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USI hits the road for first time Sunday
University of Southern Indiana men’s basketball hit the road for the first time in 2020-21 when it visits the University of Indianapolis Sunday for a 2 p.m. (CST) contest. The road game is the start of three-straight away from Screaming Eagles Arena.
Following the visit to UIndy and the holiday break, the Screaming Eagles make the trip to Truman State University January 3 and Quincy University January 5. The USI-Quincy game was originally slated for January 6.
Fans can catch all of the game coverage for the 2020-21, including live stats, video stream, and audio broadcasts, is available at GoUSIEagles.com. The games also can be heard on ESPN 97.7FM and 95.7FM The Spin.
USI Men’s Basketball vs. UIndy Quick Notes:
Eagles back in the game. USI got out of quarantine to post an 81-70 victory over McKendree University to conclude the Screaming Eagles’ season-opening homestand. Junior guard Jelani Simmons led the Eagles’ scorers with 18 points, while senior forwards Emmanuel Little and Josh Price followed with 15 and 14 points, respectively.
USI receives votes. After the victory over McKendree, USI received votes for the NABC Top 25 poll. The Eagles were ranked 25th in the preseason poll.
Price gets third-straight double-double. USI senior forward Josh Price finished the win over McKendree with his third-straight double-double to start the year, posting 14 points and 10 rebounds versus McKendree. Price is the first Eagle to start the season with three-straight double-doubles since Aaron Nelson had 15-straight to begin 2013-14.
Hughes and Rivera have big days in return to the court. Senior guards Clayton Hughes and Mateo Rivera had big days in returning to the court. Hughes tied a career-high with four steals, while dropping in nine points. Rivera scored seven points and dished out a pair of assists in his first appearance of the year.
Gouard visits UIndy for the first time. Head Coach Stan Gouard is making his first visit to the University of Indianapolis Sunday since taking the helm at USI.
2020-21 Eagle leaders after homestand. Senior forwards Emmanuel Little and Josh Price lead USI after the season-opening homestand with 17.7 and 17.3 points per game, respectively. Price also leads the squad with 12.7 rebounds per contest. Senior guard Jelani Simmons and sophomore guard Tyler Henry round out USI’s double-digit scorers with 16.7 and 10.0 points per contest, respectively.
Little climbing in the record books. Senior forward Emmanuel Little is 11th all-time at USI with 1,222 career points, four points away from entering the top 10 in program history. Little also is fifth all-time with 738 career rebounds, 44 behind fourth place Billy Harris (782).
USI vs. UIndy. USI holds a 58-24 series lead over the University of Indianapolis, 54-23 in league play. UIndy took both meetings last year, winning in Indianapolis, 86-74, and at Screaming Eagles Arena, 88-76, snapping a four-game winning streak in the series by USI.
UIndy in 2020-21. The Greyhounds are 0-3 to start its season and had their game with McKendree postponed last Saturday. UIndy fell to 0-3 after falling to Lewis University Tuesday, 77-64, at home.
Home Depot to Pay $20,750,000 Penalty for Nationwide Failure to Follow Rules for Conducting Renovations Involving Lead Paint
Home Depot to Improve Public Health Protections During Home Renovations
 The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Justice today announced a proposed nationwide settlement with Home Depot U.S.A. Inc. resolving alleged violations of the EPA’s Lead Renovation, Repair and Painting (RRP) Rule at home renovations performed by Home Depot’s contractors across the country. The States of Utah, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, which have EPA-authorized RRP programs, are joining the United States in this action.
The settlement, in a consent decree lodged with the District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, requires Home Depot to implement a comprehensive, corporate-wide program to ensure that the firms and contractors it hires to perform work are certified and trained to use lead-safe work practices to avoid spreading lead dust and paint chips during home renovation activities. Home Depot will also pay a $20.75 million penalty, the highest civil penalty obtained to date for a settlement under the Toxic Substances Control Act. Of the $20.75 million penalty, $750,000 will be paid to Utah, $732,000 to Massachusetts, and $50,000 to Rhode Island.
