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Jean Webb is running for District 1 against Kiefer. Webb’s view is different from those who sent the letter endorsing incumbents. She doesn’t believe the schools are heading in the right direction.
Webb and her children attended EVSC schools, and her granddaughter is currently a fourth grader at Hebron. She said since her granddaughter was in kindergarten, the school accountability grade has significantly dropped from the highest rating to nearly failing.
“I know school grades aren’t everything … but that rating drop was alarming,” Webb said.
Four of seven EVSC School Board seats are up for election in November, and eight candidates are vying for one of those spots: one District 1 seat, both District 2 seats and one At-Large seat. All races are contested but are nonpartisan.
R. Clark Exmeyer for one of the District 2 seats.
David Hollingsworth and Melissa Moore are running against Ossenberg for the At-Large seat.
Exmeyer, Hollingsworth and Moore could not immediately be reached Thursday for comment.
Candidates endorsed by the Evansville Teachers Association, according to president Michael Rust, are Webb, Ennis, Guarino and Hollingsworth.
Four of the six community leaders who signed the letter – Shoulders, Calloway, Jones and Hancock – said they believe the EVSC is “in good hands” with the current leadership.
Ellsworth and White did not return messages seeking comment.
The letter doesn’t violate any rules, according to Vanderburgh County Election Supervisor Marc Toone, and it’s not uncommon.
Ennis said she has received donations from 167 separate donors to-date, with a majority from individual households or small local businesses.
Ennis believes in asking teachers what’s happening and what they need to succeed. She said more civic leaders need to be active within schools.
Webb said the EVSC is “holding steady” and needs a new direction. She said high teacher turnover rate and few substitutes are a few problems, as well as disparities between schools.
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) - The stubbly beard of Colorado Avalanche defenseman Ryan O'Byrne attempts to conceal the pinkish cut that required 100 stitches to close.
O'Byrne was caught flush in the face by the skate of Edmonton's Taylor Hall early in a game two weeks ago, causing a gash that begins just above the left side of his mouth and snakes downward from there.
He needed 30 stitches on the outside of his cheek to close the wound and 70 more inside.
Still, he considers himself fortunate. The skate narrowly avoided a nerve in his face and completely missed his eye or neck. He said after practice Monday "it could have been worse, for sure."
O'Byrne will return to the ice Tuesday night in Minnesota, wearing a caged helmet to provide protection.
STOCKHOLM, Aug 10 (Reuters) - A man and a woman were killed and a third injured in a knife attack at an IKEA store in the Swedish city of Vasteras on Monday and two suspects were arrested, police said.
One of the suspects was apprehended at the scene and the second, who was seriously injured, was picked up at a hospital a few hours later, commanding police officer Per Agren said at a press conference. How he was injured was not clear.
The suspects were two men born in 1992 and 1979 who probably knew each other, Agren said. They had no connection with the victims and the motive for the attack was not known, he said.
Officers were called to the store at 1 p.m. (1100 GMT) and found three people with knife injuries, police spokesman Per Stromback told reporters outside the IKEA outlet about an hour west of the capital, Stockholm.
The 35-year-old man had life-threatening injuries, Vasteras hospital head nurse Lena Moren told the public broadcaster SVT.
Vasteras newspaper VLT posted a video on its website it said was of police wrestling the suspect to the ground in a bus shelter.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An exit by Britain from the European Union without a framework agreement to preserve some economic integration is the biggest near-term risk to the British economy, an International Monetary Fund spokesman said on Thursday.
IMF spokesman Gerry Rice told reporters that all Brexit outcomes will entail costs, because they will raise impediments to the current “frictionless” single market with the EU.
“Leaving without a withdrawal agreement and a framework for the future relationship with the EU is the most significant near-term risk to the UK economy,” Rice said.
You can hardly get any closer to the beach than this Lost Colony beach house. Breathtaking gulf views from all three floors. Located just steps to the complex swimming pool or to the walk over to the beach. Open concept living/kitchen/dining on the second floor with an expansive window over the kitchen sink and large windows in the living area. There is a full bath located on this floor. The third floor has three bedrooms (master included) and a full bath. A first floor bedroom offers another master-sized room with a gulf view. Completely renovated in 2014 with soothing coastal colors and furnishings. Offered turn-key, #6 Lost Colony is already a very popular rental, grossing $82,000 in 2018.
