https://www.vanderburghsheriff.com/jail-recent-booking-records.aspx
Prestigious Mira Award Presented to Indiana Department of Correction
Prestigious Mira Award Presented to
Indiana Department of Correction
Indianapolis, Ind. – The Indiana Department of Correction (IDOC) was honored with a Mira Award, presented by TechPoint at the 21st annual awards event held virtually across the state and the nation.
As noted by TechPoint, a total of 15 award winners and honorees were chosen from the 129 outstanding people, places companies, and products that were selected as nominees for their achievements during the 2019 calendar year. Forty-eight independent, volunteer judges spent more than 850 total hours evaluating applications, interviewing nominees, and selecting this year’s winners. Judges included company founders, CEOs and presidents, CTOs, CIOs, and other subject matter experts.
The Community Impact award presented to the department of correction recognized the life-changing impact of The Last Mile (TLM) computer coding program has had on incarcerated persons working to learn valuable skills to better their opportunity for employment after incarceration. This unique life-altering program is now offered to qualifying offenders at five different correctional facilities across Indiana, inclusive of the Indiana Women’s Prison as well as the Putnamville, Rockville, Plainfield and Pendleton Juvenile Correctional Facilities.
Since the Mira Award event was virtual, Anna Rauh, with TechPointe and pictured center, made an in-person delivery of the award to IDOC employees Talesa Howell, far left, and Dave Bursten. Not available for the photo were co-winners Jennifer Browning, also employed with the IDOC and Jennifer Fleming, with the Indiana State Department of Health. |
Leadership at the IDOC sought to be a nominee for the Community Impact Mira Award by competing in a rigorous nomination process that began in December of 2019. Each nominated organization was required to make an in-person presentation to see if they’d make the final cut to be a selected nominee for one of 15 awards being presented. The IDOC was ultimately selected as one of 12 Community Impact nominees based on the strength of the presentation prepared and delivered by three graduates of The Last Mile program at the Indiana Women’s Prison. Jennifer Browning, Jennifer Fleming, and Tales Howell made a knock-out presentation that brought tears to the eyes of the judges. Now, today, Jennifer Browning and Teresa Howell are part of the IDOC family of employees and Jennifer Fleming is employed with the Indiana State Department of Health. Teresa Howell’s story is presently feature on The Last Mile website.
You can read the full story about the IDOC TechPoint Mira Award on this section of the TechPoint website.
Visit the IDOC YouTube channel to see the virtual moment when the Community Impact award winner was announced.
About the Mira Award Name
The Mira Awards are named after the first of the brilliant variable stars to be discovered – the Mira Star. It is also the Latin root meaning “worthy of admiration, wonderful, marvelous.†The awards represent the best of tech in Indiana each year.
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GOP AG Candidates Make Their Pleas
GOP AG Candidates Make Their Pleas
By Taylor Dixon
TheStatehouseFile.com
INDIANAPOLIS— The four Republican candidates running for Indiana Attorney General laid out their views Thursday in the first-ever virtual GOP state convention.
Incumbent Curtis Hill spoke just days after his 30-day suspension from practicing law ended. Hill had been accused in 2019 of groping a female lawmaker and three legislative staff members, one of them a Republican, at a party in March 2018.
Many Indiana elected officials, including Hills’s fellow Republican, Gov. Eric Holcomb, had asked Hill to step down. Several investigations followed. Ultimately, the Indiana Supreme Court suspended Hill and said he had engaged in “criminal conduct.â€
Hill is running for a second term. He faces three other candidates: former U.S. Rep. Todd Rokita, R-Indiana, Decatur County Prosecutor Nate Harter, and attorney John Westercamp.
Hill talked about his continued efforts to restrict abortion, protect the Second Amendment, and preserve religious freedom. He cited the record 1.6 million votes he received four years ago.
“I’m not perfect. No one is. But like President Trump I have faced accusations and investigations designed to destroy me politically,†Hill said.
