https://www.vanderburghsheriff.com/jail-recent-booking-records.aspx
Indiana Black Legislative Caucus Calls For Criminal Justice Reforms
By Andrea Rahman
TheStatehouseFile.com
INDIANAPOLIS—The Indiana Black Legislative Caucus is calling for sweeping reforms to the criminal justice system that includes a more inclusive hate crimes law, creating teams specially equipped to deal with mental illness and decriminalizing marijuana possession.
State Rep. Robin Shackleford, D-Indianapolis, and chair of the IBLC led her members at a press conference at the Statehouse Thursday where they proposed changes that would lead to a rethinking of the way Indiana handles police conduct instead of abolishing the system.
She said the changes proposed “directly affect our communities by enacting systematic change that will prevent, mend, and hinder greatly any future abuse that may be inflicted upon our community in the future.â€
The IBLC released a policy agenda that includes 42 items with five different purposes: to save lives, hold law enforcement accountable, change the culture of law enforcement offices, empower communities and improve transparency between communities and law enforcement.
Items on the agenda include removing police officers from schools and replacing them with more social workers; develop local police policies that call for restraint on SWAT deployments; automatic external investigations of the shooting of unarmed civilians; require police to live in the communities they serve and provide for more mental health testing of police officers.
The also want studies conducted on racism as a health crisis and the juvenile justice system as well as improved training for law enforcement officers.
An IBLC member will take charge of individual agenda items to decide how to accomplish each goal, whether through legislative amendments or new bill drafts and to make sure it gets done. The goal is to decide how to approach each issue in the next few months so they can make it to the floor in the next legislative session that begins in January.
When developing the agenda, the IBLC collaborated with groups and individuals from many areas. They consulted with Gov. Eric Holcomb, police officers and sheriffs, prosecutors, families of police brutality victims, IBLC stakeholders, and 13,000 individuals across the state who attended town hall meetings on the subject. They worked to include concerns from the various groups to address everyone’s concerns and to improve relations between law enforcement and communities.
Rep. Earl Harris Jr., D-East Chicago, and vice-chair of the IBLC said that state and local law enforcement supported many of the agenda items, like requiring body cameras on all officers and creating a more reliable forum for citizens to report misconduct.
“One of the things that we are happy about is when they’ve come and wanted to meet with us to talk about these agenda items,†he said, “they have had similar things on their list as we do and have asked us to please help them support those things.â€
The IBLC has pushed Holcomb for months to sign executive orders banning the use of chokeholds in arrests, racial profiling and no-knock warrants. They also have asked that he form a commission on justice reform and set penalties for officers who turn off their body cameras.
Shackleford said he has politely and actively listened to the group’s concerns and responded positively but hasn’t followed through with action. Holcomb’s press secretary said the IBLC request is being reviewed.
Some of the issues on the IBLC agenda have been raised before. The General Assembly passed a hate crimes bill in 2019, but critics have said that it doesn’t go far enough to protect some groups, like those in the LGBTQ community, while efforts to decriminalize marijuana laws have repeatedly failed.
Sen. Greg Taylor, D-Indianapolis, said IBLC members believe they may have a chance in the Republican-dominated legislature because GOP lawmakers are now hearing outcry from their constituents after some high-profile deaths of African Americans by police.
“We believe today is different, and we believe that now is the time,†Taylor said. “And if (Republicans) don’t, then we believe that the communities that we all represent…will express their concern in the voting box.â€
FOOTNOTE: Andrea Rahman is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.
BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING
BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERSÂ REGULAR MEETING In The KEVIN WINTERNHEIMER CHAMBERSÂ IN ROOM 301, CIVIC CENTER COMPLEXÂ WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 19, 2020Â At 12:00 NOON
 AGENDA
1.   CALL TO ORDER
2.   MEETING MEMORANDUM  AUGUST 5, 2020
3.   CONSENT AGENDA                        Â
- Request Re: Approve and Execute Contract for the Use of Swonder Ice Arena by an independent Skating Professional with William Hook.- Crook
- Request Re: Approve and Execute Contract for the Use of Swonder Ice Arena by an
Independent Skating Professional with Ariel De Jesus.- Crook
4.   OLD BUSINESSÂ
     N/A
5. Â Â Â NEW BUSINESS
- Request Re: Story Trail Project/ Healthy Communities Partnership- Van Hook
- b.  Request Re: Any Other Business the Board Wishes to Consider and Public Comments
6.    REPORTS
      a.  Brian Holtz- Executive Director     Â
7.    ACCEPTANCE OF PAYROLL AND VENDOR CLAIMS
8.    ADJOURN
HEALTH DEPARTMENT UPDATES STATEWIDE COVID-19 CASE COUNTS
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UE Professor Named President-Elect of Phi Kappa Phi
Lora Becker, Ph.D., was recently elected to serve as President-Elect for Phi Kappa Phi (PKP), a collegiate honor society that recognizes scholarship among all academic disciplines. Becker is a professor of psychology and director of the neuroscience program at the University of Evansville.
In her role, Becker will serve on Phi Kappa Phi’s 12-person board of directors. While her term lasts through 2022, her election is a six-year commitment including the successive terms as president and past-president. Voting for the title took place electronically at the beginning of the month, as the in-person convention was canceled due to COVID-19.
