HOT JOBS IN EVANSVILLE
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Otters sweep Y’alls in gritty series
The Evansville Otters broke out their brooms and swept their way into first place in the Frontier League’s West Division with a 10-6 victory over the Florence Y’alls Thursday night.
After Austin Gossmann stranded a runner in scoring position to put up a goose egg in the top of the first, Miles Gordon kicked off a 10-run performance with a leadoff triple in the Otters’ half of the opening inning.
Gary Mattis promptly singled Gordon home to give the Otters a 1-0 lead. Mattis reached second on a stolen base before advancing to third on a J.R. Davis fly ball to right.
Elijah MacNamee knocked in the second run of the first with a two-strike single to right that scored Mattis from third.
The Otters added four more in the third, as Andretty Cordero singled home Riley Krane, Elijah MacNamee scored on a wild pitch, Andy DeJesus drove in Cordero on a sacrifice fly, and Gordon tallied his second hit with a single that brought Michael Gangwish home to score.
After three, the Otters led 6-0.
Gossmann, who started for the Otters, blanked the Y’alls through his first four innings of work, before an unearned run scored in the bottom of the fifth. Evansville still led 6-1 after that inning
After twirling a 1-2-3 sixth, Gossman would encounter some trouble in the seventh.
With two aboard and none out, Samson Abernathy came on in relief. After a hit batsman and an RBI groundout, Abernathy would lose Axel Johnson to a base on balls that loaded the bases.
On came Tyler Spring to face Chad Sedio, a .330-plus hitter entering play, who gapped a bases clearing double that brought the Y’alls within one.
In the following at-bat, the Frontier League’s most productive hitter, Trevor Craport, doubled home Sedio to tie the game at six.
Unfazed by the lost lead, the Otters got to work quickly in the seventh. J.R. Davis reached first on a leadoff plunking before Riley Krane reached on a single.
Now facing Andrew McDonald, who relieved Grant Hockin out of the bullpen, Elijah MacNamee would watch Davis cross home on a wild pitch to give the Otters a 7-6 lead. MacNamee was hit by a pitch in the plate appearance, putting runners at first and third.
Andretty Cordero then singled home Krane to make it an 8-6 lead for the Otters.
During DeJesus’ subsequent at-bat, MacNamee would score on the second wild pitch in the inning, making the score 9-6. After DeJesus singled, Michael Gangwish would drive home the last run in the inning on a sac fly to left.
That at-bat pushed the score to its 10-6 final.
Tyler Spring would work a scoreless eighth before being relieved by Taylor Wright to begin the ninth.
Wright’s scoreless frame sent Evansville to a sweeping victory over the Y’alls and pushed them into sole possession of first place in the West Division with the best record in the Frontier League.
The Otters will look to keep up their winning ways when they battle their West Division rivals, the Southern Illinois Miners, Friday in the continuation of their six-game, seven-day homestand.
HEALTH DEPARTMENT UPDATES STATEWIDE COVID-19 CASE COUNTS
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Senator Braun Charges That Infrastructure Package Continues Insane Deficit Spending
WASHINGTON – Senator Mike Braun today signed on to a joint statement led by Senator Rick Scott with Senators Mike Lee, Ron Johnson, Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, and Marsha Blackburn on the bipartisan infrastructure framework.
“Congress can’t keep spending trillions of dollars we don’t have. The infrastructure package announced today continues the trend in Congress of insane deficit spending. Let’s not forget, this is just the first step in the Democrats’ plan to pass their $5.5 trillion tax and spend liberal wish list. Our nation is facing a nearly $30 TRILLION federal debt crisis. There are real infrastructure needs across the country. But, with growing inflation and many families struggling to financially recover from the events of the last year, it is not wise to throw fuel on the fire that is the raging inflation crisis and labor shortage we are seeing across America.
“Needless to say, we will not support this legislation.â€
Grant Allows Indiana Schools To Expand Their Language Programs
By Carolina Puga Mendoza
TheStatehouseFile.comÂ
INDIANAPOLIS—Multiple school districts throughout the state have been given funds to help children become immersed in a second language.
