Articles by Mike Rhodes

Staffmark Wins Inavero’s 2017 Best of Staffing Client and Talent Awards

Cincinnati, OH  – Staffmark, a leading staffing company, has announced  they have won Inavero’s Best of Staffing® Client and Talent Awards for providing superior service to their clients and job seekers.  In addition, Staffmark received Inavero’s Best of Staffing® Client Diamond Award after winning the Best of Staffing Client Award at least five years in a row for providing superior service to their clients. This is Staffmark’s sixth straight year to win the Best of Staffing Client Award. Staffmark offices…

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14 Delaware County Non-profits Receive Grant Funding From the Community Foundation

Muncie, Ind. – The Community Foundation of Muncie and Delaware County, Inc. awarded $613,025.75 to 14 non-profit organizations during the first Quarterly Competitive Grant cycle of 2017. The Community Foundation’s purpose is to improve the quality of life in Muncie and Delaware County for this generation and generations to come. Quarterly Competitive Grants are awarded to fund projects for which there is a demonstrable community benefit in one of the following areas of interest: arts and culture, human services, economic…


First Thursday, Opening Reception for Disintegration – Propagation, New Artwork by Kim Anderson and Scott Anderson

Muncie, IN—Gordy Fine Art & Framing Co. will celebrate First Thursday March 2nd from 5 – 8 pm with an opening reception for Disintegration – Propagation, an exhibition of new ceramic work by Kim Anderson and new paintings and drawings by Scott Anderson. The artists will speak briefly about their work at 6:15 PM. Light refreshments will be served and the public is invited to attend. The exhibit remains on view through April 1, 2017. Both Kim and Scott Anderson…


Teachers Awarded Funding for Creative and Innovative Classroom Projects

By: Kallie Sulanke, The Community Foundation— Muncie, IN—Local teachers will receive $1,984 in Robert P. Bell Education Grants from The Community Foundation of Muncie and Delaware County, Inc. Across the county, 1,000s of students benefit from Bell Education Grants each year. Awards of up to $450 are available through the Bell Grants program. Funded projects are creative or innovative ideas or programs designed to stimulate learning in students. All Delaware County teachers are invited to apply during any of the four grant cycles….


Fifty Years Ago Today: Fire at Minnetrista

By: Karen Vincent, Director of Collections at Minnetrista— “A most heartbreaking thing happened this evening,” wrote Rosemary Ball Bracken in her diary entry of Tuesday, February 28, 1967. That event was the fire that destroyed Rosemary’s childhood home. Rosemary’s parents, Frank and Elizabeth “Bessie” Brady Ball, built their home on land overlooking the White River in 1894. Minnetrista was the name chosen for the house. Louis Gibson of Indianapolis designed a colonial style house of frame construction with nineteen rooms….


Courthouse Facility Dog Joins Staff of Delaware County CASA Program

By: Ashley Soldaat— On Monday, February 13th, 2017, the Delaware County CASA Office brought their new Courthouse facility dog to the CASA office for the first time. The Courthouse Dog Program uses trained facility dogs to aid children involved with the legal system in reducing their stress and anxiety as they work through the criminal justice system. The use of facility dogs in the legal process has expanded rapidly in the United States since 2003 and started focusing on CASA…



MCS to Implement Dual Immersion Language Program in 2017-18 School Year

By: Ana Pichardo & Holly Ford— Muncie, IN – Muncie Community Schools is excited to announce our upcoming Dual Immersion program set to begin fall of 2017. Students in this program will learn to speak, read, and write in English and Spanish. Using a research-based immersion approach, teachers will conduct class in Spanish part of the day, and English the other part. With this program, MCS will join more than 400 existing immersion programs in the United States.  The goal…


February 2017 One of The Warmest in 146 Years

By: BSU News— When Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow on Groundhog Day — an annual event that means six more weeks of cold weather — little did the animal now we were in for one of the warmest Februarys in 146 years, says David Call, who teaches meteorology at Ball State University. And Call believes that even with a cold front ready to burst a streak of unseasonably warm weather, spring may be starting earlier than normal. “While it has…


John Carlson: Lifting weights? One’ll Do

By: John Carlson— I am a weightlifter. Literally. By this, I mean I lift a single weight. One. Eins. Uno. This lonely barbell came into my possession Christmas morning, courtesy of my wife, Nan. But while it is only a 10-pounder, it was far and away my biggest gift, both in terms of weight and life-changing potential. Along with a certain book of poetry, I asked for this barbell, which means I am getting old. Were I younger and more…