Here’s something to think about during your travels this Memorial Day weekend: Your chances of getting in a traffic accident are increasing as the nation’s economy improves.
Statistics supplied by the state Department of Transportation show a marked decrease in the total number of traffic accidents during the five-year period that comprises the end of the last economic boom and the doldrums that followed. The total number of traffic accidents in Connecticut went from 112,999 in 2007, the last full year of economic boom, to 78,430 in 2011, when the state’s unemployment rate began the year at 9.4 percent and Eastern Connecticut’s was even higher.
Total accidents statewide fell every year in between, as did the number of accidents in New London County. Windham County accidents followed the trend except for a small increase in 2009 from 2008.
Connecticut’s declining number of auto accidents mirrors the national trend, DOT spokesman Kevin Nursick said. Many factors, including behavior adjustments caused by falling incomes and spikes in gasoline prices, help explain the decline, he said.
“There’s not one dominant thing you can point to,” he said.
Less money in one’s pocket forces people to make “better choices,” said Sue Moyer, an automobile insurance specialist at the Uncasville office of Bouvier Insurance. Among those better choices are more carpooling and less drunken driving, she said.
Connecticut is rated 49th out of 50 states for drunken driving accidents, including a recent 23 percent drop in fatal DUI crashes, according to statistics on the Connecticut Mothers Against Drunk Driving website.
An executive at the Connecticut branch of the AAA sees the recession and its tide of transportation changes as a strong brake on the number of road accidents.
The number of fatal accidents defied the downward pattern of the total number of accidents. Fatal accidents statewide totaled 269 in 2007 but rose to 280 in 2008 even though the total number of accidents during that span fell by 8,848. The number of fatal accidents rose to 299 in 2010 from 214 in 2009 even though the total number of accidents during that span fell by 2,087. But the number of fatal accidents in 2011, the last year for which statistics area available, was 209.
The number of fatal accidents in New London and Windham counties also showed fluctuations.
Windham County has a higher percentage of fatal accidents to overall accidents than New London County but there’s no major factor that explains that phenomenon, Nursick said. Driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs is the No. 1 factor in fatal accidents both in county and state statistics, he said.
Of New London County’s 18 fatal crashes in 2011, seven were caused by driving under the influence. For Windham County’s 15 fatal accidents in 2011, four were attributed to DUI, Nursick said.
“Without fail, that is always the No. 1 cause in fatals,” the state DOT spokesman said.
The increase in Connecticut’s average gasoline price to $3.78 in 2011 from $2.94 in 2010, a period of economic slack, was accompanied by declines in the numbers of total accidents and fatal accidents. Yet during the boom period of 2007-08 when Connecticut’s average gasoline price climbed to $3.43 per gallon from $2.93, fatal accidents rose while total accidents declined.
Connecticut automobile registrations have shown little fluctuation, according to state Department of Motor Vehicles records. Active registrations, recorded in May of each year, were 2,979,951 in 2007. They rose slightly above 3 million for the four years that followed before declining to 2,972,202 in 2012. May 2013 active registrations were up by 1,937 from the 2012 period, the DMV said.
Public transit use in Eastern Connecticut has been steady amid recent economic fluctuations, said Michael Carroll, general manager of Preston-based Southeast Area Transit District, New London County’s public bus company, which is managed by the DOT.
The total number of SEAT boardings in fiscal year 2008, which includes half of the 2007 calendar year, were 1,158,771. They varied slightly around 1.1 million for the three fiscal years that followed before hitting 1,270,598 in fiscal 2012. Carroll expects boardings to show a “little decline” in fiscal 2013 compared with fiscal 2012 due to a 25-cent fare increase, the first in six years, that took effect March 26, 2012.
Public transit use tends to rise in many parts of the country during weak economic times, Carroll said, helping to explain the reduction in car accidents nationally.
New Englanders are, on average, planning to travel shorter distances this Memorial Day weekend. The average expected round trip is 579 miles compared with 611 miles last year, according to Connecticut AAA. This contrasts with the higher nationwide projection (690 miles compared to 642).
Tim Dzieken, of Preston expects to make his annual Memorial Day trip to Stonington to enjoy the shoreline.
Yet some New Englanders are planning longer trips. Statistics compiled by AAA show 33 percent plan to travel 1,500 miles or more while just 14 percent planned to travel that far a year ago.
