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Judge to decide soon if Ritz can sue board with own attorneys

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By Lesley Weidenbener
TheStatehouseFile.com

INDIANAPOLIS – A judge could decide as early as Friday whether to dismiss a lawsuit that state Superintendent Glenda Ritz has filed against 10 members of the Board of Education she chairs.

Indiana Deputy Attorney General David Arthur, left, and other lawyers from the attorney general office leave a Marion County Circuit courtroom Tuesday after a hearing in a lawsuit filed by state Superintendent Glenda Ritz. Arthur argued Ritz doesn't have the authority to use her own attorneys for teh suit. Photo by Lesley Weidenbener, TheStatehouseFile.com

Lawyers from the Indiana attorney general’s office leave a hearing Tuesday after a hearing on a lawsuit filed by state Superintendent Glenda Ritz. The attorney general’s office argued Ritz doesn’t have the authority to use her own attorneys for the suit. Photo by Lesley Weidenbener, TheStatehouseFile.com

Marion Circuit Judge Louis Rosenberg said he’d give time for Ritz’s attorneys to file additional arguments in the case before he ruled on Attorney General Greg Zoeller’s request that he throw out the suit.

Zoeller says that he’s the only attorney who can represent a state office holder, agency or government commission in court. Ritz used attorneys in her office to file the suit. One of those attorneys – Michael Moore – told the court Tuesday that’s an exception allowed by law.

But although Rosenberg didn’t make an immediate decision, the judge hinted Tuesday that Ritz’s attorneys have a high hurdle to clear in winning their argument.

Rosenberg said he didn’t “see a distinction between” the current case and a previous one involving a former governor and what was then the state Alcoholic Beverage Commission. In that case, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled that only the attorney general could represent the governor.

Deputy Attorney General David Arthur agreed on Tuesday, telling the court that Ritz “is not entitled to hire counsel to represent her.”

The focus of Tuesday’s hearing was on the role of the attorney general in representing state officials in court. The question is whether it’s an option or an exclusive responsibility.

There was no discussion in court about the underlying lawsuit, which accuses 10 members of the State Board of Education – who were all appointed by Republican governors – of violating the state’s Open Door Law by taking official action without meeting in public for a debate and vote.

The lawsuit followed a letter the board members signed last month that asked GOP legislative leaders to have the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency calculate A-F school grades, even before the Department of Education had finished working on the data.

Ritz’s spokesman, Daniel Altman, would not comment on the lawsuit Tuesday. But Ritz has previously said that the Department of Education is working diligently on the school grades and that the board should not have asked lawmakers to intervene without a public discussion and vote.

Zoeller has said he’s not taking sides in the underlying dispute. In a statement Tuesday, he said the only issue before the court now is “whether an attorney can represent the state of Indiana without the consent of the attorney general. “

“My office is not adverse to any of our clients but we are only defending the well-established case law that helps avoid the disputes in the Statehouse from coming before the judicial branch of government,” Zoeller said.

Lesley Weidenbener is managing editor of TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.

 

 

Commentary: No false witness in marriage debate, please

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November 5, 2013  |   Filed under: Commentary,Top stories  |   Posted by: 

By Abdul Hakim-Shabazz
IndyPoltics.Org

Abdul Hakim-Shabazz is an attorney and the editor and publisher of IndyPoltics.Org.

Abdul Hakim-Shabazz is an attorney and the editor and publisher of IndyPoltics.Org.

Recently on my weekend radio program on WIBC-FM in Indianapolis, we were discussing the proposed marriage amendment Indiana lawmakers will likely take up when they return in January.

Commentary button in JPG - no shadowI had a caller on the air who said while he did not have a problem personally with same-gender marriage, he was worried that his church would be sued, presumably by the American Civil Liberties Union and be forced to perform such ceremonies.

I asked him who told him that and he said his pastor. I politely told him has pastor was misinformed and while anyone can sue anyone in America, I could not – after 10 years of being an attorney – imagine a situation in which a court would force a bona fide church to perform a same-gender wedding.

