We hope that today’s “IS IT TRUE” 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?

IS IT TRUE that last week the City of Evansville Water and Sewer Utility launched a lawsuit against the owners of the McCurdy Hotel to collect roughly $861,000 in unpaid sewer bills?…it is understood that this is not for water that has been used or consumed in the operation of the historic old building?…these charges and others that have been disputed by the Kunkel Group were incurred as a result of discharging groundwater into the storm sewers?…this means that this is not quite like running your own tap that has water that the City Utility has treated into the storm drains?

IS IT TRUE what is being done at the McCurdy is pumping up groundwater to be used in a geothermal temperature control system and then discharging that water into the sewer?…any treatment that needs to be done is not as intense as taking it from the Ohio River or from the toilet so some of the posturings by the City Utility is just that?…we understand that discharging natural groundwater into the sewer is worthy of some charge but the reality is that this level of charge makes the McCurdy an impossible building to operate at a profit?

IS IT TRUE we expect unless both accommodations and rational pricing can be extended to the Kunkel Group that the next thing that will happen is that the City of Evansville will own the building and no one with two brain cells will want it?…then after 10 years of questionable dealings by the City of Evansville, the Redevelopment Commission, and a couple of political cronies, the historic McCurdy could still meet the wrecking ball of obsolescence?…for many years the McCurdy was a candidate for destruction until the Kunkel Group stepped in to renovate it?

IS IT TRUE the legacy Alles Furniture store in Henderson, Kentucky has announced that it will be closing its doors forever?…this is another mom and pop style furniture store like South 41 Furniture, Buchannan’s Furniture, the Sturgis Furniture Company and many others in the Tri-State that have died at the hands of big-box retailers that take their profits off to other places?…it is not just furniture either?…dozens of shoe stores, bookstores, local restaurants, Kuester’s Hardware, Wesselman’s Weinbach, Ayr-Way, K-Mart, Sears, the Evansville Store, DeJong’s, Strauss, F’s Steak House, and dozens of others have been innovated out of existence first by big-box chain stores and later by online shopping like Amazon??

IS IT TRUE the best way to say the large number of dollars that municipalities all over the United States are spending on expanding jails is to raise a generation that does not expand criminal activities?…this year it would save the Vanderburgh County taxpayers $40 million and 10 years ago it would have saved a similar amount?… Evansville may not have any population growth but the jails do?…this part of the country has seen very little economic or population growth but over the last 10 years we have set records for criminal activities of the violent kind?…we would like to remind our elected official we have always had crime problems that’s why we have jails?

IS IT TRUE that the City of Owensboro recently had a serious situation when a dilapidated old water main broke leaving the residents without water for an extended period?…the question has been raised about whether or not such a thing could happen in Evansville?…the only logical answer and it is as obvious as the nose on one’s face is that yes it could happen in Evansville?… Evansville has roughly triple as many old cast iron pipes as Owensboro and it is just a matter of time before parts of Evansville are left high and dry when an old neglected pipe ruptures?…such things have happened before and smaller versions happen every time it freezes?…it has not been very long since a car was swallowed up when an old water pipe created a small pond size pothole in a road?…that old cast iron pipe was repaired but was not replaced with a new pipe so brace yourselves people, Evansville will have the same problem for the same non-sensical reason that Owensboro did?

IS IT TRUE that McKinsey and Company recently published a study about what jobs are most likely to be eliminated by robotics during the next 5 to 10 years?…the list included food preparation, fast food workers, drivers, hospitality workers, and manufacturing?…this particular list should be etched into the minds of local government since Evansville is somewhat dependent on these kinds of workers?…the other thing of interest that is ominous for the local economy is the projections that coal will be phased out and so will certain products made of plastics?

IS IT TRUE we are hearing that the Evansville DMD may be considering some money on facade grants on buildings and giving low-interest loans to help develop loft apartments on North Main Street?  …wasn’t this tried by the Wienzapfel Administration on Main Street many years ago that turned out to be less than successful?

Today’s “Readers Poll” question is: Do you feel that Government shouldn’t do for people what they should do for themselves?

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TheStatehouseFile.com

INDIANAPOLIS—Attention online shoppers: You might soon be paying sales taxes on the goods you buy from out-of-state merchants you access via the internet.

The Indiana Department of Revenue announced Friday that it will begin enforcing a year-old law to collect taxes on out-of-state sales effective Oct. 1, pending a final ruling in its favor in a lawsuit.

In June, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed a 1992 ruling that effectively barred states from collecting sales taxes through businesses that did not have a physical location in the state. The ruling in South Dakota v. Wayfair said that states can compel businesses to collect sales taxes on goods and services purchase online.

The Indiana General Assembly, in the 2017 session, enacted legislation requiring retail merchants that do not have a physical location in the state to collect sales taxes on purchases. Hoosier should have paid sales taxes on out-of-state purchases by reporting the transactions on their tax returns. But many do not.

