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EPA Administrator Wheeler Announces New WIFIA Funding for Water Infrastructure Projects

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Funding could leverage $6 billion in public and private investment for construction-ready projects to protect drinking water from lead and emerging contaminants, upgrade aging infrastructure, promote water recycling and reuse

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler announced the availability of funding to provide an estimated $6 billion in Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) loans in 2019.

“Through WIFIA, we are addressing several of President Trump’s top priorities simultaneously: modernizing our nation’s aging infrastructure, improving public health protections, and creating jobs,” said EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler. “This new round of WIFIA funding provides up to $6 billion in credit assistance which, combined with other sources, could support $12 billion in water infrastructure projects and create more than 180,000 jobs. For this round, we are prioritizing construction-ready projects in three areas: water reuse and recycling, reducing exposure to lead and addressing emerging contaminants, and updating aging infrastructure.”

The WIFIA program plays an important role in President Donald Trump’s efforts to rebuild America’s aging water infrastructure while improving local water quality, creating jobs and better protecting public health.

WIFIA loans are available to public and private borrowers for a wide range of drinking water, wastewater, drought mitigation, and alternative water supply projects. This year’s Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) highlights the agency’s priority to finance projects that are ready for construction in three key areas: reducing exposure to lead and addressing emerging contaminants in drinking water systems; updating aging infrastructure; and implementing water reuse and recycling.

The WIFIA program received $68 million in funding in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2019, which was signed into law by President Trump on February 15, 2019. This is a $5 million increase in the program’s funding from 2018. Leveraging private capital and other funding sources, these projects could support $12 billion in water infrastructure investment and create more than 180,000 jobs. EPA will accept letters of interest (LOI) from prospective borrowers for 90 days after publication in the Federal Register.

To date EPA has issued eight loans totaling over $2 billion in WIFIA credit assistance to help finance over $4 billion for water infrastructure projects and create over 6,000 jobs. EPA has invited an additional 42 projects in 17 states and D.C. to apply for a WIFIA loan. These 38 borrowers will receive WIFIA loans totaling approximately $5.5 billion to help finance nearly $11 billion in water infrastructure investments and create 172,000 jobs.

Background

Established by the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act of 2014, the WIFIA program is a federal loan and guarantee program at EPA that aims to accelerate investment in the nation’s water infrastructure by providing long-term, low-cost supplemental loans for regionally and nationally significant projects.

WIFIA credit assistance can be used for a wide range of projects, including:

  • drinking water treatment and distribution projects;
  • wastewater conveyance and treatment projects;
  • enhanced energy efficiency projects at drinking water and wastewater facilities;
  • desalination, aquifer recharge, alternative water supply, and water recycling projects; and
  • drought prevention, reduction, or mitigation projects.

EPA will evaluate proposed projects described in the LOIs using WIFIA’s statutory and regulatory criteria as described in the NOFA. Through this competitive process, EPA will select projects that it intends to fund and invite them to continue the application process.

 

Gov. Holcomb Public Schedule for April 1

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Below find Gov. Eric J. Holcomb’s public schedule for April 1, 2019.

 

Monday, April 1: Child Abuse Prevention Month Kickoff

WHO:              Gov. Holcomb

Terry Stigdon, director of the Indiana Department of Child Services

 

WHAT:            The governor will give remarks.

 

WHEN:            12:30 p.m., Monday, April 1

 

WHERE:          Indiana Statehouse
South Lawn
200 W. Washington St.

Indianapolis, IN 46204

Aces shutout Bradley in the MVC opener

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The University of Evansville baseball team got a bounce-back performance from staff ace Adam Lukas, along with some clutch defense to beat Bradley in a 1-0 shutout in their Missouri Valley Conference opener Friday afternoon at Dozer Park.

A week after being forced to leave the game against Xavier prematurely with a back strain, the junior right-hander delivered a clutch performance, striking out nine, while tossing six shutout innings, allowing just two hits.

Lukas was also helped by his defense, as junior right fielder Troy Beilsmith fired a bullet at home to junior catcher Ben Komonosky, who applied the tag on the would-be Braves run, keeping the game scoreless in the second inning.

As for Evansville offense, it was confined to the sixth inning. when sophomore first baseman Tanner Craig roped an opposite field single to right, scoring Beilsmith from second, putting UE up 1-0.

Lukas would exit the game in the seventh and give way to freshman left-hander Michael Parks. With two Bradley runners aboard, Parks induced an inning-ending double play. Parks would give up a single and a walk, putting the tying run in scoring position. That would bring senior right-hander Austin Allinger to get the final out of the frame.

