Indiana – Catch the latest addition 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 Major Douglas Shelton, Commander of the Indiana State Police Records Division. Major Shelton discusses the Indiana State Police firearms license responsibilities and the changes to the license application.

Excerpts:

“More than three years ago, the city of Hollywood borrowed $16 million to pay for a wireless communications platform, which would give residents free computer network service, as well as provide an automated water meter reader system and solar-powered parking meters. But the system doesn’t fully work. The idea was simple: install transmitters throughout the city that would allow water meters to be read and transmitted digitally and parking meters that would accept credit cards and work for all spaces. There would also be a secure network for police, fire and code enforcement officers. The bonus was a wireless network for the residents. But Johnson Controls, the company hired to handle the project, ran into problems installing enough access points — similar to antennas — throughout the city that would allow the system to work . . . Johnson Controls was met with problems. The automated meter reader system would not work because the digital equipment would not transmit through concrete caps. The company then placed the caps with plastic ones, but when it rained the caps floated away . . . After months of trying different caps and methods, the automated reader system should be online any day . . . the parking meters are also working, but with cellular modems instead of wireless, which is being paid for by Johnson Controls. The Wi-Fi portion, however, will likely not work . . .”

http://www.muniwireless.com/2011/09/07/hollywood-fl-muni-wi-fi-network-a-flop/

Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation elementary and K-8 schools will host kindergarten orientation meetings on Tuesday, April 2, with the exception of Lincoln School, whose session will be April 9, from 11 a.m. to noon

Parents/guardians will have the opportunity to enroll students in kindergarten if they haven’t already done so, and receive additional information regarding kindergarten, meet school staff, ask questions and share information about their children.

Children should be 5 years old on or before August 1, 2013, to enroll in kindergarten for the 2013-2014 school year. To enroll, parents or legal guardians will need to be present and provide a copy of the child’s legal birth certificate (hospital certificates cannot be used) at the time of enrollment. For more information, parents can contact their child’s school.

EVSC elementary schools will host their respective orientation meetings at the following times on April 2:

· Caze: 6 p.m. 2013 S. Green River Road, 477-5567

· Cedar Hall K-8: 5:30 p.m., 2100 N. Fulton Ave., 435-8223

· Cynthia Heights: 5:15 p.m., 7225 Big Cynthia Road, 435-8740

· Daniel Wertz: 6 p.m., 1701 S, Red Bank Road, 435-8312

· Delaware: 2:30 p.m., 700 N. Garvin St., 435-8227

· Dexter: noon – 1 p.m. and 6-7 p.m., 917 S. Dexter Avenue, 476-1321

· Evans: 6 p.m., 2727 N. Evans, Avenue,

· Fairlawn: 5:30 p.m., 2021 S. Alvord Boulevard, 476-4997

· Glenwood K-8: 1 – 2:30 p.m., 901 Sweetser Ave., 435-8242

· Harper: 6 p.m., 21 S. Alvord Boulevard, 476-1308

· Hebron: noon, 4400 Bellemeade Ave., 477-8915

· Highland: 7:30 a.m. – 3 p.m., 6701 Darmstadt Road, 867-6401

· Lodge K-8: 7:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m., 2000 Lodge Avenue, 477-5319

· Oak Hill: 5:30 – 7 p.m., 7700 Oak Hill Rd., 867-6426

· Scott: 5:30 – 7 p.m., 14940 Old State Road, 867-2427

· Stockwell: 6 p.m., 2501 N. Stockwell Road, 477-5345

· Stringtown: 4-6 p.m., 4720 Stringtown Road, 435-8320

· Tekoppel: Students with last names A-F: 6 – 6:30 p.m.; G-L: 6:30 – 7 p.m.; M-R: 7 – 7:30 p.m.; S-Z: 7:30 – 8 p.m., 111 N. Tekoppel Avenue, 435-8333

· Vogel: 8:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m., 1500 Oak Hill Road, 477-6109

· West Terrace: 6:30 p.m., 8000 West Terrace Drive, 435-8733

If parents/guardians do not know what school their child should attend, they can call the EVSC Office of Student Services at 435-8463, or click on the link on the EVSC homepage under “Where Does My Child Go to School?”

Unable to establish exchanges in 3 years, the Obama administration is delaying parts the Affordable Healthcare Act (ObamaCare) in the program advertised to provide affordable health insurance to small businesses and their employees — a major selling point for the health care legislation.

Supporters of the health care law said they were disappointed by the turn of events.

The administration cited “operational challenges” as a reason for the delay. As a result, it said, most small employers buying insurance through an exchange will offer just a single health plan to their workers next year.

Exchanges are scheduled to start enrolling people on Oct. 1, for coverage that begins in January. However, the administration said the government and insurers needed “additional time to prepare for an employee choice model” of the type envisioned in the law signed three years ago by President Obama.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/02/us/politics/option-for-small-business-health-plan-delayed.html?nl=afternoonupdate&emc=edit_au_20130401&_r=0

Overturned Tanker Closes SR 62 south of Dale for Four Hours

Warrick County – Monday morning, April 1, at approximately 8:47 a.m., Indiana State Police responded to a single vehicle crash that closed S.R. 62 between Dale and Gentryville for four hours.

