INDIANAPOLIS | A philosophical dispute at the Statehouse over the role of the free market in setting pay rates for public construction projects could soon translate into smaller paychecks for thousands of Indiana building trades workers.

The Republican-controlled House Employment, Labor and Pensions Committee voted 8-4 on party lines Tuesday for House Bill 1019, which eliminates the common construction wage used for state and local government building projects worth more than $350,000.

State Rep. Jerry Torr, R-Carmel, the sponsor of the measure, believes it is wrong to have five-person boards made up of union and nonunion contractors, along with two local taxpayers decide how much each position on a public construction job should be paid.

"In my view, this sets up an artificial wage and I just think it's better for us to go to the free market," Torr said. "If the committee set a higher wage rate, then the workers on the job benefit but the taxpayers don't."

Torr estimated, based on the savings realized in other states that eliminated their prevailing wage laws, Indiana local governments could spend between 10-20 percent less by ditching the common construction wage.

"When we have local governments concerned about the property tax caps trying to save every dime they can and school districts clamoring for more money for public education, it would seem to make sense for us to go to the free market and let folks bid and have the best at the lowest price," Torr said.

Jason Horwitz, a public policy consultant at the Anderson Economic Group of Michigan, told the committee the total savings statewide likely only would be about $50 million, or 6 percent, and possibly less because Indiana already has such a high threshold for projects to use the common construction wage.

Nevertheless, Republican city councilmen from Fort Wayne and Terre Haute, and representatives from the Indiana Chamber of Commerce and the Associated Builders and Contractors trade association insisted it still is worth eliminating a system the state and local governments have used since 1935.

"Government should not be in the business of fixing prices and mandating wages," said J.R. Gaylor, president of ABC of Indiana and Kentucky. "The market should be the solution to that."

In response, nearly two dozen building contractors, representing billions of dollars in annual projects, each told the committee they want the common construction wage preserved.

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House panel OKs repeal of common construction wage

SHENANDOAH Demolition of a century-old church building that housed a convent and an archival center for a possible future saint began last week.

Workers began taking down the three-story building that was constructed as a convent and rectory during the leadership of the Rev. John Dobrowski, who became pastor of St. Casimir Church on Nov. 29, 1912.

From the time of its construction, the convent was the Shenandoah home of the Bernardine Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis and was being used as such until last year when structural problems caused the sisters to leave.

The half of the building closest to the church that had served as the parish rectory was the Ciszek Center, the headquarters of the Father Walter Ciszek Prayer League, which was formed in 1985 to promote the cause for canonization of Ciszek, a Shenandoah native who was a prisoner in the Soviet Union for 23 years. The cause officially began in 1989 five years after Ciszeks death in the Ruthenian Byzantine Eparchy of Passaic. After the retirement of the Most Rev. Michael J. Dudick as bishop, the cause moved to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Allentown in 1998 through the support of the Most Rev. Thoma J. Welsh, bishop. It was after the diocesan change that the headquarters was moved from Sugarloaf to Shenandoah.

The cause for canonization is currently being reviewed in the Vatican.

In addition to memorabilia of the life of Ciszek, the building also held a Perpetual Adoration chapel. The prayer leagues board president is Monsignor Ronald C. Bocian, pastor of Divine Mercy Church in Shenandoah, with St. Casimir Church as a worship center. Attempts to contact Bocian for information on the demolition were not successful.

Prayer league board member Elaine Cusat said the league is in transition with its location due to the need to move.

Were projecting well be getting ready with a new center in the spring, Cusat said.

The new center will be located in the former Annunciation BVM Church rectory on the 200 block of West Cherry Street near Divine Mercy Church and Trinity Academy.

The Bernardine sisters have moved into the former St. Stephen Church rectory, which is now called the Father Ciszek Convent, 18 E. Oak St., Shenandoah. The convent is also the temporary mailing address for the prayer league.

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Structural problems force demolition of church building in Shenandoah

ST. JOHN the Baptist Church, which was built by Franciscan missionaries during the Spanish colonial period, in Camalig, Albay, has been declared a historical landmark by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines. MICHAEL B. JAUCIAN

Imelda Moraleda has bound her life and faith to the massive stone church built by Franciscan missionaries during the Spanish colonial period in the 1800s in Camalig town in Albay province.

The church is indeed a very old church that provided us refuge during the war, says Moraleda, 84, who goes regularly to the St. John the Baptist Church, which was recently declared a historical landmark by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP).

Describing the place of worship as God-given, she recalls that during World War II in 1942-1945, it sheltered town residents during the Japanese occupation and when the Americans came to liberate the country.

