On May 28 around 1:46 p.m., Evansville Police Officers were called to Animal Control at 815 Uhlhorn St. for a subject on scene who had a felony warrant out of Kentucky. There was also an alert that stated the male, Cody Dean Patton (24), was armed and dangerous.Â
 When Patton noticed officers arriving, he fled out the back of the building. Patton continued to flee across the greenway, swam across Pigeon Creek and then forced entry into a residence at Diamond Place Apartments. Patton was eventually located in a yard barn on Meyer Circle.
 When Patton fled from officers he was wearing a white shirt and jeans but while running through apartments, he had changed clothing. When he was finally caught he was wearing a flannel shirt and a sombrero, in an attempt to elude authorities.
 The search for Patton took nearly 3 hours and was a collaborative effort between the Evansville Police Department’s K9, Drone, Viper, SWAT, and Motor Patrol Units.Â
 Patton is currently being held in the Vanderburgh County Corrections Center until he can be extradited to Kentucky.Â
Gov. Eric J. Holcomb, the Indiana State Department of Health and other state leaders will host a virtual media briefing to provide updates on COVID-19 and its impact on Indiana.
WHO:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Gov. Holcomb
State Health Commissioner Kristina Box, M.D., FACOG
Department of Workforce Development Commissioner Fred Payne
Secretary of Commerce Jim Schellinger
Indiana Economic Development Corporation Chief of Staff Luke Bosso
WHEN:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 2:30 p.m. ET, Friday, May 29
How Private Jet Owners Got A Subsidy From Coronavirus Relief Funds
Clay Lacy Aviation’s use of paycheck protection funds illustrates one of the many ways the wealthiest Americans have benefited from programs to help workers.
By Stephanie Ruhle, Jonathan Allen, and Michael Cappetta
NBC NEWS
A California aviation management company to the elite is sharing the benefits of a taxpayer-financed loan with its private jet-owning clients after it won the loan through the federal Paycheck Protection Program, according to three clients and a copy of a letter announcing the plan.
Congress and President Donald Trump enacted the loan program, known as PPP, to prevent workers at small businesses from being laid off during the coronavirus crisis. The company, Clay Lacy Aviation of Van Nuys, near Los Angeles, will be able to keep pilots and flight attendants employed with the money it received.
But the company also decided to provide a benefit for clients who own the jets it manages, a rich set who wasn’t the target of federal coronavirus relief funds.
The owners who opted in will get account credits through a formula based on the amount of the loan and the cost each owner incurs to employ crew members, according to a letter written by a top company executive that one of the clients provided to NBC News.
“CLA was approved for a loan and recently received funding,” Bradford W. Wright, Clay Lacy Aviation’s chief financial officer, wrote in the letter, dated April 29. “CLA is prospectively offering aircraft owners credit for a portion of full-time payroll and employee benefit costs paid through CLA to their respective flight, cabin, and maintenance crew members during the covered period.”
The crew members keep their jobs, which is a condition of the taxpayer-backed loan, and jet owners keep more of their money, which isn’t.
The PPP loans were created to keep businesses afloat by providing money to pay their workers during the crisis. Legally, flight crews are employed by CLA, but it is only a “pass-through” company for the jet owners to pay the workers’ salaries. The crews are dedicated to each jet owner, who hires, fires, and sets salaries for them. Without the PPP loan, jet owners would have had the choice of continuing to pay their crews or laying them off.
While the loan is only a small slice of the $650 billion-plus PPP fund — $10 million is the cap for any company — Clay Lacy Aviation’s use of it illustrates one of the many ways the wealthiest Americans have benefited from programs to help workers.
“Everything about this is distressing, deplorable and disgusting,” said Steven J. Cloobeck, the founder of Diamond Resorts International and a jet owner who isn’t a CLA client. “There should be serious and punitive repercussions for those at the absolute top of the food chain who abuse an emergency government rescue.”
CLA’s client list includes rocker Don Henley, Sexy Brand CEO Mark Bonfigli and private equity firms the Blackstone Group and Freeman Spogli, which is owned by the finance chairman of President George W. Bush’s inaugurations and a former ambassador to Italy and San Marino, according to a list of aircraft registration numbers provided to NBC News by a source and a combination of federal and state disclosures.
