STATEHOUSE — Today, State Representatives Ron Bacon (R-Chandler), Holli Sullivan (R-Evansville) and Wendy McNamara (R-Mount Vernon) wore sneakers at the Statehouse, along with other House legislators and staff, in support of the Suits and Sneakers challenge to help raise awareness about cancer and showcase the importance that nutrition and physical activity play in reducing one’s risk of the disease.
“While in the midst of the hustle and bustle of a short session, we cannot forget about our fellow Hoosiers who are currently battling this ruthless disease,†said Rep. Bacon. “Cancer has impacted us all; it knows no race, gender, age or religion. I am proud to take part in this effort and provide people with the knowledge they need to best protect themselves against cancer.â€
The American Cancer Society’s Coaches vs. Cancer Suits and Sneakers challenge is an annual event sponsored by the American Cancer Society and the National Association of Basketball Coaches to help raise cancer awareness and support those affected by it.
“By raising awareness and supporting research, it is my hope that we will one day find a cure for cancer,†said Rep. Sullivan. “Almost everyone has been affected in one way or another by this disease, and we need to continue to take a stand. I was honored to join my fellow legislators in supporting the American Cancer Society as a part of the Suits and Sneakers challenge.â€
Wearing sneakers is much more than a fashion statement. It is a simple way to spotlight the fact that cancer is the second most common cause of death in the U.S. – exceeded only by heart disease, which accounts for nearly 1 of every 4 deaths. It is also an opportunity to remind people about all the ways they can reduce their risk of cancer; like eating right, exercising, making healthy lifestyle choices and following the American Cancer Society’s recommended cancer screening guidelines.
“Nearly every day I am reminded of the many Hoosiers that are being affected by this disease in one way or another,†said Rep. McNamara. “Cancer does not discriminate and many of us know someone who is currently battling this disease. I was proud to take part in raising awareness with my fellow legislators in a hope to one day finding a cure.â€
Visit www.cancer.org for more information on how you can help spread the message and fight back against cancer.
ï‚· Location: Western Rib-Eye & Ribs 1401 Boeke Rd Evansville, IN ï‚· Cost: $350
ï‚· Bronze, Silver, and Gold Sponsorships are available
ï‚· RSVP to smelcher@stephen-melcher.com
Feb 3
11:30am
Stephanie Terry Filing For Re-Election to Vanderburgh County Council
  Location: Civic Center – 2nd Floor – Election Office
  Please stop by to show Stephanie your support! Let’s pack the room!
Feb 5
10:45am
Carl Culley Filing For Vanderburgh County Auditor
ï‚· Â Location: Civic Center – 2nd Floor – Election Office
  Please stop by to show Carl your support! Let’s pack the room!
Feb 5
11:30am
Dave Wedding Filing For Vanderburgh County Sheriff
  Location: Civic Center – 2nd Floor – Election Office
ï‚· Â Please stop by to support Dave and kick off his campaign with a huge crowd!
Feb 7
12:00 Noon
Last Day to File in the Primary Election
Mar 4
5pm-7pm
Jonthan Weaver’s Annual Mardi Gras Fundraiser
ï‚· Â Location: Lamasco Bar 1331 W Franklin St Evansville, IN
ï‚· Â Cost: $25 per person
ï‚· Â Mark your calendars to celebrate Fat Tuesday!
Mar 12 May 31
5:30pm – 7:30pm TBA
Kathryn Martin for Knight Township Trustee Second Annual Chili Dinner
  Location: Marigold Bar – 2112 S Weinbach Ave
ï‚· Â Cost: Suggested donation of $10 per person, $15 per couple. Sponsorships available.
  Contact: Kathryn Martin – 812-477-2599Indiana State Democratic Party Convention
 Location: JW Marriott Hotel & Covention Center – Indianapolis, IN  More details coming soon!
To add further events, please email complete event information to vanderburghdemocrats1@gmail.com
Indiana – Catch the latest edition of the “Indiana State Police Road Show†radio program every Monday morning at your convenience.
Download the program from the Network Indiana public website at www.networkindiana.com. Look for the state police logo on the main page and follow the download instructions. This 15 minute talk show concentrates on public safety and informational topics with state wide interest.
The radio program was titled “Signal-10†in the early sixties when it was first started by two troopers in northern Indiana. The name was later changed to the “Indiana State Police Road Show†and is the longest continuously aired state police public service program in Indiana.
Radio stations across Indiana and the nation are invited to download and air for FREE this public service program sponsored by the Indiana State Police Alliance and Cops for Kids, a subsidiary of the Indiana State Police Alliance.
