SCHAUMBURG, Ill. – The Evansville Otters (7-8) fell to the Schaumburg Boomers (11-4) as the offense couldn’t find an answer to the Boomer pitching.
Ethan Bradford started for Evansville for the first time this year and was able to throw two great innings to start the game. In the third, Schaumburg put five on the board thanks to a bases-clearing double and a two-run homer.
The offense for the Otters struggled to get a rally going early but was kept in the game by Ryan Wiltse. Wiltse relieved Bradford in the 3rd frame and pitched through the 7th.
He only gave up one run in a great performance that saved some arms for later in the series. He finished with a line of four and a third innings pitched, two hits, the one earned run and three strikeouts.
Keenan Taylor had a great day as well, going 3-for-3 with three singles on the day.
The Otters were ultimately not able to battle back and fell by a score of 6-0.
The series in Schaumburg continues tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. CT, with the season series tied at two games a piece.
Across the U.S., states want to finance nuclear energy, putting taxpayers on the hook
A nuclear plant in Lingen, Germany.Photo by Sean P. Twomey: https://www.pexels.com/photo/nuclear-plant-in-lingen-germany-6795499/
When people think of nuclear energy, they tend to think of bombs, meltdowns or the place Homer Simpson works; needless to say, it doesn’t have the best reputation.
Despite the Chernobyl disaster, Three Mile Island, Fukushima, and all the media that surrounds the conversation, nuclear energy is actually the safest form of energy in the world. That is according to Dr. Gary Was, professor of nuclear energy at the University of Michigan.
Nuclear energy during the 1950s and ‘60s amassed an unparalleled level of excitement, and it is easy to understand why, he said. People then imagined a world run through nuclear power, an infinite source of energy that could be used for everything from cars to space exploration.
In reality, the nuclear disasters were not what killed the nuclear age—they had help.
By the late 1960s and early 1970s, the first nuclear power plants broke ground on their construction, but this process didn’t go as smoothly as previously thought.
“There was a huge amount of interest. Suppliers had more orders than they could fill,” said Was. “But what happened is that the plant construction times were elongated, so the cost started going up.”
Due to the sheer scale of these projects, delays and rising costs were already putting a strain on developers’ attempts to put up nuclear power plants. Then in 1979, the Unit 2 reactor at the Three Mile Island Nuclear Plant had a partial meltdown.
“The Three Mile Island incident, although there was no harm to the public, caused the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to change a lot of the regulations, and plants that were currently under construction had to retrofit all kinds of systems,” said Was. “That caused further delays, and that further increased the costs, and in ‘79 and ‘80, inflation hit 17-20%.”
Was explained how these factors led to nuclear energy plant construction stalling or being completely abandoned. This already volatile market for nuclear energy existed leading into April 1986, when the world stood still and all eyes shifted to a small town in Ukraine called Chernobyl.+2
The death of House Bill 1563 by Rep. Hunter Smith, R- R-Zionsville, early in the 2025 legislative session didn’t end the conversation about small…
The Chernobyl nuclear disaster was the last nail in the coffin for the development of nuclear energy for the rest of the 20th century.
By the turn of the 21st century, a new development in nuclear technology led to a resurgence of nuclear power across the country when generation IV nuclear reactors were introduced. These new reactors promised to be safer, more efficient and more cost effective.
“Utilities started ordering and planning to build plants again,” said Was. “They filed applications to the NRC for construction and licensing and operation permits.”
Fifteen states (none of them Indiana) planned to construct around 37 nuclear power plants in 2007. But only a year later, nuclear energy hit another road bump when the 2008 financial crisis stalled the proposed construction projects.
“In 2011, Fukushima hit, and so those two occurrences completely squashed things,” said Was. “Out of the 37 plants planned, we got two here. That’s it.”
Of the 37 plants planned, the only two to be completed are located in Tennessee and Georgia.
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), the U.S. completed two nuclear power plants in the 2000s, but the total number of nuclear plants in the U.S. has decreased from its peak number of 112 to 92 in 2022.
In 2019, nuclear energy was producing more electricity than ever before due to advancements and updates to existing plants while operating costs continued to drop, according to the EIA.
While proponents say nuclear energy is incredibly efficient and lucrative, the development time for a facility takes so long that outside economic factors (and public sentiment) kill the majority of the proposed projects. As Was said, this seems to be the crux of why the history of nuclear energy has been such a “roller coaster.”
What’s an SMR?
