News

Three thousand trees in Yellowwood and Morgan-Monroe State Forests went up for sale today. The Indiana Division of Forestry opened up its Yellowwood State Forest Office at 9 am this morning for the timber sale. Earlier this month Monroe County commissioners passed a resolution urging that the backcountry areas of those same forests be protected from commercial logging. Today’s timber …

The Transgender Day of Remembrance was set aside to memorialize those who have been killed due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice. Transgender Day of Remembrance events in Bloomington spanned two days yesterday and Monday, featuring a mock graveyard in Dunn Meadow with headstones bearing the names of 119 known transgender-based murder victims from the past year. Last night local LGBTIQ …

Rick Bragg is an acclaimed Southern storyteller and Pulitzer Prize-winning author. He is best known for his autobiographical trilogy: “All Over But the Shoutin’”, “Ava’s Man”, and “The Prince of Frogtown”. He is currently a professor at the University of Alabama and has been recognized with more than forty writing awards, including Alabama’s 2009 Harper Lee Award. Bragg’s signature stories …

Yesterday the environmental advocacy group Heartwood hosted a premiere of “Coal Country”, the award-winning new release by filmmakers Mari-Lynn Evans and Phylis Geller, documenting the courageous and inspiring stories of people living in Appalachian communities affected by mountaintop removal coal-mining and the entire cycle of coal power. Mountaintop removal uses enormous quantities of explosives to blast the tops off of …

Local landowners and business leaders held a town forum this week to voice concerns over the county’s proposed comprehensive land use plan. Some argued that the public hasn’t been given enough time to review the proposal. Monroe County Commissioner Mark Stoops says those claims are unfounded, pointing out that copies of the 115-page plan have been available since September. The …

Local First Indiana is a new chapter of a national network of grassroots non-profits focused on supporting locally-owned independent businesses and local economies. Local First Indiana launched Monday night in Bloomington with a talk by Michelle Long, executive director of the Business Alliance of Local Living Economies. Long was formerly the director of Sustainable Connections, a local business network in …

The number of U.S. Military veterans and family members enrolled at Ivy Tech’s Bloomington campus has risen significantly in the past two years, at an increase of more than 130 percent. Today the campus commemorated Veteran’s Day with a visit from four local veterans who serve on the executive board of the local AmVets Post 2000. Dave Cobb, Phillip Purtlebaugh, …

Last month the Bloomington Community and Family Resources Commission hosted a public forum on affordable housing and shelters for the homeless. Commission members say they will consider the public input offered at the forum in searching for innovative ideas for programming and public policy to increase affordable housing options for more Bloomington citizens. On yesterday’s program we heard from Joel …

Last month the Bloomington Community and Family Resources Commission hosted a public forum on affordable housing and shelters for the homeless. Commission members say they will consider the public input offered at the forum in searching for innovative ideas for programming and public policy to increase affordable housing options for more Bloomington citizens. On tomorrow’s program we’ll hear members of …

2009 sucked, and 2010 couldn’t possibly be much worse. That’s the gist of the annual economic forecast presented yesterday by experts from the Indiana University Kelley School of Business. Some have declared that the national recession is over, but the Kelley School panel said any economic progress will continue to be weakened by the aftermath of a historically severe downturn. …