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St. Vincent launches new telemedicine outreach clinics to make transplant care more accessible for Hoosiers across the state

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One of the Midwest’s highest-rated kidney transplant programs is now using telemedicine technology to expand its reach across Indiana, making it more convenient for Hoosiers who live in underserved areas of the state and surrounding areas to get the specialized care they need.

This month, St. Vincent will begin seeing patients at two new kidney transplant telemedicine outreach clinics – one at St. Vincent Anderson (June 6) and the other next to the campus of St. Vincent Evansville (June 14). The Indianapolis-based transplant program’s telemedicine-equipped satellite clinics are designed to make it easier for patients to consult with St. Vincent transplant surgeons, specialists and social workers for their pre-surgery tests and evaluations – all without leaving the comforts of their home communities. The appointment-only outpatient clinics will benefit adults and children on both sides of a kidney transplant operation – living donors and transplant recipients.

Here’s how the clinics work: A multidisciplinary team from the St. Vincent transplant center in Indianapolis travels to the outreach clinics to consult with each patient in-person. For their initial visit, patients will receive a full pre-surgical evaluation including a physical exam. From there, the on-site specialists will use telemedicine technology for real-time teleconferencing with a transplant physician and the rest of the kidney transplant team stationed at the St. Vincent transplant center in Indianapolis. Additional testing will be completed at St. Vincent’s Anderson or Evansville hospitals.

“The idea is to make transplant-related care more convenient and accessible for patients who live farther away and to make sure everyone is on the same page about each patient’s tailor-made treatment plan,” said St. Vincent Abdominal Transplant Program Executive Director Mary Ann Palumbi, RN. “Thanks to the telemedicine technology in our clinics, patients who live outside of our immediate coverage area can receive care closer to home and would only have to travel to Indianapolis for their transplant surgery and all initial post-transplant follow-up care.”

Before the arrival of these outreach clinics, a patient’s experience of traveling to St. Vincent’s Indianapolis-based transplant center for all of their preliminary tests could take up a significant part of their day and involve hours of travel. Now, by expanding its services to underserved pockets of the state via telemedicine, the St. Vincent transplant team can help save patients from unnecessary long drives and, ultimately, help to save more lives.

“These clinics are major time-savers for our patients, some of whom would’ve had to travel a few hundred miles to get to us,” said Palumbi.

The new clinics are also an important part of a larger effort to make healthcare more accessible for patients. “The St. Vincent telemedicine outreach clinics are a testament to the kind of virtually enabled care that we strive to deliver across our more than 2,500 sites of care in 24 states,” said Chris Young, vice president of New Virtual Market Development and Incubations for Ascension, the nation’s largest nonprofit and Catholic health system of which St. Vincent is a part. “The expansion of our telemedicine technology will ensure that we deliver on our promise of compassionate and personalized care to those who trust us with their care.”

In addition to its telemedicine outreach clinics in Anderson and Evansville, St. Vincent offers kidney transplant screening clinics serving patients in Portage (northwest Indiana) and Richmond (east Indiana). 

The St. Vincent Abdominal Transplant program has some of the best transplant outcomes in the Midwest. St. Vincent has the shortest average wait time for kidney transplants (less than three years) and the best rates of transplant success, mortality and graft survival compared to other kidney transplant programs in Indiana, according to the latest data from the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR). The program’s transplant success and mortality rates are also significantly better than the national average.

To request an appointment at the St. Vincent transplant clinic nearest you, call 1-866-810-2449. For more information about organ transplant services at St. Vincent, visit https://www.stvincent.org/services/transplant-kidney-and-pancreas/kidney-and-pancreas-transplant/#report

Rep. Messer Votes to Streamline Hiring of U.S. Border Patrol Agents

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Messer: Bill will encourage hiring of former law enforcement officers, veterans

WASHINGTON (Wednesday, June 7, 2017) — Rep. Luke Messer (IN-06) voted today on legislation to streamline the hiring of U.S. border patrol agents in order to improve border security.

H.R. 2213, the Anti-Border Corruption Reauthorization Act of 2017, would allow Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to expedite the hiring of additional border agents if the candidates are former law enforcement officers, military members or recent veterans who have already been thoroughly vetted.