This month, the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) announced that 18 school districts are recipients of Dual Language Immersion Program Grants. The grants awarded a total of $425,000 to give school districts the opportunity to expand their language programs or develop a brand new one.
“Dual immersion programs provide Hoosier students with a head start on developing important language and cultural knowledge that will help them thrive in today’s rapidly changing, global economy,†said Dr. Katie Jenner, Indiana secretary of education in a statement.
“Research shows when students begin these programs at an early age, they develop enhanced cognitive skills and also improve their performance in other academic areas, helping close achievement gaps and prepare students for additional pathways to lifelong success.â€
Back in 2015, the Indiana General Assembly passed Senate Enrolled Act 267, which launched the Dual Language Immersion Pilot Program to add more languages to existing school programs.
According to a 2018 research brief by the Center for Evaluation and Education Policy, the goal to improve language learning in K-12 grades aims for bilingualism, biliteracy and cross-cultural competence.
SEA 267 establishes that the programs “must begin in either kindergarten or first grade and use an instructional model that provides at least 50% of its instruction in a target language and the remaining percentage of instructional time in English.â€
The National K-12 Foreign Language Enrollment Survey reports that in Indiana, only 19% of students in K-12 are taking a foreign language class.
This extends to a national level. Only 20% of students in the country are learning another language compared to 92% of students in European countries, according to Babbel Magazine, an online language learning tool.
Dr. Dea Bell, director of elementary education at Muncie Community Schools, said the district introduced the dual language program to its elementary students when the pilot launched in 2015, some students starting as young as kindergarten.
She said the district will utilize the grant to pay for Spanish teachers and take educators to summer professional development opportunities.
“We have many rising stars in that [language] program. But there are students that continue to excel academically, and then also, we were very proud of how our dual language students did on some of our state’s standardized testing as well,†Bell said.
Muncie Community Schools is focusing on kindergarten to fourth grade, with hopes of adding fifth grade along the line.
Muncie’s West View Elementary received an award for its dual Spanish/English program. West View was one of 20 schools—and the only Indiana school—to be recognized nationally for its language curriculum.
Dr. Alan Metcalfe, assistant superintendent of Goshen Community Schools, introduced the language curriculum five years ago as part of the pilot program. He looks forward to expanding the district’s Spanish immersion program due to its high Latinx student population.
“We’ve always thought that the ability to learn a language and the pathways in the brain that are connected by learning a new language is just a great thing for all our students,†Metcalfe said.
The district will be utilizing part of the money to purchase more materials for the current program and also to expand the program to another elementary school. At the moment, the language immersion focuses on grades K-6.
FOOTNOTE: Carolina Puga Mendoza is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.
Men’s Basketball To Play In 2021 Gulf Coast Showcase
Tournament To Take Place Nov. 22-24 In Estero, Fla.
 ESTERO, Fla. – A trip to Southwest Florida will be on tap for the University of Evansville men’s basketball team in November when the Purple Aces make their second appearance in the Gulf Coast Showcase.
Set to take place from Nov. 22-24, the tournament will be held at Hertz Arena in Estero, Florida. Fan travel information, including preferred hotel rates at the official tournament resorts, and ticket information can be found at the official event website – www.gulfcoastshowcase.com and on social media at @GCShowcase.
Tournament play for UE opens at 11 a.m. on the 22nd versus Rice University. This will be just the second-ever meeting between the programs and first since the 1997 San Juan Shootout. The Owls took that game by a final of 59-54 in Puerto Rico. In the second game of the event, Evansville will face either Vermont or Oakland. The Aces have not faced either squad in its history. Vermont does have ties to Evansville as senior guard Robin Duncan is a native of Evansville and graduated from Harrison High School.
In its third and final game of the event on Nov. 24, the Aces will be paired against either Akron, Fordham, Appalachian State or Delaware.
This will be the second time the Aces have participated in the Gulf Coast Showcase. In 2014, Evansville earned victories over Fresno State and San Francisco while falling to eventual tournament champion Green Bay in the second game of the tournament.
Evansville’s full non-conference schedule is being finalized and will be released upon completion.