To comply with the Clean Water Act and mandates by the Environmental

Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Justice and the State of Indiana, the City of

Evansville is finalizing its plan to make dramatic improvements to Evansville’s sewer system and reduce sewer system overflows. This week, the Evansville Water and Sewer Utility (EWSU) is sharing the updated plans for Renew Evansville, one of the largest capital improvement projects in Evansville’s history, at public meetings in each of the city’s six wards.

Renew Evansville will significantly upgrade Evansville’s sewer infrastructure and resolve many problems that result from a century‐old system. Renew Evansville has already led to dramatic operational improvements and will also address combined sewer overflows into the Ohio River and Pigeon Creek and overflows in the separate sanitary sewer system. During rain events or snow melt, rain water overwhelms the capacity of the pipes in the combined sewer system and, by design, causes the excess water and sewage to overflow into local bodies of water – the

Ohio River and Pigeon Creek in Evansville.

The last of many reports submitted to state and federal regulators – the final Integrated Overflow Control Plan (IOCP) – is due May 31, 2013. EWSU is proposing a 28‐year, $540 million plan, to be constructed through the year 2040. Upon submission, state and federal regulators will review and respond to the plan.

“The City has been working on the IOCP for nearly three years,” said Allen Mounts, director of the Evansville Water and Sewer Utility. “Thus far, the project team has submitted more than 75 reports and updates to EPA as part of developing the plan to bring our sewer system up to state and federal standards. The Utility and the City are sensitive to the significant cost of this project and the impact it will have on our customers. We are carefully assessing the demands of controlling combined sewer overflows and meeting the Clean Water Act with the community’s ability to fund the project. We have thoughtfully considered the financial health of our community in proposing the elements of the plan and the schedule for making the sewer system upgrades,” he said.

Under the federal consent decree, approved by a federal court in June 2011, EWSU’s original deadline for the final IOCP was Nov. 30, 2012. However, in 2011, while EWSU was collecting data, Evansville experienced the wettest year on record. To ensure the plan was built based on average precipitation, EWSU asked for another six months to collect additional data during more typical rain events and snow falls. Whereas the 2011 analysis projected the city would have to address more than 3 billion gallons of combined sewer overflows per year, the updated analysis from data collected in late 2012 forecasted that Evansville’s CSO activations total closer to 2 billion gallons per year.

Mounts added, “Collecting better data allowed us to right‐size our solutions and, ultimately, the additional analysis has decreased our estimated cost for the program by $66 million, easing some of the impact on ratepayers.”

The IOCP includes specific solutions to address Evansville’s combined sewer overflows, the schedule for implementing these changes and financing options. The plan includes both traditional solutions to expand current pipe and sewer capacity, as well as green solutions to remove stormwater from the combined sewer system, including a large wetland to eliminate Bee Slough as a wastewater holding structure.

Completed improvements

EWSU has already implemented more than 20 improvements to operations and maintenance. Some of the most significant improvements have been to EWSU’s two wastewater treatment plants (WWTP), which treat an average of 15 to 20 million gallons of wastewater a day during dry weather. Prior to 2010, the west WWTP processed 21 million gallons per day and the east WWTP processed 18 million gallons per day during a large rain event. Today, through capital projects, improvements to the pumping technology and enhanced operations, those same

plants treat 37 million gallons and 26 million gallons a day, respectively, during wet‐weather conditions.

Proposed improvements

EWSU has studied and developed a recommended plan that addresses the need to reduce combined sewer system and sanitary sewer system overflows in the most economical way possible. The capital improvement needs of the system include:

 Creating a wetland in an area near Bee Slough to eliminate Evansville’s largest outfalls and the health risks the slough poses;

ï‚· Adding storage facilities and constructing a new lift station at 7th Ave.;

ï‚· Separating sewers in certain areas of the system;

ï‚· Expanding the east wastewater treatment plant; and

ï‚· Implementing green and sustainable infrastructure.

Timing and financial details of the plan

In balancing meeting EPA regulations and affordability of the plan, EWSU will propose a 28‐year plan outlining the use of cost‐effective, right‐size solutions that aim to capture 92 percent of combined sewer overflows. The total cost of the plan is $540 million. During the first 20 years, the Integrated Overflow Control Plan is estimated to cost $373 million, but will not achieve the results targeted by EPA. The City is required to show the EPA what can be accomplished in the first 20 years. The City’s plan will take approximately eight more years at a projected cost of $167 million, making the total cost of implementing the plan $540 million.

