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Politics at the Fall Festival

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Politics at the Fall Festival

by Johnny Kincaid

It’s a pretty safe bet that nobody attends the Westside Nut Club Fall Festival intending to determine who to vote for, but on the west end of Franklin Street, you’ll find some people who want to secure your vote. The festival crowds create the perfect atmosphere for politics.

First, let’s define what we mean by the word politics. It comes from the Greek root poli, meaning many, and tics, meaning blood-sucking creatures.

On the last block of Franklin Street (on the St. Joseph end), the Vanderburgh Young Democrats at booth 82 are selling Gyros and passing out campaign materials. Candidates are spared from cooking and food prep and instead, stand outside to shake hands and kiss babies.

County Commission candidate Hope Fussner is spending a lot of time on the street, and over the next couple of days, you’ll see plenty of other Democrats at the Festival. Those with contested races will be most likely to be there. County Council candidates Bob Deig, Dustin Stephens, and Karese Johnson are looking for votes along with Coroner candidate Keith Mosby and Recorder candidate Gina Robinson Ungar.

A block away, on the other side of the street is booth 49, home to the Vanderburgh Republican Party. The signature item for the GOP is the ‘Merica, a red, white, and blue shaved ice with a little orange cream on top to symbolize Donald Trump’s hair.

The candidates working the street include County Council candidates Jill Hahn, Joe Kiefer II, and Ed Bassemeier. GOP coroner candidate Bryan Underwood, recorder candidate Russ Lloyd, and county commission candidate Amy Canterbury will likely be trying to win friends and influence voters. Almost anytime that you drop by you’ll also get a chance to meet uncontested county clerk candidate Dottie Thomas.

Put on your favorite candidate’s shirt, hat or sticker and parade around Franklin Street to help get your favorite elected. Just keep from dripping mustard on the candidate’s name.

E-REP Adds Six New Board Members

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Evansville Regional Economic Partnership (E-REP) has announced the addition of six new members to its board of directors.

The new members include:

Steven Bridges, President of the University of Southern Indiana
Bill Dyer, General Manager, Human Resources at Toyota Motor Manufacturing
Natalie Hedde, Vice President of Strategic Business Growth and Engagement at CenterPoint Energy
Jody Peacock, CEO Ports of Indiana
Jenna Richardt, Director of External Affairs at Centerpoint Energy
Steve Schaefer, Vice President of Garmong Construction and former Deputy Mayor

The full board of E-REP comprises 42 members, including a 19-member executive committee.

 

Right to Life Hosts Annual Life Chain

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Evansville, IN – Right to Life of Southwest Indiana will host its annual Life Chain on Sunday, October 13th, from 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm at Brinker’s Jewelers parking lot, located at 111 South Green River Road.

Life Chain is a peaceful, prayerful public witness of pro-life Americans praying for our nation, for people in crisis situations and for an end to abortion. It began as a church-led movement in 1987 in Yuba City, California, where local church members joined together to line the streets to honor the lives lost to abortion and bring awareness to the need for change.

Since its inception, Life Chain has grown into a nationwide movement that takes place annually at the beginning of October, which is widely viewed as Respect Life Month. Hundreds of thousands of participants in Life Chains across the country stand in silent prayer as a visual statement of support for the sanctity of human life.

Participants in Evansville’s Life Chain will stand in Brinker’s Jewelers parking lot and along the sidewalk on Green River Road. Bring your family, rain or shine! Signs will be provided.

To register or learn more, please call the office at 812-474-3195 or visit the website at rtlswin.org.  

EPA Announces $30 Million to Help Small Communities Protect Drinking Water, and Local Waterways

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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the availability of up to $30.7 million in grant funding for technical assistance and training to support small drinking water and wastewater systems, many serving rural communities, and to help private well owners improve water quality.

In the United States, more than 90 percent of drinking water systems serve fewer than 10,000 people. While many of these small systems consistently provide safe drinking water to their customers, they can also face challenges including high operator turnover, aging infrastructure, and lack of financial resources. Wastewater systems serving small communities face similar challenges. This EPA grant program provides funding to organizations that work side-by-side with these systems, providing tools and training to ensure that drinking water is safe and that wastewater is treated responsibly.

