Local News

Lincoln Amphitheatre says it will offer a diverse line-up of entertainment starting in April. The backbone will again be "A. Lincoln: A Pioneer Tale," back for a second season. But the opening show will be "Celtic Spring Song and Dance" on April 14th. The season also includes "Mice!" by Tales and Scales. Another Evansville troupe, Civic Theatre, will present "Godspell." The National Theatre will present Lincoln's favorite play, "Macbeth."  And around Halloween, Lincoln Amphitheatre will partner with the Friends of Lincoln State Park for the third annual Trail of Terror.

After almost 100 years of business, Schmitt Photo Service, Inc. is shutting down. The small, locally owned business has suffered with the recent economic downtown and the widespread shift to digital photography. Company President Steve Polley says the closure is not due to bankruptcy. Both the Photo Service and the recent addition of a Scrapbooking Center will close on February 28th.

A new program provides free day care to local families at risk of becoming homeless. The Homeless Prevention Coalition is picking five families and connecting them with child care providers for six weeks of child care. The Coaliton wants parents to use this time to seek employment or education. After six weeks, parents and day care providers will work together to establish payment on a sliding scale.  If this initial program is a success, the Coalition hopes to gain funding and implement the program on a larger scale.

The new trash and recycling collection contract with Allied Waste/Republic Services begins Monday. Each customer will receive two new 96-gallon bins - one for trash and one for recycling - which are expected to be delivered by March. Bins will now be picked up 5 days a week instead of 4, so new pickup schedules will take effect Monday.  Residents have already been mailed their new schedules.  Information on Pickup days and recycling weeks for individuals is also online at www.evansvillegis.com/Trash.

You have an opportunity to recycle your Christmas tree, among other things. The Vanderburgh County Solid Waste District and the Wesselman Nature Society will conduct the annual Holiday Recycling Day on the back lot of the Civic Center from 8:00 AM until noon today. You can get your real tree grounded into mulch. If you want to keep the mulch, take along a container for it. Other materials will be recycled, including gift wrap, greeting cards, newspaper, household paper, magazines, catalogs, cans, glass containers, and No. 1-though-7 plastic containers.

The Evansville Emergency Food Pantry Consortium is selling holiday ornaments to help support its seven food pantries.  The ornaments are in commemoration of Evansville's Bicentennial and cost 10 dollars each, available at the city's three G.D. Ritzy restaurants and drive-thrus.

Evansville's new trash and recycling pickup schedule begins in January. Along with trash collection taking place five days a week instead of four, residents will receive two 96-gallon bins: one for trash and one for recyclable items.  Special collections will continue, including heavy trash pickup in the spring and fall and a leaf pickup from mid-October through mid-December.  Letters will be mailed out soon to notify residents about their weekly pickup day and when their new bins will arrive.

A local author is donating almost 1,900 copies of her book to third graders. Angie Karcher wrote her book "Where the River Grins: the History of Evansville, Indiana" specifically to donate to students in the county as part of this year's Evansville Bicentennial celebration. The book is now in classrooms across the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation. 

Santa Claus, Indiana is getting a special visitor, in addition to Santa Claus himself. The Travel Channel will visit the town to film its annual Santa Claus Christmas Celebration for a new special called "Christmas Showdown." Producers for the channel plan to visit the 22-foot Santa Claus statue and Santa's Candy Castle, both of which opened in December of 1935. The town's three-week Christmas Celebration includes a fruitcake-eating contest at the castle, Dinner with Santa, Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire, and more. Travel Channel's "Christmas Showdown" will air next year.

Evansville's Station 14 firefighters are ready to move back into their fire house. The Willow Road Station has been closed for more than a month while crews replaced the roof, put in new countertops and cabinets, and spruced up the house with fresh paint. Part of these renovations were paid for with county option income tax money, repaid by the state after an accounting error. The Station 14 firefighters have been staying at Station 16, so they are glad to move furniture back in this weekend and finally stay the night at their own Station House on Monday.