Porter County Council reorganizes, makes appointments for the year
The Porter County Council voted Councilman Andy Vasquez, R-4th, its president for 2025. Councilman Andy Bozak, R-At-Large, nominated him at the reorganization meeting Tuesday afternoon. Councilman Greg Simms, D-3rd, seconded the motion and Vasquez was approved unanimously.
Former Council President Mike Brickner, R-At-Large, then nominated Vice President Red Stone, R-1st, to continue in that role and Bozak seconded the motion. Councilman Jeremy Rivas, D-2nd, nominated Simms for VP, but the motion died for lack of a second and Stone was again confirmed as VP by a 5-to-2 vote with Rivas and Simms opposed.
Contracts were unanimously approved for County Attorney Harold Harper and Porter County Surveyor Kevin Breitzke, respectively.
The council then moved on to citizen appointments, approving Ralph Neff to serve on the Redevelopment Commission, Thomas Swihart on the Alcoholic Beverage Commission, Jim Clarida on the Board of Zoning Appeals, and David Ondrovich on the Property Tax Assessment Board of Appeals.
Jake McEvoy, who also serves as director of the Porter County Parks Department, was named the citizen appointment to the Chesterton Economic Development Committee; John Cannon was named to the Portage EDC; Margo Machnik was named to the town of Porter EDC; Patrick McGinley was named to the Valparaiso EDC; and Danielle Roeske-Hogg was named to the town of Hebron EDC.
The council's citizen appointment to the Board of Health was tabled following Rivas's nomination of former Councilwoman Sylvia Graham, a Democrat, which was seconded by Simms. Dr. Patrick Flemming had also applied and the council opted to confirm with Harper, who was absent due to illness, whether they were correctly interpreting Indiana Code to direct the council that it must appoint a Democrat to the vacancy.
'If we have to go, I'd be happy to vote for Sylvia, but I think we're losing some knowledge there,' said Bozak, referring to Flemming's involvement in the board's COVID-19 response during the pandemic. Rivas and Simms voted against tabling the appointment.
For council appointments Brickner, a retired career law enforcement officer and former Valparaiso police chief, maintained his appointment to the Community Corrections Advisory Board, and will also serve on the Emergency Management Agency Board. Vasquez maintained his appointment to the Northern Indiana Regional Planning Commission, as well as the E911 Policy Board, Porter County Redevelopment Commission, and Juvenile Justice Advisory Board.
Harris will join him on the JJAB, and was also appointed to the Storm Water Advisory Board as Vasquez's proxy. Stone was appointed to the Porter County Plan Commission and the EMA Board.
Simms will serve on the Recycling and Waste District, as well as maintain his appointment to the Porter County Council on Aging. 'I like hanging out with the old people,' he said.
Simms and Harris were also named as appointments to the Memorial Opera House Board. 'We can remove MOH, right?' Bozak asked, referring to the city of Valparaiso's management of the facility since the first of the year.
'I would leave it open just in case somebody from Valpo wants to talk to one of us about it,' Stone replied. 'You all will be getting in your email a copy of the MOU,' Vasquez added, in reference to the memorandum of understanding for the city's management of the opera house. The auditor's office also compiled a binder of the MOH's assets.
Council liaison appointments to various county departments will remain the same as in 2024 with Harris taking over those formerly held by Graham.
