The Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Department has arrested the two alleged thieves who robbed the Wesselman’s Market on Pollack Avenue in October.
Sheriff Takes Down Wesselman Thieves
Should States Adopt Right to Work Laws? by: John W.Cooper
The City County Observer is pleased to provide our readers with a scholarly study on Right to Work laws from the perspective of employers, employees, unions, and wealth creation. This topic promises to be one of the more important and controversial ones that the Indiana Legislature will be addressing this year and we want to be a part of educating our fellow Hoosiers about this topic so that an our representatives truly understand the will of the governed after the governed have taken the time to read and understand a subject that we are sure will draw much attention.
This scholarly study is only 54 pages and is not partisan so please dig in and enjoy.
Right to Work Battle Lines being drawn in Indianapolis
November 21, 2011
News Release
STATEHOUSE – “Today marks the beginning of the freedom campaign for Hoosier workers. While we are the envy of the Midwest in our job creation efforts, economic development experts tell us that removing the last barriers to job creation in our state will help the quarter of a million unemployed Hoosiers get back to work. That is why my top priority this session is to make Indiana the 23rd Right to Work state in the nation.
“Right to Work isn’t about Unions – it is about freedom and economic opportunity. It is about giving all Hoosiers the freedom to choose a job, decide how their hard earned money is spent and bring more employment opportunities to Indiana.
“With the national economic malaise, and our unemployment rate stubbornly hovering around 9 percent, we can’t afford to not address this issue this session. Right to Work means back to work for the unemployed. This is America, Hoosiers deserve this freedom.â€
Senate Pro Tempore Senator Long (R-Fort Wayne) issued the following statement following a joint press conference where he announced he will pursue Right to Work legislation this session to bring more economic development opportunity for Hoosiers:
STATEHOUSE – “While we’ve been aggressive in drawing businesses to our state, the realities of the current global economy are clear: without a Right to Work law in Indiana, companies will continue to overlook us and take jobs either out of state or overseas. Hundreds of thousands of Hoosiers are unemployed and we must do everything in our power to ensure Indiana is the best place for jobs to locate. A dynamic and growing economy is critical to our state’s future. To ensure that becomes a reality, we must remove any additional barriers preventing companies and businesses from expanding or locating in Indiana.â€
Source: Indiana House Media Department, Indiana Senate Communications.
Forget the 99% or the 1%, Here is an Article about the 0.1% and it isn’t about MONEY
The New York Times today includes a study about the difference between skills that can be acquired simply by practice or repetition and skills that seem to rely on native intelligence. In some things practice really does make perfect but in others having the best memory capacity and cognitive skills just can’t be beat.
This is of course not a popular subject outside of athletics where the inborn gifts of speed and size clearly provide advantages but it correlates with performance none the less.
Excerpts and Link:
“By age 20, the students whom the faculty nominated as the “best†players had accumulated an average of over 10,000 hours, compared with just under 8,000 hours for the “good†players and not even 5,000 hours for the least skilled.”
“Those findings have been enthusiastically championed, perhaps because of their meritocratic appeal: what seems to separate the great from the merely good is hard work, not intellectual ability.”
“But this isn’t quite the story that science tells. Research has shown that intellectual ability matters for success in many fields — and not just up to a point.”
“he remarkable finding of their study is that, compared with the participants who were “only†in the 99.1 percentile for intellectual ability at age 12, those who were in the 99.9 percentile — the profoundly gifted — were between three and five times more likely to go on to earn a doctorate, secure a patent, publish an article in a scientific journal or publish a literary work. A high level of intellectual ability gives you an enormous real-world advantage.”
“In other words, if you took two pianists with the same amount of practice, but different levels of working memory capacity, it’s likely that the one higher in working memory capacity would have performed considerably better on the sight-reading task.”
“It would be nice if intellectual ability and the capacities that underlie it were important for success only up to a point. In fact, it would be nice if they weren’t important at all, because research shows that those factors are highly stable across an individual’s life span. But wishing doesn’t make it so.”
“None of this is to deny the power of practice. Nor is it to say that it’s impossible for a person with an average I.Q. to, say, earn a Ph.D. in physics. It’s just unlikely, relatively speaking. Sometimes the story that science tells us isn’t the story we want to hear.”
