Spencer resident Tonda Thacker Hinton awaits a new lease on life, which will come from a lifesaving kidney transplant. Over the years, she has endured countless procedures and medical crises, and she even underwent a kidney/pancreas transplant in 2003. Though her pancreas still works properly, she finds herself once again waiting for a new kidney. To help with medical costs, volunteers hosted a car wash at Advance Auto Parts, in Brazil, Ind.
Guests enjoy weekend of Chords, Canvas and Cocktails
This summer, West Baden Springs Hotel, hosted “Chords, Canvas & Cocktails.” There, guests enjoyed “Jazz Under the Dome,” a weekend of standards, be-bop, and swing, featuring some of the best jazz talent in the region; a Bourbon Women Sip-osium; and artists creating original art in the garden. West Baden Springs Hotel is part of French Lick Resort that also includes French Lick Springs Hotel, the new French Lick Casino, and the Pete Dye Course at French Lick.
Jehovah’s Witnesses select Evansville for convention
For the 11th consecutive year, the Jehovah’s Witnesses selected Evansville as a site for their summer convention. This is the largest religious group hosted by Evansville each year. Organizers anticipate 6,300 worshipers from Arkansas, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee to attend the three-weekend convention. The Evansville Conventions and Visitors Bureau calculates this group contributed over $4 million in direct spending for their conference.
Notre Dame, GE offers summer Camp
Girls from grades seven and eight at Brown, Jefferson and Jackson intermediate centers participated in the first GE Girls at ND summer camp on the campus of the University of Notre Dame. The weeklong day camp gave the girls an introduction to STEM by featuring hands-on science and engineering lessons on various topics, including 3-D printing, electrical engineering, aviation, construction, physics, chemistry and programming. The program also initiated mentoring relationships between women in STEM careers and the students.
African Leaders train at Notre Dame
Twenty-five young African leaders from 17 countries descended on the University of Notre Dame where they trained for six weeks in business and entrepreneurship as part of the Obama administration’s Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI). President Barack Obama launched YALI in 2010 to support young African leaders as they spur growth and prosperity, strengthen democratic governance and enhance peace and security across Africa. Notre Dame is among an elite group of colleges and universities chosen by the U.S. Department of State as a host institution for the Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders program.
Internet Entrepreneurship 101 for African Americans: Practical Methodologies for Achieving In Internet Business
Do African Americans need a book targeted specifically to help them break into and reap the benefits of the Internet economy? Figures released in May by Google show only 1 percent of their employees are Black in comparison to the overall population, which stands at 12 percent. Apple is doing a little better with a staff that’s 7 percent Black. So maybe they do.
Author Jason Moore certainly thinks so. He lays out the path for breaking that glass ceiling and calling your own shots with Internet Entrepreneurship 101 for African Americans: Practical Methodologies for Achieving In Internet Business.
With more than 13 years of experience developing, managing and consulting with startups, this Internet entrepreneur draws on his own experiences to help small business owners and those with future plans to own a business maximize their potential.
Internet Entrepreneurship 101 for African Americans: Practical Methodologies for Achieving In Internet Business is available in paperback for $17.99 and on Kindle for $3.99 at Amazon.com.
Christian Indiana companies may benefit from Hobby Lobby’s outcome
The U.S. Supreme Court in Burwell vs. Hobby Lobby left the decision whether to provide coverage for certain types of birth control to the employer, having an immediate effect on that Oklahoma-based company. However, some Indiana employers also had a vested interest in the outcome of that case. Madison-based Grote Industries and University of Notre Dame in South Bend were among dozens of employers nationwide filing complaints against the Department of Health and Human Services. Many of those employers sought similar relief from the implementation of that part of the Affordable Care Act, commonly called Obamacare. Hobby Lobby, Grote and other family-owned, closely held corporations argued that provision of the ACA violated their First Amendment right to free speech and their rights under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993.
Obama order protects rights of federally contracted LGBT employees
A recent study conducted by the Equal Rights Center and Freedom to Work concluded job applicants who so much as hint they are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender on their resumes reduce their chances of being called for an interview by as much as 23 percent. Test applicants with nearly identical backgrounds, except a strong work history that identified LGBT volunteerism, applied for the same position. The applicant with the weaker resume was contacted repeatedly for an interview while the LGBT applicant never was contacted and someone else was hired. But there is some relief, at least for those who work for the federal government or its contractors. President Barack Obama in July signed an executive order prohibiting federal contractors from discriminating against their employees based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
I.U. embarks on business education partnership with African university
The Indiana University Kelley School of Business has established a 10-week Foundations of Social Commerce program to deliver basic business knowledge to the people of Kenya through its partnership with Moi University in Eldoret. The inaugural program is the first of what university officials hope will blossom into a broader “Business of Peace Through Prosperity” education program. Foundations of Social Commerce is intended to help Kenyan entrepreneurs get beyond product or service development and learn fundamentals, such as finance, communications and marketing, and growth models. The strategic partnership with the Kenyan university started in 2006 through the Indiana University Medical School in Indianapolis. The partnership is considered one of the university’s most significant international alliances. The pilot business program, limited to 50 people and broken into five two-week modules, started in September and is led by Todd Roberson, senior lecturer of finance at the Kelley School.
Graves taps personal experiences to design buildings, products that heal
Internationally renowned Indiana-born architect Michael Graves, 80, designer of the NCAA headquarters in Indianapolis, the St. Vincent Health building in Carmel and Fort Wayne’s Snyderman House, has turned his attention to universal design. The Princeton, N.J.-based modernist, confined to a wheelchair since 2003 when he came down with a mysterious virus that left him paralyzed from the chest down, recently told the Washington Post good design can be crucial to healing. Whether designing a single-family home for a wounded active-duty soldier in Virginia or nursing homes for Carmel-based Mainstreet, Graves considers his own experiences. That leads to designs minimizing stairs, wide hallways that allow two wheelchairs to pass and rooms with enough space for a wheelchair to spin in a circle even after furniture is placed. Well-known for his iconic Alessi teakettle and a signature line of household goods for Target, Graves also is working with a health technology company to design hospital room products.