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Chicago Tribune
an hour ago
- Chicago Tribune
Letters: Government's reversal on COVID-19 shots for pregnant women is alarming
Illinois has been a leader in identifying the causes of maternal mortality and creating solutions that would address the causes. Last year, the University of Illinois at Chicago was designated a Maternal Health Research Center of Excellence by the National Institutes of Health, building on the state's successes and allowing us to invest in the next generation of researchers, connect community members with research and investigate the impact of stress on birth outcomes. We understand our efforts can be upended by an emerging crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic is a key example. According to the Illinois Department of Public Health's most recent Maternal Morbidity and Mortality Report (2023), the number of women who died during or within a year of pregnancy from 2020 to 2022 was well above the average of deaths during the five years prior to the pandemic. While we anticipate that the next report will detail how COVID-19 impacted pregnant women in Illinois, we already know from national data that maternal deaths increased by 33% after March 2020 and that the mortality risk of pregnant patients with COVID-19 infection at delivery was approximately 14 times higher compared with those without. As a physician researcher, I have seen the importance of gaining the trust of patients and the public. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy's announcement that COVID-19 vaccine boosters will not be recommended to pregnant women, which was done without consulting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, left clinicians to navigate a situation in which research is being actively disregarded by those setting federal policy. Not recommending this vaccine jeopardizes insurance coverage of the vaccine and clinicians' ability to gain the trust of pregnant women for vaccines at a time when they are at risk for adverse outcomes. How can we expect pregnant women to trust clinicians if we recommend vaccines that they may not be allowed to access? Are we to advise patients to disregard CDC recommendations? How do we train future researchers and clinicians if epidemiologic data is ignored? We need to listen to research and learn from data. Barring pregnant women from accessing the COVID-19 vaccine is not clinically sound and will negate our collective efforts to improve maternal health in Illinois and nationally. This will have a chilling effect on efforts to investigate and address causes of maternal morbidity and Father's Day here, I am once again reminded of the father I was blessed with. My mom and dad had five girls. Sadly, their first baby was stillborn, and at the ages of 19 and 26, my parents had to bury their little girl, marking her grave with a small headstone for little 'Linda Jean.' They then had four more girls — I was the second of the four, born in 1950. My dad was a mail carrier all of his working days and oftentimes found it hard to make ends meet. We didn't have the best of everything, but we had all we needed — most importantly, his devotion, his time and his unending love. As kids, we didn't realize that times were so tough. The one story that I remember most vividly was when Dad drove me to my piano lesson. At the time, the lesson was $2 for 45 minutes. I happened to look over when he was getting the $2 out of his wallet one week and saw him pull it out — all folded up in a neat little square in the corner of his wallet. The rest of his wallet was empty. You see, Dad got paid only every other week. It was many years later that I realized on the off days of the month, his wallet was empty — except for the $2 that he had set aside so I could take piano lessons. How blessed I was!I started teaching in 1975 and walked away from the classroom this year. After 36 years of teaching high school and 25 years as a college adjunct, I have some unsolicited observations and advice for the fathers out there. In all my 50 years involved with teenagers, I have never met a messed-up kid who had a good relationship with his or her father. Granted, I have met some problem children with wonderful moms, but then I met the dads, and the source of the kid's anger and unhappiness became clear. I also should point out that not all of the kids who had terrible fathers had difficulties, but those kids with bad fathers who turned out OK usually had a positive father figure there for them — a grandfather, an uncle, an older sibling, a stepdad. Over the years, I've heard all of the excuses for fathers not being involved with their children: 'The ex is difficult,' 'I have to work too much,' 'I have a second family to raise now,' 'My kid doesn't respect me,' 'My kid is angry.' But all of the excuses fall before this one simple truth: That child is a part of you walking around out there, and he or she needs you to assist him or her on the way to a healthy adulthood. Another truth I've learned is that, despite acting like their intent is to spend all of their parents' money, the thing that most kids really want is time. No one really has enough time or money, and how we spend our time and our money is a pretty good indicator of what we value. Instinctively, kids know this. So, this Father's Day, if you are a father and your relationship with your child is not the best, vow to work this year to improve that relationship. Don't blame the ex or the child or the circumstances. Just be a better dad. Be there for looking at the footage of President Donald Trump recently speaking to the German chancellor regarding D-Day, nothing these last few months surprises me except the behaviors coming from the White House. I am the proud daughter of my late dad, who was a bombardier with the 8th Army Air Corps who flew 35 missions over Germany in a B-17 bomber. My