Man Injured by Malfunctioning Firearm during Domestic Argument
On November 24, 2019 at approximately 6:30PM the Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Office responded to a report of a shooting in western Vanderburgh County.
The Sheriff’s Office was dispatched to a residence in the 5600 block of New Harmony Road after a female called 911 and claimed she had shot her husband following an argument. The caller advised dispatchers that she shot her husband in the chest. Arriving deputies located both the suspected shooter and the victim.
The victim was found to have sustained only superficial injuries and not a penetrating chest wound as initially reported. Medical personnel treated the victim at the scene and both subjects were transported to the Sheriffs’ Office Operations Center for interviews.
A search warrant was obtained for the residence. The subsequent crime scene investigation and interview of both parties led to the conclusion that the injury was accidental. The gun discharged as it was being handed to the wife by the husband. The injury sustained by the husband was the result of the weapon malfunctioning during discharge and not from a bullet. A piece of the gun broke off and struck the husband in the chest.
Both husband and wife were released following the investigation and agreed to separate for the
Letter To The Editor: Community And Teachers’ Rally — #RedForEd
Community And Teachers’ Rally — #RedForEd
By Ann M. Ennis
On November 19, a well-planned rally supporting Indiana’s public K-12 schools attracted 17,000 teachers, administrators, parents, students and taxpayers to the Indiana Statehouse grounds. It was a show of voter power illustrating a key point: In Indiana, 90 percent of K-12 students attend public schools. This is 1,041,369 students. Â
Since 2010, funding for Indiana K-12 public education has not kept pace with inflation – let alone met the need for advanced technical and career preparation for our students’, our industries’ and our communities’ success. Changing that outcome led to the #RedForEd Rally.Â
With the advent of dozens of big government – aka Indiana Statehouse-led – reforms of local K-12 education this century, billions of dollars have been spent on standardized testing, and evaluations – aka criticism – of public school teachers and public schools in general. A chorus heard in downtown Indianapolis Nov. 19 was, “enough is enough is enough is enough…â€Â and a rousing crowd singalong to the refrain of Twisted Sister’s, “We Aren’t Gonna’ Take It Anymore!â€Â A dozen instrumental music educators accompanied on brass and percussion.
The next Statehouse session is not a budget year, but #RedForEd is preparing now for 2021. And in the meantime, the November rally united 17,000+ on these three demands:
- Increase teacher (classroom teacher) compensation by using the current state budget surplus. The funds can be released and need to be released. Indiana is 51st in the nation in teacher pay, behind Puerto Rico! A goodly portion of the state’s $2+ billion surplus must be used to increase base wages for classroom teachers. Teachers are the creators of Indiana’s engineers, dentists, plumbers, accountants and technicians of all stripes. Better teacher wages is good for Indiana’s economy and soul. Teachers provide the foundation for every person’s career start and success Value them as professionals.
- Repeal the 2019-session teacher externship requirement. The General Assembly passed HEA 1002 last spring, which in part now requires public school teachers earning Professional Growth Points toward renewing their teaching license must spend hours of their personal time to experiencing and studying the Hoosier for-profit economy. Demanding that elementary school teachers study Hoosier business-needs so they can help 5, 8 or 11-year-olds with career planning is irrelevant and misguided. This part of HEA 1002 is wastes teacher professional development time, and is costly and unfeasible to implement.Â
- Hold educators and schools harmless in the new and not improved I-LEARN fiasco from last year and in the future. Faulty and late test scores cannot be used to label a community or a school as less-than or poor performing. The state and the vendors have not gotten their schedules and reporting straight for the versions of standardized testing our students have been burdened with for years, from ISTEP to ILEARN. Since legislators and test vendors are not held to account, then do not punish teachers and schools for legislative and vendor ineptitude. Better yet, respect taxpayers and quit wasting money on inconsistent, expensive, inconclusive expensive standardized tests that aren’t even scored until months after the tests.