Preliminary investigation revealed Larry Colter, 55, of Tennyson, was driving a 1986 Ford tanker truck southbound on SR 62 approximately two miles south of Dale when the vehicle’s right tires left the roadway on the west side. Colter attempted to get the vehicle back onto the roadway, but he overcorrected causing the vehicle to roll onto its side. The tanker continued to slide left of center and came to a final rest off the roadway on the east side. The crash caused the tanker to leak approximately 2,000 gallons of liquid fertilizer. Colter, who was wearing his seat belt, received a minor head injury and was taken to Jasper Memorial Hospital where he was treated and released. Colter is employed by Superior Ag Resources in Huntingburg. SR 62 was closed for four hours while crews used a vacuum to remove the liquid fertilizer from the ditch. Colter was cited for speed too fast to avoid a collision. His vehicle was totaled. The investigation is continuing.

Investigating Officer: Master Trooper Bob Helfrich, Indiana State Police

* Legal marijuana businesses could provide new workers, union says

* Organized labor helped push successful marijuana ballot initiatives

* Legalization could create hundreds of thousands of new jobs

By Samuel P. Jacobs and Alex Dobuzinskis

WASHINGTON/LOS ANGELES, Feb 6 (Reuters) – The medical marijuana shop next to a tattoo parlor on a busy street in Los Angeles looks much like hundreds of other pot dispensaries that dot the city.

Except for one thing: On the glass door – under a green cross signaling that cannabis can be bought there for medical purposes – is a sticker for the United Food and Commercial Workers union (UFCW), the nation’s largest retail union.

The dispensary, the Venice Beach Care Center, is one of three medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles that are staffed by dues-paying union members. Another 49 in the city plan to enter into labor agreements with the UFCW this year, the union says.

Together, the dispensaries are a symbol of the growing bond between the nascent medical marijuana industry and struggling labor unions.

During the last few years, unions, led by the UFCW, have played an increasingly significant role in campaigns to allow medical marijuana, now legal in California, 17 other states and Washington, D.C.

In the November elections, UFCW operatives also helped get-out-the-vote efforts in Colorado, where voters approved a measure that made possession of one ounce (28.3 grams) or less of the drug legal for anyone 21 and older. Washington state approved a similar measure and both states require regulation of marijuana growers, processors and retailers.

Union officials acknowledge that their support stems partly from the idea that the marijuana industry could create hundreds of thousands of members at a time when overall union membership is shrinking.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported last month that union members – who accounted for 11.8 percent of the workforce in 2011 – now make up about 11.3 percent of all American workers, the lowest percentage in nearly a century.

Retail unions such as the UFCW are fighting the rise of part-time workers and a steady drop in real wages over the last two generations. Organized labor also has been under pressure from Republican governors such as Wisconsin’s Scott Walker, who led an effort to curb collective bargaining rights for public workers in that state.

Union officials say there are now 3,000 UFCW members who work in the cannabis industry, a tiny fraction of the union’s 1.3 million members.

Industry advocates acknowledge that the legal marijuana industry’s potential to produce jobs is difficult to project. One reason: uncertainty over how the U.S. government will deal with an industry whose product is illegal under federal law but increasingly accepted by state laws.

Since Colorado and Washington state voted to legalize marijuana on Nov. 6, President Barack Obama has said his administration will not pursue recreational pot users in those states.

However, the president has not said whether the U.S. government will allow widespread sales of the drug that would be legal under some state laws but not federal law.

PLANNING FOR A BOOM

Despite such uncertainty, the marijuana industry’s growth potential intrigues unions and retailers, among others.

An analysis by Sea Change Strategies, a research firm for non-profit organizations, estimated that the medical marijuana market could grow to $8.9 billion by 2016.

A study by Washington state’s Office of Financial Management said legalization could result in $1 billion in sales per year in the state, which is home to about 2 percent of the U.S. population.

For people like Dan Rush, who leads the UFCW’s cannabis division, the numbers hint at big things to come for the marijuana industry.

“Since Election Day, we’ve had a rush to join the union” in states where marijuana is sold legally, said Rush, who has become a key player in the union’s efforts to promote the legal use of the drug. “I can’t keep up,” he said. “That’s a direct result of the best poll in the world being Election Day.”

Rush said that if the industry expands, as he and others hope, it would support jobs across the country, from growers to truck drivers to carpenters to retail clerks.

The scale of the business could rival that of a major U.S. crop or the alcohol industry, according to UFCW officials who estimate that 100,000 workers could be added to their union in California alone.

By joining a union, marijuana workers could have more sway in pressing for higher pay and benefits such as healthcare.

Unlike business owners in other industries who typically view unions warily, some legal marijuana retailers welcome the prospect of a unionized workforce – for now, at least.