This week’s show features Indiana State Police Lt. Colonel Larry Turner, primary staff officer for intelligence and investigations. In this second of a two week series, Lt. Colonel Turner discusses his role and responsibilities for all matters regarding intelligence and investigative needs of the Department.
How does the City of Evansville decide which streets to clear first following a snow storm, and who is responsible for clearing ice and snow from sidewalks? Evansville Transportation and Services Director Todd Robertson will discuss the city’s snow removal program at the first Traveling City Hall meeting of 2014.
The Traveling City Hall meeting will be held on Wednesday, January 29, at the C.K. Newsome Community Center, 100 E. Walnut St., in Room 118 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Mayor Lloyd Winnecke and representatives from various city departments will be present, along with officials from the Vanderburgh County Health Department and the Vanderburgh County Auditor’s office.
Following introductions by Mayor Winnecke, Robertson will talk briefly about the city’s snow removal program, from determining when to pre-treat roads to snow removal on residential streets and sidewalks. After the presentation, the public is welcome to talk one-on-one with city and county officials about specific neighborhood issues or about the general status of our community.
Traveling City Hall meetings are held once a month at different location throughout the city. All Evansville residents are welcome to attend any session.
IS IT TRUE there are times when politicians on the stump or at a breakfast allow things to slip from their mouths that turn out to be politically incorrect and cause them grief from their own kind?…it seems as though Marsha Abell is trying hard to “clarify†her position on using public dollars to attract the IU Medical School to Vanderburgh County?…there have been so many people tell us that Marsha was clearly against using a red cent of TIF money to help attract the IU Medical School to the privately owned site on the Eastside called the Promenade?…it was also clear according to numerous people who attended the breakfast that Marsha did not want to use public funds to invest in sewers and water to attract the medical school and that she thinks that Warrick County can make those investments and east Evansville will still prosper?…Abell was supposedly mute on the USI proposal and only gave passing lip service to the fact that downtown Evansville is a different case?…this seems pretty easy to understand to the City County Observer?…our translation of this is that Marsha is not interested in putting county money that she has some control over into either the Promenade or USI proposals because both are essentially the same in the big picture from a county perspective?…Marsha did indeed leave the door open for the County to funnel money into the City of Evansville’s forthcoming proposal to entice the IU Medical School to downtown Evansville?…we welcome a position paper on the IU Medical School attraction package from Commissioner Abell and will publish it without edit, opinion, or bias?…if Commissioner Abell is really interested in putting her position out there she should take us up on this opportunity to control her own position so her surrogates don’t have to walk things back for her?
IS IT TRUE for a brief amount of time yesterday the Courier and Press was free to read with the little blue logos that indicate you must pay to read this all gone?…the CCO got several emails and calls to tell us that the CP had knuckled under the loss of traffic and changed their policy?…they have not and the little blue logos are back this morning?…it must have been a lapse of the webmaster?
IS IT TRUE the CCO inadvertently published the wrong date for the UE vs. Wichita State game yesterday?…the real date is February 16th as opposed to the 19th and we still hope to see the Shockers come to town ranked #1 in the nation and that the Aces shock their world?
IS IT TRUE this writer was invited to give a speech on the establishment and operation of Innovation Hubs yesterday in Lancaster, CA?…since last Tuesday when President Obama announced a national Innovation Hub initiative the invitations are flowing in because the California Innovation Hub initiative that inspired the national initiative was written in Palm Springs in 2010 with one of the principle authors moving on to the Obama Administration as the Chief Operating Officer of the United States EDA?…that is where President Obama got the idea so the eyes of the nation are now on Palm Springs and the other California iHubs?…that is all a bit thrilling but all of our funding is still local so there are no federal strings on me?
IS IT TRUE there was an employee of the City of Lancaster in the discussion of what the State of California provided that confessed to political correctness gone mad?…my answer to the question was that “all I got was a Christmas card from Governor Brown and it really said Merry Christmas and I appreciated that the Governor was secure enough in who he was to say Merry Christmas instead of some mindless substitute to avoid using the words Merry Christmas?â€â€¦this employee then stated that in the name of political correctness that his city council had just changed the name of Easter to “Spring Dayâ€?…there was a gasp of disbelief in the room and several comments that were really unflattering?…even the employee in the building where he was employed stated that this move was seen by most as crossing the line with politically correct craziness?…the CCO agrees that political correctness has gone beyond the point of sanity and needs to just back off?…if this keeps up in the not too distant future Americans may need a communications chip embedded into their brains to avoid the thousands of phrases that will have been banned to pander to every whining individual who registers a complaint of any kind?…PC is BS?
