Officials take action???

The soil erosion issue on the Dan Buck development off of Felstead road has been an issue for over six months and neighbors have been complaining since the start that proper erosion measures have not been followed. According to documents obtained from the County engineer’s office, these violations have been documented as far back as October of 2013. Recently the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) issued a citation and suddenly the Vanderburgh County Commissioners went out and talked to the developer. So the obvious question is why has it taken the County Commissioners so long to get involved? Were the Commissioners listening to the people?

First let’s review the Vanderburgh County ordinance regarding erosion control. Ordinance 15.44 is the county ordinance in force to regulate this type of activity and the policy is as follows:

15.44.020 Policy.

It is the policy of the Board of Commissioners of Vanderburgh County to require that erosion and sediment control measures be employed prior to any land disturbing activities to prevent off-site damage due to erosion and sedimentation of drainage ditches, storm sewers, ponds, lakes, streets or other property, public and private, due to the change in land use or rerouting of surface water.

Based on the policy, the responsibility of the Board of Commissioners to require compliance to this ordinance. So if a developer is in violation of this ordinance, what are the required actions to be taken by the Board of Commissioners? The following is paragraph 6 of the ordinance dealing with enforcement.

15.44.060 Enforcement, violations, penalties.

6.    If, after the second site inspection continued non-compliance is determined, the Vanderburgh County Building Commissioner will issue a non-compliance citation to the property owner. The civil penalty for the first citation will be no less than One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) and no more than Two Hundred Fifty Dollars ($250.00).

The obvious question to the Board of Commissioners is, if the developer has been in violation since October of 2013 and has been sited at least six times between October 2013 and April 2014, why has the County not followed the required enforcement procedures in the ordinance and issued a fine to the developer? This is a question not only for the current president of the Board of Commissioners Joe Kiefer,  but more importantly to the 2013 president of the board of Commissioners Marsha Abell who was president when these violations first occurred in October of 2013.

In the interest of open government and the rule of law in the county, the citizens of Vanderburgh County deserve answers as to why this ordinance was not enforced. The people are waiting for an answer.

Staff report TheStatehouseFile.com

INDIANAPOLIS – State education officials have released draft academic standards for grades K-12 that combine elements of Common Core, previous Indiana guidelines and recommendations from outside organizations.

The proposed standards – available online at http://www.in.gov/sboe/2505.htm – will be considered by the state’s Education Roundtable next week and then the State Board of Education on April 28.

State law requires the board to approve new standards before July 1 for use during the 2014-15 school year. That gives board members virtually no time for changes.

“This was a process led by our Hoosier experts and educators to develop standards for Indiana that were informed by the voices of Hoosier educators from around the state, as well as national evaluators, but ultimately it was up to the Indiana experts on our College and Career Ready panel to recommend the proposed academic standards for our schools and our students,” said Claire Fiddian-Green, co-director for the Center for Education and Career Innovation.

If approved, the guidelines will replace the controversial Common Core standards the State Board of Education adopted in 2010 and had been phasing in. Common Core is a set of standards originally written by officials from several states but adopted by the administration of President Barack Obama.

The General Assembly paused the Common Core implementation last year – in part out of concern about letting experts outside Indiana dictate the state’s educational guidelines – and ordered the board to reconsider. Then this year, lawmakers voted to ban Common Core.

“As the first state to withdraw from Common Core, Indiana had a unique responsibility to create new, high standards in an open and serious process that would serve our children and strengthen our schools,” Pence said in a statement. “Because of the hard work of our educators and parents, Indiana is leading the way on state academic standards that will challenge our students, guide our teachers, and give parents the confidence that our Indiana standards reflect the high expectations Hoosiers have for all our schools.”

Since then, panels of K-12 teachers, higher education faculty and subject matter experts have been crafting the new standards. The goal was to create what education officials call “college and career ready” standards, which are necessary for Indiana to continue to receive federal funding under the No Child Left Behind Law.

“We want Indiana to have the absolute best academic standards – standards that properly position students for college and career. We are cautiously optimistic that the standards ultimately decided on by the state board will meet the mark,” said Kevin Brinegar, president of the Indiana Chamber of Commerce.

Education officials say the groups borrowed from Common Core as well as Indiana’s previous standards, recommendations from education groups and guidelines from other states. The panels used a blind evaluation process for narrowing and choosing the standards.

“To ensure this process was focused on our students, we relied on more than 2,000 Hoosiers—teachers, administrators and parents—who joined us for evaluation sessions and shared their input online. Every Hoosier also should be grateful to the more than 100 teachers from across the state who participated in the drafting process,” Pence said. “They, along with experts in higher education and business, spent more than 6,000 hours to develop standards that will be both unique to Indiana and will prepare our students for success in college and the workplace.”

“We’ve really just been focused on what are the learning outcomes and objectives that each student needs to know by content area by grade level, so that when they graduate high school they are actually prepared for the next step in their life, whether that’s college or a career,” Fiddian-Green said.

The standards guide the K-12 curriculum. They are considered “learning outcomes” and specify “what students should know by content area and by grade level,” education officials said.

