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Monthly Revenue Report

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The monthly revenue report for October, along with commentary from State Budget Director Brian Bailey, has been posted on the State Budget Agency webpage. The report and commentary can be found here: http://www.in.gov/sba/2659.htm. Charts visualizing revenue data are located on the Management and Performance Hub under the State Tax Revenue section: http://www.in.gov/mph/staterevenue.html.

 

Commentary

 

Last month’s commentary described a processing issue at the Department of Revenue that resulted in $86.3 million in revenue received in September not being deposited until October. Below are the results excluding the $86.3 million received in September but deposited in October:

 

  • General Fund collections for October totaled $1,020.8 million, which is $64.0 million (5.9%) less than the monthly estimate and $59.2 million (5.5%) below revenue in October 2014.
  • Sales tax collections were $592.3 million for October, which is $26.6 million (4.3%) below the monthly estimate and $17.0 million (2.8%) below revenue in October 2014.
  • Individual income tax collections were $362.3 million for the month, which is $1.4 million (0.4%) below the monthly estimate and $8.6 million (2.3%) below revenue in October 2014.
  • Corporate tax collections were negative $2.4 million for the month, which is $35.0 million (107.4%) below the monthly estimate.

 

Results including the $86.3 million received in September but deposited in October

 

  • Year-to-date General Fund collections totaled $4,570.5 million, which is $61.4 million (1.3%) lower than estimated, and $12.0 million (0.3%) below collections for the same period last year.
  • General Fund collections for October totaled $1,107.1 million, which is $22.3 million (2.1%) more than the monthly estimate and $27.1 million (2.5%) above October 2014 revenue.
  • Sales tax collections totaled $593.4 million for October, which is $25.5 million (4.1%) below the monthly estimate and $16.0 million (2.6%) below revenue in October 2014.
  • Individual income tax collections totaled $438.1 million for the month, which is $74.4 million (20.5%) above the monthly estimate and $67.2 million (18.1%) above revenue in October 2014.  Much of the increase in individual collections is associated with the receipt of revenue in September but deposited in October due to delayed processing of September payments.
  • Corporate tax collections were $7.0 million for the month, which is $25.6 million (78.6%) below the monthly estimate and $18.9 million (73.0%) below revenue in October 2014. Higher corporate refunds for October have contributed to the decline in corporate income collections.
  • Riverboat wagering collections were $23.3 million for October, which is $1.1 million (4.8%) higher than the monthly estimate, but $2.4 million (9.2%) below revenue in October 2014.
  • Racino wagering collections were $8.1 million for the month, which is $0.3 million (3.6%) lower than the monthly estimate and $0.5 million (5.9%) below revenue in October 2014.

 

Adopt A Pet

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 Trixie is a 5-year-old female tortoiseshell! She’s fairly new to VHS, and is a friendly & playful girl. Her $30 adoption fee includes her spay, microchip, vaccines, & more. Visit www.vhslifesaver.org or call (812) 426-2563 for adoption information!

 

THE WAR ON GIRLS’ PRIVACY

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By Susan Stamper Brown

Dear parents, when you vote next November, please remember which party wants your daughters to share their school locker rooms and showers with boys.

That’s right, the Obama administration’s Department of Education Office of Civil Rights (OCR) recently ruled that Township High School District 211 in Palatine, Illinois must give a transgender kid, who was born a male and still has the private parts to prove it, unrestricted access to the girls’ facilities or they lose millions in federal funding.

It’s not that the school district didn’t do its best to accommodate the gender-confused kid whom OCR calls “Student A” in its 14-page report which charges the school district with discrimination on the basis of sex due to the kid’s “gender identity and gender nonconformity” issues.

The report states the district “honored Student A’s request to be treated as female in all respects except her request to be provided access to the girls’ locker rooms at the school.” Specifically, the district agreed to use Student A’s female name, designating him as a “female” in the computer system. It obtained special permission from the Illinois High School Association to allow him to participate in girls’ athletics. He received unlimited access to all the girls’ restrooms and access to dress out and shower in the girls’ locker room, given he do it behind a privacy curtain.

Student A refused to accept the district’s privacy curtain demand so the Obama administration stepped in.

Okay, call me politically incorrect here, but this is unequivocally wrong. As a fellow XX chromosome-bearer, I’d be mortified. I remember the first time I was forced to dress out in my school’s female-only locker room. I was a late bloomer and pretty embarrassed that I was the only girl in the room that didn’t need a bra. The last thing I needed was a boy in the locker room, whether he wore pink bows in his hair or not. Certainly, had a boy been factored in my locker room scenario, my father would’ve had a polite but frank chat with the powers-that-be, including the kid’s parents. Growing up is tough enough with all the awkwardness of adolescence without forcing kids to conform to this craziness.

But that was then. Now we have the Obama administration forcing school districts to comply with its tragically misguided version of things, letting the views and rights of the many be damned to the advantage of a statistical few.

This poor kid needs help. What he doesn’t need is for society to join him in this delusion that changing in a girls’ locker room will in any way change who he really is. The difference between males and females is in their genes, not the jeans they choose to wear.

