Indiana
Indiana Graduate Workers Coalition requests higher pay, union recognition
![Indiana Graduate Workers Coalition requests higher pay, union recognition Indiana Graduate Workers Coalition requests higher pay, union recognition](https://www.953mnc.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/money-2724241_1280.jpg)
The Indiana Graduate Workers Coalition has requested higher pay and union recognition in a letter, asking for a response by Jan. 29. The requests went unanswered. The group is considering a strike to win its demands.
The IGWC passed a resolution of no confidence Feb. 5, only IU’s Board of Trustees can authorize union recognition. The group has 1,300 card-carrying members this semester and has never gone on strike without full membership approval.
The IGWC has campaigned for union recognition since 2021 and kicked off its most recent campaign with a “More say, more pay” rally last September.
They demanded higher pay based on MIT’s Living Wage Calculator and union recognition. The calculator estimates living wages based on full-time work. Grad workers fulfill Student Academic Appointee (SAA) duties while conducting research and pursuing their degrees full time. Ali said they are expected to not have another job, and some students – such as international students – are forbidden from having other jobs.
Before the union sent their January letter to Whitten, the Dean of Bloomington’s Graduate School David Daleke announced a new minimum stipend of $23,000 for a half-time, 10-month SAA appointment.
In 2022, about 1,000 members went on strike for union recognition and the removal of fees. In August 2022, the Whitten and Provost Rahul Shrivastav announced IU waived mandatory fees and raised the minimum SAA stipend by 46 percent to $22,000.
The IGWC said in a press release living wages in Bloomington should be about $28,000 for 10-month contracts and about $34,000 for 12-month contracts.
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Indiana
'Extensive' search underway for suspect who stabbed teen at NW Indiana baseball field
!['Extensive' search underway for suspect who stabbed teen at NW Indiana baseball field 'Extensive' search underway for suspect who stabbed teen at NW Indiana baseball field](https://media.nbcchicago.com/2024/08/Blur-lake-county-sheriff-indiana08-31-2024-17-25-37.png?resize=1200%2C675&quality=85&strip=all)
Authorities in northwest Indiana on Saturday afternoon were conducting an “extensive search” for the person wanted for stabbing a teenage girl in the hand at a baseball field.
The incident happened at the baseball fields in Lowell behind the VFW 6841 post, 17401 Morse St., according to the Lake County Sheriff’s Department. A “dark-skinned male with long hair,” stabbed a 14-year-old girl before being chased into the woods, sheriff’s officials said.
Sheriff’s patrol deputies, detectives, department K-9s and aviation units were working with several surrounding law enforcement agencies in searching for the suspect. The alleged stabber could be in the company of other men and should be considered armed and dangerous, police said.
Residents in the immediate area were being asked to keep their homes and vehicles locked and notify police of suspicious activity. Anyone who sees the suspect was urged to call 911 immediately.
Indiana
Curt Cignetti coaching history: Career record, more to know of Indiana football coach
![Curt Cignetti coaching history: Career record, more to know of Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti coaching history: Career record, more to know of Indiana football coach](https://www.gannett-cdn.com/authoring/authoring-images/2024/08/16/NHEN/74828976007-indiana-football-fall-practice-coordinators-day-cignetti-6.jpg?auto=webp&crop=1999,1125,x0,y84&format=pjpg&width=1200)
At the news conference formally introducing him as Indiana’s new football coach last December, Curt Cignetti had a simple message when asked about how he will sell the Hoosiers to prospective recruits, the kind he would need to turn around the program’s fortunes.
“I win,” he said. “Google me.”
A quick and easy internet search will confirm his words were as true as they were confident.
REQUIRED READING: IU’s Curt Cignetti and the 35-year-old recliner he can’t let go: ‘Brilliance happens there’
Throughout his 40-year coaching career, Cignetti has been a part of dozens of winning teams. As a head coach, that has been especially true, with a successful five-year run at James Madison serving as the latest example of his prowess.
At Indiana, he’ll face perhaps his biggest challenge yet.
Though they’ve had spurts of success — most recently, the pandemic-affected 2020 season in which they went 6-2 and rose into the top 10 of the national polls — the Hoosiers have largely been a basketball school working to compete in one of college football’s best conferences.
Over the past 30 seasons, they’ve made just five bowl appearances, losing each. They haven’t won even a share of a Big Ten championship since 1967. Since that stellar 2020 run, they’re just 9-27.
If Cignetti’s resume and background are indicative of anything, that may soon change. Ahead of Indiana’s 2024 season opener against Florida International Saturday, here’s a look at Cignetti’s coaching career, record and more:
REQUIRED READING: Can Indiana football’s Curt Cignetti take team to new heights? Bold predictions for 2024
Curt Cignetti coaching career
Cignetti’s path to becoming a head coach in a “Power Four” conference was long and hard-earned.
Shortly after graduating from West Virginia, Cignetti got his start in his hometown of Pittsburgh as a graduate assistant at Pitt, where in 1993 he returned to stay for seven seasons as the quarterbacks and tight ends coach.
After that came another lengthy stint at NC State, where he was the quarterbacks coach and tight ends coach, as well as the recruiting coordinator. Among the players he coached during his seven seasons there was future top-five NFL draft pick and Pro Bowler Philip Rivers.
When Nick Saban arrived at Alabama in 2007, Cignetti served as the Crimson Tide’s recruiting coordinator and wide receivers coach from 2007-10. During that time, he helped Alabama bring in No. 1 recruiting classes in 2008 and 2009 and, by the end of the 2009 season, the Tide won its first national championship since 1992.
