WFHB Bloomington Community Radio
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This is the WFHB Local News for Monday, May 12th, 2025.
In today’s newscast, WFHB Correspondent Laurie Frederickson reports on the local coffee shop scene in Bloomington and beyond. More in today’s feature report.
We also hear from Naman Satsangi from A Kid Again, an IU student group hosting adventures for kids with life-threatening medical conditions. Find out how you can help these families get a break from being a patient and just be a kid again later in the show on a new episode of Activate!
But first, your daily headlines:
Bloomington Board of Public Works Approves Summer Events, ADA and Infrastructure Repairs
At the Bloomington Board of Public Works meeting on May 6th, the board approved the request for the Granfalloon Mainstage Concert and the Handmade market. These events will take place on Kirkwood and on the square, closing the street from Walnut to Lincoln from June 6th to June 8th.
They also approved the 4th and Rodgers Block Party. This event will take place on West 4th Street on June 6th.
Although these events were quickly approved on the consent agenda, the amount of work that the city staff and board members put in to ensure all the proper permitting has been completed, and safety concerns have been addressed, is extensive.
Later in the meeting, Director of Public Works Adam Wason asked the board to approve a service agreement with Wise Building Solutions, to repair 27 ADA ramps.
The board approved the agreement unanimously.
They also approved a service agreement with Jon Richardson Excavating to repair a wooden pedestrian bridge on 2nd street. Wason explained that the bridge being fixed is the current solution, however, in the future staff recommend more sidewalk installations in the area.
The board voted to approve the agreement unanimously.
During staff reports, Wason gave an update on how the Public Works Department handled the Indiana University Little 500 festivities.
Wason also updated the board on upcoming paving and construction projects, noting that the public can keep up to date on road closures for paving projects on the Street Division Website.
Lastly, Wason thanked volunteers that helped clean up the city in preparation for the upcoming commencement ceremony taking place at Indiana University.
The Bloomington Board of Public Works will meet again on May 20th.
Feature Reports:
Monroe County’s thriving coffee scene includes over 15 local shops and roasters, such as Brown County Coffee Company and Hopscotch Coffee. Both businesses face challenges from rising coffee prices, driven by supply issues in major growing regions and tariffs. Despite these challenges, they remain committed to providing high-quality, fresh coffee and supporting their communities. WFHB Correspondent Laurie Frederickson has more.
Having a life-threatening medical condition is tough at any age, but it’s especially rough for children. A national organization called A Kid Again tries to lift some weight off the shoulders of these children and their families with adventures designed to just let them be kids. Yesterday in Indianapolis the Indiana chapter hosted a Mother’s Day event with fire trucks and a petting zoo! Here in Bloomington there’s an Indiana University student chapter of A Kid Again, and Naman Satsangi is the president. Naman says being part of A Kid Again is just as rewarding for the volunteers as it is for the kids. He’s calling on you to spread that joy on a new episode of Activate!, coming your way right now on the WFHB Local News.
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 Laurie Frederickson.
This episode of Activate! was produced by Peter Miller through WFHB’s partnership with The Media School at Indiana University
Our theme music is provided by Mark Bingham and the Social Climbers.
Engineer and Executive producer is Kade Young.
