Braun & Sinema’s ‘Consider Teachers Act’ Passes SenateWASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mike Braun and Senator Kyrsten Sinema’s Consider Teachers Act has passed the Senate. The bill addresses problems with the TEACH Grant program, which saw many grants for teachers unfairly converted into loans.
The TEACH Grant program provides grant assistance to students who serve four years as a full time teacher in high-need, often underserved communities. Often due to basic clerical mistakes, thousands of teachers have found their grants converted into loans that must be paid back with interest. The Consider Teachers Act fixes this broken system permanently.“The TEACH grant is an important program that incentivizes teachers to serve in neglected communities, but 12 years of poor government management has unfairly transferred grants into loans for thousands of teachers,” said Senator Braun. “I’m proud this bill has passed the Senate to show our appreciation for these teachers, and I implore the House to act quickly to pass it.”“Arizona teachers use to TEACH grants to serve families in low-income schools. The government made a promise to those teachers, and our commonsense, bipartisan bill ensures the government honors its obligation,†said Senator Sinema.BACKGROUND:
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Braun & Sinema’s ‘Consider Teachers Act’ Passes Senate
USI Recognizes More Than 2,100 Students Named To Fall 2020 Dean’s List
In recognition of outstanding academic achievement, the University of Southern Indiana Dean’s List has been released for the Fall 2020 semester. ​Dr. Mohammed Khayum, USI Provost, announced that a total of 2,133 undergraduates were named to the Dean’s List.​
Semester honors are not awarded to master’s degree students or doctoral students.
Undergraduate students must achieve a 3.5 or better grade point average (on a 4.0 system) to be named to the list. Students earning no IN (incomplete) or Z (missing) grades for the term, and earning letter grades of computable point value (Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory and Pass/No Pass graded courses do not apply) in 12 or more semester hours, with a semester grade point average between 3.5 and 4.0 are named to the list.
The list is arranged by state and city, according to the mailing address each student has provided to the University. A student’s name may be listed under Evansville if the student supplied an Evansville mailing address. The dean’s list may be accessed by clicking the link below.
LINK OF USI FALL DEAN’S LIST
AG Curtis Hill Announces $2M Settlement With CafePress After Data Breach
Attorney General Curtis Hill today announced that Indiana and six other states have reached a $2 million settlement with CafePress, an online retailer of stock and user-customized products.
The settlement resolves a 2019 data breach that compromised the personal information of approximately 22 million consumers, including 312,000 Indiana residents. The breach compromised consumer names, email addresses, passwords, physical addresses, phone numbers, credit card numbers and expiration dates, and full, unencrypted Social Security and tax identification numbers.
Under the settlement, CafePress agreed to pay $2 million to Indiana and the six other states. This includes an immediate payment of $72,712.15 to Indiana and $677,287.85 divided amongst the other states. The remainder of the $2 million payment is suspended based on the company’s financial condition.
“Although it would be more beneficial for consumers if companies like CafePress took cybersecurity precautions before they were hit by data breaches, we are pleased that CafePress will now take necessary actions to protect their customers’ information,†Attorney General Hill said. “Cyberattacks are the fastest-growing type of crime in our nation, and we will continue to hold accountable companies that don’t take basic, proactive measures to prevent them.â€
In addition to the $2 million payment, CafePress has agreed to a series of provisions designed to protect consumers’ personal information from cyberattacks. Those include:
- a comprehensive information security program that includes regular updates to keep pace with changes in technology and security threats, as well as regular reporting to the CEO concerning security risks;
- an incident response and data breach notification plan that must address preparation, detection, analysis, containment, eradication and recovery;
- personal information safeguards and controls, including encryption, segmentation, penetration testing, logging and monitoring, a risk assessment program, password management and data minimization;
- clear notice to consumers concerning account closure and data deletion; and
- third-party security assessments for five years.
