IS IT TRUE November 18, 2013
IS IT TRUE November 18, 2013
IS IT TRUE that the CCO wishes each of our readers this morning safety for themselves and their property in view of the tornados that swept through the Tri-State yesterday?…we wonder since there is still a job opening posted for the replacement of Sherman Greer as the Director of Emergency Management for the City of Evansville just who was watching over the City during yesterday’s tornado cluster?…we understand that the Mayor has the prerogative to fire appointees at will but we also know that it is the responsibility of the Mayor of Evansville to assure the people of Evansville that someone is in charge and on the job when inclement weather threatens the lives and property of the citizens of Evansville?…a report on just who is currently in charge at EMA and what their qualifications are is in order and it should come directly from Mayor Winnecke?…if the answer is “after all these months we have not hired anyone yet, but we are looking†that is an irresponsible and unacceptable answer?…we want to know just who was manning the store at the EMA on a day when six people died within a short distance and tornados were photographed less than 15 miles from downtown Evansville?
IS IT TRUE the topic of a problem characterized by former DMD Director Tom Barnett as “10,000 abandoned houses needing over $100k each in repairs to be habitable†is back in the news?…it is not the first time this condition of large blocks of the City of Evansville has been on the front pages?…despite over 10 years of front page exposure about the unacceptable number of ramshackle homes in Evansville, the problem does not seem to fix itself?…it is finally understood that the City of Evansville has a population that is roughly 25,000 below its peak in the late 1950’s?…that coincidentally is just about how many people would be expected to live in 10,000 houses?…this whole abandoned house phenomena is not just and Evansville problem but the other cities with such massive sprawling ghettos like Detroit, Cleveland, Gary, Youngstown, Camden, etc. all are cities that have been under single party control for 50+ years, have been victimized by cronyism, and have in general failed to adapt to globalization at the jobs level?…When people leave town because there are no decent jobs, houses get abandoned?…it also seems to be the young, the educated, and the ambitious who leave behind places that are increasingly older, less educated, and willing to settle for things like abandoned houses, dirty parks, and decrepit infrastructure?…abandoned houses in large numbers are a symptom of cities in death spirals?…we wonder when Evansville will cease doing “monkey see monkey do†projects that have failed in many other places and start concentrating on the things that end death spirals by creating good 21st century jobs that are based in intellectual property and critical skills?
IS IT TRUE it seems as though Indianapolis has finally learned that one of the biggest things that has been keeping the big conventions out of town was its kinda sorta chicken-$#!t smoking ban?…Indianapolis built a giant convention center, Lucas Oil stadium, an NBA arena, and a host of hotels only to see their convention business stay flat UNTIL in 2012 they finally broadly banned public smoking?…the conventions are now flocking to Indianapolis with the biggest ones being of medical nature?…once again the lesson to be learned is that bricks and mortar do not change the fact that good public policy matters?…the powers that be at the Evansville Convention and Visitor’s Bureau are hopefully taking note of the lifestyle reasons for conventions to make the choices they do and comparing what the winners have that cannot be built with bricks to what Evansville has to offer?
IS IT TRUE the President of the United States is now in a war of words to save his presidency?…people on both sides of the aisle in congress and in the streets of every city in America (even the liberal ones like San Francisco) are questioning the competence and the interest that the President has in doing his job?…here in Evansville a full 90% of respondents to a poll gives the President an F or D for the implementation of ObamaCare?…the negative ratings on job approval now exceed positive ratings by 13%?…the Sunday morning talk shows and the weekend articles were relentless in pointing out hubris, imperialism, and outright incompetence in the Presidents recent actions from the tangible failures of the website to the dismissive language of the neo-apology issued Thursday?…one writer poignantly asked “would you hire President Obama to manage anything? a well know Canadian writer Mark Steyn ended his weekly column by asking if the following was on the horizon, “IF YOU LIKE YOUR CONSTITUTION, YOU CAN KEEP IT. PERIOD. EXCEPT FOR THESE AMENDMENTS, WHICH ARE JUNK ANYWAY?â€â€¦the tragic thing is that the truth is that this President had demonstrated that when it comes to actually doing something he is inept AND that when it comes to following the laws of the land and even the Constitution that he does not?…it seems like that part of the Oath of Office to uphold the Constitution of the United States is about as true to President Obama as “if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. Period?â€
IS IT TRUE the real question is whether or not the people of this country like the Constitution and whether they have the will to “defend and protect†the Constitution as the President is sworn to do but seems to need an intervention on?
St. Mary’s Diabetic Foot Clinic to hold “Healthy Steps to Healthy Feet” Presentation
St. Mary’s Diabetic Foot Clinic will hold a FREE “Healthy Steps to Healthy Feet†presentation Wednesday, November 20th at 5:30 p.m. in the St. Mary’s Amphitheatre, located on the lower level of the hospital.