Rokita also said he was anti-abortion, pro-gun rights, for religious freedom, and in favor of cutting taxes. Rokita called out Hill for not owning up to his actions and for wasting his budget on things such as cars, furniture, and chandeliers.
Harter promised to protect Hoosiers. He said he would go to court for Indiana and make the tough, right choices, no matter the political risks. He also spoke about running his team as efficiently as possible.
Westercamp talked about his real-world, broad-based experience that would lead Hoosiers in the right direction. He also said he was going to fight for the private sector, preserve the right to life, and reduce taxpayers’ burden by limiting office expenses.
“As long as my lungs have breath, as long as my bones have strength, and as long as my heart beats I will defend and advance Indiana’s public pro-life policies,†Westercamp said.
Holcomb cited the 100,000 new jobs and decreased unemployment shown in the last four years. He also spoke about the COVID-19 pandemic and said Indiana had addressed the health crisis well.
State GOP Chairman Kyle Hupfer closed by describing the changes delegates will see when they vote for the four attorney general nominees.
Ballots will be sent out to delegates June 22 and are due via mail no later than 5 p.m. July 9. Delegates will use a ranking system for voting, with the delegates choosing their first, second, third, and fourth preferences.
The first candidate who claims more than 50 percent of the first-place votes wins. If that doesn’t happen in the first or second round, the last-place finisher is eliminated from the competition.
FOOTNOTE: Â Taylor Dixon is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.
Yesteryear: 527 Main Street By Pat Sides
This imposing building stood at the corner of Sixth and Main streets for nine decades. In its earlier years, it housed Bacon’s department store until 1936, the year this photo is dated. Later that year, the F. W. Woolworth Company, Bacon’s neighbor, moved into the more spacious quarters, where it stayed until 1990.
The building was erected in 1901 on the ruins of a store that had been destroyed by fire. Another fire in 1972 slightly damaged the building, but Woolworth’s re-opened on the site, operating until a major conflagration in 1990 inflicted heavier damage.
The ruins were finally razed two years later, around the time the once-popular old Woolworth chain decided to shut down across the nation. The site is now occupied by a new science center serving Signature School students.
Sheriff’s Office and County Fire Departments Conduct Rescue Task Force Exercise
An important milestone in local critical incident response was reached today when the Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Office, Scott Township Fire Department, McCutchanville Fire Department and German Township Fire Department held a joint Rescue Task Force training exercise.
During this first for the county joint exercise, members from each agency practiced skills and tactics learned last year during a Rescue Task Force (RTF) instructor course. RTF is designed to bring rapid medical care to victims of an active attacker event.
Law enforcement training and response to active attacker events has significantly improved since the Columbine High School massacre in 1999. RTF allows for a dramatic reduction in the response time of medical care. Instead of waiting for the scene of an active attacker to be made completely safe, the RTF program gets trained paramedics and EMTs into the “warm zone” so that victims can be quickly triaged and evacuated. RTF allows medics to treat the gravely injured while law enforcement neutralizes the threat of an active attacker.
Sheriff Dave Wedding stated, “This training is designed to break down the communication barriers between agencies and get them working together to save lives as quickly and efficiency as possible. The concept of RTF combines the strengths that sheriff’s deputies and firefighter/EMTs bring to an active scene.”
Today’s exercise took place at Trinity Lutheran Church in Darmstadt, with volunteers and facilities generously provided by Trinity Lutheran. The Sheriff’s Office Explorer Post also provided volunteers who served as victim role players.
EPA Grants First-Ever Petition to Add to Hazardous Air Pollutants List Under Clean Air Act
Trump Administration acts on the decade-old petition on 1-BP to protect public health and the environment
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) granted petitions to add 1-bromopropane (1-BP) to the list of hazardous air pollutants regulated under the Clean Air Act (CAA). This is the first time since 1990 that EPA has granted a petition to add a hazardous air pollutant to the CAA.
Petitioners requesting EPA to list 1-BP, also known as n-propyl bromide (nPB), have demonstrated its adverse health and environmental impacts. This chemical is used in a range of products and processes, including dry cleaning, electronics, and metal cleaning, pharmaceutical and agricultural products, and spray adhesive applications.
