WFHB Bloomington Community Radio
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 31:20 — 43.1MB)
Subscribe: RSS
This is the WFHB Local News for Tuesday, November 9th, 2021.
Later in the program, WFHB Assistant News Director Noelle Herhusky-Schneider speaks with Steven Stewart about his concerns for logging in the Hoosier National Forest. More coming up in today’s feature report.
Also coming up in the next half hour, the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana filed a federal lawsuit against a school corporation in Terre Haute after employees refused to allow transgender students to use their preferred restrooms. More in today’s headlines.
But first, your local news brief:
In COVID news, the Monroe County Mask Mandate is slated to remain in effect for probably several weeks, as reported by Penny Caudill, administrator of the Monroe County Health Department. At the moment, Monroe county remains in the yellow rank of advisory, meaning that cases continue to rise above the 50 cases per every 100,000 persons threshold that must be met for a county to be classified as blue, the rank provided to counties no longer requiring a mask mandate.
According to statistics from the Indiana State Department of Health, which are updated every Wednesday, the week of Nov 1 saw cases in Monroe County increase to 121 cases per 100,000 persons. These statistics therefore exceed the required 50 cases per every 100,000 persons needed for the mandate to be lifted. According to the Herald Times, Although over 57% of people in Monroe County are fully vaccinated, and first-dose vaccinations have trickled to less than 300 per week, since vaccines are now available to 5-11 year old children, vaccinations are likely to climb in the next few weeks.
At Friday’s weekly news conference for updates on pandemic response, Caudill sought to bolster public morale and encourage hope as the holiday season approaches, saying, “As we come to a time of giving, I would request that we not give each other infections, be they the flu, COVID, or any other respiratory infection,” Caudill said. “Instead, let’s give all of our efforts to giving grace and being kind. Get vaccinated, follow regulations and recommendations to reduce transmission. We will get through this.”
The Indiana Supreme Court-ordered eviction diversion program has been a mixed bag in its first week of operation, gaining willing participants in only eight out of 331 cases heard from Nov. 1-5 where tenants and landlords were asked if they wanted to participate.
This new program, introduced by the Indiana Supreme Court on September 13,seeks to utilize the over $410 million in federal funds provided to Indiana state and local governments last December for emergency rental assistance (ERA).
On November 1, the program announced new eviction reforms, including that courts must advise tenants and landlords at the first hearing of any eviction of alternative solutions such as rental assistance or participating in a settlement conference, in which tenant and landlord engage in a discussion facilitated by a neutral helper to ensure productivity on both sides. Participation in the eviction diversion program would pause the proceedings for 90 days or until either landlord or tenant requests it. However, both landlord and tenant must first agree to participate in the program, which has been an issue since landlords may worry about waiting on rental assistance payments that may or still have never arrived, an opinion shared during an eviction hearing in Lawrence Township Small Claims Court by Robert James, whose firm, Sandlin Law group, represents five of the twenty top evicting landlords and property managers in Marion County.
However, according to the Indianapolis Star, a positive for landlords is that participating in the program would allow them to obtain rent owed and late fees without having to make legal arguments in court, where a favorable outcome is not guaranteed.
When Indiana Court of Appeals Judge Robert R. Altice Jr. — who is also chair of the state’s eviction task force — said, “Certainly, I wasn’t thrilled with that number, but then again it is early so my hope is that those numbers will increase as people become more aware of the program.”
In a positive note, on Monday the state education department announced that it will spend $2 million to help fully license special education teachers by offering scholarships for required training and streamlining required coursework.
The new program, known as Indiana Special Education Assisted Licensure, is designed to smooth the transition and increase the number of fully qualified special education teachers and ensure enough special educators are available when the state ends the use of emergency permits next school year, since issuing such permits is a longstanding violation of the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The state will replace them with a new temporary license for educators in approved training programs. This program entails that The Indiana Department of Education partner with the Center of Excellence in Leadership of Learning at the University of Indianapolis to assist teachers in finding a program that qualifies them for a temporary permit. The program itself is funded through federal COVID relief and Individuals with Disabilities Act funding.
ACLU Indiana Files Lawsuit Against School Corporation After Denial of Students’ Request to Use Preferred Restroom
On Monday, the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana filed a lawsuit against the Vigo County School Corporation after employees denied two high school students their right to use restrooms consistent with their gender identity.
ACLU Indiana alleges that the denial of these students’ access to the correct restrooms violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972.
Ken Falk, legal director for ACLU Indiana, said in a press release, “denying a student their right to use the correct restroom is discrimination, plain and simple. Schools should be a safe place for kids and the refusal to allow a student to use the correct restroom can be extremely damaging.”
According to the complaint, both students were diagnosed with gender dysphoria and identify as male. Both have requested to use male restrooms and the male locker room. The lawsuit says that the school system has denied them this request.
The students have also asked to be addressed by the names that reflect their gender identity using male pronouns. The complaint says that several substitute teachers and the principal of Terre Haute North Vigo High School have denied the students’ request to use their preferred pronouns.
Kathleen Bensberg, staff attorney with the LGBT Project at Indiana Legal Services said, “the law gives transgender students the same opportunities as their peers to learn, grow and succeed at school. We look forward to working with the ACLU to represent these students in the case.”
In a statement, ACLU of Indiana notes that students who are denied access to the correct restroom may confront increased bullying and may avoid the restroom altogether at school.
Feature Report:
In today’s feature report, WFHB Assistant News Director Noelle Herhusky-Schneider speaks with concerned resident Steven Stewart about the U.S. Forest Service’s proposed restoration project for Buffalo Springs in Orange County. We turn to Herhusky-Schneider for more.
Stay tuned for tomorrow’s broadcast where Herhusky-Schneider speaks with Chris Thornton and Marion Mason of the U.S. Forest Service with their input on the restoration project in the Hoosier National Forest.
Credits:
You’ve been listening to the WFHB Local News,
Today’s headlines were written by Abe Shapiro and Kade Young, in partnership with Cats – Community Access Television Services.
Our feature was produced by Noelle Herhusky-Schneider.
Our theme music is provided by Mark Bingham and the Social Climbers.
Engineer and Executive producer is Kade Young.
Anchors are Benedict Jones and Tod Wicks.