“Today’s settlement will significantly reduce children’s exposure to lead paint hazards,â€Â said Susan Bodine, Assistant Administrator for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “Home Depot will implement system-wide changes to ensure that contractors who perform work in homes constructed before 1978 are EPA-certified and follow lead-safe practices. EPA expects all renovation companies to ensure their contractors follow these critical laws that protect public health.â€
“These were serious violations. The stiff penalty Home Depot will pay reflects the importance of using certified firms and contractors in older home renovations,â€Â said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Jonathan D. Brightbill of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “Contractors hired for most work in homes built prior to 1978, when lead based paint was in widespread use, must be certified. These contractors have the training to recognize and prevent the hazards that can be created when lead paint is disturbed.â€
EPA discovered the alleged violations when investigating five customer complaints about Home Depot renovations (in Illinois, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin), which showed Home Depot subcontracted work to firms that in some cases did not use lead-safe work practices, perform required post-renovation cleaning, provide the EPA-required lead-based paint pamphlets to occupants, or maintain records of compliance with the law.
EPA then conducted a comprehensive review of Home Depot’s records of renovations performed throughout the United States and identified hundreds of instances in which Home Depot sent uncertified firms to perform renovations that required certified and trained firms. In addition, EPA identified instances in which Home Depot failed to establish, retain, or provide compliance documentation showing that specific contractors had been certified by EPA, had been properly trained, and had used lead-safe work practices in projects performed in homes.
For the most serious violations addressed by the settlement, Home Depot offered its customers inspections using certified professionals and, if dust lead hazards were found, it performed specialized cleaning and verification.
Under the settlement, Home Depot will implement a company-wide program to ensure that the contractors it hires to perform work for its customers comply with the RRP Rule during renovations of homes built before 1978. To do this, Home Depot is implementing an electronic compliance system to verify that the contractors it hires are properly certified. Home Depot will also require its contractors to use a detailed checklist to document compliance and provide the completed checklist to the customer. The checklist will lead the contactors through the steps required for RRP Rule compliance. Home Depot will also conduct thousands of on-site inspections of work performed by its contractors to ensure they comply with lead-safe work practices. Home Depot must also investigate and respond to customer complaints. In instances where the contractor did not comply with Lead Safe Work practices Home Depot will perform an inspection for dust lead hazards and, if they are found, provide a specialized cleaning. EPA will monitor Home Depot’s responses to customer complaints.
In addition to the requirements related to its renovations, Home Depot will provide important information about following lead-safe work practices to its professional and do-it-yourself customers in its stores, on its website, on YouTube, and in workshops. The RRP Rule does not apply to do-it-yourself projects in your own home.  However, the EPA recommends using the Rule’s lead-safe work practices in your own home projects, so this important information will help families learn how to safely perform home improvement projects to protect themselves, and their children.
Residential lead-based paint use was banned in 1978 but still remains in many older homes and apartments across the country. Lead dust hazards can occur when lead paint deteriorates or is disrupted during home renovation and remodeling activities. Lead exposure can cause a range of health problems, from behavioral disorders and learning disabilities to seizures and death, putting young children at the greatest risk because their nervous systems are still developing. A blood lead test is the only way to determine if a child has a high lead level. Parents who think their child has been in contact with lead dust should contact their child’s health care provider.
Gov. Holcomb Unveils 2021 Next Level Agenda
Governor Eric J. Holcomb today announced his 2021 Next Level Agenda, which is focused on safely navigating out of the pandemic and emerging as a stronger Indiana.
“The 2021 Next Level Agenda is focused on making sure Indiana remains a state of opportunity for all,†Gov. Holcomb said. “To do that, we must manage our way through the world’s worst pandemic in over a century.â€
The 2021 Next Level Agenda includes five pillars detailing both legislative and administrative priorities for the year ahead.
