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Otters split doubleheader to win series

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EVANSVILLE, Ind. – In a midday doubleheader in Avon, OH, the Evansville Otters split the twin-bill with the Lake Erie Crushers.

Game One:

The Otters (32-42) fell behind early in the opener, and the Crushers (41-33) had the game in hand from there on.

The Crushers got the offense started quickly, using an Otters error to grab seven runs in the first, with six being unearned.

The game fell silent until the sixth inning, when the Crushers added a pair of insurance runs on a two-RBI base hit. Lake Erie out-hit the Otters 6-3 in the opening game.

Terance Marin (0-6) was chased early and received the loss. Leonardo Rodriguez (2-0) picked up the win for the Crushers.

Game Two:

The slow offensive day carried over into game two for both sides. Evansville scored the game’s sole run in the extra-inning 8th. Randy Bednar, the commissioner’s runner for the Otters in the 8th, advanced to third on Dakota Phillips’ fly-out. Amani Larry scored Bednar with an infield single to give the Otters their first lead of the doubleheader.

After pitching the prior 1.1 innings, Pavin Parks (1-1) kept the Crushers off the board in the eighth to give Evansville the series win.

Braden Scott pitched 5.2 scoreless innings, allowing five hits with four strikeouts. Parks received the win in relief. Trevor Kuncl (2-4) was tabbed with the loss in his sole inning of relief for Lake Erie.

The Crushers out-hit Evansville 5-2 in the series finale.

With the series win, the Otters have now won four of their last five full series played.

Updates from 2024 Paris Olympics

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Carson Tyler finished fourth in the men’s individual springboard final Thursday, his Olympic debut event. Tied as the youngest competitor in the final at 20-years-old, Tyler showed mastery of his low degree of difficulty list, scoring 429.25 points. Tyler will look to take his momentum into the platform event — the final competition on IU’s Olympic schedule — beginning Friday at 4 p.m. ET. The Indiana senior has won the last two NCAA Championships in the event.

Fellow senior Mariah Denigan was part of history, swimming the women’s marathon swimming event in the River Seine Thursday. Denigan finished 16th in unique conditions with a time of 2:06:42.90. She made history in February as the first Hoosier to qualify for an Olympics in open water swimming. Denigan and teammate Katie Grimes were just the third and fourth Americans to represent the United States in the event all-time.

Results

Women’s 10K final 

  1. Mariah Denigan – 2:06:42.90

Men’s 3-meter springboard final

  1. Carson Tyler – 429.25

Women’s Water Polo — 5-8 Classification

Italy 10, Canada 5

Braun bill would roll back Biden admin housing mandate that adds significant costs for home buyers

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mike braun
mike Braun

Braun bill would roll back Biden admin housing mandate that adds significant costs for home buyers

AUGUST 9, 2024

  WASHINGTON – Last week, Senator Mike Braun introduced legislation to repeal a Biden administration Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) mandate for new housing construction that would add significant costs to the purchase of new homes. Senators Marsha Blackburn, John Barrasso, Cynthia Lummis, Shelley Moore Capito, Roger Marshall, Pete Ricketts, Eric Schmitt, and Todd Young cosponsored the legislation  “Buying a home is more expensive than ever for Americans. We shouldn’t be making them even more expensive with government mandates that could add as much as $31,000 to the price of a new home. My bill will repeal this new Biden administration mandate so we can lower the cost of housing for American families.”—Sen. Braun

The HOUSE Act would:

  • Repeals the HUD/USDA Final Determination, and requires the agencies to revert to the 2009 standards already in effect;
  • Prohibits VA from implementing a similar mandate for VA mortgages;
  • Clarifies that FHFA has no statutory authority to impose similar mandates;
  • And reforms the underlying law by prohibiting HUD and USDA from adopted new efficiency mandates unless 26 states have already adopted similar standards.
  • Read the bill here.

corruption and abuse of unconstitutional power are the only issues worth discussing now.

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The Anti-Establishment Establishment

Freedom, IndianaAuthor Andrew Horning is the Libertarian Party of Indiana’s candidate for Indiana’s US Senate seat in 2024.

I want to believe that Trump would, if elected again, “drain the swamp,” as he said he’d do the last time.  Yes, I wish he had kept some other promises as well, but his previous unconstitutional and destructive spending, debt, and global military violence, like sanctions, assassinations and coup attempts, were mere symptoms of a much, much greater disease.  And that disease spans all factions within both of the crony network parties.

