WFHB Bloomington Community Radio
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This is the WFHB Local News for Thursday, July 11th, 2024.
Later in the program, Mayor Kerry Thomson answered questions from community residents at a town hall on Tuesday at St. Thomas Lutheran Church. More in today’s headlines.
Also coming up in the next half hour, we have Prescription for Healthcare, a podcast collaboration between the WFHB Local News and Medicare for All Indiana.
But first, your local headlines:
Mayor Thomson Hosted Traveling Town Hall on Tuesday
On July 10th, Bloomington Mayor Kerry Thomson spoke with city residents at St. Thomas Lutheran Church as part of the mayor’s traveling town hall series.
City Council Members Hopi Stosberg and Andy Ruff also joined the mayor for the town hall. The three city officials fielded questions from residents on housing affordability, transportation issues and storm recovery.
One local resident brought up concerns regarding affordable housing and homelessness in the community. Thomson touched on how these two are related problems, and she described how the city aims to tackle it.
Thomson continued to elaborate on housing affordability issues within the City of Bloomington saying the city is losing talent and young professionals due to its high housing costs.
The mayor said her primary concern is an increase in street homelessness. She said solutions for homelessness need to come from a place of dignity and compassion.
According to the Bloomington Housing Study conducted in 2020, over 60 percent of rental households and 30 percent of owner-occupied households are cost burdened. This means at least one third of their income goes toward rent or mortgage payments.
The housing study estimates that the city would need to build an additional 2,592 units over the next decade to support its population growth. That’s 236 units per year.
District 3 Representative for the City Council Hopi Stosberg expanded on housing affordability highlighting the unified development ordinance, or U-D-O.
Council At-Large Member Andy Ruff said Bloomington is not alone in its housing problems. He said the city needs to act fast to address the housing crisis.
The elected officials for the city also answered residents’ questions on transportation concerns, storm recovery and more. To listen to the full town hall, visit this link.
Feature Report:
In today’s feature report, we have Prescription for Healthcare, a podcast collaboration between the WFHB Local News and Medicare for All Indiana. This month, hosts Dr. Rob Stone and Karen Green Stone speak with Dr. Claudia Fegan, the Chief Medical Officer of Cook County Health in Chicago and the National Coordinator for Physicians for a National Health Program.
In her current and past leadership roles in PNHP, she has appeared on national television and radio programs on behalf of the organization and has testified before congressional committees on a wide range of health care issues. In this episode we discuss the 1986 Federal “Anti-Dumping” Law and how it is in the news today because of the restrictions some states are putting on abortion care. For more, we turn to Prescription for Healthcare on the WFHB Local News.
Credits:
You’ve been listening to the WFHB Local News,
Today’s headlines were written by Kade Young, in partnership with Cats – Community Access Television Services.
Our feature was produced by Dr. Rob Stone and Karen Green Stone.
Our theme music is provided by Mark Bingham and the Social Climbers.
Engineer and Executive producer is Kade Young.