Currently, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is well below its congressionally mandated staffing levels by nearly 3,000 officers and agents.

“Our border patrol is critically understaffed, putting our national security at risk and contributing to illegal immigration,” Messer said. “This bill is a common-sense fix to streamline the hiring process for more agents, particularly for folks who have already served our country.”

H.R. 2213 passed the U.S. House of Representatives today and must now pass the Senate.

Messer is also working on other initiatives to crack down on illegal immigration and secure the border.

An early advocate of building a southern border wall, Messer has called on Congress to fund existing legislation, the Secure Fence Act of 2006, that already authorizes such construction.

Messer has also authored a proposal that President Trump included in his budget to close a loophole that allows billions of dollars in Child Tax Credits to be claimed by illegal immigrants.

“Hoosiers are tired of our broken tax and immigration systems that continue to reward people who come here illegally,” Messer said. “These common-sense efforts help steer us back to rule of law, secure our border and finally address illegal immigration in this country.”

More information about this effort can be found here.

 

VANDERBURGH COUNTY FELONY CHARGES

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

Darrion Lamont Moody: Criminal confinement (Level 5 Felony), Residential entry (Level 6 Felony), Domestic battery (Class A misdemeanor)

Richard Darniel Hancock Jr.: Stalking (Level 5 Felony)

Tony Fontain Hall: Resisting law enforcement (Level 6 Felony), Reckless driving (Class C misdemeanor), Driving while suspended (Class A misdemeanor), Leaving the scene of an accident (Class B misdemeanor)

Michael S. Kingery: Possession of methamphetamine (Level 5 Felony)

Jamie Nicole Brantley: Assisting a criminal (Level 6 Felony), Maintaining a common nuisance – controlled substances (Level 6 Felony)

Danny Franklin Zachary: Battery against a public safety official (Level 6 Felony)

EPD ACTIVTY REPORTS

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EPD REPORT

Vanderburgh County Recent Booking Records

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

IS IT TRUE JUNE 7, 2017

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IS IT TRUE because we experienced some technical problems concerning the launching of our newly resigned paper we decided to repeat yesterdays IS IT TRUE column? …thanks for your support and reading the new City County Observer newspaper?

IS IT TRUE that it is no secret that the newspaper industry has been falling on hard times for at least a decade?…from the New York Times to every daily news based paper in the country the struggle to survive has meant cuts to staff and the associated lowering the bar when it comes to quality?…it seems as though any small to medium sized daily paper that once captured a reader’s attention for a half hour a day is now only capable of keeping one’s attention for less than 5 minutes?…the Evansville Courier and Press is no exception to what is happening to newspapers all over the country?…a court ruling regarding the taxable value of a piece of expensive equipment was published yesterday by the IndianaaLawyer.com and it included some interesting facts entered into the public record about the financial health of the Courier and Press?…the City County Observer publishes the following without bias or editing and in many ways feels remorse for the challenges facing print media of all types?  …attached below is the recap of the court ruling for your review: Evansville Courier Company, Inc. v. Vanderburgh County Assessor?

IS IT TRUE that the Evansville Courier and Press has lost approximately 60% of its circulation since the 1990s according to the official court document?…during the 7 year period from 2004 to 2011 the Courier and Press saw both daily and Sunday circulation decline by nearly 20%?…in 2011 the daily circulation of the Courier had fallen to under 40,000 and the Sunday circulation to 57,111?…this is in a market that has approximately 350,000 people?…if national trends have been followed those numbers are likely to be down by another 15% to 20% today?…In 2004 the Courier and Press employed over 500 people and today that number is closer to 200 and shrinking?…it actually states in the court document signed by Judge John J. Baker that “the Courier and Press anticipates that within 10 years they will not be publishing a printed paper?  …some of the reasons for the declines given by the Courier and Press in the legal document are competition for ads with Craigslist which is a free online sales portal, competition for news against Facebook, Twitter, and online publications?…the City County Observer was not mentioned?

