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HOT JOBS IN EVANSVILLE
Peace, Love, & Give With A Heart September 29th!
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Lux Motors presents the Peace, Love,
& Give with a Heart Festival!
FREE event
Old National Event Plaza September 29th, 2018 from 11am to 6pm Proceeds to Benefit Evansville Area Animal Rescues & Evansville Challenger League Baseball. |
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ABSENTEE BALLOT PHONE BANK
ABSENTEE BALLOT PHONE BANKÂ starts at 4:00 PM
The Coordinated Campaign will begin calling people tonight who have previously voted absentee in order to encourage them to vote.
The calls will begin tonight at 4 PM at the Coordinated Campaign headquarters located at 2425 US 41 North (at the corner of US 41 and Diamond Ave).
 Bring your laptop, I Pad (with internet connectivity) or smartphone. Calling will last from 4 pm until 8 PM.
Call Wilma Gold-Jones at 734-218-4468 with questions and to let her know you are available.
Adopt A Pet
Bootsie is a 7-year-old female terrier mix! She is a little bit shy at first, but warms up quickly with a lap to snuggle on. She rides great in the car and doesn’t tend to bark a whole lot. Her adoption fee is $130 and includes her spay, microchip, vaccines, and more. Contact Vanderburgh Humane at (812) 426-2563 for details!
“READERS FORUM” SEPTEMBER 27, 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? WHATS ON YOUR MIND TODAY?Â
WHATS ON YOUR MIND TODAY?
Todays“Readers Poll†question is: If the 2019 City Council At-Large election was held today, what three (3) potential candidates would you vote for?
If you would like to advertise on the CCO please contact us City-CountyObserver@live.com
Holcomb’s Office Ordered To Hand Over Pence Carrier Emails
Holcomb’s Office Ordered To Hand Over Pence Carrier Emails
September 27, 2018
Marion Superior Judge Heather Welch issued an order Monday forcing Holcomb’s office to disclose any communications, including meeting minutes and documents about meetings, sent from Nov. 14-29, 2016, between Pence, Trump, and Carrier.
Also, the court found the governor violated the Access to Public Records Act by failing to provide updates on the status of the request for the documents.
Citizens Action Coalition filed the complaint in June 2017, alleging the Governor’s Office was violating Indiana’s open records law by not providing the requested information. The watchdog group hailed the court order.
“The ruling in CAC’s public records suit is a resounding reaffirmation of the important policy goals embodied in Indiana’s governmental transparency laws,†said William Groth, counsel for CAC. “It also reaffirms that the burden of proof for delaying or denying access must always remain on the government rather than on the person seeking disclosure.â€
CAC requested the Carrier-related documents in December 2016 when Pence was still governor. At that time, the nonprofit was told the administration would try to produce the records as quickly and completely as possible.
However, after not getting any further response, CAC asked for a status update in February 2017 from the Governor’s Office, then occupied by Holcomb. The Holcomb administration immediately replied saying it would research the status of the CAC’s request, but then in mid-April, more than two months later, demanded the CAC provide a clarification of the information it was seeking.
The Governor’s office argued the CAC’s request was not sufficiently specific to satisfy the standard in the public records act.
Reviewing decisions from the Indiana Court of Appeals as well as the Public Access Counselor, the Marion Superior Court disagreed, finding the CAC did meet the “reasonable particularity†standard.
“While the Court understands that (CAC staff attorney Jennifer) Washburn did not identify specific email addresses of senders and recipients, the Court believes that should not be a requirement in all cases, especially when the subject matter is so narrow that the public agency should know exactly where to search for the requested records,†Welch wrote.
Groth believes the order could have far-reaching consequences.
“If this ruling stands, public officials will no longer be able to use dilatory tactics and vague claims that requests aren’t particular enough to avoid or delay disclosing public records,†he said.
The court did find, however, that the CAC’s additional request for documents between Pence and any Indiana governmental entity or any third party referencing Trump and Carrier do present valid concern regarding “reasonable particularity.â€
Even so, in regard to additional documents being sought, the court ordered the governor’s office and CAC meet within one month to identify which parties may have the relevant information so the request can be narrowed.
“This order represents one of the most significant judicial pronouncements in Indiana with respect to the issue of governmental transparency,†said Kerwin Olson, executive director of CAC. “It breathes new life into APRA’s stated public policy that government is the servant of the people, not visa versa, and that all Hoosiers are entitled to ‘full and complete information’ regarding the affairs of their state government.â€
Commentary: A Prolonged Swim in A Sewer
Commentary: A Prolonged Swim In A Sewer
By John Krull
TheStatehouseFile.comÂ
INDIANAPOLIS – Former U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Indiana, came back to Indiana the other day.
While here, he stopped to talk with TV reporters and declined to endorse a candidate in the race for the Senate seat Lugar once held.
John Krull, publisher, TheStatehouseFile.com
He said he would leave it to U.S. Sen. Joe Donnelly, D-Indiana, and Republican challenger Mike Braun to shape their messages themselves and slug it out on their own.
Lugar’s response wasn’t surprising.