Small modular nuclear reactors or SMRs are a type of nuclear power plant that is exactly what the name suggests—small.
According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, an SMR produces about half the electricity of a traditional nuclear power plant and is a fraction of the size. +2
Talk to Texas lawmakers about nuclear energy, and they will stress energy
“Small modular reactors take a lot of lessons from existing conventional reactors,” said Katy Huff, former assistant secretary of nuclear energy at the U.S. Department of Energy and current professor of nuclear engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “They try to package them in a way that will be more reliable, affordable and quick to deploy.”
Huff said SMRs could solve the biggest issue plaguing nuclear energy: the cost.
“It’s not really about the nuclear technology so much as it is about the complexity of building big stuff,” she said.
Building a traditional nuclear reactor isn’t like putting up a wind farm—it’s a mega-project. They run into the same problems as proposed high-speed railways, airports and Boston’s infamous Big Dig.
SMRs change the game because they are smaller and can have parts produced in a factory, then sent to the location—unlike traditional reactor parts manufactured on site.
“I think we will be building them more like airplanes than airports,” said Huff.
Despite the tantalizing idea, SMRs are still unproven technology, and even if they do solve the economic issues surrounding nuclear energy, many people are concerned about safety
But it turns out that nuclear energy is one of the safest forms of energy production when looking at deaths compared to the energy produced, according to Huff.
Three Mile Island had zero deaths, she said. Fukushima had zero deaths related to the meltdown. Chernobyl claimed the lives of over 28 people and caused severe environmental damage across Eastern Europe.
These stats pale in comparison to fossil fuels. The World Health Organization has reported that air pollution from fossil fuels is responsible for 6.7 million premature deaths per year.
“Nuclear compared to everything else, simply by being emissions free, does an incredible job of keeping people safe,” she said. “The regulator ensures that we don’t have commercial nuclear accidents in the United States.”
Huff also explained that SMRs relative to traditional nuclear reactors have the potential to be even safer. Because they are smaller, it means fewer parts that can malfunction. They also have the added benefit that if they need to be shut down, the heat left in the core of the reactor is much less than a traditional reactor.
However, Austin Cooper, a professor of technological history with a focus on nuclear energy at Purdue University, talked about his concerns with SMRs.
“The best thing we could do is have an informed conversation about what are the tradeoffs, what are the relevant factors, ” said Cooper. “Sometimes the glory of nuclear energy outshines the reality. You’re just boiling water.”
Cooper stated that this nuclear potential could have us abandon other energy alternatives like wind and solar.
“I fear that ‘nuclear exceptionalism’ has influenced the SMR conversation, where people are treating SMRs as a magic bullet because they are nuclear,” he said.
He also said the goal of projects like SMRs should not be to grow nuclear energy as much as have carbon-free reliable energy.
“If wind and solar plus storage can get you there more cheaply than nuclear, I don’t see why you would write that off,” he said.
The Statehouse File is publishing this article as part of the Statehouse Reporting Project, a collaborative effort by collegiate journalism programs operating in statehouses across the country.
Schyler Altherr is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news site powered by Franklin College journalism students.
Memorial Day is more than barbecues and a three-day weekend – it’s a day to honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice protecting our nation and the liberties we hold dear.
For more than 250 years, the men and women in our armed forces have answered the call to serve our nation in battle and protect our families and freedoms.
Today, as you celebrate the holiday with your loved ones, I ask that you remember those who didn’t return home.
As always, I want to offer my deepest appreciation for the brave heroes who gave their lives for our nation. To their family and friends, please know your loved ones will not be forgotten as we strive to continuously honor and remember their legacy.
EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Due to weather, the conclusion of Sunday’s Lake Erie Crushers at Evansville Otters series finale has been postponed to July 29th, the next time Lake Erie returns to Evansville. The game was put on hold as the top of the 10th was about to begin, the game tied at 3-3.
Evansville sent out Braden Scott for his fourth start of the season. He delivered a dazzling performance that featured 10 strikeouts as he kept Lake Erie scoreless through four.
With the help of a Crushers error, the Otters pushed across a run on the back of a Pavin Parks single to take a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first.
Scott surrendered three unearned runs, one in the fifth and two in the sixth. They came on three Otters’ errors – after fantastic defense helped the Otters to a win last night.
Scott would finish his day with six innings pitched, four hits, two walks and ten strikeouts – leaving with a three to one deficit.