Marijuana retailers have invited the UFCW into their shops. They think the union could give legitimacy to their business and support against competitors who, the retailers say, undercut the industry’s standing by operating outside the law.

“It’s the difference between being – I hate to use the term – but a street dealer and being a legitimate business operator,” said Brennan Thicke, 38, one of the founders of the Venice Beach Care Center.

RESISTANCE IN COLORADO

Other marijuana business owners aren’t as enthusiastic about unions being involved with their enterprises.

Perhaps the toughest staging ground for the UFCW’s marijuana efforts has been Colorado, where an individualistic spirit guides many of those who have tried to get a toehold in the medical marijuana business.

The retailers there say they are conflicted – grateful for the legitimacy that labor’s involvement could bring their businesses, but worried that the support could undermine the already shaky financial footing of their small operations.

One marijuana business owner in Denver said he considered aligning with the UFCW but eventually backed away. He said he was worried that having a union shop would hurt the value of his business by driving up employment costs.

“Colorado isn’t a big union state anyway,” said the owner, who asked not to be identified. “I was surprised that they put so much focus and money in here in the first place.”

‘IT WAS A STRUGGLE’

The UFCW’s Rush, a thick-shouldered 52-year-old with a laugh turned to gravel by Lucky Strike cigarettes, is based in Oakland.

The city became a major hub for medical marijuana after California became the first state to allow marijuana for medical treatment 17 years ago. Marijuana is prescribed as a pain reliever for a range of maladies.

Cannabis businesses, Rush said, have helped to revitalize the downtown and have put millions of dollars in tax revenue into Oakland’s coffers.

He recalled that when the union was deciding in 2009 whether to get involved with the legal marijuana industry, not everyone in the leadership was sold.

“It was a struggle,” Rush said. “Folks were not ready to hear it.”

Eventually, he helped to persuade enough labor leaders that the same union that organized Hostess bakery workers could represent people who made pot brownies.

“Whether it was semolina or cannabis, this happens to be where our industry is growing,” said UFCW spokesperson Dawn Le.

A major goal of the union’s marijuana effort involves Obama – who enjoyed broad union support in winning re-election in November – to stop federal crackdowns on pot dispensaries that are legal under state laws.

Last year, federal authorities in California targeted more than 200 medical marijuana businesses, including the first in the country to unionize, in a show of force that highlighted the gulf between federal and state marijuana laws.

Union leaders say they aim to help businesses navigate the difficult legal climate and pressure lawmakers for change.

In Los Angeles, UFCW Local 770 is pushing a ballot measure that would set zoning and safety standards for medical pot dispensaries. For years, police and residents have complained about the impact that less-than-reputable medical marijuana dispensaries have on some neighborhoods.

Dispensary workers and owners who have aligned themselves with the union say that some competitors undermine prices and security by flouting labor laws and avoiding taxes.

“I feel safer with the union around,” said Ayrn Taylor, 23, an employee at the Venice Beach Care Center.

UFCW gathered enough signatures for a local ballot measure in May that would limit the number of dispensaries in Los Angeles to fewer than 130.

The 50-plus dispensaries with union ties would be allowed to stay in business, said Rigo Valdez, an organizing director with UFCW. One city councilman estimates there may be as many as 900 dispensaries now open in Los Angeles.

If the union-backed initiative is successful, it would put most of those dispensaries out of business and make the UFCW a dominant player in one of the nation’s most important markets for legal marijuana sales.

Thousands of excited children and their families streamed into the Ford Center between Wednesday, March 27 through Saturday, March 30 for seven performances of Disney On Ice presents Worlds of Fantasy. The fantastical production featured characters from beloved contemporary and classic Disney stories, including Disney/Pixar’s Cars, The Little Mermaid, Tinker Bell and the fairies of Pixie Hollow, and Disney/Pixar’s Toy Story 3.
While the impressive theatrical skating talent of the large ensemble cast was the centerpiece of the show, the magical performances were enhanced the by the appearance of life-sized animatronic Cars characters, impressive moving set pieces, and extra surprises like characters who suddenly appeared to be floating in mid-air. Children of all ages were enchanted by the familiar storylines and characters come to life, and even the adults could be seen singing along to the iconic soundtrack.
“We are happy that Disney On Ice made the Ford Center a Spring Break and Easter holiday weekend destination for so many area families,” said Executive Director Scott Schoenike. “The turn-out was even better than we had expected, with a record attendance for this event.”
The Ford Center continues to stay active with a variety of upcoming events, including Kid Rock April 1, the Heritage Federal Home Show presented by the Evansville Courier and Press April 6-7, Neon Trees April 12, Brit Floyd April 19, 911 Gives Hope: Guns & Hoses April 20, Jason Aldean April 25, REO Speedwagon/Styx/Ted Nugent May 15, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers May 16, and the WWE World Tour Supershow May 18.
Ford Center is managed by VenuWorks of Evansville, LLC. For more information on Ford Center visit: www.thefordcenter.com www.facebook.com/fordcenterevansville www.twitter.com/thefordcenter.