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Senate Maps Released, Democrats Claim They Are No Better Than House Maps

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Senate Maps Released, Democrats Claim They Are No Better Than House Maps

By Haley Pritchett

TheStatehouseFile.com 

INDIANAPOLIS—On Tuesday, the Indiana Senate released its new redistricting maps.

To many Democrats, the Senate maps pose problems resembling those of the Indiana and U.S. House maps, released last week. They have accused the Republican supermajority of manipulating district lines to secure seats.

The Indiana Senate released its proposed redistricting maps Tuesday. Image provided.

The Indiana Democratic Party issued a statement following the release expressing its disapproval, claiming the maps were drawn unfairly, without transparency, and are gerrymandered with the help of a Washington, D.C., Republican consultant the Indiana GOP hired.

“The Republicans’ new Indiana Senate map keeps in place a broken system where self-serving politicians benefit at the expense of Indiana families,” the statement said.

In a Fort Wayne Journal Gazette opinion piecewritten by Mike Schmuhl, chair of the Indiana Democratic Party, he argued that at the end of the last decade, elections were more competitive and public offices more balanced. He feels these new maps will kill that.

“With gerrymandered districts that are 95% more biased toward its side compared to the rest of the country, the Indiana Republican Party has been more focused on power, control and extreme partisanship in recent years,” he wrote.

Republicans say the Indiana Senate maps comply with all state and federal requirements, use guiding principles provided in statewide redistricting hearings, and keep communities of interest together.

“I’m very pleased with the work done to produce the new Senate district maps we are proposing,” said President Pro Tem Rodric Bray, R-Martinsville.

Bill sponsor Sen. Eric Koch, R-Bedford, said they aspired to keep communities together in redrawing the maps, using new U.S. Census data delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“With more than 90% of cities, towns and townships kept whole, I believe we have honored that request while navigating the competing interests that inevitably exist when you undertake a project of this magnitude,” he said.

There will be a public meeting to gather feedback at 9 a.m Monday in the Senate Chamber of the Indiana Statehouse. The Senate Committee on Elections will then meet again Sept. 28 for an amend-and-vote-only meeting.

FOOTNOTE: Haley Pritchett is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students. 

HEALTH DEPARTMENT UPDATES STATEWIDE COVID-19 CASE COUNTS

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indiana seal
indiana seal

HEALTH DEPARTMENT UPDATES STATEWIDE COVID-19 CASE COUNTS

ROKITA REVIEW

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UE Theatre Cancels First Two Performances of Everybody, by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins

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u of E

EVANSVILLE, IN (09/22/2021)

The University of Evansville (UE) Department of Theatre has cancelled the first two performances of Everybody, by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, following a positive COVID-19 breakthrough case in the cast. There will be no performances on Fri., Sept. 24 or Sat., Sept. 25. Currently, UE Theatre still plans to hold performances of the show on Thurs., Sept. 30, Fri., Oct. 1, and Sat. Oct. 2, at 7:30 p.m. There will also will a matinee performance on Sun., Oct. 3, at 2:00 p.m. The safety of students and patrons is of top priority to UE Theatre. The program boasts a 100% vaccination rate against COVID-19 among the faculty and students. In addition to compliance with the University of Evansville’s Coronavirus Task Force guidelines, UE Theatre continues regular weekly COVID-19 testing of students involved with productions in order to maintain a healthy, safe environment for the coalition of theatre artists working on campus.

Season subscribers for the Fall 2021 season will be contacted with information regarding showtime rescheduling options for future performances of Everybody. Patrons who purchased tickets for the cancelled performances of Everybody may choose a refund or another performance. For all productions this season, and in following industry standards, as established by the Broadway League, all audience members must show proof of COVID-19 vaccination, or a negative test result taken within 72-hours of the date on their ticket. Upon arrival at Shanklin Theatre, proof of vaccination/negativetest result and an ID will be checked before each performance. In compliance with the UE Coronavirus Task Force guidelines, all audience members must remain masked when indoors on campus. Additionally, Shanklin Theatre will be seated at no more than 50% capacity.

