Home Blog Page 1308

Eagles earn split on first day at The Spring Games

0

MADEIRA BEACH, Fla. – University of Southern Indiana Softball (4-6) earned a split on the first day of games for the Screaming Eagles at The Spring Games in Madeira Beach, Florida, recording a 2-0 win against Holy Cross before getting edged by Yale University, 3-2, in the night cap.
 
In the first game of the day against Holy Cross, the offenses were rather limited by the starting pitchers. Sophomore pitcher Josie Newman (Indianapolis, Indiana) pitched her second shutout of the season on Saturday for USI. Newman struck out 12 in seven innings, giving up only three hits, to improve her season record to 3-3. Her opposition in the circle from Holy Cross, sophomore pitcher Sophia Roncone, was also strong. Roncone went seven innings, surrendering two runs – one earned – with three strikeouts, as her record dropped to 1-3.
 
USI had a chance in the top of the third with the bases loaded but were unable to score. In the top of the fourth inning, the Screaming Eagles found a little momentum the second time through the lineup in the middle of the batting order. Following a stolen base by sophomore outfielder Olivia Howard (Fishers, Indiana), who came in as a pinch runner, junior first baseman Lexi Fair (Greenwood, Indiana) found the left-center gap for an RBI double to drive in Howard and give USI a 1-0 lead after four innings.
 
Meanwhile, Newman had struck out eight through four innings, including striking out the side in order in the bottom of the fourth.
 
In the top of the seventh, USI scored an insurance run, as junior catcher Sammie Kihega (Greenfield, Indiana) doubled in a run with two outs to put USI ahead, 2-0, which allowed Newman to finish the game with ease.
 
In USI’s second game of the day against Yale, once again, both starting pitchers put up zeroes through the first three innings, working around a few baserunners along the way.
 
For USI, senior pitcher Allie Goodin (Evansville, Indiana) made the start in the circle. In the top of the fourth, Goodin pitched with the bases loaded. A double by Yale scored two unearned runs after an error earlier in the inning. USI answered right away in the bottom half of the inning with two runs to knot the game, 2-2. Goodin helped her own cause with an RBI single that scored junior outfielder Mackenzie Bedrick (Brownsburg, Indiana), and later in the inning, Fair singled in the tying run.
 
Yale recaptured the lead, 3-2, in the top of the fifth on a solo home run by sophomore infielder Lauren Perren. Yale held on the rest of the way.
 
Goodin was charged a tough loss, going six innings with five strikeouts. The senior allowed three runs – one earned. Her record dropped to 0-3.
 
Yale freshman pitcher Emma Taylor picked up the win after a complete game with three strikeouts and two runs allowed. Her record moved to 2-2.
 
Offensively, on the day, Bedrick recorded a pair of hits against Holy Cross, and Kihega had a two-hit game against Yale.

Sen. Braun and Congressman Biggs lead the push to recognize national debt as a threat to national security

1
mike braun
mike Braun

Sen. Braun and Congressman Biggs lead the push to recognize national debt as a threat to national security

WASHINGTON — Senator Mike Braun (R-IN) and Congressman Andy Biggs (R-AZ) have introduced a resolution that formally recognizes America’s national debt as a threat to its national security. Reckless spending, unbalanced budgets, and waste have soared the national debt to more than $31 trillion.

“Our staggering national debt is the greatest national security threat to the United States, but no one wants to talk about it. Washington needs political will and a backbone to stop reckless spending and restore regular order to address our fiscal crisis,” said Senator Braun.

“Our government’s spending spree is unsustainable and inches us closer to defaulting. America produces significant revenue and yet we continue to find ourselves in a position where we are unable to pay our bills. This means future generations will bear these costs and that’s unacceptable. If our government does not become more fiscally responsible, we will no longer be able to adequately fund our military apparatus as well as basic societal services. That is a recipe for a disaster and enables our adversaries to surpass us on the global stage. Raising the debt ceiling every year is a cop-out. This resolution will restore regular order to the appropriations process and acknowledge that Washington has a spending problem. I am grateful for Senator Braun’s dedication to this critical issue,” said Congressman Biggs. 

Read the full resolution here.

The effort to move Indiana to partisan school board elections dies in the House

0

BY: – Indiana Capital Chronicle

A bill that would have let Hoosier communities decide if local school board elections should be partisan died in the Indiana House after lawmakers failed to vote on the measure by Monday’s deadline.

That means school board races will stay non-partisan — at least for now. Language from the bill could still crop up in others before the end of the current legislative session.

House Bill 1428, authored by Rep. J.D. Prescott, R-Union City, sought to add political party identifications to what are now nonpartisan school board elections throughout the state. The legislation was the first to extend “local control” over the issue.