Cultivate a strong and diverse economy
To continue our dedication to fiscal responsibility, Gov. Holcomb’s 2021 agenda calls for passing the state’s ninth straight balanced budget. As the number one manufacturing state in the nation per capita, the Governor will seek to enhance our status by expanding our Manufacturing Readiness Grants to enable companies to modernize their operations. The state will also stay on track to triple federal defense investment in Indiana by 2025.
Maintain and build the state’s infrastructure
The 2021 agenda is designed to enhance the infrastructure we have and finish projects already underway. The Governor will grow his nation-leading Next Level Connections Broadband Program with legislation to better reach additional areas of the state that are unserved or underserved with higher internet speeds. The state will continue projects including I-69 Section 6, the West Lake Corridor expansion and double-tracking the South Shore Line Rail projects, and the effort to plant one million trees across the state. Additionally, the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority will create a comprehensive overview of our state’s housing supply.
Education, training and workforce development
The Governor remains committed to ensuring that K-12 schools receive 100 percent of their funding for the second half of the school year. He will also work to increase K-12 funding in the next biennial budget and at a minimum restore higher education funding cut in the last fiscal year due to the impact of the pandemic.
Gov. Holcomb will continue to prioritize finding long-term sustainable solutions to improve teacher compensation. He will review and consider recommendations of the Next Level Teacher Compensation Report. Among the recommendations is a proposal to improve school corporation data accessibility and transparency by creating a website to allow for easy comparisons of school corporation financial, expenditure, and compensation metrics relative to other districts. The dashboard launched today and can be viewed here.
The 2021 agenda also includes reviewing and reducing unfunded mandates on schools, retaining more higher education graduates in Indiana, and increasing minority teacher recruitment and minority participation in Workforce Ready and Employer Grant programs.
Public health
The Governor remains committed to the goal of becoming the best state in the Midwest for infant mortality by 2024 by protecting pregnant workers by providing more workplace accommodations. Using lessons learned in the pandemic, the agenda calls for reforming long-term care services to be outcome and quality-driven, and for initiating a comprehensive assessment of local health departments and state delivery of public health services.
Deliver great government service
The 2021 agenda includes regulatory and statutory changes prompted by the state’s COVID-19 response, including expanding telemedicine services, making virtual meeting options permanent and providing businesses and schools with coronavirus liability protections. Additionally, the agenda calls for removing barriers for Hoosiers to reinstate their driver’s license. Having a driver’s license is essential to finding and keeping a job, and the suspensions have a bigger impact on low-income populations, rural residents, and ex-offenders. The agenda also calls for continuing to improve services and increase the opportunity for the state’s minority populations.
“Responding to a global pandemic has caused us to rethink how we’ve done business and just as importantly, how we do business post-pandemic,†Gov. Holcomb said. “COVID-19 has shifted our course, but Indiana remains focused on what will make us stronger, with practical and people-centered solutions based on a foundation of civility.â€
CenterPoint Energy And National Energy Foundation Launch Secondary And Vocational School Safety Training
Beginning this month, CenterPoint Energy, in collaboration with the National Energy Foundation (NEF), will launch a new energy safety education program for secondary, vocational and college students providing relevant on-the-job safety education in Indiana. The Energy Safe Skills program will teach future job site workers how to be safe and protect the communities where they will work.
Energy Safe Skills is a safety education program geared toward vocational instructors and students studying for fields in construction, maintenance and related areas. This program provides essential safety information that everyone working on a job site or involved in job site activities needs to know about the hazards of working around buried natural gas pipelines and other utilities.
“The goal of this program is to provide utility safety education to those individuals who are on the cusp of joining the construction, engineering and maintenance industries. Understanding how to safely design, plan and work around buried utilities is critical to students’ personal safety on the job and their success in their future careers,†said Ashley Babcock, Director of Damage Prevention and Public Awareness at CenterPoint Energy.