“Dedicated water champions, working at thousands of small drinking water and wastewater systems across the country, ensure that their communities can rely on clean and safe water. Accomplishing this vital mission day-in and day-out with limited resources is challenging,” said Bruno Pigott, EPA’s Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator for Water. “With $30 million in new EPA funding, technical assistance providers will help achieve public health and safe water goals for small communities.”

EPA is seeking applications to fund grant projects that will benefit small and often rural communities. Eligible applicants for this competitive agreement are nonprofit organizations, nonprofit private universities and colleges, and public institutions of higher education. EPA expects to award four to five cooperative agreements totaling up to $30.7 million in federal funds. The purpose of the agreements is to provide training and technical assistance to:

  • Small public water systems to achieve and maintain compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA).
  • Small public water systems on a wide range of managerial and/or financial topics to achieve and maintain compliance with the SDWA.
  • Small publicly owned wastewater systems, communities served by onsite-decentralized wastewater systems to help improve water quality.
  • Private well owners to help improve water quality.

Congress has funded this program annually, enabling EPA to provide more than $170 million in funding to technical assistance and training providers since 2012. This program advances President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative, which sets a goal that 40% of the overall benefits of certain federal investments flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution.

This grant is part of the EPA’s larger commitment through the Water Technical Assistance program (WaterTA), which aims to provide a range of assistance for communities to identify water challenges, identify solutions, and build capacity. Since 2022, approximately 5,000 communities have received technical assistance, ensuring they maintain or achieve Safe Drinking Water Act compliance and treat wastewater responsibly.

The application period for these competitive grants is now open. Questions about applying for EPA funding for training and technical assistance must be received by November 11, 2024, and applications must be received by 11:59 p.m. EST on November 25, 2024. EPA expects to award these cooperative agreements by summer of 2025.

This grant will be competed through a Notice of Funding Opportunity process. The funding opportunity will remain open for 60 days on Grants.gov. To learn more about the grant visit: Training and Technical Assistance for Small Systems Funding.

Reps. McNamara, O’Brien: Hoosiers can use new online tool to compare health care prices, quality

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STATEHOUSE (Oct. 11, 2024) – State Reps. Wendy McNamara (R-Evansville) and Tim O’Brien (R-Evansville) encourage Hoosiers to take advantage of a new state website to compare health care prices and quality.

In 2020, state lawmakers passed a law establishing the newly launched Indiana All Payer Claims Database, which is overseen by the Indiana Department of Insurance, to help increase transparency in health care costs. The website collects insurance claims data from public and private health care payers to track the cost, utilization and quality of health care across the state.

“This dashboard allows Hoosiers to get answers on quality and pricing for common medical procedures across the state,” McNamara said. “Constituents can now make more informed decisions on their health care.” 

McNamara said the APCD lets Hoosiers search what other patients have paid for common procedures across regions, providers and insurance plans. Additionally, the database includes a list of health care providers that perform services within certain distances from a zip code, the average out-of-pocket costs for a service and the quality rating for that facility. For example, Hoosiers needing a knee replacement can select their insurance, procedure and zip code on the database to view a list of nearby health care providers that perform the service, the quality rating for that facility and the average out-of-pocket cost.

“Not only does this website provide helpful information for consumers, but it will also be useful for researchers and policy makers,” O’Brien said. “They can use this data to study ways to make health care better and more affordable across the state.”

According to O’Brien, the goals of the database are to inform Hoosiers seeking medical care, identify state health care needs, support health care policy, and improve the quality and affordability of health care in the state.

Information collected by the APCD complies with the security standards outlined in the U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act also known as HIPAA and the U.S. Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act. Onpoint Health Data, the Indiana APCD administrator, is also certified by HITRUST, an industry-leading standard in health data security that uses both federal and state security requirements.

Volleyball set for weekend trip to Illinois

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 Aces face Bradley and Illinois State

 EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Another road weekend awaits the University of Evansville volleyball team as they travel to Bradley and Illinois State this weekend.  Friday’s opener has UE visiting the Braves before they head to Normal, Ill. on Saturday to face the Redbirds; both matches begin at 6 p.m. CT and will be available on ESPN+.