Christine Anderson, a spokesperson for the Blackstone Group, said the company turned down the offer to take part in the credit program. Henley declined to comment, and Freeman Spogli didn’t respond to NBC News’ requests for comment about whether it accepted the credit. But other jet owners, including Bonfigli, were eager to participate.
“Oh, my God, yes,” Bonfigli said in a telephone interview Wednesday.
He said paying for a plane called SexyJet to sit on the ground has been such a financial drain that he would have fired his crew by now if it weren’t for the promise of relief from Clay Lacy Aviation — and taxpayers.
Bonfigli said that he plans to sell his plane, a Gulfstream GV that he said has transported the Red Hot Chili Peppers and actor Robert De Niro, among other A-listers, but that the credits from CLA’s loan may buy him time to keep renting it out until the market for private jets improves.
“It would be really helpful for us to have a chance to continue to charter,” he said. “Otherwise, I think it would have to sell sooner, not later, and for a lower price, because the market is hurting. … I don’t mind the idea of selling it for a good price, but now we’d really have to lose some real money.”
CLA declined to disclose the exact amount of its loan, and the two federal agencies that administer the program — the Treasury Department and the Small Business Administration, or SBA — haven’t made the information public. The company also declined to answer most questions NBC News posed over email about its operations, the reason it designed the credit system, and its clientele.
But a representative of the company said: “all funds received under federal programs must and will be used in accordance with federal guidelines to save the jobs of hundreds of mechanics, flight attendants, pilots, customer service representatives, line service technicians, dispatchers, avionics technicians, and other workers.”
The representative also said the company has experienced a 94 percent reduction in flights and noted that “the distribution of all funds is also subject to a federal audit.”
The loan wasn’t the only money CLA got from the federal government through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, which became law March 27.
The Treasury Department also approved a $27 million grant to CLA on April 20. The money came from a separate CARES Act fund designed to stabilize the airline industry, and CLA’s share was the 19th largest among more than 200 aviation companies that received federal money.
Clay Lacy Aviation was named for its founder, who developed air-to-air cinematography techniques for blockbuster films such as “Top Gun” and is a donor to Trump. Brian Kirkdoffer, a longtime friend and employee of Lacy’s, is the CEO and majority shareholder, according to a profile in Business Jet Traveler.
‘Eye-popping’
On April 3, the National Business Aviation Association, a lobbying group representing companies like CLA, held a webinar for its members in which experts discussed the access that private jet travel companies have to various new streams of federal benefits. The list included Treasury’s payroll support initiative, the SBA’s Paycheck Protection Program, an economic injury disaster loan fund, and a suite of tax breaks.
Aviation industry insiders told NBC News that they found it inappropriate for a management company to ask for federal bailout funds from two separate federal programs, each designed to prevent layoffs, and then use them to offer credits to clients who are in such rarefied air financially.
“The headline of this story should be ‘man, f— these guys,'” said an airline industry executive who asked to remain anonymous because he wasn’t authorized by his company to speak on the record.
After the CARES Act became law, the Treasury Department gave multibillion-dollar rescue packages to major carriers American, Delta, United, and Southwest on April 20 and 21. In each case, the government received stock warrants in exchange for the money as part of the deals with publicly traded companies.
Clay Lacy Aviation and other small charter and private jet management companies applied for and received millions of dollars from the Treasury program without having to give taxpayers shares in their businesses. In determining how much money to give eligible recipients, the Treasury Department required companies to provide data and sworn statements disclosing how much they paid in salaries, wages, benefits, and other compensation to employees.
Recipients were also required to promise to use federal money “exclusively for the continuation” of those costs and “refrain from conducting involuntary layoffs or furloughs or reducing pay rates and benefits,” according to the department.
But Clay Lacy Aviation’s participation in the PPP program, which also gives out money on the condition that recipients keep their workforces intact, wasn’t publicly known until now. Some industry competitors with different business models have taken the stance that federal money isn’t supposed to support high fliers.
“We have observed others in our industry badly bruised by the pandemic as the recipients of CARES Act monies have become public,” Patrick Gallagher, CEO of NetJets, wrote in a recent email blasting other players in the aviation industry for taking federal money. “The names on the list and amounts received have been eye-popping.”
Why CLA was eligible for two bailout programs
CLA is unusual both because it’s a major player in the aviation industry and because its executives say it qualifies as a small business for the purposes of the new lending program. The CARES Act created its own matrix of eligibility standards for small businesses, which include companies with fewer than 500 U.S.-based employees, caps on revenue and a variety of metrics.
