http://www.vanderburghsheriff.com/jail-recent-booking-records.aspx
“IS IT TRUE” FEBRUARY 12, 2019
We hope that today’s “READERS FORUMâ€Â 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?Â
IS IT TRUEÂ the Vanderburgh County Board of Commissioners will be selecting a well known and highly respected community leader at today’s meeting to serve on the Evansville/Vanderburgh County Public Library Board? Â …we are told that the vote to put this individual on the Library Board will be unanimous?
IS IT TRUE that SMG and AEG are merging their companies and that the resulting organization will be the world’s largest venue management firm? …it’s obvious that the power of size typically delivers economies of scale that small organizations can’t deliver when big national acts are considered?…the larger organization can also spread any losses from experimental concerts over a larger platform while a smaller manager has to make every activity work out financially?
IS IT TRUE that it looked like Mayor Lloyd Winnecke was going to be waltzing into a third term without a challenge in either a primary or in the general election until a 68 year old independent who has historically been registered as a Democrat came to the courthouse with intentions to run for the Democrat nomination but changed her mind and filed to oppose Winnecke for the Republican nomination?…the Mayor’s primary opponent will be the very visible pizza delivery driver turned political activists Connie Whitman?…at the ripe old age of 68, she is poised to challenge Winnecke with a lifetime of disgust with elections without a challenger?
IS IT TRUE there is already much talk on the streets of Democrats crossing the aisle to vote for Ms. Whitman to send Mayor Winnecke a message about supporting every fun and games idea that comes across his desk?  …we are also that hearing that Republicans who are fed up with the Mayor’s liberal tax and spend habits are just going to bypass pulling his lever on election day?
IS IT TRUE the upcoming Republican primary could get real interesting or it could be a bust with less than 2,000 people showing up for the primary?…it would not be the first time that the Republican primary drew fewer fans than an Evansville Thunderbolts hockey game as David Nixon won the primary to challenge Mayor Weinzapfel with less than a thousand votes and no party backing?…that election in 2007 turned into a big joke that filled the former Mayor’s head with dreams of higher office which was never consummated?
IS IT TRUE this does not mean that the Democrats will not have a candidate to oppose Winnecke in the fall?…it does mean they will not have a primary?…the party leadership can get together and choose a candidate for Mayor of Evansville and the rumors have been flying that someone by the last name of a well known political figure may just be nominated?…this is the making for a very interesting election season in River City and the first spectacle is the Pizza Delivery Democrat turned Republican  vs. the Chicken Fat Dancing Republican incumbent?
IS IT TRUEÂ when the mainstream media becomes a lap dog for elected officials instead of being a watchdog for the people the taxpayers are the one who pays the price for bad business decisions made by politicians?
Todays“Readers Poll†question is: Do you feel that its time that our elected officials be held accountable for the bad business decisions they make in our behalf?
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.
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.
Today’s Vanderburgh County Board of Commissioners Meeting
AGENDA Of The Vanderburgh County Board of Commissioners
On February 12, 2019, At 3:00 pm, In Room 30, Civic CenterÂ
AGENDA
- Call to Order
- Attendance
- Pledge of Allegiance
- Action ItemsÂ
- Final Reading of Ordinance CO.02-19-003: Establishing an Infrastructure Development Zone in Vanderburgh County: Public Hearing
- Health Department:
- STD Grant AgreementÂ
- Advertising Contract with Oswald Marketing
- Treatment Court: Professional Service Agreement with Ryan BarrettÂ
- Board Appointments
- Department Head Reports
- New Business
- Old Business
- Consent Items
- Approval of February 05, 2019 Meeting Minutes
- Employment ChangesÂ
- County Treasurer: December 2018 Monthly ReportÂ
- County Auditor: Claim Voucher Report 2/4/19-2/8/19
- Surplus Request:
- County Assessor Furniture
- County Auditor FurnitureÂ
- County Commissioners: Transfer Request for Riverboat Contractual Services
- Public Comment
- Adjournment
Commentary: Make Lawmakers Wear Their Labels
Commentary: Make Lawmakers Wear Their Labels
By John Krull
TheStatehouseFile.comÂ
INDIANAPOLIS – Long ago, the late Indianapolis News political pundit Ed Ziegner used to roast legislators at the end of each session of the Indiana General Assembly.
One year, he absolutely scorched the lawmakers.
John Krull, publisher, TheStatehouseFile.com
He said that they should list their sponsors or the special interests who claimed their true allegiance on their shirts, like Little League baseball teams. But a shirt wouldn’t be enough for every legislator, Ziegner said.
Some had sold themselves so often that they’d need capes to list every group that had bought them or otherwise owned them.