That call did not surprise me in the sense that one of the standard lines supporters of the marriage amendment have been spouting is that it would force churches or any other religious organizations to recognize and perform same-gender ceremonies.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

And everyone who is being intellectually honest knows this – unless they have willfully chosen to violate that commandment about bearing false witness, which would then make me want to violate the one about taking the Lord’s name in vain.

The law has always granted special exemptions to churches and religious organizations. The issue arises when the church or religious group opens their facilities to the public; that’s where things get a little complicated.

For example, if a church rented an apartment building only to members of its congregation or faith, then it is not opening its doors to the public and it can exclude anyone who doesn’t fit that criteria. However, if the building was open to everyone, then the church has to take everyone or lose its tax-exempt status. A bunch of private southern colleges found this out the hard way back in the 1960s when they tried to exclude people with my skin complexion from enrolling in their fine institutions of higher learning.

For the most part, churches enjoy what’s called the “ministerial exception” to anti-discrimination laws. This is why women can’t sue the Catholic church in order to become priests, Christian schools can fire an unmarried, pregnant teacher, and my wife’s pastor could refuse to perform our wedding four years ago because one of us wasn’t a Christian and had no plans on converting anytime soon.

The literature on this subject is pretty extensive if people will just take the time to look it up. If they don’t, it is because they either don’t know, which I can forgive and which is why I decided to write this column in the first place. They are willfully ignorant and don’t know want to know.

Or in the worst-case scenario – which I suspect is true in most cases – they know better but have decided to engage in deception in order to promulgate fear and scare lawmakers into putting the marriage amendment on the ballot and then frighten the public into voting for it.

I’m not a Christian, but that doesn’t seem like Christian behavior to me. If anything, it seems more like something a person would do if he were an agent of that other place with the fire and brimstone.

Abdul is an attorney and the editor and publisher of IndyPoltics.Org. He is also a frequent contributor to numerous Indiana media outlets. He can be reached at abdul@indypolitics.org.

Louisville to get $22 Million upscale new downtown hotel, no public support announced

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Louisville Hotel

Construction will begin early next year for the 2015 opening of a 175-room boutique hotel downtown at First and Main Streets in downtown Louisville across the Whiskey Row district, developer Steve Poe announced Wednesday.

The $22 million, eight-story, Aloft brand hotel will feature a bar on Main Street, drawing on local attractions including the KFC Yum! Center arena.

The price of $22 Million for 175 rooms works out to about $125,000 per room as opposed to the $172,000 per room budget for the 3 Star Doubletree planned for downtown Evansville.

“I am excited to have this hotel built right in the heart of Louisville’s downtown, with the restaurants and bars of the entertainment district,” Mayor Greg Fischer said in a release. No commitment of public funding to attract this investment has been released at this time.

Vanderburgh County Treasure’s Office

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Vanderburgh_County_in_sealThe Vanderburgh County Treasurer’s Office will NOT be open for business on Monday, November 11.  The office is closed in observance of Veterans Day.

Property taxes are due Tuesday, November 12!  Please make this correction.

USI Theatre presents Tony Award-winning comedy “In the Next Room”

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USI

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The University of Southern Indiana Theatre continues its 2013 fall season with three-time Tony Award-winning comedy In the Next Room or the vibrator play, by Sarah Ruhl. The show is set in the 1890s, when the use of the newly developed electric vibrator was gaining popularity with doctors as a way to treat women’s hysteria. The show explores different aspects of women’s lives during the Victorian era, when women were raised to believe sex was something to be endured, not enjoyed.Performances of In the Next Room or the vibrator play run at 7:30 p.m. on November 15-16, 2:00 p.m. on November 17, and 7:30 p.m. November 19-22 in the Mallette Studio Theatre on the lower level of the Liberal Arts Center on USI’s campus. The play is directed by Elliot Wasserman, chair of the Department of Performing Arts at USI. He will be joined by a design team of USI students including Lyndsay Hill as costume designer, Erik McCandless as lighting designer, Zach Gent as scenic designer, and Mikael Drobny and Daniel Harris as co-sound designers.

The cast includes USI students Danielle Scott as Catherine Givings, Craig Patterson as Dr. Givings, Gwendolyn Snow as Sabrina Daldry, Taylor Kearschner as Annie, Nolan Spinks as Leo Irving, Enjoli Drake as Elizabeth, and Scott Cummings as Mr. Daldry.