late father-in-law fought at the Battle of the Bulge in late 1944, my late uncle was wounded at the Battle of Iwo Jima in 1945, and my husband's great uncle was a sailor whose warship was sunk by the Japanese in 1942 and whose headstone may be found in Manila. My friend's father-in-law was the groom in a wartime wedding in which my mom was the maid of honor. This man was an Army paratrooper who was later killed on Omaha Beach and never met his child. The point is that these brave men fought and many died in defense of our nation and the world. The president spoke as if a war between nations was similar to a fight between brawling children. For all of those involved, the remembrance of D-Day was not a great what I needed, a huge belly laugh while reading the Tuesday Tribune article ('Judge denies Madigan's motion for new trial') about former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan's approaching sentencing. Through his defense attorneys, he stated that he amassed a personal fortune of $40 million by choosing 'frugality over extravagance, remaining in the same modest home for more than fifty years while making prudent savings and investment choices.' Hey, that's the same lifestyle my husband and I have chosen over our 38-year marriage! Living that lifestyle has not brought our personal fortune anywhere near $40 million. Maybe Madigan can busy himself during his retirement teaching all of the hardworking, frugal, living-below-their-means folks his personal tricks to growing our income to be multimillionaires. 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The Intercept
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Democrat Michigan AG Asked FBI to Raid Protesters' Homes — But Won't Tell Students Why
On the morning of April 23, around 7 a.m., the FBI, along with other local and state police, battered down the doors of four residences across Ann Arbor, Canton, and Ypsilanti, Michigan. The homes belonged to pro-Palestine student organizers at University of Michigan. The raids were the latest move by the University of Michigan and the state against student organizers following the protest encampments last spring. The school has seen particularly harsh repression of campus protests against Israel's war on Gaza. While no arrests were made, all electronics were seized into FBI custody and at least two DNA samples were collected, according to local attorneys representing the subjects of the raids. The warrants were from Attorney General Dana Nessel's office and signed by a judge in the 45th District Court in the small town of Oak Point, Michigan, but attorneys also say they have yet to see probable cause for the search and seizures. Nessel, a Democrat, still has not unsealed and shared the affidavits for the warrants with lawyers or the residents they raided. 'These raids were very much seen as an escalation by the state attorney general.' 'These raids were very much seen as an escalation by the state attorney general, who's expressed quite a bit of an extreme reaction against the students' activism on the University of Michigan campus,' said John Philo, executive and legal director of the Sugar Law Center for Economic and Social Justice, the group representing the targets of the raids. 'In terms of probable cause for the warrants, it's entirely unknown at the moment. The search warrants were issued based on a complaint and the judge has ordered for the affidavit to be suppressed. It's a terribly unusual thing.' Nessel, who asked the FBI to carry out the raids, has positioned herself publicly as one of President Donald Trump's biggest opponents. 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For what has been alleged, the warrants appeared to be an extreme measure for a vandalism investigation, according to both Sugar Law Center and student organizers who spoke with The Intercept. 'The scope and scale of what is alleged does not seem to warrant three law enforcement agencies descending on the homes of students, who by all calculations and known facts, have been accused of a crime in the past,' said Philo, who describes his clients as 'pretty diligent and responsible students.' The attorney general's raid executed a 'shotgun approach' to further chill protest in solidarity with Palestine, he said. 'To do this in that context with the FBI, state troopers, and local law enforcement,' he said, 'sends a clear message that this is well beyond trying to determine who committed spray painting incidents.' Read our complete coverage While it may be considered unusual for the FBI to become involved in a vandalism investigation, it is not uncommon for the FBI to join forces with local and state law enforcement agencies to work in a joint terrorism task force context, said Mike German, who worked as a special agent in the FBI for six years and is now a fellow at the Brennan Center's liberty and national security program. 'In that context, it's not uncommon for a situation — where a person is alleged to have violated some state law — for them to use the state authorities to pursue that angle of investigation while also gathering evidence for a future terrorism investigation,' he explains. While German does not have any specific information about the Michigan cases, he says this does follow a pattern aligned with the government's increased surveillance of citizens coupled with the FBI's lax approach to far-right violence. He added that the raids in Michigan appear to be part of a broader escalation and expansion of power of the FBI since the September 11 attacks, particularly with the passing of more and more domestic terrorism statutes at federal and state levels. Just having increased powers, German said, created a motivation for using them. 'It has created an insatiable appetite for information,' he said. 'Anywhere that they can get data and information to put into their databases, they'll take those opportunities.'
