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WANDERING OWL TWILIGHT TASTING
Steve Fritz Named 2018 Champion of Youth First
Youth First, Inc. honored former Evansville-Vanderburgh School Corporation educator and administrator Steve Fritz at its 11th Annual Breakfast of Champions event on Tuesday, October 23rd at St. Vincent Manor in Evansville.
Fritz received the Dr. William Wooten Champion of Youth First Award at the event, sponsored by German American. With over 300 attendees, the organization celebrated its hundreds of donors, supporters and volunteers in addition to recognizing Fritz.
Evansville Mayor Lloyd Winnecke proclaimed October 23rd, 2018, as “Steve Fritz, Champion of Youth First Day.â€
Through his 35-year career with the EVSC and tireless passion for helping young people thrive, Steve has impacted thousands of lives. The students he taught, the players he coached, and the teachers he mentored all credit him with contributing to their success. As a founding Youth First Board Member, Steve has championed the continued growth and success of the organization for the past 20 years.
Proud to have been born and raised in Evansville, Steve is a graduate of North High School, the University of Evansville and Indiana State University. In addition to his involvement with Youth First, Steve was also profoundly impacted by his involvement with YMCA’s Camp Carson, where he served as a camp counselor and continues today as a Board member.
Breakfast of Champions attendees enjoyed remarks from EVSC Superintendent Dr. David Smith, YMCA of Southwestern Indiana CEO Derrick Stewart, Youth First President & CEO Parri O. Black and Founder Dr. William Wooten, as well as friends and family of Fritz.
USI closes out regular season with 3-0 victory Eagles ranked number one in Midwest
The 11th-ranked University of Southern Indiana men’s soccer team closed out the 2018 regular season with a 3-0 victory over Lewis University Wednesday afternoon in Romeoville, Illinois. The Screaming Eagles see their record go to 13-2-1 overall and 11-1-1 GLVC, while the Flyers fall to 4-10-3, 3-9-1 GLVC.
In addition to the 13th victory of the year, USI was ranked first in the second NCAA Division II Midwest Region poll. The squad moved up from the number two spot and grabbed the top spot for the first time in program history.
The Eagles begin their quest to capture their first GLVC Tournament crown since 1991 when they host a first round match Sunday at Strassweg Field. The opponent and game time will be determined at the close of GLVC regular season action this evening.
Follow the live coverage of USI men’s soccer post-season matches, including live stats and video, on GoUSIEagles.com.
USI got the lead early in the match when freshman midfielder Ryan Nevins (St. Peters, Missouri) gave the Eagles a 1-0 lead at 25:40. The unassisted goal was Nevins’ first as an Eagle. USI would go on to hold the 1-0 lead through the intermission.
In the second half, the Eagles sealed the match with a pair of goals for the 3-0 final. Freshman midfielder Drew Domalewski (Wentzville, Missouri) put the Eagles up 2-0 at 78:26 when he knocked in his fourth of the season that was assisted by junior defender Justin Brooks (Fishers, Indiana) and junior midfielder Adam Newman (Marion, Illinois).
Newman put the victory stamp on the match when he made the score 3-0 at 84:51, converting his first goal of the season off a pass from freshman defender Colten Walsh (St. Louis, Missouri).
Between the posts, sophomore goalkeeper Justin Faas (Carmel, Indiana) posted his 13th win of the year and his third shutout in the last four matches. Faas and the USI defense blanked the Flyers by posting a pair of saves and allowing only four Lewis shots.
“READERS FORUM†OCTOBER 24, 2018
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
WHATS ON YOUR MIND TODAY?
Todays“Readers Poll†question is: If the election was held today in the District 76 State Representative race who would you vote for?
If you would like to advertise on the CCO please contact us City-CountyObserver@live.com
Commentary: Don’t Like The News Coverage?
Commentary: Don’t Like The News Coverage? It’s More Your Fault Than You Might Think
By Michael Leppert
www.michaelleppert.com
I had dinner this week with two old friends to talk about politics. Â They voted for President Trump, but are otherwise Hoosiers just like me. They are talk radio listeners and Fox News viewers lost as to why the left has become so hostile.
They were looking for a civil conversation with the “other side,†and were struggling to find someone to have it with.  Shockingly, this is why they called me of all people.
Dinner lasted long enough that even though I had the lasagna, by the time I got home, I was hungry again. Two of our topics stuck with me more than the food.
First, I asked my friends if they thought the Affordable Care Act had been successful.  They quickly responded “no,†citing their concerns with sustainability and the “crumbling†marketplace of insurance products.  But when I asked them if more Americans have access to healthcare today then they did in 2010, they agreed the answer is yes.  When I asked them if they agreed that healthcare is a right or a privilege in America, they agreed it is a right. For me, that equates to “success.† They, however, had not even thought about it that way.