Anyhow, what kind of government gives this kind of ultimatum to a school district at the expense of the privacy rights of young girls? It’s funny, though, how interested they become in female privacy rights if the subject is abortion — or birth control for minor girls without parental consent.

Palatine, Illinois parents should stand alongside school district leaders against this bizarre federal government overreach. And maybe it’s time to have that conversation about cutting the umbilical cord. The government can make those threats to withhold federal funding as long as school districts keep their hands open.

Offering school vouchers so parents can choose private schools would give kids the opportunity to get better educations without all the liberal brainwashing and social experimentation. And for the minuscule number of parents demanding unisex facilities for their kids, let them petition the government to build a unisex school with no boundaries. I’m sure that would work out swell.

Indiana Bar Foundation celebrates anniversary by awarding grants

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Marilyn Odendahl for www.theindianalawyer.com

At its 65th anniversary celebration dinner Nov. 6, the Indiana Bar Foundation announced more than $1 million in grants to legal aid and pro bono districts, marking the first time the statewide nonprofit had been able to award such a large amount since the economic recession.

The Friday evening event was held at the Scottish Rite Cathedral in Indianapolis and featured a keynote address by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Bob Woodward. An estimated 225 attorneys from around the state attended.

The foundation used the dinner to announce the recipients of the Bank of America settlement monies. Indiana received $584,646 from the national agreement reached between the financial institution and the U.S. Department of Justice.

The money is targeted for foreclosure assistance and community redevelopment.

In reviewing applications from seven nonprofits, the foundation’s committee, chaired by Indiana Court of Appeals Judge Melissa May, decided to provide some funding to all rather than fully funding only a few.

“We wanted to reach as many people as possible,” said Charles Dunlap, executive director of the foundation. “It seemed appropriate to give everybody something.”

The organizations receiving awards and the amounts are as follows:
•    Indiana Legal Services – $275,000
•    Indianapolis Legal Aid Society and Indiana Landmarks – $229,646
•    Neighborhood Christian Legal Clinic – $25,000
•    Whitewater Valley Pro Bono – $20,000
•    Indiana Pro Bono District D – $15,000
•    Indiana Pro Bono District E – $15,000
•    Indiana Pro Bono District H – $5,000

Coupled with the $800,000 annual grant going to the 12 pro bono districts from the Interest on Lawyers Trust Account program, the foundation is awarding $1.4 million for civil legal assistance. This is the first time in six years the foundation has given out more than $1 million to legal aid and pro bono organizations.

The highlight of the evening was Woodward, who with his reporting colleague Carl Bernstein broke the Watergate scandal that led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon. He spoke for an hour, answering questions and recounting stories about the politicians he has met and interviewed during his career at the Washington Post.

His most compelling anecdotes were about Watergate.

Woodward described his initial meeting with Alexander Butterfield, the Nixon aide who disclosed the secret taping system the president used in the White House. The Butterfield interviews and the treasure trove of previously unknown and historically significant documents he took from the administration is the basis for Woodward’s latest book, “The Last of the President’s Men.”

In particular, Woodward talked about a 1972 memo that included a handwritten note from Nixon to then-national security advisor Henry Kissinger. The president wrote the 2.9 million tons of bombs dropped on Southeast Asia had achieved “zilch.”

Further research of other documents and transcripts from the tape recordings reveal Nixon decided to sustain the bombing campaign because it was popular with  a majority of the voters and seen as key to helping him win reelection.

“It is one of the most brazen cases, I think, in history of a president conducting a war … and acknowledging the bombing achieved zilch and to continue the war at that point is worse than shocking,” Woodward said.

Woodward also discussed his changing view of Nixon’s pardon. When President Gerald Ford announced he was pardoning his disgraced predecessor in September 1974, Woodward deemed it was the “final corruption of Watergate.” He was sure Ford had made a deal and agreed to let Nixon walk away while several others went to jail.

However, when he interviewed Ford more two decades after, Woodward learned his original conclusion was wrong.

Ford explained that Nixon’s chief of staff Alexander Haig had approached him about making a deal that included a pardon, but he rejected it because he felt the agreement would have been improper.

But after Nixon had left the White House, Ford received a memo from the Watergate prosecutor who was predicting that Nixon would likely stand trial and probably go to jail. The former president told Woodward that prosecuting Nixon would have continued the Watergate saga for another two years, and that was something he felt the country could not stand. Ford said he wanted to start anew and the pardon was the best vehicle to do that.

“For years I was sure it was the final act of corruption, and then you subject it to a neutral inquiry many years later and discover what looked like corruption is actually an act of courage,” Woodward said.
 

Governor Pence Spokesman Statement on House Democrats Infrastructure Plan

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Following the Indiana House Democrats infrastructure proposal today, Matt Lloyd, a spokesman for Governor Mike Pence, issued the following statement.

 

“Governor Pence welcomes House Democrats to the conversation about infrastructure funding. Sadly, the plan presented today by House Democrats forces Hoosiers to choose between cutting $500 million from the general fund for vital services like K-12 tuition support, teacher pensions, Medicaid and state hospitals or going broke in four years. That is irresponsible and not serious. Governor Pence proposed a responsible plan that  provides vital infrastructure funding without raising taxes or cutting vital services for Hoosier families.”

