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USI Fall 2012 Honors List released

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USI
In recognition of outstanding academic achievement, the Honors List has been released for the 2012 fall semester at the University of Southern Indiana. Dr. Ronald Rochon, provost, reported that 2,170 undergraduates were named to the Honors List.

Semester honors are not awarded to masters students or Doctor of Nursing Practice students.

Undergraduate students must achieve a 3.5 or better grade point average (on 4.0 system) to be named to the Honors List. Students earning no IN (incomplete) or Z (missing) grades for the term, and earning letter grades of computable point value (Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory and Pass/No Pass graded courses do not apply) in 12 or more semester hours, with a semester grade point average between 3.5 and 4.0 are named to the list.

The Honors List is arranged by each student’s hometown (by state and city), according to the address he/she has provided to the University. A student’s name may be listed under Evansville if the student supplied an Evansville mailing address. The honors list may be accessed by clicking on the link below.

Fall 2012 Honors List

Note to students:

If you expected your name to be on the list and you cannot find it, use the search function in the PDF document. Type in your name to search the entire list. If you still do not find your name, email Tracy Sinn in the Office of the Registrar (include your full name and student ID number). If it can be verified that you did qualify for the Honors List, that office will give News and Information Services your name and hometown.

Travel Advisory to Expire, Motorists Should Continue to Use Caution

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(Evansville, IN) – A Travel Advisory issued for Evansville and Vanderburgh County for Wednesday, December 26, will expire at midnight. Motorists are urged to continue using extreme caution when traveling city and county roadways.

The Civic Center and all city and county government offices will resume regular business hours on Thursday, December 27, 2012. The offices closed early Wednesday due to weather and road conditions.

City and County elected and appointed officials tonight held a fourth and final conference call related to the current snow event. The meeting included strategic city and county department heads, plus officials from local law enforcement, the American Red Cross, Vectren and the Emergency Management Agency.

It was determined that regular METS bus service will resume Thursday, December 27 at 6 a.m. METS stop operations were discontinued early Thursday because of the weather.

Most power outages have been restored throughout the Tri-State, according to Vectren officials. Power outages may be reported online at vectren.com/outage or by phone at 800-227-1376.

Snow removal operations will continue overnight and early Thursday morning in preparation for Thursday morning commuter traffic.

For the latest travel conditions on state maintained highways contact Indiana State Police at 800-852-3970.

US to hit $16.4 trillion debt limit on New Year’s Eve

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Federal Government Leadership

The United States will reach its $16.4 trillion borrowing limit on Dec. 31, the Treasury Department informed congressional leaders in a letter sent Wednesday.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told policymakers Wednesday that the government will need to begin “extraordinary measures” to free up cash on Monday, once the government reaches the $16.4 trillion borrowing cap. Geithner said he did not know exactly how much time the “extraordinary measures” would buy, given the uncertainty about the expiring tax cuts and automatic spending cuts that make up the “fiscal cliff.”

Travel Advisory Issued for Evansville, Vanderburgh County

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(Evansville, IN) – Evansville Mayor Lloyd Winnecke and Vanderburgh County Commission President Marsha Abel have issued a precautionary Travel Advisory for the City of Evansville and Vanderburgh County effective 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, December 26, 2012 through 12:01 am. Thursday, December 27, 2012. The advisory may be lifted earlier, if conditions warrant.

The precautionary Travel Advisory means routine travel activities may be restricted in areas because of a hazardous situation. Motorists are advised to use extreme caution when traveling area roads and highways.

City and county government leaders, law enforcement officials and local emergency management personnel conducted a follow-up phone conference call Christmas night to include officials from Vectren and the American Red Cross in a review of weather emergency preparedness plans in advance of a significant weather event that will begin impacting the Tri-State Christmas night and throughout Wednesday. It was the second call of the day to discuss storm plans.

At last report, the blizzard was predicted to start as rain and eventually dump up to 9 inches of snow on the immediate Evansville area. Winds gusting to 40 mph will cause blowing snow and create occasional whiteout conditions, with the highest wind speeds expected between midnight and 6 a.m. Wednesday.

High winds coupled with heavy snows could topple tree limbs and impact power lines, creating hazardous driving conditions and power outages across the region. Vectren crews began staging Christmas Day in preparation for the storm. Power outages may be reported online at vectren.com/outage or at 800-227-1376.

Motorists traveling on state highways across the region can call the Indiana State Police to check on the latest current road conditions at 800-852-3970.

The American Red Cross of Southwest Indiana has emergency vehicles prepared to respond, if needed. Shelter supplies have also been prepared and are on standby.

