The Indiana Department of Homeland Security (IDHS), Indiana State Police (ISP) and Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) offer the following tips for a safe Halloween:

Tips for motorists

Due to the number of children out on the street on Halloween evening, motorists should be very careful driving along city streets, especially in neighborhoods, during designated trick-or-treat hours.

· Avoid talking on a cell phone or other distracting activities.

· Remember that excited children may dart out into traffic at any time without warning.

· Drive with your headlights on, even during daylight trick-or-treat hours, so that your vehicle is more visible to children.

Safety on the road

· Trick-or-treaters should use sidewalks instead of the street whenever possible and always cross at crosswalks.

· Remind children to look both ways before crossing the street.

· Teach children to never assume they are seen by a vehicle. Small children may be especially difficult to spot in the dark.

· Children should also carry flashlights after dark to easily see and be seen.

Costumes

· When purchasing costumes, masks, beards and wigs, make sure the label says “flame resistant.” While this doesn’t ensure these items won’t catch fire, it does indicate the items will resist burning and should extinguish quickly.

· To minimize the risk of contact with candles or other sources of ignition, avoid costumes made with flimsy materials and outfits with big, baggy sleeves or billowing skirts.

· Apply a natural mask of cosmetics rather than have a child wear a loose-fitting mask that might restrict breathing or obscure vision. If a mask is used, make sure it fits securely and has eyeholes large enough to allow full vision.

· For greater visibility during dusk and darkness, decorate or trim costumes with reflective tape that will glow in the beam of a car’s headlights. Bags or sacks should also be light colored or decorated with reflective tape. Reflective tape is usually available in hardware, bicycle, and sporting goods stores.

Safe homes

Homeowners and renters expecting trick-or-treaters should remove anything that could be an obstacle from lawns, steps and porches.
Check outdoor lights and replace burned-out bulbs.
Wet leaves should be swept from sidewalks and steps to avoid slips.
Restrain pets so they do not inadvertently jump on or bite a trick-or-treater.

Trick-or-treating

Only trick-or-treat during hours designated by the community.
Children should only visit familiar homes that have the porch light on.

· Make sure older children trick-or-treat with friends and carry a cell phone for quick communication.

Younger children should walk in groups with older children or be accompanied by an adult.
Children should never enter a home, but should wait on the porch for the resident to hand out treats.

Eating treats

Children should be instructed to refrain from eating any treats until after they get home.
Parents should inspect their children’s treats before allowing the children to eat them.
Only eat candy wrapped in its original wrapper and inspect all fruit thoroughly before allowing children to eat it.

For more information about safety this fall, visit GetPrepared.in.gov.

The Coachella Valley iHub will soon be able to offer incubator graduate companies low-cost manufacturing space and engineering development space in a 10,000-square-foot “accelerator campus” on land owned by the Palm Springs International Airport. The campus has the capacity to expand to 50,000 square feet as demand increases. The Coachella Valley iHub lead by Joe Wallace has been filled to capacity in less than a year since commencing operations. Three of the iHub businesses we selected as members of the 100 Worlds Best Technology companies and will be making presentations before over 100 members of the venture capital community in San Diego next week

The Palm Springs City Council on Wednesday approved leasing the site to the green business incubator and is picking up the first year’s rent as well as providing funding for building improvements, according to a staff report that was on the council’s consent agenda.

“We’re the first iHub in the state to have an accelerator campus,” said Thomas Flavin, CEO of the Coachella Valley Economic Partnership, announcing the campus at today’s Renwable Energy Roundtable. “It gives us a huge competitive advantage to attract new renewable energy businesses.”

CVEP oversees the incubator, which is a state-designated innovation hub sponsored by Palm Springs, Cathedral City and Desert Hot Springs. Open for about a year, it is working with 13 businesses, ranging from a company that converts regular cars to electric vehicles to one developing a new renewable energy storage technology.

Located in three buildings at 2901 E. Alejo Drive, the campus will provide low-cost manufacturing or other business space for incubator businesses that are ready to expand beyond the bare-bones offices the iHub offers at CVEP’s Rabobank Regional Business Center in Palm Springs.

Joe Wallace, general manager of the iHub, said he would like to have the accelerator open by early next year, and he has at least two businesses ready to expand.

“What you’re saying is just not true,” Barack Obama told his opponent in Tuesday night’s presidential debate. “It’s absolutely true,” Mitt Romney replied.

If the two candidates — and the parties they lead — can’t agree on the facts, then how can they have a productive debate about solutions?

Neither party is being upfront with the American people about the choices we face.

Take fiscal policy. The parties can’t even agree on the realities of our balance sheet. When leaders in Washington debate the federal budget, they routinely use different baselines, projections and assumptions. This makes deciphering the facts very difficult, if not impossible, for the American people.

To quote an old Scottish writer, many Washington leaders “use statistics as a drunken man uses lampposts — for support rather than for illumination.”