“The body of knowledge that are in the standards, I don’t feel like they are great shifts. There are changes in some of the rigor and in some of the specific skills at a great level, but in my opinion this is the work that teachers are really good at doing and so this will not cause a huge transition,” said Danielle Shockey, Deputy Superintendent of Public Instruction at the DOE.

Education officials hope the instructors’ reaction to the new set of regulations will be positive.

“We have worked really hard basically to clarify where standards were unclear, to make sure that everything was aligned very well across grade levels so that if you go from kindergarten to first grade and beyond, the teachers that get the incoming class of students say, ‘Yes, this child is prepared for what I’m teaching in my grade level,’” Fiddian-Green said.

Once new standards are approved, state Superintendent Glenda Ritz will lead an effort to develop new tests that measure achievement against the standards. Those tests will replace the current ISTEP exams.

The process for creating the standards began last fall and eventually involved more than 150 educators, higher education experts and business leaders. The state received more than 2,000 public comments, conducted three public hearings, and received feedback from 10 national evaluators.

Also, the newly established College and Career Ready Panel brought together subject matter experts from the higher education community as well as business and industry representatives to review the proposed drafts.

“A big part of this process that has never happened in the past is having the College and Career Panel look at this from an after-twelve perspective. Meaning looking backwards from twelfth to first grade to say, ‘If our students graduate with this skill set, are they going to enter into the workforce or to a college classroom prepared?’’’ Shockey said.

www.theindianalawyer.com

The Indiana Supreme accepted five cases last week on transfer, including an appeal of an order that a woman pay $4,000 a month to her ex-husband in spousal maintenance. The justices also denied 18 cases, including appeals by IBM and subcontractor regarding the failed contract to update the state’s welfare system.
Justices will hear Barbara J. Pohl v. Michael G. Pohl, 32A04-1404-DR-245, in which Barbara Pohl seeks to reduce the $4,000 in spousal maintenance she pays to her ex-husband to $1,000 a month, based in part on Michael Pohl’s increased Social Security income payments. The Court of Appeals affirmed, finding the evidence supported the maintenance amount.

The justices also took:

• Jonathan D. Carpenter v. State of Indiana, 02A05-1404-CR-246, in which the Indiana Court of Appeals  held Jonathan Carpenter’s federal and state constitutional rights weren’t violated when police entered his home without a warrant based on concerns an injured animal or person may be inside.
• Joseph K. Buelna v. State of Indiana, 20S04-1404-CR-243, a not-for publication decisions in which the Court of Appeals affirmed Joseph Buelna’s conviction and sentence for Class A felony manufacturing methamphetamine. He argued the trial court erred in admitting evidence found in a warrantless search, that the state didn’t present sufficient evidence to support the conviction and his 50-year sentence, with 20 years suspended, was inappropriate.
• Wellpoint, Inc. (f/k/a Anthem, Inc.) and Anthem Insurance Companies, Inc. v. National Union Fire Ins. Co. of Pittsburgh, Pa; AIG Europe  (U.K.) Limited, New Hampshire Ins. Co., et al., 49S05-1404-PL-244, a not-for-publication opinion in which the Court of Appeals affirmed summary judgment for Wellpoint’s insurers, who denied coverage for its defense and settlement of  a number of lawsuits against it.
• In the Matter of the Guardianship of N.R., N.R. v. Eva Willis, et al., 45S05-1404-GU-251 a guardianship appeal out of Lake County that is going directly to the Supreme Court.

The high court was divided over denying transfer to the appeals by the ACS Human Services LLC and IBM in

  International Business Machines Corporation v. ACS Human Services, LLC, 49A02-1301-PL-49. Justice Steven David voted to grant petition for transfer. Justice Mark Massa did not participate in the decision to deny transfer. The Court of Appeals in November affirmed trial court orders that IBM pay a subcontractor for costs it incurred related to lawsuits over the failed contract between IBM and the state to modernize Indiana’s welfare system.
The list of transfers for the week ending April 11 is available on the court’s website.

IL for www.theindianalawyer.com

Reference materials in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana are now just a click away. Attorneys may use active hyperlinks within e-filed documents.

The court posted notice Friday on its website about the availability of hyperlinking.

“When utilized by attorneys, hyperlinks in briefs and other court filings will provide quick, easy, and pinpoint access to particular sections of a case, specific page numbers, or to specific filings in the court’s record. Hyperlinking will allow Judges to quickly and easily review case-supporting materials,” the notice says.

The court will also issue documents with active hyperlinks, which will be available via the Notice of Electronic Filing email system. Even though attorneys can utilize the one “free look” to the e-filed documents associated with the NEF – accessing other CM/ECF hyperlinked documents contained within the main document will be subject to normal PACER fees, and any hyperlinks to Westlaw or LexisNexis citations will require attorneys to log in to those services.

The notice encourages attorneys to check each judge’s practices and procedures to see if hyperlinks are a requirement.

This announcement comes two months after the Southern Districtlaunched a pilot program allowing the court and attorneys to include active hyperlinks within e-filed and court-issued documents.