Governor Mike Pence will offer remarks at “Elevating Work & Learn in Indiana

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Governor Mike Pence will offer remarks at “Elevating Work & Learn in Indiana,” an event sponsored by the Indiana Career Council focusing on successful work-and-learn programs for students and educators across the state. Later in the day, he will hold a community conversation with Hoosiers in Fair Oaks. Details below.

 

Tuesday, November 10:

 

10:25 a.m. EST – Governor Pence will offer remarks at “Elevating Work & Learn in Indiana,” an event sponsored by the Indiana Career Council

*Media are welcome to attend.

Herman B Wells Community Center, Lebanon High School, 510 Essex Drive, Lebanon, IN

 

12:30 p.m. CST – Governor Pence will host a community conversation with Hoosiers in Fair Oaks and the surrounding communities

*Media are welcome to attend.

Fair Oaks Farm, Farmhouse Restaurant, 754 N. 600 E., Fair Oaks, IN

 

Vanderburgh County Recent Booking Records

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What Is Your Journalism Challenge?

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  WHAT PROBLEM ARE YOU WORKING TO SOLVE?

Like every industry, journalism has a labor problem. As media companies have grappled with digital disruption, they’ve responded by cutting jobs and salaries, but not necessarily cutting “content.” That work has instead been assigned to a growing legion of freelancers and contractors — independent work that has always existed, but that has taken on a more vital role to the survival of many cash-strapped media institutions, both new and legacy.

With so many opportunities yet so few resources, freelancers are by nature pitted against one another in a race to the bottom. This doesn’t work particularly well for anyone: for editors, who need a consistent and high-quality pool of writing, staffers, who risk being undercut at their jobs, or readers, who want to support living wages for workers.

This is not to say that freelance journalism can’t work! But it can’t work like this.

How Would Solving This Problem Help Journalism?

While the Internet has done much to lower the entry barrier to media work — which is great — it’s also lowered the standards of that work — which is not great. Many freelancers report that they receive little to no editing or fact-checking. In a race to pump out more “content,” this has the potential to result in huge errors — and to promote a different kinds of journalism altogether.

In an industry that prides itself on transparency and ethics, there are no standards as to how these workers or their work should be treated. Living wages and ethical work standards are in everyone’s best interest.

Who Is Tackling A Similar Problem And How Is Your Approach Different?

There are many efforts aimed at supporting independent workers across industries. Projects specific to journalism — such as Contently, Beacon and WordRates — have largely centered on gig-matching, which has its own strengths, but does not address many of the issues facing freelancers.

A single tool or platform can’t fix such a complex problem. I believe organizing of freelancers is best done in small cooperative affinity guilds, where problems such as lack of administrative and legal assistance, libel insurance, press passes, and tools, and service fees can be better solved. The first step toward this vision is promoting more transparency and cooperation in a field that’s traditionally very individualistic and competitive. I plan to negotiate with writers, editors, and publishers to find common ground on these issues. I’m also talking to creators of digital payment and publishing tools about how those might better work for independent journalists.

What Are The First Questions You Plan To Pursue?

  • Is this employment shift in media to more contracts and fewer jobs actually indicative of and part of a larger shift in work across industries? If so, what does that mean for freelance journalists, and how might we work in solidarity with freelancers in other industries?
  • Who are the freelance journalists working in the U.S. today? Where are they, how are they working, and for how much?
  • In what ways does contract journalism work and not work for editors and publishers? How do they perceive freelancers? Who do they think we are, and how do they think we work?

What Are The First Steps You Plan To Take In Working On Your Challenge?

I’m interviewing freelancers, editors and publishers about these labor issues and will be publishing some of that work on Patreon for my subscribers. Those funds will support some of my more ambitious plans for this project. The first batch will go toward making Who Pays Writers, a project of Manjula Martin and Scratch Magazine, into a searchable database.

Who Pays is an unmatched resource for freelancers — users submit not just rates, but also information about how long payment took, the terms of their contracts, and any other issues that arose. Overall, this data shows that there are no standard terms or rates for writers, even at the same publication.

We also have some more ambitious plans for using this data to better promote wage transparency.

Unexploded Ordinance found in White River Greene Co.

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Indiana Conservation Officers were conducting an evidence dive in White River today when they found a little more than what they were looking for.  Divers were searching the White River just south of Spencer for evidence from an ongoing investigation when they came across what is believed to be an unexploded ordinance.  The mortar round is approximately sixteen inches long and weighs about five pounds.

 

Members of Indiana State Police EOD team were called in to assist with the ordinance.  After examining the round, members of the EOD team felt that it was very possibly still a live, viable round.  The EOD team exploded the ordinance on the riverbank.

 

Indiana Conservation Officers Scuba Team is called on for many types of underwater evidence recoveries.  While most of the searches revolve around vehicles, firearms and other items people may try to hide underwater, today’s recovery shows that divers must remain vigilant in safety procedures.  The public is also reminded that if you should come across something like this, do not try to move the ordinance.  Old ordinances can be very unstable and may explode simply from being moved around.