The University of Evansville Theatre Ticket Office can be reached by calling 812.488.2031 and is open Monday-Friday from 12:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m. or on the day of a scheduled performance from 12:00 p.m. until curtain.

 

USI Men Rise, Women Drop In Latest Polls

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EVANSVILLE, Ind.—University of Southern Indiana Men’s Cross Country jumped four spots to No. 12 in the latest U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Division II Coaches’ Poll following its second-place finish at the Illinois State University Redbird Invite last week.

Led by junior Noah Hufnagel (Santa Claus, Indiana), the Screaming Eagles had four runners finish in the top 20 a 12-team field that featured USI and 11 NCAA Division I programs. Hufnagel finished second overall with a personal-best eight-kilometer time of 24 minutes, 26.60 seconds and was named the GLVC Men’s Runner of the Week for his efforts.

USI’s men are one of two Great Lakes Valley Conference teams ranked in this week’s poll. Lewis University fell five spots to No. 20 after being ranked No. 15 a week ago.

The Eagles dropped five spots to No. 10 in this week’s women’s poll following their fifth-place finish at the Redbird Invite. Like the men, USI was the only Division II program in a field that featured 12 NCAA Division I institutions.

Senior Jennifer Comastri (Indianapolis, Indiana) paced the Eagles with a 10th-place finish. She completed six-kilometer course in 21 minutes, 16.90 seconds.

USI’s women are one three teams receiving national recognition this week. Southwest Baptist University jumped five spots to No. 7 this week, while Drury University is receiving votes outside the top 30.

The Eagles return to action October 8 when they compete at the Brescia Invitational in Owensboro, Kentucky. They also compete October 9 when they run at the University of Alabama-Huntsville Charger Invitational in Huntsville, Alabama.

Eagles Visit No. 14 Lewis, Return Home For Three Matches

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EVANSVILLE, Ind.—University of Southern Indiana Volleyball is back in action Saturday at 3 p.m. when it travels to Romeoville, Illinois, to take on No. 14 Lewis University.

The Screaming Eagles return to Screaming Eagles Arena a few days later when they host McKendree University Tuesday at 7 p.m. USI rounds out a busy slate that sees it play four matches in eight days by hosting Truman State University October 1 at 7 p.m. and the University of Missouri-St. Louis October 2 at 3 p.m.

If you go:
Lewis is requiring fans to wear proper face coverings and try to social distance as much as possible. Fans attending the games will need to fill out an online screening form, which also will be accessible via a QR code reader when entering Neil Carey Arena.

USI requires proper face coverings inside Screaming Eagles Arena and for fans to practice safe social distancing practices while attending USI Volleyball matches.

Game Coverage
All four matches will be aired on the GLVC Sports Network, while live stats are available at GoUSIEagles.com.

About USI
The Eagles (7-3, 1-1 GLVC) are coming off a tough five-set road loss to Missouri University of Science & Technology this past Saturday after earning a three-set home win over Maryville University last Thursday.

Freshman outside hitter Abby Weber (Fishers, Indiana) had 3.63 kills per set and a .349 attacking percentage to lead the Eagles, offensively, while senior setter Casey Cepicky (St. Louis, Missouri) set up the Eagles’ offense with 10.50 assists per frame. Senior libero Callie Gubera (Thorntown, Indiana) averaged 4.63 digs per set to lead USI’s back row.

On the year, sophomore outside hitter Leah Anderson (Bloomington, Illinois) is averaging 2.78 kills per set and is one of five USI players averaging at least 2.0 kills per frame. Cepicky is averaging 9.32 assists per set, while Anderson is averaging a team-high 0.62 aces per game.

Senior middle blocker Sidney Hegg (Menasha, Wisconsin) and junior middle hitter Taylor Litteken (Forristell, Missouri) are averaging 0.86 and 0.81 blocks per set, respectively, while Gubera leads USI with 4.03 digs per frame.