While PPP funds are legally limited to companies that don’t have other debts to the SBA, Congress didn’t prohibit a company’s taking both a PPP loan and grant money from Treasury’s aviation fund.
“There’s no question there were beneficiaries who lawmakers did not intend to have access to these funds,” said Caroline Bruckner, a former chief counsel to the Senate Small Business Committee who is the managing director of American University’s Kogod Tax Policy Center. “Mistakes are always made when legislation is drafted so quickly to respond to an emergency — that’s inevitable — but this also means, and this could be a prime example why oversight post-CARES Act is critically important.”
The planes managed by the company are all owned by its clients. CLA stores and maintains the aircraft for the owners, and it charters flights and acts as a “pass-through” for the owners to pay flight crews. The company and its clients share revenue generated from renting planes when the owners aren’t using them.
So when the CARES Act was enacted, CLA had three obvious options: forgo the loan, take all the money for itself, even though its revenue is supported by jet-owning clients, or devise a way for the clients to share the bounty. The account credits allow for the latter.
On April 29, the company advised its clients that they had until May 11 to decide whether they wanted to take the credits. The only requirement was to sign a statement-making a good-faith representation that “1) the current economic uncertainty makes receipt of these credits necessary in order to support the ongoing operations of the owner’s aircraft and 2) aircraft owner has neither separately applied for nor received relief under the SBA-PPP or another SBA program.”
CLA has signaled that it may be worried that its loan might not be forgiven — or that it could get yanked altogether.
In the letter to jet owners, Wright, the company’s CFO, wrote that the credits won’t be awarded until after the loan is forgiven and that owners would have to repay CLA if the company is “subsequently deemed ineligible” for the program “upon audit.”
Fliers who are hard to track
Many private jet owners have no interest in publicity about their planes.
To find the owners of jets managed by Clay Lacy Aviation, NBC News obtained a list of identifying numbers for each of the planes registered under the company’s flag and matched it against Federal Aviation Administration records, Securities and Exchange Commission disclosures and filings with state business compliance offices. The planes tend to be owned by limited liability partnerships with names that have little obvious connection to the people or parent companies that own them.
Jon Croasmun, senior vice president, and corporate trust manager for the Bank of Utah, which is the registered owner of more than a half-dozen aircraft managed by Clay Lacy Aviation, said the company holds titles to planes in trust but isn’t part of financial arrangements with management companies.
The bank generally represents both U.S. citizens and foreign nationals who own airplanes. He declined to say whether any of the clients it shares with Clay Lacy Aviation aren’t Americans.
“The only time we divulge ultimate ownership is if the FAA asks,” he said, adding that the agency hasn’t sought that information. That means it is unlikely that the Treasury Department or the SBA know whether bailout money is being turned into credits for foreign nationals.
In part because of the confidentiality offered by the Bank of Utah and a Delaware company that offers similar services to management firms, NBC News was able to identify only about two-thirds of Clay Lacy’s 50-plus clients. In addition to Henley, Blackstone, Bonfigli and Freeman Spogli, the list includes:
Brian Fitterer, owner of a chain of trailer parks.
Shlomo Rechnitz, owner of a chain of nursing homes.
Aby Rosen, a real estate tycoon, and art collector.
Edward Roski Jr., a co-owner of the Los Angeles Lakers.
Ernie Moody, a video poker magnate.
Rosen “was not in receipt of such an offer and he would have never taken it if he had received it,” a representative from his office said.
NBC News’ attempts to obtain comments from Fitterer, Rechnitz, Roski, and Moody were unsuccessful. It is unclear whether they opted in or out of the credits.
But Bonfigli said he doesn’t recommend buying a plane unless “you win a really large lottery” and can afford not to rent it out.
“I don’t know about other owners and how they operate their planes, but I can tell you this: When a plane sits like that, you’re paying a fortune for it to sit,” he said. “From a business perspective, honestly, it couldn’t get any worse than owning a plane. It’s been terrible.”
Cloobeck has little sympathy for jet owners who get taxpayer-subsidized benefits.
“No government program is perfect, especially given the need and urgency it is designed to serve,” Cloobeck said. “But this company and these owners all know the money was not designed for them, and they have a moral, if not legal, duty to treat the country that enabled them to become so wealthy a whole lot better than this.”