Last Time Out  

– Evansville took a commanding 2-0 lead on Saturday at Murray State, but a furious rally by the Racers saw them win in five set

– Giulia Cardona set her season mark with 31 kills in the contest while Madisyn Steele recorded three solo blocks and five block assists

Adding to her Total

– Senior Giulia Cardona added a season-high 31 kills to her tally and continues to raise the UE program record, which stands at 1,971

– On Sept. 28, Cardona broke the Purple Aces program record of 1,911 kills, which was set by Alondra Vazquez

– On Sept. 21, she broke Evansville mark for service aces and now has 211; the previous record of 205 was set by Kim Seib in 1984

– Cardona holds the NCAA lead in total kills (337), total points (384.5), total attacks (956) and attacks per set (14.94)

– Her season average of 5.27 kills per frame paces the MVC and ranks 2nd nationally

Back in the Lineup

– After missing 11 matches, Kora Ruff returned to the floor on Oct. 4 at Belmont

– Ruff finished with 28 assists against the Bruins before adding 29 versus the Racers

– In the opening weekend of the season, Ruff posted 10.70 assists per set, which paced the MVC; she had 30 assists in the opener against Akron before posting 52 in the win over UPR-Rio Piedras

Scouting the Opposition

– On Friday, the Aces open the weekend at Bradley, who has won five of its last six matches while starting the MVC slate at 3-1

– Iva Popovic holds the team lead with 3.40 kills per set

– Illinois State begins the weekend with a record of 8-9 while winning three of their opening four league contests

– Aida Shadewald holds the team lead with an average of 3.47 kills per frame

UE’s Center for Innovation & Change announces downtown presence at Innovation Pointe

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u of E

The University of Evansville’s (UE) Center for Innovation & Change (CIC) enters a new phase through a partnership with the Indiana Center for Emerging Technologies (ICET) and Evansville Regional Economic Partnership (E-REP). The CIC will now have a presence downtown for collaboration on change-making projects. This partnership represents a significant step forward in the organizations’ shared missions of fostering innovation, supporting talent growth within our community, and improving the quality of life in this region.

The CIC has experienced rapid growth in recent years, becoming home to Evansville’s Promise Neighborhood team and Coordinating Partner with the UE School of Education for Toyota’s Driving Possibilities initiative. A unique and rapidly responsive resource to problem-solving in this region, the CIC’s presence downtown will make it more available to individuals, businesses, non-profits, and municipal entities looking to innovate in their sectors and interested in working with student consultants on a project. Any group interested in partnering with a UE ChangeLab team can now easily access the team able to organize that work. In addition, due to the proximity to E-REP and ICET, the CIC can better direct its programming to strategic needs in this region.

“We could not be more grateful to E-REP and the ICET for this opportunity to bring changemaking resources downtown,” CIC Executive Director Erin Lewis stated. “UE exists to change lives and change the world. Being next to our region’s best strategic thinkers means we can co-design a better future with the community. This is a game-changing move that brings higher education into the real world in an innovative new way. I can’t wait to see what comes of it.”

The Evansville Regional Economic Partnership (E-REP) and the Indiana Center for Emerging Technologies (ICET), also recently announced a new partnership between their two entities. The collaboration consists of the ICET and its team having a regular presence on the first floor of Innovation Pointe, which will bring technical expertise, resources, and collaboration opportunities to entrepreneurs throughout southern Indiana.

Logan Jenkins, Executive Director of the ICET and Circular Venture Lab, has already partnered with the CIC on multiple initiatives in the last nine months. Their early work in economic development, technology transfer initiatives, and regional collaboration has garnered four national prize awards through the U.S Department of Energy (DOE) and the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). Students from Bosse High School, UE and more have worked with Jenkins and Lewis on a wide range of topics related to the environment, the energy transition, and materials recycling.

Jenkins explains, “Together with partners in our region, across Indiana, and through the U.S. DOE and U.S. SBA, we’ve demonstrated multiple successful collaborations. These early ideas originated in Evansville, then were developed through the UE CIC and its ChangeLab students, and now have recognition across the United States. These initiatives have significant relevance to the many efforts across Indiana to further educate and retain our young talent in their early workforce pathways and business careers. The co-location with the CIC and EREP opens the door to new possibilities and more innovative solutions with measurable impact.”