These are the three real-time reasons for the rally in Indianapolis. These are three real-time reasons for its huge success. But there is much more we all need to learn in our work to return local control to our schools. We must demand our legislators respect classroom teachers who are there for our kids daily. And if a legislator does not think K-12 teachers deserve respect, try substitute teaching a several days over a school year. We must demand funding to improve outcomes for students but improved outcomes do not come from a test. We must invest to teach technology skills to all students. We must end the habit of the General Assembly offering a snake oil cure when it needed to be listening and learning from the daily practitioners: our classroom teachers.
Indiana taxpayers and voters need to stand up for public education. Private and parochial schools will not and can never be able to educate more than 12 percent of students. Indiana cannot run on 12 percent of a brain.
Sincerely,
ANNE ENNIS
MEMBER OF THE EVANSVILLE/VANDERBURGH COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD
BMV Proposes New Rule To Change Gender On Driver’s License
BMV Proposes New Rule To Change Gender On Driver’s License
By Brandon Barger
TheStatehouseFile.com
INDIANAPOLIS—Proposed changes to the rules allowing Hoosiers to legally change their gender on their driver’s licenses creates a process that is cumbersome and bureaucratic, critics say.
The public will have a chance to be heard Monday when Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles is holding a hearing on the proposed changes. One of the issues involves allowing people to change their ID to a neutral X rather than choosing male or female.
Under the current process, which has been in effect since 2009, an individual can go to a BMV license branch and amend the existing credential, said Christine Meyer, the director of communications and public affair for the BMV. Acceptable supporting documents include a certified amended birth certificate, a physician’s statement of gender change or a letter signed and dated by a doctor citing specific language in state regulations.Â
The BMV is processing gender changes under the current rules, Meyer said, but will not approve a change from male or female to an X or gender neutral symbol until the rules are in place.
Rep. Chris Chyung, D-Dyer, at an event earlier this fall, said he believes the BMV’s proposed rules to change gender on drivers’ licenses in cumbersome.Photo by Brandon Barger, TheStatehouseFile.com
In order to change gender identity under the proposed new rules, a person would have to get a form from the Department of Health and then have their physician sign it stating that the person “has been under my care and has received appropriate clinical treatment for transition.â€
They then have to mail the form back to the department with a photo ID. The department will mail back a confirmation that the individual will take to a BMV office to get the revised ID.
“The BMV will not process any additional X applications until the rule change is complete,†Meyer said. “Once the rule making is complete, the State Department of Health will work with applicants and walk them through the process of receiving an amended birth certificate or the necessary state form should the applicant not be a native Hoosier.â€
Rep. Chris Chyung, D-Dyer, said he believes the rules changes are cumbersome and shouldn’t be changed.Â
“What’s really ridiculous to me are rule changes that add needless bureaucracy and government inefficiencies to a process that has not had any issues,†he said.
Megan Stuart, the director of the LGBT Project at Indiana Legal Services, said she believes that this new rule will be much more difficult for transgender and non-binary Hoosiers.
“What it’s going to do is that it will make it more difficult and more dangerous for our clients to get an accurate identification and that’s going to put them at risk,†Stuart said.
Stuart also said that by not having proper gender identification on the license and other ID cards, it could out many transgender and non-binary people as being transgendered.
Micah Clark, the executive director of the American Family Association of Indiana, argued that there needs to be a male or female designation on official IDs in the event there is a police or medical emergency.Â
“Who frisks gender X, is it a male police office or a female police officer?†Clark asked.
Clark compared the process of changing a person’s gender to changing the registration on a car.
“I can’t go into my BMV and say ‘Hey, I’ve got a red Honda Civic but I really think it’s a Ferrari. I really identify it as a cool car’ I want it to be something different regardless of the VIN number,†Clark said.
The overwhelming number of written and emailed comments to the proposed rule changes filed with the BMV were negative.Â
“Please discontinue wasting time and resources to consider “Gender X†driver’s licenses. The sex on each person is not flexible,†one Hoosier said. That was typical of the negative comments where some urged the state to not give in to the politically-correct crowd.
