Home Blog Page 2849

BREAKING NEWS: STATE GAMING ESTABLISHMENTS TO SHUT DOWN BECAUSE OF THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

0

We have just been informed by one of our Indiana State contacts that at 4:00 this afternoon a news conference will be called by the Indiana Gaming Commission.

We are told that the officials of the Indiana Gaming Commission will announce at this news conference that beginning at 6:00 A M this coming Monday all the Casinos and Sports Books in Indiana will close for at least two (2) weeks because of the CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC.

This is a developing story and we shall give updates soon as we receive them.

FOOTNOTE: We are currently tracking to see if the Racetracks and Slots Gaming establishments in Kentucky will also follow suit of the Indiana Gaming Commission and close down their gaming establishments because of CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC.

March 14: COVID-19 update from ISDH

0
The Indiana State Department of Health (ISDH) today reported three new presumptive positive cases of COVID-19, bringing to 15 the number of Hoosiers diagnosed through ISDH, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and private laboratories. All but one are adults.The new cases involve residents of Marion, LaPorte and Wells counties and have been included on ISDH’s online dashboard at in.gov/coronavirus. The dashboard is updated daily at 10 a.m. Other counties with positive cases are Adams, Boone, Hendricks, Howard, Johnson, Noble and St. Joseph.ISDH continues to work with local health departments to identify close contacts of the existing patients and ensure that infection-control protocols, such as self-isolation and monitoring for symptoms, are implemented.Other developments:
  • The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has updated its nursing home visitation guidance. This guidance requires facilities to restrict all visitors and non-essential healthcare personnel, except for compassionate care situations such as end-of-life situations.
  • The CDC has posted new guidance for schools and childcare facilities, including a decision tree to help school officials reduce the risk of illness.
  • The ISDH lab continues to prioritize testing for individuals who are at high risk.
    • Individuals who do not meet those criteria are encouraged to consult their healthcare provider about private testing. Most people with COVID-19 will develop mild symptoms and do not need to be tested.
  • The ISDH call center is experiencing extremely high call volume.
    • The ISDH general call center number is 317-233-7125. Calls after 8 p.m. should go to 317-233-1325 and will be answered by an on-call epidemiologist. Call center staff will not offer personal medical advice or provide test results. If you are sick, consult your healthcare provider.
  • Hoosiers are encouraged to sign up at in.gov/coronavirus to receive alerts and the latest updated guidance as the outbreak evolves.
About COVID-19 COVID-19 is a respiratory illness caused by a novel, or new, coronavirus that has not been previously identified. The virus causing COVID-19 is not the same as the coronaviruses that commonly circulate among humans and cause mild illness, like the common cold.
  • Human coronaviruses most commonly spread from an infected person to others through:
  • Respiratory droplets released into the air by coughing and sneezing;
  • Close personal contact, such as touching or shaking hands;
  • Touching an object or surface with the virus on it, then touching your mouth, nose, or eyes before washing your hands; and
  • Rarely, fecal contamination.
The CDC does not recommend that people who are well wear a facemask to protect themselves from respiratory illnesses, including COVID-19. You should only wear a mask if a healthcare professional recommends it. A facemask should be used by people who have COVID-19 and are showing symptoms to protect others from the risk of infection.Visit the Indiana State Department of Health at http://www.in.gov/isdh/ or follow us on Twitter at @StateHealthIN and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/StateHealthIN.

Evansville Man Arrested after Fleeing during Traffic Stop

1

Last night at approximately 8:50, Trooper Eaton was patrolling on Fares Avenue north of Diamond Avenue when he stopped the operator of a moped for having a passenger. A moped registered as a Class B Motor Driven Cycle are prohibited from having passengers. A warrant check revealed the passenger on the moped, William Martin, 51, of Evansville, had an outstanding felony warrant out of Warrick County for possession of methamphetamine. Martin fled on foot, but he was quickly apprehended near Diamond Lanes Bowling Alley and was arrested without further incident. He was taken to the Vanderburgh County Jail where he is currently being held on bond.

Arrested and Charge:

  • William Martin, 51, Evansville, IN
  • Resisting Law Enforcement, Class A Misdemeanor
  • Felony Warrant (Warrick County)

Arresting Officer: Trooper Chase Eaton, Indiana State Police

Sobriety Checkpoint Nets One Impaired Driver

0

“March Enforcement Campaign on

                          Dangerous and Impaired Driving”

Vanderburgh County – Indiana State Police conducted a sobriety checkpoint between 11:00 last night and 1:00 this morning in the 3900 block of Broadway Avenue in Evansville.

During the two-hour period, 56 vehicles passed through the checkpoint resulting in an Evansville woman being arrested for operating a vehicle while intoxicated after she failed field sobriety tests and tested .16%.