City and county officials will continue to monitor the weather situation. A follow-up briefing may be held at 9 a.m. Wednesday, if conditions warrant.

IS IT TRUE December 26, 2012

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The Mole #??

IS IT TRUE December 26, 2012

IS IT TRUE that today the entire Evansville region is covered with roughly 6 inches of snow and the snow is still falling?…those of you who have to get out in this weather for the purpose of driving should be extra careful because somebody won’t?…those who have the luxury of spending another day sitting by the fire drinking hot chocolate and enjoying leftovers should afford yourselves that luxury and remove the possibility for an accident?

IS IT TRUE that just a week after the murders in Connecticut that has softened the people of the United States up to consider limiting the second amendment rights of the people to bear arms, Evansville had a crime that reminds us all of just why the founding fathers saw the right to bear arms as a fundamental right?…that a young man who sounds very much like a thug broke into a house near downtown Evansville with the intention to beat and use a stun gun on a girl of 17?…the thug allegedly had the girl down in the back yard beating her when the girl’s 79 year old grandfather interrupted the beating?…the young thug then allegedly threatened to beat the old man and use a stun gun on him?…that fearing for his life and the life of his granddaughter this 79 year old pulled out a handgun and shot the thug?…were it not for this grandfather’s right to bear arms then Evansville may well have been the location of yet another double murder in 2012 and the thug would be on the run?…similar stories where private gun ownership has saved good lives happen every day across this country?…similar stories happened on the same day as the Evansville incident in Los Angeles and Northern California?…most incidents of self defense that involve a gun go unreported because the gun is not fired?

IS IT TRUE that former White House chief of staff Rahm Emmanuel stated “never let a crisis go to waste”?…that the proponents of limiting the powers of the 2nd amendment to the US Constitution will certainly see the Connecticut murders as a “crisis” to be leveraged for their own purposes?…a study released in the Wall Street Journal that showed murders vs. gun stores in graphical form concluded that THERE IS NO CORRELATION BETWEEN GUN STORES AND MURDERS?…what was concluded and did correlate was that the denser people are packed together the higher the murder rates rise?…urban places consistently had the highest murder rates but the lowest number of gun stores?…rural areas have the highest rates of gun ownership, the most gun stores, and the lowest murder rates?…the murders in Connecticut were a personal problem of a disturbed young man?…these murders happened in a “gun free” zone?…the murder rate in the City of Chicago soared in 2012 right after Chicago instituted one of the most stringent gun control laws in America?…blaming guns for mental health issues makes about as much sense as blaming shoes when a person can’t run fast?

IS IT TRUE that President Obama is cutting his Hawaii vacation short to head back to Washington to work on the avoidance of the so called “fiscal cliff”?…this is of course the right thing to do and does show the kind of leadership that the American people deserve?…the CCO wishes the President and Congress well but has little expectation?…the first 6 weeks of this 7 week MADE IN CONGRESS drama have been dominated by ideological idiocy on the part of all of the players involved?…going over the fiscal cliff may be a good life lesson for the American people anyway?…getting a 2% across the board pay cut in the form of the temporary cuts in Social Security taxes expiring will be an immediate reminder of the failure of government to think as opposed to just kicking the can down the road?…the IRS has not changed any withholding tables to reflect any changes in the income tax rates that will be automatic and that part of people’s paychecks will not be effected YET?…that when the rates are decided any increases will be doubled up so that the withholding for the entire year will reflect those rates?…even if a deal is reached the IRS DOES NOT HAVE A SNOW BALL’S CHANCE IN HELL OF CHANGING THE WITHHOLDING RULES IN 4 WORKING DAYS SO THE CLIFF WILL HIT EVERY PAYCHECK IN AMERICA STARTING NEXT FRIDAY?…let this false urgency that was created by congress be a lesson to the people of this country about the utter ineptness of the Executive and Legislative branches of our government?

Black Swan Author Taleb Indicts Big Government as a Solution

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Excerpts:

“THE fiscal cliff is not really a “cliff”; the entire country won’t fall into the ocean if we hit it. Some automatic tax cuts will expire; the government will be forced to cut some expenditures. The cliff is really just a red herring.”

“any last-minute deal to avoid the spending cuts and tax increases scheduled to go into effect on Jan. 1 isn’t likely to save us from economic turmoil. It would merely let us continue the policy mistakes we’ve been making for years, allowing us only to temporarily stabilize the economy rather than address its deep, systemic failures.”

“the United States government has kept interest rates low, shored up banks, purchased bad debts and printed money. But the effect is akin to treating metastatic cancer with painkillers. It has not only let deeper problems fester”

“in a fragile economy, even small errors can lead to crises and plunge the entire system into chaos. That’s what happened in 2008. More than four years after that financial crisis began, nothing has been done to address its root causes.”