FOOTNOTE: Article written by: Stephanie Ruhle is an MSNBC anchor and senior business correspondent for NBC News, Jonathan Allen is a senior political analyst for NBC News, based in Washington.  Michael Cappetta and Michael Cappetta is a producer at NBC News covering business and technology.
FRANKFORT, Ky.(May 27, 2020) – As part of Team Kentucky, Andy Beshear and I made a commitment to be good teammates to our fellow Kentuckians, to end the divisive political rhetoric and verbal attacks by demonstrating the compassion, empathy, and leadership we believe they deserve.
I wanted to govern with Andy because I believed he would deliver on the promise of unity, people over politics and civil discourse during his time as governor.
Six months into our first term (half of which we have spent fighting a global health pandemic) he has made good on that promise repeatedly.
Even when baited toward divisiveness, he has fulfilled his promise to stay above the fray. That takes courage, conviction, and leadership.
The vast majority of Kentuckians, whether they voted for us or not, appreciate that about him, too. I know that to be true because more people than I can count have told me just that.
But over the last few weeks, Kentucky’s beautiful Capitol grounds, a place for all Kentuckians, was used as a stage for the politics of hatred that represents a loud minority of our people. Offensive, hateful images and words have found their way from the margins to the mainstream. This is unacceptable.
Let me be very clear.
To the folks who rallied and protested the decisions of elected officials with which you do not approve: While I disagree with your sentiments, I support your right to protest. To be heard.
However, there is a key component of liberty that has been lost – your rights end where another individual’s rights begin.
I cannot believe I have to utter these words, but storming the home where a 9- and 10-year-old live, wielding firearms and antagonizing their father to come outside crosses that line. Hanging an effigy crosses that line.
Disagree with government officials all you want, but leave their homes and families alone.
To the elected officials who attended these rallies and egged on the effigy-hanging crowd: It’s not enough after fanning the flames of hatred and political divisiveness to simply make a social media statement condemning the consequences of your rhetoric. Your role in driving this narrative cannot be denied.
These are uncertain times. People are scared. And now, more than ever, they need leaders who protect their families, not prey on their fears.
As Lieutenant Governor, I have been privy to conversations and deliberations that have taken place during an unprecedented era in our history. So I can assure you of this: Gov. Beshear has weighed every difficult decision as if every Kentucky family was his own. That is the epitome of being a good teammate.
I challenge you to be a good teammate and join us on Team Kentucky. Deny the partisans that seek to divide and intimidate. That is how we get through this, together.
Being a good teammate – on Team Kentucky, or otherwise – does not require conformity. But it does call for accountability. Being a good teammate means that, when you disagree, you do so civilly so that you can continue to work together in the areas where you are able to find common ground.
Being a good teammate requires the courage and conviction to choose your words wisely and to live by them. We could all use a little more of that these days.
INDIANAPOLIS — The Memorial Day weekend offered Hoosiers a chance to gather in many parts of the state where restrictions are being lifted as part of Indiana’s plan to reopen from shutdowns imposed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
But state and local officials said some scenes from the weekend troubled them and, in some ways, did not bode well for the progress made on the path to reopening Indiana.
“I want to emphasize that point because I saw reports from around Indiana, and the rest of the country this weekend, of people packed in pools or at restaurants, shoulder-to-shoulder and without masks,†said Indiana State Health Commissioner Dr. Kristina Box in a virtual press briefing Wednesday.  “We do not want to see the number of cases spike because people got tired of these precautions and treated this as an unofficial start to summer and business as usual.â€
Dr. Kristina Box, commissioner of the Indiana Department of Health, providing an update on the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths at Wednesday’s virtual press briefing. TheStatehouseFile.com
An additional 370 Hoosiers were diagnosed with COVID-19, bringing the total cases confirmed to 32,437 Wednesday. The state health department also reported an additional 21 deaths related to COVID-19, increasing the total dead to 1,871. Also 159 deaths suspected to be linked to the disease have been reported to date.
Testing also increased, a result of added testing sites and contact tracing that began several weeks ago. As of Wednesday, the state health department confirmed 235,333 tests had been reported, up from 230,749 Tuesday.