IS IT TRUE? November 21, 2011
IS IT TRUE? November 21, 2011
IS IT TRUE that the stealing epidemic in the City of Evansville took on a whole new dimension last weekend in a couple of strip malls?…that this time the thieves got into one business in a strip mall and went from business to business but cutting or busting a hole through the drywall that separates the businesses in such structures?…that going through the wall is a known technique to get oversized furniture into rooms that do not have hall access but to use through the wall techniques to go from store to store to steal is a relatively new trick for Evansville thieves?…that this stunt has been pulled dressing room to dressing room in some stores in the Eastland Mall with thieves that are working as a team?…that when doing a routine crime comparison between Evansville and a city in Southern California named La Quinta yesterday it was learned that a resident of Evansville is 150% more likely to be robbed than a resident of La Quinta?…that La Quinta enjoys average crime statistics for suburban California?…that it is time to get the thievery in Evansville under control and that the City County Observer is surprised that this upwardly creeping statistic was not addressed by any candidate for any office in the 2011 City of Evansville elections?
IS IT TRUE that there were several references during the 2011 City of Evansville budget cycle and the elections with respect to the archaic and non-user friendly way that the City budget is kept?…that while Councilman John Friend who is a CPA seems to be able to navigate through the budget that the other 8 members of the City Council and the Mayor Elect do not have a CPA designation?…that the CCO encourages whomever is making the task list for the 2012 city government to add converting the City of Evansville budget to some format that is easier to understand and more conformal to what less archaic cities use?
IS IT TRUE that the so called “Super Committee†formed by President Obama to take on the task of cutting $1.2 Trillion from the federal budget over a ten year period is expected to announce today that they have failed to do so?…that we expect this bi-partisan group of 12 to become very partisan about 20 seconds after their failure is announced and start blaming each other along party lines?…that the CCO would like to suggest a name change for this committee to the STUPOR COMMITTEE?…that in terms of the total spending of the federal government over a 10 year period that this should be a doable task?…that these people must have taken lessons from the VANDERBURGH COUNTY CONSOLIDATION COMMITTEE who produced a similarly impotent plan when it comes to achieving any real savings?…that we think that Ray & Ben who do the commercials for Raben Tire could do a better job?…that Evansville, Vanderburgh County, Indiana, and yes the United States of America had better get serious about eliminating PARTY from all elections?…that concerned citizens could do this so why can’t elected officials make it happen?
IS IT TRUE that the places that our exalted committees work may be a bit too cushy and the food a bit too delicious?…that when groups of people who merit to be called a SUPER COMMITTEE get together they need Spartan accommodations and nourishment?…that a wing of a prison with prison food may be a better place to get things done than the luxurious confines of Congress?…that if these folks were sent to San Quentin with this assignment that there would have been a solution in less than a week?…that we are beginning to wonder if anyone is going to get serious about righting the wrongs in government?…that maybe it will take a real crash to get the attention of some of our spoiled narcissists who happen to have gotten themselves elected to lead?
Sobriety Checkpoint – Wednesday Evening
The Evansville-Vanderburgh County Traffic Safety Partnership will conduct a sobriety checkpoint this Wednesday evening, November 23, 2011 from 11 p.m. until 3 a.m. with the objective of improving the safety of the motoring public during the Thanksgiving holiday. Law enforcement officers from the Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Office, the Evansville Police Department and the Indiana State Police will join together to conduct this checkpoint.
The location for this Friday’s checkpoint was chosen based on local traffic collision data. Analysis of data captured during late October and early November indicated that several geographical areas within Vanderbugh County accounted for a disproportionately high number of reported hit and run crashes. Hit and run crashes are often the result of impaired drivers who try to avoid arrest by fleeing the scene.
This Wednesday’s checkpoint will be located within one of the above referenced areas in order to accomplish the goal of detecting and deterring impaired drivers (in an effort to reduce the occurance of alcohol and drug related traffic crashes).
USI Trustees approve summer session cost reduction
The move reduces the current $193.07 per credit hour for Indiana undergraduates to $154.50 per credit hour in summer 2012 and $162.30 per credit hour in summer 2013. For an undergraduate taking a full-time summer load of 12 credit hours, this new program will cut costs by $463 in summer 2012 and $510 in summer 2013.
