The sequester – a series of federal spending cuts enacted March 1st as part of the Budget Control Act of 2011 – will have a far-reaching, long-term impact on job growth in Indiana’s health care sector. Under sequestration, Medicare payments to providers will be cut by two percent, which will add up to a loss of eight hundred forty-four million …

Last week Senate Bill 364 passed unanimously, 50 to 0, in the state senate. The proposed bill would increase funding to the Sportsmen’s Benevolence Fund, which pays for harvested deer to be processed and donated to the food bank system. WFHB correspondent Nash Hott spoke with District 28 Senator Mike Crider who helped author the bill and directed the Sportsmen’s …

Senator Joe Donnelly conducted a conference call with members of the Indiana media last week to discuss military and veteran suicide prevention efforts. Last year, more combat troops committed suicide than were killed in combat in Afghanistan, and 43% of Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines who took their own life did not seek treatment beforehand. The Reserve and National Guard …

WFHB News Director Alycin Bektesh hosts a discussion exploring the potential impact of paid parking downtown on the economics and social services provided in downtown Bloomington. Guests are local business owners Jason Nickey and Jim Bradley, City Council Member Susan Sandberg, and Reverend Helen Hempfling Pastor of Bloomington’s First Christian Church. The City Council delayed their original vote on the …

Over the past week, several Bloomington city officials have come out against plans for a new trash transfer station in a residential neighborhood on the west side of town. For several weeks residents who live near the site on West Vernal Pike have publicly criticized plans for the station, which would be able to accept and haul off a hundred …

For any bill to become law in Indiana, it must be approved by both the Indiana House of Representatives, the Indiana Senate, and the Governor. Half way through the legislative session all bills making their way through the house and senate are voted on in their respective chambers, and then sent to the opposite chamber for review. This week, WFHB …

Animal rights and environmental organizations for years have used hidden cameras to blow the whistle on inhumane or illegal practices at factory farms. Taken secretly by employees or those taking tours of the facilities, videos have shown instances of animal cruelty and pollution at industrial agriculture operations around the country. But some legislators are doing their best to stop the …

Last year, the Indiana State Excise Police set up the Intensified College Enforcement program with grant money they received from the Criminal Justice Institute. It was aimed at curbing underage drinking in college towns such as Terre Haute, Muncie, and Bloomington. It soft launched in two counties during the Spring 2012 semester and expanded into six for the Fall 2012 …

This week on Interchange, host Joe Crawford speaks with Indiana University students Samantha Harrell and Tucker Lang, who are both helping to organize a two-day strike at Indiana University on April 11th and 12th. Harrell and Lang discuss what has led students to plan the strike, including dramatic increases in tuition and fees, lackluster recruitment of minorities, discrimination against undocumented …

Two potentially dangerous chemicals have been discovered at the Johnson Hardware Building on North Madison Street in downtown Bloomington. The vapors were discovered as Monroe County was purchasing the building, which has housed its Community Corrections Program for more than a decade. The chemicals are linked to a dry-cleaning business that operated next to the building until the late 1970s. …