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INDIANA STATEWIDE POSITIVES COVID-19 CASE COUNTS IS 523,090
New Ultrasound Requirement Helps Protect Women’s Health And Sanctity Of Life
Attorney General Curtis Hill today issued the following statement:
“On Jan. 1, 2021, a new Indiana law goes into effect requiring ultrasounds at least 18 hours before women undergo abortions.
“My office successfully defended a challenge to this law by Planned Parenthood, which dropped a lawsuit against the state in exchange for the state’s agreement to refrain from enforcing the law until 2021 — giving clinics time to train staff on the proper use of ultrasound equipment.
“We held the line in our commitment to respect women’s health and the sanctity of human life. Planned Parenthood folded because they saw the likelihood that they would lose their lawsuit if they persisted in fighting Indiana’s very reasonable and well-grounded law.
“For women considering abortions, ultrasounds are an important part of informed-consent counseling. Anyone interested in protecting women’s health, including their mental health, should support giving them as much information as possible to aid their decision-making. This new law serves to empower women with knowledge.â€
In a Widening News Desert on the Border, a Tabloid Start-Up Defies the Odds
In a Widening News Desert on the Border, a Tabloid Start-Up Defies the Odds
People in Del Rio, Texas, complain that nothing ever happens there. Those are fighting words for the publisher of The 830 Times, though he admits that keeping his paper afloat might be the biggest news of all
DEL RIO, Texas — At the Chihuahuan Desert’s eastern limits, in a parking lot above Lake Amistad, Brian Argabright photographed anglers and their catch at the Border Bass Battle for The Del Rio News-Herald, a chronicler of the wind-swept border town since 1884.
Three days later, he would learn the tournament story would be his last for The News-Herald.
On Nov. 18, the nationwide newspaper crisis touched Val Verde County when The News-Herald printed its final edition. The end was swift for the staff and a shock to residents, who had somehow expected their newspaper to last forever.
Leonard Woolsey, president of Southern Newspapers Inc., the corporation that owns The News-Herald, came to Del Rio to fire 10 employees. For him, it was the right thing to do it in person. Revenue could not cover payroll, even after the company secured a multimillion-dollar federal Covid-19 relief loan
The closure left Val Verde County without a trusted newspaper, another victim in a trend researchers at the University of North Carolina deemed “The Expanding News Desert.†An estimated 300 newspapers have closed and 6,000 journalists have lost their jobs over the past two years, according to their research, as circulation fell by five million readers
In Texas, 134 counties — a little more than half the state — have just one newspaper, and 21 have no newspaper at all. Del Rio, the Vale Verde County seat, teetered on becoming the 22nd.
Enter Joel Langton, a 56-year-old military public-affairs veteran who decided to turn an online events website he had started into a 16-page, ad-supported weekly tabloid, Del Rio’s 830 Times.
“The News-Herald had a great staff and a bad business plan,†he said. “Publishers came in from the outside every 18 months. Del Rio is a complicated culture. I’ve been here for 15 years and still don’t know everything going on.â€
After The News-Herald closed, Mr. Langton stepped forward to turn his 5-month-old 830Times.com, named after the local telephone area code, into a newspaper. He had a web designer and knew someone who could make layouts. But he needed reporters to cover Del Rio.
He brought on Mr. Argabright and another former News-Herald writer, Karen Gleason, to fill his pages as freelancers.
“The fact they said yes makes me tear up because I have so much respect for both of them,†Mr. Langton wrote in the newspaper’s first issue. “We all share the same passion — Del Rio. We love this town and want to keep people informed.â€
The 830 Times is a solution to Del Rio’s biggest problem, as Mr. Langton sees it — how to keep residents from moving away.
“People say there is nothing to do here, but that’s not true,†he said. “The 830 Times was originally set up to let people know about the fun things going on.â€
Mr. Langton is right. There are entertainments to be had in Del Rio, though most of them are of the outdoor variety.
More than 200 men, women and children on horseback and ATVs and in pickup trucks snarled traffic along seven miles in Cienegas Terrace, a colonia between the Del Rio airport and the Rio Grande. A ranch cookout followed, with beer kegs, homemade tamales, a roping exhibition, and a norteño band playing behind a curtain of cigarette smoke.
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Diego’s uncle, Beto Torez, who grew up in Del Rio, was at the party with his young family. He lives 260 miles east, in Austin, where he works as a church music director. Del Rio is lovely to visit for the day, he said, but to raise his children here? No way. Austin has a better music scene.
The cabalgata made the news on Noticias Del Rio TV, a local bilingual Facebook page with nearly 85,000 followers. The 830 Times so far has 3,000 followers on its Facebook page. The disparate numbers hint at the obstacles Mr. Langton faces in his push to make The 830 Times succeed in a world dominated by Google and Facebook advertising and competitors with Spanish-language appeal.