Publicly accessible through EnergySafeSkills.org, this no-cost training provides instructors an interactive presentation, student quiz and supplementary STEM-based activities that can be completed within one or two classroom sessions. The curriculum covers characteristics of natural gas, natural gas leak recognition and response, the importance of contacting 811 and safe digging best practices.
“The biggest benefit of this program for teachers is that the interactive presentation and quiz are self-guided, which makes it easy to incorporate into a lesson plan regardless of the instructor’s comfort level and understanding of the topics,†said Kelly Flowers, Senior Program Director at NEF. “We’ve designed this training so the instructors can simply play the self-guided training to their students or they can be more active in leading the discussion.â€
While the training is publicly available regardless of an educator’s location, some of the training content, specifically information about Indiana’s safe dig laws, is only applicable to Indiana. For more information about the Energy Safe Skills program, interested educators can visit EnergySafeSkills.org.
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UE Faculty Senate Votes No Confidence in President’s Plan
Evansville— 12/17/20 — The University of Evansville Faculty Senate today passed a vote of no confidence in the President’s draft academic alignment plan. The vote passed by a margin of 14 to 1 with 1 abstention.
The President of U of E made no comment on this result as he failed to attend the meeting.
The faculty will now have seven days to vote on this matter.
The resolution through which the Senate offered its position noted that the President’s draft plan does not recognize the faculty’s role within the university’s shared governance structure and does not accord with the university’s policies and procedures on curricular change.
The resolution asks the President of the University of Evansville to make a public written commitment to the following:
All proposals for curricular change within the final draft of the President’s academic alignment plan, including but not limited to all that on implementation would result in the loss of majors and/or faculty positions, will be submitted to the Curriculum Committee.
That committee will vote on those proposals and then submit its recommendations to the Senate. The Senate will review those recommendations and then vote to either approve them, reject them, or return them to the Curriculum Committee for further consideration.
Any recommendations approved by the Senate that relate to the addition or deletion of degrees and majors will be forwarded to the President, who will approve them, reject them or return them to the Senate for further consideration. Finally, any Senate recommendations endorsed by the President will be sent to the Board of Trustees, and the Board will approve them, reject them, or return them to the President for further consideration.
We, the UE AAUP chapter, thank the Senate for its careful and considered response to the President’s draft academic alignment plan. The resolution passed today is valid and necessary. In these difficult times, it is all the more important for the bodies that make up our university to follow its policies, procedures, and governance structures. By doing so, those bodies honor the principles that underpin the institution. We firmly believe that every facet of the University of Evansville is worthy of respect.
To learn more:
• Visit our website at saveue.com • Follow us on Facebook at Save UE
• Follow us on Twitter at @Save_UE • Follow us on Instagram at save.ue
• E-mail us at ueaaup@gmail.com
DWD Continues To Combat Fraudulent Unemployment Insurance Activity
The rise in initial claims for the week ending Dec. 5 likely reflects a rise in fraudulent attempts
An elderly woman receives an overpayment notice on unemployment insurance (UI) claim, though she’s never filed for benefits. A company in southern Indiana discovers that claims have been filed using the names of several senior-level managers. And more broadly, across the state, more Hoosier employees are reporting their identities having been stolen to file even more claims.
For the week ending Dec. 5, 26,910 initial unemployment claims were filed with the Indiana Department of Workforce Development, a number likely inflated by the rise in fraudulent attempts to file UI claims. Indiana and many other states continue to combat the increase amid new and emerging fraud schemes.
“It’s really increasing in all forms and fashions,†said Regina Ashley, DWD’s chief unemployment insurance and workforce solutions officer, of the increase in fraudulent activity. “DWD has many prevention and detection tools in place to thwart as much of that activity as possible. But even with these tools, both individuals and employers are not immune to these attacks.â€
DWD is responsible for administering unemployment benefits to Hoosiers. The coronavirus has led to an unprecedented increase in the number of individuals filing claims to receive unemployment benefits in regular UI programs as well as Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act programs, specifically the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program. PUA is available to individuals who are self-employed, seeking part-time employment, or who otherwise would not qualify for regular unemployment compensation.
