I subscribe to Twitter alerts for the phrase “Evansville” and saw two mentions of this coming through this morning. The Libery Dollar headquarters is located on North Stockwell. The company distributes a private currency, the Libery Dollar, that it claims is inflation proof. From what I understand, the premise is that you trade in your US dollar for Liberty Dollars, which are then backed by gold and silver at an Idaho-based mint.

According to RabidQuill, who posted a letter from Liberty Dollar owner Bernard von NotHaus, the FBI raided the offices at 8AM and spent over six hours taking all of the gold, silver and platinum that was in their inventory. A parallel sweep was also done on the Liberty Dollar’s Idaho based Sunshine Mint that confiscated all of the gold and silver that was used as backing to the paper Liberty Dollar certificates.

von NotHaus is planning a class action lawsuit against the US government to reclaim the Liberty Dollar currency and other properties.

Do any readers use the Liberty Dollar? This is the first I’ve heard of it.

Update: Courier & Press has a bit more on it.

photo courtesy of Wikimedia

What’s cooler than actually being a congressional representative for the 8th district? How about being voted the most beautiful person on Capitol Hill? Our own Brad Ellsworth recently received that honor from The Hill.

They said:

Women of all ages and political persuasions swoon when Rep. Brad Ellsworth (D-Ind.) comes near. During a recent elevator ride in the Rayburn House Office Building, several noticeably gawked at the unassuming Ellsworth, who seemingly has little idea he is being admired.

When asked what he thought about the honor, Ellsworth said his mother must have an “in” with the selection committee. I’m not really sure what you win for being voted most beautiful on the hill. I’m also not really sure how Nancy Pelosi got in the top 10 either, but I’ll leave that for another day.

photo courtesy of Putnam County Democrats.

Last Sunday, the new truck seat belt law was put into effect which forces people in trucks and commercial vehicles to wear a seat belt. Whether or not you agree with the government making you safer is beyond the point, but they did seem to miss a big loop hole in the law. You can still ride in the back of a truck with no penalty.

A prosecutor who gave a legal interpretation to police departments statewide said the new law does not specifically prohibit an adult from riding in the bed of a pickup truck. This has angered the people behind the seat belt law. State Senator Thomas Wyss said the interpritation is ludicrous while Evansville’s own State Representative Suzanne Crouch also thinks the prosecutors intepretation is wrong.

The EPD and Indiana State police are still not ticketing people in the back of trucks, or in the back of SUVs though they are discouraging people from riding that way.

Over the past few months, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels has been signing several bills into law. This sunday, July 1, is the day that these new laws will go into effect in our fair state. If you’re looking for a rundown of the major changes you’ll notice starting Sunday, look no further!

• Save a few extra cents, smokers. The cigarette tax is going up from 55.5 cents to 99.5 cents.
• All backseat passengers and truck-plated vehicle passengers will be required to wear a seatbelt.
• Goodbye, seat belt roadblocks!
• All high schools will be required to include a study of the Holocaust in each U.S. history course. Nice that they’ve caught up with Evansville Day School.
• New mobile homes must be equipped with a weather radio thanks to CJ’s Law.
• If you drop dead, rest assured that coroners must now use one of four methods to physically identify you: fingerprints, DNA analysis, dental records or positive identification by an immediate family member.
• A new law will now require landlords to give tenants reasonable notice before entering a rental unit.
• New teachers must be certified in CPR
• Indiana must create a database of meth-lab locations.
• Barnyard animals everywhere will be happy to know that it is now a crime to have sexual relations with an animal.
• Anyone over the age of 64 can purchase a lifetime fishing license for $17.

photo courtesy of DeathPenaltyInfo.org

Rumor has it you want some morning news.