Over the holiday weekend, too, more than 100 protestors gathered outside the Indiana War Memorial in downtown Indianapolis to demand Indiana scrap its five-stage reopening plan and resume business without any restrictions. Among the speakers on the steps of the memorial was Robert Hall, who campaigned as a Republican in Indiana’s 9th Congressional District in 2016. He is an organizer with Grassroots Conservatives, which advocates for conservative policies.
Hall said in his remarks the state shutdown, which began on March 25, did little to curb the spread of COVID-19. Among other criticisms, he said state restrictions are “based on faulty flawed models, inaccurate data, and unsupported facts,†and that the shutdown is unconstitutional and unlawful.
When asked about the protest and continued criticism of state restrictions, Gov. Eric Holcomb said he “sleeps well at night†in knowing Indiana’s reopening plan is based on data.
Gov. Eric Holcomb at his COVID-19 virtual press conference Wednesday. TheStatehouseFile.com
“I live with the consequences of the decisions we make,†Holcomb said. “But I would just continue to appeal to folks’ sense of civic duty. Not just their personal responsibility, but how their liberty can impact someone else’s.â€
Holcomb also said that while he respects differences in opinion, large gatherings can endanger protestors because not all positive COVID-19 cases come with symptoms. The latest data from state health officials, for instance, showed around 44.8% of confirmed COVID-19 patients were asymptomatic.
“We have to understand that folks can be asymptomatic and not know that they’re passing this on,†Holcomb said. “When you get into those large, confined gathering areas, that’s when we tend to see the spread occur.â€
The tension between liberty and public safety drives decision-making by city and county officials, Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett said in a separate press briefing Wednesday morning. And that commitment has led Indianapolis and Marion County guidance to differ slightly from that offered by state officials.
In the briefing, Hogsett and Marion County Health Commissioner Dr. Virginia Caine also stressed the importance of masks, which are recommended but not mandatory in most areas of Marion County. An exception to this rule is personal care services, like hair salons, spas and tattoo parlors, that will reopen by appointment only on June 1 — there, both employees and patrons must wear masks in order to operate.
“The very best way you can protect others from COVID-19 is by wearing a face covering while in public,†Hogsett said. “When you see someone with a mask, they’re not wearing it for themselves.
“And to those who disagree with the science, or the style, of wearing masks in public, I have an even simpler message: You’re simply wrong.â€
To further encourage mask-wearing, Hogsett announced the creation of a new initiative to offer free face coverings to Marion County residents.
While the cost isn’t certain at this time, Hogsett said the he expects the city could spend close to $1 million on the masks. The masks will be provided by a U.S. supplier, city officials said, but the exact partnership is still under negotiation.
Marion County residents can apply for a free mask by visiting indy.gov/masks. Pickup locations will be announced at partner locations throughout the county at a later date.
The state offers masks to businesses through the Indiana Economic Development Corporation’s PPE Marketplace. Additionally, facial coverings are recommended as part of the state’s reopening plan, but they are not required, according to state guidelines.
Box said this is a consideration that will become more important as Indiana prepares to resume operations in places like schools.
Dr. Jennifer Sullivan, secretary of the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration, or FSSA, also joined in the Wednesday press briefing. She explained new data that shows expanded telehealth opportunities led to a historic increase in Medicaid mental health claims between March and April.
In 2019, 6% of all Medicaid mental health services were provided through telehealth — 335 claims. By contrast, in March and April of 2020, 26% of all Medicaid mental health services, or 21,964 claims, were fulfilled through telehealth.
“What we’ve learned in a short period of time is that individuals often prefer this modality, and that mental health providers have found a place for telehealth in their clinical practice,†Sullivan said.
Dr. Jennifer Sullivan of the Family and Social Services Administration at Gov. Eric Holcomb’s COVD-19 virtual press conference Wednesday. TheStatehouseFile.com
INDIANAPOLIS — A moment of discomfort donating blood could save up to three lives as well as being one of the ways to help others as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to have an impact on all parts of the community.
Since state and local governments have restricted travel and ordered many businesses closed because of the highly contagious virus, many community blood drives were canceled. That left a critical demand for blood donations. The American Red Cross, which supplies 40% of blood for transfusions, reported in March that 2,700 blood drives were canceled, translating into a loss of about 86,000 donations.
In the past few weeks, the national need for blood products has increased by 30% after a decline in early April. Now, hospitals are performing surgeries that were postponed earlier in the year. Even though there was a sufficient supply of blood donated after the overwhelming need at the beginning of the outbreak, blood can only sit for so long. New blood, plasma and platelets are always needed.