The presentation is open to anyone with diabetes, their families, and caregivers. Certified Wound Therapist Karla Whitaker will address the following topics:
- How diabetes can affect the feet
- Proper foot care tips
- Footwear recommendations
- Steps that can be taken to prevent foot problems such as nerve damage, foot ulcers, and amputation
According to the American Diabetes Association, 60% of non-traumatic lower limb amputations occur in people with diabetes. More than 25 million children and adults in the United States – 8.3% of the population – have diabetes.
Registration is not required to attend this community presentation. For more information, call the St. Mary’s Diabetic Foot Clinic at 812-485-7330.
Women’s Hospital Best Place to Work
The Women’s Hospital has been ranked as the 2nd best place to work in health care from Modern Healthcare, a national healthcare industry news source read by more than 245,000 healthcare professionals. This is the fourth consecutive year for TWH to be on this list. Last year, the hospital was named the 2nd best place to work in healthcare and in 2011, the 8th best place.
“We are a team at The Women’s Hospital,†said Chris Ryan, CEO of The Women’s Hospital. “Our employees have helped to create and sustain a unique culture – one that fosters open communication, courtesy and commitment. Employee engagement on key decisions, process improvements and quality creates a positive patient environment. Receiving this award for the fourth year in a row is a direct result of our employees and the culture they have developed.â€
The Women’s Hospital is the top-ranking hospital in our region to receive Modern Healthcare’s best place to work in healthcare award.
The national award recognizes outstanding employers in the health care industry. The selection of the ‘best of the best’ is made after a stringent evaluation process. The program, which was open to all healthcare companies with at least 25 employees, collected information from both the employer and employees. Employees selected at random by Modern Healthcare were asked in-depth questions that resulted in an analysis in eight core areas: leadership and planning, culture and communications, role satisfaction, working environment, relationship with supervisor, training and development, pay and benefits and overall satisfaction.
Committee fails to make Common Core recommendation
By Lesley Weidenbener
TheStatehouseFile.com
INDIANAPOLIS – A legislative committee created solely to study whether Indiana should continue implementing the controversial Common Core educational standards adjourned for the year Friday without making a recommendation.
State Rep. Bob Behning, R-Indianapolis, is the co-chair of the Interim Study Committee on Common Core Educational Standards and said the group was charged with making a recommendation about the standards to the State Board of Education. But the group couldn’t get a majority vote on its proposal. Photo by Lesley Weidenbener, TheStatehouseFile.com
Republicans on the evenly divided committee called for the State Board of Education to abandon Common Core in favor of standards that would be based on “Hoosier common sense.â€
But the lone Democrat who showed up for Friday’s meeting voted no, denying the GOP the votes needed to send the recommendation to the State Board of Education.
Rep. Justin Moed, D-Indianapolis, said his vote wasn’t as much intended to support Common Core – a set of national standards adopted by more than 40 states – as it was a protest of the process that led to the committee proposal. He said the group heard hours of testimony for and against Common Core but never had a working session to try to hammer out a recommendation that a majority of members could support.
State Rep. Justin Moed, D-Indianapolis, was the one Democrat to show up for the final meeting of the Interim Study Committee on Common Core Educational Standards. Moed voted against a GOP proposal to abandon Common Core in favor of state-created standards and it failed to pass. Photo by Lesley Weidenbener, TheStatehouseFile.com
Instead, he said, Republicans – who chair the Interim Study Committee on Common Core Educational Standards and hold the majority in the Indiana House and Senate – distributed the proposed recommendation a day before the meeting.
“This committee was set up by the legislature and the governor to be a bipartisan committee,†Moed said. “And in order to do that, the parties have to work together. And the only parties working together on this issue were the Republican Party and the tea party.â€
None of the committee’s other five Democrats attended Friday’s meeting, although they’ve been to three previous meetings that included more than 25 hours of public and expert testimony on the issue.
Republican members said they would still send the proposal to the state board, even if it doesn’t have the endorsement of the committee.
Rep. Rhonda Rhoads, R-Corydon, said Friday she’s disappointed the Interim Study Committee on Common Core Educational Standards couldn’t reach an agreement on a proposal to abandon the standards and replace them with some drafted by Indiana officials. Bu she said the board’s indecision should send a message to the State Board of Education that there’s no consensus support for Common Core. Photo by Lesley Weidenbener, TheStatehouseFile.com
Rep. Rhonda Rhoads, R-Corydon, said she was disappointed the group couldn’t get enough votes to pass the measure. But she said the committee’s split on the issue should be a signal to the Board of Education that there’s no consensus that Common Core is the right direction.