IS IT TRUE that yesterday District 78 State Rep Holli Sullivan voted to send the same sex marriage legislation to the full house for a vote? …we reported for a week that Mrs Sullivan was indeed going to vote to send this issue to the full house for a vote and indeed she did?
Members of the City-County Observer staff spent hours reviewing the donations to Winnecke for Mayor for 2011 last Sunday. We have highlighted donations that we have found especially interesting. We encourage you to take the time to look into a few of the donations that caught our attention during this initial review of Mayor Winnecke’s financial contributions received for the 2011 year.  We also encourage you to post follow up questions or comments shedding light on any of the information provided in this summary. This is the first installment of the City-County Observer’s dissection and review of Mayor Winnecke’s campaign contributions covering the years of 2011-2013.  We urge you to continue reading the City-County Observer daily as we continue to release additional updates and continue to provide you with the ONLY published analysis of the Mayor’s contributions financial records by a local media source.
To begin this series we would like to point out a particular donation that really caught our interest. The 2013 Mayor’s financial report indicates a political donation given to the Mayor by former Democratic Party Chairman and Union Leader Jack McNeely. We can’t wait to hear your comments regarding this donation.
For today’s segment we’ll turn our focus to a sampling of Mayor Winnecke’s campaign contributions for 2011. We hopes that you will analyze this data and comment accordingly in the section provided below.  Please keep comments respectful.
The campaign stated with $147,000 cash on hand beginning of reporting period. Â The campaign raised about $640,000 during 2011. Â The Mayors political war chest for 2011 was about $787,000.
Our first list entails non-union based PACs that donated to the Winnecke campaign in 2011 that we found interesting.  We guarantee that you shall be surprised to read who and how much this group gave his campaign in 2012.
Southern Indiana Home Builders Association – $8,500.00
HG PAC – $995.00
Capital PAC – $1,000.00
OL PAC (Old National Bank) – $13,000.00
CD PAC (Clark Dietz Engineers) – $8,250.00
HNTB PAC (Hunt Construction) – $3,000.00
Integra PAC – $5,500.00 (donated by employees of a now defunct bank)
Realtors PAC (National  Associations of Realtors) – $3,250.00
Our next list contains select Trade Union groups that made campaign contributions to Winnecke in 2011. Â Just wait till you read how many Unions and the amount of political contributions they gave to Winnecke For Mayor campaign fund in 2012. Â
Millright – $413.31
Laborers International – $500.00
IBEW Educational Committee – $500.00
Teamsters local 215 – $5,000.00
Our final select list of contributors is composed of both corporations and individuals that donated to Winnecke’s Mayoral Campaign in 2011.  You’ll be surprised to read who gave to the Mayor’s campaign fund in 2012.
Ted Ziemer-$17,622.47
Sue and John Helfert-$15,000
James Stevens-$11,600
Robert Kock-$8,500
John Schroeder-$11,000
Brent Beeler-$6,000
Retired Vectren CEO Neil Ellerbrook – $8,200.00
Edmound and Sharon Hafer-$4,025
John Dunn-$5,000
Homemaker -Barbara Keller – $4,100.00
Vanderburgh County Republican Party Chairman Wayne Parke – $12,000.00
Danny Hermann of Ameriqual – $11,000.00
Steven Chancellor-$6,000
Willis Conner with American Structurepoint – $14,000.00
Fred Klipsch, CEO and Chairman of Klipsch Investments & Klipsch Audio – $1,000.00
David Shane, CEO of LDI Engineering Firm – $1,000.00
Keith Lochmueller of Bernard, Lochmueller, and Associates – $10,600.00
DLZ Engineering Firm (Past architect of the Vanderburgh County jail) – $6,000.00
TKG properties (headquarters address of the Kunkel Group) – $2,000.00.
Todd Ponder with Ice Miller Law Firm – $1,000.00
Lisa Lee with Ice Miller Law Firm – $1,000.00
Brenda Horn with Ice Miller Law Firm – $1,000.00
Philip Genetos with Ice Miller Law Firm – $1,000.00
Thomas Downs with Ice Miller Law Firm – $1,000.00
Barnes & Thornburg Law Firm – $1,000.00
Ersal Ozdemir President and CEO of Keystone Construction Corporation – $1,000.00
David Schroeder-$2.300
The Referral Company LLC (interesting that this office is located at FC Tucker – Emge) – in -kind service for $5,152.25
Micheal Hinton-$11,000
D. Sanjay Patel-$6,000
J P Engelbreckt-$2,200
Burkley and Sharon McCarthy-$10,000
James Wade-$2,500
Steven Jones-$5,100
In addition to the above donations Mayor Winnecke paid out $388,000 to Axiom Advertising firm of Evansville for all of his campaign marketing efforts in 2011.