“Our goal instead should be an antifragile system — one in which mistakes don’t ricochet throughout the economy, but can instead be used to fuel growth. The key elements to such a system are decentralization of decision making and ensuring that all economic and political actors have some “skin in the game.”

“First, in a decentralized system, errors are by nature smaller. Switzerland is one of the world’s wealthiest and most stable countries. It is also highly decentralized — with 26 cantons that are self-governing and make most of their own budgetary decisions. The absence of a central monopoly on taxation makes them compete for tax and bureaucratic efficiency. And if the Jura canton goes bankrupt, it will not destabilize the entire Swiss economy.”

“In decentralized systems, problems can be solved early and when they are small; stakeholders are also generally more willing to pay to solve local challenges (like fixing a bridge), which often affect them in a direct way.”

“It’s a myth that centralization and size bring “efficiency.” Centralized states are deficit-prone precisely because they tend to be gamed by lobbyists and large corporations, which increase their size in order to get the protection of bailouts. No large company should ever be bailed out; it creates a moral hazard.”

“Consider the difference between Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, who are taught to “fail early and often,” and large corporations that leech off governments and demand bailouts when they’re in trouble on the pretext that they are too big to fail. Entrepreneurs don’t ask for bailouts, and their failures do not destabilize the economy as a whole.”

“there must be skin in the game across the board, so that nobody can inflict harm on others without first harming himself. Bankers got rich — and are still rich — from transferring risk to taxpayers”

“If we want our economy not to be merely resilient, but to flourish, we must strive for antifragility. It is the difference between something that breaks severely after a policy error, and something that thrives from such mistakes. Since we cannot stop making mistakes and prediction errors, let us make sure their impact is limited and localized, and can in the long term help ensure our prosperity and growth.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/24/opinion/stabilization-wont-save-us.html?ref=opinion&_r=0

Source: Nassim Nicholas Teleb

S. Denby Shooting Update

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At 7:10pm tonight, officers responded to a 911 call in the 500 block of S. Denby for a person who had been shot. Officers arrived and found the victim in the front yard of 511 S. Denby. Officers attempted lifesaving measures on the victim, but he succumbed to his injuries.

Officers went to 505 S. Denby as part of the investigation. They interviewed several people who were at the address, including the person who fired the shot. During the interviews, detectives were given information from several witnesses that were consistent with the statement given by the shooter.

Investigators learned that all of the people involved in the incident were in the home at 505 S. Denby. A 17 year old female got into an argument with a 19 year old male. The male threatened to assault the girl and also threatened to use a “stun gun” on her. She ran from the house and the male chased her. He caught her in the yard and began beating her. The girl’s 79 year old grandfather was in the home and came outside to help her. He told the 19 year old male to stop beating his grand-daughter.

According to the people interviewed, the 19 year old then turned his attention to the grandfather. He threatened to use the stun gun on him as well. The 19 year old came towards the 79 year old, who was armed with a handgun. As the 19 year old got closer, he was reaching for his pocket. The 79 year old told him old several times to stop.

The grandfather told investigators he knew he could not defend himself against the bigger, younger attacker and feared the stun gun could kill him due to his heart condition. He told investigators he has a pace maker and a defibrillator. When the 19 year old continued to advance, he fired one shot. The 19 year old then ran to the front yard of 511 S. Denby and collapsed.

The gun was recovered from the home at 505 S. Denby. Investigators recovered a stun gun in the 19 year olds pocket.

The 19 year old was transported to the Vanderburgh County Coroner’s Office for positive identification and to establish an official cause of death.

At this time, no charges have been filed in this case. Investigators will complete a case file and forward it to the Prosecutor’s Office for review.

The name of the shooter will not be released at this time because he is not a suspect in a crime and has not been charged with any crime.

Twas the Night Before Fiscliff, By: Bill Frezza

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Twas the night before Fiscliff, when all through the House
Not a statesman was stirring, not even to grouse.
Neither bills nor amendments have much of a prayer
Since hope and change fever brought gridlock to bear.

The citizens pondered in fear and in dread,
What will happen if off the cliff we go instead?
Obama was sure he set Boehner a trap
To force taxes higher, give rich folks a slap.

When on CNN there arose such a clatter,
I sprang to the set to see what was the matter.
Wolf Blitzer was shouting, he had a news flash,
Was a formula found that would scare up fresh cash?

The gloom had sent stock markets gyrating so,
While the luster of gold lured all those in the know.
When, what on the six o’clock news should appear,
But a fat helicoptering cash bombardier.