Roughly $100 million in federal funding has been made available to support state efforts to combat fraud and recover improper payments. The Government Accountability Office, the nonpartisan auditing agency that works for Congress, has cited fraud as one of the causes contributing to inflated claims numbers across the country.
DWD is working closely with the Indiana State Police, U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General, FBI, Secret Service and the Indiana Attorney General’s Office, as well as several banking partners, to ensure appropriate prosecution and recovery of funds where possible, once identity theft is discovered. Once the theft is reported to DWD, the agency revokes the UI account and cooperates with law enforcement and banks, but it’s up to them, and not DWD, to locate the criminals and prosecute them.
To protect against identity theft, never post personal information online or to social media. Anyone awaiting their initial unemployment payment who posts on social media their name and personal information, asking for assistance to expedite their claim, is putting themselves at risk for fraud. Never pay anyone who says they can speed up your UI claim or get you your money faster. Also, monitor your credit reports and bank accounts.
If you do become a victim, freeze or put a fraud alert on your credit and notify your bank. Anyone who has received a fraudulent call and has given any personal information to a potential fraudster should contact the Federal Trade Commission to report the potential identity theft at https://www.identitytheft.gov/?utm_source=takeaction.
Employers should protest any fraudulently filed UI claim by completing the Benefits Claims protest form (640P) at: https://www.in.gov/dwd/indiana-unemployment/employers/forms-downloads. Employers also can report fraud through DWD’s fraud webpage at https://www.in.gov/dwd/2464.htm.
Regarding 1099 tax forms issued by DWD for unemployment benefits, DWD is disassociating UI payments from any claimant where there is a confirmed case of ID theft. So as long as this is done, the claimant will have no IRS issues. If ID theft has not been reported to DWD or DWD hasn’t tagged the account as ID theft, then this will not occur.
USI Men’s Basketball at UIndy postponed
Eagles rescheduled game with Lewis for January 26
University of Southern Indiana Men’s Basketball game at the University of Indianapolis, scheduled for Sunday, has been postponed due to a COVID-19 close contact by UIndy players and coaches. The game will be rescheduled.
The Screaming Eagles have rescheduled their postponed December 5 game versus Lewis University for January 26 at 7 p.m. USI previously announced that the December 3 postponed game with the University of Illinois Springfield has been rescheduled for February 2 at 7 p.m. Both games are at Screaming Eagles Arena.
Sunday’s USI Women’s Basketball game at UIndy remains as scheduled.
AG Curtis Hill sues Google over monopolistic online advertising practices
Attorney General Curtis Hill today joined nine other attorneys general in filing a lawsuit against Google for multiple violations of federal and state antitrust laws in connection with its multiple roles in the multibillion-dollar online display advertising industry.The lawsuit alleges that Google monopolized – or attempted to monopolize – products and services used by advertisers and publishers in online display advertising. These anticompetitive practices demonstrably harmed publishers’ abilities to monetize content, increased advertisers’ costs to advertise and directly harmed consumers. The complaint also alleges that some of Google’s business tactics are misleading.In October, Attorney General Hill joined a federal antitrust lawsuit against Google. Both lawsuits aim to limit Google’s monopolistic business practices in various online markets.“It is time for Google’s reign as an untouchable tech monopoly to come to an end,†Attorney General Hill said. “Google’s anticompetitive online advertising practices harm everyone who isn’t Google, and we must do everything we can to level the playing field.â€Google’s monopolization of online display advertising includes an anticompetitive agreement with Facebook and suppressing competition in multiple relevant markets by a variety of other means, all of which harms consumers in violation of the antitrust laws, the attorneys general allege. In addition to representing both the buyers and sellers of online display advertising, Google competes directly against the buyers and sellers it separately represents, all while operating the largest exchange of those buyers and sellers. |