STATEHOUSE — House Speaker Brian C. Bosma (R-Indianapolis) introduced legislation to create an Indiana Career Council, designed to coordinate between multiple participants in the state’s educational, job skills and career training systems. The Speaker has been joined by Leader Scott Pelath (D-Michigan City), State Reps. Steve Braun (R-Zionsville) and Ben Smaltz (R-Auburn) as co-authors on House Bill (HB) 1002.

In October, Speaker Bosma joined by a dozen of his House Republican colleagues, announced the House Republican “Own Your American Dream” Agenda, created to help make Indiana a stronger state for future generations. In the agenda release, the Speaker highlighted the skills gap, an increasing issue amongst Hoosier workers, and employers.

Sixty-seven percent of manufacturing companies are reporting moderate to severe shortage of available, qualified workers. Fifty-six percent of those expect the shortage to increase in the next three years. The proposed council would provide any Hoosier participating in the state’s educational, job skills and career training system with the opportunity to connect with a fitting educational program.

“It is imperative that we organize the state’s resources in a way that best works for its people. The Indiana Career Council will provide the coordination of information, vision and direction to the various participants in the state’s educational, job skills, and career training system,” said Speaker Bosma.

Members of the Indiana Career Council will be charged with developing a process to match the education skills and training provided by the state’s educational, job skills and career training system with the currently existing and future needs of the state’s job market, as well as submitting recommendations to the Indiana General Assembly for how to improve Indiana’s job skills training system from top to bottom.

“Our goal is to make success possible for everyone, and it starts with having a great education,” said Rep. Braun. “We will work to align our education system and job skill development with available jobs so that Hoosiers can overcome any obstacle that life may throw at them as we work towards building a brighter future.”

Members of the council would include:
•Governor (Chair)
•Lieutenant Governor (Vice Chair)
•Commissioner of the Indiana Department of Workforce Development (DWD)
•The Secretary of Commerce (IEDC)
•State Superintendent of Public Instruction (DOE)
•Commissioner of the Commission for Higher Education (CHE)
•The Secretary of the Family and Social Services Administration (FSSA)
•The President of Ivy Tech College
•One member appointed by the Governor who represents manufacturers interests
•One member appointed by the Governor who represents the interests of the business community
•One member appointed by the Governor who represents the interest of labor
•Two members appointed by the Speaker to serve in an advisory role – cannot be from same political party
•Two members appointed by the Pro Temp to serve in an advisory role – cannot be from same political party

“It is evident that the Indiana General Assembly has worked hard in recent years to improve the Hoosier economy,” said Rep. Smaltz. “Now that we have an increase in jobs, we need to bridge the skills gap and equip Hoosiers with the skills they need.”

The bill will now move to the Committee of Government and Regulatory Reform for a hearing.

Evansville, IN – Below is a list of felony cases that were filed by the Vanderburgh County Prosecutor’s Office on Thursday, January 17, 2013.

Joshua Jacobs Operating a Vehicle as a Habitual Traffic Violator-Class D Felony

Michael Payne Possession of a Controlled Substance-Class D Felony
Possession of Paraphernalia-Class A Misdemeanor
Resisting Law Enforcement-Class A Misdemeanor

Anthony Raider Operating a Vehicle While Intoxicated-Class C Misdemeanor
(Enhanced to a Class D Felony)
Driving While Suspended-Class A Misdemeanor
Failure to Return to Scene of Accident Causing Injury-Class A Misdemeanor

Chrishon Smith Possession of Marijuana-Class A Misdemeanor
(Enhanced to a Class D Felony)
Possession of Paraphernalia-Class A Misdemeanor

Dawn Holsey Dealing in Methamphetamine-Class B Felony
False Informing-Class B Misdemeanor

Todd Higdon Operating a Motor Vehicle After Forfeiture of License for Life-Class C Felony

Nichola Mach Assisting a Criminal-Class D Felony

Richard Ribbey Dealing in Methamphetamine-Class B Felony
False Informing-Class B Misdemeanor

