WFHB Bloomington Community Radio
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 30:00 — 41.3MB)
Subscribe: RSS
This is the WFHB Local News for Wednesday, August 18th, 2021.
Later in the program, WFHB Correspondent Kade Young speaks with Executive Director of New Hope for Families Emily Pike about a new homeless shelter and child care center, which is set to be completed by the end of this year. That’s coming up in today’s feature report.
Also coming up in the next half hour, we have Better Beware – your weekly consumer watchdog segment on WFHB. Today’s episode, Sound Advice, deals with hackers who can infiltrate your computer’s webcam. More in the bottom half of the show.
But first, your environmental news brief:
The Council for Responsible Sport has given a silver-level certification to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in recognition of the environmental standards that have been implemented over the last few years. The last Indy 500 race successfully met all environmental standards by improving water usage efficiency and reducing energy usage. Indiana Motor Speedway President Doug Boles said that this, “represents an important milestone… as we work toward our goal of becoming carbon negative.”
A new report from the Union of Concerned Scientists has found that Midwestern farmers are beginning to face a loss of income and extremely dangerous working conditions due to the effects of man-made climate change. According to the report, farmworkers are one of the most vulnerable types of jobs in regard to heat related illness and death. Similarly, the heat waves will cause continual crop failure that will result in billions of dollars in earnings lost. The report calls for federal heat standards to become laws in order to protect outdoor workers and farmers.
Another problem faced by Indiana farmers comes in the form of black shadows in the sky. Coragyps atratus, known as the black vulture has, over the last decade, been terrorizing farmers of southern Indiana. The black vultures spend their time flying over pastures, waiting for a chance to strike weak and vulnerable livestock to feed upon. Unlike the more common turkey vulture, the black vulture does not always wait to feed on dead animals. At the beginning of this month, the Indiana Farm Bureau launched a new program that allows farmers to gain permits to legally kill these black vultures, despite their protection status under federal law. For people interested in learning more about the program, please visit INFB.org/blackvultures.
Bloomington Board of Public Safety
At the August 17th Bloomington Board of Public Safety meeting, board member Shruti Rana asked what the Bloomington Police Department expects with students returning to Indiana University. BPD Captain Scott Oldham said to expect more public intoxication and vandalism arrests. He added that the number of aggravated assault cases may rise as students return to open bars and restaurants.
Deputy Fire Chief Jayme Washel said the Bloomington Fire Department has struggled to meet their response time goals. He cited the headquarters relocation and road construction as major factors.
The next Board of Public Safety meeting is September 21st.
Monroe County Plan Commission
The Monroe County Plan Commission considered a recommendation on rezoning part of Perry Township. At the August 17th meeting, Petitioner Kevin Schmidt requested that commissioners rezone a parcel of land on south Victor Pike from Estate Residential 1 to Medium Density Residential. The Trails at Robertson Farm would create new single-family housing, which Schmidt said was a type of housing missing in Monroe County.
Commissioner Margaret Clements addressed comments about her stance on housing. She clarified that she did not support projects that put undue charges on local Homeowners Associations.
Commissioner Geoff McKim showed support for the project. He worried that a positive recommendation may not gain enough votes. Commissioner Jerry Pittsford agreed and made a motion to send the plan to the County Commissioners with no recommendation despite a staff recommendation.
Commissioners vote 8 to 0 to approve the motion.
Feature Report:
WFHB News Director Kade Young speaks with Executive Director of New Hope for Families Emily Pike about a new homeless shelter and child care center, which is set to be completed by the end of this year. New Hope for Families recently celebrated its 10-year anniversary of being the only place in Monroe County where families with children can find emergency shelter together. We turn to Kade Young for more.
Up next, we have Better Beware – your weekly consumer-watchdog segment on WFHB. Your webcam has a microphone, and hackers can turn it on without you knowing. And now your voice can be imitated, or cloned, by a computer so accurately that even you could be fooled. Host and producer Richard Fish covers more in today’s edition of Better Beware, titled “Sound Advice.”
Credits:
You’ve been listening to the WFHB Local News,
Today’s headlines were written by Nathaniel Weinzapfel, and Jake Jacobson, in partnership with Cats – Community Access Television Services.
Our feature was produced by Kade Young.
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.
Anchors are Benedict Jones and Jake Jacobson.
