Heavy Trash Pickup resumes in Evansville today after being suspended for fall leaf collection service.
Eligible Evansville Water and Sewer Utility City residential customers who need to get rid of a large item can request a heavy trash pickup.
Heavy Trash Pickup Resumes Today
State Comptroller Votes for Pension Fund to Hire Alternative Asset Manager to BlackRock
Supports Continued Focus on Fiduciary Duty
STATEHOUSE — State Comptroller Elise Nieshalla voted to affirm today the existence of comparable asset managers as an alternative to BlackRock in providing Global Inflation-Linked Bonds for the Indiana Public Retirement System (INPRS). This action was taken pursuant to Indiana House Enrolled Act 1008 from the 2023 legislative session, and the vote was unanimous. INPRS is now responsible for selecting a different asset manager for these bonds.
“I commend State Treasurer Daniel Elliott for his thorough research regarding BlackRock’s involvement in broad reaching priorities that are non-fiduciary and focused on social and environmental policy initiatives,” said Comptroller Nieshalla. “State retirees and employees deserve to benefit from investment managers who focus solely on fiduciary duty.”
Board members were presented with solid evidence based on documents BlackRock filed with the SEC that demonstrate its engagement with an ESG focused agenda.
“I do commend BlackRock’s recent action to discontinue its affiliation with Climate Action 100+, but more needs to be done including ending its support of Net Zero and similar initiatives to demonstrate a refocused commitment of prioritizing beneficiaries over a political agenda.”
City and County Meetings for the Week of December 16, 2024
Here are the Evansville and Vanderburgh County meetings for this week.
| City Council Meeting | December 16, 2024 – 05:30 PM | ||
| Evansville Redevelopment Commission | December 17, 2024 – 08:30 AM | ||
| Board of County Commissioners & Drainage Board | December 17, 2024 – 09:30 AM | ||
| Water and Sewer Utility Board (Meeting will be held at the Sunrise Pump Station) | December 17, 2024 – 03:00 PM | ||
| Board of Park Commissioners | December 18, 2024 – 12:00 PM | ||
| Board Of Public Safety | December 18, 2024 – 01:00 PM | ||
| Vanderburgh County Council Personnel & Finance Meeting | December 18, 2024 – 03:30 PM | ||
| Board Of Zoning Appeals | December 19, 2024 – 03:00 PM | ||
| Board Of Zoning Appeals | December 19, 2024 – 03:00 PM | ||
| Land Bank | December 20, 2024 – 09:30 AM | ||
| Animal Control & Education Commission | December 20, 2024 – 12:00 PM |
“12 Days of Holiday Safety” winter campaign
Holiday campaign to include daily social media tips to keep friends, family and neighbors safe during the holiday season and to promote the importance of preparedness and safety for winter storm season
Evansville, Ind. – Dec. 13, 2024 – As part of a company-wide effort to prepare for extreme weather and the 2025 winter storm season, CenterPoint Energy is launching a new “12 Days of Holiday Safety” campaign.
The new holiday campaign will provide important daily winter and holiday safety tips and tools for customers, as well as a social media campaign with safety resources and tips, to help customers better prepare for the winter season. The holiday campaign follows a series of pre-winter preparedness actions CenterPoint has taken to strengthen and winterize its electric and gas infrastructure, as well as inspect and test cold-weather critical equipment ahead of severe weather that could impact the gas and electric system in the winter months.
“This holiday season, and through winter, we want all our customers to know about the array of safety actions we are taking to be prepared for the winter storm season, as well as how they, their families, and neighbors can be safe and better prepared for storms to come. To date, we have taken a range of actions to get ready, and we want our customers to take some simple steps to plan and stay safe ahead of extreme cold and winter storms,” said Richard Leger, Senior Vice President of CenterPoint Energy’s Natural Gas business.
CenterPoint Customer Campaign: 12 Days of Holiday Safety
As part of its “12 Days of Holiday Safety” campaign, CenterPoint will be raising awareness around important and helpful safety tips, tools and links to customer resources via email, as well as a new social media campaign. All of the holiday safety resources will be available at the CenterPointEnergy.com/ReadyForWinter website.