Following the 2010 season, Cignetti took over as the head coach at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP), a Division II program about 60 miles east of Pittsburgh. Over six years, he guided the Crimson Hawks to the Division II playoffs three times and finished in the top 25 four times.
That success earned him a jump to FCS program Elon, where he went 14-9 over two seasons, a drastic improvement over the 12-45 record the Phoenix compiled in the previous five seasons. They made the FCS playoffs in both seasons, just the second and third time they had ever done so.
In December 2018, Cignetti was hired at James Madison, which had won the FCS championship three years earlier. In his first season, the Dukes went 14-2, a five-win improvement from the previous season, and made it to the FCS championship, losing narrowly to North Dakota State. Under Cignetti, they made the FCS semifinals in each of the next two seasons.
In 2022, James Madison made a long-awaited transition to the FBS. In their first season, the Dukes went 8-3 and finished in a tie for first place in the Sun Belt East Division. As a first-year FBS program, however, they were ineligible for a bowl game. The 2023 season had even more in store for James Madison, which started 10-0 and rose as high as No. 21 in the US LBM Coaches Poll before finishing the regular season 11-1. For his efforts, Cignetti was named Sun Belt Coach of the Year.
Here’s a look at Cignetti’s coaching stops.
Head coach unless specified
- 1983-84: Pitt (GA)
- 1985: Davidson (QB/WR coach)
- 1986-88: Rice (QB coach)
- 1989-92: Temple (QB coach)
- 1993-99: Pitt (QB/WR coach)
- 2000-06: NC State (recruiting coordinator, QB/WR coach)
- 2007-10: Alabama (recruiting coordinator, WR coach)
- 2011-16: IUP
- 2017-18: Elon
- 2019-23: James Madison
- 2024-present: Indiana
REQUIRED READING: IU football Insider roundtable: What’s a Curt Cignetti team look like? Time to find out.
Curt Cignetti record
Over his 13 seasons as a head coach, Cignetti has a record of 119-35, including a 74-20 mark in conference play.
- IUP: 53-17 overall (33-11 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference)
- Elon: 14-9 overall (10-5 Coastal Athletic Association)
- James Madison: 52-9 overall (18-1 CAA) (13-3 Sun Belt)
Curt Cignetti father
Coaching came naturally to Cignetti. After all, it runs in the family.
Cignetti’s father, the late Frank Cignetti, was a longtime college coach. He was the head coach at West Virginia from 1976-79, where he went 17-27. He was named the athletic director at IUP in 1982 and took over as the school’s football coach in 1986. He led the Crimson Hawks for 20 seasons, piloting them to a 182-50-1 record, 13 NCAA playoff berths and two appearances in the national championship game.
He retired after the 2005 season and six years later, his son took over his old post. The elder Cignetti was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2013.
Curt Cignetti’s younger brother, Frank Cignetti Jr., is also a coach. He was most recently the offensive coordinator at Pitt before being fired after the 2023 season.
REQUIRED READING: ‘I’m a zero star.’ How JMU transfer Mikail Kamara evolved into pass rusher IU craves.
Curt Cignetti contract
Cignetti will earn $4.25 million in first year of his contract with Indiana, a significant financial step up from the $677,311 he made in his final season at James Madison.
According to terms of a memorandum of understanding he signed in December, Cignetti will make at least $27 million across six seasons at Indiana, not including bonuses and performance incentives.
Tom Allen, Cignetti’s predecessor, brought in $4.51 million in total pay in his final season as the Hoosiers’ coach, according to USA TODAY Sports’ coaching salary database.
Curt Cignetti age
Cignetti, born June 2, 1961, is 63 years old.
Indiana
Judge rules suspect’s reported confessions in Delphi, Indiana girls’ murders can be used
![Judge rules suspect’s reported confessions in Delphi, Indiana girls’ murders can be used Judge rules suspect’s reported confessions in Delphi, Indiana girls’ murders can be used](https://assets1.cbsnewsstatic.com/hub/i/r/2022/10/31/492d64dc-1d09-400e-89d0-bb772ccd8f69/thumbnail/1200x630/925becdfb156b458d5cd9da8a42e9688/richard-allen-mugshot.jpg?v=25685eaa472b1a5dbb5bd46ae506d232)
DELPHI, Ind. (CBS) — Numerous reported confessions by the Delphi, Indiana double murder suspect can be used in court, a judge ruled this week.
Richard Allen is charged with two counts of murder in the 2017 slayings of 14-year-old Liberty German and 13-year-old Abigail Williams. His trial is scheduled for October.
CBS affiliate WTTV in Indianapolis reported Special Judge Fran Gull—who was assigned to the Carroll County, Indiana case from Allen County where Fort Wayne is located—ruled Thursday that all of Allen’s statement to psychologists, inmates, guards, and family members from within jail can be used as evidence.
Allen’s defense team had tried to get these statements thrown out.
Prosecutors have said previously that Allen confessed in prison phone calls to his wife. His attorneys have blamed four other people for the murders.
Libby and Abigail were found dead in February 2017, a day after they were reported missing following a visit to a hiking trail near their hometown of Delphi, about 60 miles northwest of Indianapolis.
Liberty and Abigail were found stabbed to death on a hiking trail near an abandoned railroad bridge.
Allen, a drugstore pharmacy technician in the town of 3,000, wasn’t arrested until October 2022. He has pleaded not guilty.
Police have said Libby snapped a photo of the killer and recorded his voice on her cell phone before she died.
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