Unemployment numbers went down in March, according to statistics released by the Indiana Department of Workforce Development.
Over the past year, the state’s unemployment rate declined two percent which is the third largest decrease in the nation.
Starke County’s unemployment rate fell one point to 8.2 percent from February’s rate, while the state’s rate fell .2 percent to 5.9 percent.
The Eastern Pulaski School Board held discussion on the calendar year budget during their meeting last week.
Superintendent Dan Foster explained that only two school corporations in the state operate on a fiscal year budget and Eastern Pulaski is one of those two schools. The board recently approved a measure to move the school from a fiscal year budget to calendar year budget to come in line with state software and other advantages. He said the switch may get a little tricky.
Staff members from IU Health Starke Hospital visited the WKVI studios on Friday morning and one topic that General Surgeon Dr. Mangalore J. Subbarao discussed was the importance of the colonoscopy.
Dr. Subbarao said you can prevent colon cancer by getting this procedure.
“Colonoscopies are very important to prevent the cancer of the colon,” said Dr. Subbarao. “Colon cancer develops with the little growth called a polyp. If you remove the polyp, you have no colon cancer. If you don’t remove the polyp, it grows into a big cancer and it spreads. Then only do you have some symptoms.”
A Preschool Fair is set for Tuesday, April 29 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. CT at the Community Center in Knox.
Sarah Origer, Director of Development at the Starke County Community Foundation encourages all residents to attend for this information session.
“We hope that all Starke County preschools will be present,” said Origer. “It will also be an opportunity for parents and grandparents and children to come out and learn about a lot of the other enriching opportunities that exist in Starke County. Libraries will be present, Community Services of Starke County will also be there along with Healthlinc. Your child’s health is also incredibly important. It’ll just be a great opportunity.”
Gas prices spiked this week but according to Don Good from the Good Oil Company, we should be seeing lower prices for a gallon of gasoline soon.
Good said the recent spike has to do with the continuation of the fuel turnaround.
“Every time this time of the year rolls around they deplete the tanks to meet the new standards and that always creates – I’ll call it a ‘pricey opportunity’ for the speculators to buy product and then sell it at an increased cost so we always have some upward pressure this time when they go into turnaround, commented Good.”
With warmer temperatures finally entering the area and the itch to get your yard looking good for the season, you’ll want to be careful when hiring a contractor to take care of your lawn and garden.
The Better Business Bureau recommends that you make sure to shop around and get written estimates from three different companies before you settle on one price. The cheapest price isn’t always the best deal. Request a lawn inspection and get a free estimate.
It is also wise to obtain a written agreement once you’ve decided to move forward with a contractor. Document the duration and expected results of the lawn care service. Ask if the service is automatically renewed annually. If you choose a long-term contract, be sure to obtain information about cancellation rights.
Take time to understand the pricing, frequency of services and any guarantees. If the lawn contractor is not producing expected results, know what kind of recourse you can take.
The Medaryville Town Council approved an ordinance that would provide a town employee with the option of earning compensation time to make up for each day lost as a result of the closing of the Medaryville Town Hall due to inclement weather.
A state of emergency declared by The State of Indiana, the Pulaski County Commissioners and the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Department caused the town hall to close and forced town hall employees to choose between the loss of a pay day or utilizing their time off.
The town council wants to provide those employees with the option of earning time off with pay in lieu of overtime pay, known as compensation time, to accommodate the employee for having been forced to choose between the loss of a pay day or utilizing paid time. The employee would knowingly and voluntarily agreeing to accept compensation time in lieu of overtime pay.
According to the ordinance, an hourly employee may be given time off for time worked beyond the employee’s regular work schedule if the extra time off or compensation time is specifically requested and authorized by a supervisor and was created as a result of the emergency declaration.
This time policy will be effective as of Feb. 1, 2014.
In a related matter, the Medaryville Town Council approved an action to put $3,000 into the overtime pay for the Maintenance Supervisor as that item in the budget was depleted before April. The overtime was used for snow removal.
The Eastern Pulaski School Board approved summer school classes during their meeting this week.
Superintendent Dan Foster said a few courses will be offered this summer.
The Pulaski County Council approved a loan to the Town of Monterey for its waste water treatment facility upgrade.
Pulaski County Community Development Commission Executive Director Nathan Origer asked the council if they would approve a $10,000 loan with zero percent interest to help the town complete its quest in obtaining money for 20 percent match for the $205,000 project.
The Pulaski County Commissioners approved an IT contract during an emergency meeting on Wednesday afternoon.
The commissioners had to hold the meeting as RB Walters left county IT service provider Degroot Technologies and he was the technician who took care of the computers at the Pulaski County Justice Center. Company officials believe he would be the best person to continue working on the computers as he is the most familiar with the processes at the jail. Degroot Technologies would continue servicing the county’s computers and the Justice Center would be handled by a separate contractor.
The price for lunch at the cafeteria at the Eastern Pulaski School Corporation will be going up slightly.
Superintendent Dan Foster said the increase was in line with federal guidelines.
“We did increase our cafeteria lunch prices again. We have to get up to that two-dollar-and-fifty-three cent limit or something like that so we begrudgingly increased our cafeteria lunches ten cents.”
The Indiana Department of Education released graduation rate data Wednesday for the 2012-2013 school year.
The graduation rate is up from 2012. The average rate for all schools was 88.6% and most of the local schools are above that rate.
John Glenn Schools had the highest graduation rate of the local schools at 96.6% and Culver Community Schools had the lowest graduation rate at 77%.
The month of April is an opportunity for the community to come together and help children who have been victims of abuse.
There are 49 children in Starke County that are being served by the Department of Child Services who have been in abusive or unhealthy situations.
Child Abuse Awareness Month is a time when all individuals and organizations can play a role in making the community a better place for children and families. By ensuring that parents have the knowledge, skills, and resources they need to care for their children, it can promote children’s social and emotional well-being and prevent child maltreatment within families and communities.
With the spring season finally upon us, cleaning of our highways and byways will be getting underway.
INDOT’s annual Trash Bash will be running throughout this month and coincides with National Earth Day to aid in raising awareness of litter. Over 20,000 bags of trash were collected by INDOT maintenance crews, Indiana Department of Correction offender crews, and Adopt-A-Highway volunteers last year.
The Pulaski County Commissioners will meet in emergency session today at 3:20 p.m. ET to consider an IT contract to prevent disruption of the 911 system at the Pulaski County Justice Center.
The IT contract was discussed at the Pulaski County Council meeting on Monday night and the members discussed getting some sort of agreement with the current contractor to continue. The council wants to move forward as quickly as possible so coverage doesn’t lapse.
The Eastern Pulaski School Board has started a discussion about The Crossing which is a school that helps educate students who have dropped out of school, transitioned to home school or who were expelled at one time during their educational career.
Superintendent Dan Foster stressed that the board is only in the discussion phase at this point.
This week is National Telecommunicators Week.
When you call 911, the dispatcher is the first person you speak to in an emergency. The dispatcher helps communicate emergency services to police officers, ambulance services and fire departments.
In one second, a dispatcher may be relaying license and registration information to an officer and the next second that dispatcher may be signaling fire, EMS and police to the scene of an accident or coordinating communication for a high speed pursuit.
The Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum in North Judson will be giving Easter Train Rides beginning on April 19th.
The excursion is a round-trip from the depot and crosses the Kankakee River and English Lake in a trip that goes over five miles. The trip also travels to a park along the tracks where passengers disembark to take part in an Easter Egg Hunt.