Michael Travers Operating a Motor Vehicle After Forfeiture of License for Life-Class C Felony
Receiving Stolen Property-Class D Felony
Operating a Vehicle While Intoxicated-Class C Misdemeanor

For further information on the cases listed above, or any pending case, please contact Regene Newman at 812.435.5156 or via e-mail at rinewman@vanderburghgov.org

Under Indiana law, all criminal defendants are considered to be innocent until proven guilty by a court of law.
SENTENCE CHART

Class Range
Murder 45-65 Years
Class A Felony 20-50 Years
Class B Felony 6-20 Years
Class C Felony 2-8 Years
Class D Felony ½ – 3 Years
Class A Misdemeanor 0-1 Year
Class B Misdemeanor 0-180 Days
Class C Misdemeanor 0-60 Days

Rising country music superstar Luke Bryan launched his much-anticipated “Dirt Road Diaries Tour” in front of a sold out crowd at the Ford Center Thursday night. Supporting acts Florida Georgia Line and Thompson Square got the party started with sets that had thousands of enthusiastic fans singing and waving along long before Bryan took the stage. When he did, Bryan’s famous grin lit up the arena as he swung into a whole line up of his own hits, like “Country Man” and “Drunk on You” and even included covers of Maroon Five’s “One More Night” and Bruno Mars’ “Locked Out of Heaven.”
“It’s an honor for our facility and the city of Evansville that a show of this caliber chose Ford Center for the first concert of their tour,” said Executive Director Scott Schoenike. Prior to the concert, Schoenike presented Luke Bryan with a Ford Center photo commemorating his first sold out show of this new tour.
The Ford Center continues to stay active with a wide variety of upcoming events, including the Harlem Globetrotters January 22, Winter Jam January 31, Alan Jackson February 8, Journey February 12, Teen Choice Live! The Tour February 17, the 37th Annual World Championship Ice Racing Series Finale February 23, Disney on Ice March 27-30, Kid Rock April 1, Neon Trees April 12, Brit Floyd April 19 and Jason Aldean April 25.

Warrick County – Thursday afternoon, January 17, at approximately 5:30 p.m., members of the Indiana State Police and Indiana Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force arrested Edward Daine Goodman, 33, of Boonville, for Failure to Register as a Sex Offender, a Class C Felony and Failure of a Sexually Violent Predator to Possess Valid Identification, a Class D Felony.

Detectives from the Indiana State Police Cyber Crimes Section were conducting compliance checks in Warrick County to insure convicted sex offenders were registering as required by law. During their investigation they determined Goodman, a convicted sexually violent predator, had moved from his previous residence in Boonville to a different address. Goodman failed to inform the Warrick County Sheriff’s Department of his recent move to 309 West Locust Street, Apartment 4A in Boonville. Goodman was arrested while walking around downtown Boonville without incident and taken to the Warrick County Jail. He is currently being held on a $4,000 bond.

ARRESTED AND CHARGES:
• Edward D. Goodman, 309 West Locust Street, Apartment 4A, Boonville, IN
1. Failure to Register as a Sex Offender, Class C Felony
2. Failure of a Sexually Violent Predator to Possess Valid Identification, Class D Felony

The Indiana State Police partnered with the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C) to provide training to police investigators across the nation. Full details are listed in the following release originally issued by NW3C:

Fairmont, WV On January 17, 2013, the Indiana State Police and the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C) partnered to host a live webinar on the use of social media in Investigations to over 1,000 state and local law enforcement personnel and prosecutors across the country representing all fifty (50) states. The webinar titled “What Investigators and Analysts Need to Know about Facebook and Online Social Media: Awareness and Education Introductory Webinar” is the first of a three-part series funded by the Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Assistance.

