N-B Video: Fire ignites above Hideaway Bar

See the Monday, November 14, News-Banner for more details. (Video by Dave Schultz)

Local schools honor veterans on Veterans Day

Northern Wells

Bluffton-Harrison

Southern Wells

Veterans Day activities scheduled tomorrow

City, county and federal offices will be closed tomorrow to honor Veterans Day. County schools will also hold ceremonies to honor veterans. Learn more about the ceremonies in the Friday, Nov. 11, News-Banner, and learn more about the holiday here with this trivia. We'll have the answers in tomorrow's blog.

1. What was the first name given to the November. 11 holiday?

• World Peace Day
• Ceasefire Day
• Armistice Day
• Remembrance Day

2. Why was the name changed to Veterans Day?

3. What flower is a symbol of Veterans Day?

• Poppy
• Lily of the Valley
• Forget-me-not
• Rose

4. Who officially proposed to Congress to change the name of the holiday?

• Gen. Douglas MacArthur
• President Harry S. Truman
• President Dwight D. Eisenhower
• Rep. John Salper
  

5. "In Flanders Field," one of the best-known poems to come out of World War I, was written in reference to a battle in ...

• France
• Belgium
• England
• Germany

6. Congress passed a resolution for an annual observance of Veterans Day in 1926. How many years later did it become a national holiday?

• 1. 3
• 2. 7
• 3. 12
• 4. 35

7. What is the difference between Memorial Day and Veterans Day?

8. Why is the city of Emporia, Kan., important to Veterans Day?

N-B Video: Common Council victor discusses the next four years

Michael Morrissey, who won Bluffton's only contested race in the 2011 elections, discusses his hopes for his next term on the Council. Learn more in the Wednesday, Nov. 9. News-Banner. (Video by Dave Schultz)

A "wind"fall in Wells

County officials and the company Wind Capital Group took one step closer to bringing wind energy to Wells. To learn more about what officials still need to do, see the Tuesday, Nov. 8, News-Banner. To learn more about wind energy, read through the following, as taken by Wind Capital Group's website.

What is wind energy?
Wind energy is a converted form of solar energy. The sun’s radiation heats different parts of the earth at different rates - most notably during the day and night, but also when different surfaces (for example, water and land) absorb or reflect heat at different rates. This, in turn, causes portions of the atmosphere to warm differently. Hot air rises, reducing the atmospheric pressure at the earth’s surface, and cooler air is drawn in to replace it. The result is wind. Air has mass, and when it is in motion, it contains the energy of that motion (“kinetic energy”). Some portion of that energy can be converted into other forms of mechanical force or electricity that we can use to perform work.

What is a wind turbine and how does it work?

A wind energy system transforms the kinetic energy of the wind into mechanical or electrical energy that can be harnessed for practical use. Wind electric turbines generate electricity for homes and businesses and for sale to utilities.

Turbine subsystems include:
• a rotor, or blades, which converts the wind’s energy into rotational shaft energy
• a nacelle (enclosure) containing a drive train, usually including a gearbox* and a generator
• a tower to support the rotor and drive train
• electronic equipment such as controls, electrical cables, ground-support equipment, and interconnection equipment

* Some turbines do not require a gearbox.

The electricity generated by a utility scale wind turbine is normally collected and fed into utility power lines, where it is mixed with electricity from other power plants and delivered to utility customers.

How big is a wind turbine?

Utility-scale wind turbines for land-based wind farms come in various sizes, with rotor diameters ranging from about 50 meters (164 feet) to about 120 meters (394 feet), and with towers of roughly the same size. A wind turbine that Wind Capital Group might use at this time has a total height from the tower base to the tip of the blade of approximately 400 feet.

What are wind turbines made of?
The towers are mostly tubular and made of steel. The blades are made of fiberglass reinforced polyester or wood-epoxy.

How much electricity can one wind turbine generate?
The output of a wind turbine depends on the turbine’s size and the wind’s speed through the rotor. Wind turbines being manufactured now have power ratings ranging from 250 watts to 5 megawatts (MW). Wind Capital Group typically uses 1.5 MW to 2.5 MW turbines. The ability to generate electricity is measured in watts. Watts are very small units, so the terms kilowatt (kW, 1,000 watts), megawatt (MW, 1 million watts) and gigawatt (pronounced “jig-a-watt,” GW, 1 billion watts) are most commonly used to describe the capacity of generating units like wind turbines or other power plants.Electricity production and consumption are most commonly measured in kilowatt-hours (kWh). A kilowatt-hour means one kilowatt (1,000 watts) of electricity produced or consumed for one hour. One 50-watt light bulb left on for 20 hours consumes one kilowatt-hour of electricity (50 watts x 20 hours = 1,000 watt-hours = 1 kilowatt-hour).

How big are wind farm projects?

Wind farms can range in size from a few megawatts to hundreds of megawatts in capacity, from one turbine to as large as 400 or more turbines. Wind Capital Group typically focuses on utility scale projects that are 50 MW or greater. Generally, this translates to 20 or more turbines, depending on the turbines used

What kind of schools receive vouchers?