• Following up on yesterday’s story about the Kentucky coal plant, Evansville has adopted tougher air quality standards. These standards determine when the city issues air quality alerts.
• The Candy Bouquet, located on Main Street, is closing today. The owners cite financial reasons for the closing.
• Casino Aztar has laid off another 12 workers. If you look at the Civic Building, you can see steam coming out of the Mayor’s office.
• For the past two nights, two different gas stations have been robbed. Wednesday evening he robbed a Thorntons on the West Side. Last night he moved out to the Circle K on Highway 41. Police believe the robberies were both done by the same guy.
• Looking to start a business? The city of Evansville will soon offer a two million dollar program to provide low-interest loans to people who want to bring their businesses downtown. Can someone please entice Starbucks, Jimmy Johns or Jamba Juice to come downtown?

photo courtesy of -Lori-

If getting a new license plate on the back of your ride wasn’t enough of a change for drivers of Indiana, maybe a new drivers license is up your alley? The new licenses, set to be in use starting June 19, include several new security features. For example, the license includes finely-contoured backgrounds and pictures as well as writing that can only be seen under ultraviolet lights.

Bar bouncers rejoice! Part of the drivers license change is an even easier way to detect an under-21 license: it’s vertical. No longer will you have to wait in line at the liquor store or local pub while the gatekeeper tries to decipher the tiny red text that shows whether the person is 21 or not.

What do you think of the new license?

photo courtesy of Indiana BMV

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels has been busy over the past few weeks. Besides passing the $26 billion dollar budget for the state, having his plane make an emergency landing in Gary and visiting to our fair city, he’s also been signing signing some new laws into effect.

The first law is one we told you about last week. People driving in vehicles with truck plates are now required to wear their seat belts just like their car driving brethren. By requiring seat belt use in pickups, the state will be eligible for nearly $16 million in additional federal money for highway safety programs. Police officers are also now prohibited from having those annoying seat belt road blocks.

The governor also signed a bill which increases the cigarette tax to fund a health insurance program for low-income people and to provide childhood immunizations to their kids. If you are a smoker, expect to be paying an extra 44 cents per pack once the increase goes into effect July 1. With the increase, Indiana’s cigarette tax will be 99.5 cents per pack which is the 24th lowest in the nation.

The Indiana Bureau Of Motor Vehicles today announced the new license plate that will debut in 2008 and replace the Hayseed Green plate that has been donning the backs of our cars since 2003. The new plate design edged out my personal favorite, which featured a lighter, fading background image of the state’s flag by about 2500 votes. Along with the new design, the new plate features a modified county designator, a one- or two-digit number that identifies the county of origin, which includes a reflective sticker with both the traditional county designator number and county name.

I think this plate is a far cleaner and acceptable look than what we had before. Anything that involves cornfields, amber waves of grain or other sorts of midwestern stereotypes make me cringe. Will I get one? Of course not. I have a Purdue plate. Boiler up!

What do you think of the new plate?

My grandpa has never been one to wear his seat belt. He’s driven a truck all his life, and in Indiana, having a vehicle registered as such allows you to drive all around town seat belt free. I’m going to have some bad news to break to gramps soon, because the Indiana General Assembly passed a bill that makes it mandatory for anyone in any vehicle to be buckled up: car, truck, minivan, front seat, back seat, etc.

As part of the bill, seat belt checkpoints will be eliminated as well. While I was at Purdue, the West Lafayette police had seat belt checkpoints all throughout town and would pull over drivers all day long for not wearing a seat belt. That will be a thing of the past as well with this new bill. The bill is off to the Governor, and assuming he signs it, it will become law on July 1st.

What I’m wondering is that if anyone under the age of 50 actually drives around without a seat belt? Driving with a seat belt on is so routine to me that if I don’t have it on, something doesn’t feel right.

photo courtesy of Endlisnis

I’m definitely not a fan of the current incarnation of Indiana’s standard license plate. The Back Home Again green has colors bother me, but the field and house in the middle of nowhere design falls into way too many midwest stereotypes. The state has announced that there are new plates for next year, and we can vote on which one gets stamped. This new plate is only replacing the green plate. The new In God We Trust design is unfortunately here to stay.

Each of the new designs incorporates the state flag in some way and has a more neutral color scheme. Voting opens tomorrow and will run through April 18. The winning plate will be announcd in May and put into production next January. Personally, I’m a fan of three of the plates: all but the straight blue.

I’ll be voting for the top-left plate with the rotated torch. Just because I like it, though, don’t think I’ll be giving up my Purdue plate.