Each November, the Lung Cancer Alliance’s Shine a Light on Lung Cancer brings together all of those impacted by lung cancer to Reflect, Celebrate, and Remember Together.

This event will join more than 300 communities across the country to provide hope, inspiration and support for those impacted by this disease. The program will include stories from lung cancer survivors, a panel discussion from medical and community leaders about the current and future state of lung cancer treatment, remembrances and more.

WHERE:  Crossroads Christian Church, Room 222, 10800 Lincoln Ave, Newburgh, Indiana

WHEN:  Thursday, November 17, 2016 from 6:00 – 7:00 p.m.

WEBSITE:  ShineALightOnLungCancer.org

Hosted by Gilda’s Club, this event is made possible through a partnership between Deaconess Health System, St. Mary’s Health, Vantage Oncology, and Oncology Hematology Associates.

Courts Open Comment Period On Online Records Access Plan

Dave Stafford for www.theindianalawyer.com

Trial court orders and judgments in most non-confidential civil and criminal cases will be posted and universally available online, but attorneys and parties to cases initially will have far greater access to filings than the public, according to recommendations now open for public comment.

Attorneys and parties to cases will have online access to all orders and filings in all case types except for criminal cases prior to the filing of charges, according to the recommendations.

Comments will be taken until Dec. 1 on the Report of Findings and Recommendations of the Indiana Supreme Court Advisory Task Force on Remote Access to and Privacy of Electronic Records. The court will act on the report’s recommendations after reviewing comments. An online comment form is available here.

Under the proposed recommendations, the general public would have online access to orders and final judgments in these categories of civil cases: infractions, ordinance violations, small claims, civil collection, civil tort, civil plenary, mortgage foreclosure, estate miscellaneous, estate unsupervised, miscellaneous, reciprocal support, court business and post-conviction relief.

For criminal cases, orders and final judgments will be available to the public online for all misdemeanor and felony case types except miscellaneous criminal.

The information will be available from courts using the state-supported Odyssey case management system, the public portal available at mycase.in.gov. The report provides no timeline for making the records available online, but notes implementation “would serve largely as a pilot or initial phase of providing online public access, and allow the Task Force to assess the impact of that change and identify particular problems that might arise with respect to certain categories of orders in specific case types.”

The public will have access to all pleadings, filings and orders in only one case type, according to the report: expungements in which the petition is denied. The report noted, “there is great public value in posting the petitions for expungement and proceedings while in progress, and those orders that ultimately deny a petition. When expungements are granted, the expungement case and the underlying criminal conviction is made confidential and no longer available for online public access.”

The recommendations came after the task force met four times this year and examined the experiences of other states that have made trial court records available online. State courts took the first step in online access to records in July, when appellate courts began making available for online access all motions filed in non-confidential case types. Pleadings in attorney discipline cases, however, which originate as appellate actions, still have not been made publicly available online, though some orders in those cases are accessible.

Court records will not be made available to the public in confidential case types such as juvenile delinquencies and guardianships, and the task force deferred consideration of posting records in several case types: juvenile paternity, domestic relations, estate supervised, trust and miscellaneous criminal.

The report said the task force will consider next year whether to make orders in those cases available online to the public, as well as pleadings and filings in all non-confidential cases. The report said those decisions will be guided after initial online access been implemented and assessed. The task force has tentatively set four meetings in 2017: March 10, June 9, Sept. 8 and Dec. 8.

In addition to online comments on the report, comments also may be sent to Justin Forkner, deputy director of Indiana Office of Court Services, 30 S. Meridian St., Suite 500, Indianapolis, IN 46204.

Dorsal Promoted To Full-Time Assistant Coach

Former University of Southern Indiana Softball standout MacKenzi Dorsam ’15 has been added to Head Coach Sue Kunkle’s coaching staff as a full-time assistant. Dorsam, who served as a graduate assistant coach for the Screaming Eagles in 2016, will assist Kunkle in all aspects of the USI Softball program.

In addition to Dorsam, Kunkle has added former Truman State University standout Cate Simon as a graduate assistant on her 2017 coaching staff, while former USI standout pitcher Brooke Harmening ’15 will stay on as a volunteer assistant coach after getting a full time job with the Evansville Department of Parks and Recreation.

“I have already seen great things from this staff during the fall with practices, in-game coaching, recruiting, clinics, office management, and team functions,” Kunkle said. “We are looking forward to an exciting year.”

Dorsam, a two-time All-American as well as a first-team Academic All-American, concluded her four-year career ranked first all-time at USI in walks (82), second in runs scored (142), third in home runs (24) and fourth in RBIs (126).

Her 15 home runs and 50 RBIs in 2015 were the second-most in a single-season in program history.

The 2015 GLVC Player of the Year as well as the Daktronics Midwest Region Player of the Year, Dorsam had a knack for reaching base throughout her career. She reached base safely in 163 of 188 career games, including 128 of 146 games in her final three seasons.