Tiffany Taylor, external communications manager at the American Red Cross, said the organization needs 13,000 blood donations daily to keep up with the need from hospitals across the nation. The demand for platelets, which are regularly used to treat those with cancer, are also high as there is a need for 2,600 donations each day.
The American Red Cross and Versiti Blood Center of Indiana, recently known as the Indiana Blood Center, are taking extra precautions to prevent the spread of the virus.
Both groups state on their websites that they take the temperature of staff and donors before allowing them in the donation center. All involved parties must also wear a protective face mask; if a donor does not have one, a mask will be provided.
All donors must also answer questions regarding their health that day to prevent someone with COVID-19 symptoms from entering the building. Donation chairs are set up six feet apart from one another, and so are seats in the refreshment and waiting areas. Beds are cleaned and gloves are changed after each donation, and pens at the sign-in desk are regularly sanitized. Appointments are encouraged with both organizations to limit the number of people waiting in one place.
Even though they take many steps to prevent someone with the virus from donating blood, the Red Cross assures donors and recipients that there is no evidence that coronavirus—or any other respiratory virus—can be transmitted through blood transfusions.
In addition to blood donations, Versiti and the Red Cross are also seeking plasma donations from individuals who have fully recovered from COVID-19 to aid others who have been recently diagnosed. The antibodies in the plasma of someone who has recovered from an infection can greatly help another person who is ill with the same condition, and there is some evidence to suggest that this is the case with coronavirus patients.
Donors must be of at least 16 years of age and meet height, weight and health requirements. Those with type O-negative blood are universal donors and can give blood to anyone of any blood type, so donations from these individuals are needed most. Blood from African Americans is also most needed because of a decrease in diverse blood supply, likely due to the higher coronavirus rates among African Americans and other minorities. A diverse blood supply helps patients with rare blood types because they must be as closely matched with donors as possible to reduce complications.
To make an appointment to donate blood products at a center near you, go to donate.indiana.versiti.org or redcrossblood.org.
Andrea Rahman is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.
The University of Evansville announced that it intends to return to campus for in-person instruction for the Fall 2020 term no later than August 26.
“Based on feedback from our faculty, staff, and students, we are committed to in-person classes this fall,” said UE President Christopher M. Pietruszkiewicz. “Reopening campus is a monumental task, but we have been working for months on plans to reopen safely. Throughout this pandemic, our guiding principles have included supporting the safety and well-being of our entire campus community, continuing to provide a transformative educational experience, and considering the public health implications of our actions.”
Based on these principles, the University has been proactive and intentional in its response to the Coronavirus pandemic. A Coronavirus Healthcare Taskforce, consisting of faculty, staff, administrators, and public health experts, has developed robust plans and made recommendations relating to all aspects of the University’s response, culminating in a phased approach to reopening campus and preparing for the fall semester.
Following the guidelines of Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb and in consultation with public health experts and the University’s Coronavirus Healthcare Taskforce, the University has planned a gradual reopening of offices, labs, and other campus spaces. These plans include preparations for in-person campus visits as well as procedures and protocols for students’ return to campus for the fall semester.
Instruction in the fall will be designed for in-person experiences and will include some hybrid and online classes to maintain recommended social distancing and ensure public health protocols are met while providing a high-quality learning experience for students. Other preparations include adjustments in classroom spaces, residence halls, dining facilities, and healthcare protocols regarding testing, masks, temperature checks, and other safety measures.
“We will continue to monitor the health of our community closely and provide updates frequently,” said President Pietruszkiewicz. “We look forward to welcoming our returning students back to campus and extending a warm welcome – at a safe social distance – to the new members of our UE family.”
