Below is a list of felony cases that were filed by the Vanderburgh County Prosecutor’s Office on Friday, June 28, 2013.
Larry Gray Intimidation-Class D Felony
False Informing-Class B 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 yet another case of the Evansville City Council being treated as an irrelevant bunch of stooges by the Winnecke Administration Mole #28 put us onto a trail that led to an order for 96 speed humps?…these speed humps cost the City of Evansville $8,821.32 and were ordered in March of 2013?…the City took delivery of these 96 speed humps in April of 2013 a full 2 months before this City Council approved this expenditure?…the CCO realizes that this is a relative pittance when it comes to a budget of $130 Million plus but the point being made is that if the City Council needed to approve this but the order was placed and delivered before that approval was granted, why do we need a City Council?…the same utter disregard for seeking City Council approval was exhibited by former Mayor Weinzapfel when he committed the City of Evansville to the Johnson Controls deal during his last days in office without seeking Council approval for a $57 Million deal?…it seems as though these last two mayors of Evansville have not only been disrespectful of the City Council but they have been presumptive about spending as well?…the only way this sort of disregard for separation of powers will ever be stopped is if the City Council gets off of its lap dog arse and says no to presumptive spending by our monarchy of mayors?
IS IT TRUE that former Mayor Weinzapfel is back in the news with another op-ed article to scrub or obscure his record as the steward of the people of Evansville’s money?…this time it is yet another scrub the record manifesto in which our former Mayor challenges the findings of the State Board of Accounts with respect to the Ford Center construction project?…in point after point the former Mayor attempted to discredit or spin the findings?…if this former Mayor would have been watching the finances of the City of Evansville with the diligence that he is now trying to rewrite his own history we may actually have a hotel downtown, reconciled accounts, a completed McCurdy project, and be well on the way to repairing the combined overflow sewer debacle?…it would be a refreshing change to ever have a mayor that is “we†assertive instead of “I†assertive?
IS IT TRUE the demographic profile of the readers of the CCO has always been over 45 years old, educated, and in the higher tiers of earnings?…City Councilman Jonathan Weaver may have garnered a bunch of votes in the last City Council election, if the CCO polls are any indication he has little support among our demographic?…so far Mr. Weaver has lost in Mayoral polls to former Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel, Councilman John Friend, former Commissioner and losing candidate for the Democrat nomination for Mayor Troy Tornatta, and a real live dog named Blue?…the only other person to pair him against is Sheriff Eric Williams who is an unannounced but often speculated about candidate for Mayor in 2015?…our next poll will pair Weaver against Williams after which we will start doing match-ups without Mr. Weaver if he gets trounced by Williams?…as we have said before, Councilman Weaver does enjoy some serious support but after the recent polls that support is not among the experienced, the educated, or the affluent?
IS IT TRUE in San Antonio, Texas where energy is deregulated and competition is fierce the cost of a kWh or power is 8.5 cents?…that is more than across the river in Henderson, KY where the City owns the utility but roughly half of what the people of Evansville pay here is regulated Indiana where the legislated monopoly of choice does pretty much anything they can talk the IURC into?
The joke’s on us
New York City used to be a national punchline. If we elect Anthony Weiner, it will be again.
By KYLE SMITH
Anthony Weiner knew he faced a stiff challenge, that he’d be a lightning rod for jokes while getting the shaft from the press. But after blowing a load of money on campaign research, now he’s a big thing. Polling of the electorate shows a rapid rise in his fortunes, he’s still got a huge wad of cash in the bank and New York City voters are starting to say he’s a stand-up guy with an impressive package of ideas. Last week, he exploded in the polls, finishing first in one and a close second in another. Now that he’s officially a member of the political club again, you know he’s got a feeling deep in his loins that it’s time to whip out his true self and act like the cock of the walk on the third leg of his career. If there were anyplace you could smoke anymore, he’d be puffing a Winston and asking New York, “Did you feel the Earth move?â€
Sick of such puns? Just wait until Weiner wins — you won’t be able to escape them.
