WFHB Bloomington Community Radio
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 30:30 — 41.9MB)
Subscribe: RSS
This is the WFHB Local News for Thursday, June 24th, 2021.
Later in the program, we have the latest edition of Civic Conversations – a podcast collaboration between WFHB and the League of Women Voters in Bloomington-Monroe County. More coming up in today’s feature reports. Also coming up in the next half hour, we have coverage on all of the latest government meetings in Bloomington and Monroe County. More coming up in today’s headlines.
But first, we turn to Katrine Bruner for today’s local news brief:
Updated today at 12 p.m. from the Indiana State Department of Health, there have been 213 positive COVID-19 cases and 6 deaths in the last 30 days. 39% of the state is fully vaccinated. In Monroe County, 45% of the population is fully vaccinated.
A Bloomington Transit administrative employee tested positive for COVID-19 this past Sunday, June 20th. No close contacts were identified among the employees coworkers or the public and the employee has not worked since symptoms started last Wednesday, June 16th. This is the tenth staff member over the last fifteen months to report a positive case.
Indiana is still requiring residents to wear a mask when on any public conveyances such as buses, airplanes, subways, taxis, and ubers.
***
Cook Medical will hold their annual electronic recycling event this Saturday, June 26th from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at their Profile Park facility at 500 N. Profile Pkwy. Cook will be partnering with Recycle Force, an e-waste organization based in Indianapolis and Big Boys Moving, a local moving company based in Bloomington. Both of these companies hire and help incarcerated individuals reentering the workforce.
External communications generalist at Cook, Hannah Chudleigh said that almost all electronics can be recycled at this event. This includes large appliances such as washers, dryers, televisions, and refrigerators.
More information can be found on Cook Medical’s Facebook page.
***
A nationwide study was conducted recently to compare how states in the US are doing in terms of COVID-19. The study compared transmission rates, hospitalizations, and who’s eligible to be vaccinated and getting vaccinated. Indiana was found to be the 9th “least safe” state in the country, coming in 39th for vaccinations, 45th in deaths, and 33rd in hospitalizations. Idaho came in last and Vermont was deemed the “safest” state.
The first full moon of the summer and the last supermoon of 2021 rises tonight. The “strawberry” moon will begin being visible Thursday at 2:40 p.m. EDT and appear full for three days until early Saturday morning according to NASA.
A supermoon occurs when the moon is at its closest point to earth in its orbit, appearing bigger and brighter than normal. The term Strawberry moon comes from the moon being the last full moon of the spring or first of the summer, as a symbol of ripeness and a mark for people to reward themselves with the hard work they’ve put into life, relationships and careers.
Monroe County Comprehensive Criminal Justice Report
The Monroe County Council and Board of Commissioners had a joint meeting to discuss the results of a comprehensive criminal justice report commissioned in 2019. At the June 23rd meeting, Principle of Inclusivity Consulting Eve Hill talked about overcrowding in Monroe County jails. She explained that people with mental illnesses and people arrested for substance abuse make up a majority of the incarcerated population.
Hill said the report made 20 recommendations, including the establishment of an overdose response team, and a focus on more permanent supportive housing. Commissioner Lee Jones showed concern that the current jail does not have the space to incorporate changes to in-jail practices. Hill focused on the importance of keeping people out of jail and keeping people from returning to jail.
Judge Mary Diekhoff spoke on behalf of the Board of Judges. She said the judiciary branch is willing to work with county government towards making these recommendations a reality.
Commissioners and council members will meet again to discuss the report on July 8th.
Eli Lilly Receives Breakthrough Therapy Designation from FDA for Alzheimer’s Drug
On Thursday, Indianapolis-based pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly received a “breakthrough therapy” designation for its drug, donanemab – a proposed antibody treatment for Alzheimer’s – from the US Food and Drug Administration.
According to the FDA, a breakthrough therapy designation is a process designed to ,“expedite the development and review of drugs that are intended to treat a serious condition” and “preliminary evidence indicates that the drug may demonstrate substantial improvement over available therapy.”
This news comes after the FDA recently approved a drug from Biogen called Aduhelm, which received criticism from agency staff who said there was insufficient evidence to support approval of the Alzheimer treatment, according to reporting by the Wall Street Journal.
Eli Lilly Chairman and CEO David Ricks talked about donanemab and how it differs from the Biogen drug in an interview with Yahoo Finance.
According to a press release from Eli Lilly, the FDA breakthrough designation is based on clinical evidence for donaneman. Data from phase two of clinical trials, named Trailblazer-ALZ, were presented at the 2021 International Conference on Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Diseases and published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
As of now, Lilly is undergoing a randomized, placebo-controlled phase three study to evaluate the safety, tolerability and efficacy of donanemab.
According to the National Institute on Aging, Alzheimer’s is an irreversible brain disorder that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills. It’s currently the sixth leading cause of death in the United States and the most common cause of dementia among older adults.
For more information on Alzheimer’s disease, you can contact the National Institute on Aging’s ADEAR Center at 1-800-438-4380, email [email protected] or visit www.nia.nih.gov/alzheimers.
Monroe County Board of Commissioners
The Monroe County Board of Commissioners discussed the June 19th emergency declaration at its June 23rd meeting. Board President Julie Thomas declared a state of emergency in response to extreme flooding in Monroe County the weekend of June 18th. County Attorney Jeff Cockerill said that emergency declarations that are extended beyond 7 days need to be approved by the rest of the board. He clarified that emergency status signals to State government that Monroe County needs emergency funds.
Commissioner Lee Jones asked about whether Monroe County met the damage threshold necessary to receive emergency funding. Deputy Director of Emergency Management Kate Petroline wasn’t sure what that number is but that the county is still accepting flood damage reports from residents.
Commissioners approved the declaration unanimously. If you live in Monroe County and suffered damages from flooding, please call 2-1-1 or visit I-N-2-1-1 dot org to report those damages.
Bloomington Utilities Service Board
Bloomington Utilities employees gave a report on the June 18th floods to the Bloomington Utilities Service Board at its June 22nd meeting. Board member Jean Capler asked about previous work done to increase the size of the culvert under downtown Bloomington. Assistant Director of Engineering Brad Schroeder acknowledged that work had been done, but that parts of the culvert were still undersized.
Schroeder added that the culvert was only part of the problem. He said it would be difficult to design for such a large rainfall.
The next Utilities Service Board meeting is July 6th.
Feature Report:
Now it’s time for your feature report. Coming up, we have the latest edition of Civic Conversations – a podcast collaboration between WFHB and the League of Women Voters in Bloomington-Monroe County.
Today’s episode of Civic Conversations focuses on climate change. Host Jim Allison speaks with Melissa Widhalm, Operations Manager of the Purdue University Climate Change Research Center, on the subject. We turn to host Jim Allison for more.
Civic Conversations airs once a month on the WFHB Local News. You can find this program online or wherever you listen to your podcasts.
Credits:
You’ve been listening to the WFHB Local News,
Today’s headlines were written by Katrine Bruner, Kade Young and Jake Jacobson, in partnership with Cats – Community Access Television Services.
Our feature was produced by Becky Hill and Jim Allison.
Our theme music is provided by Mark Bingham and the Social Climbers.
Engineer and Executive producer is Kade Young.