Political corruption and abuse of unconstitutional power are the only issues worth discussing now.  Pick any major economic, social, military or political problem – endless war, inflation, social division, injustice…at the root of each, is corruption.  It’s easy to see corruption in the structure and function of the unconstitutional, self-appointed, inherently divisive and corrupt “Two-Party System” our founders warned against.  Campaign donations, and the multi-billion-dollar influence-peddling industry, tell much of how this puppet show works according to three political maxims: “Follow The Money,” “People are Policy,” and the one I was told often when I won a US House of Representatives primary in the GOP, “Ya dance with the one that brung ya.”

So, consider the AIPAC (for example) and other special interest-funded and foreign government-favored swamp creatures Trump has endorsed, as well as the “shadow government,” “deep state,” Big Tech, Big Pharma, Big Ag and otherwise mighty people and corporations now endorsing, surrounding and funding the Trump/Vance ticket:  Palmer Luckey, Peter Thiel, Jaime Dimon and Eric Prince are the luminaries of Anduril, Palantir, JP Morgan and Blackwater, for example.  What policies are they buying?  Recall Trump’s support of “Pre-Crime” powers (now privatized under Palantir), and the privatized versions of CBDCs, including Bitcoin and stablecoins as promoted by JP Morgan.  Even DEI-promoting Larry Fink of Blackrock now has the ear of Donald Trump in matters of global finance.

So, Trump is funded, surrounded and staffed by authoritarian, warhawk neocon, global panopticon entities and promoters.  In other words, Trump isn’t tied to only rich financiers, and what Eisenhower called “the Military-Industrial Complex,” as he was in his first term (and as are Democrats), he’s also, like Democrats, attached to the other phrase we should remember from that same Eisenhower speech: “a Scientific-Technological Elite.”  It’s an elite that promotes what Thiel himself described as, “communist totalitarian technology.”

Yes, there are partisan differences.  Democrat puppet masters hate the formerly-loved, formerly-Democrat Trump, and Trump now hates them back.  If Trump wins, there would certainly be some shakeups, as puppet strings shift from puppets to other puppets.  And I do expect that Trump’s cronies would, quite opposite Democratic Party cronies, do something about the destruction of our energy industries, and the taxpayer-funded transportation and subsidy of aliens across our borders.  But…

Here’s the blunt truth:

1. However you describe, hate or favor any of our wealthy ruling caste, none of them particularly care whether any Democrat or Republican wins, as long as their puppet show continues with the same divide-and-conquer Two Party Scam.  Trump, his sycophants and coat-tails, aren’t challenging that at all.  If they win, the corruption and global madness continues.

2. Any vote for ANY D or R candidate…even the best ones like Thomas Massie, John Hostettler or Justin Amash, is not merely wasted hope and a wasted vote.  It’s self-immolation.  No D or R politician can fix this mess.  They’ve voluntarily chosen to represent this corrupt crony network.  Like it or not, they’re puppets – even if, like Massie, they point to the strings and puppet masters.  Voting for any part of this says exactly and only, “Attaboy!  Keep doing what you’re doing to us!”  And why would they not keep doing it to us?  All they need is your vote; they’ve already got everything else.

3. Voting for ANYTHING/ANYBODY ELSE demonstrates, at the very least, that we’ve had a change of heart, mind and choice; that we’re done with those tearing us apart, and that we aren’t willing participants anymore.  It says we finally, after many generations of casting our votes like poker chips, instead used our votes as weapons of revolution against the small number of psychopaths running us to ruin.

I’m putting #3 on the ballot.  I’m the only one doing that in Indiana’s 2024 US Senate race.  I can’t make you vote for me, of course.  But please consider what the other guys are already making you do, and let’s talk.  We’ve wasted too much, time, money, hope, peace, prosperity, justice …and votes, to let this go on any longer.

Liberty or Bust!
Andy Horning

University Of Evansville Department of Theatre Holding Community Auditions

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u of E

University Of Evansville Department of Theatre Holding Community Auditions for Upcoming Production of the Musical INTO THE WOODS

AUGUST 9, 2024

EVANSVILLE, IND. (08/08/2024) The University of Evansville Department of Theatre is excited to invite members of campus and the Evansville community to audition for INTO THE WOODS, music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. Auditions will be held at 4 p.m., Sunday, August 18, in Shanklin Theatre on the University of Evansville campus.

Those interested in auditioning should prepare a short monologue (one minute or less) from a contemporary play and a verse and a chorus of a song. A pianist will be available for accompaniment. Anyone is welcome to audition, and they are specifically looking for one person between the ages of 12 and 17. Rehearsals will begin on August 21 and performances will run October 4 through 20.

Individuals with any questions should contact the Department of Theatre by email at theatre@evansville.edu or by calling 812.488.2744.

