The Martin Group will announce its proposed location for the new inter- disciplinary academic health science education and research campus at 10:30 am on Wednesday, October 30, 2013 in the offices of The Martin Group, Inc. at 4004 E. Morgan Avenue, Evansville, IN 47715.
Steve Martin and partners will share their vision of a world class collaborative campus built within a unique lifestyle center complete with retail, entertainment, and housing at Evansville’s premier business location.
As part of Homecoming 2013 Reunion Weekend, the University of Evansville will host the third annual Aces Fan Fest, which is free and open to the community.
The Aces Fan Fest will take place from 1-4 p.m. Saturday, November 2 at the corner of Sixth and Locust streets, next to the Ford Center – where the UE women’s basketball team plays the University of Southern Indiana at noon and the men’s team plays the University of Illinois-Springfield at 4 p.m.
Aces Fan Fest will feature a performance by Berteal, an award-winning, sister-brother acoustic music duo featuring UE alumni Kim Gentry ’97 and Chad Gentry ’03. The band will perform from 1-2:30 p.m.
Berteal’s recent accolades include best group/duo in the 2012 International Acoustic Music Awards, finalists in the USA Songwriting Competition (which earned them a performance at SXSW in Austin, Texas), and a 2013 showcase at the renowned Bluebird Cafe in Nashville, Tennessee. Berteal also placed second in the 2013 Woody Guthrie Songwriting Contest, winning a performance slot at the Woody Guthrie Folk Festival in Oklahoma.
Other activities at the Aces Fan Fest include food vendors, a beer garden, a chili cook-off, a student dance crew competition (2:30-3 p.m.), a performance by local musician Scott Winzinger (3-4 p.m.), photos with UE mascot Ace Purple, and children’s activities.
By John Krull
TheStatehouseFile.com
John Krull, publisher, TheStatehouseFile.com
INDIANAPOLIS – The latest squabble between Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz and, oh, well, just about every Republican in the state raises an intriguing question.
Is there one single sane functioning adult to be found at work anywhere at any level of state or federal government?
Ritz, a Democrat, filed suit Tuesday against the state Board of Education, all of the members of which had been appointed by Republican governors. Ritz argued that the board violated the state’s open door law by drafting and sending to Republican legislative leaders a letter last week urging them to take the controversial A-F school grading process out of her hands.
Ritz said that the board members didn’t even tell her about the letter, even though she’s supposed to be the board’s chair.
This Indiana playground donnybrook follows on the heels of a federal government shutdown that stretched on for more than two weeks, drained $24 billion out of the economy and slowed job growth across the country. That shutdown and resulting economic disaster came as a result of carefully thought-out strategy by tea party Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate.
The right-wingers’ finely tuned plan was to stamp their feet and hold their breath until the rest of the country gave them their way.
This battle over who controls education policy is every bit as mature as the shutdown fight was.
At the heart of this kindergarten tussle is an inconvenient election – for Republicans and self-proclaimed education reformers, anyway.
Last fall, Ritz defeated a heavily favored and heavily funded incumbent, Tony Bennett. Bennett was one of the darlings of the education reform movement, a fire-breather in favor of school choice, standardized school and teacher assessments and market-driven approaches to learning in general.
Bennett’s defeat was such an unwelcome development for the school choice and accountability crowd – in part because it undermined one of their basic arguments, namely that their approach was what the people wanted – that they pretty much decided to pretend it never happened.
Ever since Ritz got elected, the state’s Republican hierarchy has worked to ignore the new superintendent or thwart her if the circumstances didn’t allow them to ignore her.
The fact that, in addition to ignoring or thwarting her, they also were ignoring or thwarting the majority of the voters who placed her in office seems not to have occurred to the GOP deep thinkers and their appointees.
They have continued on their course even after a series of stories by the Associated Press revealed that, before he left office, Bennett altered the assessment process of the A-F school grading system to get the outcome he wanted for a specific school, one he had touted as a model for his approach to education. That revelation delivered a devastating blow to Bennett’s career and reputation and forced state officials to re-examine the whole A-F system.
When the revelations about Bennett’s manipulation of school grading system hit, Republicans and Democrats settled into another protracted set of squabbles. Republicans blamed Ritz for leaking the information that damaged Bennett and the A-F system. Democrats did their best to make Bennett the poster boy for everything bad in schools, state government and life in general.
The partisan pushing, shoving and jostling now have exploded into a full-scale playground brawl.
In addition to sending the signal to parents all over Indiana that their children will not be under anything resembling adult supervision as long as these leaders are on the job, the suit creates other interesting problems.
Attorney General Greg Zoeller, for example, makes it a point of pride to say that he is the state’s lawyer. Who does he line up with on this one – the schools chief elected by the voters or the state board of education appointed by the governor?
Zoeller refused to comment on the suit when it broke, but since has challenged Ritz’s suit on procedural grounds. He said that, as attorney general, only he gets to serve as the lawyer for state officials. That position may force him to answer the question of which part of state government he’ll choose to serve..