Although meetings and activities will look different during the pandemic, Becker is looking forward to working with other PKP leaders and scholars. “Serving in this society has given me a deep understanding of how Phi Kappa Phi promotes academic excellence and provides service to others,” said Becker. “Because of the diversity of fields represented within the organization, Phi Kappa Phi is well-positioned to help find solutions to questions we face during these uncertain and challenging times in higher education.”
Becker has been an active member of PKP not only within the University but also at the national level. After gaining membership in 2014, she became the president of the UE chapter just one year later. Becker has also served as chair of the biennial convention credentials committee (2016) and chair of the national bylaws committee (2016-18).
Under Becker’s leadership, the local chapter at UE has provided several opportunities for students. One such opportunity includes the Phi Kappa Phi Fellowship, in which nominees across the nation are awarded scholarships at the post-graduate level. This year, graduate Émile Moura Coelho da Silva was selected as a fellow.
“Moving forward, we need to determine how we can encourage members to show their love of learning through service to others with a goal of engaging their communities and removing barriers to education,” said Becker. She believes these initiatives will improve the narrative surrounding the value of education, support current discussions on social justice, and facilitate future conversations about higher education.
Phi Kappa Phi is the nation’s oldest and most selective collegiate honor society, with chapters at over 300 colleges and universities in the United States and the Philippines. Inducting approximately 30,000 new members each year, membership is awarded to college juniors, seniors, and graduate students. More information about Phi Kappa Phi is available on their website.
Commentary: Harris, The Obvious But Historic Choice
By John Krull
TheStatehouseFile.com
A sunrise can be inspiring, but it’s also predictable, even inevitable.
The same goes for the selection of U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-California, to serve as the Democratic Party’s vice-presidential candidate.
Harris is a historic pick for the post. She is the first woman of color in America’s history to run on a national ticket for a majority party. She is just the second Black person to do so – and only the fourth woman.
Her selection elevates this campaign above the mundanities of personality and pettiness and lifts it into a discussion, once again, of how far America has come.
How near or far we are from fulfilling the fundamental American promise – that this would be a nation where human beings could pursue their fondest dreams, freed from the shackles of bigotry, oppression and injustice.
Stirring as the symbolism of Harris’s selection might be, it shouldn’t come as a surprise.
She just made the most sense – and the Democrats’ standard-bearer, former Vice President Joe Biden, saw that.
The other candidates faced obstacles too great to overcome.
Former National Security Advisor Susan Rice may have a great personal rapport with Biden, but she’s never held an elective office. An experienced politician like Biden never was going to risk the highest-stakes election in at least a generation on a candidate who’s never faced the voters.
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, might have helped Biden with his party’s restive left-wing, but at a huge cost. Massachusetts has a Republican governor, Charlie Baker. If a Biden-Warren ticket were to win, then Baker would be able to appoint a Republican to replace her. That alone could determine which party controls the Senate – and thus the process of confirming Supreme Court justices and judges.
Stacey Abrams may cause Democratic activists’ hearts to pound, but she’s untested at the national level. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer may preside over an essential swing state, but she has no foreign-policy experience.
So it went with every other contender.
Gradually, inevitably, the choice always came back to Harris.
President Donald Trump and his acolytes on the far right now try to make hay out of the fact that Harris landed a telling blow on Biden during a primary debate. The fact that she wasn’t “nice†to the former vice president when the two were squaring off against each other ought to disqualify her, the Trump crew crows.
What this really shows is that Biden and Harris are both adults and professionals. They’re willing to endure slights to serve the greater good. They don’t have to agree with each other – or anyone else, for that matter – on everything to find ways to work together.
Thus, the Democrats have set up a powerful contrast with the “my-way-or-the-highway, if-you’re-not-with-me-100-percent-you’re-my-mortal-enemy†Trump-led Republican Party.
The president’s base may enjoy living in a nation in which unremitting hostility to neighbors and fellow citizens is the norm.
The rest of us, I suspect, don’t like it nearly so much.
Biden’s willingness to forgive and move on may prove appealing to the millions of Americans who want a president who isn’t angry all the time.
Now that the rosters have been set for the fall election, conventional wisdom has begun to harden. The fossilizing beliefs are that Trump will pound Biden in the presidential debates and Harris will eviscerate Vice President Mike Pence.
I’m not so sure on either count.
Biden’s force field always has been his geniality. I can see him doing his version of Ronald Reagan’s “there you go again†and shaking his head while Trump thunders and yelps on the debate stage – and treating the Donald like a toddler who needs a nap.
And, while Harris is a formidable prosecutorial presence, Pence always has been a more elusive target than people realize. He can shrug his shoulders and slip a punch with the best of them. Four years ago, when Trump was reeling in his debates with Hillary Clinton, Pence stopped the bleeding and saved the day during the vice-presidential debate.
There are more than two months of sunrises between now and Election Day.
All of them will be predictable, even inevitable.
Some may be historic.
FOOTNOTE: John Krull is director of Franklin College’s Pulliam School of Journalism and publisher of TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.
The City-County Observer posted this article without bias, editing or opinion.
Right Jab And Middle Jab And Left Jab†August 18, 2020
Right Jab And Middle Jab And Left Jab†August 18, 2020
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.
ADOPT A PET
Aphrodite, named for the Greek goddess of beauty, is indeed a “beautiful†female brown tabby! She is about 2 years old. She was surrendered with 3 of her kittens, only 1 of whom has been adopted so far. Her adoption fee is $40 and includes her spay, microchip, vaccines, and more. Call/email VHS or apply online at www.vhslifesaver.org/adopt to inquire!