Breakfast Friday, Feb. 6, 7:30 a.m. at RACHEL’s CAFÉ

Due to the Village Deli being closed right now, Rachel’s Café (300 E Third Street) will host the DWC Breakfast meeting this month.  Rachel will have set choices for us -- an egg strata, gluten-free quiche, waffle, biscuits/gravy, fruit and yogurt, muffin and maybe another choice. We’ll give you an order form at the door with the choices listed, and then you’ll take this to the counter to pay.  Your order will be delivered to you!  Coffee is free if you’re patient with this new venue!  Check email this week for more details.

We will also be passing Charlotte’s REALLY BIG hat this week. Any donations will be given to those great servers at the Village Deli who’ve taken such good care of us in the past 10 years!

We’ll also be taking membership dues for 2015.  Bring your checkbook or ca$h ($20 for one year’s membership!) along with you, or join ahead of time online, here on DWC site.

IN THIS ISSUE
Take Action Friday!
Happening This Morning - SB 466 & SB 525 testimony
Meetings and deadlines this week
Meetings next week
Women's History Month Luncheon
Applicants sought for City of Bloomington boards and commissions
Action Item -  Tell legislators to end the legislative attacks on Superintendent Ritz and the Dept. of Education

It's TAKE ACTION FRIDAY!!!
Challenges and Threats to Public Education - Wait a minute; THIS is wrong!

Have you heard about Mike Pence's recent attempts to strip Superintendent Glenda Ritz of her power….The job that we, the voters, elected her to do? Are you angry about the path public education policymakers are taking? Want to find out what you can do? So do we!

Join us for breakfast at Rachael's Café THIS FRIDAY, February 6th from 7:30 to 8:30 for our timely discussion of legislative issues, public education agendas and what WE CAN DO to change the disastrous course Mike Pence and other Republicans have led us down. HB 1486 and HB 1609 and SB500, oh my!!

Public Education Superheroes and Activists Jenny Stevens, Cathy Fuentes-Rohwer and Jenny Robinson will be part of a panel discussion led by School Board member Sue Wanzer. Lois Sabo-Skelton, School Board Member will have some special comments. We can't wait to learn, ask questions and find out what we can do to TAKE ACTION!

Are you a parent and want to come but do not know how to get kids to school AND attend breakfast? Bring your kids! DWC Breakfasts are family friendly and what a great way to model to your kids that their education and community involvement matter!

HOT OFF THE PRESS!! WATCH THIS TODAY!!

This just in from Trent Deckard, Co-Director of the Secretary of State’s Election Division:

The Indiana State Senate will be taking testimony [THIS] morning (Monday, Feb 2) on two pieces of legislation that will affect Hoosier voters.  I've got some brief talking points on the more troubling aspects of both.  Feel free to take a look for yourself, but I wanted to give you a heads-up in case anyone wanted to make a trip and testify on short notice.  I've also pasted a link to the bills, so you don't have to take my word for it.  The Senate hearing will be:

Elections Committee (9:30 a.m. EDT, Statehouse Room 431)

SB 466:

-This is another piece of long election legislation at 105 pages that will drastically affect Hoosier voters in ways they cannot yet fully comprehend, particularly students wishing to participate in their communities by voting.

 -Legislation will not help Indiana in rectifying its 30% voter turnout in 2014, but instead may lower turnout by decreasing the number of voters that feel they are eligible to vote or wish to participate in voting.

 -Also will lead to administrators and partisans questioning the eligibility of certain voters in a zealous manner.

-Section 6 changes residency language and in doing so, it targets students and others that are more transient. 

 -In particular to students, it indicates that a person who is "physically present" and attending an educational institution is not entitled to register to vote without the intent of making a permanent home in the precinct.

-Using this language instead of the prior language in code will discourage students from registering to vote as it increases difficulty in indicating they wish to make a community their home. 

 -Students have a harder time showing intent when they move into dormitories and other places that lack utilities bills or homestead tax exemptions, items used by other voters in showing intent in establishing residency.

 -For students, their intent in establishing residency is best served by registering to vote.

 -The language used in Section 6 of the bill will place students in a Catch 22: that is, making it very hard to show intent to establish residency when that intent is bound up in registering to vote and could be questioned.

 -Current language has worked and should not be changed unless it would be for the legislature to say clearly that students wishing to vote in the communities they move into may do so or choose to retain their intent to vote back home.