VIRAL REPORTS THAT US LEFT SERVICE DOGS IN AFGHANISTAN

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VIRAL REPORTS THAT US LEFT SERVICE DOGS IN AFGHANISTAN

September 14, 2021

Pentagon denies, criticizes viral reports that US left service dogs in Afghanistan
Matthew Brown
USA TODAY

WASHINGTON – The Pentagon is disputing claims that it did not evacuate all dogs that worked with the United States during operations in Afghanistan after viral images and reports to the contrary.

In the closing days of America’s longest war, conservative activists, politicians and animal lovers raised alarms online that the U.S. was not evacuating its service dogs.

On Tuesday, the Pentagon denied that any dogs that had worked with the U.S. military were left behind in the country while acknowledging that a series of social media posts about nonmilitary evacuation of Kabul pets caused confusion.

“To correct erroneous reports, the US military did not leave any dogs in cages at Hamid Karzai International Airport, to include the reported ‘military working dogs,’” said Eric Pahon, a spokesman for the Defense Department.

In recent days, an animal welfare group on the ground has been working to evacuate animals on the ground in Kabul, including some dogs who were contracted with security services in Kabul, the group says. The Pentagon denied that these animals were ever in their care.

Animal evacuation efforts go viral
On Aug. 27, Kabul Small Animal Rescue, an animal welfare group that has tended to animals injured or displaced during the war in Afghanistan,posted on Twitter that it was trying to evacuate animals in the cargo hold of planes leaving Kabul’s airport.

The animals were being flown out as part of the group’s “Operation Hercules,” a crowdfunded effort in the country. That work had been going on days before the viral images began circulating.

An older social media post from the group described the animals as “dogs and cats left behind as people flee” in Kabul. It made no mention about the animals being service animals or contracted to work with the U.S. military.

KSAR, an affiliate of SPCA International, did not return requests for comment.

On Tuesday evening, SPCA International published an update stating that Charlotte Maxwell-Jones, the KSAR’s founder, had rescued at least 130 animals and had been working with U.S. forces to evacuate them from the country. That number included “46 working dogs and several personal pets belonging to fleeing Americans,” the group said.

On Sunday, an image posted to Twitter by the veterans organization Veteran Sheepdogs of America shows some animals in crates in front of a damaged military aircraft. The post says the aircraft is at Hamid Karzai International Airport.

And on Monday, the president and chief executive officer of American Humane, an animal welfare group, wrote an open letter criticizing the military for allegedly leaving behind animals that had worked with the U.S.

The crate image and others were shared online by pundits and lawmakers critical of the broader U.S. withdrawal.

“Infuriating. Biden stranded Americans. He stranded our allies. Now, he’s stranded our loyal K-9 warriors,” Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., wrote on Twitter, posting American Humane’s letter.

Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y. tweeted a similar sentiment: “Really sad & heartless! The Biden Admin did not only abandon our citizens and Afghan partners. They abandoned dozens of service dogs too.”

Conservative activists further rallied around the fate of military animals, circulating images and memes and starting a hashtag on social media.

Pentagon: US military did not leave dogs in cages
The Defense Department, however, denies that any military service dogs or contracted animals were left behind in the country.

“Photos circulating online were animals under the care of the Kabul Small Animal Rescue, not dogs under the care of the U.S. military. Despite an ongoing complicated and dangerous retrograde mission, U.S. forces went to great lengths to assist the Kabul Small Animal Rescue as much as possible,” Pahon said.

He noted the “priority mission was the evacuation of U.S. citizens, SIV and vulnerable Afghans,” not animals.

The Defense Department further cited “customs regulations” as a hurdle in evacuating the “stray dogs” from the country. The department did not deny the authenticity of the viral image but did contest that the animals had worked with the military in any capacity.

In its Tuesday statement, SPCA International said that Maxwell-Jones “was informed that most of the KSAR dogs had to be released into the airport on August 30 as the airport was evacuated – turning once rescued shelter dogs into homeless strays.”

