WFHB Bloomington Community Radio
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Good afternoon. This is the WFHB Local News for Tuesday, May 11th, 2021
Later in the program, WFHB News spoke over Zoom with Raheem Elmore and Christina Elem, the two artists who designed the Black Lives Matter Street mural on Sixth Street earlier this month. Elmore and Elem walk through what this public art installation means for the city – and they also touch on their process behind designing the BLM street mural. That’s coming up in today’s feature reports.
Also coming up in the next half hour, we have Better Beware – your weekly consumer-watchdog segment on WFHB – hosted and produced by Richard Fish.
But first, your local news brief:
The Indiana State Department of Health gave an update on COVID cases this afternoon.
Indiana has 687 new COVID-19 cases and 15 new deaths. 14,934 tests were administered bringing the total to 10,050,352 of COVID tests administered in Indiana. Since March, there have been a total of 730,969 positive cases in the state, and 13,018 deaths. Updated Sunday, 2,135,682 Hoosiers ages 16 and up are now fully vaccinated.
Indiana is currently in a yellow advisory level. Counties must remain at a Weekly Two-Metric score for two consecutive weeks before being able to move to a lower advisory level, according to the Indiana State Department of Health. Blue is the level below yellow, and would be the lowest level possible for a county to reach.
The Food and Drug Administration announced Monday afternoon that 12 to 15 year olds are now able to get the Pfizer vaccine shot. The decision was made after confirming to be safe and effective enough for younger teens. Vaccinations for this age group can open up after Wednesday’s meeting of the advisory committee to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 20,000 pharmacy locations are already prepared to begin vaccinating adolescents once approved, said President Joe Biden. Shots will also be available through pediatricians offices.
Studies are still underway for the other vaccine options, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson for being safe enough to administer to minors.
COVID-19 Press Conference
At the May 7th Coronavirus press conference, Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton confirmed that 40% of city staff members are fully vaccinated. He said that local vaccination numbers are important, especially as herd immunity becomes less likely as a country.
Monroe County Health Administrator Penny Caudill said the Indiana State Department of Health website now shows information on COVID-19 variants. She said Monroe County is seeing a higher rate of hospitalizations in younger Hoosiers. Caudill clarified this is likely because of the way the vaccine rolled out.
Most local vaccine sites are currently offering walk-in appointments for first and second COVID-19 vaccines.
IU’s Spring Commencement over the Weekend
Spring commencement took place at Indiana University-Bloomington this past weekend.
The ceremony looked much different than years’ past as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Only students were allowed to attend – fully masked and socially distanced at IU’s Memorial Stadium.
In his last commencement speech, IU President Michael McRobbie emphasized students’ strength and resilience to graduate in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
More than 7,000 students received undergraduate degrees over the weekend. The oldest graduate was 74 years old, while the youngest was 20 years old.
Feature Reports:
Up first, WFHB News Director Kade Young spoke over Zoom with Raheem Elmore and Christina Elem, the two artists who designed the Black Lives Matter Street Mural on Sixth Street. The artists walked through their process behind designing the street mural, and they also shared why they believe this message is so important for all eyes to see in a central public place. We turn to News Director Kade Young for that interview.
Up next, we have Better Beware – your weekly consumer-watchdog segment on WFHB Community Radio. We turn to host and producer of the weekly, 4-minute column, Richard Fish for more.
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 engineer and executive producer is Kade Young.
Better Beware is produced by Richard Fish.
Our theme music is provided by Mark Bingham and the Social Climbers.