A native of Dubois, Indiana, Dorsam earned her bachelor’s degree in health services from USI in 2015. She continues to work on her master’s degree in sport management at USI.

“MacKenzi was meant to be a coach,” Kunkle said. “Her knowledge of the game is tremendous. She has grown remarkably as a coach and recruiter in the last year after beginning her career as graduate assistant.

“She has been around this program for a long time and has really made Evansville her home,” Kunkle continued. “MacKenzi is invested and dedicated to making our players excel and continue our winning tradition.”

Simon graduated from Truman this past May after earning first-team All-GLVC and second-team All-Midwest Region honors as a junior in 2014.

After injury kept her out of the 2015 campaign, Simon returned to the diamond as a red-shirt senior in 2016 to earn third-team All-GLVC honors. A career-.345 hitter, Simon finished her career at Truman with 36 home runs and 107 RBIs. She had a career year in 2014, when she hit .389 with 10 doubles, 12 home runs and 39 RBIs.

Off the field, Simon served as the Chair of the Athletic Fee Accountability Committee at Truman for three years. She also assisted the coaching staff in 2016 with opponent scouting reports.

A native of O’Fallon, Missouri, Simon earned her bachelor’s degree in exercise science from Truman in 2016. She is currently working on her master’s degree in sport management at USI.

“We are excited to welcome Cate to our staff,” Kunkle said. “She has already brought some new ideas to make our program stronger and has a great feel for the game and knowledge that will be utilized in all aspects of our program.”

Harmening, a four-time All-GLVC honoree, finished her career ranked first all-time at USI in career wins (74), innings pitched (796.1) and strikeouts (642). She also tied for first all-time at USI with two career no-hitters and finished fourth all-time at USI with 19 career shutouts.

At the plate, Harmening ranked second all-time at USI in doubles (47) and home runs (25), and tied for second in RBIs (127).

Harmening’s efforts in the pitcher’s circle helped the Eagles advance to the NCAA II Midwest Region Tournament twice during her four-year career.

A native of Whiteland, Indiana, Harmening earned her bachelor’s degree in kinesiology, with a minor in nutrition, from USI in 2015. She also continues to work on her master’s degree in sport management from USI.

“Having Brooke back on staff as a volunteer this season has been great,” Kunkle said. “With such a young and talented pitching staff, we can utilize Brooke’s expertise throughout the season.”

PERFECT PENCE

Making Sense by Michael Reagan

Now that was a debate.

The Mike Pence-Tim Kaine bout Tuesday night wasn’t the main event of 2016.

It was what they call in boxing an “undercard” match. It was a contest between two natural lightweights — the VP candidates.

There was no exciting 12th round knock out.

But Pence and Kaine engaged in a good, spirited political fight that provided much more substance and entertainment value than the Trump-Clinton debate.

Pence easily won on points, both for what he said and what he didn’t say. In their post-debate analysis everyone from Rachel Maddow to Sean Hannity agreed on that.

Poor Tim Kaine. Everyone — even his wife — also agreed that he made himself look like a rude jerk by interrupting the moderator and Pence way too many times.

Kaine was wound up so tight in the opening rounds that the presidential debate commission probably should have ordered a drug test to see if Kaine was on some sort of performance drug.

Seriously, though, I hope Trump was watching Pence’s debating style closely.

I hope he has been studying the video over and over to see how Pence deflected or ducked his opponent’s punches and pivoted to offense.

Pence not only showed Trump how to win a political debate, he was an absolute gentleman while doing it.

He didn’t have to say derogatory things about women or Latinos or Muslims. He didn’t suggest using nuclear weapons to fight crime in Chicago.

And when Kaine tried to drag him down a rat hole by making him defend something dumb or insulting Trump had said, Pence kept his cool and flicked the example away as silly or untrue.

The major criticism from some Republicans and Trumpsters was that Pence didn’t do more to defend Donald Trump.

But the reality is, you can’t defend half of what Trump has said and Pence could have wasted two weeks of air time trying.

Pence was perfect Tuesday night. What he did won’t move the needle for Trump’s chances to win next month, but it moved the needle on his future.

Twenty minutes into the debate lots of people, including those I watched it with, were saying, “Gosh, I wish Mike Pence was on the top of the ticket.”

It’s obviously way too late for the GOP to make that happen, but Pence might be the top choice of Republicans in 2020 if Trump loses to the Clinton Crime Family a month from now.

The only thing that concerns me about Pence’s pummeling of Kaine is that Trump was so quick to take credit for it.

The next day at his rallies Donald was doing his usual “Look at me” routine, praising Pence and boasting he was his first hire.

Sorry, Donald. As I tweeted, your first hire was actually campaign consultant Paul Manafort. How did that work out?

Trump’s the clear underdog, a raw amateur up against a political heavyweight. He has to win his debate with Hillary Sunday night or at least fight her to a draw.

Pence has shown him how the professionals do it.

Whether he can learn to box with Hillary without tripping over his huge ego may determine whether Trump ends up the 2016 champ or the 2016 chump.