WFHB Bloomington Community Radio
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Welcome to the WFHB Local News for Monday, April 27th, 2020.
Later in the program, Sydney Foreman talks to Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton in her recurring segment, “A Few Minutes with the Mayor.” Also coming up in the next half hour, Kade Young continues his conversation with Matt Houser, an IU Researcher who co-led a survey breaking down public opinion in the state on climate change.
But first, your local headlines:
Indiana State Department of Health reported 963 new positive cases and 31 new deaths. Total positive cases nearly hit 16,000 people with 844 total deaths.
The state tested 84,476 total people. 18.9 percent of total tests came back positive with coronavirus.
Monroe County has 120 total positive cases. 7 total deaths were reported in Monroe County.
Almost half of the new positive case count in the state come from Cass County after a meat packing plant experienced a covid-19 outbreak.
Tyson Fresh Meats Plant in Logansport temporarily closed its doors after 146 employees tested positive for novel coronavirus. Cass County now has over 1,000 total positive cases.
Monroe County Commissioners considered 10 local businesses to receive Food and Beverage Emergency Grants due to COVID-19 impacts. County Attorney Jeff Cockerill presented the businesses under consideration during their April 22nd meeting.
Cockerill said the total from all applications is approximately 68 thousand 400 dollars. Cockerill said all applicants were interviewed by a commissioner before being presented for approval. Suzanne Sharpe of Back to Nature Cabins shared some of her businesses’ struggles.
Commission members unanimously approved the 10 requested grants. Cockerill said individualized agreements will be sent to each business.
The CDC says at 3:00 PM today, CDC’s Division of Laboratory Systems will host a call to discuss hot topics and to solicit the laboratory community’s questions about the national response to the COVID-19 pandemic. These Clinical Laboratory COVID-19 Response Calls will take place every Monday at 3:00 PM EDT.
Information for the Zoom invitation is available on the CDC’s website.
Indiana State Department of Correction said two Indiana prison guards died over the weekend from coronavirus-related deaths.
The Associated Press reported “One guard, 67-year-old Gary Weinke, worked at the Wabash Valley Correctional Facility near the town of Carlisle in southwestern Indiana’s Sullivan County died Saturday from COVID-19 complications and had last worked at the prison on March 29.”
AP reported that A guard from the Indiana Women’s Prison in Indianapolis also died Saturday with a presumed coronavirus illness.
Four prison inmates have died in Indiana. According to the state department of correction, total prison staff members made up 133 of positive cases. State corrections department said 298 people in prison were positive with novel covid-19.
The Monroe County Board of Trustees discussed a compensation and working from home proposal during their April 17th meeting. Board member Marilyn Wood said the library has been running under its emergency plan which pays essential workers time and a half.
Wood said the work from home proposal will pay employees at their regular rates. She said only a small portion of employees were working on time and a half. She said income tax drops will affect future library funding.
Wood said the library still offers many online and virtual services. Board members unanimously approved the work from home proposal.
The Bloomington Public Transportation Corporation Board of Directors voted last week to postpone decisions on recommended service changes for Bloomington Transit routes. The decision to wait comes in response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused uncertainty around funding for Bloomington Transit. In a press release, Bloomington Transit General Manager Lew May says, “The COVID-19 pandemic could result in major funding reductions from federal, state, and local sources. As such, it’s important for us to know what and how much those cuts may be before moving forward with most service changes.” In an email to WFHB, May further clarifies that the decision to postpone is precautionary, saying, “It’s too early now to know if COVID-related funding reduction will happen and if they do, what magnitude [they will] be.”
The proposed changes are the result of a year long Route Optimization Study. Starting in 2018, Bloomington Transit and IU Campus Bus partnered with Foursquare ITP, a transportation planning firm, for a year-long analysis of Bloomington’s bus network. Foursquare ITP presented its recommendations last June, with the initial plan of full implementation this year. The report identifies five new markets that could benefit from dedicated routes, including Ivy Tech, which is currently serviced by Rural Transit; the new IU Health Bloomington Hospital site, which is not currently serviced by any transit service; and the Social Security Administration office on Patterson Drive. The report recommends the elimination or reshuffling of some routes as well, due to redundancies, that would free up resources to help serve other areas. The report also suggests the establishment of a microtransit service to serve the market that the IU Night Owl bus currently serves.
If approved, the full recommendations would be the first large-scale changes to Bloomington Transit services and routes in 20 years, according to May, who says the company has made smaller, incremental changes over the years. May says that Bloomington Transit will have a better picture of their 2021 funding and budget by late summer 2020. As a result, service changes to Bloomington Transit’s fixed routes recommended by the Route Optimization Study will not be implemented before January 2021.
Feature Reports:
- Up first, Kade Young continues his conversation with Matt Houser, an IU Researcher who co-led the Hoosier Life Survey to find out what Indiana thinks about climate change. This is Part II of the interview.
- Up next, Sydney Foreman interviews Mayor John Hamilton in her recurring Monday segment — A Few Minutes with the Mayor. We now turn to Sydney for more.
Credits:
Today’s headlines were written by Jake Jacobson, Kade Young and Sydney Foreman, in partnership with Cats – Community Access Television Services.
Our features were produced by Kade Young and Sydney Foreman.
Our theme music is provided by Mark Bingham and the Social Climbers.
Executive producer is Kade Young.