It is also worth noting that the Indiana Republican State Central Committee donated $100, 540.83 total, 8% of Winnecke’s total campaign contributions for his entire 3 year period as Mayor.  We are puzzled why $65,183 of this donation was returned to the Indiana Republican State Central Committee as in-kind services.
Paid the Kunkel Group Realty $28,000 for rent.
Paid Public Opinion Strategies polls $40,000
Paid Barbender Cox  $31,120 for Media Productions
Paid  $52,000 Limestone Strategies for Political consulting work
This begins our segment looking into some of the campaign contributions and expenditures report for Mayor Lloyd Winnecke’s early stint as Mayor of Evansville.  Next week we shall be providing more information concerning the Mayor’s 2011 political fundraising report.
Finally, the CCO shall be doing similar articles on County Commissioner and County Council  members who are running for re-election.
INDIANAPOLIS – Higher Education Commissioner Teresa Lubbers said in a speech Wednesday night that it is imperative that Hoosiers are better educated and prepared for the workforce.
Teresa Lubbers, Indiana Commissioner for Higher Education, gave the State of Higher Education Address on Wednesday night. One of the things the address focused on was college education and making changes to have students graduate in four years.
“Indiana is in the midst of economic transformation that demands more highly educated and skilled citizens,†Lubbers said. “The old model simply won’t produce enough highly educated graduates with the higher level skills and education that are needed.â€
During her State of the Higher Education address Lubbers applauded universities and colleges for helping students graduate on time.
Two years ago, about 90 percent of degree programs at Indiana’s public colleges exceeded the traditional standard of 120 credit hours for a four year degree and 60 credits for a two-year degree. That meant Hoosiers took longer to graduate and accumulated more college debt.
“Today, the obstacle is well on its way to being eliminated with nearly 90 percent of degree programs meeting the accepted standard,†after legislation to end so-called credit creep passed two years ago, Lubbers said.
The changes are projected to save students and taxpayers more than $35 million a year.
As an “ongoing effort†to address financial challenges, Lubbers said “we are redesigning the state’s work
study program.
The new program, “EARN Indianaâ€, helps students with financial needs and offers career-related
experiences.
“We are laser-focused on increasing on-time graduation,†Lubbers said, “But it’s not enough for students to complete college if they lack relevant workplace experience that prepares them for success in their chosen career path.â€
Motivation to “protect the state’s investment†called for a change in the 21st Century Scholars requirements, he said.
Century 21st scholars must graduate high school with a 2.5 GPA and complete a Scholar Success Programs. The latter is a new program that helps students prepare for college.
In an effort to guarantee 21st Century Scholar students avoid loan debt, they must complete new credit requirements.
Lubbers said the fastest growing occupations and industries are related to the highest levels of post-secondary education.
“It is indisputable that college graduates have lower unemployment, higher lifetime earnings, higher marriage rates, better health, and greater civic involvement,†Lubbers said.
“Today, hard work and credentials are required for the 21st Century jobs that propel individual families up the economic ladder,†Lubbers said.
Paige Clark is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.
Sam Rogers, Manager of Leadership Development at Deaconess, discussed how Deaconess is training managers in “soft leadership skills” to help minimize employee turnover. “If staff are going to turnover they’re typically turning over because of supervisors,” he said.
Sam Rogers, Manager of Leadership Development at Deaconess, discussed how Deaconess is training managers in “soft leadership skills” to help minimize employee turnover. “If staff are going to turnover they’re typically turning over because of supervisors,” he said.
The article appeared on January 21, 2014, in Human Capital Online, a subsidiary of Human Resources Director Magazine – Australia’s only magazine written for and targeted purely at the most senior HR professionals and top corporate decision makers.
 DON’T GO TO COURT ALONE. CALL IVAN ARNAEZ @ 812-424-6671.
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The gun investigators believe was discarded by Lusta Johnson during a car chase last night has been found.
Police expanded the search area after the gun was not located in the area they first thought it would be.
An Officer checking the area of Taylor and Spring St found the gun in a back yard not far from where Johnson was arrested.
Johnson is in jail on felony resisting law enforcement charges. Investigators plan on adding additional charges related go weapons violations as soon as Thursday morning.
