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This is the WFHB Local News for Wednesday, April 21st, 2021.
Later in the program, we have an excerpt from our public affairs program, Interchange, a show that questions how we understand ourselves. Today’s excerpt comes from last week’s show, “Mr. Trotter, the President, and the Klan with Kerri Greenidge.” More in today’s feature report.
Also coming up in the next half hour, we have Better Beware – your weekly consumer-watchdog program hosted and produced by Richard Fish.
Your Local News Brief
The WFHB Local News Brief breaks down the daily local news cycle into 2-3 minutes of what you need to know each day. Listen live Monday through Thursday at 1:30 p.m. on WFHB Community Radio. Visual broadcasts of the news briefs are available on our Youtube channel, WFHB-TV.
The Kohr building, on Rogers Street, in between First Street and Second Street, just moved closer in the process to be redeveloped into, what the City of Bloomington calls, affordable housing.
The City of Bloomington bought the building as a part of a deal which saw the City buy the old Bloomington Hospital site on Second Street from the IU Health.
Next year the IU health is slated to move from the site to their new location, which is currently under construction, on the 45/46 bypass.
Earlier this year, the Bloomington City Council voted unanimously to give the one-hundred-and-twenty year-old Kohr building an historic status. The developers who won the bidding process, submitted a proposal that would set aside a number of permanent supportive housing units for the unhoused.
Since the beginning of the pandemic last March, Bloomington Transit has offered its public bus services free of charge. The decision to do so was motivated in large part by safety and distancing precautions which would make it difficult to take fares.
Yesterday however, Doug Horn, one of the Bloomington Transit board members considered reinstating the bus fares at the Transit board meeting. Lew May, Bloomington Transit’s General Manager said that drivers support a return to fares because they have seen an increase in disruptions on buses caused by people experiencing homelessness.
In an opinion piece in the B-Square Beacon, Dave Askins, wrote, “Surely the disruptive behavior on buses of some individuals experiencing homelessness should not guide our policy choices on bus fares.”
Askins went on to note that fares account for only about four percent of last year’s Bloomington Transit budget. Another seven percent or so of the the budget came from Indiana University’s contribution to Bloomington Transit.
After some public comment, the Board ultimately voted to extend the free rides until at least May 18th.
Board of Public Safety
The Bloomington Board of Public Safety talked about new hires at the Bloomington Police Department. Bloomington Police Chief Michael Diekhoff announced that the BPD had hired its second social worker at the April 20th meeting. He revealed that a third social worker will join the police department in May.
Board member Luis Fuentes-Rohwer was surprised BPD had made two new hires without presenting them to the board. Diekhoff clarified the board only needs to approve the hiring of sworn officers, not civilian positions. The next Board of Public Safety meeting is on May 18th.
263 Cases of the B117 Variant in Indiana
Health officials are warning of the highly transmissible B117 variant of Covid-19. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Indiana has seen 269 Covid-19 variant cases. The CDC says that 263 of those cases are the B117 variant, first identified in the United Kingdom.
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky talked about an increase in Covid-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths across the US. She said variants are part of the reason for the increase.
Monroe County remains in the yellow advisory for the fourth consecutive week in a row. During last Friday’s Covid-19 press conference, Monroe County Health Administrator Penny Caudill said the B117 variant is the most popular variant across the United States and in Indiana.
The CDC lists five variants of concern – the most prevalent of which includes the B117 variant. According to the CDC, the B117 variant increases transmission about 50 percent. The variant likely increases severity of cases based on hospitalizations and case fatality rates.
According to a UK study, infection with the variant may increase the risk of death by 60 percent. However, the CDC says more data is needed to confirm this.
Although there was some speculation that vaccines were not effective against mutations of the B117 variant, recent evidence is pointing to the contrary. According to data from a UK clinical trial, it suggests that the AstraZeneca vaccine is 70 percent effective against the B117 variant, while being 80 percent effective against non-variant strains.
The CDC says, “early reports found no evidence to suggest that the variant has any impact on the severity of the disease or vaccine efficacy.”
Meanwhile, local officials are still encouraging masks and social distancing in public places, despite the ease of restrictions on the state level.
Director of Public Engagement Mary Catherine Carmichael reminded local residents to continue health and safety precautions against the virus during last Friday’s Covid-19 press conference.
The CDC says that Public health officials are studying all variants of concern to learn more about how to control their spread.
Monroe County Plan Commission
The Monroe County Plan Commission discussed updates to the planned unit development of Southern Meadows. At the April 20th meeting, County Planner Drew Myers revealed plan staff recommended the commission deny the outline plan, due to its density and lack of usable open space.
Commissioner Margaret Clements raised concerns over the data used in the presentation. She said 10-year-old data is not reliable enough to support building in an area with sinkholes.
Clements showed concern that this PUD would potentially set a Homeowners Association up for failure. She said the water drainage could be too expensive. Commissioner Geoff McKim argued that the proposed density of housing would financially strengthen the Homeowners Association.
Commissioner David Schilling motioned to move further discussion to the May 4th Plan Commission meeting. Commissioners approved the motion unanimously.
Feature Reports:
Up first, we have an excerpt from our public affairs program, Interchange – a program that gets to the questions that shape how we understand ourselves. Today’s excerpt comes from last week’s episode, “Mr. Trotter, the President, and the Klan with Kerri Greenidge.”
Interchange airs each Tuesday at 6 p.m. on WFHB Community Radio.
Up next, we have Better Beware – your weekly consumer-watchdog segment hosted and produced by our very own, Richard Fish. In today’s episode, our host walks us through the topic of recalls and extortion-ware. Richard Fish has more.
Credits:
You’ve been listening to the WFHB Local News.
Today’s headlines were written by Aaron Comforty, Kade Young and Jake Jacobson, in partnership with Cats – Community Access Television Services.
Our feature was produced by Doug Storm.
Better Beware is produced by Richard Fish.
Our theme music is provided by Mark Bingham and the Social Climbers.
Engineer and Executive producer is Kade Young.
