MLK - History Online

Stanford University has created a nice website for learning about Martin Luther King and the legacy of his struggle to advance civil rights in America.

At their website The Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute look for the Quick Links option of "Teaching King."

From there you can find lesson plans, primary and secondary sources online, classroom resources, an encyclopedia and more.

The Library of Congress also has an amazing set of links to source materials for teaching about the American Civil Rights Movement.

For Indiana Authors

The Indiana Center for the Book is welcoming all Hoosier authors to submit entries into the fourth annual 2008 Best Books of Indiana competition.

This state book contest is open to books with original publication in 2007 and written either by an Indiana author or with an Indiana theme. Deadline for entries is March 31, 2008.

For more information, entry forms, competition guidelines and past winners, check out their website at http://www.in.gov/library/2315.htm

The Indiana Center for the Book is a program of the Indiana State Library and an affiliate of the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress.

Living History Videos

Jasper County Historian Beulah Arnott can spin a yarn about her own memories of Rensselaer in days gone by, but she also has dedicated her life to carefully researching and collecting other people's memories and stories.

Thanks to the Rensselaer Republican's website, http://www.rensselaerrepublican.com/local_video/, Arnott is sharing her vast knowledge of this area with the general public in a series of Living History videos.

The videos, produced by the Republican's staff, are about 13 minutes long and can be streamed live from a computer over the Internet. Clayton Doty, one of the producers of this noteworthy project, said they are planning to continue the series with a new video each week for perhaps a year or more.

The Republican has also made DVD copies of the videos available for the public to view at the Rensselaer Library. They are not available for check out at this time.

We applaud this amazing local history initiative and look forward to seeing all of the videos as they are made.

Arnott, and the Jasper County Historical Society, has also been working with Campbell's Printing in Rensselaer for the past few years to create a local history publication, Vintage Views, which is available for browsing at the Rensselaer Library as well.

A further note on Taxes

Some helpful links provided by our state government.

I-FILE AVAILABLE TO INDIANA TAXPAYERS
I-FILE is a free online tax filing service for the state of Indiana that all Indiana residents are eligible to use, provided you meet just a couple of requirements. To qualify to use I-File, you must have completed your 2007 federal return, have filed an individual return in any format with the state of Indiana in the past, and your first or last name must not have been legally changed since you last filed.

I-FILE is beneficial for taxpayers as it helps filers avoid clerical and mathematical errors on their returns, helps filers receive refunds more quickly and can be a good option if you wait to the last minute to file. I-FILE benefits the Department of Revenue as well, as the department is able to process returns more quickly and at a savings of 96 cents per return.

To use I-FILE, please visit the Department of Revenue’s I-FILE website. To download Indiana state tax instructions and forms for the current year and for previous years, please visit the forms page. If you have to file state taxes for a state other than Indiana, visit the Federation of Tax Administrators link to forms for all 50 states.

Indiana Department of Revenue, I-File: http://www.in.gov/dor/ifile/

Indiana Department of Revenue, Tax Forms: http://www.in.gov/dor/taxforms/

Part-year resident or employee in another state: http://www.taxadmin.org/fta/link/forms.html

Tax Season

It’s that time of year again, the other time of year you make your list and check it twice.

Some of you will be the lucky ones who will painlessly fill out a few boxes, file, and begin consulting a vacation planning website while waiting for the return check.

Others will stay up more than one late night trying to remember important details from that “client-scouting” trip you took, which just coincidentally happened to be in the same town where your wife’s sister lives.

Whatever your plan for the next few months, we have forms which may help, or if we don’t have them on our racks, we can print them out for you online.

You will need to know in advance what forms you need, and any forms we print for you will incur normal printing costs (10 cents per page).

Best of luck, and hope you bag a big one… or is that another season?