CNN
3 hours ago
- CNN
Why McCain and Obama are causing marital tension
(LifeWire) -- Pamela Rainey Lawler and Denis Lawler of Philadelphia have handled the travails of being married 38 years without seeing eye to eye on a lot of things. The upcoming presidential election is no different. Pamela, a 58-year-old self-described "left-left" Democrat, will be voting for Barack Obama. Denis, a 60-year-old longtime Republican, plans to vote for John McCain. Although they joke about their situation, Pamela says it's hard to keep her sense of humor when the stakes are so high. Good thing they love each other. "It gets hard when things are getting down and dirty and there is a lot on the line," Pamela, the director of outreach and development at an educational company, says of her husband, a lawyer. But she adds, "The foundation of [our] relationship is so much bigger than politics, and tends to trump politics." Especially in an election season where emotions are running high, couples who don't agree on politics can keep the peace by being open and honest with one another. "Where couples get in trouble is not so much having a different opinion; it's how they communicate it," says Grecia Matthews, a couples therapist and social worker in New York City. Couples need to be honest about their arguing styles and tolerance for criticism, she adds. State your opinion Good communication skills are important, it's true, but as Lorraine Duval knows, it also helps to be married to a good-natured spouse. Duval, a 33-year-old music teacher and McCain disciple from Glens Falls, New York, admits that in the heat of the moment she has called her pro-Obama husband, Chris, by other, less loving names. "Sometimes you have to state your opinion," she says, though she emphasizes that Chris' easygoing nature diffuses the tension. She returns the favor at social gatherings where Republicans far outnumber Democrats. She'll "go off the deep end" in his defense if she feels McCain voters are ganging up on him, says Chris, a 34-year-old mortician. "We really didn't discuss our views until later on in the relationship," Lorraine explains. "It wouldn't have been an issue for me anyway." Besides, points out Andre Anthony Moore, the founder of Marriage and Couples Counseling in New York City, if spouses agreed on everything, "life would be dull." "But in the process of drinking in the other's opinion," he says, "you might get to be a bigger person." Embrace the difference Opinions always got a good airing in the Lawlers' home when she was growing up, says their daughter, Kristin, 37. "At our dinner table, if you couldn't be persuasive, you were toast," says Kristin, an assistant professor of sociology at the College of Mount St. Vincent in Riverdale, New York. But such debate wasn't divisive, it was healthy, she says. Even today, when the family gathers, they debate politics. "I do think that my parents would make a good model for others who vote differently and who are able to see their differences in a positive light," says Kristin. "Difference is a vital principle -- it keeps you on your toes. Having a good opponent makes you a better debater. And if you want your side to win, you have to know how to make a strong political argument." For the record, though, Pamela Lawler says the couple's three children tend to side with her. Agree to disagree "Elizabeth Leslie, 37, a Democrat from Sacramento, California, works hard to maintain the political peace with husband Troy Gassaway, 35, a Republican." "It's exceptionally challenging," she says. "We agree to disagree." Leslie confesses she can't help but try to sway her husband's allegiance -- as communications manager for the nonpartisan League of Women Voters of California, political persuasion is part of her job. Leslie, who was not speaking on behalf of the League, says she has persuaded her husband to vote her way on several proposals in the past two elections. She praised him for listening to her when he's on the fence about any legislation. But come November, he's sticking with McCain. "My advice is for couples to hear the other out," she says. "The passion that made up their mind -- at least consider it." And even if the debate gets ugly, consider the fringe benefits. All that emotion can stimulate friendlier activity, therapist Grecia Matthews points out: "There can be makeup sex." Keeping the peace Live in a house divided? Here are some tips for keeping the peace when you and your partner split the ticket: • If disagreements get too personal, consider keeping sensitive subjects like politics off-limits. • If you need to vent an unpopular opinion, talk with a friend who holds similar values. • Agree on a "safe word" signifying that a tense conversation needs to end, out of respect for one another. • After tensions peak, do an activity you both enjoy -- take a walk or go to the movies -- and remember why you love each other. • Establish firm guidelines on when and where it's OK to bring up the campaign -- if at all. E-mail to a friend LifeWire provides original and syndicated lifestyle content to Web publishers. Ron Dicker, a Brooklyn-based journalist, frequently writes about relationship topics. He previously covered sports for the New York Times. All About U.S. Politics • John McCain • Barack Obama