Allinger would close out the game with the second strikeout of his outing, to end the game, picking up his third save of the season.

The win improved Evansville’s record to 12-9 on the season, while Bradley drops to 12-8.

EPD REPORT

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EPD REPORT

Indiana Swimming & Diving Wins Three NCAA Titles on Friday Night

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The No. 2-ranked Indiana University men’s swimming and diving team continued competition at the 2019 NCAA Championships on Friday evening at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center in Austin, Texas.

 

Headed into the fourth and final day of the 2019 NCAA Championships, the Hoosiers sit in third place in the team standings with a total score of 277.5 points. California leads with a score of 372, while Texas remains in second place with a total of 329.

 

Senior Ian Finnerty made history on Friday night, winning the NCAA Championship in the 100 breaststroke for the second-straight year with a pool record time of 49.85. Finnerty’s time is the second-fastest in history, bested only by his winning mark of 49.69 last year. The senior is the only man in the history of the event to break 50 seconds.

 

Finnerty became the first Hoosier swimmer to successfully defend his NCAA title in 45 years. In 1974, John Kinsella successfully defended both his championships in the 500 and 1,650 freestyles.

 

Freshman Zane Backes had a great swim as well in the Championship Final of the 100 breaststroke, taking fifth overall with a personal-best time of 51.35 to earn his first career All-America honor.

 

For the first time in his illustrious career, Vini Lanza won an individual NCAA Championship on Friday night, taking the title in a thrilling final with a Big Ten and IU school record time of 44.37.

 

Lanza stormed back from fourth place at the 50-yard mark with a blistering last 50 split of 23.78 to win the championship. The senior’s time makes him the seventh-fastest performer in history in the event.

 

Lanza becomes the first Hoosier to win the 100 butterfly crown at the NCAA Championships since Mark Spitz completed his four-year sweep of the event in 1972. Lanza’s win in the Championship Final of the 100 butterfly gives Indiana seven titles in the event in program history.

 

Sophomore Andrew Capobianco dominated the Championship Final of the 3-meter dive, going wire-to-wire to win the NCAA title with a score of 461.65.

 

After an opening round dive of 83.30 to take the lead, Capobianco distanced himself from the field with a nearly perfect second-round dive. On his forward four-and-a-half somersault tuck, Capobianco scored an amazing 100.70.

 

After the field tried to close in on the sophomore in the third and fourth rounds, Capobianco came through with two clutch final dives, posting scores of 71.75 and 88.40 to clinch the title. Capobianco earned his fourth career All-America honor with his tremendous performance.

 

With the three NCAA championships on Friday night, along with the 400 medley relay title on Thursday, the Hoosiers have won eight NCAA crowns the past two seasons. The eight championships are the most for the team in a two-year span in 45 years, when IU won nine total in 1973-74.

 

In the Championship Final of the 200 freestyle, senior Zach Apple posted a career-best time of 1:31.55 to win silver in the event. With the second-place finish, Apple earned the 17th All-America honor in his career.

 

Mohamed Samy tied for second in the Consolation Final of the 200 freestyle, finishing tied for 10th overall with a time of 1:32.29. Samy recorded the 11th All-America accolade of his career.

 

The Hoosiers controlled the 200 medley relay Consolation Final, winning to finish ninth overall in the event with a time of 1:23.27. The IU team of Gabriel Fantoni, Finnerty, Lanza and Bruno Blaskovic won by nearly a second thanks in part to a blistering anchor leg from Blaskovic in 18.57.

 

In the Consolation Final of the 100 backstroke, Fantoni placed second to finish 10th overall in the event with a time of 44.96.

 

With their efforts, Lanza, Finnerty and Fantoni all earned two All-America honors on the night. Lanza now has a staggering 20 for his career, while Finnerty and Fantoni have 14 and five, respectively.

 

Blaskovic earned his sixth-career All-America accolade, while Brandon Hamblin earned his second career honor for swimming on the relay in the prelims.

 

The 2019 NCAA Championships will continue on Saturday morning with the prelims of the 200 backstroke, 100 freestyle, 200 breaststroke, 200 butterfly, 400 freestyle relay, platform dive and 1,650 freestyle. The action gets underway at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center at 11:00 a.m. ET.

