Tidbits + a forklift ride
I got to drive the forklift around today, as we cleaned up the last remnants of the Corktop Launch Party. I love that thing.
And now for some tidbits (mainly stats, but read thru to the end, it’s worth it) that have been gathering in my Firefox bookmarks bar:
- Some stats gleaned from the Ind. Dept. of Workforce Devel.’s extensive website: Elkhart County’s annual earnings have increased 10.4% with a labor force increase of 8.7% since 2002, still below the state’s average per capita income level. This compares to a 11.3% earnings increase with a .9% labor force increase in neighboring St. Joseph county. Suprisingly (to me), Elkhart’s average annual income is higher than St. Joe’s. Statewide, Indiana’s median household income has fallen 10% since 1999 when accounting for inflation.
- Indiana ranks 37th highest (out of 50) in property taxes, with Elkhart County ranking 527 out of 783 counties in the nation. Median property taxes paid in Elkhart: $1,156 on a median house worth $124k…pretty cheap if you ask me.
- 84,000 fewer people were without health insurance in Indiana last year and no one’s sure why…”The decline was welcome news, but it’s hard to explain, said Mitch Roob, secretary of the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration, who called the numbers ‘surprisingly high.’ ” We still have 748,000 uninsured Hoosiers. It seems that politicians would want to take credit for a drop in uninsured’s, but no one’s stepping up to the plate. Weird.
- August was the wettest month on record in Goshen with nearly 13″ of rain
- Finally, I can’t believe Bill & Steve had these photos taken. O.M.G. If you ever see anything like that with me in it, I give you permission to firebomb RedPost World Headquarters. Or maybe just egg it.
I’m off to camp with my sisters and father for the weekend in Western PA. Have a great weekend!