She was a teenager then during the war years and was asked to play the piano during the daily Mass, while Japanese soldiers watched the parishioners every movement. There was no way to escape the garrison of the Japanese soldiers, which was just located at the back of St. John the Baptist Church, she remembers.

The NHCPs board of commissioners approved the declaration of the church as a historical landmark after noting its significant contributions to Camaligs history.

The marker is very educational on the part of the tourists as it will give them an idea of how Christianity started, said the agencys executive director, Ludovico Badoy, who attended the unveiling ceremony on Dec. 14, 2014.

The Franciscan missionaries administered the church for over 400 years, from 1579-1983, according to the marker. Originally, it existed as a structure of wood and nipa from 1579 to 1580.

The second church was made from stone by prisoners in 1605. It was, however, destroyed by successive eruptions of Mayon Volcano from 1766 to 1814.

Strongest in region

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Old church a testament of history, faith

The First Church building on the corner and Tay and Ythan Streets celebrates its 100th birthday this weekend and the Southland community is welcome to join in the celebrations of this iconic heritage building. Tours of the Church buildings and graphic displays will be held between 10am and 12 noon on Saturday, 14 February 2015. Tours will include the opportunity to climb the 32 metre Campanile bell tower and view Invercargill from a height. Following the format of the buildings opening in February 1915 a Celebratory Ecumenical Service of Worship will be held on Saturday afternoon at 2.00pm, followed by a heritage themed dinner in the evening.

On Sunday, 15 February a Service of Holy Communion will be held where a Memorandum of Understanding will be signed between First Church and Pacific Island Church (Samoan). This will be followed by a pot luck lunch and farewell to Rev Richard and Morag Gray.

"First Church is an iconic heritage building and we would be delighted to show people through the building" said Rev Richard Gray. "The buildings design, construction and maintenance means that we were delighted to recently receive a report from Hadley & Robinson Limited, Dunedin based consulting engineers, who confirmed that the building rates at better than 80% NBS. This means that the building is not earthquake prone. It allows the congregation to move forward with confidence knowing that this important Church building will serve the Invercargill community for another 100 years."

It was Rev Richard Grays great-grandfather (the Rev R M Ryburn) who was minister of First Church when the controversial design for the building was chosen, when the foundation stone was laid in 1910 and at the official opening in February 1915. "When I accepted the call to became Minister of First Church I was delighted to be able to preach in the same pulpit as my great-grandfather" Rev Gray said.

First Church is a major Invercargill landmark which was opened in 1915 and is of an Italian Romanesque design. Over one million bricks were used in the construction of the church which has a height of 15 metres. The Campanile bell tower has a height of 32 metres, with the walls at its base being one metre thick. Arthur Sefton, bricklayer, was regarded as one of the finest tradesmen in the country when the building was constructed with its complex arches and patterns.

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First Church building celebrates 100th birthday

18:00 10 February 2015

Madeleine Burton

Emma Wiggs cutting the ribbon watched by Mayor of Hertsmere, Cllr Carey Keates.

Archant

Paralympian Emma Wiggs cut the ribbon when a church marked the opened of upgraded kitchen and toilet facilities.

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Emma, the daughter of Annie Wiggs, church warden of St John the Baptist Church in Aldenham where the new facilities were built, was a member of the sitting volleyball team in the 2012 Paralympics.

The development includes toilet accommodation for people with disabilities.

The ceremony was held at the end of matins at the church and among the guests were the Mayor of Hertsmere, Cllr Carey Keates, Hertsmere borough councillor John Graham and Aldenham parish council chairman, Cllr Neil Payne.

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Paralympian opens new church facilities in Hertsmere

TOCCOA - A construction worker died from a fall while working on a project at a Toccoa church Tuesday morning.

Toccoa Police Chief Tim Jarrell confirmed the death.

"At approximately 8:59 this morning the Toccoa Police Department, Stephens County ambulance service and Toccoa Fire Department responded to 475 Tugalo St., which is our First Baptist Church," Jarrell said. "We responded in reference to a work-related accident at the church's new construction site."

Jarrell provided some basic details of what happened.

"There was a worker on a steel beam who fell and appears to have suffered a head injury," Jarrell said. "He was pronounced deceased at the scene by the coroner's office."

The man's name has not been released yet, pending notification of his family.

The victim is a 35-year-old Hispanic male from the Gainesville area, Jarrell said.

"The incident is still under investigation," Jarrell said. "OSHA and the coroner's office are investigating, and the police department is supplying assistance as needed."

An autopsy to determine the cause of death will be performed at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation State Crime Lab in Decatur.

"We do not believe foul play is involved, however we investigate all deaths as if they are criminal until otherwise proven differently," Jarrell said.