I thought of Ziegner’s jibe the other day when I attended a press conference at the Statehouse. Rep. Carey Hamilton, D-Indianapolis, Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry and two parents whose lives and children had been touched by gun violence wanted to retrieve two common-sense firearm-safety bills from the legislative scrap heap.
They said, over and over again, they just wanted a chance to make their case. They wanted a hearing and a vote, they said and would accept the outcome, win or lose.
Rep. Jim Lucas, R-Seymour, trolled at the edge of the press conference. Lucas loves to identify himself as the chief cheerleader and camp follower for the National Rifle Association. Until he developed a recent infatuation with medical marijuana laws, almost every bill Lucas introduced involved loosening Indiana’s already lax gun laws.
He, of course, is supposed to represent the interests of his community.
But, judging by Lucas’s priorities, the biggest problems the good people of Seymour’s face are that they can’t get enough guns or pot.
Lucas waited for a nanosecond at most after the press conference’s conclusion to find a TV camera into which he could bloviate his strange interpretation of the Second Amendment. In his version of that amendment, the 13 words of the militia purpose clause – the part that allows for reasonable regulation of guns – do not exist.
He neatly overlooked the fact that the parents at the press conference also were exercising a constitutional right – the First Amendment one guaranteeing that they can petition the government for redress of grievances.
Someday, Lucas will have to read the other 7,577 words in the Constitution – or at least get someone to read them to him.
Not that it would matter much. Because Lucas is so wedded to his special-interest love, he doesn’t much care about the feelings – much less the constitutional rights – of people who don’t agree with him.
That’s why he takes pride in bullying citizens who come to testify in favor of sensible gun laws. It’s also why he likes to boast there is no gun-control law – no matter how sensible – that he and his fellow gun-lobby compliant legislators ever will consider.
That’s also why, no matter how many Hoosiers die in gun-related violence, legislative session after legislative session will come and go without our lawmakers doing anything about the problem.
Nor are guns the only example.
For years, public health advocates have recommended an increase in the cigarette tax. A hike of $2 would produce $360 million in annual revenue for the state until it started to do its real work. That real work involves discouraging Hoosiers from smoking.
This would reduce health-care costs dramatically.
This should be a no-brainer – a plan that brings money in on the front end saves it on the back end and make people healthier in between.
But this bill, too, languishes, waiting for a hearing that won’t come.
The same goes for proposals regarding hate-crimes legislation, redistricting reform and any number of other basic and often popular measures.
The common denominator is they die without getting a committee hearing or vote. A committee chairperson or other powerful legislator – one generally from a gerrymandered district – bottles up the bill and avoids the inconvenience of having legislators vote on a measure people favor but an entrenched special interest doesn’t.
Confusing, isn’t it?
Ziegner’s suggestion offered in jest, though, would clear up a lot of that confusion.
If we made legislators who carry water for the gun lobby wear NRA shirts around the Statehouse or the lawmakers who want to make it easy for cigarette manufacturers to market smokes to kids sport Big Tobacco jerseys, we could eliminate a lot of the mystery.
It would make the action easier to follow.
FOOTNOTE: John Krull is director of Franklin College’s Pulliam School of Journalism, host of “No Limits†WFYI 90.1 Indianapolis and publisher of TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.
LETTER TO EDITOR: MAYOR WINNECKE LACK OF OPPOSITION
LETTER TO EDITOR: MAYOR WINNECKE LACK OF OPPOSITION
by BiILL HAZELIP
Vanderburgh County
Why do we have a Mayor with no political opposition? The answer is simple, “we have no media voice or newspaper to voice any opposition!” First of all, I am a Republican and I think the present Mayor has done an average job. Would I vote for him? Well, it depends on who is running in opposition!
I think a Mayor of a struggling City needs to be more than just be a ribbon cutter! Anyone can cut a ribbon on Green River Road for another “Jiffy Burger.” But hamburger shops will not save Evansville’s financial and labor problems. We will face a growing problem as the old monies disappear. The new money’s value will be a struggle, just to survive.
Back in the 70’s I wrote an article titled “I can see Evansville’s future”, back then, I traveled the East Coast, I seen our future in Wilmington, DE, Newark, NJ, and many more Eastern cities that had lost their Manufacturing plants and their ability to recover. Ability to recover is an important part of our survival! We have lost enough manufacturing, technical, and skillful workers in the last 60 years to support a city of a half million population. Many of the downtown buildings are empty.
Today, we don’t even have a newspaper printed in Evansville, there is no vital information good or bad, about what is going on in this city, our Weather Station was relocated to Paducah, Kentucky, and we even came close to losing the Airport. But, no one seems to care; today’s newspaper carries one article about a person opening up brewhouse. How sad, the loss of the local paper! And we wonder, why no one is running for Mayor!
What a wonderful time to be Mayor, no opposition or newspaper to report on one’s performance.