New England carpooling is up this Memorial Day weekend. Only 6 percent will be single adults this year compared with 29 percent last year, AAA’s Kupec said, citing research by D.K. Shifflet & Associates Ltd. Parties of three or more adults will account for 44 percent of travelers compared to 15 percent last year.
For the last time in his career, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke in front of his fellow delegates at the United Nations. It was expected that the controversial leader of Iran would quickly speak out against Israel and the United States in a way that would give the other delegates in the room more than enough reason to walk out of the room in protest.
While these words are peaceful, they are by no means characteristic of Iran or Ahmadinejad. Iran’s president spoke in terms that expressed he was acceptant that capitalism is now the ruler of the world economy and that it would take cooperation by all states to ensure prosperity for all.
Iran and Ahmadinejad spoke at the UN in a way that showed the world they were progressing. However, their previous actions and statements are not lost on the leaders of the free world. As Ahmadinejad spoke, there were no delegates present from the United States, Canada, or Israel.
Many are claiming that Ahmadinejad’s speech was empty rhetoric put together to try to please the free world. Earlier in the week the same man said that Israel had zero roots in the Middle East and was unwelcome there, which simply isn’t true. The rest of the week saw leaders like President of the United States of America Barack Obama bash Iran and Ahmadinejad for their ways and their strong role in creating the dangerous instability in the Middle East.
The belief is still that Iran is working on nuclear weapons programs. Iran has said in the past that their goal is only to use nuclear energy for peaceful reasons, but many believe that this is simply a mask to cover up their true intentions of gathering strong nuclear weapons to protect themselves from potential attacks or possibly to start their own attack.
Ahmadinejad vaguely spoke about the United States and their control over nuclear weapons. The Iranian president made it out to seem that his state was threatened by the United States and was thus only looking to protect itself from the great Western power.
He then spoke on Zionists who attacked Iran. It seems as though Ahmadinejad is using the attacks as a reason to go after Israel and attack their people. At no point did the Iran leader say anything specifically to warrant a protest or a condemning of his views. He made his words out to seem as though he wanted peace in the end.
After the UN meeting in New York City, there is still a lot of mystery surrounding Iran and what their true intentions are. It is no surprise that they do not like Israel and that they are also not very fond of the Americans. But it seems as though we do not know what Iran is for sure.
Is Iran a ticking time bomb? Are we simply idly waiting until it is too late and Iran has nuclear weapons and pulls the trigger when we least expect it? Could the fate of Israel be in jeopardy when Iran is finally capable of doing real, significant, and permanent damage?
Or is there more truth to Ahmadinejad’s words that we perceive? Perhaps he really is extending his hand out to the free world. Maybe he really does want peace, but first wants assurance of it before Iran abandons their nuclear energy and nuclear weapons program and thus take away a big deterrent to make sure other states stay away.
This is the conundrum. Do we wait or do we act? It is possible that we leave Iran alone to do as it pleases and in the end we regret it as the state launches a nuclear attack on Israel or the United States. But it is equally possible that if we go to war or try to forcefully strop Iran’s nuclear programs, it turns out that they had no plans to begin with. Granted, Ahmadinejad’s words carry more weight than Saddam Hussein’s, but once upon a time our leaders believed there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, but in the end the only destruction was that of a war over false information.
Mumbai, 27 August India plans to sell 4.75% of the government’s holding in state-run NTPC Ltd in a follow-on sale, the Financial Express reported today, sending the power utility’s shares up 2.6%.
The proposed sale was aimed at increasing the free float of NTPC’s shares in the market and help improve the company’s valuation, the paper said, citing a power ministry note.
The government owned 89.5% of NTPC at end-June, data on the Bombay Stock Exchange website showed.
“As a result of the low level of free float, the turnover in NTPC’s shares is quite low," it quoted the power ministry as saying in the note to the finance ministry’s department of disinvestment.
It said the free float needed to be at least 12% to become a component of the 50-share NSE index, and 15% for inclusion in the Morgan Stanley Capital International Indices.
At 0435 GMT, shares in the company were up 1.8% at Rs166.75 in a Mumbai market that gained 1.6%. The shares as much as 2.6% in early deals.
A spokeswoman for the power ministry could not be immediately reached.
I AM OFTEN asked a financial question that starts with the line: “As a rule of thumb what should I…” And I think the reason people start off with this statement is because they either want a shortcut to the answer they are looking for, or they want to know what others are doing.