EPD DAILY ACTIVITY REPORT

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EPD

EPD DAILLY ACTIVITY REPORT

FOOTNOTE: EPD DAILY ACTIVITY REPORT information was provided by the EPD and posted by the City-County-County Observer without opinion, bias, or editing.

 

UE women’s soccer travels to Chicago for clash with UIC

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UE women’s soccer travels to Chicago for clash with UIC
It will be the Purple Aces second visit to Flames Field
 
CHICAGO — The University of Evansville women’s soccer will look to take a series lead against the UIC Flames on Thursday evening.
UE women’s soccer added another point to their resume in a 1-1 draw against Drake over the weekend. Junior forward Amy Velazquez (Avon, Ind. / Avon HS) scored the tying goal for the Aces in the 83rd minute of the match for her second goal of the season. Velazquez took the ball from a Bulldog defender up into the 12 and passed over to senor forward Hailey Autenrieb (Cincinnati / Seton HS) on the right side of the penalty box, who quickly returned it to Velazquez at the six. Velazquez struck the ball with her right foot and blew it past Drake’s goalkeeper into the center of the net to help Evansville to another MVC point.

UIC is one of the Aces newer opponent in women’s soccer as the two teams never faced each other prior to the Flames addition to the MVC in the 2022 season. Neither team has won on the road in the series since beginning play in 2022. The Aces will look to see if they can get the first road win and take the series lead on Thursday evening. Both games in the series have been decide by a single goal with only two goals tallied so far in two meetings.

The Flames come into Thursday’s match as one of the conference’s leaders with an MVC record of 3-0-2 after having seven losses in the non-conference season. UIC put together a big win over Indiana State on Tuesday with their highest scoring output of the season with three goals scored. It was the Flames fifth shutout of the year and their fifth game unbeaten in conference play. UIC is led by junior forward Riley Collett with eight points from three goals and two assists.

Velazquez is now tied with freshman defender Emmy Brenner (Arlington, Tenn. / St. Benedict at Auburndale HS) for most goals on the season with two each. Autenrieb and Velazquez are tied as the Aces total offensive leaders with five points. Autenrieb has one goal and three assists while Velazquez has two goals and one assist.

WSNC Attempts Record and Tug of War and King and Queen Winners

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Evansville, Ind.  West Side Nut Club Unofficially Breaks Guinness World Record for Largest Chicken Dance at the 103rd Fall Festival!

Evansville, IN – October 8, 2024 – In a spectacular feat of feathered frenzy, the West Side Nut Club has unofficially declared a new world record for the largest chicken dance, with a staggering count of 72,152 participants at Tuesday night’s 103rd Fall Festival! While the record is still in the “let’s just say it’s true” phase, it’s clear that the spirit of fun (and poultry) was alive and well.

This extraordinary dance was held in honor of beloved club member Dick Griese, who famously led the Chicken Dance and YMCA on festival nights, leaving a legacy of laughter and good vibes. Club members, alongside Dick’s family, flocked to the stage to channel their inner chickens in a joyful tribute.

West Side Nut Club Treasurer and President of the Dick Griese Fan Club, Dennis Nettles, commented, “Getting an accurate count is tougher than herding chickens! We’ve clocked in at 72,152 participants, which would officially break the record, but we’re slowing down the video to check every frame. We’re hoping that everyone was actually doing the chicken dance and not just waving like they saw a snake. It’s a fine line we’re walking here!”

Nettles is currently collaborating with the accounting team of Joe Pa and Murphy and Son, who have agreed to audit the dance footage, because nothing says “official” like a good old-fashioned video review. “I just hope we don’t discover half the crowd was just doing the Macarena,” he added with a chuckle.

The night was an unforgettable tribute, with Brandon McClish, Dick Griese Fan Club Vice President stating, “We all wore our socks, we all smiled, and we all remembered to LIVE, LAUGH, and LOVE. Especially when it came to dancing like no one was watching!”

And if you think the chicken dance was the only action, think again! In other festival news, St. Joseph triumphed in the Tug of War competition, while St. Wendal contestants Kinley Wathen and Garrett Lintzench were crowned the honorary WSNC Queen and King.

As for the official count? Stay tuned for updates or don’t, because, in the grand scheme of things, it’s all just clucking good fun!

The 103rd Annual West Side Nut Club Fall Festival will run from October 7th-12th on historic West Franklin Street.

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