WFHB Bloomington Community Radio
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 30:00 — 41.3MB)
Subscribe: RSS
This is the WFHB Local News for Tuesday, August 24th, 2021.
Later in the program, WFHB Producer Michael Glab speaks with bookseller Rick Morgenstern, taken from a recent airing of Big Talk – a one-on-one conversation with some of the community’s most fascinating people. More coming up in today’s feature report.
Also coming up in the next half hour, Ivy Tech Bloomington will host a walk-in vaccine clinic on Thursday at its main campus. More coming up in the top half of tonight’s program.
Bloomington Board of Parks Commission
The Bloomington Board of Parks Commission met on Wednesday to review and approve the 2022 Parks General Fund Budget. Board member Katherine Mills introduced the meeting and shared what the board members would discuss.
Director Paula McDevitt explained the meeting would be reviewing the upcoming budget for the Parks and Recreation Department, however, the budget would still need to be approved by the City Council. She shared survey data from Bloomington residents.
McDevitt shared the Parks and Recreation Department’s major initiatives, and how they have been successful in the past, and what needs to be improved upon moving forward. She focused on programs which declined due to Covid-19 that they are hoping to see increase in popularity again soon.
She highlighted the Parks and Recreation Department’s sustainability achievements and goals.
McDevitt went into depth on the budget proposed for the future of the Bloomington Parks and Recreation Department.
The Bloomington Board of Park Commissioners voted unanimously to approve the budget as presented.
Ivy Tech Bloomington Will Host Walk-In Vaccine Clinic on Thursday
This week, Ivy Tech Community College’s Bloomington campus will host a vaccination clinic in partnership with Monroe County Public Health.
The walk-in clinic is part of a larger project, in which Ivy Tech collaborates with local pharmacies and health departments, to offer vaccine clinics at 17 of its campuses across the state.
Ivy Tech-Bloomington Chancellor Jenny Vaughan walked through some basic details of the clinic in a phone interview with WFHB on Tuesday.
“That will take place this Thursday, August 26th beginning at 11 a.m., and we will go all the way through 2 p.m.,” said Vaughan. “It will take place on our main campus on the west side of town in Shreeve Hall.”
Vaughan discussed which vaccine the clinic will offer and how Ivy Tech hopes to expand its vaccine options in future clinic sites.
“This particular clinic, we will be offering the J & J vaccination,” she said. “We are hopeful that perhaps that we might be able to have other vaccines besides the J & J – the Moderna or the Pfizer vaccination.”
She mentioned a few incentives available for students and faculty at Ivy Tech to encourage them to get the vaccine.
“We will be providing everybody who gets the vaccine and completes a survey for us, a $100 gift card to either Wal-Mart, Target or Amazon,” said Vaughan.
Vaughan explained why she believes getting the vaccine is crucial in the fight against Covid-19, as cases, hospitalizations and deaths continue to surge – especially among those who have not yet received the vaccine.
“The more people who get vaccinated, the quicker we can all get back to normal,” she said.
Vaughan says that Ivy Tech may offer another clinic in the near future. In the here and now, she urged folks to come out to the clinic on Thursday to get the one-shot vaccine.
“We will hopefully be able to offer additional clinics throughout the fall semester,” said Vaughan. “I just ask everybody to do their part in getting vaccinated so that life can return to normal.”
The clinic on Thursday will be on a first-come-first-serve basis, meaning an appointment is not necessary. A state issued source of identification will be required.
Ellettsville Town Council
The Ellettsville Town Council held a second reading of a rezone request. At the August 23rd meeting, council member Scott Oldham talked about the petitioner’s request to rezone a section on West State Road 46 from Commercial 3 to a Planned Unit Development. He asked Planning Director Kevin Tolloty for clarification on whether the Petitioners had to go through the Town Council to build if the area remained a C-3 zone.
Resident Brian Thomas expressed concern over how the project would affect area traffic. He said the project design fits the neighborhood but that apartments would overwhelm an already crowded Deer Park area.
Council member Trevor Sager motioned to approve the rezone. He said the town council had no say in how the area was zoned when they annexed the land and praised the petitioners for helping scale the project back from commercial.
Council member William Ellis opposed the entire project. He linked it to the Envision Ellettsville project and added that the vision of the town must start in planning.
The motion failed 2 to 2, with Clerk Treasurer Sandra Hash abstaining on the tie breaking vote. Without 3 votes on either side, the resolution is tabled until the next Town Council meeting.
We know it can be difficult to follow the local news cycle, especially with the hustle and bustle of our daily lives. To make it easier on you, we provided a recap of yesterday’s headlines.
Feature Report:
In today’s feature report, we broadcast an excerpt from our public affairs program, Big Talk, a one-on-one conversation with some of the community’s most fascinating people. Today’s guest is Rick Morgenstern, owner of a new, local, independent bookstore, who discusses a misconception about book sales in the year 2021. We turn to host Michael Glab for more.
Big Talk airs each Thursday at 5:30 p.m. and again on Friday at 11:30 a.m. on WFHB Community Radio. The full program is available online and wherever you listen to your podcasts.
Credits:
You’ve been listening to the WFHB Local News,
Today’s headlines were written by Kade Young, Noelle Herhusky-Schneider and Jake Jacobson, in partnership with Cats – Community Access Television Services.
Our feature was produced by Michael Glab.
Our theme music is provided by Mark Bingham and the Social Climbers.
Engineer and Executive producer is Kade Young.
Anchors are Benedict Jones and Kade Young.