It was obvious that their chosen media outlets also don’t present it that way.
How do we get what we rely on as our “facts†and how has that changed over time? They didn’t even look at their news-following behavior as “consumption.† In other words, they seem to view themselves as involuntary receivers of information thrust upon them without the power to impact it.
Sound familiar?
Our next discussion was the Brett Kavanaugh saga. Â They believe he was mistreated and that he absolutely should have been confirmed. Â But when I asked them what they think would have or could have happened had he not been confirmed, they had no solid idea or expectation. When I suggested that President Trump could have simply nominated someone else, and the Senate could have rushed that nominee through, they were seemingly hearing that for the first time. They were unfamiliar with the rest of the process.
Their own lack of healthy curiosity led them to consume a week’s worth of media that was clearly void of a pretty important part of the story.  That is what I describe as a consumer, or a “demand†problem.  Not a “supply†problem. The information was available.  They were simply not drawn to it and didn’t choose to consume it.
“Media†are and always have been a market.  The internet and digitization have made things more competitive than they once were, but it has always been a market. Even as a child, my family could choose between John Chancellor and Walter Cronkite.
For a market to exist, there must be certain conditions.  Ask an economist what those conditions are and the answers won’t very much. They include things like the freedom of choice, competition and supply and demand. Most of the answers describe the American media market. That is until you get to the list of factors that includes “perfect knowledge†or “perfect information†about the market’s product. That’s where consumers of media seem to get lost.
When information is the product, how does a consumer know when it is “perfect?† This is where the media consumer has to work a little. Does factual accuracy make the information more “perfect?†Do our consumption choices reflect that?
By making truth-telling a vital component of the quality we want, we do impact the products that are available.
I consume more news than the average person, buying more than I probably should.  I subscribe to three Indiana news outlets, two national ones, and three weekly newsletters.  That’s before I see a social media post from some other news outlet or watch TV. I also go out of my way to read things I expect to disagree with but often don’t, like the National Review.  I don’t purchase it, but I often consume it.
It is unreasonable to expect consumers to consume news like me.  But I simply cannot tolerate the complaints coming from Americans about bias in the media without having a conversation about the consumer’s role in that market.
Markets respond to its customers.  That’s how salads ended up on the menu at McDonald’s.
Media consumers need to make better choices. The market will only respond to that.
We all know the difference between a salad and a Big Mac, just like a responsible media consumer should know the difference between facts and total BS.
FOOTNOTE: Michael Leppert is a public and governmental affairs consultant in Indianapolis and writes his thoughts about politics, government and anything else that strikes him at MichaelLeppert.com.
VERIZON LEAVES AMERICAN WORKERS IN THE LURCH
VERIZON LEAVES AMERICAN WORKERS IN THE LURCH
by Joe Guzzardi, for Cagle News, October 24, 2018
The headline financial news story of late is Verizon’s announcement that it offered a voluntary severance package to about 44,000 employees or about one-third of its workforce. But the subtitle is equally disturbing. Verizon will transfer more than 2,500 jobs – some insiders peg the total at closer to 5,000 – to India-based Infosys as part of a $700 million outsourcing agreement. Thousands who were once Verizon employees will soon work for Infosys.
IT analysts know that Infosys has a history of eliminating benefits which transferred employees enjoyed and that the company will eventually displace them with lower cost Indian nationals. Verizon is candid about its goals if not its methods: by 2021, the wireless carrier hopes to slash $10 billion from its total $114 billion debt load.
Outsourcing is an American worker job killer. A Deloitte Global Outsourcing survey conducted this year found that many corporations use, or are about to use outsourcing. The official corporate excuse is that outsourcing makes their operations more flexible, a vague and difficult-to-prove claim. Known for certain, however, is that outsourcing means lower labor costs for the employer. A General Accounting Office report showed that a majority of H-1–visa holders fall into the lowest of four categories, while only 6 percent are included among the higher skilled, and therefore more well-paid groups.
Beyond the IT and immigration worlds, little is known about Infosys. In a nutshell, Infosys uses the H-1–visa to hire Indian engineers and programmers, then assigns them to American firms that falsely claim they cannot find Americans to fill their employment needs. Subsequently, many of the jobs initially filled in the U.S. are reassigned in India. With that well-established pattern in mind, Infosys’ ballyhooed commitment to hire 10,000 Americans in Indiana by 2021 must be viewed with extreme skepticism. Infosys’ promise is more likely a decoy in response to President Trump’s 2017,â€Buy American and Hire American†executive order.
Inarguably, Infosys has a well-established track record of taking advantage of loose U.S. federal immigration laws to enhance its already substantial $11 billion bottom line. About 60 percent of Infosys’ revenue is generated in North America where the company employs more than 20,000 workers, mainly Indians on H-1–visas. Beyond its dubious H-1–visa practices, Infosys was caught red-handed importing workers on B-1 visas allegedly to attend business conferences or training sessions. In fact, the B-1 holders ended up employed, an immigration status that the visa specifically excludes.