Thoughtful Hoosiers doubtless will ponder what all these folks could accomplish on behalf of the state’s students if they spent half – nay, a quarter – as much time and energy on improving kids’ learning experiences as they do trying to stick it to each other.
But that would require someone in a leadership position to show some maturity.
That, too, raises a question: Who’s going to be the grown-up, perhaps the only one around, in state government?
John Krull is director of Franklin College’s Pulliam School of Journalism, host of “No Limits†WFYI 90.1 FM Indianapolis and publisher of TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.
The 23rd Annual Early Childhood Education Conference will be held Saturday, October 26, on the campus of the University of Southern Indiana.
The Early Childhood Education Conference is a valuable resource for the region, providing cutting-edge professional development and personal growth opportunities to those who most influence the lives of children—parents, teachers, early childhood program administrators and owners, interventionists, and others involved in caring for and educating young children.
“The primary focus of the conference is on how we, the adults in the lives of young children, can make the most of the period between birth and age eight,†said Dr. Jane Meyer, USI associate professor of education. “The early years are the learning years, after all.â€
This year’s conference features a keynote address by Elizabeth Montero-Cefalo, an educator who has worked extensively with special needs children and whose classroom was recognized as a Conscious Discipline model classroom. Developed by Dr. Becky Bailey, an international expert in child developmental psychology, Conscious Discipline is a method which aims to develop discipline within children, rather than subjecting them to it.
In addition to the address, 25 workshops facilitated by early childhood education experts and faculty from USI, Indiana University, Ivy Tech, and Henderson Community College will cover topics such as science for infant and toddlers and preschoolers, new children’s books, kindergarten readiness, early literacy, project work, and many others.
Registration and workshops will take place in the Education Center. The keynote address will be held in Forum I in the Wright Administration Building.
The conference is co-sponsored by the USI Teacher Education Department and the Evansville Area Early Childhood Association, a chapter of the Indiana Association for the Education of Young Children.
Online registration is available at http://www.iaeyc.org/. Call Meyer at 812/465-7044 for more information.
While session may have ended in April, I have still been working as a member of interim study committees in preparation for this upcoming year. One of the committees that I had the privilege of serving on is the Health Finance Commission. Having spent nearly my entire life in the health care field, it is something that I am very passionate about.
Study committees allow us more time to really dig into the weeds of the issues that are impacting our state the most. After months of study, the Health Finance Commission has made five recommendations for possible legislation to be heard during the 2014 legislative session. One of these recommendations, which I was extremely pleased to see, concerns treatment of traumatic brain injuries.
The committee is recommending that by September 1, 2014, the State Department of Health shall adopt rules that establish a license and provide regulations for a facility that provides specialized treatment and services for traumatic brain injuries. Our state currently lacks traumatic brain services, specifically post-acute care facilities.
Hoosiers who experience traumatic brain injuries are forced to go out of state for care. We heard testimony from individuals who talked about the hardships they faced having to travel to someplace else to receive care and being away from family and friends during that difficult time. Additionally, this can pose a serious financial burden. If our taxpayer dollars are already going towards funding licensed facilities in other states, I think it’s time that we developed one here in Indiana.
The next recommendation deals with electronic health data. The commission is recommending that the State Department of Health and the Office of the Secretary of Family and Social Services be required to establish a work group which would study uniform access to electronic health data by health providers. If this were to become a reality, patients with multiple providers would be able to have all of their health information made available to the physician currently treating them as their patient. This would not only increase safety but also lower costs.
They are also recommending that the Commission for Higher Education be required to study and make recommendations concerning the issue of the high costs of dental education and the high level of debt incurred by individuals attending dental school. This would be done in consultation with the State Board of Dentistry and the Indiana University School of Dentistry.
The commission also made two other recommendations that I am still currently weighing. One of these recommendations would change the law regarding minors and tanning devices. Under current law, a person who is under 16 years of age must be accompanied by a parent or guardian when using a tanning device in a tanning facility. The committee has recommended that the current provision be repealed and replaced with a provision prohibiting anyone under the age of 16 from using any tanning device at a tanning facility.
The final recommendation deals with biosimilar drugs, or generics, as they are more commonly known. The committee is recommending that a pharmacist be allowed to substitute an interchangeable biosimilar product for a prescribed biological product if certain conditions are met. For instance, the pharmacist would have to inform the customer of the substitution, the prescribing practitioner would then have to be notified within five calendar days and both the pharmacy and the practitioner would have to retain a record of the substitution for at least five years.
As you can see, we tackled a wide variety of issues in this committee. I appreciate all of the valuable information that was shared with us throughout the course of our meetings. Now that we have an idea of what we may be looking at during the next session, I want to hear your opinions as well. Do you have experience in these matters? What are your thoughts on these recommendations? I can be reached by phone at 317-232-9509 or via email ath75@iga.in.gov. I look forward to hearing from you as I continue to independently explore these issues!