Among the customer safety areas CenterPoint will highlight are:
· Day One: Holiday lighting safety
· Day Two: Holiday cooking safety
· Day Three: Use CenterPoint’s Outage Tracker to stay informed
· Day Four: Holiday candle safety
· Day Five: Test smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors
· Day Six: Fireplace safety
· Day Seven: Holiday tree care and safety
· Day Eight: Space heater safety
· Day Nine: Unplug unused appliances, turn off unused lights and turn down thermostats
· Day Ten: Be prepared – have an emergency kit stocked and ready with supplies
· Day Eleven: Identify and know where your closest warming center is located
· Day Twelve: Sign up for CenterPoint’s Power Alert Service for your home, business or family members
Electric Customers Encouraged to Enroll in Power Alert Service®
As part of its campaign, CenterPoint electric customers are encouraged to enroll in the company’s Power Alert Service® to receive winter storm outage details, estimated restoration times and customer-specific restoration updates by phone call, text or email.
EPD DAILY ACTIVITY REPORT
FOOTNOTE: EPD DAILY ACTIVITY REPORT information was provided by the EPD and posted by the City-County-County Observer without opinion, bias, or editing.
UE women’s basketball drops game at RV Vanderbilt
UE women’s basketball drops game at RV Vanderbilt
The Purple Aces played their first game at an SEC school since 2013
NASHVILLE – The University of Evansville women’s basketball team wasn’t able to contain the Vanderbilt Commodores explosive offense in a 106-40 loss.
The Purple Aces returned to historic Memorial Gymnasium after 30 years on Saturday afternoon. Playing at the only Power Four opponent on the season schedule UE struggled to get around Vanderbilt’s Top 20 defense. Freshman guard Camryn Runner (Cicero, Ind. / Hamilton Heights HS) led Evansville through 40 minutes with 11 points, five rebounds, an assist, and a block.
The Aces had a quick start to the game taking an early lead on freshman guard Kaiden Kreinhagen’s (Indianapolis / North Central HS) three in the first minute. UE held the lead a minute and a half into the game before the Commodores offense got going with an eight-point run. Sophomore forward Maggie Hartwig (Sauk City, Wis. / Sauk Prairie HS) broke Evansville’s scoring drought with a jumper with six on the clock. Vandy put together another run before the Aces hit a three in the sixth minute. UE made only one more basket in the first quarter as it was 34-12 going into the second.
It was a slow beginning to the second quarter as it took almost two minutes for either team to make a basket. Evansville’s first points were scored by senior guard Julia Palomo (Spain) after three minutes. It’d be another two minutes before the Aces found the net again as freshman guard Logan Leubbers Palmer (Union, Ky. / Randall K. Cooper HS) had her first collegiate points at the free throw line. UE had another perfect trip to the free throw line from Runner while Hartwig had Evansville’s last basket of the half. The Aces headed into halftime trailing by 38.
UE was able to score in double digits during the third quarter as Runner led the team with four points. Hartwig got Evansville back on the board just over a minute into the quarter. The Aces built some momentum with back-to-back fast break layups midway through the third. Runner then added her second three-pointer of the game with four minutes to go. UE added two more points from the line for 11 in the third quarter and went into the final frame down 86-31.
Hartwig had the first basket of the fourth quarter less than 10 seconds in as junior forward Tamesha Dozier (Louisville, Ky. / Wabash Valley) had Evansville’s next field goal two minutes later. The Aces wouldn’t score again over the next four minutes until Leubbers Palmer made the first three of her Purple Aces career. She also had UE’s final basket of the game on a driving layup with 1:19 left on the clock. Evansville ended the game with 40 points as the Commodores beat the Aces 106-40.
Runner led the team on offense, while Hartwig had her first double-digit rebound performance in a month. The sophomore pulled down 10 boards while scoring eight points. In her first game with UE, Leubbers Palmer had nine points, two rebounds, and was second on the team in assists with three. While Palomo was Evansville’s assist leader with four helpers in 26 minutes.
The Aces have a quick turnaround for their next game on Tuesday, December 17th. UE will host its annual Education Day game at the Ford Center against NAIA IU Columbus. Tip-off for the game is set for 11 a.m.
Lady Blazers keep winning streak alive with road Region win at Lincoln Trail
Lady Blazers keep winning streak alive with road Region win at Lincoln Trail
ROBINSON, Ill. – The Vincennes University Lady Trailblazers hit the road Saturday afternoon for another Region 24 showdown, this time heading to nearby Robinson, Ill. to face off against Lincoln Trail College.
The Lady Blazers battled from beginning to end and were able to increase their winning streak to three with an 80-69 victory over the Lady Statesmen.
VU got off to a bit of a slow start Saturday afternoon, falling behind early 7-3 before rallying back with an 8-0 run to take an 11-7 lead.
The two teams went back and forth throughout the first quarter of play, with the Lady Statesmen getting the upper hand with a pair of late baskets to hold a 16-15 advantage after the first 10 minutes of play.