“The University of Southern Indiana Board of Trustees takes very seriously the issue of affordability and access,” Board Chair Ted C. Ziemer Jr. said. “This program for summer sessions will help reduce the cost of excellent higher education for Hoosiers and is in line with USI’s history of affordability. By offering classes in the summer at a lower price, the University will make it more attractive for students to speed up their achievement of a college degree and, by increasing the number of students it serves in the summer, make better use of our resources.”
President Linda L. M. Bennett said, “The reduction of summer session costs will encourage our students to take advantage of earning credits in the summer and will help with timely degree completion, a priority for the state and for the University.”
“For students from Evansville and the southwest Indiana region home for the summer from other colleges and universities, this price reduction also will be a benefit,” Bennett added. “They can earn credits at USI that apply toward their degree completion, most likely at a much lower cost.”
USI’s 2012 summer sessions begin May 9 and June 18, with more than 560 courses scheduled. Last summer, 4,455 students were enrolled in summer courses, an increase of over nine percent or 400 students over the last five years. The University anticipates increased enrollment in summer sessions and more efficient use of state-funded facilities.
For more about summer sessions at USI, see www.usi.edu/summer.
Downtown Today: 11/21/2011
Time 9:30 AM – 10:30 AM
Subject COMMERCIAL REVIEW COMMITTEE
Location 318
Recurrence Occurs every Monday effective 11/7/2011 until 11/28/2011 from 9:30 AM to 10:30 AM
Reminder 15 minutes
KATHIE HOLLEY @ 5228
Categories ROOM 318
Time 3:30 PM – 4:30 PM
Subject PORT AUTHORITY
Location 307
Recurrence Occurs the third Monday of every 1 month effective 11/21/2011 until 11/21/2011 from 3:30 PM to 4:30 PM
Reminder 15 minutes
ROBIN HAYES
Categories ROOM 307
IS IT TRUE? November 20, 2011
IS IT TRUE? November 20, 2011
IS IT TRUE that with the 2012 election cycle upon us that it is time to start thinking about what will be the topics to tackle in the upcoming year?…that of course one very important topic to keep in the forefront will be just how our newly elected but not yet seated officials execute on their campaign promises and on how the Winnecke Administration will attack the unresolved issues that the Weinzapfel Administration will be leaving for his successor to resolve?…that the big issues that are unresolved are the McCurdy, the downtown Convention Hotel, the Parks Disaster, Combined Sewer Overflows, and of course Roberts Stadium?…that there are many other issues like friendly city employees, efficiency, fire contracts, board appointments, etc. that will keep the Winnecke Administration fully occupied just cleaning out the barn?
IS IT TRUE that Vanderburgh County will have a pretty full election cycle this year with two Commissioners and three County Council seats up for grabs?…that at the state level we will of course have the entire Indiana House of Representatives, some key Senate seats, and a Governor’s mansion to fill?…that nationally 2012 promises to be an election year to remember with the top office of interest being that of President of the United States?…that at the congressional level it will be interesting to see if the Republicans can extend their gains from the 2010 election cycle to hold both houses of congress?…that the real issues at the national level in most elections will be a referendum on the success or failure of the Obama Administrations first term?…that whomever the Republicans nominate will have their hands full as President Obama is already in full campaign mode and seems to be able to raise whatever money is possible?…that Indiana economist Morton Marcus opined one big thumbs down on Republican hopeful Texas Governor Rick Perry today stating in layman’s terms that Perry is just too dumb to be president?…that Governor Perry seems to have gotten an F in college chemistry to prove it?
IS IT TRUE that in a court of law if one withholds material information that means big trouble and is called “obstruction of justice”?…that in a public company that withholding material information or trading stock on inside information is punishable as a crime?…that it seems as though in every election cycle there seems to be someone somewhere that uses a strategy of withholding material information until after an election and that it is condoned as a viable strategy?…that the CCO believes that withholding or delaying material information until election day should be dealt with the way it is dealt with in court cases and business?…that who we elect is more important than who we electrocute?…that Penn State is going through serious issues now because of several people’s decision to withhold information?…that there is no place for that kind of behavior in politics?