Arrested for Operating a Vehicle While Intoxicated:

  • Michelle Bartuch, 39, Evansville, IN

The Indiana State Police are committed to traffic safety and will continue to conduct saturation patrols and sobriety checkpoints to apprehend impaired drivers and to deter others from drinking and driving.

EPD REPORT

0

EPD REPORT

VANDERBURGH COUNTY RECENT BOOKING RECORDS

0

https://www.vanderburghsheriff.com/jail-recent-booking-records.aspx

WE MUST ACT TODAY TO TAKE ON CORONAVIRUS 19

1

 

WE MUST ACT TODAY TO TAKE ON CORONAVIRUS 19 

https://medium.com/coronavirus-act-today-or-people-will-die-f4d3d9cd99ca

Indiana Governor Backs Path For Forcing Out Attorney General

0

Indiana Governor Backs Path For Forcing Out Attorney General

|  IL Staff
Indiana’s governor is endorsing a proposal that could force the state’s attorney general from office if his law license is suspended over allegations he drunkenly groped a state legislator and three other women.

Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb said in a statement Thursday that he supports a bill endorsed by the Indiana House that would prohibit anyone whose law license has been suspended for at least 30 days from serving as attorney general.

That action came as Republican Attorney General Curtis Hill awaits a decision from the state Supreme Court on whether he’ll face any punishment for the alleged professional misconduct. Former state Supreme Court Justice Myra Selby, who heard four days of testimony about the allegations in October, last month recommended that Hill’s law license be suspended for at least 60 days without automatic reinstatement, writing that his “conduct was offensive, invasive, damaging and embarrassing” to the women.

State law requires the attorney general to be “duly licensed to practice law in Indiana” but doesn’t specify whether the person can continue serving after facing professional disciplinary action.

“Clarity and certainty are always good,” Holcomb’s statement said. “The House has provided both for anyone who holds the office of the attorney general. I would support and sign the bill if it came to my desk.”

Hill, who is seeking reelection this year, has denied wrongdoing and resisted calls for his resignation from Holcomb and other state Republican leaders. A special prosecutor declined to pursue criminal charges against Hill, and a federal judge on Monday dismissed a lawsuit filed by the women alleging sexual harassment and defamation by Hill. The judge ruled the women didn’t establish that Hill violated federal law.

Hill is accused of grabbing Democratic Rep. Mara Candelaria Reardon’s buttocks and inappropriately touching and making unwelcome sexual comments toward three female legislative staffers during a party in March 2018.

The Republican-dominated House voted 83-9 Monday in favor of the attorney general removal provision. The bill is pending with the state Senate, which must approve it by next week’s end of the legislative session for it to become law.

The attorney general’s office said the provision “raises some legal concerns — and this kind of rushed proposal lacks transparency and leaves no opportunity for public input.”

Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray, a Martinsville Republican, said Thursday that while he and other senators were still discussing the House proposal, he recognized that legislators hadn’t previously contemplated an attorney general being subjected to a law license suspension.

“This issue has been evolving even through this legislative session because we didn’t have the (disciplinary) recommendation when we started in January,” Bray said. “So, these things have come to light and it’s been recognized as an issue.”

The uncertainty surrounding Hill’s ability to remain in office if he is sanctioned has been a key theme among political leaders discussing the sexual misconduct allegations. The Indiana Supreme Court will have the final say on what, if any, discipline Hill should face.

NEW HARMONY TOWN COUNCIL MEETING TO ENTERTAIN HIGHER WATER RATE TAXES!

0

THE NEW-HARMONY GAZETTE. SPECIAL EDITION

TOWN COUNCIL MEETING TO ENTERTAIN HIGHER WATER RATE TAXES!

by Dan Barton March 13, 2020

At the February, New Harmony Town Council meeting, as the New Harmony Gazette reported in the March edition, Council President Blaylock was considering an increase in New Harmony’s, Water Tax Rates. He liquidated all of the town’s, $100,000, Water Utility Cash Reserve, transferring it into the Water Utility Operating account as an emergency measure to support the account that he called, “running in the red.” This has never been done by any Town Council in recent history, that I could find. It is a precedent-setting move.

Though it is not totally objectionable, as the Reserve Account has never been invested and does not gain interest sitting idle, theoretically losing money, it may, however, point to possible unplanned use of public money outside of any projected long-term budget calculations. Unplanned! If it had been budgeted and planned, that information should have been shared with the public. Reserve funds have suddenly been transferred to gird up the Water Utility Account. Now the issue is increased Water Tax Rates.

This development should concern you. We have many people in our community who rely solely on a meager Social Security check each month to survive. They recently had to absorb an increase in their Trash Pick Up Tax Rate and now are faced with a possible new tax increase on water.