EVANSVILLE, IN (May 28, 2020) – The City of Evansville Storm Water Management Department is partnering with Coca Cola Refreshments to offer Rain Barrels to raise awareness about water conservation. Coca Cola has donated 55-gallon plastic drums for several years, which are converted into rain barrels.Â
Donations from area businesses, engineers and conservation groups are used to purchase adapters that attach the barrels to downspouts on houses to collect rainwater for use later to irrigate gardens and lawns. Â The adapters will be provided to individuals wishing to utilize them for the barrels. Â
The rain barrels may be picked up by individuals and organizations to be decorated and used as rain barrels at their homes. There are only 30 barrels available and will be given out on a first come first serve basis. Â
Rain barrels are available for pick-up in the “BACK 40†Parking Lot of the Civic Center on Friday, June 5th from 9:00 AM until 11:00 AM. Â
For more information, contact Storm Water Coordinator Karan Barnhill at 812-436-4977.Â
Thoroughbred Racing Groups Launch National Ad Campaign
May 28, 2020 (Lexington, KY) – The Breeders’ Cup and The Jockey Club have launched a national ad campaign titled “Still. Running. Strong.â€Â to promote Thoroughbred racing as major racetracks across the country resume live racing without spectators during the COVID-19 pandemic, the organizations announced today.
The campaign, which includes broadcast, digital, and social media elements, comes at a time when other major sports are on hiatus and horse racing is receiving unprecedented levels of live television coverage on NBC Sports and FOX Sports.
In addition to Breeders’ Cup and The Jockey Club, significant financial support for the campaign was provided by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA); TVG, an affiliate of the FanDuel Group; the Kentucky Thoroughbred Association (KTA); and Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association (TOBA).
“As more of our major venues get back to live racing and with people at home seeking diversion and entertainment, we wanted to be proactive about promoting the sport to a broader audience,†said Drew Fleming, President and CEO of the Breeders’ Cup. “Horse racing has a unique opportunity to lead the way as we resume operations safely and, in doing so, provide fun and excitement for millions of sports fans and bettors across the country.â€
The campaign highlights the bond between human and horse along with the thrill of watching and betting on horses that sets horse racing apart. Digital and social media executions promote the legal on-line wagering aspects of the sport, directing people to a new landing page on America’s Best Racing’s website, featuring fan education materials, wagering basics and links to horse racing’s advanced-deposit wagering platforms.
“With racing returning to major circuits and the addition of many hours of live programming on Fox Sports and NBC Sports there is now a unique opportunity to appeal to new fans and ask them to sample Thoroughbred racing,†said Jim Gagliano, President & COO of The Jockey Club. “Our goal is to increase awareness of racing as an option for these potential customers, engage with them, and provide the initial tools for them to learn more and break down barriers to participation. We are grateful to NTRA, TVG, KTA, and TOBA for supporting our efforts to promote racing and look forward to working with others to grow the campaign.â€
“On behalf of our member tracks and horsemen’s organizations, we are happy to support this collaborative effort, especially during this unique window of opportunity,†said Alex Waldrop, NTRA President and CEO.
While most professional sports seasons have been sidelined or restricted to mitigate risks associated with human-to-human contact in the midst of the pandemic, horse racing has been able to operate safely in many jurisdictions under strict screening, sanitation and health protocols under guidance from public health officials and other experts.
The campaign launches today and will run on NBC Sports, FOX Sports and a variety of targeted digital and social channels. It was developed by Boston-based agency CTP, the Breeders’ Cup’s longtime advertising agency.
The Breeders’ Cup administers the Breeders’ Cup World Championships, Thoroughbred horse racing’s year-end Championships, as well as the Breeders’ Cup Challenge qualifying series, which provides automatic starting positions into the Championships races. The Breeders’ Cup is also a founding member of the Thoroughbred Safety Coalition, an organization composed of industry leaders committed to advancing safety measures in Thoroughbred racing and improving the well-being of equine and human athletes. The 2020 Breeders’ Cup World Championships, consisting of 14 Championship races, is scheduled to be held on November 6-7 at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Kentucky and features a total of $35 million in purses and awards. The event will be televised live by the NBC Sports Group. Breeders’ Cup press releases appear on the Breeders’ Cup website, breederscup.com. You can also follow the Breeders’ Cup on social media platforms Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
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ABOUT THE JOCKEY CLUB
The Jockey Club, founded in 1894 and dedicated to the improvement of Thoroughbred breeding and racing, is the breed registry for North American Thoroughbreds. In fulfillment of its mission, The Jockey Club, directly or through subsidiaries, provides support and leadership on a wide range of important industry initiatives, and it serves the information and technology needs of owners, breeders, media, fans and farms. It is the sole funding source for America’s Best Racing, the broad-based fan development initiative for Thoroughbred racing. You can follow America’s Best Racing at americasbestracing.net. Additional information is available at jockeyclub.com.