Joan Gonzalez pitched a clean seventh followed by Alex Valdez shutting down the Grapes in the eighth and ninth to send the Otters to the bottom half of the frame still trailing by two.
George Callil led off the ninth with a walk. Alain Camou then doubled to put runners on second and third with one out. After an LJ Jones sacrifice fly, Ty Crittenberger, who came in halfway through the game for JT Benson, singled for his second time and scored the tying run from second.
As Evansville made their way out for the tenth, the game was paused and placed into a suspended state by the umpires. It will be completed on July 29th, when Lake Erie returns to Bosse Field next. Play will be resumed in the top of the tenth inning with the International Tiebreaker Runner rules in place.
All statistics, pitching lines and pitching decisions will not be added to season stats until the game concludes in July.
Bureaucracy is a word that is often used as an excuse. It is the bogeyman that serves as the source of mysterious and insurmountable odds preventing government from delivering the obvious good and right things to its people.
Why are the streets in Indianapolis so horrible? Why is school funding seemingly always distributed unfairly? Eventually, the answers to those questions lead to the faceless phantom, known as bureaucracy. However, sometimes that phantom is identified, making accountability possible for whatever ails us. That’s when we point at an actual person, the sinister “bureaucrat.”
On May 7th, Whitney Downard reported for Indiana Capital Chronicle, “’A giant leap backwards’: Indiana opts out of summer program for hungry schoolchildren.” She reported that in 2024, Hoosier families who qualify for food benefits and reduced-price school meals got a summertime boost: $120 per child monthly for food while schools were closed. It provided that assistance to 669,000 children.
What made it news earlier this month is that Indiana’s participation last year, won’t be repeated this year. The reason? You guessed it, bureaucracy. Downard asked “three state entities” about the withdrawal from the SUN Bucks program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, including the important question: why? At that time, no reasoning was provided.
I was hopeful more reporting would follow, and on May 16th, it did.
Rachel Fradette reported for WFYI that in a statement from Indiana’s Family and Social Services Administration, that “clear direction” was needed from state leadership last year for the program to be rolled out in a timely manner. “Upon taking office, this administration quickly submitted a waiver application to the Food and Nutrition Service to explore all possible avenues for launching the program this summer…However, our review revealed that the gaps in prior preparations prevented implementation in time for Summer 2025.”
That’s the classic blaming of bureaucracy. But there’s a face here, and that face is Gov. Mike Braun. Could this Trump loyalist have made a phone call to the White House? Yes. Did he?
As Downard reported, Indiana notified the USDA by letter on February 20, 2025 that it wouldn’t be participating in the program this year. It’s a sad document in several ways. First, it implies that all of the systems needed to participate continued to be in place. Specifically, the people who administered the program last year are still employed. Second, it appears that as of the date of the letter, the state could have received a waiver for its missed deadlines and still participated this year.
The letter was signed by an actual bureaucrat, David Smalley, Deputy Director of Policy for FSSA’s Division of Family Resources. He wrote, “The delay in Indiana’s implementation will make it challenging to meet program deadlines.” Again, this was on February 20th.
For context, and as a former bureaucrat myself, that “challenge” should have been met with an all-hands-on-deck response that removed any doubt that Indiana wanted to participate. It should have featured an around the clock effort to make sure that money and the food it was appropriated to buy made it to Indiana. Instead, this fumble wasn’t known to the general public until almost three months later, after what was once a “challenge” had become an abdication.
It reminds me of Indiana withdrawing from participation in Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library program earlier this year. I wrote about that in February, and I’m sensing a theme developing with Team Braun.
In 2024, 14 states didn’t participate in the SUN Bucks program. All of them are politically red. In 2025, Missouri and Alabama have been added as new participants, while Indiana has chosen to become the only former one.
The simple math is astonishing. Six hundred and sixty-nine thousand Hoosier children received the $120 monthly benefit last summer. Even if it was for only one month, that is a little over $80 million worth of food.
What happens in any organization where missing deadlines, and refusing to make up for those deficiencies when an opportunity to do so exists, results in an $80 million loss? Heads roll, that’s what.
In this case, children will go hungry. No heads will roll. And “why” is still a question that has not been adequately answered.
A reporter once referred to me as a “good bureaucrat” to a colleague. That colleague immediately let me know about the remark, assuming I would be unhappy about the apparent insult. It wasn’t one. It was a compliment. Yes, it is awkward, given the way we negatively use the term. But a good bureaucrat would have found a solution to the SUN Bucks challenge, and Indiana would have been a better place because of that service.