 -Students are responsible adults, taxpayers and a source of economic development. They should be trusted fully with the ability to register to vote where they wish to be a part of a community.

Indiana General Assembly, 2015 Session

S 01/14/2015 First Reading: Referred to Committee on Elections 

View on iga.in.gov

 SB 525

 -Legislation reintroduces Senator Young's effort for absentee voting applicants to supply their voter identification number on the application.

-Currently, supplying this number is optional on an absentee application.  Most people do not fill it out because they don't know it. 

 -Most voters do not know their number and don't carry it around on them while encountering voter registration and absentee drives conducted by partisans, candidates and League of Women Voter groups.

 -The number may be your Driver's License number, last four digits of Social Security number, a combination of both or a randomly assigned number from county. 

-Absentee voting by mail allows voters to participate that cannot make it to the polls or to early voting in the clerk’s office.  These voters need a mail option that is readily accessible.

 -This legislation will lead to decreased turnout in voting and will affect many across the spectrum of the population.

Indiana General Assembly, 2015 Session

S 01/14/2015 First Reading: Referred to Committee on Elections 

View on iga.in.gov

MEETINGS AND DEADLINES THIS WEEK:

• Thursday, February 5, 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.  Should There Be an IREAD-2? A Community Conversation on      Early Literacy at the Monroe County Public Library, 1C (Sponsored by the Indiana Coalition for Public Education--Monroe County and South Central Indiana) 
   As pressure grows on schools to teach children to read at ever younger ages, it's important to look at what research tells us about how young children learn. Panelists for this forum include Indiana University School of Education professor      Sharon Daley, Ceci Maron Puntarelli, director of a local early childhood program, MCCSC kindergarten teacher Sarah Murray, and MCCSC librarian Meg Emmett. The audience will be invited to ask questions after the panel presentation.
• Thursday, February 5, 6:00 Democracy for Monroe County, at Bobby’s Colorado Steak House.  Topic is affordable      housing and homelessness. Jennifer Osterholz (Executive Director of the Bloomington Housing Authority), Carmela Garcia (Manager of ReStore), Todd Lare (Executive Director- South Central Community Action Program) will serve as panelists for this discussion.
• Friday, February 6, NOON (because all political deadlines are NOON) Filing for municipal elections closes.
• Saturday, February 7, 9:30 am at City Hall, League of Women Voters Legislative Update, Free Parking in the City Lot.
• Monday, February 9, NOON (because all …)  deadline for anyone to withdraw their filing for municipal elections.

MEETINGS NEXT WEEK:

• Monday, February 9, 6:30 pm. Candidate Meeting at HQ with VAN Training. Hillary Anderson, Indiana Democratic      Party Data and Training Manager will be on hand to discuss recent updates to VAN and how it can be used most effectively in campaigns. Contact Chairman Mark Fraley if you wish to attend and are not currently a candidate. Mark Fraley at [email protected]
• Tuesday,  February 10, 6:30-8:00 p.m.  MCCSC will host a Community Conversation “What to Expect from the 2015      Legislative Session: What Can We Do To Protect Public Education” at CoLab at 553 E. Miller Drive.

WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH LUNCHEON

The City of Bloomington's Commission on the Status of Women is hosting this year's Women's History Month Luncheon on Wednesday, March 25, 2015 at the Bloomington-Monroe County Convention Center. The doors open at 11:00 am, with the program beginning at 12:00 and ending at 1:30 pm. If you wish to reserve on your own, the cost is $20 per person. Invitations should be sent out soon, and you won’t want to miss this great event that celebrates a Woman of the Year, as well as a woman who will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award.  IVY TECH Bloomington Chancellor Jennifer A. Vaughan will be keynoting. You can make a reservation by mailing a check to Commission on the Status of Women, P. O. Box 100, Bloomington, IN 47402.

APPLICANTS SOUGHT for City of Bloomington boards and commissions

Applications for term-end possible vacancies and current vacant positions are now being accepted for several boards and commissions of the city. Please click here to see the full listing and information on the application process accepted for several boards and commissions of the city.

ACTION ITEM!!

CLICK HERE, and tell legislators to end the legislative attacks on Superintendent Ritz and the Department of Education. 

Do you have news items?

Send your items of interest to us at [email protected]. Deadline for MMN is noon on Sunday.