Monday was the deadline for House bills to pass out of the chamber. Prescott did not call the bill for a full chamber vote, however, likely indicating a lack of support from the House Republican caucus.

GOP House Speaker Todd Huston expressed support for optional partisan school board races earlier this month, but noted that members of his caucus are “all across the spectrum” on Prescott’s proposal — “This is one of those bills that doesn’t split along party lines.”

Ultimately, Republican lawmakers could not find consensus over whether school board candidates should have to be nominated via party primaries or only be listed by a political party on the November general election ballot.

“It’s hard to find that sweet spot,” Huston said on Monday. “We didn’t quite get it this year.”

Multiple other versions of the bill circulated through the Indiana Statehouse this year and last, to no avail.

A separate proposal that died earlier in the current session would have instead created a blanket requirement for school board candidates to identify as a Republican, Democrat or Independent.

Currently, Indiana is among 41 states where local school board elections are held without any party identification on the ballot for candidates.

The move for partisan school boards bubbled up after local fights over COVID-19 protocols, race issues and book bans.

The latest version of the bill

Supporters of the bill have maintained that forcing school board candidates to declare a party will provide greater transparency for voters.

Democrats and representatives from multiple education groups opposed the bill, however, arguing that such steps would needlessly further inject politics into local school decisions.

The latest version of the bill would have given Hoosier communities two options to trigger a referendum vote.

One provision said sitting school board members could decide on their own to vote for their seats to become partisan. But local voters would still have gotten the final say.

Need to get in touch?

Have a news tip?

Another option would have used a petition process requiring signatures of 500 voters or 5% of voters in the district, whichever is lesser. A successful petition would put the question on the ballot.

But locals also had the option to do nothing at all, meaning school board elections in a particular district would remain nonpartisan. That was the default option laid out in the bill.

Updated language in the bill clarified that Libertarians and other third-party candidates could run, as long as they declare their party affiliation.

Voters would also have been required to choose, individually, school board members on ballots — a straight-ticket option wouldn’t be available.

Whether through a school board vote or voter-led public question, school board candidates would have had to run in partisan primaries in order to be nominated for the general election, or forgo a primary altogether but have to use a partisan label in the general election.

To claim a party, school board candidates further must have voted that way in the last two primaries in which that person voted.

Candidates for school board additionally could not work for that school corporation, according to the bill.

A school board or community would have been forced to wait 10 years between any public questions if they later changed their minds and wanted to opt out of partisan school board races.

 

CenterPoint Energy continues damage assessment following severe storms

0
Evansville – March 4, 2023 – CenterPoint Energy today issued the following update as restoration efforts continue in southwestern Indiana:
 
CenterPoint Energy crews made significant progress assessing damages overnight and restoring service to affected customers.
 
As of 12:00 p.m. CT, there are 159 outages affecting approximately 2,800 customers. This morning, an additional 32 electric and vegetation crews were deployed to assist with the restoration efforts.  
 
CenterPoint Energy’s restoration efforts are expected to continue throughout the day. As crews encounter challenges with downed trees, damaged equipment, blocked streets, and flooding in some locations, restoration progress may be impacted. As a result, some customers may remain without service for the remainder of the weekend.
 
“Our dedicated crews worked hard overnight troubleshooting major outages and restoring as many customers as safely and quickly as possible,” said Richard Leger, Senior Vice President, Indiana Electric. “We greatly appreciate our customers’ continued patience as we work around the clock to restore service. We will not rest until the lights are back on for every customer who can take electric service.”
 
Leger added, “The heavy rain we received yesterday has made the soil very soft, resulting in some trees not being well rooted. I want to remind customers that even though the weather has improved they should be cautious around large trees and to stay clear of any areas with standing water.”
 
Priority of restoration is given to facilities vital to safety, health and welfare, such as hospitals, water treatment plants and public service facilities. Following key facilities, the company follows its priority restoration process by making repairs to electrical facilities that will return power to the largest number of customers first, then continue the restoration process by prioritizing repairs to benefit the greatest number of customers until power is returned to everyone.  
 
CenterPoint Energy noted that the extreme weather may have caused damage to customer-owned equipment, such as the customer’s service entrances, risers and/or weatherhead, the point where power enters the home through an electric service drop, which is often a pipe located on the side of the residence or building. Since this equipment is owned and maintained by the customer, if it is damaged, customers will need to contact a qualified electrician to make repairs before the company is able to restore service to them. Once repairs are made, the customer or the electrician should request a permit from the city and contact CenterPoint Energy’s Customer Service at 800-227-1376 to request a service reconnect.
 
If customers do not have damage to their service entrances, risers or weatherhead, and their power has not been restored, they should check and reset the circuit breakers. If service is still not restored, customers should contact CenterPoint Energy’s Customer Service at 800-227-1376 to report that their service is still off.
 
