State Rep. Ryan Hatfield (D-Evansville) has been appointed to serve on four interim study committees this summer in advance of the 2020 session of the Indiana General Assembly.
Hatfield will serve on the 21st Century Energy Policy Development Task Force, the Interim Study Committee on Energy, Utilities, and Telecommunications, the Interim Study Committee on Public Health, Behavioral Health, and Human Services, and the Indiana Uniform Law Commission.
Work is underway on the $3.2 million Akin Park Storm Sewer Project. This Evansville Water and Sewer Utility project is designed to alleviate flooding in the area and separate storm water out of the sanitary sewer system. Some on-street parking and driveway access may be temporarily impacted. The project is scheduled for completion by the end of the year.
EWSU Sewer Capital Projects Manager Matt Montgomery explains how the project will improve drainage in the area.
Click the link to watch the YouTube video:Â Â https://youtu.be/SWa7RFqEuQM
By Abrahm Hurt
TheStatehouseFile.com
INDIANAPOLIS– The State Budget Committee heard testimony Monday from state universities that are increasing tuition in the coming academic year.
Rep. Tim Brown, R-Crawfordsville, said Hoosiers are spending more of their salaries on college tuition than they did 10 years ago.
The committee heard from and asked questions of university leaders from Indiana University, Vincennes University, Ivy Tech Community College, the University of Southern Indiana and Indiana State. Each college had tuition hikes that exceeded the Commission of Higher Education’s recommendations.
The commission recommended that base tuition and mandatory fees for resident undergraduate students should be held at current levels or adjusted by no more than 1.65% in the next two school years.
Purdue, among Indiana’s public universities, is holding the line on tuition hikes. In June, the college announced a freeze on tuition for the eighth consecutive year.
At Ivy Tech Community College, officials closed campuses, sold property and cut employees. The school lost money when the state dropped the cost of dual credit courses from $50 to $45, said Matt Hawkins, senior vice president and chief financial officer for Ivy Tech Community College. Dual credit courses allow high school students to earn both high school and college credits.
John Sejdinaj, vice president and chief financial officer for Indiana University, said the school has seen a decline in enrollments across all categories—residential, regional and international.
He said the college accepts over 75% of its applicants, but the college has had to increase fees to attain a higher budget.
“Our rule is to graduate more people, more Hoosiers, so that we can generate income for the state,†he said.
From 2017-2018 and 2018-2019, tuition increased by 1.4% each year. In June, IU announced a 2.5% increase for in-state undergraduate students on all of its campuses for each of the next two school years. Out-of-state undergraduate tuition will increase by 3%.
Aaron Trump, chief government and legal affairs officer at the University of Southern Indiana, said tuition and fees will increase 2% for 2019-2020 and 2020-2021.
Trump said this will cost students $156.90 in year one and $159.90 in year two.
Sen. Ryan Mishler, R-Bremen, said he would speak to the Commission for Higher Education to get a report that would break down the percent of state dollars, percent of tuition and fees from all the universities’ total revenues.
Abrahm Hurt is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalists.
ASHLEY HAMMER
KELLY GATES
E. LON WALTERS
JULIE KARGER
REBECCA WEDDLE
DONNA ROBINSON
JESS DANIELS
CORY RAY
KEN HAYNIE
AMY WORD
JULIE BERRY
CANDY COOPER
FRANK ENDRES
BOB FITZIMMONS
KELLY DOCKERY
JESSE BAILEY
DEBBIE ALBIN
JOSH BRUNE
JAMIE BREMER
DOUG CLAYBOURN
JEFFERY BERGER
BRIAN VAAL
JAMIE MCCORD
ELLADA HADJISAVVA
DAVID HERERENBRUCK
CORY RAYÂ
JESSE DANIEL
CHARLES D EUBANK
DONNA ROBINSON
MODESTO CALDER
ROY N. BAYNE
JIMMY LEFTER
STEVEN PIRNAT
C LARRY RHODES
BRENDA HUGHES
JAMIE FUCH
DEBORAH WINTNER
STEVEN PIRNAT
JAMES FUCH
JORDAN BAER
CAROL CHRISTINE BARTLEY
FOOTNOTE: Any comments posted in this column do not represent the views or opinions of the City-County Observer or our advertisers.
 Cass County Prosecutor Lisa Swaim was elected to serve as Chair of the Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council’s Board of Directors last week during IPAC’s annual Summer Conference.
Swaim, the Cass County Prosecutor since 2015, will serve as Chair for a term of one year. She takes over for St. Joseph County Prosecutor Kenneth Cotter. Swaim served as Cotter’s Vice-Chair during 2018-19.
Swaim was elected during an IPAC membership meeting consisting of elected prosecutors and chief deputies. She is joined by fellow officers Anthony Quinn, the Dubois County Prosecutor who will serve as Vice-Chair, and James “Brad†Landerwerlen, the Shelby County Prosecutor, who was chosen as the Board’s Secretary.
“I am grateful for the honor and the opportunity to serve as chair of the Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council for 2019-2020,†Swaim said. “As we face the road ahead, I will continue the work of IPAC in support of our mission as prosecutors to seek justice through the investigation and prosecution of crimes with integrity and fairness.â€
IPAC membership also approved a new slate of IPAC Board members during the meeting. The Board consists of five Republican prosecutors and five Democrat prosecutors, who serve in two-year terms. The following prosecutors were selected to serve on the IPAC Board.
Represents the nation’s state AGs at Chicago press conference
Attorney General Curtis Hill today joined federal authorities at a Chicago press conference announcing a national robocalling sweep organized by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). In “Operation Call it Quits,†the FTC and its law enforcement partners announced 94 actions targeting operations around the country.
In 2018, Americans lost an estimated $10.5 billion to phone scams. That same year, Indiana residents reported losing more than $16 million to such scams. The actual amounts lost are probably much higher because many of the most vulnerable citizens — the elderly — don’t report their losses. Often, they’re embarrassed or intimidated, or they don’t even realize they’ve been scammed.
“Every year, our office gets more consumer complaints about unwanted robocalls than just about any other issue,†Attorney General Hill said. “At best, these calls represent a nuisance for families just wanting to enjoy peace and privacy without needless disturbances interrupting their routines. At worst, they represent scams that successfully steal people’s identities or hard-earned money. In Indiana, we are quite serious about stopping illegal robocalls, and our alliances with such partners as the FTC are valuable assets in this mission.â€
Attorney General Hill was the only state attorney general attending the national press conference in Chicago.
“We’re all fed up with the tens of billions of illegal robocalls we get every year,†said Andrew Smith, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “Today’s joint effort shows that combating this scourge remains a top priority for law enforcement agencies around the nation.â€
At the press conference, Attorney General Hill also discussed his office’s recent civil complaint against a Maryland company and two individuals after receiving dozens of consumer complaints.
Anthony and Michael Valenti – doing business as American Health Services – persistently robocalled Hoosiers from Maryland-based phone numbers to pitch various insurance products. All of the calls began with prerecorded messages rather than a live speaker. Of the consumers who complained to the Office of the Attorney General, all but one had telephone numbers registered on the Indiana Do Not Call List. Further, the Valentis had no valid Indiana insurance licenses and had never registered the business with the Indiana Secretary of State.
In the complaint, the Office of the Attorney General alleges that these individuals and their company violated three Indiana statutes. As a result, they now could face up to $1.17 million in civil penalties, plus fees and costs.
“These are the kinds of actions we must continue to take against violators of laws intended to protect consumers,†Attorney General Hill said. “We will never stem the tide of illegal robocalling until we prove we have the resolve and wherewithal to make offenders pay.â€