IS IT TRUE the legal dust up is all about a flexographic printer that was bought by the Courier and Press in 1989 as a state of the art printing press that would last for many years?…when the printing press became obsolete to the point that spare parts were not even available the Courier management petitioned the Vanderburgh County Assessor’s Office to decrease the value of the obsolete equipment for taxation purposes?…the amount in question is on the order of $3 Million so the taxes on such a thing per year are significant?…the courts have decided that a write down of value on the basis of abnormal obsolescence is not approved leaving the Courier and Press on the hook to pay taxes on a printing press that they can’t find parts for or even repair?…this is the sort of thing that makes practical human beings look upon government actions as out of touch with reality?…continuing to tax this worthless asset even after being shown an appraisal is a prime example of government making war on business?…the day will come that there will be no daily written paper in the City of Evansville and the Vanderburgh County Assessor’s Office will bear partial responsibility for taxing a struggling business to death?

IS IT TRUE this is truly a case of oppression of a free press through irrational and indefensible taxation?…these taxes are a real world example of SNEGAL running wild?  …since the Courier and Press sub-contracts the printing of their paper in Louisville, Ky the obvious solution for the owners of this printing press is to move it somewhere that doesn’t do this and let it rust to the ground?…the City County Observer states a position of support for a free and honest press that does not fear the lash of taxation putting it out of business?…today the CCO is a brother publication that has felt the lash of oppression ourselves for publishing the brutal truth about the shenanigans the local power brokers pull on the taxpayers of Evansville?  …we pledge to continue to strive for truth and honestly in government and shall continue to force our elected officials to practice “good public policy”?

IS IT TRUE we are being told by friends from the main stream media if the once mighty Courier and Press don’t pay strict attention to the business at hand they may become a fledgling blog?  …the City County Observer has been there and done that?

Today “Readers Poll” question is:  Are you oppose to the irrational and indefensible taxation by the Vanderburgh County Tax Assessor?

Evansville Newspaper Can’t Claim Tax Deduction For Out-Of-Date Printing Press

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Evansville Newspaper Can’t Claim Tax Deduction For Out-Of-Date Printing Press

 written by Olivia Covington for IndianaLawyer.com

June 6, 2017

A southern Indiana newspaper company cannot claim an “abnormal obsolescence” tax deduction for its purchase of a now-outdated printing press after a special tax court judge found the media company did not establish a prima facie case.

In 1989, Evansville Courier Co. Inc., purchased a 12-position flexographic printer which, at that time, was expected to become the most common method of printing newspapers. However, the popularity of flexographic printing faded within a few months and has now diminished to the point where Evansville Courier can no longer buy parts for the press from the manufacturer.

Therefore, when Evansville filed its 2011, 2013 and 2014 tax returns, it included a separate schedule applying an abnormal obsolescence deduction on the printing press and its related equipment, requesting roughly $650,000 in 2011, $3.5 million in 2013 and $5.1 million in 2014.

The Vanderburgh County assessor disallowed the deduction each of the three years, and Evansville Courier sought review with the Indiana Board of Tax Review, asking that its property be valued at $7.4 million, $5 million and $2.5 million for each of the three respective years. At a hearing before the board, Evansville Courier submitted appraisals that used the market approach to value the amount of abnormal obsolescence at $4.3 million, $4.44 million and $4.47 million, respectively.

The board ultimately denied Evansville Courier’s abnormal obsolescence petitions in September 2016, finding the company “failed to point to a single, specific, non-recurring triggering event” to justify abnormal obsolescence. Additionally, the board said the press is still operable and is expected to have five more years of useful life.

On appeal in Evansville Courier Company, Inc. v. Vanderburgh County Assessor, 02T10-1611-TA-55, the media company argued the board had erred by admitting into evidence a document submitted by the county that was not presented to Evansville Courier five days prior, as required under 52 Indiana Administrative Code 2-7-1(b)(1). The board had allowed the admittance of the evidence, which was a document challenging Evansville Courier’s appraisal, finding it was rebuttal evidence that “was specifically offered to challenge the validity of the Petitioner’s appraisals.”

However, Special Tax Court Judge John Baker wrote in a Monday opinion that “the nondisclosure of a rebuttal witness is excused only when that witness was unknown and unanticipated… .”

“Here, the County was well aware of the nature of (the appraiser’s) testimony and arrived at the hearing armed with evidence to rebut that testimony,” Baker wrote. “The exhibit in question was dated January 20, 2016, and the hearing occurred on January 26, 2016, meaning that this exhibit was known, anticipated, and actually available to be disclosed to Evansville Courier within the requisite timeline.”