 CenterPoint Energy reminds all customers to: 
 
·         Stay away from downed power lines. Be especially mindful of downed lines that could be hidden and treat all downed lines as if they are energized.    
·         Be cautious around work crews and give them the distance to assess damages and make repairs. 
·         If your power is out, do not open freezers and refrigerators any more than absolutely necessary. Opening these appliances will allow food to thaw more quickly. 
·         Consider checking with others who may benefit from your assistance. 
·         Report any downed lines or damage to 800-227-1376. 

Museum invites kids to Fillmore videos with presidential knowledge

0
A screenshot from a 2022 winning video. Its young creator, Oscar, got creative with his editing, showing the connection between presidents Fillmore and Taylor. Photo provided.

INDIANAPOLIS—Your middle school history teacher might have given you a mnemonic device to remember every U.S. president’s name, but how much do you really know about each of them?

In an effort to create more awareness of previous presidents of the United States—ones who don’t happen to be Abraham Lincoln or George Washington— the Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site in Indianapolis created a national video competition, Project POTUS, for students from sixth to eighth grade to sum up the president of their choice in one minute or less.

Students are welcome to work in classroom groups or individually to create the videos. The best video for each president will be chosen to be part of a much larger, 46-presidents-in-45-minutes video created after the winners are announced. Winning video creators receive a cash prize as well.

Molly Beausir, a fellow for Project POTUS and employee with the Presidential Site, said the competition originally started as an idea to get kids involved with history during the pandemic.

“We were thinking about something that could be sort of pandemic-proof—something we could do that would be accessible to middle schoolers nationally. We wanted to specifically look at the middle-school audience since, as we consider options for other age groups, there’s a lot of academic contests for elementary students and there’s a ton for high school, but middle schoolers were kind of an underrepresented audience,” Beausir said.

“We also knew that TikTok and kind of short-form video were super popular, and we were kind of looking for a way to make people excited about doing history in that format.”

Beyond the need for more middle-school competitions, Beausir said it’s the perfect age group to start learning about U.S. history.

“It starts to get them interested early in the area of civics and sort of thinking about how they as a future voting citizen, somebody that’s living in this country, can participate in their own democracy,” Beausir said. “Just get them thinking about what leadership is and whether they believe that certain presidents made good decisions, bad decisions, what made them sort of exceptional people, and why is it just these 45 people that really had this role in American history over the past 200 some years.”

For Beausir, it’s exciting to see students actually follow through and submit their videos, especially since she saw the competition from the beginning. Over 100 videos have been created and archived.

She said the staff has seen everything from documentary-style videos to raps about presidents from the past.

“It’s pretty awesome to see how creative these students can be, and it really reminds you how much, you know, students in general are capable of, but also the middle school audience,” Beausir said.

This need to increase civic literacy makes sense when combined with recent studies. According to a GreatSchools.org article, middle-school curriculum surrounding history has significantly lessened over the past few years.

“We’re not doing very well in teaching our students about history and social studies, somewhere between a C and a B,” said Peggy Altoff, president of the National Council for the Social Studies in the GreatSchools article. “Thirty-three percent of districts surveyed have reduced the amount of social studies to make more room for math and reading instruction. In some middle schools, social studies is taught half a year instead of a full year.”

The competition is open until 5 p.m. April 18. To read full content rules and view previous winning videos, click here.

Last year’s winning video was about the relatively unknown president Millard Fillmore, directed by Oscar McDermott-Sipe from Indiana. If you don’t know much about Fillmore, give it a watch!

If you need a laugh, lean on Sophie from Indiana who used Earth, Wind & Fire’s “Let’s Groove” to set the scene for Ronald Reagan’s presidency of the 1980s.

Or, if you’re a LEGO fan, maybe you could watch Virginia native Arabella’s video on James Polk, which uses LEGO figurines to demonstrate Polk’s life story.

Ashlyn Myers is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students. 

UE softball to host Hit-A-Thon fundraiser

0

Fundraiser is set for March 7

 EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The University of Evansville softball team is set to hold a Hit-A-Thon Fundraiser on Tuesday, March 7.  To support the fundraiser, please visit this link: https://evansville.pledgeperwin.com/.

Supporters can pledge a certain amount “per foot” for Purple Aces players.  The committed amount will be calculated by the distance hit during the fundraiser.

All gifts received through the Hit-A-Thon will benefit the Purple Aces softball program.  Your support enhances the overall experience for the student-athletes on and off the field of competition.

Pledged amounts will be charged within 48 hours of the event.  For more information, please contact Logan Belz at 812-488-2623.

UE is enjoying the best start in program history with a 13-1 record through the opening 14 games.  Earlier this week, the Aces received votes in the national rankings for the first time in over 20 years.