For financial advice, giving rules of thumb, in my opinion is not the best way to operate as they are very basic and no two people are the same, so what is right for me may not be for you. Of course, they can serve a purpose and can give you a good steer but they should not be relied upon for making important financial decisions. So be warned!
Rule of thumb number 1: How much of my income should go towards my monthly mortgage or rent repayment?
My rule of thumb is the rule of 25/36.
Your mortgage repayment including insurances, should not exceed 25% of your gross monthly income or if you have other debts then when they are combined along with your mortgage repayment, should not exceed 36% of your gross monthly income.
Rule of thumb number 2: How much of an emergency fund should I have?
3 months of your 7 biggest monthly expenses for a two income household where both are in what they perceive to be stable, secure jobs.
Rule of thumb number 3: How much money should I be saving each month for my retirement?
This is very important to know because I read recently that a survey was conducted where 70% of the respondents who contribute to a pension, relied on guesswork as to what their income will be when they retire. They contribute each month but have no idea whether it is enough or not!
The amount you should be saving will be dependent on a number of factors but if you want a rule of thumb try saving about half of your age as a percentage of your income. So, if you are 25 save 12.5% of your salary or if you don’t start until you are 30, save 15% of your income.
Rule of thumb number 4: How much insurance should I have?
The level of life cover you need is calculated by allowing your family to continue their current lifestyle in the event of your death, and working out exactly how much they need will depend on the number of dependents you have, their ages, your net monthly income, value of your debt outstanding, family expenses, death in service benefit etc.
Rule of thumb is 10 times your annual salary if you are in your 30s with young children. If you’re in your 40s when children might be a little older, makes it 7 times your annual salary, and, finally, 5 times your annual salary if in your 50s.
Rule of thumb number 5: How much should I borrow to buy a car?
I like the 20-4-10 rule of thumb which is 20% deposit, a loan that doesn’t last longer than 4 years and a monthly repayment that is not greater than 10% of your monthly income.
Rule of thumb number 6: How long will it take before my savings will double?
Apply the rule of 72 to this one. If you divide the interest rate you are receiving on your savings/investment into 72, then this will give you the number of years it will take for your money to double in value.
Rule of thumb number 7: How long will it take before my money is halved in value?
This is obviously the reverse of doubling your money and has got to do with the effect inflation has on your savings, something I wrote about last year, where I stressed how important it was that you take notice of it and the impact it has on your savings.
Rule of thumb number 8: How much of my pension contribution each month should be invested in shares?
The universal rule of thumb here is that the amount you should invest in shares as part of your pension portfolio should be equal to 100 minus your current age. So, if you are 40 years old, the % of your pension fund invested in shares should be 60%.
Liam Croke, the founder of MyMoney (www.my-money.ie), an online portal to help employees access financial information and tools to manage their finances. He is a qualified financial advisor (QFA) with over 24 years in the financial services sector. He advises organisations and people on personal finance issues of the day. He has written 5 books in the area of personal finance and has written articles for most newspapers in Ireland over the past 10 years.
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BAY CITY, MI -- A federal lawsuit filed by a former teacher against a Mount Pleasant charter school on the ground of First Amendment violation and racial discrimination has been settled in unique fashion.
Rather than the plaintiff receiving a sum of money, she had the funds donated to organizations focused on curtailing domestic violence.
Mika Yamamoto on Jan. 10 signed a settlement agreement in her suit against Renaissance Public School Academy, Principal Lisa Bergman, and Michigan Educational Personnel Services. In the agreement, the defendants agreed to pay $45,000 to Yamamoto's attorney, Frankenmuth-based Julie A. Gafkay, and that Gafkay would then donate "all amounts beyond attorney fees ... to an appropriate and federally acknowledged charitable organization."
"This donation is being made in honor of Mika Yamamoto in recognition of her students at Renaissance Public School Academy in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan," Gafkay wrote in a letter sent to A Safe Place. "Mika is a remarkable woman. She has persevered through difficult times and now wants to give back to help others do the same."
It was Yamamoto's decision to have the donation made in honor of her former students.
Yamamoto contends she was fired as an act of retaliation because of a speech she gave to students Nov. 9, violating her First Amendment rights.
"Children always pay the price for injustice, and yet are so often forgotten," she said, adding she misses them.

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