WFHB Bloomington Community Radio
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This is the WFHB Local News for Thursday, September 9th, 2021.
Later in the program, we have Prescription for Healthcare – a collaboration between WFHB and Medicare for All Indiana. Our guest today is Dr. Ed Weisbart, a retired family physician from St. Louis and chair of the Missouri chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program. More coming up in the bottom half of tonight’s program.
Also coming up in the next half hour, the City of Bloomington will host the Black History 101 Mobile Museum on Saturday. More in today’s headlines.
But first, Emily McCoy has today’s Statehouse Roundup:
This week Statehouse Republicans announced their plan to introduce abortion laws similar to the abortion ban legislation in Texas during next years Legislative Session. State representative Sue Errigton publicly disagreed with the proposed plan, citing that 49% of pregnancies are unintentional and often caused by a lack of education and accessible contraception. Representative Errigton urges that the focus should be on providing funds to pregnancy prevention and not by finning women that seek medical clinical abortions.
Representative Errigton also called out statehouse republicans for the number of women that are killed or severly injured because they seek outside medical abortions. Stating that if this new legislation were to be passed, this number would only climb higher. “Indiana shamefully holds the title for the third highest maternal mortality rate in the nation and we will sink lower if we force women out of the safety of a licensed medical clinic.”
The expected drafts of Indiana’s new redistricting maps are expected to be publicly announced on September 14th. State Representative Tim Wesco will then hold meetings gathering public feedback on these map drafts on September 15th and 16th. On August 31st, State President Pro Tempore Rodric Bray and House speaker Todd Huston announced a new online portal that will allow citizens to draw and submit their own ideas on new district boundaries. Representative Bray commented, “This portal is a great opportunity for Hoosiers to share their proposed maps with lawmakers.”
Monroe County Commissioners
At the Monroe County Commissioners meeting on September 8th, Director of Emergency Management, Allison Moore, shared that this month is Emergency Preparedness month. She encouraged residents of Monroe County to sign up for alerts through their Emergency Alert Program.
The commissioners unanimously approved a partnership between Ivy Tech’s nursing program and the correctional facility. Monroe County jail commander Sam Crowe said the program would be mutually beneficial, and introduce nursing students to an area of the field that typically gets less staffing.
During public comment, Laurel Tanneberger, spoke up about the Seven Oaks appeal made about the mask mandate in schools. Since an appeal had been filed, County Attorney Jeff Cockerill stepped in to say the correct procedure to bring the matter to the commissioners would be through Seven Oaks first. This is what she had to say before being redirected.
The Board of Commissioners will virtually host the Appeal Hearing for Seven Oaks on September 16th.
Monroe County Board of Health
The Monroe County Board of Health discussed the possibility of extending the county’s indoor mask mandate during its September 8th meeting. County Health Administrator Penny Caudill said that the mask mandate will likely extend beyond the September 30th deadline.
Caudill said the health department received complaints from business owners when it comes to enforcing the mandate. Board member Carol Touloukian questioned whether the energy spent on enforcing the mask requirement could be better spent on encouraging residents to get vaccinated.
County Health Officer Thomas Sharp said he believes the county should let the mask mandate expire at the end of September.
The board will discuss the continuation of the mask requirement during its next meeting on September 22nd.
Monroe County Personnel Administration Committee
On September 7th, the Monroe County Personnel Administration Committee voted unanimously to move forward funding for a new position under the Stormwater Division of the highway department.
Highway Director, Lisa Ridge, asked the committee to add a new position to the 2022 budget to be proactive and ensure the department is able to do their job.
Committee member Marty Hawk questioned why the position was needed.
Committee member Trent Deckard took a moment to remind the committee members that although the budget might be discussed elsewhere, it is important to make official decisions during these meetings so that the public can be kept up to date.
Committee member Eric Spoonmore motioned to forward the position to WIS, Waggoner, Irwin, Scheele and Associates to create the position.
WIS is the human resource management consultant they contract with, which Deckard said that more substantive conversations concerning WIS will be had at a later date.
City Will Host Black History 101 Mobile Museum on Saturday
The City of Bloomington will host the Black History 101 Mobile Museum from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, September 11th, at City Hall located at 401 North Morton Street.
The museum will feature a collection of 7,000 artifacts of Black memorabilia dating from the trans-Atlantic slave trade era to hip-hop culture. This collection was founded and curated by Dr. Khalid El-Hakim, a keynote speaker at the city’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration.
WFHB News spoke with James Sanders, chair of the City of Bloomington Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commission. Sanders spoke to the collection that Dr. el-Hakim has amassed.
“His mobile museum is just a record of those artifacts that existed and just giving us a history lesson of pretty much how our country started,” says Sanders.
Sanders describes the exhibit as “jarring” and “polarizing” but he still believes it is important for our community to acknowledge this difficult history.
“That’s important to display,” says Sanders. “That’s important for people to see where things came from, how they progressed, contrasting to how things are now.”
He touched on how Dr. el-Hakim selects the items for the museum and why he believes it’s important for the collection to represent reality.
“The artifacts were selected from Dr. el-Hakim’s many travels across the country and the world,” he says.
Sanders explains that having a museum dedicated to Black history is important, especially in the community of Bloomington.
“I feel like we need the representation,” he says. “We have to make the connection from those predated times to now.”
People may attend the mobile museum for free without any registration. Visitors will need to wear masks and maintain physical distancing.
Feature Report:
In today’s edition of Prescription for Healthcare, hosts Karen Green Stone and Dr. Rob Stone speak with Dr. Ed Weisbart, a retired family physician from St. Louis and chair of the Missouri chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program.
Prescription for Healthcare airs every month on the WFHB Local News. The program is a collaboration between WFHB and Medicare for All Indiana. To listen to all the programs, visit WFHB dot org following this broadcast.
Credits:
You’ve been listening to the WFHB Local News,
Today’s headlines were written by Kade Young and Noelle Herhusky-Schneider, in partnership with Cats – Community Access Television Services.
Our feature was produced by Karen Green Stone and Dr. Rob Stone.
The Statehouse Roundup is produced by Emily McCoy.
Our theme music is provided by Mark Bingham and the Social Climbers.
Engineer and Executive producer is Kade Young.