The University of Evansville is a private, comprehensive university located in the southwestern region of Indiana. Established in 1854, UE is recognized across the globe for its rich tradition of innovative, academic excellence and vibrant campus community of changemakers.

New USI scholarships to focus on enhancing healthcare quality

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New USI scholarships to focus on enhancing healthcare quality for Indiana’s aging population

August 9, 2024

The University of Southern Indiana Foundation has received a $100,000 grant from Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield to fund scholarships for USI undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in the Administrator-in-Training (AIT) residency program or any academic major, minor or certificate program offered in gerontology. The scholarships will increase educational and career opportunities for students interested in working with older adults and bolster the healthcare workforce in Indiana.

The grant announcement was made during the Mid-America Institute on Aging and Wellness (MAIA) Conference where industry and community leaders gathered to provide and discuss practical tools and best practices for successful aging and wellness strategies through interprofessional collaborative practice.

“Preference will be given to students who have demonstrated financial need, and the Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Scholarships are renewable if the recipients continue to meet the eligibility requirements,” says Dr. Katie Ehlman, Professor of Gerontology and Director of the USI Bronstein Center for Healthy Aging and Wellness. “These scholarships represent Anthem’s commitment to help build a pipeline of new healthcare professionals to care for the growing aging population in our state.”

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, by 2030, one in five Americans will be 65 or older, reflecting the rapid aging of the baby boomer generation. “This demographic shift, between 2014 and 2060, will see the older population more than double from 46 million to 98 million, profoundly impacting our nation’s age structure and creating an urgent healthcare workforce need,” says Ehlman. “It is expected that this increase in the aging population will create higher demand for healthcare professionals, particularly in fields related to geriatric care. We are grateful for Anthem’s generous support for this new scholarship program to assist USI students pursuing careers in gerontology, long-term care and related areas.”

“This scholarship aims to create a clear path to success for students, enabling them to seek rewarding healthcare positions serving older adults across Indiana,” said Dawn Butler, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield’s PathWays for Aging Director. “By working with partners like USI, Anthem continues to invest in innovative solutions that strengthen our healthcare workforce and improve lives in our communities.”

In 2017, USI was the first academic institution in Indiana to have an Administrator-in-Training (AIT) residency program incorporated into the undergraduate and graduate curriculum. An AIT program must be completed before an individual can sit for the exams required for nursing home administrator licensure. USI was able to add the new AIT course because of changes in the Indiana statute allowing students to complete an AIT program under the guidance of a qualified nursing home administrator prior to receiving a bachelor’s degree.

Indiana to expand program for expectant mothers

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Indiana to expand program for expectant, new mothers with substance-use disorders

Federal grant to support more Hoosiers in the next three years

INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana will expand its Pregnancy Promise Program to support more expectant and new mothers with substance use disorders. The Indiana Family and Social Services Administration (FSSA) received a three-year, up to $2.7 million federal grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), which will allow it to support an additional 300 pregnant Hoosiers over the next three years, with a focus on those living in rural and under-resourced communities.

“The program’s multigeneration approach supports pregnant women and infants from the prenatal period through 12 months postpartum,” FSSA Secretary Dr. Dan Rusyniak said. “Not only are we helping mothers find treatment and sustain recovery, but we also ensure infants have an established pediatrician, appropriate referrals to pediatric specialists as needed, and developmental support services.”

The Pregnancy Promise Program has supported more than 900 mothers since it launched in 2021. While maternal and infant mortality rates are decreasing slightly across Indiana, data from the most recent Indiana Maternal Morality Review Committee’s annual report shows substance use disorder and overdose continues to be a leading cause of maternal death in the state.

The program has resulted in high rates of sustained recovery for mothers, continuity of medications prescribed to treat opioid use disorder, prevention of preterm births, healthy infant birth weights, and access to resources to address unmet health related and social needs including stable housing, transportation, food security and child care, leading to family preservation and reunification.

The Pregnancy Promise Program partners with Indiana Medicaid managed care health plans to provide case management and care coordination services to participants who receive highly skilled support from an experienced nurse or social worker through the Medicaid health plan, ensuring pregnant individuals are receiving treatment and health care in their local community.

“We are excited about this grant, which will bolster and expand FSSA’s existing program for pregnant individuals suffering from substance-use,” Pregnancy Promise program manager Elizabeth Wahl said. “The program’s goals are clear — to save infant and maternal lives, preserve family units by securing needed resources, ensure reliable access to appropriate care and put an end to generational cycles of substance use and trauma. This program has witnessed families persevere, transform their lives and find hope for the future.”