In 2013, Infosys paid $34 million in a civil settlement with the Justice Department and other federal agencies, which accused the company of systemic abuse of visa rules. Various other lawsuits filed against Infosys are currently pending, including two brought by former in-house lawyers. One litigant charged that Infosys is fundamentally an India-run corporate caste system and that “people who are not Indian are at the bottom.â€
In 2016, then-Infosys Chief Executive Officer Vishal Sikka admitted that there is no shortage of U.S tech workers: “There are enough universities, enough ability to hire, enough ability to teach.†The abundant availability of American workers didn’t stop Infosys from tapping the foreign market while U.S. techies sat idle. Sikka’s statement and the GAO’s conclusion that significant reforms are badly needed in the H-1–visa program Congress created in 1990 have yielded little change. Although the federal government painstakingly goes out of its way to not publish foreign workers’ totals in the U.S., the investment bank Goldman Sachs estimates that the aggregate number is between 900,000 and one million.
That’s a million jobs that Americans have been denied, the incomes from which would have paid their mortgages, their children’s college tuitions, and bulked up their savings accounts.
Immigration’s original, noble but long-ago forgotten and still elusive purpose is to help Americans. At a minimum, immigration shouldn’t, as it does today, work against American citizens and its workers.
FOOTNOTE: Joe Guzzardi is a Society for American Baseball Research and Internet Baseball Writers Association member. Contact him at guzzjoe@yahoo.com.
The City-County Observer posted this article without opinion, bias or editing.
No Criminal Charges, But AG Hill Faces Suits From Accusers
Marilyn Odendahl for www.theindianalawyer.com
After the special prosecutor announced his decision Tuesday not to bring charges against Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill, the four women who have accused the state’s top lawyer of sexual misconduct stepped into the public spotlight together and said they are not done the fighting.
“What has happened today has told women that when we come forward, that when we share what happened to us, that we can be believed, but that doesn’t really mean anything,†said Gabrielle McLemore, communications director for the Indiana Senate Democrats. “… We put ourselves out there, we put our jobs and reputations on the line just to be told, ‘you’re believed, but there’s nothing we can do.’ So we’re just taking that next step to see if there is something we can do.â€
McLemore, along with Niki DaSilva, legislative assistant for the Indiana Senate Republicans, Samantha Lozano, legislative assistant for the Indiana House Democrats, and Rep. Mara Candelaria Reardon, D-Munster, has all claimed Hill touched them inappropriately and made unwanted advances at them during a party in March.
They told their stories to legislators who initially investigated the incident. Then they, again, told what had happened to the Indiana Inspector General and the special prosecutor, Dan Sigler, senior prosecuting attorney from Allen County.
Speaking at a news conference at the Marion County prosecutor’s office Tuesday, Sigler said he believed the women and found them credible. However, he declined to file charges, saying he did not have sufficient evidence to prove Hill touched the women in a manner that was rude, insolent or angry, as the law requires.
Now the women have given notice they intend to pursue state and federal civil claims against Hill, the Indiana Attorney General’s office and the state of Indiana. When the special prosecutor concluded his remarks at the press conference, the women and their attorneys from Katz Korin Cunningham crowded around the microphones. They did not coordinate their appearance with Sigler.
The Katz Korin Cunningham attorneys who are representing the women — BJ Brinkerhoff, Hannah Kaufman Joseph, and Kimberly Jeselskis — said a tort claim notice has been filed with the state, stating their intention to file claims for assault, battery, defamation, and false imprisonment. In addition, they have filed charges of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
“I am proud to stand with these brave women who have the courage to come forward and make their voices heard,†Reardon said. “We embark on this journey together to fight for the protection of individuals who deserve to feel safe at their workplace.â€
Sigler said the allegations against Hill lent themselves to two potential charges — sexual battery, a felony, and simple battery of touching someone in a rude, insolent or angry manner, a misdemeanor. He quickly decided the sexual battery charge was not appropriate because he did not find that the attorney general used force.
To prove simple battery, Sigler said he would have had to know what Hill was thinking at the time of the incident.
In his report, the special prosecutor stated, “At best the evidence regarding the essential element of Hill’s intent is that he was overly friendly and touchy with everyone in the establishment as the apparent result of alcohol consumption. Inappropriate or intoxicated behavior does not automatically equate to criminal behavior.â€
Hill’s defense attorneys at Voyles Vaiana Lukemeyer Baldwin & Webb claimed the special prosecutor had exonerated the attorney general. A statement from the firm also indicated that despite ongoing calls for Hill to resign, he intends to stay in office.