“For now, I’m footing the bill,†he said. “Am I gambling on the print product? Yes. I could lose it all.â€
At age 24, Mr. Langton was married, broke and desperate for work in Minnesota. The Air Force was hiring, so he enlisted.
The military moved him every three years or so, an itinerant life that mirrored his upbringing as a preacher’s son. He worked as a public-affairs specialist in Indiana, Maryland, Arkansas, Nebraska, Turkey and then Cocoa Beach, Fla., which he called “the perfect place to bounce back from a divorce.â€
Mr. Langton remarried and moved with his wife to his final post in Del Rio at Laughlin Air Force Base, the largest pilot training facility in the United States.
Later, he transitioned from the military to a civilian public relations job at Laughlin.
Del Rio, population 35,700, is tiny compared with its sister city, Ciudad Acuña, on the Mexico side of Rio Grande, which has more than 200,000 residents. Acuña is a manufacturing town focusing on auto parts and appliances. Thanks to the Air Force base, the federal government is the largest employer in Del Rio.
Despite the razor wire-topped fences and border guards dividing the two cities, most residents see Del Rio and Acuña as one place.
Into that international mix has recently stepped a third player — a Chinese company proposing a major and hotly debated new enterprise outside Del Rio that has become one of The 830 Times’s biggest news stories.
GH America Energy quietly bought 140,000 acres in Val Verde County over the last five years to build a massive wind farm not far from the pilot training base. A Chinese billionaire and former army officer, Sun Guangxin, controls the company, a Guanghui Energy Company subsidiary, through an investment group.
In 2018, concern that giant wind turbines could disrupt flight training routes that are crucial to the county’s biggest employer began prompting apprehension all over Val Verde County and from Texas’ representatives in Washington. Del Rio’s mayor, Bruno Lozano, and the county’s senior administrator, Judge Lewis Owens, sent a letter to Trump administration officials early in 2020, warning that the energy project “will result in unacceptable risk to national security of the United States.â€
It is in Del Rio’s interest to keep the military happy. According to the Texas comptroller, Laughlin contributes $2 billion to the Texas economy and more than 3,000 jobs each year.
“It’s the most underreported story here,†Mr. Langton said. “The Communist Chinese are one of the largest landowners. But because of my position at the base, I need to keep walls up between me and that story. I’ll hire a writer to cover it.â€
Mr. Langton operates his news empire from a sideboard he uses as a desk in his dining room, dealing with his reporters and the company that prints the paper, 153 miles away, by cellphone.
On a Wednesday morning last month, it was 5:30 a.m., The 830 Times’s inaugural edition was late, and Mr. Langton was dialing the phone.
“I hate calling people this early, but I have to get my stuff out,†he said, bemoaning the troubles of his new venture. It was inspection week at the Air Force base, and he could not be late.
Moments later, a delivery driver arrived in the cold, pre-dawn darkness and unloaded 2,000 copies.
“The banner color is off,†Mr. Langton said. “It should be blue. This looks purple.â€
A full-color photo on the front page captured the annual “Nutcracker†performance at a downtown theater. Inside, a note “From the Publisher Dude†teased an article penned by Norris Burkes, a retired Air Force chaplain, recalling his “wacky marriage proposal.â€
With the newspapers stacked in his S.U.V., Mr. Langton tuned his radio to the Outlaw Country station and drove down Veterans Boulevard, an area where Del Rio began to expand northward on open savanna after the Plaza Del Sol Mall opened in 1979.
Big-box stores and strip malls followed as the historic downtown declined, killing the Guarantee department store, the first permanent commercial structure on Main Street when it was a cow trail in 1905.
Mr. Langton dropped his newspaper off at Roberts Jewelers, River City Donuts, a Rudy’s Bar-B-Q, a Ramada hotel, an IHOP, the Bank & Trust, gas stations and laundromats, all places where readers could pick it up for free.
Plenty of people are counting on Mr. Langton to make a go of it. Steven T. Webb, a former Del Rio police officer who won a runoff in December for the City Council, said the fact that only 12 percent of voters turned out in the general election was partly attributable to the News-Herald shutdown. “Social media, friends, that’s the only way we get the news now,†he said. “It hurt us, the newspaper closing.â€
For now, Mr. Langton is focusing on advertising and editing, leaving the story ideas and writing to Mr. Argabright and Ms. Gleason. Del Rio’s 830 Times is crawling, he said, but he hopes soon the newspaper learns how to walk and run. Mostly, Mr. Langton wants the residents to love his publication as their own.
