All Tri-State faith communities are encouraged to take part in a Racial Justice Faith Weekend February 17-19, 2023. 

BRIDGE (Building Respect & Integrity in Diverse Greater Evansville) encourages every faith community to emphasize their faith’s teaching on racial equity on the February 17-19 weekend to motivate and inspire their members to make the Evansville region a place where all races, ethnicities, and cultures feel a sense of belonging. The Racial Justice Faith Weekend will help mark Black History Month.

Faith leaders can focus on race and justice in the message during worship activities. Faith communities may also use racial justice as their theme for other activities, such as Sunday School or Bible study.

As part of the Racial Justice Faith Weekend, the University of Evansville will sponsor an interfaith Community Prayer Service at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, February 19. The service will be held in Neu Chapel on the campus of UE, just off South Rotherwood Avenue in Evansville. The public is invited for music, prayer, and reflection for justice. (Facebook event page)

Many pastors and faith leaders have agreed to the common focus on that weekend, or at another time in February, according to Lora Stephens, who is the BRIDGE convener. Evansville Mayor Lloyd Winnecke has shared his support for this area-wide effort. (Video of Winnecke’s support)

Faith communities that wish to participate or want additional information may contact Brenda Meyer at bmeyer@evdio.org or 812-457-5529 or Lora Stephens at bridge.evv@gmail.com.

INDIANAPOLIS (Jan. 31, 2023) —The Indiana State Department of Agriculture (ISDA) has promoted David Coates as the new director of the economic development division. He was previously the agribusiness engagement director for the department.

Coates is a graduate of Wheeling University in Wheeling, West Virginia with a degree in Nuclear Medicine Technology. He has an extensive background in healthcare, workforce development and entrepreneurship through experience in sales, management and marketing. 

“We are excited to promote David to this elevated role within the department,” said Jordan Seger, ISDA deputy director. “The expertise he brings in workforce development and training and in sales will greatly enhance our economic development division and we are excited to see how he supports our existing programs and what new initiatives he builds under this division.”

As the director of economic development for the department, Coates will be responsible for managing staff and overseeing economic focus areas, such as, agritourism, biofuels, hardwoods, the Indiana Grown program, international trade and livestock. He will manage a variety of projects and will encourage agribusiness expansion, attraction and retention for the state.

This role will also lead ISDA in mirroring Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) strategies and support initiatives in key areas of agribusiness, agbiosciences and agriculture workforce development.

“I was honored to be selected as economic development director for ISDA,” said Coates. “I am eager to hit the ground running and support those on my team to make Indiana agriculture the best it can be. I am looking forward to the continued success of our agriculture industry for years to come.” 

David grew up with many fond memories from his grandparent’s small farm in West Virginia. He has a passion for agriculture and has raised cattle, horses, swine, hay and cover crops. During his free time, you can find him and his wife, Lisa, working on their small farm in Scott County, Indiana. Together they operate a seasonal flower, sunflower and wildflower u-pick operation during summer weekends. They enjoy sharing their love of flowers while educating gardeners, beekeepers and the public on regenerative farming, seed saving and agritourism. David and Lisa have six children.

Attorney General Todd Rokita today announced a $66,496,758 settlement on behalf of the State of Indiana to resolve allegations against Centene Corp., a major healthcare-services company.

The allegations include claims that Centene, in the course of providing pharmacy services, overcharged Indiana’s Medicaid program for pharmaceutical costs. Centene made no admission of liability and maintains that its business practices were lawful.

“Companies must be held accountable for their actions,” Attorney General Rokita said. “On Hoosiers’ behalf, my team and I are committed to making sure that happens.”

Attorney General Rokita thanked the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration for its significant contributions to investigating Centene’s practices. He also thanked his staff and the Liston & Deas law firm for their critical expertise.

While functioning as a pharmacy benefit manager (PBM), Centene allegedly failed to disclose true pharmacy benefits and services costs. Among other functions, PBMs contract with pharmacies and reimburse them for filling prescriptions on behalf of insurance plans — in this case, on behalf of the State of Indiana.

As a result of Centene’s failure to disclose true costs, Centene allegedly inflated dispensing fees causing an added cost to the Medicaid program.

Indiana is one of at least 18 states to investigate Centene’s alleged overcharges. The agreement requires Centene to pay the State of Indiana the total amount of the settlement in two installments over 12 months.

The settlement agreement is attached.

• Indiana Settlement Agreement_Fully Executed.pdf

EPD DAILY ACTIVITY REPORT

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