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EVSC’s Virtual Academy Selected as State Course Provider

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Online learning has opened up a world of opportunities for students, and the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation’s Virtual Academy is definitely a part of that. Today, the EVSC’s Virtual Academy was notified it was selected as one of a handful of online programs that will provide online courses as part of the Indiana Course Access Program (iCAP).

iCAP, a pilot program offered through the Indiana Department of Education, is designed for school districts who cannot offer certain courses for a variety of reasons. Those districts will be able to select from certified course providers, such as the EVSC Virtual Academy, to offer needed courses in their schools beginning in Fall 2018.

In order to be selected as a provider, the EVSC Virtual Academy submitted information pertaining to each course offered as well as detailed information on how teachers instruct and lead each course, validation of each course and more.  The Indiana Department of Education reviewed each submission and ultimately selected the EVSC Virtual Academy has a provider of six courses, including College Career Prep, Computer Applications, Math of Personal Finance, Multicultural Studies, US & Global Economics and Business Law and Ethics.

“This is truly a testament to the great work we are doing in the Virtual Academy and it validates the results we are seeing with our students,” said Janet Leistner, director of the EVSC Virtual Academy. “Being selected by the state of Indiana for the iCAP program further demonstrates that the EVSC Virtual Academy is one of the best online programs in the state.”

About the EVSC Virtual Academy:
The EVSC Virtual Academy was created in 2010 and since that time, nearly 4,000 students have earned one or more credits through the Academy. In addition, 35 students have graduated from the EVSC Virtual Academy in the past two years since the program began offering its own diploma.

The Virtual Academy provides online learning for students in kindergarten through grade 12 that are taught by licensed teachers. In addition, teacher involvement in the EVSC Virtual Academy is paramount and sets the program apart from other online learning programs.

VANDERBURGH COUNTY RECENT BOOKING RECORDS

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

EPD ACTIVITY REPORT

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EPD REPORT

“READERS FORUM” JANUARY 10, 2018

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WHATS ON YOUR MIND TODAY?

We hope that todays “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?”
Todays “Readers Poll” question is: Do you feel that the newly elected City Council officers will do a good job this coming year?
Please take time and read our articles entitled “STATEHOUSE Files, CHANNEL 44 NEWS, LAW ENFORCEMENT, READERS POLL, BIRTHDAYS, HOT JOBS” and “LOCAL SPORTS”.  You now are able to subscribe to get the CCO daily.
If you would like to advertise in the CCO please contact us City-County Observer@live.com.

 

EDITOR’S FOOTNOTE:  Any comments posted in this column do not represent the views or opinions of the City County Observer or our advertisers

Commissioners Take A Look At Sunday Alcohol Sales In Henderson

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JANUARY 9TH, 2018 Jeff Goldberg JEFF GOLDBERG HENDERSON, KENTUCKY

Unlike the Hoosier State, Bluegrass officials look at their alcohol codes on a local level. On Tuesday, the mayor and commissioners in Henderson looked at their city’s blue laws.

As it stands right now, the sale of distilled spirits or wine by the drink and malt beverages are permitted on Sunday between 12:00 PM and 11:00 PM if the business has a liquor license and a capacity of more than 50 people and receive at least 50 percent of their gross annual income from the sale of food. As well, places like liquor stores and grocery stores aren’t allowed to sell packaged booze.

The proposed ordinance would completely do away with those restrictions and allow smaller places and bars and grocery stores to sell on Sunday’s.

The commissioners comments mirrored those of the audience on Tuesday: very mixed. The board ended up passing the first reading 3-2, but that wasn’t without a fight.

Commissioner Patti Bugg got the night started by reciting statistics about drunk driving in America. As well, she objected to the ordinance on a religious belief basis.

She was countered by fellow commissioner Brad Staton, who had spoken to the police in Bowling Green about what happened when the eased their Sunday sales. Staton said there wasn’t a noticeable difference in DUI arrests in the three years before and after Bowling Green started Sunday Sales.

The ordinance will need to go into a second reading before anything changes in Henderson.

Jeff Goldberg

Jeff Goldberg

Sunday Alcohol Sales, Opioid Crisis Among Senate GOP’s Top Priorities

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By Shelby Mullis
TheStatehouseFile.com

INDIANAPOLIS — Hoosiers may be one step closer to purchasing alcohol on Sundays if Senate Republicans can convince the General Assembly to pass a bill permitting carryout sales this session.

Sen. Ron Alting, R-Lafayette, introduced Senate Bill 1 Monday as one of five major items on the Senate Republicans’ agenda. The bill would allow liquor, grocery, convenience and drug stores to sell alcoholic beverages for carryout on Sunday from noon until 8 p.m.

Sen. Ron Alting, R-Lafayette, introduces a bill which allows Sunday alcohol sales. Photo by Claire Castillo, TheStatehouseFile.com

Restaurants that satisfy the requirements to sell carryout would also be permitted to sell alcohol on Sundays.

“Without question, the summer study committee was a valuable tool in getting testimony from all entities of people around the state,” Alting said. “It was unanimous that it was simply the time to do a Sunday sales bill.”