This Week At USI
Monday, February 11 – Saturday, February 16
USI Homecoming 2019
The University of Southern Indiana will hold Homecoming activities throughout the week of Monday, February 11 through the women’s and men’s basketball home games on Saturday, February 16. A full schedule of homecoming events, the homecoming court and other activities can be found at USI.edu/homecoming.
Thursday, February 14 – Sunday, February 17
USI Theatre Continues Season with Pygmalion
University of Southern Indiana Theatre will continue its 2018-2019 season with the classic play Pygmalion, written by Bernard Shaw and directed by Elliot Wasserman, professor of theatre. The production runs from Thursday, February 14 through Sunday, February 17 in the USI Performance Center located in University Center East on USI’s campus. Read More
10 a.m. – 2 p.m. Friday, February 15
USI’s annual International Food Expo returns Friday, February 15
The International Club at the University of Southern Indiana will host the annual International Food Expo from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday, February 15 in Carter Hall, located in University Center West. Tickets can be purchased in advance for $10 from the Center for International Programs in University Center East, Room 1235, or at the door on the day of the Expo for $15. USI students are able to purchase tickets from the Eagle Access Office with their USI ID using Munch Money. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to a local charity. Read More
Exhibit open through Saturday, February 16
New Harmony Gallery to host work of New Harmony Clay Project artists
The New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art is hosting a ceramics exhibition, showcasing artists in residence at the New Harmony Clay Project, through Saturday, February 16. The exhibition is free and open to the public. The exhibition will feature a diverse set of styles and techniques in both functional and sculptural ceramics from six resident artists who participated in the project in 2018. Read More
STUDENT EVENTS
A collection of events on campus and in the community sponsored by USI student organizations can be found on the USI events calendar by clicking here.
SAVE THE DATE
7 p.m. Wednesday, February 20 and 6:30 p.m. Friday, February 22
USI to celebrate 21st anniversary of The Vagina Monologues and founding of V-Day
The University of Southern Indiana will present a two-night-only benefit reading of Eve Ensler’s award-winning play The Vagina Monologues at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, February 20, and 7 p.m. on Friday, February 22 in Forum III of the Wright Administration Building on the USI campus. Doors will open at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, February 20, and at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, February 22. The event costs $8 at the door. Ninety percent of proceeds go to Willow Tree of Posey County, working to help women and girls coping with sexual assault and domestic violence. Ten percent of proceeds go to the V-Day Action Fund for women who have been incarcerated. Read More
9 a.m. Friday, February 22
USI Center for Interdisciplinary Studies, College of Liberal Arts present 12th Interdisciplinary Colloquium
The University of Southern Indiana College of Liberal Arts and its Center for Interdisciplinary Studies will host the 12th Interdisciplinary Colloquium, titled “Movement(s).†The day-long, multi-session event will take place from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, February 22 in Carter Hall in University Center West. This event is free and open to the public. The College of Liberal Arts’ annual Interdisciplinary Colloquium showcases USI faculty research across a wide range of academic disciplines centered on a single topic. Faculty presenters represent a variety of USI programs and departments including Art, Biology, Criminal Justice, Economics, English, Gender Studies, German, Health Services, History, Music, Sociology, and Theatre Arts. Read More
Tuesday, February 26
Author, scholar, activist Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor to keynote 2019 Mandela Day
Dr. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, author and assistant professor of African American Studies at Princeton University, will present the keynote address for the 2019 University of Southern Indiana Nelson Mandela Social Justice Day at 6 p.m. Tuesday, February 26 in the USI Performance Center. The presentation will be free and open to the public. The keynote address is the culmination of a full day of activities meant to raise dialogue at USI around current issues of human and civil rights, public service, and activism. Read More
Wednesday, March 21
Annual Shaw Biology Lecture to feature director of National Center for Science Education
Ann Reid, director at the National Center for Science Education in Oakland, California, will present the University of Southern Indiana’s eighth annual Marlene V. Shaw Biology Lecture at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 21, in Mitchell Auditorium, located in the lower level of the Health Professions Center on USI’s campus. The presentation, titled “The Enduring Power of Evidence,†will be free and open to the public. Read More
Thursday, April 4
General Colin Powell to speak on leadership at USI in April
The University of Southern Indiana will present “Leadership: Taking Charge,†a moderated discussion with General Colin L. Powell, USA (Ret.) at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 4, 2019, at the new USI Arena. The discussion will be free and open to the public. General Powell will be the fourth speaker in the University’s Romain College of Business Innovative Speaker Series. Previous speakers include T. Boone Pickens, legendary entrepreneur and philanthropist in 2013, Dr. Ben Bernanke, former chairman of the Federal Reserve in 2015, and Dr. Oscar Salazar, founding chief technology officer of Uber in 2017. Read More
University Of Evansville CiSM Project Receives $1 Million Grant for Scholarships from the NSF S-STEM Program
University Of Evansville CISM Project Receives $1 Million Grant for Scholarships from the NSF S-STEM Program
The University of Evansville’s Computers in Science and Math (CISM) project has been awarded a grant totaling $999,934 to fund scholarships for academically talented students with financial need majoring in biochemistry, biology, chemistry, environmental science, mathematics, physics, or statistics and data science.
