Huffington Post has the listings of all 600 Starbucks stores that will be closed. Only one store in Evansville is on the list and it’s the one on the west side. I never went to the West side Starbucks much, but I’m sure it will be missed.

Are there any decent coffee joints on the West side that Starbucks people can migrate to?

I got up this morning around 6AM to pick up my iPhone 3G. I promised I would wrap up the news before taking it out of the box, so here goes…

• USI still hasn’t decided if they are going to allow benefits for same-sex couples. It’s 2008. How about we allow any couple to benefits, straight or gay.
• Speaking of USI, they just broke ground on a new $32 million engineering and business building. They have to be running out of space at this point.
• Horse Racing at Ellis Park begins at 2:40PM this afternoon. Place your bets, people.
• Obama is opening 6 offices in Indiana, including one in Evansville. After his vote on the FISA bill, I can’t say I’m too excited about it.
• Toyota has decided to move production of the Tundra from Princeton to Texas. Don’t fret. We’re getting Highlanders.
• Mesker’s new Amazonia exhibit is set to open August 4. Where’s my invite to the ceremony?

photo courtesy of shareatt1

It’s a busy day for me today, so I’ll just redirect you over to Courier & Press for all the details.

The track, which was to open a 44-day meet on the Fourth of July, will start racing on Friday. Thirty-nine days are scheduled, ending on Labor Day. Some lost races could be recouped by expanding daily cards if feasible.

Call your bookie. Horse racing starts July 11.

When it rains, it pours. Tons of fun stories in the past few days. Let’s highlight:

• If you see a guy swerving in a Toyota Avalon with the license plate UE 1, it’s quite possibly UE president Stephen G. Jennings. He was picked up last night on a DUI. Toga! Toga! Toga!
• There is a super secret invitation only groundbreaking for I-69 set for the week of July 13. After the last few weeks, organizers won’t give a specific date and location for the event. Cowards. Let the (peaceful) protesters show up and voice their concern.
• After the complete trainwreck that was the Kelvin Sampson era, IU is now also giving up 2 scholarship spots on their mens basketball team for the upcoming season. Even with all this adversity, I’m sure Crean’s head will be demanded if he doesn’t make the NCAA tournament next year.
• Gas prices are up, and so is shoplifting.
• Now that Greyhound has moved over to the METs station downtown, an architectural firm is trying to decide what to do with the old greyhound station. Please do not turn it into yet another downtown office building.

photo courtesy of erickp5

If you were looking forward to spending the next few months wearing a fedora, carrying around a race sheet and watching some horses run in Henderson, you’ll be sad to know that Ellis Park won’t be opening this summer and that all employees have been terminated.

Appearing in the U.S. District Court in Owensboro, Ky., on Wednesday, Geary asked for an injunction that would allow him to send Ellis Park’s signal to Advanced Deposit Wagering outlets such as Youbet.com and TVG. The Kentucky Horsemen’s and Benevolent Protective Association (KHBPA) had refused to sign off on the agreement, seeking a larger percentage of the proceeds for purse money.

Ron Geary purchased the track from Churchill Downs two years ago with the plans of rejuvenating the track and restoring the glory days of Ellis Park. Unfortunately that look to be happening. Even though the track if closed for the summer, it doesn’t seem to be for sale, so perhaps live racing can return next year?

I’ve never actually been to a horse race in my life since I’m not the gambling type and think it’s a bit barbaric. That said, it is a bit sad that after the tornado reconstruction, Ellis won’t have a chance to get back on its feet entirely.

photo courtesy of ian_ransley

When I first read about the tree sitters and other I-69 protesters being evicted from their fort a few days ago, I thought it was a somewhat noble cause. I’m personally not against the highway itself, but I can recognize someone trying to draw awareness to their cause with something peaceful like a tree sit.

The more news that comes out on these people, and the more they retaliate, I’m starting to realize how unstable and batshit insane they really are.

From the Courier & Press this afternoon:

Authorities are searching for a group of about a dozen protesters who descended this afternoon on the East Side office of the Evansville-based project manager for Interstate 69, beating on windows and breaking one before fleeing the scene.

The protesters, who are described as in their late teens or early 20s, reportedly wore bandannas across the bottoms of their faces when they approached Bernardin Lochmueller & Associates…

I realize that a dozen people doesn’t represent the majority of the protesters, but it’s a large enough group to shine a negative light on a cause. How exactly vandalizing the building of a hired contractor is going to further the cause of stopping construction of a highway is beyond me. If they want to protest, there are more peaceful methods to go about it that don’t involve vandalism, harassment and bandannas across your face.

Do you really think vandalism and harassment is going to get INDOT and whoever else is backing the I-69 project to cancel the project? More importantly, do you really think this sort of mindless garbage is going to net you more supporters?

But, Justin, you say. I-69 is evil and should be stopped. From the comments a few days ago:

And one more thing, I-69 is a National Interstate system that will connect Canada to Mexico, bringing more illegal drugs, illegal aliens, and possibly even terrorists threw our communities. I think the NAFTA interstate Highway (I-69) will destroy communities along the way, cutting some rural counties in half, increasing emergency response times to accidents.
Thats why some of the protesters are from out of State, because this Interstate will hurt everyone in some way.

We shouldn’t need to worry about I-69 bringing the terrorists in. They are already here tossing bricks and banging on windows.

photo courtesy of vistavision

If you were one of the people that stole the giant Indian statue out of the backyard of Fred Byes, please return it. Also, please explain what made you desire stealing such an odd item from someone’s backyard.

Love,
It’s Evansville

photo courtesy of C&P

Fox 7 comes through with a news story and on-site video from this morning’s arrest of the I-69 protesters. After watching the video, I’ve got a few thoughts:

• Why were the two main protesters from out of state? It’s an Indiana project, so it seems hard for me to sympathize when the two main people involves are out of state hippies.
• The girl outside of the police station came off poorly. She sounded like the typical we were oppressed by the man type person.
• I still think it’s ridiculous that there were so many cops to remove 5 people.
• Chad Dick looks like he could be on the Colts offensive line. He’s a big boy.

Give it a watch and let me know what you think. I’m all for saving the environment in most cases, but I am not losing sleep over the whole I-69 thing. If it makes it easier for me to get from here to Indianapolis, I’m all for it.

thanks to TriStateNews for the tip

Apparently there were protesters hanging out in trees for nearly a month trying to stop the construction of I-69 near the Warrick County border. It was a rather peaceful protest it seems since I have never heard about it, but that all came to a halt this morning when police arrested two of the protesters this morning after police came to evict them from their tree fort via a cherry picker.

Police were dispatched to the protest site at the request of INDOT who claimed the protesters were trespassing on their property. The police hopped into a cherry picker to retrieve the protesters.

I don’t know much more other than a few things I’ve read on twitter, so if you want to share it in the comments, please do.

Viva la revolution!

hat tip to C&P

Updated: One of the people behind the Stop I69 blog has checked into the comments with their side of the story.

Courier & Press has the details:

The proposed bikeways will include a north-south route along Oak Hill Road from Lynch Road to U.S. 41, an east-Downtown route along Lincoln and Bellemeade avenues from the county line to Downtown and a West Side-cross town route from Howell Park to Franklin Street and along Michigan and Virginia streets to U.S. 41.

As I wrote here a few weeks ago, biking around Evansville is a frightening and nearly impossible task. With bike routes through many major parts of the east side, it’s becoming a bit more of a reality. Let’s just hope this is only the beginning of getting nearly every road in the city to have a dedicated bike lane. Only then will it be completely feasible to replace that $4 gas with foot power!