I remember eating dirt as a preschooler totally oblivious to the fact that it was, well, dirty. And, in the not-so-distant past, though I certainly washed my hands throughout the day, I rarely used disinfectant wipes and hand sanitizer. I would, I suppose, when I wasn’t near a faucet before digging into my French fries… Continue reading.

By Richard G. Biever Between a drought and a lack of pollinators, the Community Share Gardens at Lebanon’s St. Peter’s Episcopal Church had little harvest to share in 2013. But help soon came from above — on the wings of … not a snow white dove … but honeybees. From the church’s small but active… Continue reading.

Jay County, which sits along on Indiana’s eastern edge with Ohio, is a portal into significant passages of Indiana geography, history, and culture. To name three: The Wabash River. Indiana’s official state river enters Indiana through Jay County. The river’s origin is just over the state line, and the Wabash meekly flows in along Jay… Continue reading.

If your garage doubles as a catch-all room for junk you haven’t gotten around to getting rid of, your house has a its own den of hazardswaiting to happen. If you want your garage to be safe for your family to park cars, retrieve sports equipment or even root around for lost stuff, clean it… Continue reading.

If you were to pull your desk or your TV cabinet out from the wall, you’d probably find a tangle of cords, cables, wires and plugs. That tangle isn’t so good for your electronics. Besides creating a tripping hazard, a mess of electrical cords could lead to a fire if they’re all plugged into the… Continue reading.

While you’re spiffing up the house this spring, don’t neglect your appliances: Dust the refrigerator. Refrigerators exchange heat through a system of coils. A buildup of dust and pet hair will make the unit run longer to have the same cooling effect and use more electricity. Vacuum the coils on the back and underneath to… Continue reading.

If you have leftovers from last Tuesday lurking in your refrigerator, now’s the time to pull on your latex kitchen gloves and clean them out. You could be putting your family at risk for food poisoning should somebody decide to snack on the smelly scraps. It’s true a refrigerator operates more efficiently when fully stocked…. Continue reading.

Adding a few items to your list of spring chores can help make your home more energy efficient and deliver electric bills that won’t make you sweat when temperatures soar. Start with your air conditioner Spring and early summer are good times to make sure that your air conditioning unit is ready to work when… Continue reading.

When Brittany Sams was hired as an accountant at LaGrange County REMC, her college degrees and experience prepared her for accounting and business, of course. But no education or previous experience prepared her for the not-for-profit business model and the many accounting differences that come with a consumer-owned utility. The plan was for her to… Continue reading.

Every grade schooler knows that President Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky — on Feb. 12, 1809. And, he lived in Illinois as a lawyer and a lawmaker before being elected president in 1860. But he did more than just pass through Indiana on his way, as was said upon his death, to belonging “to… Continue reading.

By Richard G. Biever The salvation and revival of the West Baden Springs Hotel 15 years ago was nothing short of a miracle … as much a miracle as raising the architectural marvel in the first place. Called the “Eighth Wonder of the World” when it originally opened in 1903 for its towering dome above… Continue reading.

Electricity turns dark into light, makes hot foods cold and cold foods hot, washes the dishes and searches the internet. It is essential to our everyday lives, so much so that we rarely think about it. But behind the scenes, interesting things are happening.  Here are three interesting facts about electricity that cause even some… Continue reading.