Local News

Duke Energy’s Edwardsport Generating Station is now operational. Construction on the the advanced technology coal gasification plant began in 2008. The company says the Knox County operation is one of the cleanest coal-fired power-generating facilities in the world. The plant uses advanced technology to gasify coal, strip out pollutants, and then burn that cleaner gas to produce electricity. The technology reduces the environmental impact of burning coal to produce electric power.

State school superintendent Glenda Ritz says that the Department of Education will pay $53,000 to have the National Center for the Improvement of Educational Assessment look at ISTEP scores to see whether interruptions to more than 78,000 students taking the online version of the exam should invalidate their scores. Ritz says she still opposes the "high stakes" attached to the ISTEP, but acknowledges she is limited in how she can reduce the exam‘s influence on student and teacher assessment.

Thirty-six eighth-grade students graduated from Lincoln School yesterday, the last class of students to graduate from the school's full-year calendar. In August, Lincoln will transition to a traditional school calendar like the rest of the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation schools. Principal Ronnetha Darrett says officials surveyed parents to gather their opinions on the schedule, and the majority wanted a change.

Nutritious meals, swimming, field trips, and special lessons are all part of Media Ministries Dream Center's free Summer Program 2013.  The Dream Center is opening its doors to all youth from kindergarten through high school from 11:30 to 3 Monday through Friday, and each age group has its own afternoon for additional lessons and activities.  Any child in the community is also invited to eat a free lunch from 11:30 to 12:30, as the Dream Center participates in the Summer Food Service Program.

Bookkeeping errors and overpayments - that have been rectified - are highlighted by the Indiana State Board of Accounts in a report sought by Mayor Lloyd Winnecke. He requested the audit when he entered office, with the Downtown entertainment facility 95 percent completed. The report said expenditures exceeded the $128 million cap set by the city council by about a half million dollars. City Controller Russ Lloyd Jr. says that with corrections of the erors, it came-in under budget.

It's the next big step for developing of the I-69 corridor. Indot says surveying has begun for the interstate in the Bloomington area. It says motorists should stay alert when traveling State Route 37 in Monroe County. Officials say the final segment - from Bloomington to Indianapolis - still needs funding and may be a decade away.

A federally-mandated sewer improvement plan takes the next step. Water and Sewer Utility Director Allen Mounts says that with public hearings completed, the plan has been sent to federal officials for review. The proposed $540 million program would upgrade the city's sewer system over 28 years, splitting storm and sanitary sewers, greatly reducing water pollution. Mounts told citizens at public hearings last month that the EPA could accept or reject the plan, which has a substantially smaller pricetag than the first draft included.

Still another setback for Sarah Teague of Madisonville. A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit she filed against the FBI, the Henderson Police Department, Kentucky State Police and others that she alleges have been covering-up information involving her daughter's disappearance. 23-year old Heather Teague was last seen by a Newburgh resident who was looking through a telescope at Newburgh Beach on the Kentucky side of the river, near the Newburgh Locks and Dam. He saw somebody approach Heather from behind as she was sunning, and dragged her into woods along the river. Aug. 29th, 1995. U.S.

A rising star in the Republican party comes to Henderson July 1st to speak to a joint meeting of the chamber of commerce, the Henderson Breakfast Lions Club and the Henderson Lions Club. Kentucky Senator Rand Paul will keynote the gathering at the Henderson Fine Arts Center. His local speech will provide a break in his schedule of talking to voters in other state's -- including Iowa -- an early-voting state. Paul has made it clear he'd like to be president

Near the end of June, Indiana will make the first deposit into a newly established trust fund, to pave the way for the state‘s next big round of highway-building. INDOT says 2020 is too far away to speculate on what projects may be built. But Indiana Motor Truck Association president Gary Langston says completing I-69 is one big need.