Tickets are $7 for USI students, $12 for adults, and $10 for seniors (60+) and non-USI students. To purchase tickets or for more information, visitwww.usi.edu/theatre or call the box office at 812/465-1668. The production contains adult themes.

The remaining lineup for USI Theatre’s 2013-2014 season includes Medea by Robinson Jeffers and freely adapted from Euripides opening the spring season and running February 21-28. The final show of the spring season, Next to Normal with music by Tom Kitt and book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey, is part of the Repertory Project –a co-production of New Harmony Theatre and USI Theatre, and will run April 4-13. Tickets for the upcoming production are on sale now.

Best Value

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Accreditations

Best ValueHigher Learning Commission Mark of Affiliation

The University of Evansville is institutionally accredited as a degree granting institution by the Higher Learning Commission of the NorthCentral Association of Colleges and Schools.

North Central Association of Colleges and Schools
30 North LaSalle Street, Suite 2400
Chicago, Illinois, 60602-2504
ncahigherlearningcommission.org

In addition, specific programs offered by the University of Evansville are accredited by their appropriate specialized professional organizations. Accreditation by professional organizations informs the public that the specific program has met standards of quality established by that profession.

  • Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business
  • Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET
  • Computing Accreditation Commission of ABET
  • National Association of Schools of Music Commission on Accreditation
  • Indiana Department of Education*
  • National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission
  • Indiana State Board of Nursing
  • National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education
  • Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education
  • Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education

*By virtue of specialized program accreditation in engineering, nursing, education, physical therapy, and athletic training programs at the University of Evansville, students meet the minimum standards to sit for professional licensure examinations in these professional disciplines.

Approved by:

  • University Senate of the United Methodist Church
  • American Chemical Society
  • American Music Therapy Association
  • National Strength and Conditioning Association
  • American College of Sports Medicine

Current Rankings

  • #9 in the “Best Regional Universities: Midwest” category of U.S. News & World Report’s Best Colleges rankings (out of approximately 150 universities in 12 states)
  • #3 in “Great Schools at Great Prices” among Midwestern regional universities
  • “A-Plus School for B Students” in the Midwest
  • #36 in Washington Monthly’s rankings of master’s-granting universities (out of 682 nationwide)
  • Named one of the nation’s top 100 best value private colleges by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance
  • Named one of 155 “Best in the Midwest” universities by The Princeton Review
  • #318 on Forbes’ list of America’s Top Colleges
  • #13 among master’s institutions for study abroad participation, as ranked by the Institute of International Education’s Open Doors Report
  • Named one of the nation’s most “Military Friendly Schools” by Victory Media/G.I. Jobs
  • Named to the President’s 2012 Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, recognizing exemplary commitment to service and volunteering

Recent Institutional Honors and Awards

  • Received the 2011 Institutional Arts Award from the Arts Council of Southwestern Indiana, which honors a business or entity that shows exemplary support of the arts in our region
  • Named one of the nation’s “Coolest Schools” for sustainability by Sierra Magazine
  • Won the 2011 city-wide RecycleMania competition, placed first in the state of Indiana, and ranked 29th of 630 participating schools nationwide
  • Earned an Excellence Award (top-scoring category) for the fourth consecutive year in the 2013 GreenOvation awards (sponsored by Keep Evansville Beautiful and the Evansville Business Journal) recognizing beautification and conservation
  • Recognized for outstanding water conservation in the inaugural year of the City of Evansville’s Sustainable Evansville Awards

EVSC Schools to Host Veteran’s Day Assemblies Wednesday, November 6

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EVSCMany EVSC schools will host Veteran’s Day assemblies on Friday, Nov. 8, to honor local veterans. Below is a list of programs that will be conducted in EVSC schools.

 

  • North Junior High School, 8 a.m. – North Jr. High will celebrate Veteran’s Day with special guests Gina Moore and the Veteran’s Memorial Unit.
  • Scott School, 8:40 a.m. and 9:22 a.m. – Parents are invited to attend to hear music performed by the choir and veterans in the audience will be recognized.