The organization further claimed that “numerous private charter aircraft were not granted access to the airport.” The group did not know if the military had evacuated the dogs it says were contracted working dogs.

“Kabul Small Animal Rescue told us they had a contract plane coming, but that flight never showed up or contacted us. All our working dogs left with their handlers. We would not leave them behind. To suggest otherwise is ridiculous,” Pahon said in his statement.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention prohibits the travel of dogs from countries with a high incidence of rabies to the U.S. Afghanistan is among those countries.

The online torrent came after the military was criticized on social media for photos and videos that purportedly showed U.S. forces giving priority to evacuating service dogs over Afghan people fleeing the Taliban.

U.S. forces withdrew from the country in the early hours Tuesday, meeting President Joe Biden’s deadline for American forces to withdraw from the country. Secretary of State Antony Blinken estimated that at least 100 Americans in the country who wanted to leave were still there.

The Defense Department says it evacuated more than 124,000 people from Afghanistan, including about 6,000 Americans, calling it the largest airlift in U.S. history.

Where Is She Now? Anne Audain

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Where Is She Now? Anne Audain

Never afraid to speak out, our most successful road runner Anne Audain has a cautionary tale she wants Kiwis to learn from.

During the golden era of running, Anne Audain became one of New Zealand’s most recognisable athletes.

Among her many achievements, she ran a world record 5000m time in 1982, won a Commonwealth Games gold medal in the 3000m later that year, competed at three Olympics, had a lucrative professional career on the American road racing circuit, and became the first woman to sign a deal with Nike.

As a result, her trailblazing story has been well told – not just by journalists and filmmakers – but by Audain herself.

“If you’ve got a story to tell and you can use that story to teach life lessons, it’s very important,” 66-year-old Audain says from her home in Evansville, Indiana.

Typically, it’s young people she shares her story with, in the many classrooms she’s been invited to speak in across the United States. Then there’s the countless women she’s inspired to become fitter and healthier – through the large Idaho women’s fitness celebration event she founded.

In these days of the pandemic, though, she has a cautionary tale to tell and it ends with a plea – to get vaccinated.

“The way life has been here in the United States and the stuff we are putting up with – New Zealand does not want to go down this road,” she says. “It doesn’t have to get this nasty.”

Audain is talking about the highly-politicised anti-vaccination movement and ‘infodemic’ she is living amongst.

“Indiana is a Trump state, a hard red state,” she explains. Only 47 percent of people in the state are fully vaccinated, despite wide vaccine availability. “Half the people refuse to wear masks.

“Here in our town, we’ve got overload. All the ICU beds are full. So the hospitals are stopping all other elective surgery. God help you if you have a heart attack or a car accident, because they can’t take you.

“Just about every state’s ICUs are full and they are having to open up other wards and turn them into ICUs and Covid units, taking away other procedures.”

But there are people still refusing to get vaccinated, she says, despite hospitals putting out clear data that shows the overwhelming majority of Covid-related hospitalisation and death is occurring among the non-vaccinated.

Audain has close links to the St Luke’s Health System, which runs the annual Idaho women’s fitness event she founded in 1993, and has been closely following their “preventable tragedy”.

Keen to spread the word, Audain recently shared a video on social media of the chief executive of St Luke’s Hospital reporting they are being “overwhelmed” with record patient volumes, and “absolutely crushed by Covid”, with ICUs overflowing with patients. Tellingly, he says 98 percent of them are unvaccinated.

“Getting vaccinated is not just about protecting your health,” Audain says. “It also protects those around you who you care about and may be more vulnerable.”

Audain is also mortified by what is occurring within the communities around her.

“Some people want their [so-called] ‘freedom’ – ‘my body, my choice’,” she says. “It’s got so extreme that when local school board members discuss mask mandates, there are parents spitting venom at them, threatening them, and turning up at their front doors with guns.”

