WFHB Local News Features

New Hope for Families raised $3.9 million to help build a new homeless shelter and child care center. About 40 percent of people experiencing homelessness in Monroe County are families with children, says the organization’s executive director, Emily Pike. “Those people don’t tend to be very visible,” she said. “Those families are afraid of being separated from their children.” Over …

Early this summer, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency moved to declassify three PCB contamination Superfund sites in the surrounding Bloomington area. The decommission of these clean up sites from the National Priority List draws a decades long local environmental movement to a close. For those who were there to witness the contamination and resulting fights for public health and environmental …

Unemployment benefits in Indiana have been in flux for the past few months. On Monday of last week, Indiana officials filed a second appeal asking the Indiana Court of Appeals to stay an order compelling the state to continue paying federal pandemic unemployment benefits. The appeal marks Governor Eric Holcomb’s continued efforts to halt Indiana’s participation in three federally funded, …

A local “citizen-organized group” has undertaken a coordinated effort to mobilize residents across Monroe County to challenge their potential annexation by the City of Bloomington. WFHB met with Monroe County Residents Against Annexation member Margaret Clements who further elaborated on the function and role of such an organization. “That is Monroe County Residents Against Annexation (MCRAA)… they’re our grassroots effort …

42 states saw an increase in Covid-19 cases between last week and the week before, and Indiana is no exception. According to the latest Indiana State Department of Health Covid-19 update, from July 9th, Indiana’s Covid-19 positivity rate rose to 3.2% last week from its 2.1% low in June. Indiana State Health Commissioner Dr. Kristina Box explained that new Covid-19 …

WFHB News volunteers report on the impact of the flooding several weeks ago, focusing on Kirkwood Avenue and Madison Street.  Overnight on June 18th, downtown Bloomington saw extreme flooding, which led to the death of one resident and significant damage along Kirkwood Avenue and other parts of the city. The flooding forced the Bloomington Fire Department to relocate its headquarters …

Each week, community members and volunteers and WFHB pose questions for Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton about local current events. Each Monday, Assistant News Director Jake Jacobson asks Mayor Hamilton those questions. Today, on A Few Minutes With the Mayor, we followed up on the June 18th flooding and discussed how Monroe County and Bloomington are helping residents and small businesses. …

According to a recently completed study of incarceration and the local criminal justice system, Monroe County has uncovered a number of “critical issues” that “require urgent attention and remediation.”  Initiated in 2019, the “cornerstone-purpose of this study was twofold: 1) gain a clearer understanding of jail conditions and court related practices, and 2) obtain recommendations for improving incarceration and court- related …

Welcome to the June edition of Civic Conversations – a podcast collaboration between WFHB and the League of Women Voters in Bloomington-Monroe County. Today’s episode of Civic Conversations focuses on climate change. Host Jim Allison speaks with Melissa Widhalm, Operations Manager of the Purdue University Climate Change Research Center. Widhalm begins by talking about her work at the Purdue University …

With Indiana lawmakers set to reconvene at the end of the year to “approve new congressional and General Assembly districts,” nonpartisan organization Common Cause Indiana hosted a voting rights webinar this past week to educate Hoosiers on many aspects of redistricting across the state. The state’s history of gerrymandering in the drawing of its districts has led both Indiana voters …