Under this plan, EWSU will be forced to increase sewer rates over the life of the plan to fund the plan, as well as the ongoing operational and capital needs of the Utility. Rate increases are not expected to exceed 2 percent of Evansville’s median household income.

Community members are invited to submit comments and questions during public meetings this week (schedule can be found on www.RenewEvansville.com) or online at

www.RenewEvansville.com using the “Contact Us” link on the left side of the page. For more information or a copy of the draft plan, visit www.RenewEvansville.com.

Medea Woods pleaded guilty to felony Medicaid fraud, theft, and sentenced

INDIANAPOLIS – A former psychologist who practiced in Madison, Ind., and admitted to fraudulently billing the Medicaid program for patient therapy she never provided was sentenced to 7 ½ years of probation and ordered to repay $300,000, Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller announced today.

Medea Woods, 70, pleaded guilty Friday in Jefferson County Circuit Court to charges of Medicaid fraud, a class C felony, and theft, a class D felony. In addition to being sentenced to probation and restitution, Woods agreed to revocation of her Indiana license to practice psychology.

“This defendant engaged in a scheme for approximately five years to defraud the Medicaid program for personal gain by submitting claims for services she never rendered, causing a needless misallocation of tax dollars. Felony convictions and ultimately the loss of her professional license to practice are the unfortunate consequences that result from this conduct,” Zoeller said.

From 2002 to 2007, Woods was a Medicaid provider who offered psychologist services from Burnham Woods Counseling North, Inc., in Madison, Ind., and from her home in Rising Sun, Ind. An investigation by the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU) found that Woods billed Medicaid for multiple therapy sessions involving the same patients taking place on a single day or during a single week – more frequently than the patients reported receiving services. Woods also billed for “therapy” that involved patients riding horses or cleaning stables that don’t qualify as Medicaid-reimbursable psychotherapy, the investigation found.

Woods was criminally charged in February 2011 under a special provision of state law that allows the Attorney General to directly file criminal charges of Medicaid fraud. She reached a plea agreement and was sentenced Friday by Special Judge James Morris of Ripley County. Woods agreed to revocation of her expired license by the Board of Psychology that will be heard at an upcoming board meeting, and she agreed to not to seek a new license during her 7 ½-year sentence. Supervision of her probation will be transferred to Wyoming where she now resides if that state agrees.

The case involved a joint investigation by the Indiana Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and the U.S. Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG). Zoeller complimented the work of investigators whose meticulous comparisons of Woods’ submitted claims to actual patient services documented the extent of the fraud and resulted in a successful criminal prosecution of Woods.

From the Facebook Page of Larry Conners of KMOV St. Louis

Shortly after I did my April 2012 interview with President Obama, my wife, friends and some viewers suggested that I might need to watch out for the IRS.

I don’t accept “conspiracy theories”, but I do know that almost immediately after the interview, the IRS started hammering me.

At the time, I dismissed the “co-incidence”, but now, I have concerns … after revelations about the IRS targeting various groups and their members.

Originally, the IRS apologized for red-flagging conservative groups and their members if they had “Tea Party” or “patriot” in their name.

Today, there are allegations that the IRS focused on various groups and/or individuals questioning or criticizing government spending, taxes, debt or how the government is run … any involved in limiting/expanding government, educating on the constitution and bill of rights, or social economic reform/movement.

In that April 2012 interview, I questioned President Obama on several topics: the Buffet Rule, his public remarks about the Supreme Court before the ruling on the Affordable Care Act. I also asked why he wasn’t doing more to help Sen. Claire McCaskill who at that time was expected to lose. The Obama interview caught fire and got wide-spread attention because I questioned his spending. I said some viewers expressed concern, saying they think he’s “out of touch” because of his personal and family trips in the midst of our economic crisis.

The President’s face clearly showed his anger; afterwards, his staff which had been so polite … suddenly went cold. That’s to be expected, and I can deal with that just as I did with President George H. Bush’s staff when he didn’t like my questions.

Journalistic integrity is of the utmost importance to me. My job is to ask the hard questions, because I believe viewers have a right to be well-informed. I cannot and will not promote anyone’s agenda – political or otherwise – at the expense of the reporting the truth.

What I don’t like to even consider … is that because of the Obama interview … the IRS put a target on me.

Can I prove it? At this time, no. But it is a fact that since that April 2012 interview … the IRS has been pressuring me.