The former senator is nothing if not civil and respectful. I’ve been interviewing him since I was a high school student more than 40 years ago. I’ve never heard him say a mean-spirited thing about anyone.
For Richard Lugar, diving into Indiana’s increasingly nasty U.S. Senate race would be about as appealing as going for a prolonged swim in a sewer.
We’re now at the point in the election cycle when the media campaigns kick into full gear. The commercials we have seen so far have been anything but edifying.
The ads debate whether Braun or Donnelly is the biggest liar. They hurl back and forth semi-factual charges about which candidate in his personal capacity has outsourced the most jobs. They attempt to smear one man or the other through supposed guilt by association.
Nowhere in the campaign is there an attempt to speak to Hoosiers’ higher aspirations, our desire to build a state that fulfills the essential promise of America and gives all a chance to pursue happiness.
The focus in the race isn’t even on winning. It’s on making sure the other fellow – the other side – loses, even if it means someone’s reputation is destroyed and lives are damaged beyond repair in the process.
There is the stuff of tragedy here.
Both Joe Donnelly and Mike Braun are decent, thoughtful guys. Both men have strong work ethics. They care about this country and this state. Both are sensitive to the needs of their neighbors and fellow citizens.
They both would bring credit to any community or enterprise fortunate enough to have them.
But they also both work in a political environment that would have to undergo considerable cleansing just to be called toxic. They joust in a culture in which character assassination is both an admirable and a marketable skill. Their contest is one of denigration, not elevation.
While it’s tempting – and too easy – to blame them, they really are not the ones at fault.
We are.
Too many of us for too many years have rewarded this garbage with our votes. We have helped make a world in which we treat differences of opinion, even minor ones, as reason to view fellow citizens as permanent opponents.
Or even enemies.
The results of our abdication of any sort of moral responsibility are all around us.
We’re now watching a nomination process for a Supreme Court seat in which both parties will do anything to claim victory and neither seems to care much about truth, justice or fairness. In their ravenous desire to destroy each other, Republicans and Democrats can’t be bothered to think about the lasting damage they’re doing to the Senate and the Supreme Court.
And to the oldest democratic republic in the world, the United States of America.
No wonder Dick Lugar took a pass on endorsing anyone or anything in this trash dump.
Nothing good would have come from allowing himself to dragged into the filth.
The rest of us don’t have the same option.
We will have to vote, because, come January, one of these guys will be in Washington, D.C.
He’ll be the senator from Indiana.
Otherwise known as the newest king of the garbage heap.
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.
AG Curtis Hill Reaches $148 Million Settlement With Uber Over Data Breach
Attorney General Curtis Hill announced today that he, along with the other 49 states and the District of Columbia, has reached an agreement with California-based ride-sharing company Uber Technologies Inc. to address the company’s one-year delay in reporting a data breach to its affected drivers.
Uber learned in November 2016 that hackers had gained access to some personal information that Uber maintains about its drivers, including drivers’ license information pertaining to approximately 600,000 drivers nationwide. Uber tracked down the hackers and obtained assurances that the hackers deleted the information. However, even though some of that information – namely drivers’ license numbers for Uber drivers – triggered Indiana law requiring them to notify affected Indiana residents, Uber failed to report the breach in a timely manner, waiting until November 2017 to report it.
“Among our very top priorities is the protection of Hoosier consumers against companies that cause them harm through improper actions – or omissions, as the case may be,†Attorney General Hill said. “We make it our standard practice to pursue all penalties and remedies available under the law on behalf of our citizens, and we are pleased to have achieved a reasonable settlement in this case involving Uber.â€
As part of the nationwide settlement, Uber has agreed to pay $148 million to the states. Indiana will receive $1,495,450. Of Indiana’s share, $752,400 will be distributed to drivers affected by the breach. In addition, Uber has agreed to strengthen its corporate governance and data security practices to help prevent a similar occurrence in the future.
Indiana will provide each Uber driver impacted in state with a $100 payment. Eligible drivers are those drivers whose driver’s license numbers were accessed during the 2016 breach. Some of those drivers may not still be driving for Uber today. A settlement administrator will be appointed to provide notice and payment to eligible drivers. Details of that process will be announced by this office after the effective date of the settlement.
The settlement between Indiana and Uber requires the company to:
- Comply with Indiana data breach and consumer protection law regarding protecting Indiana residents’ personal information and notifying them in the event of a data breach concerning their personal information;
- Take precautions to protect any user data Uber stores on third-party platforms outside of Uber;
- Use strong password policies for its employees to gain access to the Uber network;
- Develop and implement a strong overall data security policy for all data that Uber collects about its users, including assessing potential risks to the security of the data and implementing any additional security measures beyond what Uber is doing to protect the data;
- Hire an outside qualified party to assess Uber’s data security efforts on a regular basis and draft a report with any recommended security improvements. Uber will implement any such security improvement recommendations; and
- Develop and implement a corporate integrity program to ensure that Uber employees can bring any ethics concerns they have about any other Uber employees to the company, and that it will be heard.