The Indiana Department of Education recently released how many students used vouchers, allowed after legislators passed a law this year, to help pay for tuition to attend private schools.

Five students from Wells County used the vouchers this year, though data was not available showing where they went.

However, they had to attend a private school that qualified to receive students with vouchers. The state has a list of requirements schools must meet to qualify. Some of those are listed below; for a complete list of the requirements, click here.

To learn more about where the Wells County students attended last year and how much it could cost a local school district this year, see the Friday, Nov. 4, News-Banner.

The following comes from the Department of Education:

1) What are the basic conditions/requirements if my school is considering participation in the Choice Scholarship Program?  

To be approved as an “eligible school,” the school must meet seven basic conditions:

• Be located in Indiana; 
• Require an eligible student to pay tuition or transfer tuition to attend;
• Voluntarily agree to enroll the eligible student; 
• Be accredited by either the State Board or a national or regional accreditation agency that is recognized by the State Board; 
• Administer the Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Progress (ISTEP) program (for a high school, administer End-of-Course Assessments) to all students at the testing grade levels;
• Not be a charter school or the school corporation in which an eligible individual has legal settlement under IC 20-26-11; and 
• Submit to the department data required for A-F grading (see question 28 below for more information about how schools are graded)

19) Does my school need to remove its religion classes and/or religious affiliation to qualify?  

No. The legislation is clear that the department may not use its implementation authority for the Choice Scholarship program to regulate or interfere with the religious mission of nonpublic schools.

21) What if we admit a student, receive the state payment, and determine later in the year that we must expel the student for academic, disciplinary or other reasons? 

The department will not interfere with your ability to run your school. However, you must notify the department immediately if a student does not finish the school year. The school‟s receipt of Choice Scholarship funding for the expelled student will be affected, depending on when the expulsion occurs.

28) What data will schools provide to the department for A-F ratings? 

The data used for A-F will include the following:

• ISTEP scores (these scores will be considered both for student growth and student achievement) 
• End-of-course test scores in Algebra 1, English 10 and Biology 1 
• Graduation rates 
• Student-level Advanced Placement scores; (this will require a signature on a standard waiver form that authorizes College Board to release this data to the department) 
• Dual credits awarded 
• Industry certifications for Career and Technical Education programs/pathways (provided to the Department of Education via the Indiana Department of Workforce Development) 
• While not an explicit part of the A-F ratings, students who do not already have a state-issued Student Test Number (STN) must be assigned one as part of the Choice Scholarship program. The STN helps the state protect against duplicate state payments (both to public and nonpublic schools), improves test security, and allows tracking of student performance over time. Personally-identifiable information is used only to ensure that individual students do not have multiple STNs, and the process itself improves protection of privacy

 37) Will my school be bound by the new teacher evaluation requirements? What exactly will that entail? 

Yes, albeit not to the extent required of public schools under Senate Enrolled Act 1. Note also that this requirement takes effect for the 2012-2013 school year, and the requirements apply regardless of whether the student receives a tax credit scholarship, a Choice Scholarship, or both. The state budget legislation (House Enrolled Act 1001) includes the language making IC 20-28-11.5-4(a) and (b) in Senate Enrolled Act 1 apply to Choice Scholarship and tax credit scholarship schools. These schools will be required to conduct annual performance evaluations of all individuals providing instruction to students, including principals. Participating schools are free to use the model evaluation tool being developed by the department and the State Board, the system for Teacher and Student Advancement (i.e. the TAP model), or the Peer Assistance & Review model. They may also develop their own local evaluation, and/or utilize master teachers in their building to conduct the evaluation. The department will include an assurance on the Choice Scholarship school application form (to the department) that this requirement will be fulfilled.

Full-service license braches open for expanded hours

Normally closed on Mondays, full-service license branches will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 7, and 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 8, so that residents will have more time to obtain a photo ID needed to cast a ballot.

Branches will only process ID cards and drivers licenses on those two days.

To obtain state IDs free of charge, residents who don't already have driver's licenses must state they need free ID cards for voting purposes and provide proper documents proving identity, U.S. citizenship, Indiana residency and a Social Security number. Proper documents accepted by the BMV for the purposes of securing a state ID card or driver's license may include:

• Birth certificate or passport (one needed to prove identity, citizenship);
• Voter registration card, postal service change of address confirmation, paystub or bill (two needed to prove residency); and
• Social Security card or W-2 form (one needed to prove Social Security number).
• Indiana law requires all residents to present government-issued photo IDs before casting a ballot. Polls will be open Tuesday from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.

For more information on attaining an ID, extended hours or BMV locations, visit www.myBMV.com or call 1-888-692-6841.

All license branches will observe regular business hours Wednesday, Nov. 9, and Thursday, Nov. 10, but will be closed for Veterans Day on Friday, Nov. 11.

For general questions about voting, contact the Secretary of State's Election Day Hotline at 1.866.IN1.VOTE on Election Day between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m. The hotline is also open for calls on regular business days from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.