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OSHA, coroner investigating death of worker in Toccoa

A VIDEO going behind the scenes of the delayed Church Street West sewer works in Radcliffe has been released by United Utilities.

Last month bosses at the water company confessed the 1.7 million scheme which saw the busy town centre road shut last July for an estimated eight months was not on schedule.

The Radcliffe Times revealed delays meant Church Street West would not reopen at the end of the 40-week period this March and could be shut for months more into the summer.

United Utilities has today released a video citing work to clear plants and erosion on the embankment due to heavy rain as the reasons for delays.

In the video, construction manager Lee Hall says: Initially before we started we had a survey done, and it found we had a lot of invasive species on the embankment; Himalayan Balsam, Japanese Knotweed and Giant Hogweed.

We had to clear this and have the ground treated on three separate occasions before we could come to work on the embankment.

Just before Christmas we had some erosion on the embankment due to heavy rainfall, and we had to carry out some emergency stabilisation repairs which stabilised the ground.

The works we are carrying out at the moment are adding to the stability of the slope.

Frustrated residents have faced traffic chaos since the closure, with a diversion through Blackburn Street and Spring Lane causing delays of up to an hour, and the large compound erected in front of shops means trade in the town centre is also struggling.

Bosses at United Utilities have refused to give a precise new reopening date for Church Street West but said they will update businesses and residents as soon as a date is known.

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VIDEO: United Utilities bosses blame heavy rain and weeds for Church Street West delays

Regional News of Tuesday, 10 February 2015

Source: Graphic Online

The Dompoase Mount Sinai Society of the Methodist Church, Ghana, is constructing a drain to check erosion and the frequent floods in Dompoase, a suburb of Kumasi.

The project is being funded through harvest sales, special levies and contributions by the church members and is estimated to cost about GH100,000.

According to an elder of the church, Mr Fredrick Nkrumah, the project was conceived to help lessen the flooding in the area whenever it rained heavily, in order to protect roads and ensure their longevity.

He said the project was under the supervision of the Department of Urban Roads and members of the church were providing labour for its construction.

He added that, besides promoting the spiritual development of its members and community generally, the church was committed to ensuring progress in education, health, infrastructural and social development in the country, particularly for those living in rural areas.

Mr Nkrumah said that there was the need for churches in the country to partner the government to provide infrastructure for deprived communities.

The construction of the drainage, therefore, was a fulfilment of the churchs responsibility to the community.

According to Elder Nkrumah, the church had spent about GH6,500 on community development projects in the area. He therefore called on the government and public-spirited individuals and organisations to play their roles to facilitate the development of Dompoase.

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Church assists community with drainage

Orlando will prepare the way for a new soccer stadium in Parramore by closing off a part of the neighborhood's namesake avenue.

Without discussion, City Council voted unanimously Monday to permanently vacate Parramore Avenue between West Central Boulevard and West Church Street for the future home of the Orlando City Lions, a Major League Soccer expansion franchise.

The new 19,500-seat stadium, slated to open in time for the start of the MLS season in 2016, is part of a broader economic-development vision for the predominantly African-American neighborhood, which has been plagued for decades by crime, housing foreclosures and chronically high unemployment.

The city hopes the venue and other planned "catalyst projects" will help lure new entrepreneurs and investors to the depressed neighborhood, which has seen its population shrink from 18,000 residents in the 1960s to about 6,100 today.

But not everyone is sold on the stadium's hope-building potential and some say it comes at the cost of Parramore's rich history.

Closing Parramore Avenue and building the $110-million sporting venue "literally will destroy one of the most historical communities we have," said Lawanna Gelzer, a community activist who has been an outspoken critic of Mayor Buddy Dyer's administration and the city's efforts to land a professional soccer team.

Other critics recently complained that the stadium will bring only noise, traffic congestion and low-paying jobs.

The city decided to build the stadium on Parramore Avenue after year-long negotiations broke down for a Church Street site owned by Faith Deliverance Temple. Church leaders once demanded $35 million for the property, which was appraised at between $300,000 and $700,000. The city's top offer was $4 million.

Parramore Avenue will lead to the stadium and, Dyer said, the area that can become a "kind of city center."

"The neighborhood itself is a historic neighborhood, and certainly there's significance to the street named Parramore," said Dyer.

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Part of Parramore Avenue to close for soccer stadium

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Since the outbreak of the Ebola virus in Liberia and Sierra Leone, ELCA members have provided $275,000 to support the work of Lutheran companion churches in both African countries.

A new five-part resource that invites ELCA members to reflect on how this church makes a difference in the world is now available.

ELCA members provided nearly $400,000 in humanitarian assistance to help support ELCA partners who serve thousands of unaccompanied minors arriving in the United States.

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