“With this action, EPA is granting, for the first time, a request through the use of petition to add a chemical substance to the hazardous air pollutant list under the Clean Air Act,â€Â said EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler. “Nearly a decade after the petition was received by the former administration, the Trump Administration is taking action to protect human health and the environment.â€
Under the CAA, EPA is required to regulate emissions of air toxics, also known as hazardous air pollutants. The original CAA list of regulated air toxics included 189 pollutants. Since 1990, EPA has modified the list through rulemaking so that it now includes 187 pollutants.
In this action, EPA has granted petitions that were submitted in 2010 and 2011 from the Halogenated Solvents Industry Alliance and New York State Department of Environmental Conservation asking the agency to add 1-BP to the list of hazardous air pollutants in the CAA. After reviewing the evidence provided by the petitioners, EPA determined that “emissions, ambient concentrations, bioaccumulation or deposition†of 1-BP may harm human health, including causing cancer as well as reproductive and neurological problems.
Granting these petitions is the first step in a series of actions to address air emissions of 1-BP. In a subsequent action, EPA will modify the Code of Federal Regulations to add 1-BP to the CAA list of hazardous air pollutants. After 1-BP is added to the list of hazardous air pollutants, EPA may consider revising or creating new emissions standards for source categories that emit 1-BP.
EPA’s action to add 1-BP to the Hazardous Air Pollutants list is the latest Trump Administration effort to address backlogged actions that the agency inherited from the prior administration.
The Trump EPA inherited 383 backlogged State Implementation Plans (SIPs), and as of June 8, 2020, it has reduced that number to 327. A SIP classified as “backlogged†means that EPA action is past due pursuant to CAA deadlines for action. Due to EPA Lean Management System efforts, EPA projects the SIP backlog next year may approach 200, which is less than 1/3 of what it was a few years ago. Reducing the SIP backlog nationally is a priority for the Trump Administration. The agency works closely with state and local air agencies to prioritize action on SIPs that matter most for air quality and public health.
USI President To Make Announcement Regarding Campus Resource
WHO:Â Dr. Ronald S. Rochon, USI President
WHAT: Press conference and media availability for announcement regarding campus resource
WHEN: 9 a.m. Monday, June 22
ZOOM: The press conference will be held via Zoom. To ensure the security of the meeting, the meeting will be password protected. Media members who wish to join the press conference should email Ben Luttrull at bluttrull@usi.edu to confirm their attendance and receive the Meeting ID and password.
QUESTION ORDER: To facilitate the Zoom meeting, media members will be asked to ask questions in a predetermined order based on reservations and attendance. Once every outlet has had a chance to ask a question of the committee, we will reverse the order of the list to ensure each outlet has a chance to ask two questions. Any remaining time in the conference will be opened to all in attendance for final questions.
Right Jab And Middle Jab And Left Jab†June 20, 2020
Right Jab And Middle Jab And Left Jab†June 20, 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.
May Indiana Employment Report
All key sectors grew in the month of May
Indiana’s unemployment rate drops to 12.3 percent for May and is lower than the national rate of 13.3 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 increase of 110,780 over the previous month. This was a result of a decrease of 156,903 unemployed residents and an increase of 267,683 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 63.2 percent labor force participation rate is above the national rate of 60.8 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 315,000 over the year and increased by 90,100 over the previous month. The monthly increase is primarily due to gains in the Leisure and Hospitality (34,700), the Manufacturing (18,100) and the Private Education and Health Services (10,700) sectors. Total private employment stands at 2,422,800, which is 326,500 below the January 2019 peak.
Midwest Unemployment Rates
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EDITOR’S NOTES:
Data are sourced from May Current Employment Statistics, Local Area Unemployment Statistics – U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
May employment data for Indiana Counties, Cities and MSAs will be available Monday, June 22, 2020, at noon (Eastern) pending U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics validation.