“We need to work on finding a better solution for our students,†Rhoads said.
Common Core is a set of K-12 school standards created by a group of state education officials and endorsed by President Barack Obama’s administration. The State Board of Education voted in 2010 to start phasing in Common Core, a decision that drew little attention.
But as educational materials associated with the standards began to emerge, so did opposition and the General Assembly voted earlier this year to pause its implementation for a second look. The legislative committee’s recommendation was to be part of that process.
One of the committee’s co-chairs, Rep. Bob Behning, R-Indianapolis, started Friday’s meeting saying the group had an obligation to approve a recommendation. But he said he wasn’t surprised that several Democrats didn’t attend.
“Their absence obviously shows that they must not have a strong commitment to it,†he said.
Sen. Carlin Yoder, R-Middlebury, castigated Democrats for failing to show attend the group’s last meeting.
“It makes no sense to me after we’ve spent as much time as we did studying this and there’s not a desire to at least weigh in on this issue. I’m sick of walkouts,†Yoder said, a reference to Democratic walkouts in the Indiana House in 2012 over labor legislation.
Moed said Democrats did not coordinate an effort to skip Friday’s meeting. He said members had little notice the group was to meet and did not feel they had input into the proposed recommendation.
Lesley Weidenbener is executive editor at TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.
BUCSHON TO TOUR STORM DAMAGE
Congressman Bucshon will be touring Washington, IN this afternoon with Governor Pence to survey the damage from yesterday’s storm. The group will meet at Bethany Christian Church (1139 S. IN 57, Washington) at 4pm ET.
Congressman Bucshon will also make a stop in Knox County to tour the area with Sheriff Morris. Congressman Bucshon and Sheriff Morris are expected to meet at the Mini Mart in Decker, IN (10870 US Highway 41, Decker, IN )at 1:30pm ET.
Vincennes Teen Escapes Serious Injury, Arrested for DUI
Knox County – Indiana State Police arrested a Vincennes teen this morning for driving while intoxicated after she swerved to avoid a deer and lost control of her vehicle.Â
Preliminary investigation revealed at approximately 8:40 a.m., Bailey Dreiman, 18, of Vincennes, was driving her 2004 Dodge Ram pickup truck northbound on Monroe City Road approximately ½ mile north of Wheatland Road. She swerved to avoid a deer, but overcorrected and lost control. Her vehicle rolled onto its roof and came to a final rest on the roadway. Dreiman was wearing her seat belt and only received minor injuries. Further investigation revealed she had been consuming alcohol and had a blood alcohol content of .19%. After she was treated and released at Good Samaritan Hospital in Vincennes, she was taken to the Knox County Jail where she is currently being held on bond.
ARRESTED AND CHARGE:
• Bailey Dreiman, 18, Vincennes, IN
1. Driving While Intoxicated, Class A Misdemeanor
Investigating Officer: Trooper Ryan Johnson, Indiana State Police
Analysis: Answers could come soon on marriage amendment
By Lesley Weidenbener
TheStatehouseFile.com
Lesley Weidenbener, managing editor, TheStatehouseFile.com
INDIANAPOLIS – The biggest question about the upcoming session of the Indiana General Assembly is how legislative leaders will handle a proposed constitutional amendment to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman.
Referred to by many as a ban on same-sex marriage, the proposal has already passed the legislature once. If it passes again, the amendment goes to the ballot for possible ratification by voters.
But it’s not been clear whether House Speaker Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, and Senate President Pro Tem David Long, R-Fort Wayne, plan to allow votes on the proposal at all. And recently, they’ve been avoiding the question.
That might be about to change – and the answer could affect the rest of the legislative session.
The leaders will be part of a panel Monday sponsored by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce, which has not taken a stand on the amendment. In past events, questions for the panel have typically come from the chamber’s president, Kevin Brinegar, and from business leaders in the audience.
It seems unlikely the same-sex issue won’t come up, particularly because the event is on the eve of the legislature’s Organization Day. That’s the official start of the 2014 session, although work won’t begin in earnest until January.
So even if the question doesn’t come up at Monday’s panel, it will certainly be posed by reporters on Tuesday.
Bosma and Long’s silence on the issue so far seems to indicate indecision about the issue among Republicans, who have quorum-proof majorities in both the House and Senate. That’s no surprise – but it is a change.
The marriage amendment passed easily – with both Republican and Democratic support – in 2011.
Then last year, the leaders announced they were postponing votes on the amendment because the U.S. Supreme Court was considering another state’s marriage laws. Bosma and Long said then that they planned votes in 2014 and expected the measure to pass.