Vincennes would look to again get control of the game early in the second quarter, opening the second period of play by outscoring Lincoln Trail 9-2 to take a 24-18 lead.
Lincoln Trail then answered back with a series of three-point shots to regain the lead midway through the quarter.
VU would regain composure and close out the first half strong, holding a narrow 37-35 lead as the teams headed into the locker rooms for the halftime break.
The Lady Blazers looked to take their game into overdrive early in the third quarter, opening the second half with a 14-0 scoring run to increase their lead to 51-37.
Lincoln Trail would try to answer back again and were able to cut the deficit down to seven before VU closed out the third quarter strong to head into the fourth quarter holding a 57-49 lead.
Vincennes would get their lead back to double digits early in the fourth quarter, building a 65-53 advantage before the Lady Statesmen answered with seven straight to cut the VU lead down to five.
This would be as close as the Lady Statesmen would get however as the Lady Blazers were able to close out the game and pick up the 80-69 victory over Lincoln Trail College.
“It was a rough one,” VU Interim Head Coach Ingrida Hartsfield said. “I’m just glad that the five that I played stuck it out to the end. They played defense and somewhat played offense. It was a rough game but a win is a win and we’ve just got to keep moving forward.”
The Lady Blazers were led offensively by freshman Ahmya Thomas (Phoenix, Ariz.) who finished with a career-high 29 points, eight rebounds and seven assists in the game.
Freshman Emani Washington (Indianapolis, Ind.) also surpassed 20 points in the game, finishing her night with 21 points, seven rebounds and three assists.
Freshman Jazmyn Robey (Sellersburg, Ind.) returned to the VU starting lineup Saturday afternoon and came away with 12 points and seven rebounds for Vincennes.
The Lady Blazers were once again playing with only seven active players, with VU Interim Head Coach Ingrida Hartsfield opting to play just five players for the entire second half.
“Ahmya is just such a huge asset to the team on both the defensive and offensive ends of the floor,” Hartsfield added. “She has been struggling these last few games but I think today she always played hard, which you can always count on her to do.”
“Emani has gotten so much more aggressive and we are starting to be able to depend more on her and know that she will deliver on the offensive end,” Hartsfield said. “Jazmyn definitely played a big part in the win just because we only played five people in the second half. I’m just pleased that that group was able to stick it out.”
The Lady Trailblazers will return home Tuesday, Dec. 17 when VU closes out the 2024 portion of their schedule with a tough matchup against NJCAA Division II No. 24 Jefferson College from Hillsboro, Mo. This game is set to tip-off at 5 p.m. eastern.
VU will then return to the P.E. Complex floor after the Holiday break on Saturday, Jan. 4 when VU hosts Volunteer State Community College from Gallatin, Tenn. This game is also set to tip-off at 5 p.m. eastern.
“Jefferson will be a tough game,” Hartsfield added. “They always are. They play aggressively and are well-coached. So I hope we can just keep our aggressiveness towards the basket going and hopefully be able to bring our bigs back into the game and use them more than we could tonight. Just playing together, playing hard and just seeing what happens.”
VINCENNES BOX SCORE
VINCENNES (80): Ahmya Thomas 9-18 10-15 29, Jazmyn Robey 4-11 4-4 12, Yanni Huggins 4-8 0-0 8, Emani Washington 8-15 4-4 21, Delora Pricop 1-3 0-0 2, Iris Comesana 1-1 0-0 2, Marta Gutierrez 2-6 1-2 6, Team 29-62 19-25 80.
Lincoln Trail – 16 19 14 20 – 69
VU (6-7, 2-0) – 15 22 20 23 – 80
Three-point goals: VU 3 (Thomas, Washington, Gutierrez). Rebounds: VU 43 (Thomas 8, Huggins 8). Assists: VU 19 (Thomas 7). Steals: VU 8 (Thomas 2, Washington 2, Gutierrez 2). Blocked Shots: VU 5 (Thomas 3). Turnovers: VU 21. Personal Fouls: VU 11. Fouled out: None. Technical Fouls: Thomas (4th – 7:09).
Trailblazers pick up road Region 24 victory over Lincoln Trail College
Trailblazers pick up road Region 24 victory over Lincoln Trail College
ROBINSON, Ill. – The Vincennes University Trailblazers hit the road Saturday afternoon for their first true road game of the 2024-25 season, heading to nearby Robinson, Ill. for a Region 24 showdown with the Statesmen of Lincoln Trail College.
VU was able to pick up an early lead and close out another big Region 24 victory, winning over the host Statesmen 79-69.