The 2017 law was challenged and has been on hold pending the outcome of the Wayfair case. If the law is upheld in light of the Wayfair decision, state revenue officials will require out-of-state retail merchants with sales exceeding $100,000, or 200 or more separate Indiana transactions, to register and remit the state sales tax.

Remote sellers seeking to comply with the laws of multiple states (including Indiana) should register with the Streamlined Sales Tax Registration system at www.streamlinedsalestax.org. Remote sellers seeking to comply with only Indiana’s economic nexus law should register through the online portal, INBiz, at www.inbiz.in.gov

Indiana Loses Another Abortion Case In Federal Court

By Brynna Sentel
TheStatehouseFile.com

INDIANAPOLIS—A federal appellate court has struck down another Indiana law aimed at making it more difficult for women to get an abortion.

The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Wednesday that the Indiana law requiring women to get an ultrasound 18 hours before an abortion created an undue burden and is unconstitutional.

The Indiana law, which was adopted in the 2016 legislative session, had made it difficult for women in rural areas or women who are low income to get the care they need. The ruling by the three-judge appellate panel upheld an injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt of the Southern District of Indiana.

 

Of 16 Planned Parenthood clinics in Indiana, only four perform abortions and have the ultrasound equipment at the same place.

“The effect of this law by requiring this ultrasound to be also 18 hours before the abortion was to force Planned Parenthood to either try and get ultrasounds in all its health centers, which we simply can’t because of cost or to require women now to make potentially two very lengthy trips, first to get the ultrasound and then to get the abortion,” said Ken Falk, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana in a press conference Thursday. The ACLU had sued on behalf of Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky.

Christie Gillespie, president, and CEO of PPINK, said there is no medical or legal reason for a patient to get an ultrasound 18 hours before the procedure.

“I join Ken in hoping that our legislature would choose to focus its efforts on real ways that abortions can be reduced if that is indeed their interest,” Gillespie said. Laws that fund comprehensive sex education and ensure that affordable birth control is accessible will reduce the abortion rate, she added.

The 7th Circuit, in the 51-page opinion upholding Pratt’s original injunction, wrote, “The district court found that the burdens were significant: additional travel expenses, childcare costs, loss of entire days’ wages, the risk of losing jobs, and potential danger from an abusive partner.”

Falk said he hopes someone in the legislature will decide that passing laws that go back in time and try to take away women’s rights isn’t the best use of Indiana’s time and money.

“This is a routine that we go through in Indiana apparently, the legislature passes laws to try and impinge upon a woman’s fundamental rights frequently passing laws that seem to be clearly unconstitutional, we file a lawsuit, mend the lawsuit, and then the legislature does something else,” he said.

Jane Henegar, executive director of the ACLU of Indiana, said it demeaning to women to interfere with their constitutional rights and to endanger their health.

“Today’s ruling affirms that deeply personal decisions about abortion should be made by women in consultation with their doctors, not politicians pursuing an extreme ideological agenda,” Henegar said.

The 7th Circuit opinion affirming the injunction said that it is best to use rhetoric, not barriers to persuade women not to get abortions.

“Women, like all humans, are intelligent creatures with the ability to reason, consider, ponder, and challenge their own ideas and those of others,” the opinion said.

Attorney General Curtis Hill, who represented the state in the case, said he is disappointed by the decision and is considering his options. Hill is under pressure from the state’s Republican leaders to resign amid allegations he groped four women at an Indianapolis bar in March.

Falk said the state needs to consider the impact of its actions on the people who are affected,

“We are talking about real human beings,” he said. “We are talking about real human beings who are not able to obtain abortions, real human beings who are put at risk because of what the state of Indiana has done.”

The 7th Circuit ruling is the second loss for the state this summer in an abortion case. In June, a federal judge struck down a new law which required doctors to report abortion complications to the state. The judge said the law, which was supposed to take effect July 1, was too vague.

The state’s Legislative Services Agency, in its report on that bill, noted that past efforts to enact abortion restrictions have been successfully challenged by ACLU of Indiana, resulting in the state paying about $290,000 in legal fees to the plaintiffs and their lawyers.

FOOTNOTE: Brynna Sentel is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.

He has been “Raising The Bar” for a few years now, breaking his own records in the process.

At the American Drug Free Powerlifting Federation (ADFPF) Full Power Nationals in Henderson Saturday, he set the new mark for squats in the 100 kg division at 661.3 lbs.

St. Clair also deadlifted nearly 622.8 lbs and was named the best overall lifter at the competition in addition to winning his weight class.

Full power meets have each lifter compete in squat, bench and deadlift events.

Also making the splash at the competition was Harrison graduate Faith Wood.

She set a world record in the 50.5 kg weight class and 18-19 year-old division by deadlifting 211 lbs in only her second-ever meet.

Paul Wrenn, who is 71 years old, is still going strong as well after he squatted over 400 pounds.

Wrenn held a previous world record in 1981 when he squatted 975 lbs.