The grant will expand services for pregnant and postpartum individuals with a primary diagnosis of a substance use disorder; remove barriers and expand outpatient treatment and recovery support services for pregnant and postpartum individuals with a substance use disorder; and promote a coordinated system of care across health care and family support providers.

The FSSA will partner with Centerstone, a community mental health center, and VOA Fresh Start, a residential treatment program, to enhance services. This funding will allow uninsured and under-insured pregnant individuals access to additional support.

Anyone can make a confidential referral to the Pregnancy Promise Program here.

The program has been funded with a five-year award from the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Innovation, which ends Dec. 31. This grant is scheduled to begin Sept. 30.

The state’s highest agriculture honor awarded

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The state’s highest agriculture honor awarded

INDIANAPOLIS (Aug. 8, 2024) — Indiana State Fair the Indiana State Department of Agriculture (ISDA) presented John Baugh, Director of Agricultural Services and Regulations at Purdue University, and Ed Ebert, Senior Director of Market Development for the Indiana Soybean Alliance and the Indiana Corn Marketing Council, with the state’s highest agricultural honor, the AgriVision Award.

Now in its 18th year, the award is presented to individuals who have made significant contributions to the agriculture industry and their communities.

“It was an honor to present John and Ed with the AgriVision Award,” said Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch, Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development. “Their vision has guided the foundation of this great industry, and not just statewide, but nationally. We would not be where we are today without their leadership and commitment to supporting agriculture.”

John Baugh has been a tireless advocate for Indiana agriculture for decades. A steady presence at the Indiana Statehouse for the last 35 years, his impact can be seen on legislation that directly impacts agriculture and rural communities. He has, and continues to work closely with state agencies, including the ISDA, State Board of Animal Health, Office of the State Chemist, and many others, to ensure the laws, rules and regulations passed by the Indiana Legislature are based on both science and common sense.

Baugh is a tireless advocate for Purdue University, Purdue Agriculture, and agricultural education throughout the state. Through his efforts, Vincennes and Purdue created joint facilities located adjacent to the Purdue Southwest Agricultural Center in Knox County. Those facilities have enhanced Purdue’s impact on agriculture in the region and strengthened the long-standing relationship between the two institutions. Additionally, he played a key role in assisting the college’s efforts to secure legislative support for the new veterinary hospital. Over the years, Baugh has been the lead for lobbying to secure funding to support the Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (ADDL) in West Lafayette and the Heeke Diagnostic Laboratory located at the Southern Indiana Purdue Agricultural Center (SIPAC) in Dubois County.

Throughout Baugh’s career, he has served as a tireless advocate on behalf of Indiana rural communities. When considering his exhaustive contributions to forming the Indiana Corn Checkoff Law, Indiana Grain Indemnity Fund, rural broadband efforts, chemical applicator licensing issues affecting producers and citizens alike, livestock challenges and agronomic sustainability opportunities, to name a few, Mr. Baugh has proven a reliable source of information for his fellow board members over the years.

“The strength of Indiana’s agricultural industry comes from the dedication, ingenuity and perseverance of Hoosiers and visionaries like John and Ed,” said Don Lamb, director of the Indiana State Department of Agriculture. “Both awardees have dedicated their careers to moving the industry forward, and it was a privilege to honor them today.”

Ed Ebert goes many, many miles to serve the soybean and corn farmers of Indiana. He is always seeking new markets to move tons of Hoosier-grown soybeans and corn to customers both nearby and around the globe. Ebert’s duties are aimed at helping to increase the farmer’s bottom line. To accomplish those goals, he goes the extra mile – in a big way. Ebert has buyers interested in Indiana’s corn and soy crops and related products on six continents, and he has traveled the circumference of the Earth more times than he can count.

In a typical month, you might find Ebert working on a deal with large scale venues to use high oleic soybean oil in their concessions, promoting food-grade soybeans in Indonesia, promoting soybean oil to the food industry in Korea, educating chefs in Vietnam about U.S. Poultry and Pork, promoting U.S. soy in aquaculture diets in China, promoting chicken, duck and turkey in Colombia, talking container export opportunities with the Ports of Indiana, leveraging contacts to coordinate international trade team visits to Indiana farms, promoting the benefits or ethanol and biodiesel or advising the ISA and ICMC CEO Courtney Kingery about crop yields and bushel prices.

Ebert represents Indiana producers well on a statewide and global stage. In fact, in 2023, he and the Indiana Soybean Alliance and the Indiana Corn Marketing Council engaged with 31 countries representing 57% of the world’s population and 36% of gross domestic product to work on projects to move the pile. He has been an invaluable source of knowledge on international commodity markets and is an asset to all Indiana corn and soybean farmers.