This is the WFHB Local News for Thursday, October 8th, 2020.

Later in the program, we have an excerpt from last week’s episode of Interchange titled “Draining the Heartland: Authoritarian Populism in Rural America.” WFHB’s Bradi Heaberlin speaks with Marc Edelman, an Anthropology professor and affiliate of the Graduate Center at Hunter College in New York City on the hollowing out of rural America and the rise of authoritarian populism.

Also coming up in the next half hour, WFHB Correspondent Aaron Comforty follows up with a story from yesterday about disturbing reports at the Monroe County Correctional Center.

But first, your local headlines.

1,488 new cases of COVID-19 were reported in Indiana on Wednesday, according to the Indiana State Department of Health. There were 16 newly reported deaths. Locally, both Monroe and Lawrence Counties saw 21 new confirmed cases yesterday. Brown County reported one new case.

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At the beginning of Wednesday’s Bloomington City Council meeting, council president Steve Volan spoke in support of renaming Jordan Avenue. The comments come in response to an Indiana University Board of Trustees vote to rename three IU campus locations also named after former Indiana University president and eugenicist David Starr Jordan. Volan proposed renaming the street after Viola and George Taliaferro. Viola served as a judge in Monroe County from 1995 to 2004, and was Monroe County’s first black judge. Her husband, George, played football at Indiana University and became the first Black player drafted into the National Football League in 1949. 

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Monroe County community leaders announced via a joint press release today that a new COVID-19 testing site will be opening later this month. The press release, signed by Mayor John Hamilton, President of IU Health Brian Shockney, and members of the Monroe County Health Department and Board of Commissioners, states that the new public testing site will be open through June of 2021.  The new testing site will be located in downtown Bloomington and open to the public by appointment. 

One big factor in establishing the downtown testing site is to make sure public COVID testing is continuously available in Bloomington. Currently, the Indiana Department of Health has contracted OptumServe, who has a public testing site currently open at the National Guard Armory. However, the state contracts OptumServe on a month-by-month basis. A second site guarantees that Bloomington residents will still have access to public COVID testing when the OptumServe site is eventually decommissioned.  More information about the testing site, including the site’s exact location and appointment registration, will be shared in the coming weeks.

Monroe County Commissioners

Monroe County Commissioners approved General Obligation Bonds not to exceed three point one million dollars for the completion of multiple capital projects during their October 7th meeting. Commissioner Julie Thomas described one amendment to the proposal since its previewing at a September County Council meeting.

Thomas said other projects include highway department vehicle and equipment upgrades, county passenger vehicles, trail connection, park projects, Justice building Core switches, office renovations, and sheriff’s department equipment.

County Attorney Jeff Cockerill said the County Council must approve the bonds before they could be issued.

Bloomington City Council 

The Bloomington City Council unanimously approved an ordinance to modify local income tax allocations during their October 7th meeting. City Clerk Nicole Bolden presented the modifications.

Council Administrator Attorney Stephen Lucas said this process is completed annually by the tax council to allocate appropriate funds to general public safety services. He clarified a tax increase would NOT result from the percent increase.

Council member Susan Sandburg stated the reallocation would benefit all of Monroe County. Bolden said the ordnance will take effect on January first of 2021.

Indiana’s Dashboard Does Not Show Full Scope of Coronavirus In Schools

Indiana’s Covid-19 dashboard lacks data from 40 percent of its schools.

Almost two months ago, the Indiana State Department of Health announced it would track coronavirus data in schools using a public dashboard. As of Monday, the dashboard showed 2,845 total positive cases since the start of the school year.

However, as of this morning, over 1,000 of Indiana’s schools have not submitted coronavirus data to the dashboard.

Dr. Kristina Box, state health commissioner, attributed the issue to “technical difficulties.” She also said the state department of health is working to remove duplicate data entries.

“Our team is working with schools who have technical issues,” she said.

So far, 1,755 total schools submitted data to the dashboard as of this week. This comes after 369 more schools were added to the database in the last week.

According to the Associated Press, “because the reporting by schools is voluntary, the state dashboard numbers won’t fully capture cases.”

Dr. Box said the state health department may consider making it mandatory for school districts to report data.

Schools that have five or fewer positive cases may have their data suppressed to protect privacy. The AP reports this is the case for a majority of schools who have submitted data.

Box said even though the state is in Stage 5, masks and social distancing are still necessary to limit the spread of coronavirus.

Box said as more schools begin to submit data, the total number of positive cases in schools is likely to increase.

Feature Reports: 

WFHB Correspondent Aaron Comforty follows up with a story he did yesterday about disturbing reports at the Monroe County Correctional Center. Content Warning: this story contains the topic of self-harm.

Now it’s time for your feature reports. We have an excerpt from last week’s episode of Interchange titled “Draining the Heartland: Authoritarian Populism in Rural America.”

WFHB’s Bradi Heaberlin spoke with Marc Edelman, an Anthropology professor and affiliate of the Graduate Center at Hunter College in New York City about the hollowing out of rural America and the rise of authoritarian populism.

Credits:

You’ve been listening to the WFHB Local News
Today’s headlines were written by Jake Jacobson, Kade Young and Sydney Foreman, in partnership with Cats – Community Access Television Services.

Our features were produced by Aaron Comforty, Bradi Heaberlin and Doug Storm.
Our theme music is provided by Mark Bingham and the Social Climbers.
Executive producer is Kade Young.