“The 830 Times is a leap of faith,†Ms. Gleason said. She had known Mr. Langton all of two days before the first issue was finished. “I just want this paper to be a voice for the community, interesting and truthful stories about people in Del Rio.â€
Mr. Langston concedes that his efforts to provide Del Rio with a newspaper it can hold in its hands are probably temporary. He believes the printed word is going extinct.
“I hate to tell you this, buddy,†he said. “But in five or 10 years, newspapers won’t exist anymore.â€
He figures he has five years to prove himself wrong.
FOOTNOTE: Â Thanks to our special friend Joe Wallace for sharing this article with us.
HOOSIER HISTORY HIGHLIGHTS
January 3 – January 9The Week in Indiana History |
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Did You Know?   The most recent mural to be completed in downtown Indianapolis pays tribute to Eva Mozes Kor, who survived the Holocaust and became a life-long advocate for hope and forgiveness. She lived the final 59 years of her life in Terre Haute. An author and world traveler, she was twice honored as a Sagamore of the Wabash. In 2017, Governor Eric Holcomb presented her with the Sachem Award, Indiana’s highest honor. The mural is on the east side of the 500 Festival Building on Virginia Avenue. It is the work of Hoosier artist Pamela Bliss.
“Forgive your worst enemy. It will heal your soul and set you free.” – – – Eva Mozes Kor (1934 – 2019)
HOOSIERS HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS, hosted by Governor Eric Holcomb and First Lady Janet Holcomb STATEHOOD DAY: Learn about the three branches of government and more! . ANSWERS: 1. E   2. A   3. D   4. C  5. B
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1951   After six overtimes, the Indianapolis Olympians defeated the Rochester Royals in the longest NBA game in history. Played at Edgerton Park Arena, the contest ended with a close Olympians victory. The final score was 75 to 73. Two of the overtime sessions were scoreless, and in one neither team launched a shot. The Olympians, in existence from 1949 to 1952, were founding members of the NBA. Their home arena was Butler (now Hinkle) Fieldhouse.
1995   Governor Evan Bayh appointed Myra Selby to the Indiana Supreme Court. She was the first woman and the first African American to serve on the state’s highest court. During her years on the bench, she authored more than 100 majority opinions, including important decisions regarding tort law reform and medical malpractice claims.
2015   Arthur Carter died in Indianapolis at age 92. He was the last Indiana member of the famed Tuskegee Airmen, an African American Army Air squadron which fought in World War II. A graduate of Crispus Attucks High School, he attended Indiana University before joining the service. In 2007, he received the Congressional Gold Medal from President George W. Bush.
“RIGHT JAB AND MIDDLE JAB AND LEFT JAB†JANUARY 3, 2021
Right Jab And Middle Jab And Left Jabâ€Â was created because we have a couple of commenters that post on a daily basis either in our “IS IT TRUE†or “Readers Forumâ€Â columns concerning National or International issues.
The majority of our “IS IT TRUE†columns are about local or state issues, so we have decided to give our more opinionated readers exclusive access to our newly created “LEFT JAB and Middle Jab and RIGHT JAB† column. They now have this post to exclusively discuss national or world issues that they feel passionate about.
We shall be posting the “LEFT JAB†AND “MIDDLE JAB†AND “RIGHT JABâ€Â several times a week.  Oh, “LEFT JAB†is a liberal view, “MIDDLE JAB†is the libertarian view and the “RIGHT JAB is representative of the more conservative views. Also, any reader who would like to react to the written comments in this column is free to do so.
FOOTNOTE: The City-County Observer posted this political in order to generate a rational discussion.
HOT JOBS IN EVANSVILLE
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VANDERBURGH COUNTY FELONY CHARGES
 Evansville, IN – Below are the felony cases to be filed by the Vanderburgh County Prosecutor’s Office today.