The public hearing is 9:30 a.m. Monday at Indiana Government Center South.
FOOTNOTE: Brandon Barger is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalists.
Vectren Presents Check The American Cancer Society’s Real Men Wear Pink Campaign
Vectren, a CenterPoint Energy company, will make a check presentation to the local chapter of the American Cancer Society for funds raised during the annual Real Men Wear Pink campaign in October.
The American Cancer Society’s Real Men Wear Pink campaign raised awareness and money to support its mission and fight breast cancer. The check presentation will be held Monday, Nov. 25 at Vectren at 1:30 p.m. local time. Representatives from Vectren and the American Cancer Society will be present.
What: Vectren check presentation to the American Cancer Society
 When: Nov. 25, 2019, 1:30 p.m.
 Where: 211 NW Riverside Drive, Evansville, IN 47708
 Why: Vectren raised funds to support the fight against breast cancer during the annual Real Men Wear Pink campaign.
Toyota Gifts Arts Council $100,000 For Elevator
Toyota Motor Manufacturing of Indiana provides $100,000 gift for Rooftop Art Deck accessibility at the Arts Council of Southwestern Indiana
Toyota Motor Manufacturing of Indiana awarded a $100,000 grant to the Arts Council of Southwestern Indiana to purchase an elevator to provide access to the Arts Council’s Rooftop Art Deck.
The Art Deck, which hosts concerts, open mic events, plein air painting, receptions and other arts and social programming, is currently accessible only by stairs.
“Most people think of Toyota’s slogan, ‘Let’s Go Places,’ to mean ‘let’s hop in a car and travel,’ but this gift shows their deep commitment to making all places accessible for all people,†Arts Council Executive Director Anne McKim said. “It’s essential the arts are inclusive, it’s essential we at the Arts Council welcome everyone. Arts and culture are stronger and more vibrant when truly diverse.â€
Total costs of the purchase and installation of the elevator are estimated at $175,000. The project will begin in early 2020, with a completion eyed prior to the June kick off of the 2020 “On the Roof†music series.
The Rooftop Art Deck is located at 212 Main St. in Downtown Evansville and is an extension of the Arts Council’s Bower-Suhrheinrich Foundation Gallery.
Gould Adds NCAA Zone Qualifying Score at IUPUIÂ
Gould Adds NCAA Zone Qualifying Score at IUPUIÂ
INDIANAPOLIS – The Indiana University men’s and women’s diving teams wrapped up the final day of competition at the IUPUI House of Champions on Sunday afternoon. With a score of 312.40 in the finals of the men’s 1-meter dive, junior Mory Gould earned an NCAA Zone Qualifying Score.
HOOSIER SCORES
MEN
5. Mory Gould – 312.40 (302.75 prelims)
6. Seamus Scotty – 277.50 (265.70 prelims)Â
11. Cole VanDevender – 262.20
13. Logan Brown – 250.35Â
WOMEN
8. Alyssa Wang – 248.70 (278.00 prelims)
15. Zain Smith – 247.60
16. Taylor Carter – 235.60
17. Kayla Luarde – 234.80
NOTABLES
• Earlier in the meet, Andrew Capobianco (competing unattached) and Michael Hixon teamed up to score 409.32 points in the Synchronized Men 3m Springboard event.Â
• Indiana alumnus Jessica Parratto competed in the Synchronized Women 3m Springboard with two different partners. One tandem led to an event victory with 306.66 total points.Â
• Junior Mory Gould was the lone Hoosier to ink an NCAA Zone Qualifying Score on the final day of competition at the 2019 House of Champions Invitational.Â
NCAA Zones Qualifying Scores
1-Meter: Mory Gould (312.40)
3-Meter: None.
UP NEXT
The Hoosiers will be back in action as a team for a dual meet on Jan. 11 at Michigan. Indiana will have strong representation in the 2019 USA Swimming Winter Nationals beginning on Dec. 4.Â