“We never doubted that Mr. Hill would be cleared of any alleged crimes,†the Voyles firm stated. “… Mr. Hill will continue to serve the people of Indiana in the capacity for which he was elected as the Indiana Attorney General.â€
Senate President David Long, R-Fort Wayne, released a statement, similarly noting Hill will likely remain in office.
“Hoosiers expect better from the people they elect to represent them in state government, especially when the individual involved is the chief law enforcement officer for the state of Indiana. I called for the Attorney General to step down in July, and I continue to believe that is the right thing for him to do. However, it appears that he has no intention to do so, and that is his decision alone to make at this time. The people of Indiana will have the final say in this matter.â€
Sigler said Hill submitted a video statement and responded for follow-up questions as part of the special prosecutor’s investigation.
“From his statement, he does not deny touching,†Sigler said of Hill. “… There’s no denying that there was touching; there’s disagreement as to the extent of it.â€
Moreover, Sigler said Hill’s consumption of alcohol the night of the party was significant.
Senate Minority Caucus Chair Karen Tallian, D-Portage, said she was disappointed in the special prosecutor’s decision not to file charges.
“As the law enforcement officer for the State of Indiana, the Attorney General’s conduct should be above reproach,†Tallian said in a statement. “Instead, we have the hypocrisy of a person expounding the virtue of law enforcement, the morality of family values, the wickedness of marijuana and the evil of women’s choice – all the while drunkenly groping young women at a bar late into the night.â€
Governor Eric J. Holcomb offered the following statement regarding the findings into allegations made against Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill:
“I said I believed the women who stepped forward to report sexual harassment by the Indiana Attorney General. The special prosecutor agreed and said, ‘I have accepted the victim statements as true.’
“The findings show a disregard of the executive branch zero-tolerance harassment policy. My position has not changed.â€
Ivy Tech Community College, EVSC Partner to Prepare High School Students For Careers with Local Employers
The Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation and Ivy Tech Community College Evansville Campus last week approved a Memorandum of Understanding to build a career and academic pathways that allow EVSC high school students to earn a college credential that is highly valued in the workforce at little or no cost to the student.
In order to better prepare today’s high school student for good-paying jobs with local employers, EVSC and Ivy Tech have created a formal partnership between the college, local business and industry, and the school corporation to effectively create a preK-14 educational system. While students won’t be required to attend two additional years of school to participate in this program, it does ensure that high school students can acquire the education and work skills provided through a rigorous community college education that employers demand.
“Through this partnership, every student will have the chance to earn a certification, certificate or technical certificate in high-skilled, high-demand fields that are highly valued in the workplace,†said Jonathan Weinzapfel, Chancellor of Ivy Tech Evansville. “This will create great career opportunities and build a brighter future for young people to make a decent living, raise a family and contribute back to our community.â€
EVSC Superintendent David Smith said, “This is a tangible example of the partnerships we are creating to prepare students for future success. We are committed to doing everything possible to support our students in reaching their goals in life after high school.â€
OptIN’s mission is to introduce, explore and prepare EVSC students for all pathways leading to high-wage, high-demand careers paired with student interest, abilities, skills and knowledge. This work, in collaboration with leading community partners, will expand post-secondary options and opportunities for students throughout the EVSC.
By intentionally sequencing dual credit and dual enrollment courses offered respectively by EVSC and Ivy Tech in pathways outlined in EVSC’s OptIN program, a high school student should be able to earn a credential before graduating. EVSC students have the potential to earn college credentials in Advanced Manufacturing, Industrial Technology, Automotive Technology, Visual Communications, and Business Administration. Additional pathways in Healthcare, Information Technology, Logistics, and Transportation are currently being built for students.
This partnership will help to eliminate duplication of course materials and instruction and maximize the use of equipment, facilities, resources, and faculty so that students may complete programs in a cost and time efficient manner. Weinzapfel noted that private sector support of this program will assist in holding students and families harmless financially.
Weinzapfel said in addition, the MOU outlines how Ivy Tech and EVSC will expand educational opportunities also for students already planning on going to college, by creating academic pathways to allow students to earn a post-secondary credential to transfer to other post-secondary institutions in Indiana, though Ivy Tech’s seamless Transfer as a Junior initiative.
“I want to applaud Superintendent David Smith’s vision in creating OptIN and his relentless focus on creating a brighter future for young people in our community,†Weinzapfel said. “This agreement would not have been possible without his foresight and the support of the school board and the OptIN advisory council.â€
According to the Indiana Department of Workforce Development Research & Analysis, 82 percent of the projected job openings through 2024 will require less than a four-year degree. Twenty-five percent of the manufacturing workforce is eligible to retire today; and 45 percent will be eligible to retire by 2024.
These opportunities are expected to begin by Fall 2019. For additional information, please send questions to Optin@evsck12.com.