This is the WFHB Local News for Wednesday, August 12, 2020.

Later in the program, you will hear from Jeff Baldwin, executive director of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Bloomington. Baldwin discusses low-cost childcare options available for families in Monroe County.

Also coming up in the next half hour, two protests took place over the weekend – one in Bloomington and another in Martinsville. More on those protests later in the program.

But first, your local headlines.

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

667 new cases of COVID-19 were reported in Indiana on Tuesday, according to the Indiana State Department of Health. 15 new deaths were added to last week’s Covid-19 death tally, including one in Monroe County.

Locally, Monroe and Brown Counties each saw one new confirmed case yesterday, while Lawrence County saw five.

***

Monroe County students begin the school year today, one hundred percent online.

To help students who don’t have internet access or a computer at home, the school district is taking a few steps to expand students’ access to technology.

The district is distributing tablets to elementary and middle school students, and laptops to high schoolers. It’s offering a number of free wifi options for students and parents as well, including eleven local schools which have wifi in their parking lots, wifi connected buses that are parked at five or six neighborhood locations around Bloomington, and cellular hotspots are available to families and teachers.

Even with all the extended options for wifi access, some students, who don’t have wifi and whose family can’t bring them to one of the wifi options are at risk of falling behind.

The Monroe County School Corporation is also offering other services like meal delivery and virtual counseling. To learn more about the reopening plan you can go to their website at mccsc.edu.

***

Pantry 279 will be closed today, August 12th, due to a nearby gas leak. Pantry 279 director Cindy Chavez encourages people to check the food pantry’s Facebook page for further announcements. You can find more info on Pantry 279 and their services on their website at pantry279.org.

***

The Monroe County Community School Board discussed their 2021 school year budget during their August 11th work session meeting. Assistant Director of Business Operations Adam Terwilliger said the Average Daily Membership state payments have been trending upward since 2012.

Terwilliger presented 2021 tax levy rates. He said tax levies are the overall monies raised from property tax. Director of Business Operations John Kenny said the advertised number is likely to reduce before final approval.

Terwilliger said MCCSC school’s overall tax rate ranks in the bottom 10 of Indiana schools. Board member Sue Wanzer asked Kenny how the current economic status would affect school funding.

Superintendent Dr. Judith DeMuth said no definite funding cuts for schools choosing to teach online, as in Senator Rod Bray’s letter, have been announced. However, she said Governor Eric Holcomb has mentioned he would not let schools teaching online lose funding. Kenny said the next budget hearing will be September 24th.

Bloomington mayor John Hamilton will join city and community partners in another conference call on Wednesday, August 12th discussing Mayor Hamilton’s Recovery Forward Initiative.

Tomorrow’s conference will include Adam Wason, Director of Public Works; Tina Peterson, President and CEO of the Community Foundation of Bloomington and Monroe County; the City’s Assistant Director for Sustainability Lauren Travis; the City’s Local Food Coordinator Rachel Beyer; and Steve Kramer, Weatherization Program Manager at the South Central Community Action Program.

City leaders will be answering questions about energy efficiency, bike, pedestrian and transit improvements, and more. The conference will be live-streamed on the City of Bloomington’s Facebook page tomorrow starting at 1:00 PM.

Ellettsville Town Council discussed a mass gathering request for Campbell’s Park shelter homes during their August 10th meeting. Event petitioner Laura said the reservation request was for a free community event, however the attendance number was unknown. Town Attorney Darla Brown said the Monroe County Health Department restricts outdoor gathering to 150 people.

Brown suggested the petitioner discuss crowd limiting strategies with the county health department. She said order violation could result in a fine. Council member Scott Oldham said the event is in need of more written plans.

Oldham said there was not enough thought for pedestrian safety. He said Ellettsville does not have enough disposable staffing to protect the event. The petitioner said hiring security could be a possibility and decided to re-plan the event for October of this year.

Indiana schools who choose to open up virtually for the coming year face funding cuts.

According to a WIBC news report Senate President Pro Tem Rod Bray, “is warning schools they could have their funding cut if they don’t offer in-person classes.”

The report states that schools who only offer online options could see more than a 15 percent cut in funding per student according to state law.

35 Indiana school districts and eight charter or private schools have already opted for online only learning for the safety of students and staff.

Bray warned schools that if less than half of their classes are offered in person schools can expect these cuts.

In the report, “Republican state school superintendent Jennifer McCormick says she’s “disappointed” at Bray’s letter, and warns it could warp schools’ decision-making on whether it’s safe to come back.”

Brady responded to many statements against his address by saying he did not intend for the funding cuts to be a threat to schools.

Gary Senator Eddie Melton called for Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb to issue an executive order guaranteeing schools all of their expected years funding, regardless of teaching method.

Now with three local headlines, we turn to WFHB Correspondent Alex Dederer.

Bloomington restaurant Lennie’s reopened yesterday after closing in March.

The restaurant will be open Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Sundays 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

According to Indiana Public Media, Lennie’s will be enforcing the state’s mask mandate, which will be mandatory as customers are walking to and from tables and as the servers are approaching the tables.

In addition, all customers will have their temperature checked at the door and those with a temperature above 100.4 degrees will not be permitted inside the establishment.

Instead of hard-copied menus, customers will scan a QR code to access the menu virtually.

***

The Big Ten Conference has officially suspended its upcoming football season, with hopes of returning in the Spring.

This decision can be felt near and far in Indiana – by businesses, fans and college students alike.

According to CBS4Indy.com, front house manager at The Tap Jacob Langfield said, “If they can get it done in the Spring that would be awesome. There is plenty of appetite for it, and I think a lot of people are wanting it. Hopefully, The Tap is a good place people still want to come and watch games. There is still going to be a lot of sports on, there’s NBA.”

It is still unknown how the virus will be affecting communities in the Spring. But, if the football season returns this Spring, Purdue speculates that it will be a shorter season.

***

After weighing health risks caused by COVID-19, the seventh annual Bloomington Pridefest was moved online.

Starting tomorrow until August 29, Bloomington PRIDE will be hosting its first annual virtual 5k to encourage community members to get active while supporting Bloomington’s local pride community at the same time.

The course starts and ends at Upland Brewing Co., and a 10 percent discount will be taken off any orders that present the 5k registration receipt from the day you register through August 29.

Over the weekend, a Black Lives Matter rally was held in Martinsville. Also, pro-police protesters gathered in Bloomington – where they were met with counter protesters. We turn to WFHB Correspondent Katrine Bruner for more.

Feature Report:

The Boys and Girls Clubs of Bloomington are offering child-care for 20 dollars a week per child.

Jeff Baldwin, executive director for the organization, talked to Kade Young about helping children work virtually.

Here is that telephone interview from Monday afternoon.

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