Auditor Klutz Proposes Office Name Change

0

Auditor Klutz Proposes Office Name Change

STATEHOUSE – The biannual state budget isn’t the only interesting piece of House Bill (HB) 1001 currently making its way to the Senate Appropriations Committee. HB 1001 also includes proposed language to allow the Auditor of State to be referred to as the “State Comptroller.”

But why? The Auditor of the State has five key responsibilities balance the state’s checkbook, distribute local government funding, process state payments, develop year-end reporting and pay state employee salaries.

“When our forefathers created the official position of Auditor of State within the Indiana Constitution, they understood the importance of a balanced government,” said Auditor Tera Klutz, CPA. “They created the Treasurer of State to manage the cash and the Auditor of State to issue warrants (checks) and to account and report on state operations. However, the term ‘auditor’ means something entirely different to people two hundred years later.”

A frequent misconception of the office is that its purpose is to audit the State, local units of government or individuals – this is not the case. The Indiana State Board of Accounts audits the State and local units of government, and the Indiana Department of Revenue audits individual taxpayers.

“The title change would allow the office to have a more appropriate title that aligns with the services we provide,” said Auditor Klutz, “alongside 19 other states who refer to their state’s chief financial officer as the State Comptroller or Controller.”

HB 1001, authored by State Representative Jeff Thompson (R-Lizton), passed out of the House Ways and Means Committee on February 20, and then passed out of the House Chamber with a 66-29 vote on February 23. The legislation was assigned to the Senate Committee on Appropriations, which is chaired by HB1001 Senate sponsor, Senator Ryan Mishler (R-Mishawaka).

If enacted, HB 1001 would allow the Auditor to be referred as State Comptroller upon passage. To clarify, the language as written would not require a constitutional change.

“Our request does not impact the state’s constitution and will not change the functionality of the office,” said Auditor Klutz. “The Auditor’s Office will continue to have the same duties and responsibilities the office has had for more than two hundred years.”

Gov. Holcomb appoints Don Lamb as new executive director of the Department of Agriculture

0

Governor Eric J. Holcomb announced today 2nd -generation farmer Don Lamb, from Lebanon, Indiana, will become the new executive director of the Indiana State Department of Agriculture (ISDA).

“Don is not only a 2nd-generation farmer, but also a successful agribusinessman and understands the significant and leading role the ag industry plays in Indiana,” said Gov. Holcomb. “In looking for a new executive director for the Indiana Department of Agriculture, it was important to find someone who would be a strong steward of our land and all that it produces. Don truly cares about the Hoosier ag community and securing Indiana’s place as a global leader in the agricultural industry for generations to come.”

Lamb is the co-owner and operator of Lamb Farms Inc., along with his brother and father. The farm produces popcorn, corn, soybeans and wheat. The family also owns AgRecycle, a composting and recycling business, and Lamb Farms Agronomy, which provides soil management and crop production products to surrounding farms.

“Indiana is now the 8th-ranked agricultural product producing state in the country, this industry contributes more than $35 billion dollar to our economy,” said Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch, Indiana’s Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development. “Don engrained himself in the agricultural community at an early age, not just focusing on his own operation. He has the leadership skills to not only lead the Indiana State Department of Agriculture, but to the state’s ag industry into the future. I look forward to working with him.”

Lamb is a member of the Advisory Council for the Indiana Agricultural Law Foundation. Lamb will be stepping down as Vice President of the Boone County Council and policy chair of his local Farm Bureau Board to assume his position with the ISDA.

“I am so thankful for this opportunity from Gov. Holcomb and Lt. Gov. Crouch,” said Lamb. “I have worked in the agriculture industry for my whole life and this is the only job I would take off the farm. I am excited to work with the great team at ISDA and to become an even better advocate for this industry I love.”

Lamb graduated from Purdue University in 1989 with a bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Economics. He was named the Agricultural Professional of the Year in 2014 by the Boone County Chamber of Commerce.

Lamb will begin in his new role on March 13, 2023

WARRICK HUMANE SOCIETY PRESENTS “EVERY DAY IS HUMP DAY, PLEASE SPAY AND NEUTER” SHIRT FUNDRAISER

0

Warrick Humane Society is hosting an online “Every Day is Hump Day, Please Spay and Neuter” shirt fundraiser. The shirts are available to order now – March 14, 2023 and will be shipped directly to buyers. Shirts are available in 9 different styles including long sleeve, baseball shirts, jerseys, hoodies, short sleeve and tanks, and they are available in a variety of colors and sizes. All proceeds support WHS Rescue Pets!

EPD DAILY ACTIVITY

0
EPD

 

EPD DAILY ACTIVITY

MEDIA

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

 

 

1...1,3071,3081,309...7,274Page 1,308 of 7,274