Indiana is one of 12 states that does not permit alcohol sales on Sunday, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States.

Another bill dealing with alcohol sales will also receive a hearing later this month. Sen. Philip Boots, R-Crawfordsville, authored a bill that would allow a grocery, convenience or drug store to sell beer at any temperature.

These stores are currently only permitted to sell cold wine and warm beer. Lawmakers discussed the issue in a summer study committee last year.

“Without question, I think it needed to come to Public Policy and have more people in the dialogue and the discussion that are elected to push one of these buttons,” Alting said.

Senate Republicans unveiled four additional components of their five-part agenda Monday morning, including measures to fight the opioid epidemic and support the school system.

“There is a lot of work to be done in the coming months on all of these issues, but our caucus is ready to take on those challenges,” said Senate President Pro Tem David Long, R-Fort Wayne.

Sen. Erin Houchin, R-Salem, introduced legislation for the second year in a row that would phase in a requirement for doctors to register and search INSPECT, the state’s prescription-monitoring service, before prescribing opioids to a patient. The program tells physicians whether the patient has received treatment from another physician.

“The numbers are staggering and contribute to our addiction and heroin epidemic,” she said. “We do hope this will help to curb the over-prescribing of these very addictive drugs.”

When Houchin started drafting the bill for the 2017 legislative session, she found that only about 14 percent of practitioners eligible to write prescriptions for opiates were registered with INSPECT. Now, the number has increased to more than 40 percent—a move in the right direction, she said.

Republican Sens. Ryan Mishler of Bremen and Dennis Kruse of Centerville introduced legislation in support of Indiana’s high school.

Mishler’s SB 189 would increase school funding to account for an increased enrollment. SB 177, authored by Kruse, would convert the state’s four different diplomas into one general diploma—the Indiana diploma.

Other issues on the Senate Republicans’ agenda revolved around improving workforce development and reforming Indiana’s civil forfeiture laws to balance the needs of law-enforcement and property owners’ constitutional rights.

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

Nearly A Dozen Indiana Communities Sue Opioid Industry In New Flurry Of Suits

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John Russell Indianapolis Business Journal Staff for www.theindianalawyer.com

Nearly a dozen Indiana cities and counties have filed lawsuits in recent days against opioid makers and distributors, claiming the companies have flooded their communities with the addictive painkillers and engaged in deceptive marketing campaigns that helped lead to a growing crisis.

The lawsuits, filed in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis, represent a growing effort to take on the powerful opioid industry. Many of the lawsuits are nearly identical, claiming the manufacturers aggressively pushed highly addictive, dangerous opioids, and falsely represented to doctors that patients would only rarely succumb to drug addiction.

The complaints also say the companies aggressively advertised to and persuaded doctors to prescribe highly addictive painkillers, and “turned patients into drug addicts for their own corporate profit.”

Plaintiffs include Fort Wayne, Noblesville, Greenwood, Terre Haute, New Castle, Chandler and Atlanta, as well as Harrison County, Vigo County and Jennings County.

More will likely be filed in coming days, said Manuel Herceg, an attorney with Taft, Stettinius & Hollister LLP in Indianapolis, which is leading a consortium of about a half-dozen law firms engaged in the effort.

Plaintiffs in many of the latest suits include opioid makers Purdue Pharma, Teva Pharmaceuticals and Jannsen Pharmaceuticals, as well as distributors Cardinal Health, McKesson and AmerisourceBergen. Stamford, Connecticut-based Purdue Pharma—which produces OxyContin and has no affiliation to Purdue University—is facing dozens of similar lawsuits. The companies have denied any wrongdoing.

When asked why the suits were filed at nearly the same time, Herceg said: “We’ve received information from our clients and filed accordingly.”

He said the suits eventually would be consolidated in a multi-district litigation effort in U.S. District Court in Cleveland, before Judge Dan Polster.

That effort will include lawsuits from other states, including Ohio and Kentucky, he said. He declined to predict how many suits eventually would be filed.

Many of the suits claim the industry knowingly fueled a black market in addictive medicines that led to overdoses and put a financial stress on community services.

Other law firms outside the consortium have filed similar suits in recent days, include Cohen & Malad LLP, which in November sued opioid makers and distributors on behalf of the city of Indianapolis, blaming them for a “dramatic increase in the use of prescription opioid pain medications” by using deceptive marketing tactics and through their “failure to identify, report, and stop suspicious orders of those medications.”

The city of Kokomo, in its lawsuit, stated that between 2011 and 2015, the number of non-fatal emergency department visits due to opioid overdoses in Howard County increased by more than 61 percent. Between 2015 and 2017, calls for service in Kokomo coded “overdose in progress” increased by 134 percent.

“This incredible harm to not just the victims of opioid addiction, but the communities in which those individuals live, stems directly from the Defendants’ intentional choice to pump opioids into Plaintiff’s Community in violation of state and federal law,” the suit stated.