Weiner is starting to look like the tallest guy in Smurfopolis, what with Christine Quinn failing to build any momentum from a huge early lead and the other Democratic mayoral candidates scrambling to offer the most extravagant promises to make the schools worse, the streets more dangerous and the balance sheet insolvent.
Meanwhile, in the Republican ghetto where one in seven voters lives, former Deputy Mayor Joseph Lhota holds a lead, but he’s going to need a whole Lhota luck to stand a chance against any well-funded liberal Democrat with an approval rating higher than herpes.
Speaking of sexually transmitted diseases that just won’t go away: That leaves Anthony Weiner with a good chance of being our representative on the world stage.
Weiner would be a grandiose, overreaching mayor. Because the nation’s highest taxes are still far too low, he thinks New York City should give health insurance to 500,000 illegal immigrants — and, presumably, all the others who flow in after them when word gets around — on the pretext that this would lower costs. Taking on health care from City Hall is like trying to solve Syria or global warming.
We shouldn’t be surprised — it’s not like we weren’t warned that Weiner is a reckless and dishonest egomaniac with an absurdly inflated view of his own potency.
Between his policies, his personality and his perversions, a Mayor Weiner would return New York City to where it was before the relative sanity of the 20 years of Giuliani-Bloomberg: national laughingstock.
Image does matter in a city where tourism is one of the leading industries, a place Mayor Bloomberg dubbed (not inaccurately) a luxury good worth the high prices.
Before Rudy Giuliani stormed Godzilla-like through the city breathing fire on the various obstacles to progress, Gotham was for 30 years synonymous with pollution, disorder, crime, dysfunction and general looniness. A nightly onslaught of jokes from the likes of “Tonight Show†host Johnny Carson (who moved the show to Burbank in 1972) and lesser punditry drove home the idea that New York was a place best avoided.
(Sample Carson line: “New York is an exciting town where something is happening all the time . . . most unsolved.â€)
Weiner thinks he can put his scandal behind him, but the details are too irresistible for anyone to forget. These jokes are from last week alone:
Jimmy Fallon: “A new poll found that former Congressman Anthony Weiner only has a 15% chance of winning the race for New York City mayor. Although in his defense, he’s a grower not a shower.â€
Stephen Colbert: “Weiner would be a great New York City mayor. For one thing, we wouldn’t have to worry about a soda ban because we’ve all seen that he puts more than 16 ounces in his cup.â€
Jay Leno: “The Wall Street Journal said that Mr. Weiner didn’t respond to an e-mail seeking comment. Hey, Anthony Weiner didn’t e-mail or text you back? Consider yourself lucky!â€
You think any talk-show host will stop making these jibes one, two, even four years into a Weiner term?
No matter which Democrat wins, we’re probably doomed to a return of the cycle of buying off unions and other interest groups, holding back cops, raising taxes and driving out businesses.
But Weiner’s prominence would magnify his every failure and make it national news, a self-fulfilling prophecy that could reverse the 20-year trend of people and businesses being eager to move here.
We would become a 4-year-long dick joke.
It’s New Yorkers who are to blame, of course. As a city, we’re attracted to outsize personalities, from Ed Koch to Giuliani.
Zoeller: States had to defend their legal authority to define marriage
INDIANAPOLIS – the United States Supreme Court issued its opinions in two cases regarding same-sex marriage: Hollingsworth v. Perry, the Proposition 8 case, and U.S. v. Windsor, the DOMA case. Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller’s Office had authored amicus briefs, filed with the Court on behalf of Indiana and many other states, in support of the authority of state governments to legally recognize the traditional marriage definition. Zoeller today issued this statement:
“While my office is duty bound to defend the authority of our state legislature and their decisions, I recognize that people have strongly held and vastly different views on the issue of marriage and ask that everyone show respect with civility to our Supreme Court and our constitutional system. Regardless of the different views people may hold, marriage should be a source of unity and not division,†Zoeller said.
