This is the WFHB Local News for Monday, August 10th, 2020.

Coming up in the next half hour, a Few Minutes with the Mayor – a weekly segment where local residents pose questions to Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton about community issues.

But first, your local headlines.

Here are three headlines you need to know today. WFHB Correspondent Aaron Comforty filed today’s local news brief.

673 new cases of COVID-19 were reported in Indiana on Sunday, according to the Indiana State Department of Health. Indiana recorded a four-day streak of at least one thousand new cases per day, leading up to Sunday. According to the CDC, reduced weekend reporting and testing can lead to an apparent sudden drop in coronavirus statistics. Three new deaths were reported over the weekend. Locally, Monroe County saw thirteen new confirmed cases, Lawrence County saw eight, and Brown County saw one new case.

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Two protests took place over the weekend, one in Bloomington, the other in Martinsville.

In Bloomington, the so called, ‘Defend The Police’ protest, included groups of pick-up trucks and motorcycles driving, mostly around downtown, displaying American flags, and pro-police, and Trump flags.

A picture taken by the Bloomingtonian showed one truck with a confederate emblem. The caravans of trucks and motorcycles blared their horns and revved their engines for a few hours.

Some demonstrators were seen carrying assault rifles. Pro-police demonstrations, like this one, have taken place in a number of cities across the U.S. in recent weeks.

The name, ‘Defend The Police,’ is a response to calls to defund the police, which entered the mainstream conversation in the aftermath of high-profile police killings of black people, including George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.

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In Martinsville, protesters held a Black Lives Matter demonstration at the courthouse downtown. They were confronted by counter-protesters from the Three-Percenter group. The group’s website portrays itself as a defense force of patriotic citizens based on the idea of American Revolutionary War citizen militia called the “Minutemen.” Its critics call it a paramilitary group. According to various news accounts of the event, heated arguments broke out between the two groups, causing the Martinsville police to intervene. They did not make any arrests. Some people in both groups carried assault rifles.

Monroe County Commissioner Julie Thomas spoke about resident assistance during the August 8th COVID-19 press conference. She said any resident facing potential eviction or other struggles should contact their Township Trustee.

Emergency Management Director Allison Moore said Township Trustees also have face coverings to residents, along with fire departments, emergency management offices and the Health office. She said a schedule for pick up can be made by phone call to any of those offices. She said the phone numbers are online at co.Monroe.in.us. Moore said monthly blood drives are to be expected.

Monroe County Public Health Information Officer Cathy Hughet said Monroe County’s daily positivity average was three point two percent, a decrease from a surge of cases on July 11th. She said since July 22nd a similar decrease in positive cases could be seen. She said over a third of positive cases are from young adults.

President of Indiana University Health Brian Shockney said IU Health takes COVID-29 tests to Indianapolis over 6 times per day, which increases result turnaround. He said the average daily COVID patient census dropped from 15 to 11 patients. Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton said wastewater system tests could detect COVID prevalence.

Hamilton said more information about a program to test wastewater would be available at a later time.

Hoosier Action, a statewide activist group, held a Zoom conference on Thursday, where the group shared stories of those who are navigating unemployment due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Kate Hess-Pace, director for Hoosier Action, talked about how this pandemic has affected employment for thousands of Indiana residents.

“Since Covid-19 we know that between 12,000 and 20,000 Hoosiers have applied for unemployment insurance every week,” she said.

Michelle Evermore, an attorney from the National Employment Law Center, talked about federal talks to provide relief for those who are unemployed.

Joe Bradley, an Indiana resident who was furloughed, shared his experience with unemployment over the last few months.

Another resident, Kara, said her experience has not been positive. She shared her story with Hoosier Action.

The moratorium on Indiana evictions and foreclosures will expire this Friday on August 14th. We will have more reporting on that in the coming days.

The Monroe County Election Board Discussed using Edgewood High School as an election site during their August 6th meeting. Board president Hal Turner said he sent a letter to the school president.

Board member Nicole Brown said the more polling site options there are the less crowded the sites will be on election day. She said if the students are not in school in November the high school should still be used as a voting site. Turner said all polling sites must be reported 60 days before election day. Board members decided to continue discussion until their next meeting.

Also during the meeting, Council for Community Accessibility member Chris Jackson spoke about surveying election sites for accessibility.

Jackson said reports would also be submitted by photograph. Community member Randy Paul said the CCA is not performing an acceptable survey.

Jackson said CCA uses an informed survey based from the Department of Justice published guidelines for accessible polling sites in 2016. He said they also look at other documents for survey material.

Jackson said they do not have legal authority to enforce any location to accessibility standers, they are just creating a report.

Feature Report:
Now it’s time for A Few Minutes with the Mayor – where Sydney Foreman poses questions to Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton on community issues. We turn to WFHB Assistant News Director Sydney Foreman for more.

Credits:
You’ve been listening to the WFHB Local News,
Today’s headlines were written by Kade Young, Aaron Comforty and Sydney Foreman, in partnership with Cats – Community Access Television Services.
Our features were produced by Sydney Foreman and Kade Young..
Our theme music is provided by Mark Bingham and the Social Climbers.
Executive producer is Kade Young.