Thus, the admission of the evidence was erroneous. However, at the time of the assessed valuations, the press was still capable of “performing the function for which it was acquired,” Baker said, and the decline of the newspaper industry cannot be considered “nonrecurring” for purposes of abnormal obsolescence code. Instead, the judge described the change in newspapers has been gradual and was not precipitated by one single event.

Thus, despite the error in evidence admission, the board did not err in denying Evansville Courier’s abnormal obsolescence petitions, Baker said.

 

New high court challenge to labor unions follows 4-4 split

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Il for www.theindianalawyer.com

Conservative groups are wasting little time in trying to deal a crippling blow to labor unions now that Justice Neil Gorsuch has joined the U.S. Supreme Court.

A First Amendment clash over public sector unions left the justices deadlocked last year after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. But union opponents have quickly steered a new case through federal courts in Illinois and they plan to appeal it to the high court on Tuesday.

The groups say unions representing government employees violate the free speech rights of workers by collecting money from people who don’t want to join.

If the high court agrees, it could threaten the financial viability of unions and reduce the clout of labor, one of the biggest contributors to Democratic political campaigns.

The Supreme Court seemed all but certain to rule against the unions in a similar case argued before Scalia died. That case, involving a California teachers’ union, was the first of several to split 4-4 while the court was short-handed. The deadlock left in place a four-decade-old practice that lets public-sector unions collect fees from non-members to cover the costs of collective bargaining.

“Our hope is that a year from now, the Supreme Court will end this injustice and free every public school teacher, safety officer and other government worker to decide for themselves whether or not to financially support a union with their hard-earned money,” said a joint statement from the two organizations backing the case — the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation and Liberty Justice Center.

The Supreme Court won’t consider taking up the case until September at the earliest.

The latest appeal comes as union membership in the U.S. hit new lows last year, sinking to just 10.7 percent of the workforce. As private union membership has steadily declined, about half of all union members now work for federal, state and local government. Most of them are in states like Illinois, New York, and California that are largely Democratic and seen as friendly toward unions.

The Illinois case involves Mark Janus, a state employee who says Illinois law violates his free speech rights by requiring him to pay fees subsidizing a union he doesn’t support, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. About half the states have similar laws covering so-called “fair share” fees that cover bargaining costs for nonmembers.

Janus is seeking to overturn a 1977 Supreme Court case that said public workers who refuse to join a union can still be required to pay for bargaining costs, as long as the fees don’t go toward political purposes. The arrangement was supposed to prevent nonmembers from “free riding,” since the union has a legal duty to represent all workers.

A federal appeals court in Chicago rejected Janus’ claim in March, ruling that the fees were constitutional under the 1977 case, Abood v. Detroit Board of Education.

AFSCME President Lee Saunders called the case an effort to chip away at the power of unions “to negotiate a fair return on our work, provide for our families, and lift up the concerns of all working families.”

Last year, the issue split the court’s liberal and conservative members during oral arguments in the California case. Several conservative justices, including Scalia, seemed ready to scrap Abood. They said bargaining issues like teacher salaries, merit promotions and class sizes are all intertwined with political issues involving the size of state budgets and how taxpayer dollars should be spent.

While unions avoided a loss after Scalia’s death, Gorsuch is seen as equally conservative, though he has not expressed views on the issue of fair share union fees.

For unions, the loss of millions in fees would reduce their power to bargain for higher wages and benefits for government employees.

“This is an aggressive litigation campaign aimed at undermining unions’ ability to operate by forcing them to represent people for free,” said Benjamin Sachs, a professor at Harvard Law School specializing in labor law.

Men’s Track & Field Earns Top-10 Finish in USTFCCCA Standings

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The University of Southern Indiana men’s cross country/track & field program is ranked ninth in the final U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches’ Association Damon Martin Program of the Year standings.

The Program of the Year Award is given annually to the most outstanding cross country/track & field programs. It honors the institution that has achieved the most success in each academic year (spanning the cross country, indoor track & field, and outdoor track & field seasons) based on the institution’s finish at the NCAA Championships.