 

  • Central High School, 9 a.m. – Guest speaker will be Stephen Melcher, Vanderburgh County Commissioner and U.S. Army Veteran. Central choir will sing and the band will play. There also will be a special honor guard tribute to all Veterans who have served in the Armed Forces. There also will be a tribute with the Unkown Soldier Flag and Wreath. Veterans from military organizations in the area were invited to the program.

 

  • Cynthia Heights, 9 a.m. – The school will honor Veteran’s Day from the parent’s point of view this year and have Amos Morris, director of Mesker Park Zoo, speak as the father of a son who is serving in the Air Force and Kittye Kuester, teacher at Cynthia Heights as a mother of a son serving in the Navy. A Marine Color Guard will also perform.

 

  • Reitz High School, 9:15 a.m. – Reception for Major General Richard Mustion, veterans and guests in cafeteria. All-School assembly at 10 a.m.  MG Mustion will be the guest speaker at the assembly. Special music provided by the Reitz band. At the close, Mustion will be recognized as an honorary Reitz Panther.
  • New Tech Institute, 9:30-11 a.m. – Students at New Tech, which centers its curriculum around Project Based Learning, will take this opportunity to interview approximately 20 combat veterans in Assembly Hall at the Southern Indiana Career and Technical Center.  Vets from nearly all foreign wars, including a WWII veteran, plan to be in attendance. Most are relatives of New Tech students.  Following the interview session, the 9th grade US History students will honor the veterans at a luncheon.  The event is funded through a grant from the Public Education Fund and the Love Foundation.

 

  • Lincoln School, 12:45 p.m. – Central High School JROTC will help Lincoln honor and recognize Veterans.
  • Helfrich Park STEM Academy, 1:15 p.m. – Helfrich Park will  have a reception for veterans visiting the school and at 1:50 p.m., an assembly is planned to introduce guest veterans, sing songs, view a PowerPoint and hear readings from VFW Patriot Essay submissions.

 

  • Harper Elementary School, 1:20 p.m. – Harper students will gather and sing patriotic songs, led by fifth grade students and the school choir, and recognize family members who have served in one of the military branches.

VANDERBURGH COUNTY FELONY CHARGES

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nick hermanBelow is a list of felony cases that were filed by the Vanderburgh County Prosecutor’s Office on Tuesday, November 05, 2013

 

Damien Armstead                           Intimidation-Class D Felony

Domestic Battery-Class A Misdemeanor

 

Samantha Newell                            Burglary-Class B Felony

Theft-Class D Felony

Possession of Schedule IV Controlled Substance-Class D Felony

 

Dana Sampson                                  Theft-Class D Felony

 

Jason Barrett                                     Theft-Class D Felony

 

Ty Doss                                                 Burglary-Class B Felony

Theft-Class D Felony

                                                                Possession of Methamphetamine-Class D Felony

Possession of Paraphernalia-Class A Misdemeanor

 

Jason Kappenman                           Domestic Battery-Class D Felony

 

Andrew Mathis                                Maintaining a Common Nuisance-Class D Felony

Dealing in a Synthetic Drug or Synthetic Drug Lookalike

Substance-Class D Felony

Possession of Marijuana-Class A Misdemeanor

 

Barbara Mathis                                 Maintaining a Common Nuisance-Class D Felony

Dealing in a Synthetic Drug or Synthetic Drug Lookalike

Substance-Class D Felony

Possession of Marijuana-Class A Misdemeanor

 

 

Kevin Sterling                                   Maintaining a Common Nuisance-Class D Felony

Dealing in a Synthetic Drug or Synthetic Drug Lookalike

Substance-Class D Felony

Possession of Marijuana-Class A Misdemeanor

 

 

 

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.