Conducted by Lieutenant Chuck Cohen, an 18 year veteran with the Indiana State Police who speaks internationally on a variety of topics including the use of online social media in criminal investigations, this awareness training is designed to cover information about online social media that all criminal investigators and prosecutors need to know to more effectively investigate and solve crimes and protect their communities.

Social networking sites are virtual communities. As in any large community, these sites are home to criminal organizations, fraud and violent crime. This webinar is to support law enforcement and prosecutors by increasing awareness to prevent, investigate and prosecute crimes using these virtual communities.

Questions about this and other services provided by NW3C can be directed to Kathryn Rinker at KMalbonRinker@nw3c.org or (804) 273-6932 ext. 3328. Questions about Indiana State Police investigative efforts can be directed to Lieutenant Chuck Cohen at CCohen@isp.IN.gov or (317) 232-8309. For full details, view this message on the web.

Mr. President, please come to Chicago.

In Washington on Wednesday, as you rolled out a slate of gun control measures quickly cobbled together in the wake of the Sandy Hook massacre, you said, “If there is even one thing we can do to reduce this violence, if there is even one life that can be saved, then we’ve got an obligation to try.”

If you believe those words, Mr. President, here is a heartfelt suggestion: Come back to your adopted hometown and personally host a summit that grapples seriously with the causes of — and crafts meaningful solutions to — gang violence in America’s big cities.

It’s really not much of an exaggeration to say that parts of Chicago resemble a war zone. The numbers are grim. Unofficially, there were 513 homicides in Chicago in 2012, nearly 100 more than New York City, which recorded 414 killings but which has a population three times larger. Chicago’s body count is 200 more than the number of U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan last year. The carnage has continued unabated into the New Year.

It’s gone on too long, sir.

The sad reality is that while terrible mass shootings like the ones at Aurora and Newtown shock the nation’s conscience, pull at the public’s heartstrings, and garner wall-to-wall media coverage, they represent a tiny fraction of the number of gun homicides in the country every year.

Consider this, Mr. President: During the first 16 days of January, 26 people have been killed by guns in Chicago — the exact same number as at Sandy Hook Elementary School. By the time this year is out, the south and west sides of the city we both call home will have endured, in terms of sheer numbers of people killed, the equivalent of 20 Sandy Hook massacres. That’s on top of the equivalent of the 19 Sandy Hooks the city experienced in 2012.

Yet there has been little outcry by the national media, and not much public attention paid to Chicago’s crucible by either national political party. Just the sterile news stories in the local papers every morning recounting the details of yet another young person’s life cut short and another family ripped apart thanks to senseless violence.

The other sad reality, Mr. President, is that almost nothing proposed this week in Washington, D.C., by your administration will do anything to stem the tide of gun violence in our inner cities. Most of these crimes were not committed with semi-automatic assault weapons, they weren’t committed by the mentally ill, and they won’t be stopped by universal background checks.

If you are serious about doing everything in your power to curb gun violence and save lives, then you must harness your immense popularity in Chicago — and in other big cities — to address the elephant in the room: the failures of a society grown coarsened, desensitized to violence, and too tolerant of such carnage.

This is true of American culture broadly: Hollywood has become too blithe in its glorification of murder, and makers of ultra-violent video games share some of the blame too. But it’s particularly true within the African-American community, where too many fatherless young men have given up hope for a better future and embraced a nihilistic gang culture that not only accepts brutal violence on a daily basis but encourages it.

During your presidency you’ve been asked a number of times about issues of concern to the black community, such as the high rate of African-American unemployment. You tend to respond, gracefully, and rightly, I believe, that you are president of all Americans, and not just one particular group or another.

This issue is different. Because of your heritage and your stature as the first African-American president, you may be the only person in this country who has the influence and moral standing to speak much needed truths to address this longstanding scourge in the black community.

As you said, “If there is even one thing we can do to reduce this violence, if there is even one life that can be saved, then we’ve got an obligation to try.”

There is one thing you can do, Mr. President. Come home to Chicago. Talk to the kids. If they’ll listen to anybody, they’ll listen to you.