But much has changed.
This summer, the high court struck down the federal Defense of Marriage law, essentially opening federal benefits to legally married, same-sex couples. However, the court said states could still impose bans.
A coalition of businesses and other organizations that oppose the amendment have nabbed some pretty high-profile members of late, including Indiana University, Ball State University, Emmis Communications and the Indy Chamber. Already, two of Central Indiana’s biggest employers – Eli Lilly & Co. and Cummins Inc. – are on board.
Meanwhile, public opinion has been moving quickly, with more and more Hoosiers saying they either oppose the constitutional amendment or support same-sex marriage.
The WISH-TV/Ball State Hoosier Survey revealed last week that Hoosiers are split on the issue of legalizing same-sex marriage, with 48 percent supporting the idea and 46 percent opposing it – a statistical tie.
But the poll also found that just 38 percent of respondents support the marriage amendment while 58 percent are opposed.
Ball State political science professor Ray Scheele told WISH-TV that the opposition to the amendment is growing. “And that’s been true over the last couple of years,†he said.
Legislative leaders have some tough decisions to make about the proposal. We may find out soon which way they are leaning.
Lesley Weidenbener is executive editor of TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.
Commentary: Ritz, ed board & GOP leaders need to act like adults
By John Krull
TheStatehouseFile.com
John Krull, publisher, TheStatehouseFile.com
INDIANAPOLIS – One of the most important lessons good parents teach toddlers is that not getting one’s way is no excuse for behaving badly.
It appears that much of Indiana’s educational and political leadership never got that valuable piece of developmental training.
On Wednesday, a meeting of the Indiana Board of Education descended into – well, chaos would be too kind a term. Some hybrid of blood feud and epic temper tantrum would be closer to the mark.
Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz closed and then walked out of the meeting after a board member made a motion she said was inappropriate and illegal. The board members, all of whom were appointed by Republican governors, accused Ritz of thwarting reform and unfairly using her position as chair to stifle discussion. Ritz accused Gov. Mike Pence, a Republican, of attempting to deny the will of the voters and take over education. Pence responded with a statement and an op-ed piece that made it seem as if Ritz’s conduct were something he needed to scrape off the bottom of his shoe.
By the time it was done, the Statehouse walls had been spattered with more mud than a happy hog would encounter in a lifetime.
There’s plenty of blame to go around in this debacle.
Let’s start with the board of education and their Republican backers.
Ever since Ritz won a surprise victory in last November’s election, defeating school choice darling Tony Bennett, the self-proclaimed education reformers have done everything they can to deny the reality of that vote. They have worked to curtail Ritz’s authority from the get-go – even engaging in the foolishness of saying at times that the voters’ verdict didn’t matter.
In addition to signaling contempt for the processes of self government, these advocates for choice have undercut their own message by suggesting that the only “choice†they’re willing to accept from voters and parents is the one that has their stamp on it.
If they were smart – a big if given the addiction to folly they’ve shown so far – Republicans would back off and force Ritz to try to push her own agenda rather than continuing to allow her to play Joan of Arc in resisting them. They have made her a much bigger presence than she ever could have made herself.
And then there’s Ritz.
If Republicans have been foolish and arrogant in refusing to accept a message from the voters, Ritz and her backers in the teachers’ union have been almost willfully delusional. They have interpreted her win last November as a mandate for her to assume powers over education policy a president in war time would envy.
What the Ritz crowd doesn’t get – or chooses to ignore – is that last November’s election wasn’t anything like a mandate for her.
What the voters did last fall was reject Tony Bennett, her Republican predecessor as state school superintendent. Voters didn’t like Bennett’s arrogance, his refusal to give any consideration to the views of anyone who didn’t agree with him completely and his impatient haste to disregard any information that might not support his approach to education.
Ritz was the instrument voters could use to register their opposition to Bennett. She was a handy club voters could use to beat a man they didn’t like and, in some cases, even despised.
But that doesn’t mean that the voters had any particular devotion to the club they used. Last year’s vote was more about Bennett than it was about Ritz.
It certainly wasn’t a groundswell of support to make Ritz into some sort of Bennett-in-reverse education czar.
The reality is that Hoosiers remain divided about education policy. They know they want good schools for their children, but they also want to know that the people responsible for their children’s futures have more on their minds than winning ideological or partisan battles. Hoosiers want to see the people in charge of the state’s schools work together.
The fact that the people charged with the responsibility for educating their children – and preserving their futures – are behaving like three-year-olds at a day care who have been fed too much sugar and denied their nap times isn’t likely to reassure Hoosiers that their kids are in good hands.
This is a situation that calls out for leadership.
The question is: Who is going to provide it?
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.