Be sure to keep up with all the latest news on the Indiana men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams on social media – Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

 

100 Butterfly

1. Vini Lanza – 44.37 (All-America; Big Ten and School Record)

 

200 Freestyle

2. Zach Apple – 1:31.55 (All-America; Personal Best)

T-10. Mohamed Samy – 1:32.29 (Honorable-Mention All-America)

 

100 Breaststroke

1. Ian Finnerty – 49.85 (All-America; Pool Record)

5. Zane Backes – 51.35 (All-America; Personal Best)

 

100 Backstroke

10. Gabriel Fantoni – 44.96 (Honorable-Mention All-America)

 

3-Meter Dive

1. Andrew Capobianco – 461.65 (All-America)

 

200 Medley Relay

9. Gabriel Fantoni, Ian Finnerty, Vini Lanza, Bruno Blaskovic – 1:23.27

* Brandon Hamblin also earns Honorable-Mention All-America honors for swimming in prelims

 

VANDERBURGH COUNTY RECENT BOOKING RECORDS

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

“READERS FORUM” MARCH 30, 2019

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We hope that today’s “READERS FORUM” will provoke honest and open dialogue concerning issues that we, as responsible citizens of this community, need to address in a rational and responsible way?

WHAT”S ON YOUR MIND TODAY?

Todays“Readers Poll” question is: If your an elected official and someone gives your campaign $500,000 what do you feel they expect you to do from them?

Please go to our link of our media partner Channel 44 News located in the upper right-hand corner of the City-County Observer so you can get the up-to-date news, weather, and sports. We are pleased to provide obituaries from several area funeral homes at no costs.  Over the next several weeks we shall be adding additional obituaries from other local funeral homes.  Please scroll down the paper and you shall see a listing of them.

.If you would like to advertise on the CCO please contact us at City-County Observer@live.com

FOOTNOTE:  Any comments posted in this column do not represent the views or opinions of the City-County Observer or our advertisers.”READERS FORUM” 

Evansville Neighborhood Sees Up-Tick in Vandalism During Spring Break

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Evansville Neighborhood Sees Up-Tick in Vandalism During Spring Break

MARCH 29TH, 2019 KATELYN PERRETT EVANSVILLE, INDIANA

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A week out of the classroom, but not out of trouble.

Thursday evening, Police were called to an alleyway off of Oregon St. where a group of four was spotted throwing a brick at a parked car.

Captain Andy Chandler of the Evansville Police Department says “a group of juveniles had been walking in alleys presumably from friend’s houses or their own to Delaware School to play basketball, and when they were traveling back and forth between those areas they were just being mischievous.”

Police tracked them down outside Delaware School and one instantly responded: “I did not throw the brick.”

Just a few blocks away on Maryland St., the same thing happened Tuesday evening. This time it was caught on camera.

A home surveillance camera caught two boys walking by a truck parked on the curb, and one turns around just to throw a brick into the windshield. They both ran away right after.

But not only have windshields been broken, just a block away on Lafayette, neighbors say multiple cars have had their tires slashed as well.

Police say the school calendar can play a huge role in this pattern. “When they’re out on spring break, out on Christmas break, when they get out for summer vacation, you’ll typically see a spike in juvenile activity,” says Chandler.

The trend could continue without any extra help.

Chandler says “when there’s no structure at home, they don’t have any good mentors in their home, a lot of times they don’t have a father figure teaching them right from wrong, they don’t have school activities to keep them involved and out of mischief so you’ll see a lot of this happening during these particular times.”

Lawmakers Make Major Changes To Casino, Sports-Betting Bill

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Lawmakers Make Major Changes To Casino, Sports-Betting Bill

March 27, 2019, by Lindsey Erdody of the Indianapolis Business Journal

State lawmakers significantly amended a major gambling bill on Wednesday, removing language that would have allowed mobile sports betting and adding a huge relocation fee for the owner of the Gary’s casinos.

The Indiana House Public Policy Committee approved the amendments authored by committee chairman Rep. Ben Smaltz, R-Auburn, despite concerns from some representatives.

The changes to Senate Bill 552 included adding a $100 million fee for moving one of the casinos in Gary from Buffington Harbor on Lake Michigan to another part of the city. They also removed a provision that would have allowed horse-track casinos to offer live-dealer table games this year instead of the already approved date of of 2021 and eliminated the financial support other communities, associations and casinos would have received if the Gary casinos are moved.

In addition, the amendment also eliminated the language that allowed sports wagering outside of bricks-and-mortar locations and required official sports league data to be used for in-game bets—those made when a game is already in progress, not just on a contest’s outcome but on individual plays or in-play statistics.