In order to be eligible for the award, teams must qualify for each of the NCAA Championships. Scoring is based on the team’s finish at each NCAA Championship in cross country, indoor track & field, and outdoor track & field (i.e. first = one point, second = two points, etc.) with the lowest total score for all three championships combined determining the award recipient. Ties among schools split points for positions taken.

After posting a 13th-place finish at the NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships in November, the Screaming Eagles followed by tying for 13th at the NCAA II Indoor Track & Field Championships and tied for 67th with one point at the NCAA II Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

USI’s 94.5 points in the updated standings saw the Eagles finish 15 points behind Lee University (Tennessee). After tying for 67th with USI at the NCAA II Outdoor Championships, Colorado School of Mines rounded out the top-10 with 110.5 points.

Leading the way Is Adams State University with 21 total points and a first place finish at the NCAA II Cross Country Championships, while Grand Valley State University and Missouri Southern State University

The ninth-place finish in the Program of the Year standings marks the fourth-consecutive year the Eagles have finished in the top-10. Last year, USI was seventh, while they finished fourth in the Program of the Year standings in 2014-15 and were third in 2013-14. The Eagles debuted in the Program of the Year standings in 2012-13, when they finished 11th.

Public Education Foundation Announce 2017 High School Graduates Scholarshipsrecipients of scholarships

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The Public Education Foundation is pleased to announce the following 2017 high school graduates as recipients of scholarships administered and awarded by the Foundation:

Bosse High School:

Public Education Foundation of Evansville Scholarship ($1,000): Niesha Eastwood

Central High School:

Public Education Foundation of Evansville Scholarship ($1,000): Haley Harper
Central/Stringtown Four Year Renewable Scholarship ($20,000): Tyler Frields-Reifsteck
Central/Stringtown Four Year Renewable Scholarship ($20,000): Andrew Caldemeyer
Cedar Hall (Pearl the Pig) Scholarship ($1,000) Jaressha Baker

Harrison High School:

Public Education Foundation of Evansville Scholarship ($1,000): Jessica Elrod
Robin Thompson Memorial Scholarship ($500): Faith Griffin
Guthrie & Alice May Vocational Education Scholarship ($500) AJ Eich

North High School:

Public Education Foundation of Evansville Scholarship/Kenan &
Debbie Schultheis Family Scholarship ($1,000): Elizabeth Brown
North High School Endowed Scholarship ($5,000) Lauren Hodeval
Kay Herron Jaggers Memorial Scholarship ($4,000): Reid McIntire

Reitz High School:

Public Education Foundation of Evansville Scholarship ($1,000): Heather Morrow
Mindly L. Meisler National Forensics Scholarship ($2,000): Brittany Smith
Gary West Memorial Scholarship ($2,000): Conner Deweese
David W. Horton Family Scholarship ($1,000): Andrew Hoffman
Dierlam Family/Belle Martin Scholarship ($1,000): Jocelyn Elgin
Chris Singleton Lineman Scholarship ($1,000): Bailey Sanford
Reitz Class of 1970 Memorial Scholarship ($1,000): Jocelyn Elgin
Tom Egan Memorial Golf Scholarship ($500) Jaley Schlosser
Robin Thompson Memorial Scholarship ($500): Bailey Sanford

New Tech Institute:

Guthrie & Alice May Vocational Education Scholarship ($500) Seth Cravens

Signature School:

Public Education Foundation of Evansville Scholarship ($1,000): David Wahl

TOTAL SCHOLARSHIPS AWARDED: $ 66,500.00

About PEF

The Public Education Foundation is an independent not-for-profit agency that provides direct funding to local public schools and teachers for innovative, student-centered programs. For more than 30 years, the PEF Board has provided thousands of students with professional-level, hands-on experience via direct support for its signature projects such as the House Building Project, Summer Musical, a children’s theatre production, and academic team competitions. Annually, PEF provides over $400,000 in program support, teacher grants and student scholarships.
The mission of the Public Education of Evansville, Inc. (PEF) is inspiring and cultivating innovative public education for all students. PEF board, supporters and staff believe that high quality public education is fundamental to the strength of our community; and that all students deserve the best possible public education in order to realize their full potential.
Follow PEF on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Public-Education-Foundation-of-Evansville-Inc/), Twitter (PEFEVV), and at www.pefevansville.org

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