Eric Dewayne Johnson: Possession of methamphetamine (Level 6 Felony)
Jai A. Harris: Armed robbery (Level 3 Felony), Resisting law enforcement (Level 6 Felony), Attempt obstruction of justice (Level 6 Felony), Resisting law enforcement (Class A misdemeanor), False informing (Class B misdemeanor)
Destin Jay Svetska: Criminal confinement (Level 4 Felony), Criminal confinement (Level 5 Felony), Resisting law enforcement (Level 6 Felony), Possession of methamphetamine (Level 6 Felony), Reckless driving (Class C misdemeanor), Reckless driving (Class C misdemeanor)
Keyauna Martin: Domestic battery (Level 6 Felony)
Ashley Phyliss Drane: Burglary (Level 5 Felony), Theft (Level 6 Felony)
Patrick Levell Adams: Domestic battery (Level 6 Felony), False informing (Class B misdemeanor)
Nathaniel Mark Jordan: Strangulation (Level 5 Felony), Domestic battery (Level 6 Felony), Criminal trespass (Class A misdemeanor), Battery (Class B misdemeanor)
Larz K. Case: Domestic battery by means of a deadly weapon (Level 5 Felony), Domestic battery resulting in moderate bodily injury (Level 6 Felony), Strangulation (Level 6 Felony), Criminal confinement (Level 6 Felony), Possession of methamphetamine (Level 6 Felony), Unlawful possession of syringe (Level 6 Felony), Interference with the reporting of a crime (Class A misdemeanor)
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 JUST IN: Kuhlman Lifts UE To 65-61 Win Over UNI
 Kuhlman lifts UE to 65-61 win over UNI
Aces win second MVC game in a row
 EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Evan Kuhlman scored the first eight University of Evansville points before finishing with a career-high of 21 to lift the Purple Aces men’s basketball team to a 65-61 victory over UNI on Saturday afternoon inside the Ford Center.
Kuhlman gave Evansville (4-5, 2-1 MVC) an early 8-2 advantage. UNI (2-6, 1-2 MVC) came back to tie the game at 49-49 with just over seven minutes remaining in the game, but a 9-0 run by the Aces helped them to earn the victory. In his career effort, Kuhlman was 7-of-14 from the field while hitting four triples and all three free-throw attempts.
Joining Kuhlman in double figures was Samari Curtis. The sophomore added 14 points, including three from outside, on his way to 14 points. Jax Levitch paced the team with eight rebounds.
“I have to give a lot of credit to UNI – they are tough to play against – they move the ball and defend very well – it is very hard to generate offense on them and keep them under control defensively,†UE head coach Todd Lickliter said following the win. “We were able to persevere and that is a good sign. We had guys that fought hard and found a way to win.â€
Trae Berhow posted a triple-double for the Panthers, totaling 10 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. Austin Phyfe also had a strong game, registering a double-double. He led UNI with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
It was the long ball that provided the Aces offense in the early going with UE hitting four of its first six attempts on the way to a 16-10 lead. Evan Kuhlman hit Evansville’s first three shots, including a pair of 3-pointers, with the Aces jumping out to an 8-2 lead. UNI closed within a tally at 11-10 as they hit five of their opening seven tries.
Noah Frederking pushed the lead back to four when he hit his first shot from downtown and Samari Curtis would connect on his first one as the team pushed its lead to 21-14 just past the midway point of the period. The next six points belonged to the Panthers, who cut their deficit to just a point once again with a Nate Heise layup that made it a 21-20 UE lead at the 7:13 mark.
Over the next two minutes, Evansville would extend its lead to a game-high eight points. Jawaun Newton hit back-to-back baskets before Frederking added his second try of the day. Two free throws by Shamar Givance capped off the run, which saw the Aces go up 30-22 with five minutes remaining. UNI was able to cut the gap in half in the final minutes as the Aces entered the halftime break with a 32-28 advantage. Kuhlman led all players with 10 points in the half.
The 3-point shot continued to be the Aces primary weapon as the first three field goals of the second half came from outside. Kuhlman added another 3-pointer along with an old-fashioned 3-point play that made it a 44-38 contest. Up by the same amount with 13 minutes remaining, the Aces went scoreless for a span of just over four minutes. The UE defense held strong, along just three Panther points before Newton converted a 3-point play that extended the lead to 49-43 with 8:45 on the clock.
Over the next 90 seconds, Northern Iowa reeled off six points to tie the game up for the first time since tipoff. The tying basket came from Austin Phyfe with 7:24 remaining. Facing their biggest challenge of the game, the Aces responded in a big way. A 9-0 rally saw the Aces take their largest advantage of the day. Kuhlman started it off with a three before Curtis forced a turnover and took the ball the distance for a 3-point play. It was Curtis capping off the run with a triple that gave Evansville a 58-49 advantage with 5:02 left.
As the minutes wound down, the Aces held strong. The Panthers got within a possession in the final minute, but two more Kuhlman free throws sealed the 65-61 win.
Today’s 21-point outing by Kuhlman passed his previous high of 17, which came at Drake last season. His top-scoring tally from this season prior to today was a 15-point game versus Eastern Illinois. UE shot 40% for the game with UNI finishing at 45.1%. The Panthers were 0-for-11 from 3-point range, ending a streak of 665 consecutive games hitting an outside shot. It was the first time Evansville held an opponent without a triple since Nov. 17, 2012, when Western Illinois failed to hit one.
Tomorrow afternoon at 3 p.m., the teams will be back in action inside the Ford Center on ESPN+.