Professional sports organizations including the NFL, NBA, MLB, IndyCar and the PGA Tour had been pushing for official data use to be required, but casinos were opposed to the idea.

The updated version of the bill, which was authored by Republican Sens. Mark Messmer of Jasper and Jon Ford of Terre Haute, would still allow Spectacle Entertainment, the new owner of Gary casinos Majestic Star I and Majestic Star II, to use one casino license to open a new facility in Gary and move the other license to Terre Haute.

But the legislation also creates a competitive process to determine which casino operator could open a facility in Terre Haute, which means Spectacle wouldn’t be guaranteed permission to move forward on that location.

The bill still remove limits on the number of casinos one operator can control in the state.

Several committee members had concerns with the $100 million price tag Spectacle would have to pay just to move one casino in Gary.

“That’s an extreme amount of money,” Rep. Sean Eberhart, R-Shelbyville, said.

Eberhart said he didn’t understand why they were charging any fee. He said if a company came to the state and said it wanted to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in a community, the state would be handing out tax incentives, not making the company pay to move here.

Spectacle hopes to use one license for a new $300 million casino along the Interstate 80/94 corridor in Gary and proposed a $100 million to $150 million casino in Terre Haute for the other license. The existing casino boats in Buffington Harbor would be closed and removed.

“I think that should mean something, that we have Indiana folks that are willing to step up and take this risk,” Eberhart said.

Smaltz said the price could be amended as the bill moves through the legislative process, but it’s difficult to determine the right price because the state has never allowed an already-open and operating casino to move miles away from its on-water location.

Lawmakers previously moved the license originally intended for Patoka Lake to French Lick, but that occurred before the casino opened. The General Assembly also passed a law in 2015 that allows riverboat casinos to shift to land-based locations adjacent to their docks, but the Gary move would be a much greater distance.

“It is unprecedented,” Smaltz said. “We’re just trying to take it slow and careful and we’ll see what happens in the next step.”

John Keeler, general counsel for Spectacle, said he doesn’t think there should be any cost imposed for the company to move the casinos.

“It’s a pretty significant price,” Keeler said. “But it’s a process and we’ve gotta work through it.”

Rep. Terri Austin, D-Anderson, said she had concerns about the state taking a license away from a company that purchased it, which is essentially what would happen should Spectacle not be selected in the competitive process for the Terre Haute casino.

“It certainly could have a chilling effect,” Austin said.

But Smaltz said the licenses that allow casinos to operate are the property of the state and, in his opinion, Spectacle would essentially be relinquishing those licenses when it closes the existing Gary casinos.

Another change that drew concerns was the removal of the provision that allowed gamblers to place sports bets on computers and mobile devices—something advocates for sports wagering have said is key in making legal sports betting viable, because a significant portion of illegal sports betting is happening on smartphones.

The revised bill only authorizes sports wagering at casinos, racinos and satellite facilities.

“It’s a little disappointing,” Ford said. “I believe it’s an important part to bring the illegal market into sports wagering so we can regulate it.”

Ford said he hopes to see it added back in before final passage.

Rep. Ed Clere, R-New Albany, also questioned removing that provision, saying “it denies the reality” of what people are using their phones for today.

Smaltz said he removed computer betting because he’s worried it could quickly lead to a huge expansion of all gaming, with residents arguing they should be able to gamble on other games away from casinos, not just sports.

“If mobile is in, I think it goes from one to 100,” Smaltz said.

At least one committee member is also interested in reinserting language to allow live-dealer table games at racinos this year.

Eberhart said the only reason racinos had to wait until 2021 was because of then-Gov. Mike Pence threatened to veto the gambling bill in 2015 that allowed the live table games.

“It was simply the threat of a veto by Gov. Pence in 2015,” Eberhart said. “We have no threat of a veto from our current governor.”

The amended bill moves to the House Ways and Means Committee, where more amendments are expected.

“Nothing, absolutely nothing, from this point forward will be easy about this,” Ways and Means Co-Chair Todd Huston said.

Roanoke’s National Gridiron League Arena Football Team Having Issues

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ROANOKE

National Gridiron League CEO Tells Roanoke Leaders League Is Still On Track

By Shayne Dwyer – Reporter

ROANOKE, Va. – The chairman of the National Gridiron League came to Roanoke this week to reassure city leaders that the league is still on track, but there are still many questions to be answered. The Virginia Iron Horses are supposed to launch next month in the Star City, but even after the meeting many still question if arena football will actually make its comeback.