The Trailblazers were firing early Saturday afternoon, opening the game on a 9-2 scoring run to take an early lead before the Statesmen answered back to cut the VU lead down to one.
Vincennes would again get the lead back to seven at 19-12 before Lincoln Trail again cut into the lead to get back within one at 19-18.
Lincoln Trail would get the lead back at 27-26 until the Trailblazers closed out the first half with seven straight points to take a 33-27 lead into the locker room break.
Coming out of the halftime break the Trailblazers again looked to gain control of the game, getting the lead up to 46-38 before the Statesmen came back to cut the lead down to 50-47.
This would be as close as Lincoln Trail would get to retaking the lead in the second half however as the two teams again traded scoring runs before VU traded baskets down the stretch, getting the first double digit lead of the night and holding on to close out the 79-69 victory over Lincoln Trail College.
“I thought we had semi-control throughout but we could never push out to enough to have total control,” VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Todd Franklin said. “I thought we came out with a decent start, got the lead and then never really relinquished the control factor in the game. But they would keep pushing back up. We would put them away and they would push it back.”
“I thought the big difference was that we didn’t have enough inside game through the first 15 minutes today,” Franklin added. “They were playing us where they were saying ‘beat us inside’ and we should have been able to do that. We didn’t have anybody that wanted to have the attitude enough to go about doing it. Hussein came in and got a bucket late. Darstin had a couple from the four spot but to start the second half we started Hussein and he got some buckets in there but we weren’t stopping people at the other end. Then Bryan got some buckets as it went along.”
“I thought we beat them down the court, which we thought we could do,” Franklin said. “But they have a good team. They were attacking us, that’s why they were in the polls a couple of weeks ago. They’ve got some good wins in here already, beating people like Three Rivers. So this was a good win for us. But it’s like all of these wins, it’s only as good as what we learn. We’ve got to go another gear. At halftime I felt like we should be up 16 instead of six with just a little more oomph, a little more focus, little bit more nasty, little bit more post down there wanting to dominate, little harder box outs a couple of times. And we can do that, we just have to do it.”
“We’ll see if we can get better this week but it’s good to go on the road, our team is learning every step as we go through,” Franklin added. “Road District game, 2-0 start over two teams that were in everybody’s top four to begin the year. That’s a pretty good deal for us from where we were a month ago. We’re digging ourselves out of that hole and putting ourselves in better and better position and getting to be a better and better basketball team.”
“I’m here to give them a Championship run,” Franklin said. “Because they need that in order to get what they came here for. If they want the opportunities at the next level, that’s what has got to happen. So that’s why we keep pushing them because really there’s no other alternative. If we’re not exceptional and play exceptionally and have exceptional results, then they are all going to suffer. We’re at the edge right now where we need to push up a little bit to where we can become exceptional so we can do exceptional things. Not just be good. You can say that’s fair or unfair, that’s what they came here for and if they don’t, there’s no other JuCo after this. I’m going to keep pushing that way because I think we can get there if they really want to, if they are really willing to and obviously we’ve already made some big gains, so hopefully it continues this week.”
The Trailblazers were led offensively by sophomore and 2024 NJCAA All-American Lebron Thomas (Bishopville, S.C.) who finished his night with 22 points, eight assists and four rebounds.
Sophomore Bryan Akanmu (Paris, France) rode a big second half to 12 points and eight rebounds on the night, scoring 10 of his 12 points in the final 20 minutes of play.
Freshman Darstin Onye (Manchester, England) got the start Saturday afternoon and nearly came away with a double-double, picking up 11 points and nine rebounds in the game.
Freshman Jalen Calloway (Chicago, Ill.) returned to the VU starting lineup as well, closing out his night with nine points, six assists and four rebounds, while freshman Dayton Williams (Louisville, Ky.) had eight points, three rebounds and a pair of blocks.
“We didn’t get what we wanted out of Kenaz,” Franklin said. “You can’t go out there and get two points and one rebound. You’ve got too much talent, too much ability and you’ve got to get a little bit nastier. Darstin, I thought, played better in the last game, so he got the nod this game. That’s the way this works and will continue to work. I’m not lying about that, it’s obvious if you’ve watched the game. I thought Darstin responded pretty well tonight. I think he’s getting better and I think he’s got more still in there but he definitely helped us today. He did the things that made us a better team today and that’s the first step. We’ll hopefully keep getting him better and better. Hopefully he smells it now and he wants more. Hopefully everybody that gets a little success wants more. But that’s who we are going to look for. We’re going to look for the guys that want more. Now for the next month this is totally their life, except for the week when they go home, it’s a total priority. This is important for them and we need to act like it is for them this week and when we get back after break because this is a huge time where we can get better and not settle back. Hopefully that happens.”