PlanetArt LLC, which purchased substantially all the assets of CafePress during our investigation into the data breach, agreed to the provisions of the settlement designed to protect consumer data.
Upon disclosing the breach in September 2019, CafePress offered two years of credit monitoring and theft resolution services at no charge to those whose Social Security or tax identification numbers were affected by the incident.
In addition to Attorney General Hill, the attorneys general of New York, Connecticut, Kentucky, Michigan, New Jersey and Oregon participated in the settlement. New York Attorney General Letitia James led the multistate investigation into the data breach.
November Indiana Employment Report
 Indiana’s unemployment rate stands at 5.0 percent for November, and the national rate is 6.7 percent. The monthly unemployment rate is a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) indicator that reflects the number of unemployed people seeking employment within the prior four weeks as a percentage of the labor force.
Indiana’s labor force had a net decrease of 40,274 over the previous month. This was a result of a decrease of 17,345 unemployed residents and a decrease of 22,929 employed residents. Indiana’s total labor force, which includes both Hoosiers employed and those seeking employment, stands at 3.33 million, and the state’s 62.9 percent labor force participation rate remains above the national rate of 61.5 percent.
Learn more about how unemployment rates are calculated here: http://www.hoosierdata.in.gov/infographics/employment-status.asp.
Employment by Sector
Private sector employment has decreased by 87,600 over the year and decreased by 200 over the previous month. The monthly decrease is primarily due to losses in the Professional and Business Services (-3,800) and the Leisure and Hospitality (-3,000) sectors. Losses were offset by gains in the Construction (3,700) and the Other (2,300), which includes Mining and Logging, IT and Other Services, sectors. Total private employment stands at 2,643,400, which is 105,900 below the January 2019 peak.
Midwest Unemployment Rates
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Indiana State Police Increase Patrols During Holiday Season
Indiana State Police will be increasing patrols during this upcoming holiday season, as part of the winter Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over national enforcement mobilization. Now until January 1, troopers will be looking for impaired drivers and those drivers and passengers not buckling up.
Extra patrols are funded by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) through an Indiana Criminal Justice Institute grant.
The holiday season is one of the deadliest times of the year for impaired-driving fatalities. Last December in Indiana, there were 415 alcohol-related crashes, resulting in 105 injuries and 11 fatalities.
To further save lives and prevent traffic fatalities, troopers will be looking for seat belt and child restraint violations. According to NHTSA, between 1975 and 2017, seat belts have saved an estimated 374,196 lives. While Indiana’s seat belt usage rate is above the national average of 90.7 percent, more than half of the people who were killed in motor vehicle crashes last year were not buckled up. “With inclement weather and busier roads this time of year, it’s especially important to buckle up,†said Robert Duckworth, ICJI Traffic Safety Director. “We want everyone to have a safe holiday season and wearing a seat belt is the best way to protect yourself on the road.â€Â Indiana has a primary seat-belt law, meaning that law enforcement officers may ticket unrestrained drivers or passengers, even if no other traffic violation has taken place. Children under eight must be properly restrained in a federally approved child or booster seat.
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HEALTH DEPARTMENT UPDATES STATEWIDE COVID-19 CASE COUNTS
The Indiana Department of Health today announced that 6,088 additional Hoosiers have been diagnosed with COVID-19 through testing at state and private laboratories. That brings to 453,139 the number of Indiana residents now known to have had the novel coronavirus following corrections to the previous day’s dashboard.
A total of 6,944 Hoosiers are confirmed to have died from COVID-19, an increase of 84 from the previous day. Another 321 probable deaths have been reported based on clinical diagnoses in patients for whom no positive test is on record. Deaths are reported based on when data are received by the state and occurred over multiple days.
To date, 2,492,370 unique individuals have been tested in Indiana, up from 2,477,734 on Thursday. A total of 5,157,016 tests, including repeat tests for unique individuals, have been reported to the state Department of Health since Feb. 26.