On January 29, Zoeller’s office filed with the Supreme Court an amicus brief, authored by Indiana Solicitor General Thomas M. Fisher in the U.S. v. Windsor case. The brief, which urged the Court to leave intact the 1996 federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), was joined, or signed on to, by state attorneys general of 16 other states. To express their legal positions to the U.S. Supreme Court in cases where they are not plaintiffs or defendants, states such as Indiana often file amicus briefs, also called friend-of-the-court briefs.
Fisher also co-authored an amicus brief that Zoeller’s office jointly filed along with the State of Virginia in the related case, Hollingsworth v. Perry, that was joined by 17 other states. That brief also voiced support for the authority of California to adopt Proposition 8, a voter-approved referendum that had legally defined marriage in the traditional way within that state but was struck down by a federal appeals court.
The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the two cases on March 26 and 27 and issued its decisions today. The majority opinion in the Windsor case struck down the federal DOMA law as unconstitutional but confined the holding to those states where same-sex marriage already is lawful. The majority opinion in the Perry case found that supporters of Proposition 8 lacked standing to appeal the lower court’s decision that struck down the California law.
As the lawyer for state government, Zoeller’s office is reviewing the Supreme Court opinions and will advise state legislators, the AG’s law clients, as to the impact on Indiana statutes. Zoeller noted the two merits-stage amicus briefs were drafted and filed at no additional cost or expense to taxpayers and Solicitor General Fisher’s work on them was within the office’s regular budget, approved by the Legislature in advance.
A bill to repeal ObamaCare’s definition of full-time employment
(Washington, DC) – Representative Larry Bucshon (R-Ind.) signed on as an original co-sponsor to the Saving American Workers (SAW) Act on Friday. The SAW Act would repeal the Affordable Care Act’s (ObamaCare) arbitrary definition of full-time employment as 30 hours a week. This bill would restore the traditional 40 hour workweek and protects the hours and wages for middle class employees.
Bucshon expressed his concerns that we are at risk of becoming a nation of part-time employees under a law that fails to address the fundamental problem of skyrocketing costs.
“The SAW Act puts an end to ObamaCare’s arbitrary definition of a full-time workweek at 30 hours,†said Bucshon. “This provision is costing employees their hours at work and the wages they rely on to support their family, invest in their community, and save for their future. We should be focused on doing everything we can to help Americans find meaningful employment, not limit their opportunities with a law like ObamaCare. I am proud to join my colleagues as an original co-sponsor of this legislation.â€
Without action, this trend is expected to continue as we get closer to the January 2014 implementation deadline.
Full text of the bill can be found here http://toddyoung.house.gov/save-american-workers . The bill currently has 113 co-sponsors.
EXAMPLES IN INDIANA AND ACROSS THE COUNTRY
This week, Bucshon visited Wolfe’s Auto Auction in Terre Haute, Indiana to discuss the impact of the employer mandate and 30 hour definition of full-time employment in ObamaCare.
“Wolfe’s is one of countless small businesses, nation-wide, that will be forced, under the President’s current proposal, to streamline its workforce: drastically reducing the number of full-time employees, and holding a vast majority of its work staff to a less-than-30-hours work week.†(WTHI; 6/25/13)
“Similar to other businesses across the country, Wolfe’s Auto Auction in Terre Haute says it is cutting work hours of several of its employees because of the insurance mandates of the federal Affordable Care Act…The reason cited? The Affordable Care Act defines a full-time worker as anyone who works 30 hours or more each week, and businesses will be required to provide health insurance to all of their full-time employees.†(TribStar; 6/25/13)
“The law requires large employers offering health insurance to include part-time employees working 30 hours a week or more…Consider the city of Long Beach. It is limiting most of its 1,600 part-time employees to fewer than 27 hours a week, on average.†(LATimes; 5/2/13)
“The nation’s largest movie theater chain has cut the hours of thousands of employees, saying in a company memo that ObamaCare requirements are to blame. Regal Entertainment Group, which operates more than 500 theaters in 38 states, last month rolled back shifts for non-salaried workers to 30 hours per week, putting them under the threshold at which employers are required to provide health insurance.†(Fox News; 4/15/13)
“Fort Wayne Community Schools is trimming the hours of more than 600 part-time teaching aides and cafeteria workers in anticipation of a projected budget shortfall and to satisfy the requirements of the federal health care law, a school official said. Kathy Friend, chief financial officer for FWCS, said the school district is dropping 610 employees from 30 hours to 25 hours per week starting June 3, rather than provide them with health insurance as mandated by impending federal regulations.†(Journal Gazette; 5/27/13).