The Trailblazers will look to keep the momentum going as they get set to close out the 2024 portion of their schedule Saturday, Dec. 21 against Malcolm X College in Chicago, Ill. at 4 p.m. eastern.
Vincennes defeated the Hawks 87-66 earlier this season inside the P.E. Complex behind 21 points and six steals by sophomore Michael Cooper (Minneapolis, Minn.).
The Blazers will then return to the P.E. Complex after the Holiday break Saturday, Jan. 4 to open the 2025 schedule against Volunteer State Community College at 7 p.m. eastern.
“What I want them to take away is simple, it’s all doable,” Franklin said. “Everything that they came here for is obtainable. But we need more oomph to do that. They should know that now and feel it and I want to see that expressed in their actions this week.”
VINCENNES BOX SCORE
VINCENNES (79): Jalen Calloway 4-10 0-1 9, Bryan Akanmu 5-9 2-2 12, Lebron Thomas 8-12 4-6 22, Dayton Williams 4-6 0-0 8, Darstin Onye 5-9 1-3 11, Christian Andrews 2-6 1-2 , Meyoh Swansey 0-1 0-0 0, Taveon Smith 1-1 0-0 2, Travelle Bryson 0-0 0-0 0, Ali Sakho 0-1 0-0 0, Kenaz Ochogwu 1-1 0-0 2, Hussein Elmaraghy 3-4 1-2 7, Team 33-60 9-16 79.
Lincoln Trail – 27 42 – 69
VU (10-3, 2-0) – 33 46 – 79
Three-point goals: VU 4 (Thomas 2, Calloway, Andrews). Rebounds: VU 32 (Onye 9). Assists: VU 24 (Thomas 8). Steals: VU 9 (Akanmu 2, Andrews 2, Elmaraghy 2). Blocked Shots: VU 6 (Williams 2). Turnovers: VU 12. Personal Fouls: VU 16. Fouled out: None.
THUNDERBOLTS DEFENSE LEADS THE CHARGE IN 4-2 WIN OVER BULLS
THUNDERBOLTS DEFENSE LEADS THE CHARGE IN 4-2 WIN OVER BULLS
Evansville, In.: In addition to strong defense that held the Bulls to only 25 shots and 2 goals, Evansville’s defense corps scored one goal and assisted on two of the other three Thunderbolt goals to lead Evansville to a 4-2 win over the Birmingham Bulls at Ford Center on Saturday night. The Thunderbolts’ next home game will be on Friday, December 20th against the Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs at 7:05pm CT.
In a fight-filled first period, Evansville gained the first lead of the night, as Brendan Harrogate snuck a short-side shot through Bulls goaltender Hayden Stewart for a power play goal at 15:57, assisted by Myles Abbate and Benjamin Lindberg. 16:05 into the second period, Grayson Valente bounced a puck over Stewart to make it a 2-0 Evansville lead, assisted by Vili Vesalainen and Jordan Simoneau. The Bulls rallied, as Carson Rose made it a 2-1 game just before the end of the second period at 19:36, and Matt Clark tied the game at 2-2 early in the third period at 3:14. The Thunderbolts battled through the adversity to gain the next lead at 8:01, as Tyson Gilmour bounced a shot into the net to make it 3-2, assisted by Harrogate and Scott Kirton. At 12:13, Scott Kirton extended the lead to 4-2 with a wrap-around shot that deflected in off a Bulls stick, assisted by Anthony Hora and Bronson Adams. The Thunderbolts defense warded off a late 6-on-5 Bulls offensive with relative ease, and the Thunderbolts picked up the 4-2 victory.
Kirton and Harrogate each finished with a goal and an assist, while Gilmour and Valente recorded one goal each. In goal, Cole Ceci finished with 23 saves on 25 shots for his 5th win of the season. The Thunderbolts and Bulls meet once again on Friday, January 10th at Pelham Civic Complex.
Individual game tickets, group packages, and season tickets are on sale for the 2024-25 season. Call 812-422-BOLT or visit our all-new website (www.evansvillethunderbolts.
About Evansville Thunderbolts: The Evansville Thunderbolts is the area’s only professional hockey team. The Thunderbolts are a proud member of the SPHL. The team is owned and operated by VW Sports, L.L.C, a subsidiary of VenuWorks, Inc. www.evansvillethunderbolts.com