IS IT TRUE November 6, 2013

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Mole #3 Nostradamus of Local Politics
Mole #3 Nostradamus of Local Politics

IS IT TRUE November 6, 2013

IS IT TRUE that today is the first day of the 2014 election campaign and if the words heard on the major news channels last night are any indication the tone of the next several election cycles is being set already?…the Statehouse Mole Nation has leaked to the CCO that Joe Donnelly, the effective leader of the Indiana Democrat Party has made his preference known about who he would choose to oppose Congressman Larry Buschon for the 8th District Seat in the US House of Representatives?…Donnelly’s preference is none other than former Evansville Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel? That doesn’t mean the former Mayor who is according to our sources up to his eyeballs in private law practice will accept this de-facto nomination but according the Statehouse Moles, it is his if he wants it?…it will be very interesting to see who current Evansville Mayor Lloyd Winnecke will support next year if the former mayor really does accept this nomination and oppose what would be a third term for Republican Congressman Larry Buschon?…Mayor Winnecke will have to choose between the party that got him elected and the party that he is a member of?…this is called a conundrum?

IS IT TRUE in the important race for Vanderburgh County Commissioner next year the Mole Nation is telling us that Bruce Ungenthiem is quite interested in taking on perennial office holder and current Commissioner Marsha Abell?…for those who are not familiar with Mr. Ungenthiem he is one of the people of high significance that lead the charge to defeat consolidation by a 60 – 40 margin?…he is also visible in the vigilant questioning of the City of Evansville’s potentially illegal practice of charging customers who live in the county a 35% premium over what city dwellers pay for water and sewer services?…it is clear that Bruce Ungenthiem is very popular and more importantly admired in unincorporated Vanderburgh County?…Mr. Ungenthiem has also taken on a well financed and party supported initiative at the ballot box and smashed it flat with pragmatism and competence?…the CCO sees this race if it should happen shaping up to be a potential game changer for county governance and a well contested election in a place that is accustomed to paper tigers and non-existent opposition?

IS IT TRUE the race last night for Governor of Virginia is seen by some as a model for many congressional races in 2014?…the results were a Democrat defeated a Republican by a razor thin margin with less than 50% of the vote because an independent candidate siphoned off 7% of the vote?…given the political stance of the independent candidate it is safe to assume that those votes were siphoned off from the Republican candidate?…this race which was seen to be a referendum on ObamaCare shows the power of the Tea Party to get Democrats elected by fracturing the base of the Republican Party?…ObamaCare was supported by 47% of the Virginia voters and opposed by 53% in exit polls?…the total votes for the Republican + Independent was 53% and the Democrat got 47% exactly mirroring the sentiments toward ObamaCare?…in next year’s congressional elections if Virginia is a gauge of things to come Republicans will need for between 55% and 60% of the people to oppose ObamaCare to get elected in districts that have a Tea Party backed candidate?

IS IT TRUE as far as the 2016 Presidential election goes, Republican Governor of New Jersey Chris Christie who won this deep blue state by a 61 – 39 margin came out swinging at President Obama’s credibility issue?…Christie’s words to his supporters about running a transparent, honest government that represents all of the people as opposed to selected support groups was aimed squarely at President Obama’s Pinocchio dilemma and at any future Democrat challenger for the Presidency?…Christie of course is a centrist Republican and a straight shooter who had to siphon off many Democrat votes to win in New Jersey that typically votes for Democrats for everything?…he has also been willing to lay the strap across the backsides of traditional Democrat support organizations like the teacher’s union?…if the GOP is to ever retake the White House it will be with a candidate like Christie or Wisconsin Governor Walker both of who appeal to the thinking people in the middle and have open disdain for the extreme positions of both the far right and the far left?

IS IT TRUE it was confirmed that over 100,000 new people have received cancellation notices from their health insurance providers due to the requirements of ObamaCare in the last 24 hours?…as the hole gets deeper the lies coming from the White House keep getting more and more desperate?…it appears that an acknowledgment of deception and an apology are nowhere in sight?…even with President Obama’s approval now below 40% in the latest Gallup poll the response of the White House for being caught in lies is to lie about those lies?…by Christmas there may only be a couple of hundred people left in the country that do not believe the President lied to the American people?…they will all be employed in the White House?…we wonder just how much the sticker shock associated with the price of ObamaCare’s policies and the distraction of a White House living in delusion will affect the Christmas shopping season?…you can bet your arse that the dollars that will have to go to increased premiums will come straight out of the Christmas budgets of everyday Americans?

EPD ACTIVITY REPORT 11.5.2013

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EPD PATCH 2012

EPD ACTIVITY REPORT 11.5.2013

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