CCO State House Editor Gail Riecken Writes About “Rest Of The Story”

Senator Kenley, one of the most influential members on the Appropriations Committee officially retired from the State Senate on September 30,2017

Recently Victoria Spartz, Noblesville, was formally sworn in as the new State Senator to replace him. From what I have read about Senator Spartz she will be a dedicated member of the Indiana State Senate.

Allow me to take advantage of this opportunity to talk about one legislative decision that State Senator Kenley made during his final years in office.

i will use this as an example of what can trigger a position with a legislator that is often not public and maybe not specific to the issue. We could call it “the rest of the story”.

I am speaking of Senator Kenley’s decision that he made a few years ago that punished Ivy Tech statewide, for not resolving some internal leadership problems that he had with the school. As an influential member of the State Senate Appropriations Committee he decided to oppose any new funding for capital improvements for Ivy Tech during a two year budget cycle, until the issues of low graduation and poor job placement rates were resolved to his satisfaction.

This decision not only hurt Ivy Tech statewide, but particularly hurt us in Evansville.  Ivy Tech-Evansville lost it’s funding to be an important part of the new IU Medical School-Evansville project, as originally proposed by the State legislator.  In fact, because Ivy Tech-Evansville was being touted as a crucial component to the approval of the newly proposed IU Medical School-Evansville it helped to justify the spending of $55 million dollars of local tax dollars to bring this project to Evansville.

it shall always be interesting to me just how frustrated the Senator must have felt to let the failings of Ivy Tech statewide potentially hurt the future of so many Ivy Tech-Evansville  medical students. I will admit, though, I did see his frustration, when visiting with him to confirm his intentions.

Maybe you have heard the saying that bill making is like sausage making. It is messy and often unappetizing to watch. But, understand, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t know what’s in the sausage.

There were often reasons behind decisions that were made in the legislature, when I was there, that weren’t privy to all of us. As a legislator it served you well to find out what they were. And, the Ivy Tech matter, it is just one I was thinking of when reading about the State Senator Spartz appointment.

Gail Riecken

CCO State House Editor

Editor Footnote:  Today’s “Readers Poll” question is: Do you feel that IVY TECH medical students should be allowed to be a part of the new IU Medical school-Evansville?

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

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“The holidays typically bring an increase in energy consumption, whether it’s decorating your home with festive lights, hosting a houseful of guests or cooking up a feast for the family,” said Brad Ellsworth, president of Vectren Energy Delivery of Indiana-South. “However, there are a number of simple ways to use energy wisely and safely over the next several weeks.”

Vectren suggests customers switch the lights on their holiday displays from standard incandescent or compact fluorescent (CFL) to Light Emitting Diode (LED) lights. LED lights are shatterproof, shock resistant and safe to touch. In addition, LEDs use 75 percent less energy than the typical incandescent lights used. Vectren also recommends the following tips to help consumers enjoy the holiday safely while using energy wisely:

Let the holidays serve as reminder to get an annual furnace inspection.

• Open doors or open a window while using an open-hearth fireplace to reduce the amount of heated interior air drawn into the fireplace
• Use a timer for your holiday lights. This allows for lights to be illuminated only when necessary.
• Don’t overload your electrical circuits.
• Never run appliance cords or extension cords under carpet. They are designed to be kept cool by movement of room air around the cord.
• Connect lights to power strips that have several outlets and built-in circuit breakers.
• Make sure lights and extensions cords used for outdoor decoration are approved for outdoor use.
• Turn the thermostat down – to 68 degrees – when you have guests. Extra bodies in the house mean extra warmth at no cost to you.
• Use fiber optic decorations. Fiber optic trees and decorations are the ultimate in energy efficiency. In most cases, they use a single light bulb located in the base of the unit to light the entire decoration.
• When cooking for the holidays, don’t forget to use your microwave oven. Fast and efficient microwave ovens use around 50 percent less energy than conventional ovens.
• Don’t open the oven door to take a peek at what’s cooking inside. Instead, turn on the oven light and check the cooking status through the oven window. Opening the oven door lowers the temperature inside – by as much as 25 degrees – which increases cooking time and wastes energy.

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