IS IT TRUE that perhaps the most important decision locally next year will be the referendum on consolidated government?…that it is widely accepted that there is much potential for savings by consolidating all of Vanderburgh County under a single government?…that it is also widely recognized that the plan that we will be voting on not only failed to identify significant savings but that it has forbidden future officials from enacting savings in the largest budget items for a period of 10 years?…that the identified savings in the current plan only amount to 0.20% of the combined City-County budgets?…that if one scales that to the average family income in Vanderburgh County that this is the equivalent of $1.31 per week or the cash value of about 40 aluminum cans?…that what we are really faced with is to vote for a good idea with a poor plan or to vote down the poor plan?…that the consolidation committee could have killed this argument by developing a solid plan that identified solid and significant savings?
IS IT TRUE that on a statewide level the “Right to Work†issue seems to be the most controversial thing that will be under consideration?…that this issue may very well shape the narrative for the 2012 State of Indiana campaigns?…that the term “Right to Work†is much understood by both supporters and opponents and that the first real order of business should be to educate voters about exactly what “Right to Work†really means?…that the eyes of the country will be on Indiana with this as the natural fact is that if Indiana adopts “Right to Work†into law it will be the first of the traditional Rust Belt states to do so?…that the one thing that the City County Observer encourages from our state legislature is to stay in Indiana and enter into a constructive dialog as opposed to running for the border like the Democrat contingent did last year?…that this is the year to face this head on and make a well thought out decision for our state?
IS IT TRUE? November 19, 2011
IS IT TRUE? November 19, 2011
IS IT TRUE that Vectren president and CEO Carl Chapman’s presentation to the Evansville City Council this week provided a perfect opportunity to test Vectren’s assertions that at some point in the future that all of the electricity providers will have to make investments that will translate into an increase in other peoples rates so that they are at or above what we pay in SW Indiana?…that one particular provider, Kentucky Utilities (KU) that had been cited by the Louisville Courier Journal as owning up to coming increases that would bring them into compliance with Vectren still commanding a 50% premium was disputed by Mr. Chapman?…that the City County Observer contacted KU and learned that KU’s charge for 1,000 kWh today is $86.70?…that Vectren’s current total charge for the same thing is $157.60 or 82% higher than KU?…that KU projects that it will be increasing rates to $105.00 for 1,000 kWh by 2016 when it will reach EPA attainment?…that if Vectren freezes its rates for the next 5 years that it will still be 50% higher for electricity in SW Indiana than it is in the locations that KU services?…that is not consistent with Vectren’s assertions that other areas will catch up or pass them in rates to achieve attainment?
IS IT TRUE that the dense pack technology that Vectren is planning to install in two turbines at its A. B. Brown plant was approved in 2009 by the Indiana Utilities Regulatory Commission (IURC)?…that the gear is already on order and that Vectren has been making progress payments on the gear as it has been prepared for delivery?…that these improvements are going to be made and that the IURC has already approved the projects?…that the only variable is the amount of the cost that will be passed on to the ratepayers?…that Vectren has requested that this amount should be $1.08 per meter per month?…that is the subject of the November 28th meeting of the IURC at the Centre at 5:30 pm?…that we encourage all of our readers to attend and furthermore encourage the Evansville City Council to adjust their regularly scheduled meeting so they can all attend the IURC meeting as well?…that there is nothing that can be more important to the constituents of the City Council than this meeting and that our elected officials NEED TO BE THERE?
IS IT TRUE that of all of the rate increases that Vectren has ever asked for that on the surface the upgrading to dense pack technology really does appear to be in the financial best interest and the environmental best interest of SW Indiana?…that it was nevertheless the straw that broke the camel’s back with the people of Evansville?…that maybe something good like an increase in interests and awareness among the people of Evansville will come from this?…that awareness has been a long time coming in this neck of the woods?
IS IT TRUE that the executive session of the Evansville Redevelopment Commission on Thursday came and went without so much as a peep being disclosed to the public about the meeting?…that we assume that the discussion which was disclosed to be about the continuing saga of the downtown Convention Hotel centered around VETTING?…that we are quite curious regarding the report on the two proposals to see if Hunden Strategic Partners is giving their blessing to go forward with either proposal after VETTING the respondents and their proposals?…that some developer has pre-empted the whole process by entering into a contract to buy the Riverhouse and leaking the intention to build a 125 to 150 room hotel on the riverfront?…that this is exactly the size of hotel that was recommended for downtown Evansville anyway and the ERC request for proposal actually specified 220 rooms that exceeds the number of rooms recommended by professionals?