Anne Audain wins the 1983 L’Eggs Mini Marathon in New York. Photo: Anne Audain Collection. 

Fully vaccinated herself, when Audain sees her neighbours out and about during her daily “walk-runs”, she treads carefully.

“I know the ones who are sane and I know the ones who are not. And it has got to the point where you don’t bring up any topic whatsoever … you just say hello to their dog.”

Audain has lived in the United States for the past 40 years. After retiring from road racing, she married American Chuck Whobrey, becoming stepmother to his daughter and now a proud grandparent, too.

But in the current climate, she says she definitely doesn’t identify as American.

“I tell my friends I’d move back to New Zealand tomorrow. The reason I’m here is due to circumstances. Although if I hadn’t come here, I wouldn’t have achieved what I did. I would have stayed in New Zealand and still been a schoolteacher, though there’s nothing wrong with that.”

Audain was a 20-year-old teacher at Yendarra School in ÅŒtara when she went to her first Olympics, in Montreal 1976.

“I’ve got pictures of me at the school with all my kiddos running behind me on the grounds. It was pretty cool. They all wrote postcards and letters,” she says.

Anne Audain with her school pupils before she went to the Montreal Olympics in 1976. Photo: Anne Audain Collection

She went on to teach at Auckland’s Papatoetoe Central School and Remuera Intermediate – experience that proved useful when later speaking to American school children.

“I don’t talk about my running accomplishments as such. I just take my story and use it as social experiences … explaining how I managed to get through, what I was up against – perseverance, bullying, all sorts of things,” Audain says.

She even includes positive messaging about adoption, something she knows about firsthand having been adopted out as a baby. She explains to kids: “it doesn’t really matter as long as you are loved.”

While Audain is now more than happy to share her adoption story, she understandably kept it under wraps when she was still an athlete, searching for her birth family when a new law paved the way.

“I was always fine with being adopted. My only thought was to tell someone she’d made the right decision and what a great life I’d had. To be able to say, ‘You did a tough thing, but look who I am.’ I just found a great deal more,” she says.

Imagining she’d only find her birth mother, Audain was amazed to discover that her birth parents had married each other one year after her birth and gone on to have six children.

Audain’s birth mother, Margaret Oosthoek, had already unsuccessfully tried to make contact with her. Having only been told her daughter’s name was Anne Frances, she mistakenly thought Frances (Audain’s middle name) was her surname.

So when Oosthoek unexpectedly received a call from Audain in 1987, she was gob-smacked to learn the baby she’d had 32 years earlier had become the Kiwi running sensation she’d seen on television.

It was in a motel in Hamilton where Audain first met her birth parents, a meeting she says went well. “They are a great family and we’ve had a lot of fun over the years.”

On her regular visits to New Zealand, Audain always visited her birth parents (her Dutch birth father, Johann Oosthoek, had immigrated to New Zealand after the Korean War), until they passed away in recent years.

“My adoption is a very positive story,” she says. “Because out of their own mouths, they said I would not be who I was if I’d stayed with them. They were a farming family in the Waikato and none of my siblings took part in sport. So I was meant to be adopted. It’s a classic example of nature and nurture.”

The framed shirt Anne Audain wore winning the gold in the 3000m at the 1982 Commonwealth Games in Brisbane. Photo: Anne Audain

According to Audain, the schoolteacher in her has always remained. So what would she like to impart to today’s athletes, given the current challenges around athlete welfare and wellbeing?

“Stay off social media!” she says emphatically. “Or just create your own little family and friends page.”

She recommends athletes keep themselves focused and private.

“You’ve only got a short amount of time as a public sportsperson. It’s a career that ends early,” she says. “So you have to do your utmost to make it the very best you can, and if it means sacrificing the social side of your life for a few years, you won’t regret it. But you will regret it if you burn yourself out.”

Audain acknowledges she has always been “an honest and outspoken person.”

“That’s what I was known for. I can’t imagine what I’d be dealing with today – with social media,” she says.