Below is a list of felony cases that were filed by the Vanderburgh County Prosecutor’s Office on Thursday, October 24, 2013.
Rex Beavers                      Strangulation-Class D Felony
Brady French                    Intimidation-Class D Felonies (Two Counts)
For further information on the cases listed above, or any pending case, please contact Kyle Phernetton at 812.435.5688 or via e-mail at KPhernetton@vanderburghgov.org
Under Indiana law, all criminal defendants are considered to be innocent until proven guilty by a court of law.
Â
IS IT TRUE October 25, 2013
IS IT TRUE that the Vanderburgh County General Fund Account Fund is never less than $6 million dollars and sometimes shall go up to around $68 million during the Fall and Spring tax collection periods? …that the contract clause stating that the bank that handles the County General account must be located within a 1 mile radius of the Civic Center was created by past County Treasurer Z Tuley?…that we also hear from completely reliable sources that the $45,000 allocated in the 2013 budget to handle the management of the County General Fund has already been spent?…if this information is correct then the County Commission will have to spend at least an extra $20,000 for Old National Bank to finish managing this account until the end of the year?…we have called the County Auditor’s office a number of times to find the real answer concerning the above issue without results?…since the County Auditor can’t return phone calls maybe he can e-mail us the answer concerning the present status of the $45,000 annual fund budget that was earmarked to Old National Bank to handle the County General Fund account?
IS IT TRUE that Evansville is not alone in the United States to see crime on the increase as it was reported yesterday that violent crime rose 15% in our country last year while property crimes rose 12%?…these numbers rising are an indication of a poor economy and a frustrated population?…another statistic of interest that came out earlier this year is that the net immigration from Mexico is now negative?…the border with Mexico has been a sore spot with some people for many years because of the numbers of people who sneak into the United States to find work that is better than what has been available in Mexico?…now that the work has dried up in America we don’t need that fence and all of those guards to keep people out anymore?…both of these sets of statistics are counter to the “official†unemployment rate falling to its present level of 7.2%?…what they are consistent with is the roughly 90 Million working age Americans who are not even participating in the workforce and are thus not counted as unemployed?…that number is dramatically larger than it has been historically and has grown because people have exhausted their unemployment benefits, learned to game the free services offered, found a friendly doctor and gone on disability, or just given up?…for the first time in perhaps the entire history of America people with children are hoping their children will be able to enjoy the same standard of living they had as opposed to teaching them and encouraging them to do better?
IS IT TRUE in yet another case of federal government incompetence the IRS has acknowledged that it has handed out over $11 Billion per year in unjustified Earned Income Tax Credits?…this is a problem that is from an IRS perspective just about detection and follow up?…the abuse of the Earned Income Tax Credit is rooted in dishonest tax preparation and may someday increase the property crime numbers cited above if the IRS can figure out how to do anything about it?
IS IT TRUE the BLAMESTORMING in Congress is once again taking on a carnival atmosphere now that questions are being asked about why the ObamaCare websites have performed so badly?…it was revealed yesterday that the October 1st launch of the website was for all practical purposes a cold launch with little or no testing done prior to that day?…the other tidbits of information exposed are that the prime contractor is a Canadian company that was dismissed from a similar task by the Government of Canada in the past?…we wonder what ever happened to “Made in America†when it came to this $640 Million debacle?…there really are many American companies that could have done this job and done it right?…we are sure the carnival of errors and finger pointing will continue for some time?…Kentucky continues to be the state that gets the gold medal for getting an enrollment portal to work and is the Obama Administration’s poster child for excellence in this department?…the raw numbers for Kentucky are 24,000 enrollments which corresponds to 0.6% of the state’s population?
The Indiana State Police would like to remind parents of a few safety tips to observe during the Halloween holiday. Parents and children will be out in full force next week trick-or-treating and the Indiana State Police would like to remind parents that observing just a few rules will help can make the evening both fun and safe.
Costume Tips-
•Keep costumes short to prevent trips and falls.
•Try make-up instead of a mask. Masks often obstruct a child’s vision, which makes tasks like crossing the street and going up and down stairs dangerous.
•Make sure children wear light colors or put reflective tape on their costumes.
Trick or Treating-
•Make sure older children trick-or-treat with friends. Together, map out a safe route so parents know where they will be.
•Instruct children to stop only at familiar homes where the outside lights are on.
•Encourage children to trick-or-treat while it’s still light out. If children are out after dark, make sure they have flashlights and travel on well lighted streets.
•Remind children not to enter the homes or cars of strangers.
•Follow your communities trick-or-treating hours.
Treats-
•Remind children not to eat any of their treats until they get home.
•Check out all treats at home in a well-lighted place.
•Only eat unopened candies and other treats that are in original wrappers. Remember to inspect fruits for anything suspicious.
Additionally, many communities, schools and churches offer children safe alternatives to trick-or-treating designed to keep children safely within parents’ view. Some hospitals and schools allow children to trick-or-treat by going from room to room virtually eliminating the dangers associated with being out walking on the street after dark.
Â
