Civic Conversations

This month, Civic Conversations welcomes Professor Charles Geyh, a Distinguished Professor of Law at Indiana University’s Maurer School of Law.  A widely recognized expert on judicial conduct, Proerfoess Geyh has served as a witness in a U.S. Senate impeachment trial, leading to dozens of media appearances on the subject. He is also the author of Who Is to Judge: Who is to Judge?: …

This month, the League of Women Voters of Bloomington Monroe County welcomes Karen Jepson-Innes, WonderLab executive director, and Kelly Debikey, their education director, to share with our audience the many exciting opportunities that WonderLab Museum of Science Health and Technology offers to Bloomington residents. The WonderLab was formed in 1995 by a small group of Bloomington citizens interested in the …

This month, we welcomed Dr. Michael Hicks, Distinguished Professor of Economics and Business Research and Director of Center Business Economic Research at Ball State University. His work has appeared not only in scholarly sources but also in such publications and media as Rolling Stone, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, MSNBC, NPR, and Fox Business News. Dr. Hicks joined us …

In December, we welcomed Anita Morgan, the author of We Are Fearless: The Woman Suffrage Movement in Indiana.  Dr. Morgan is the senior lecturer emerita at IU’s School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI in Indianapolis.  In the podcast, she shared the history behind the suffrage movement in Indiana and how it impacted Indiana women.  She expounded on the role of …

This month on Civic Conversations, we are joined by Health Officer Dr. Clark Brittain and Board Member George Hegeman of the Monroe County Health Department Board.  In our discussion, we discussed the Health Department’s role and numerous services. With the recent legislative allocations towards Indiana public health, Dr. Brittain talked about the amounts received and how that money would be spent …

In September’s Civic Conversation podcast, Canopy Bloomington’s Forestry Director Ava Hartman joins the podcast to talk about Bloomington’s tree canopy and its benefits to the Bloomington community.  Among the many benefits, according to Hartman, are their ability to mitigate climate change by sequestering carbon from the atmosphere and storing it in tree tissue.  Hartman also discussed the City of Bloomington’s …

This month, we welcome Grier Carson, Library Director of the Monroe County Public Library, to discuss the library as a civic institution.  Carson talked to our host, Jim Allison, about the library’s role in a democracy and how it protects intellectual freedom and access to information for everyone without regard to their social status, gender, race, or religion.  The library …

In July, President and CEO Michelle Gilchrist and COO Heather Robinson of the Bloomington Health Foundation joined LWV-BMC’s Civic Conversation to discuss their role in the Bloomington community and how the foundation works to address numerous health issues in the community.  Bloomington Health Foundation started in the 1960s as the Bloomington Hospital Foundation under the auspices of the Local Council …

This month, we welcomed Mary Morgan, director of housing security, with Heading Home, South Central Indiana. In the podcast, Mary and Jim discuss what housing looks like in Bloomington and Monroe County as it buttresses housing challenges in the US. Bloomington faces a shortage of single-family homes while also seeing a surge in rental properties being built. Nationwide, Morgan said, society …

We welcomed Miriam Northcutt-Bohmert, Associate Professor of Criminal Justice at Indiana University, in May.  Professor Northcutt-Bohmert shared information from her research on racial, ethnic, and gender disparities in our legal system.  In the podcast, Professor Northcutt-Bohmert talked about how our jail system has become the default repository for those with mental illness and substance abuse.  She shared how our Monroe County jails …