In speaking out, Audain has never been afraid to call it how she sees it. In her autobiography, Uncommon Heart, she wrote candidly about overcoming debilitating foot problems as a child growing up in Ōtāhuhu, before discovering she loved to run. Following successful reconstructive foot surgery, she ultimately went on to be recognised as the ‘winningest’ female road runner in history.

Fast-forward to today and it is health, and vaccination, she cares deeply about. As always, she hopes her personal story will “help to educate”.

In the meantime, Audain dreams of the day she can easily return to New Zealand and envisages spending several months of each year here with her husband once they retire.

FOOTNOTE: LockerRoom is made possible by contributions from readers like you. Become a supporter to expand our in-depth coverage of women’s sport in NZ.

Got Medicare Mail? 


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Evansville, IN – In early Fall, Medicare beneficiaries and their loved ones receive a great deal of mail in regard to Medicare. As the mail starts to pile up, it can become extremely overwhelming in deciding on what to keep, toss, or shred. 

SWIRCA & More in collaboration with Indiana SHIP (State Health Insurance Assistance Program) is offering a free, one-day event, where consumers can bring in their mail and meet with local experts that will help them sort through all of their Medicare mail and educate them on what is important to keep and what can be tossed. 

The SHIP Shred event will take place on September 29th from 1:00pm-3:00pm, in the SWIRCA & More Activities and Wellness Center, located at 16 W. Virginia Street in Evansville. Local health and safety guidelines will be followed. Social distanced tables will be set up for consumers to meet one-on-one with experts. For more information about this event, please contact SWIRCA & More at 812-464-7800 or Melanie Garland, SHIP Volunteer Supervisor at 812-686-2729. 

About SHIP (State Health Insurance Assistance Program)

The State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) is a free and impartial counseling program for people with Medicare. SHIP is provided by the Administration on Community Living and the Indiana Department of Insurance. SHIP is part of a federal network of State Health Insurance Assistance Programs located in every state. 

About SWIRCA & More (Southwestern Indiana Regional Council on Aging)

Formally established as an Area Agency on Aging in 1974, SWIRCA & More is a non-profit organization serving older adults, caregivers, and individuals at any age living with disabilities in Southwestern Indiana. SWIRCA is Indiana’s fourth largest Area Agency on Aging, serving six counties including, Vanderburgh, Warrick, Posey, Gibson, Perry, and Spencer counties. SWIRCA is not a health care provider or government agency, but as a social service organization, provides innovative answers, comprehensive services, and caring, unbiased support so seniors can age independently at home. For more information on SWIRCA & More or Dementia Friends Indiana, please visit www.swirca.org or call 812-464-7800. 

FELONY CHARGES FOR VANDERBURGH COUNTY

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Michael James Wood

Count 1 – Operating a Vehicle While Intoxicated : 6F : Pending
  Count 2 – Operating a Vehicle with an ACE of .15 or More : 6F : Pending
  Count 3 – Leaving the Scene of an Accident : BM : Pending

Dirk Allan Healy

Count 1 – Domestic Battery : 6F : Pending
  Count 2 – Domestic Battery : 6F : Pending

John Glen Thompson

Count 1 – (Attempt) Robbery : 5F : Pending
  Count 2 – (Attempt) Robbery : 5F : Pending
  Count 3 – Criminal Mischief : BM : Pending

Erik Obryan Washington

Count 1 – (Attempt) Battery by Means of a Deadly Weapon : 5F : Pending
  Count 2 – Carrying a Handgun Without a License : 5F : Pending
  Count 3 – Criminal Recklessness : 6F : Pending
  Count 4 – Criminal Mischief : BM : Pending

Nick Jordan McCarty

  Count 1 – Possession of a Narcotic Drug : 6F : Pending
  Count 2 – Possession of a Narcotic Drug : 6F : Pending

Dane Clark Hickman

  Count 1 – HC – Possession of Methamphetamine : 6F : Pending
  Count 2 – Possession of a Controlled Substance : AM : Pending