Blaming the prior administration won’t put food on the table this summer. This is at least the second time that Team Braun would rather point fingers than serve.
Michael Leppert is an author, educator and communication consultant in Indianapolis. He writes about government, politics, and culture at MichaelLeppert.com. The views and opinions expressed are those of the author only and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Indiana Citizen or any other affiliated organization.
A New Chapter for the City-County Observer: Marilyn Cosby to Take the Helm as Publisher
Published Monday, April 26, 2025
By Staff
Just days after announcing the closure of the City-County Observer, founders Ron and Marilyn Cosby were overwhelmed by an outpouring of positive support from readers across Southern Indiana. Phone calls, handwritten letters and notes, and heartfelt emails poured in from citizens who rely on the Observer to keep a pulse on local events, politics, and community affairs. The message was clear: Evansville/Vanderburgh County needs a locally owned, independent news source now more than ever.
With Ron Cosby stepping away from daily operations due to ongoing serious health concerns, he has passed the reins to a woman who has been at the heart of the Observer since day one—his wife and longtime partner, Marilyn Cosby. As of this week, Marilyn will assume the role of publisher, marking what may be a historic milestone for the City-County Observer.
A NEW CHAPTER BEGINS FOR THE CITY-COUNTY OBSERVER
Ron expressed both gratitude and confidence as the transition began.For 24 years, “Marilyn has always been more than my right hand,” he said. “She has been the voice of reason, the editor behind the scenes, the community conscience, and the backbone of this publication for 23 years. No one is better suited to lead it forward.”
A Voice For The Women Of Evansville
As publisher, Marilyn Cosby is already making headway by issuing a call to the women of Evansville: Contribute. Submit letters, essays, guest columns, and opinion pieces. Share your insights, your challenges, your humor, your hopes for the future of our city and region.
“In many communities, women are the glue that holds families, neighborhoods, and worthy civic efforts together,” Marilyn said. “It’s time more of those voices were heard. We invite women from all walks of life to speak up and speak out.” in the City-County Observer.
Submissions can be sent via email or mail, and a new “Women of Southern Indiana” feature will launch later this spring to showcase the region’s diverse perspectives.
Why Local Matters
The City-County Observer remains proudly local, fiercely independent, and committed to covering Evansville and Southern Indiana without fear or favor. Local ownership ensures that the publication is answerable only to the people who live, work, and raise families here.
“We’ve always believed that sunlight is the best disinfectant,” Ron said. “We don’t exist to be popular. We exist to be honest, transparent, and accountable.”
The continuation of the Observer under Marilyn’s leadership is a rare and refreshing story of resilience in a landscape where too many local voices have gone silent. It’s also an opportunity to write a new chapter that’s more inclusive, more engaged, and more representative of the people it serves.
“Peace Out—But Not Goodbye
Ron Cosby may be stepping back, but he promises to remain a loyal supporter and, perhaps, an occasional contributor. His signature sign-off, “Peace Out,” remains not a farewell, but a toast to the next generation of civic conversation.
To Marilyn and the City-County Observer staff: the ink is in your hands.
Each May, our nation comes together to recognize the service and sacrifice of our military members and their families. As your state representative, I want to take a moment to express my deep gratitude to the brave men and women who have worn our nation’s uniform in defense of our freedom.
National Military Appreciation Month, established by Congress, is more than a symbolic recognition — it’s a time for all Americans to reflect on the courage, commitment and sacrifice of our Armed Forces.
Indiana has a long and proud history of military service. From our National Guard units to our dedicated veterans and active-duty personnel, Hoosiers have always answered the call to serve. This session, I was proud to support legislation aimed at improving the lives of service members, veterans and their families. This includes efforts to:
Boost benefits for members of the Indiana National Guard and strengthen support for military spouses and dependents (HEA 1111)
Modernize military recognition in our state and expand eligibility requirements and opportunities for those who have served (HEA 1637)
Ensure Hoosier veterans have streamlined access to the assistance and support they deserve by improving county veteran service officers (SEA 433)
Veterans can also explore career opportunities through the Next Level Veterans employment program or find local assistance through their county’s Veterans Service Officer. My office is open year-round to help guide you through these options and more by visiting in.gov/h76 or calling 317-232-9802.
Let’s take time this month to thank those who serve, honor those who have fallen and support those who stand beside them.
