Revisit the REMC “Ringing Everyone a Merry Christmas” gift records from the 1960s. These 45 rpm records were distributed by Indiana electric co-ops each holiday season from 1964-68 and in 1970. They told sweet tales of farm kids anticipating Christmas, taking sleigh rides into the woods, and meeting Santa and elves and learning about the… Continue reading.

From cooking in a nursing home kitchen to ringing a Salvation Army bell, from helping a Habitat for Humanity home project to collecting pillowcases which will be turned into clothing to helping mark a community trail, this year’s group of Youth Power & Hope Awards winners serve all walks. From the edges of the state… Continue reading.

Within days of Indiana’s statehood in December of 1816, Thomas Lincoln moved his family across the Ohio River from Kentucky for a fresh start in the brand new state. And his 7-year-old son, Abe, grew up a Hoosier. Throughout this bicentennial year, Hoosiers all over the state have celebrated and commemorated the state’s past, present… Continue reading.

With this November issue, Electric Consumer focuses on Indiana’s gubernatorial race between Democratic Party candidate John Gregg and Republican Party candidate Eric Holcomb. Though Holcomb is currently Indiana’s lieutenant governor, the general public is still getting to know him. He was appointed to that position March 3 by Gov. Mike Pence after Lt. Gov. Sue Ellspermann,… Continue reading.

Come Nov. 9, this long election season of twists and hairpin turns will have passed — providing there are no glitches, ties, challenges or hanging chads. Few observers would view the 2016 campaigns — from the presidential three-ring circus to the state’s musical chairs — as run-of-the-mill. The fireworks in Indiana’s usually placid political sky… Continue reading.

Like most Americans on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, staff members at Somerset Rural Electric Cooperative in Pennsylvania were following the horrific morning events unfold on televisions in the office. Two hijacked commercial jet liners, loaded with fuel, smashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, and a… Continue reading.

One bright blue-sky Tuesday morning 15 years ago this month, the world changed forever in four blinks of an eye. Most Americans could only stare and weep, transfixed to TV screens, as the horrific events we now refer to as “9/11” unfolded. At Somerset Rural Electric Cooperative, which straddles the turnpike in southwestern Pennsylvania, the… Continue reading.

NCAA’s Oliver Luck to be 2016 Youth Power and Hope special guest … oh, yeah, he just happens to be dad to a well-known quarterback Indiana’s electric cooperatives and Electric Consumer are thrilled to welcome Oliver Luck, executive vice president of regulatory affairs for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and father of Indianapolis Colts… Continue reading.

With a theme of “Celebrating Indiana’s Bicentennial,” the 2016 Indiana State Fair is acknowledging what makes our state great by honoring its agricultural heroes. As a follow up to last year’s Year of the Farmer promotion, this year 17 Featured Farmers will be recognized, one for each day of the fair’s run, from Aug. 5-21…. Continue reading.

From 1996 until 2005, Electric Consumer readers reached for glue guns, polymer clay, paint brushes and other craft supplies to fashion handmade ornaments for a Christmas tree ornament contest sponsored by the publication. Through the years, we received nearly 500 creations in a variety of mediums. Some were sculpted, some carved, some sewn. There were… Continue reading.

One of the seven cooperative principles electric cooperatives and all cooperative businesses adhere to is “Commitment to Community.” The principle also is underscored in gold as one of the four core values of all Touchstone Energy Cooperatives. Nowhere does community commitment and giving back play out more than with the cooperative commitment to the young… Continue reading.

“Your Indiana electric cooperative companion” turns 65 years old this month. But “retirement” is nowhere in sight! Rather, Electric Consumer staff hopes readers are still enjoying the publication’s 2013 upgrade to a magazine after being a newsprint tabloid all of its previous years (which began in 1951 as Indiana Rural News). In the past year,… Continue reading.