To hear some on the right tell it, you’d think our deficit is driven primarily by moochers, government waste, and shiftless bureaucrats. On the left, many seem to think rich tax dodgers are the ones busting our books.

But these culprits — however egregious they may be — are relatively small potatoes. The real causes of our deficit aren’t those “other people” gaming the system. It’s all of us. It’s tax cuts that we can no longer afford and spending programs that are growing far faster than our ability to pay for them.

The American people deserve to know what’s really happening with our nation’s finances, and Congress should be able to work off the same set of numbers. That’s where No Labels comes in. No Labels is a movement of Democrats, Republicans and independents united behind a simple proposition: We want our government to stop fighting and start fixing. The group’s “Different Opinions, but the Same Facts” proposal would be a big step in that direction. Here’s how it works:

Every year, a nonpartisan leader, such as the comptroller general, would deliver a televised fiscal update in person to a joint session of Congress. The president, vice president, all Cabinet members, and members of Congress would attend. Our leaders would be asked to affirm — in writing — that they accept the same set of facts. These facts would not be Democratic, Republican, or independent. Just correct.

This is one No Labels proposal to make Congress and the presidency work. We also have two action plans to do just that also, our “Make Congress Work!” action plan and our “Make the Presidency Work!” action plan. Central to each is the simple idea that if elected officials are going to work across the aisle, they need to agree on some basic realities.

A generation ago, the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan declared that while every man is entitled to his own opinions, he isn’t entitled to his own facts. He was right then. He’s still right today. And unless we act accordingly, we can’t hope to solve our country’s problems.

Source: Real Clear Politics

epd activity report October 17, 2012

The University of Southern Indiana women’s soccer team enters the final stretch of the regular season and is looking to lock down a spot in the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament, beginning with a road match Friday at McKendree University and a home match Sunday against Bellarmine University. Kick-off Friday at McKendree is 5 p.m., while the start time Sunday at Strassweg Field versus Bellarmine is 2:30 p.m.

The Screaming Eagles’ match against Bellarmine also is Senior Day and their “Kick for the Cure” game. USI will don pink jerseys and shoelaces to promote awareness of breast cancer. All proceeds from the game will go to the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

The Eagles (8-5-1, 7-4-1 GLVC) are only one win away from locking down a GLVC Tournament berth for the fourth-straight year. USI swept the first two matches of the three-game road swing with 1-0 victories over Drury University and Missouri University of Science & Technology.

Freshman forward Madi Vellky (Dublin, Ohio) lead the way for the Eagles by scoring both game-winning goals. Vellky has a team-best three game-winning goals and ranks second on the team with 11 points on five goals and one assist.

For the season, senior forward Susan Ellsperman (Newburgh, Indiana) continues to lead the Eagles this season with 17 points on six goals and five assists. She is tied for the seventh in the GLVC in goals and assists.

The Bearcats of McKendree (7-4-2, 6-4-2 GLVC) are up first for the Eagles this week and the final stop on the three-match road swing. McKendree, which is not eligible for the GLV C Tournament this year, is 2-1-1 in the last four matches after losing to Rockhurst University and tying William Jewell College last week.

The eight-game series between USI and McKendree has been evenly split, 4-4-0. The Bearcats won the last meeting between the two schools, 2-0, in Lebanon, Illinois, in 2010.

The Knights of Bellarmine (9-2-2, 7-2-2 GLVC) begin their week with a make-up match against the University of Missouri-St. Louis Tuesday. Bellarmine has been tough to beat in its last nine matches, posting a record of 6-1-2.

USI trails Bellarmine in the all-time series, 9-6-2, with the Knights taking command the last few seasons and posting a record of 5-0-2 over the Eagles.

The Eagles will honor its three seniors – Ellsperman; defender Jessica Gates (Crown Point, Indiana); and midfielder Paige Nuelle (St. Louis, Missouri) – prior to their match on Sunday against Bellarmine.

Source: USI.edu

Evansville, IN – Judging from the waves of laughter emanating from inside the Victory Theatre on Tuesday
and Wednesday nights, Menopause the Musical was a roaring success in Evansville. The long-running touring
show made a two night stop at the Victory on October 16th and 17th.

The show features a cast of four women, all of a “certain age,” who meet while shopping for lingerie at
Bloomingdale’s and spend 90 minutes belting out parodies of popular music from the ‘60s and ‘70s. The lyrics
are given a humorous twist, with their subjects becoming hot flashes, body image, family issues, sex, and more.
The largely female audience showed their enthusiastic appreciation as they identified with the various
predicaments addressed by cast members Sandra Benton (Professional Woman), Megan Cavanagh (Earth
Mother), Pattie Gardner (Soap Star) and Sandy DeWoody (Iowa Housewife).

“The acoustics and atmosphere in this historic theatre really showcase musical productions such as this one,”
stated Victory Theatre General Manager Ben Bolander. “I’m excited about our plans to provide a diverse
selection of entertainment options that will bring even more area residents to downtown Evansville.”

The Victory Theatre is managed by VenuWorks of Evansville, LLC.