IS IT TRUE that the city employees have a new slogan for members of City Council?  …the slogan is-‘PENGUINS OVER CITY EMPLOYEES HEALTH INSURANCE”?

IS IT TRUE if the current members of City Council are serious about reducing the multi-million dollar deficit facing the Employee Health Care fund they could paid for their own Health care program through a private insurer?

IS IT TRUE if the current members of City Council are serious about reducing the multi-million dollar deficit facing the Employee Health Care fund they could request that all individuals who serve on Board and Commissions be dropped from receiving City of Evansville sponsored Hearth Care benefits?

IS IT TRUE for over a year we have been reporting that the Evansville Employee Health Care fund is experiencing a multi-million dollar deficit?

IS IT TRUE for the last two  (2) years former City Council President and Finance Chairman John Friend-CPA has been telling anybody who would listen that the City of Evansville is facing a major financial crisis because of the deficits spending practices of the Winnecke Administration? … we hear that Mr. Friend now predicts that the Evansville Financial crisis shall continue for the next several years?

IS IT TRUE during the time John Friend-CPA was City Council Finance Chairman he tried to explain how to read the city budget to several Council members to no avail?  …they would give Mr. Friend a “We Don’t Know What You’re Talking About “ look? …we hope their budget comprehension skills has improved since then?

IS IT TRUE  it’s obvious that the members of the current City Council really misses the budgetary expertise of Curt John and John Friend-CPA?

IS IT TRUE we just heard  that Evansville Brownfield Corporation just hired a past member of the Evansville City Council, retired Evansville Police officer as its property Inspector?  …George Lumley told us that he recently saw Mr. Steve Bagby driving down an alley in his brand new City of Evansville Brownfield’s car looking at property in the North Main area?  …we wish Mr. Bagby well in his new  political  patronage job?

IS IT TRUE we wonder who is the Executive Director of  Evansville Brownfield Corp?  …we wonder where the new offices of the Evansville Brownfield Corp are located?  …do any of the employees of the Evansville Brownfield Corp receive any retirement or Health Care benefits from the City of Evansville?

IS IT TRUE that Robb Myers posted the following comments in yesterday CCO we feel worth re-posting?  …his comments have to do with proposed City budget cuts?   …he posted: Step 1: Review multiple departments at the Civic Center and determine what offices can be merged to increase efficiencies.   Step 2: Cut health care plans for all elected officials.   Step 3: Review what departments can be privatized. For instance, management of the golf courses.  Step 4: Lease out Victory and any other similar venue to take the management costs off the back of the city.  Step 5: Offer large local businesses naming rights to large parks, pools, etc. They pay at least 50% of the annual costs to operate and maintain the park. So simple? …he also said; “I know that City Council members see these posts.   I call for all of them to step up and consider these options to stop the cycle of operating in debt.”

IS IT TRUE that the City is asking Council for $1 million dollars from the Riverboat fund to demolish commercial properties, like the old Apollo Liquor located on Riverside Drive.  …we wonder why taxpayers should pay to demolish property owned by people of financial means?

IS IT TRUE one our staff members went to SHOW ME’S EAST BAR AND RESTAURANT last week and tells us that some major improvements in the property and menus are being made?  …he tells us that the food is really good?

FOOTNOTES: “IS IT TRUE” will be posted on this coming Thursday or Friday?

Todays READERS POLL question is:  If the election was held today for United States Senator who would you vote for?

Please take time and read our newest feature articles entitled “HOT JOBS” and “LOCAL SPORTS” posted in our sections.

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MEDIA BIAS IN BATON ROUGE

By Susan Stamper Brown

The recent flooding in Baton Rouge is a study in media bias if you compare it to media coverage of Hurricane Katrina.

