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This is the WFHB Local News for Wednesday, June 2nd, 2021.
Later in the program, we have an excerpt from Partisan Gardens – a locally-grown, monthly public affairs program on WFHB focusing on food systems. More coming up in today’s feature reports.
Also coming up in the next half hour, we have Better Beware – your weekly consumer-watchdog segment hosted by our very own Richard Fish. More in the bottom half of tonight’s program.
But first, your local news brief:
The amount of COVID-19 cases in Monroe County have gone down 32% in a 14-day period, with no deaths related to the coronavirus in the past two weeks. 40% of the Monroe County population is fully vaccinated – only a 1% change from last week. Monroe County is still considered a high risk area for those who have not been vaccinated.
On May 17th eight graduate workers filed a discrimination complaint against IU through the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. This was announced in a press release from the Indiana Graduate Workers Coalition. The complaint explains that IU discriminated against international students when the Office of International Services sent international students an email the first week of March 2021 that detailed consequences of not paying fees on time. This email was not sent to U.S. citizens. Consequences include unenrollment which has a significant impact on international students – leading to visa status violations and deportation. IU Spokesperson Chuck Carney says the discrimination complaint is without merit.
From 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday at Switchyard Park will mark the seasonal opening of Food Truck Friday which will include live music in the evening, cocktails and of course, food trucks. This family-friendly event will be open to the public.
RBBCSC School Board Special Meeting
The Richland Bean Blossom Community School Corporation Board of Trustees held a special June 1st meeting to discuss paying RBBCSC staff and teachers a stipend for their work during the 2020 to 2021 school year. Superintendent Doctor Jerry Sanders said that he started work on getting stipends as soon as he found out he could. He talked about how hard faculty members worked to make online and hybrid learning work during a global pandemic.
Board members passed the resolution unanimously.
Monroe County Commissioners
At today’s Monroe County Board of Commissioners meeting, County Attorney Jeff Cockerill presented an agreement to review and analyze the City of Bloomington’s Annexation Fiscal Plan. He explained the report would need to be thorough on a short timeline.
Reporter Dave Askins asked if the report would cover the annexation’s impact on property taxes for residents who already live within city limits. Cockerill responded that it could, but the analysis would not be finished before the August 4th public annexation meeting.
Commissioners voted to approve the partnership 2 to 0.
Monroe County Personnel Administration Committee
The Monroe County Personnel Administration Committee discussed the proposed Public Information Coordinator position. At the June 1st meeting, Committee member Marty Hawk showed concern over establishing a position to represent the whole of county government. She said that this position makes sense for City government, but not for County government.
Commissioners’ Administrator Angie Purdie said this was not what the role would do. She clarified the Public Information Coordinator was an informational role, not a representative one.
The Personnel Administration Committee voted 2-1 to approve the recommendations, with Councilor Hawk voting against. The position will now return to the County Council for final discussion and approval.
Mask Mandate Lifted for Those Fully Vaccinated
At the May 28th Covid-19 Press Conference, Monroe County Health Administrator Penny Caudill announced that residents who are fully vaccinated are no longer required to wear a mask in public except where requested by businesses.
Hoosiers who are not fully vaccinated are still required to wear a mask and maintain social distancing guidelines.
Vaccination sites will continue to be open throughout the week for walk-ins and scheduled appointments. Appointments can be scheduled online at ourshot.in.gov, or over the phone by calling 2-1-1.
Caudill ended her update with a call to action: help your local community by getting the vaccine, and encourage others so your zip code has the highest percentage of fully vaccinated residents.
The one-shot Johnson and Johnson vaccine will be available on June 3rd at Ivy Tech for walk-ins and scheduled appointments from 1:00 – 6:00 p.m.
On June 7th, members of the Latino Community and others who got their first shot of the Moderna vaccine at one of the two May pop-in clinics can get their second shot at the Bloomington Convention Center.
Vaccinations will also be available on June 17th at Henderson Court.
Mayor John Hamilton gave an update on the number of city employees who are now fully vaccinated. He noted that this is the second week in a row with no new COVID-19 positives among city workers. He added a special thanks to Indiana University for its help with vaccinations at the Assembly Hall site.
Monroe County Commissioner Julie Thomas gave an update on the township fund. She said the county has provided over 92 thousand dollars for those in need – whether that be for rent, utilities or food.
Indiana University has announced that all students will be required to be fully vaccinated to return to campus.
A fall 2021 restart Guidance was sent out to all students including the vaccination reporting form and the guidelines that Indiana University is imposing for fall 2021 semester.
The mask mandate at the University will be lifted for those that are fully vaccinated both for guests and students. Classes, resident halls, and events will open back to normal.
Indiana University also announced they will be stopping mitigation testing and implementing a new policy for surveillance testing. The surveillance testing will be used for any possible covid virus outbreaks.
Assembly Hall will be open June 2nd, 4th and 5th for those wanting to get vaccinated. Walk-ins are welcome or appointments are available through ourshot.in.gov.
Mayor Hamilton urged people to seek guidance about getting vaccinated in order to bring the community forward.
All in all, Monroe County is now under the “blue” advisory level, which is the lowest level possible.
Feature Reports:
Up first, we have an excerpt from Partisan Gardens – the latest addition to our locally-produced news and public affairs programs on WFHB.
Partisan Gardens is a monthly program that focuses on food systems. The excerpt you are about to hear comes from the May edition of the show.
Partisan Gardens airs once a month on WFHB Community Radio. To listen to the full program, click here.
Now it’s time for Better Beware – your weekly consumer-watchdog segment on WFHB. We turn to host Richard Fish who follows and exposes scams in South Central Indiana.
Credits:
You’ve been listening to the WFHB Local News.
Today’s headlines were written by Katherine Patterson, Emily McCoy and Jake Jacobson, in partnership with Cats – Community Access Television Services.
Our feature was produced by Mia Beach.
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