With a bearded bald driver, both facile and quick,
It must be the man with the Keynesian shtick.
Like a fire hose shower, liquidity came,
As he whistled, and shouted, and passed out the blame.

“Now Geithner! Now Sperling! More interest rate fixing!
On, Krugman! On, Goolsbee! It’s cash we’ll be mixing!
We must make sure aggregate demand won’t fall!
Now spend away! Spend away! Spend away all!”

If you give me control of the money supply,
I will make the debt grow ’til it reaches the sky.
If this starts to give you stimulus déjà vu,
Just you wait ‘til you see infinite QE2.

So have no fear, kick the can, you don’t need proof.
Go ahead and let spending go right through the roof!
By this point my head was fast spinning around,
When fat Ben Bernanke came up with a bound.

He was dressed all in greenbacks, from head to his foot,
That must have stuck to him, their value kaput.
A bundle of cash he had flung on his back,
Like every historic inflationist hack.

His eyes, how they shifted! His glibness so merry!
Pretending to be a prudent actuary.
“I know what I’m doing!” his words much did flow.
“My magic will make unemployment go low.”

How easily this man can lie through his teeth,
Yet the smoke he was blowing gave me no relief.
He turned to make yet one more speech to the telly,
His statements as firm as a bowlful of jelly!

Then back to his copter, as quick as a whistle,
He unleashed one more fiat currency missile.
And as he took off, all heard just what he said,
“In the long run remember that we are all dead.”

Despite reality, try to have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Source: Real Clear Markets

IS IT TRUE December 24, 2012

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IS IT TRUE that our first wish today is to wish all of our readers a Merry Christmas and peaceful Holiday Season?

IS IT TRUE our second wish is that there will be no crime in Evansville today so that we have nothing to report in tomorrow’s EPD Activity Report?…48 hours of peace should be practiced every Christmas season and if we can manage it for 48 hours we can manage it indefinitely?

IS IT TRUE our third wish is for local government to have a competent 2013 and to keep the peace among each other?…we truly hope that our elected officials will refrain from calling each other names during the next year?

IS IT TRUE our fourth wish is for the President of the United States and the Congress to figure out how to work together constructively and with respect?…we hope that the dug in positions based very much on hateful ideologies can be compromised for the good of the American republic?

IS IT TRUE our fifth wish is for people to take responsibility for their own actions and to resolve to fix any messes that they make without pointing the fingers of blame in any direction that does not involve taking personal responsibility?

IS IT TRUE our last wish is for our little pal SNEGAL to be caged for all of the next year because much of what ails our society is the practice of being “sneaky but legal”?

IS IT TRUE if these five Christmas wishes are granted we may be out of business in 2013?

EPD Summary of S. Denby Shooting

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News Release
S. Denby Shooting Update

SUMMARY

At 7:10pm tonight, officers responded to a 911 call in the 500 block of S. Denby for a person who had been shot. Officers arrived and found the victim in the front yard of 511 S. Denby. Officers attempted lifesaving measures on the victim, but he succumbed to his injuries.

Officers went to 505 S. Denby as part of the investigation. They interviewed several people who were at the address, including the person who fired the shot. During the interviews, detectives were given information from several witnesses that were consistent with the statement given by the shooter.

Investigators learned that all of the people involved in the incident were in the home at 505 S. Denby. A 17 year old female got into an argument with a 19 year old male. The male threatened to assault the girl and also threatened to use a “stun gun” on her. She ran from the house and the male chased her. He caught her in the yard and began beating her. The girl’s 79 year old grandfather was in the home and came outside to help her. He told the 19 year old male to stop beating his grand-daughter.

According to the people interviewed, the 19 year old then turned his attention to the grandfather. He threatened to use the stun gun on him as well. The 19 year old came towards the 79 year old, who was armed with a handgun. As the 19 year old got closer, he was reaching for his pocket. The 79 year old told him old several times to stop.

The grandfather told investigators he knew he could not defend himself against the bigger, younger attacker and feared the stun gun could kill him due to his heart condition. He told investigators he has a pace maker and a defibrillator. When the 19 year old continued to advance, he fired one shot. The 19 year old then ran to the front yard of 511 S. Denby and collapsed.

The gun was recovered from the home at 505 S. Denby. Investigators recovered a stun gun in the 19 year olds pocket.

The 19 year old was transported to the Vanderburgh County Coroner’s Office for positive identification and to establish an official cause of death.

At this time, no charges have been filed in this case. Investigators will complete a case file and forward it to the Prosecutor’s Office for review.

The name of the shooter will not be released at this time because he is not a suspect in a crime and has not been charged with any crime.

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