While Baton Rouge flooded, President Obama continued to play golf at Martha’s Vineyard, as if nothing was happening, and the media gave him a pass. George W. Bush was accused of being a racist when he cut his vacation short and did a flyover of New Orleans back in 2005.
Talk about double standards.
Without a doubt, media coverage of Katrina was a hack job done by Bush-haters who wanted to paint the sitting president in the worst possible light.
Because they had an agenda, they failed to report about what may well have been one of the most successful search-and-rescue operations in American history.
NBC News’ Brian Williams missed the real story because he was busy misreporting un-facts about un-events that the Washington Post said he perhaps “misremembered” the same way he did about his helicopter ride in Iraq. Williams and NBC News were awarded the 2005 Peabody Award for coverage of Hurricane Katrina. The award website states NBC reported on “all angles of events related to Hurricane Katrina” including “disintegrating social conditions” in New Orleans and for posing “difficult questions to government officials…dealing with issues of race and class…”
They covered all angles? What a bunch of bologna.
Williams was eventually relieved of his duties as NBC anchor for the kind of tale telling one would expect to hear while sipping hot cocoa around a campfire at Lake Wobegon.
Williams and other media hacks conveniently passed over the real story… about what went right when Mother Nature went wrong. A Real Clear Politics piece, “Katrina: What the Media Missed,” reports that upwards of 100,000 lives were saved. Sure, FEMA missed the mark, but a lot went right. While the media were looking for bad news and a thousand ways to blame it on Bush, our well-prepared military was busy saving lives, delivering babies and restoring law and order.
Which leads us to Baton Rouge, where flood waters ravaged homes and torrential rains delivered death and destruction —- and the mainstream media ran cover for their golden boy who found time to pull away from his merriment at Martha’s Vineyard for a posh Hillary fundraiser, but was far too busy to fire up Air Force One to pay a visit as Comforter-in-Chief.
Let’s not forget that Bush-43 was castigated by the media and liberal pundits —- including President Obama —- for the fly-over they misconstrued as aloofness.
From the Senate floor, a preachy Obama said, “We can talk about what happened for a few days in 2005 and we should. We can talk about levees that could not hold…about a president who only saw the people from the window of an airplane instead of down here on the ground to provide comfort and aid.”
At least Bush showed up.
The outright hypocrisy of Obama golfing while the waters rose in Baton Rouge after making political hay out of his predecessor’s so-called indifference makes no difference to the Bush-Deranged-Syndrome media crowd who continue to cover for the guy who promised that waters would recede on his watch but obviously didn’t.

Kicking off a new school year also means the start to the fall sports season. As a softball coach for 27 years and a father of children who participated in athletics, I know that safety always comes first. Sports should be fun, but in order to maintain that fun, safety must be put before anything else, including winning.

After sustaining a head injury, it is important athletes are healthy before they start physical activity again. Hoosiers also need to be well informed on precautions, symptoms and the proper steps to take once an injury occurs. Concussions are a serious threat, which can have long-lasting effects on the brain. Symptoms may not become apparent until days or weeks after the injury, which is why concussions are known as the “invisible injury.” Once an athlete sustains a concussion, they have a higher likelihood of experiencing more concussions down the road. Through education, we can help decrease the number of injuries.

As a lawmaker, I worked with fellow policymakers to increase safety for our student athletes. This year we passed a law requiring coaches to complete a safety education course to better prevent and identify head injuries in student athletes. The head coach or assistant coach of an interscholastic sport must be certified in a player safety education course by July of next year.

Currently, athletes who are suspected of having a concussion are not able to return to play until they have been evaluated by and received clearance from a qualified health-care provider. This new law takes an additional step in keeping our athletes safe by ensuring coaches can detect warning signs of a concussion and prevent further, more serious injuries. Coaches who complete the required training will be protected under this law unless there is evidence of gross negligence.

As always, please contact me with questions or input at 317-232-9833 or by email at h75@iga.in.gov. I appreciate hearing from you in order to better represent our district. Stay up-to-date with the work being done at the Statehouse by signing up to receive my email updates at www.in.gov/75.

Sterling Brewers, Inc.

With the influx of German immigrants into Evansville in the nineteenth-century, beer production was a major industry throughout much of the city’s history, especially on the West Side. Sterling Brewery evolved from the Fulton Avenue Brewery, which had opened at Fulton and Pennsylvania (now the Lloyd Expressway) in 1880. The building was also notable for being the first in Evansville to boast electric lights. By 1920, the Fulton Brewery was renamed Sterling, which survived Prohibition by manufacturing malts and other food products. The company’s long history finally ended in 1997, and the plant was razed a year later.

FOOTNOTES: We want to thank Patricia Sides, Archivist of Willard Library for contributing this picture that shall increase people’s awareness and appreciation of Evansville’s rich history. If you have any historical pictures of Vanderburgh County or Evansville please contact please contact Patricia Sides, Archivist Willard Library at 812) 425-4309, ext. 114 or e-mail her at www.willard.lib.in.us.