League chairman Joe McClendon spoke exclusively with 10 News while he was in town. He said the meeting went well and the league is still coming to town. Last week, it announced a delay to the season last week and has since updated its team schedules and website to reflect the changes. There are still some major boxes left to be checked, but McClendon said not to worry.

Last summer the message was broadcast loud and clear, arena football was coming back to Roanoke. But we’re coming up on almost a year since that announcement and there hasn’t been much to see.

“The city should know and the community should know we’re working hard to put the best possible product on the field,” McClendon said.

The inaugural season was supposed to launch at the end of March, but it now will launch at the end of April. McClendon said there wasn’t enough time to market the league because it was held up by bureaucratic red tape. In news reports in other cities, McClendon is quoted as saying it was some other city’s delay and not the one in that specific city, just like he told 10 News about Roanoke.

“How certain are you that football will start in April and that we’ll be ready to go?” 10 News reporter Shayne Dwyer asked.

“I wouldn’t be sitting in this seat if I wasn’t 100 percent,” McClendon replied.

But not everyone is as confident as McClendon, especially in Star City. McClendon had a meeting with Mayor Sherman Lea and others this week to talk about it all after the mayor and other city leaders questioned what was going on.

“It’s apparent that he still wants to have the league and to play, I’m not sure that financially it can all come together,” Lea said.

At the end of the day, an arena football league needs serious cash. The city has not offered the team any sort of incentives to come.  The team would play at the Berglund Center, but the league still hasn’t paid them yet and McClendon was not straight about when it would happen.

“So when will you be cutting a check to the Berglund Center for the rent there?” Dwyer asked.

“We’ve got a few things we’re working on, I think the most important thing before even the check is the medical portion that we’re working on,” McClendon replied.

McClendon said making sure players are cared for is most important but on a podcast two months ago hosted by the league it was again about the money and the first half of the show was a complete mess. A caller on the show was identified by the host as an assistant coach for the Mississippi Mudcats. McClendon said his host was actually unaware that the man she identified as a coach wasn’t actually a coach at all. McClendon said the name he gave wasn’t even a name on the coaching roster.

“The problem is we were supposed to start getting paid the first week of November and I haven’t gotten a paycheck yet,” the caller said. ” Not only that but our arena down here, we don’t even have a lease with, so I don’t know what the f**k these guys are doing but they owe me a couple of grand already and most of the coaches like Hemmel and some of these other guys, we haven’t been paid yet.”

10 News asked McClendon if his coaches have been paid yet.

“Yes, our coaches have been compensated,” McClendon said.

We reached out to the 11 other cities that are set to host teams and skepticism was a common thread. Even after this meeting with the league, Mayor Lea said there are obvious roadblocks, but they want to give it a chance.

“We want to see arena football playing, but it just doesn’t seem like financially things are falling in place,” Lea said.

McClendon wouldn’t say how much the league is worth or where the money is coming from, or how many tickets the Iron Horses have sold. With a  month to go, there’s still a lack of any marketing around a lot of questions to be answered.

“Are you willing to admit at this point based on just the surface level facts things don’t look super great? Dwyer asked.

“I’m willing to admit it may not happen in the time period everyone else wants, I know the work we’ve put in, that’s what’s most important to me,” McClendon said.

He said if football doesn’t happen those who bought tickets would get their money back, but added people won’t need refunds because football is happening. He added that day he announced in Roanoke he certainly thought things would go smoother, but he’d rather take his time than rush a bad product.

“What can you say to the folks here in Roanoke that the team is coming and that they should be excited about this?” Dwyer asked.

“I don’t want to say nothing, I really don’t, I want them to see we put in the work,” McClendon said. “To win people over with words is not my approach.”

Many people have also questioned team logos and league logos. The league logo is a copy of the Ultimate Football League, a former arena league, just with a different color scheme. Many of the team names and logos are exact copies of former arena teams in different leagues too. McClendon said those trademarks have expired and it makes good business sense to recycle them in an attempt to capture the already existing fanbases.

McClendon said players are expected to arrive in town in the next week or two.

FOOTNOTE: This article was sent to the City-County Observer by a former employee of the  National Gridiron League and is reposted without bias or editing.

The National Gridiron League also sponsors a team called the Indiana Firebird-Evansville that was originally scheduled to play at the Ford Center on April 12, 2019.  We are now told because of startup issues the National Gridiron League new date for the Indiana Firebirds-Evansville to play at the Ford Center will be sometime in March 2019.

 

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