Pointing a finger at the industry, the lawsuit further stated: “Despite the clear evidence before their eyes—that the number of opioids being sent into communities like City of Kokomo could not be explained or justified by any conceivable medical need, but could only be explained by a flourishing and rapidly expanding black market for opioids — these wholesale distributors continued to push their substances into the community, willingly and knowingly becoming participants in the black market they were fueling.”

The suits also claim that Indiana has been especially hard hit by the opioid epidemic. The state ranks ninth in the country for its opioid prescription rate per capita, and opioid overdose rates have more than doubled in the past three years.

Nationally, dozens of states, cities and counties — including Ohio, Mississippi, Orange County in California, and the Washington cities of Seattle, Everett and Tacoma — have sued the pharmaceutical companies.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that in 2015, drug overdoses killed more than 52,000 Americans. Most involved prescription opioids such as OxyContin or Vicodin or related illicit drugs such as heroin and fentanyl. People with addictions often switch among the drugs.

Healthcare Distribution Alliance, an industry group representing distributors, has said such lawsuits are misguided. The alliance is a national trade association representing distributors, including McKesson, Cardinal and AmerisourceBergen. It said its members are “deeply engaged in the issue and are taking our own steps to be part of the solution — but we aren’t willing to be scapegoats.”

Attorney General Curtis Hill, State AGs and Mortgage Regulators Reach $45 Million Settlement

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Attorney General Curtis Hill, along with attorneys general from 49 states plus the District of Columbia, and more than 40 state mortgage regulators, have reached a $45 million settlement with New Jersey-based mortgage lender and servicer PHH Mortgage Corporation.

The settlement resolves allegations that PHH, the nation’s ninth largest non-bank residential mortgage originator and servicer, improperly serviced mortgage loans from January 1, 2009 through December 31, 2012.

The agreement requires PHH to follow comprehensive mortgage servicing standards, conduct audits, and provide audit results to a committee of states.
The $45 million settlement includes $30.4 million in payments to borrowers. The settlement also includes payments to the state attorneys general who helped lead the investigation and negotiations, and state mortgage regulators.

The settlement does not release PHH from liability for any conduct that may have occurred since 2013.

A total pay out to Hoosiers of more than $1 million is expected. Individual payments to eligible individuals could be as low as $285 depending on circumstances.
Approximately 1,500 Hoosier borrowers are eligible for a payment. A settlement administrator will contact eligible recipients at a later date.

VANDERBURGH COUNTY FELONY CHARGES

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 Below are the felony cases to be filed by the Vanderburgh County Prosecutor’s Office today.

Modesto Ricard IV: Domestic battery (Level 5 Felony), Domestic battery (Level 6 Felony)

Blaine Alec Trible: Unlawful possession or use of a legend drug (Level 6 Felony)

Robin K. Harberson: Possession of methamphetamine (Level 6 Felony), Possession of marijuana (Class B misdemeanor)

Aaron Christopher King: Criminal confinement (Level 6 Felony), Domestic battery (Level 6 Felony)

Christopher E. Sims: Domestic battery (Level 6 Felony)

Lina M. Bell: Operating a vehicle as an habitual traffic violator (Level 6 Felony), Possession of marijuana (Class A misdemeanor)

St. Vincent Evansville Birth Announcements For Week Of January 9, 2018

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Lacy and Jerry Pasco, Richland, IN, son, Samuel Dean, Jan. 2

Natalie and Aaron Wilzbacher, Haubstadt, IN, daughter, Houston Kate, Jan. 2

Kelly Whitelow and James Kelley, Evansville, IN, son, Jaidous Jelis, Jan. 2

Kendra and David Rudibaugh, Evansville, IN, son, Thomas Jacob Tuck, Jan. 3

Nicole and Timothy Brungs, Evansville, IN, daughter, Piper Claire, Jan. 3

Whitney Waddell and Sean Donald, Henderson, KY, daughter, Adelynn Rose, Jan. 3

Amy and Ryan Fairchild, Evansville, IN, son, Kole Ray, Jan. 3

Kelsey Miller and Kevin Washington, Evansville, IN, daughter, Kaidence Harmony, Jan. 3

Doneva and Christopher Perkins, Princeton, IN, daughter, Scarlett Danielle, Jan. 4

Tiffany Kempf and Thomas Torrez, Evansville, IN, daughter, Emmalyn Grace, Jan. 4

Randi DeLaney and Scott Nation, Evansville, IN, son, Colin Alan, Jan. 4

Lindsey and Marvin Susott, Elberfeld, IN, daughter, Maxine Jane, Jan. 5

Shaina and Jared Weis, Evansville, IN, daughter, Corrigan Linnea, Jan. 5

Madison and James Bayer Jr., Evansville, IN, son, Benjamin Edward, Jan. 5

Aerial and Nick DeVillez, Evansville, IN, daughter, Nora Sue, Jan. 5

Baylee and Kevin Russler, Evansville, IN, daughter, Willa Mae, Jan. 6

Alicia and Gary Heldt, Patoka, IN, daughter, Haley Rae, Jan. 7

Nichole and Dan Alcorn, Evansville, IN, daughter, Annette June, Jan. 8

 

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