirled six innings allowing just three hits and one run. He retired the first ten Windy City batters in order.

Jon Beymer provided gutsy relief out of the bullpen. In both the seventh and eighth innings he escaped the inning with a runner in scoring position. He struck out three batters in his two scoreless innings pitched to help bring the game to the sudden death tiebreaker.

Jomar Reyes had three hits in game one, including the game-tying RBI double in the sixth inning.

Evansville is now 2-1 in the Frontier League’s sudden death tiebreaker in the second year of the rule’s existence. Wednesday was the first road walk-off win in team history and answered Windy City’s walkoff in the tiebreaker at Bosse Field two weeks ago.

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Game two of the doubleheader developed into a similar low-scoring tense affair over seven innings. In the bottom of the seventh, Windy City used a two-out infield base hit and a stolen base to put the walk-off run in scoring position. The ThunderBolts’ Will Riley line drive base hit to center then scored the runner for a Windy City walk off.

Austin Gossmann worked a quality start from the mound. The Otters’ pitcher threw six innings allowing just two runs with three strikeouts and no walks.

The ThunderBolts hit a two run homer in the second but Evansville answered with two runs in the sixth inning. Jomar Reyes recorded his fourth hit over the two games with a double down the left field line. George Callil followed with his second bunt base hit of the game to put runners on the corners.

Jake Green knocked in an RBI double and Kona Quiggle ran out a fielder’s choice groundout for Callil to score as the tying run.

Jeffrey Baez also had a two hit day in game two. Reyes raised his hit streak to seven games, now tallying a team-leading 33 hits in 25 games on the season.

Evansville faces Windy City in the series rubber match on Thursday from Ozinga Field in Crestwood with a 6:35 PM CT first pitch.

All home and road Otters games this season are televised on FloSports with audio-only coverage available for free on the Evansville Otters YouTube page.

EPD DAILY ACTIVITY REPORT

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EPD DAILY ACTIVITY REPORT

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FOOTNOTE:  EPD DAILY ACTIVITY REPORT information was provided by the EPD and posted by the City-County-County Observer without opinion, bias, or editing.

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Trump, Fact, Fallacy, And False Fulminations

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Trump, Fact, Fallacy, And False Fulminations

Around the time former President Donald Trump was indicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records and other forms of financial skullduggery in New York, I had a chance encounter with a Trump supporter.

She was a middle-aged woman who worked at a blue-collar job. We happened to be at the same place when coverage of Trump’s indictment popped up on a nearby TV screen.

“It’s just awful the way they’re treating that poor man,” she said.

I sighed.

Then I said that if she or I had misrepresented our net worth to get a loan or evade taxes, we would have been hauled before a judge long before Trump had been.

“(President Joe) Biden does it,” she fired back. “So do the Obamas and the Clintons.”

I asked for her evidence of that.

She said she’d seen stories on right-wing “news” sites saying that.

If those stories were true, I said, now that Republicans control the U.S. House of Representatives and have full investigatory powers, such accusations should be easy to prove.

Joe Biden has made public 25 years of his tax returns. They’re fair game for anyone—even political opponents—to go over with both microscopes and X-rays.

The Obamas and the Clintons also made their tax returns public when they were in the White House. Now that both couples lead foundations, the law requires them to make those foundations’ tax records public, too.

If conservatives haven’t been able to demonstrate that Biden or the Obamas or the Clintons have engaged in financial corruption and such corruption does exist, they need to hire better investigators and forensic accountants.

In fact, I pointed out, there has been only one president in the past 50 years who refused to make his tax filings and financial holdings public.

Donald Trump.

If, I concluded, there was evidence Joe Biden, the Obamas or the Clintons had committed tax fraud, I’d want to see them hauled into court, too. I wasn’t fond, I said, of the idea of having people with fortunes at their disposal shifting more of the financial load for running and defending the country onto my shoulders.

She went silent, then changed the subject.

I doubt I persuaded her.

In that right-wing media bubble where she spends much of her time, repetition takes the place of proof, and mere assertion is given the same weight as actual evidence.

That is the challenge Trump partisans face.

Inspired by their leader, they keep advancing “what about” arguments unsupported by facts or, more often, propped up by stray bits of information wrenched out of context—and then wonder why the rest of us aren’t convinced.

Worse, they contend that Trump’s political opponents should be held accountable for their alleged bad acts, but that Trump somehow shouldn’t be for his.

Then they accuse the rest of us of either bias or blind partisanship.

It’s bad enough that people who pay only cursory attention to issues of law and public policy plant their flags this way, but what makes it worse is that leaders who should know better—who, in fact, do know better—do the same thing.

Former Vice President Mike Pence has staked his just-announced presidential candidacy on his supposed unswerving devotion to the U.S. Constitution and the rule of law. At the same time, Pence says Trump, his “former running mate,” violated both the Constitution and law.

Yet somehow, Pence reasons, Trump should receive a pass and not be held accountable for assaulting the Constitution he took an oath to defend.

Nor is Pence alone in torturing both law and logic this way.

Trump’s chief rival for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, accuses the Justice Department of having a two-tiered system of prosecution, one that applies a different standard to Trump than it did to Hillary Clinton or Hunter Biden.

Hillary Clinton went without complaint to testify before Congress about her dealings. Hunter Biden is the subject of a Justice Department investigation and likely soon will face tax and weapons charges.

DeSantis, a Harvard law grad, knows these things.

As does Pence.

But they focus their attention on confirming fallacies rather than following facts, especially when those facts tell an uncomfortable story.

Then such conservatives can’t figure out why they attract so few new converts to their cause.

FOOTNOTE:  John Krull is director of Franklin College’s Pulliam School of Journalism and publisher of TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students. The views expressed are those of the author only and should not be attributed to Franklin College.

THE CITY-COUNTY OBSERVER POSTED THIS ARTICLE WITHOUT OPINION, BIAS, OR EDITING.

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