The project, funded by the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S-STEM) program, is led by UE faculty members Joyce Stamm, professor of biology; Angela Reisetter, associate professor of physics; Adam Salminen, associate professor of mathematics; and Sarah Wilson, assistant professor of chemistry.
The CISM scholarships will be available beginning in the fall 2020 semester and will provide up to $10,000 per year for four years to two cohorts of seven or eight students. These students will be part of an interdisciplinary learning community established through an all-expenses-paid bridge course during the summer before the freshman year and maintained as the students live together in UE’s honors residence hall and enroll together in computational problem-solving courses. CISM students will also receive summer research and conference attendance funds, and CISM-specific academic advising, career preparation, and mentoring.
“This interdisciplinary cohort approach will prepare our students for a real work setting, where biologists and mathematicians may work alongside chemists and physicists toward a common goal,” said Stamm. “The interpersonal skills developed from living and working together are just as, if not more, important than the technical skills gained through coursework. It allows them to learn to speak the same language.”
Reisetter added, “Computational problem-solving skills are not currently emphasized in UE’s math and science curriculum, so we’re particularly excited to develop additional talents in our students, which will translate into broader career opportunities and workplace success upon graduation.”
To develop these skills, the project will introduce a scaffolded curriculum with four interdisciplinary computational problem-solving courses. The first three courses will focus on the power of computational and data visualization skills in the sciences, and introduce students to interesting data-centric scientific projects. The fourth course will be part of the UE ChangeLab program and will pair student and faculty teams with a local business or nonprofit clients. Students will work with the clients to solve a problem involving experimental design, data collection, and/or data analysis. Because these courses will be open to all math and science majors at UE, the CISM project will have an impact beyond the scholarship recipients
“The digital revolution has allowed scientists and businesses to collect vast quantities of data,” said Salminen. “Marketing firms, educators, and sports teams have gleaned knowledge and insights from this data for application to business techniques for many years. Of particular importance here is the growing need of these skills in the sciences.”
Data scientists and statisticians work to develop new statistical approaches and develop new software and techniques of analysis. However, a scientist in other areas such as genomics, particle physics, and neuroscience need to use these techniques to unravel the massive amounts of data that they collect. Moving forward, scientists will need to have a better understanding of working with large data, and statisticians and mathematicians, with proper training and interest, can help tackle difficult problems throughout the sciences.
In line with the NSF’s mission to improve STEM undergraduate education, another important goal of the project is to determine the impacts of the learning community on CISM scholars.
“We will assess each of the project’s activities using a mixed-methods approach, to examine how involvement in the CISM community affects students’ science and mathematics self-efficacy, sense of community, retention, success, and progression to STEM careers,” said Wilson. “We hope that the CISM project will serve as a model for interdisciplinary STEM education at institutions similar to UE.”
KOMEN EVANSVILLE TRI-STATE 3nd ANNUAL BIGWIGS CHAMPAIGN AND BIGWIGS KICK-OFF EVENT WITH THE DIAMOND GALLERIA!
Susan G. Komen Evansville Tri-State Affiliate in conjunction with The Diamond Galleria will host a public kick-off reception to meet and greet the 2019 Komen Evansville Tri-State BigWigs! The reception will be held on Thursday, February 21 5:30 to 7:30 pm at The Diamond Galleria at 6245 Vogel Road in Evansville who is the Host Sponsor for this event.
“Komen BigWig (noun): a very important person on a mission to end breast cancer forever by raising awareness and funds in their community; willing to have fun while wearing a ridiculous pinkwig.â€
Come meet all ten of our BigWigs, find out why they are fundraising, how much they have committed to raising, and how this fundraising campaign will make a difference in our tri-state community.
Our 2019 BigWigs are:
-   Veronica Dekett – 44 News WEVV
-   Liberty DeWig – My105.3
-   Karen Krauskopf – Ellis Park
-   Heidi Lance – Vanderburgh Medical Alliance
-   Darin Lander – Old National Bank
-   Brandon McClish – Purple Aces Sports Properties
-   Bethany Miller – 14 News WFIE
-   Ronnie Paulson – Schmitt Refrigeration, Air Conditioning and Heating
-   Ron Rhodes – WEHT
-   Travis Sams – 99.5 WKDQ