Back in October 2016, Council President Blaylock remarked, regarding the first three Fire Hydrants being replaced, that, “We have money in the budget for three (hydrants)! That statement indicates that, apparently, there was some sort of budget. Somewhere along the way, though, the budget constraints seem to have either been forgotten or the Reserve Account transfer and the suggestion of a water tax rate increase were actually taken into account and not revealed to the public in 2016, 2017, 2018 or 2019.

In Alvin Blaylock’s speech to Kiwanis of New Harmony, on July 22, 2019, he stated that the town had a total of 87 fire hydrants. He said that in the past three years, eighteen hydrants had been replaced, with ten more to go, five to be replaced within a few days of his speech. He also pointed out that the Town had $2,561,000, in all of the Town Funds combined, as of January 2016.

In June of 2019, he said, the total combined balances of the Town Funds came to $2,985,000. “With all we have done,” he went on, “the Funds are holding up.” He then stressed, “We haven’t had to increase our water or gas rates.” That was about three months before his reelection in November. It seems that suddenly things have changed dramatically. Either Mr. Blaylock did not do his homework or, like another local politician, now out of office, he was just putting one over on the public. Albinism?

With regard to Blaylock’s reference to the Water Operating Account running in the red and causing the Tax Rate increase, all of the account balances going back as far as 2010 have always been positive; running in the black, beginning and ending. If he is referring to the fact that the Water Operating Account is now spending more than it is taking in, that’s nothing new. Again, going back to 2010, ten years, the Water Operating Account has been spending more than it has been taking in for every year but two, 2016 and 2017.

The Water Operating Account ended on December 31, 2019, with a balance of $79,715. Hardly in the red. As usual, the Town did spend more than it took in. This time by $25,293. In a conversation with the Gazette in early March, Council President Blaylock attributed the major portion of this overspending to the replacement and repair of town fire hydrants. According to a report filed by Town Clerk/Treasurer Karla Atkins, with the New Harmony Gazette, the Town spent a total, in 2019, of $48,635, on fire hydrants, out of total expenditure in the Water Utility Account of $331,837.

The question here is; could or did, the Town investigate any access to grant funding; federal, state or otherwise? Has the Council considered using other uninvested reserve accounts to shore up the Water Operating Account, as it appears the replacement of fire hydrants are not an annual event and may represent an anomaly, not requiring a Tax Funding increase in perpetuity? I’m hoping we may find answers to these questions at the next Town Council meeting being held at Town Hall this Tuesday, March 17th, at 8:30 a.m. yours, you may want to attend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At UE, We Shape Powerful And Enduring Change

0

UE History

At UE, we shape powerful and enduring change.

The University’s history began as the dream of one man – John C. Moore – a resident of Moores Hill, Indiana (a small town west of Cincinnati). Moore was the original #UEChangemaker. He wanted a college for his community, and he made it a reality on February 10, 1854, when the original charter for Moores Hill Male and Female Collegiate Institute was drafted. The college was the fifth co-educational college in the United States. Classes began on September 9, 1856.

The college’s name was officially changed to Moores Hill College on September 20, 1887. In 1917 George Clifford, a prominent Evansville businessman who later became a University trustee, convinced the Indiana Conference of the Methodist Church that Moores Hill College should be moved to Evansville since it was the only city in Indiana without an accredited college within a 50-mile radius.

Moores Hill College Library

Residents of the city raised $500,000 in one week in 1917 to move the college to Evansville. It reopened in 1919 as Evansville College, and in 1967 the college was renamed and incorporated by the Indiana legislature as the University of Evansville.

Today, the University is a private, United Methodist Church-related, comprehensive university with a mission to empower each student to think critically, act bravely, serve responsibly, and live meaningfully in a changing world.

UE is ranked as a top Midwest university by U.S. News & World Report with approximately 1,976 undergraduates from 44 states and 55 countries. More than 80 undergraduate areas of study are offered in the William L. Ridgway College of Arts and Sciences, Schroeder Family School of Business Administration, College of Education and Health Sciences, and the College of Engineering and Computer Science. The University also offers six master’s degree programs (health services administration, public service administration, public health, leadership, physician assistant science, and athletic training) and a doctoral degree program (physical therapy).

UE also ranks as one of the top master’s degree-granting institutions for the percentage of undergraduate students who study abroad. UE operates our own study abroad programs at Harlaxton College in Grantham, England.

At UE, there’s a difference between an idea and an idea made real. It begins with the choice to step in. A decision to stand out. A determination to reimagine everything. And every day, we strive to be a little more fearless than the day before. Because at UE, we shape powerful and enduring change.

1...2,8482,8492,850...7,197Page 2,849 of 7,197