NOTE: Rep. Bucshon has consistently raised concerns over the impact of the 30 hour definition will have on middle class families and our nation’s economy.
He recently joined Reps. Phil Roe (R-Tenn.) and Trey Radel (R-Fla.) to pen an Op-Ed for The Hill to discuss how ObamaCare is costing hours at wages and hours at work. The full text can be found by clicking here.
Bucshon also discussed this issue in an Education and the Workforce hearing as well as on the House floor.
Rep. Larry Bucshon is a medical doctor and practiced heart surgery for over 15 years before being elected to Congress in 2010.
Claims focused on ratings of structured finance securities
INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller filed a state lawsuit, on behalf of Secretary of State Connie Lawson’s office, against Standard & Poor’s for allegedly putting profits and market share above its objectivity when rating structured finance securities.
As the lawyer for state government, Zoeller filed the action in Marion County on behalf of the Indiana Secretary of State’s office and Securities Commissioner Chris Naylor. This lawsuit is part of a joint effort by more than a dozen states and the U.S. Department of Justice, all of which have filed complaints against S&P for alleged misconduct involving its analysis of toxic mortgage-backed securities.
“Investment banks, investors and regulators look to the nation’s credit rating agencies to independently rate the risks of financial products,†Zoeller said. “Leading up to the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, Standard and Poor’s made promises of objectivity but misled investors into purchasing financial products – like mortgage-backed securities – that they might not otherwise have invested in. The State, through its securities enforcement statutes, is committed to taking strong legal action against those that wrongfully mislead investors.â€
Zoeller said S&P is paid lucrative fees for rating its clients’ securities which are packaged and sold on Wall Street. The complaint alleges that S&P adjusted its analytical models for rating residential mortgage-backed securities and other structured finance securities to achieve the ratings that its clients desired.
Indiana’s complaint does not challenge S&P’s ratings of Indiana’s state and municipal securities. The complaint alleges McGraw Hill Financial, Inc. and its subsidiary Standard & Poor’s Financial Services, LLC violated the Indiana Uniform Securities Act by misrepresenting the objectivity and independence of its rating process with respect to certain structured-finance securities. The lawsuit primarily seeks injunctive relief to force S&P to comply with Indiana securities laws and civil penalties.
“I believe S&P intentionally misled the marketplace at a time when our country needed accurate information the most,†Lawson said. “Through enforcing Indiana’s securities law, we plan to hold S&P accountable for its actions. Both retail and institutional investors deserve accurate, independent and objective ratings when investing and we cannot have companies defrauding the marketplace in the pursuit of ill-gotten gains.â€
According to the lawsuit, the company intentionally misrepresented that its analysis of structured finance securities was objective, independent and not influenced by its clients’ financial interests from about 2004 to 2012. However, by 2001 the company’s “…desire to maximize revenue and market share by rating as many structured finance deals as possible led S&P to cater to the preferences of large investment banks and other repeat issuers of structured finance securities that dominated S&P’s revenue base.â€
Zoeller said other states may also file lawsuits against the company for misleading investors while emphasizing its independent and objective ratings process.
Zoeller and Lawson thanked Deputy Attorney General Lisa Wolf and Securities Division Litigation Counsel Matthew Allen for their work on this case.
