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(02/08/13 6:01am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>When DeLeon Lott and Shelbi Williams came to IU, they left behind a city that was 85 percent African American. Leaving Gary meant leaving a community of students who looked just like them. In the crowded classrooms at West Side High School, college was a privilege that often went undiscussed.Although they were honors students, no one from IU recruited Lott and Williams. Their counselors never mentioned the scholarships available for minority students or the Groups transition program for low-income freshmen. But Lott and Williams did their research. With the help of their older sisters, who were already students at IU, the two girls applied.After completing the Groups program, the friends chose different homes in different settings. Lott joined the Atkins Living Learning Community to surround herself with an African American environment like the one back in Gary. Williams decided not to. She wanted a chance to experience a fresh, diverse lifestyle. Neither realized how small IU’s African American population would feel. They are part of a group that feels underrepresented on campus, Shelbi said, and members of a demographic at IU that has flat lined since 1975.They are African American. They are the four percent.Breaking down the four percentSince last spring, students have voiced concerns about a lack of diversity at IU, an issue they call “the four percent.”On the Bloomington campus, the percentage of African American students has remained at four percent, fluctuating occasionally since 1975, according to official enrollment reports. Spring 2013 enrollment figures present a student body composed of 3.9 percent Hispanic or Latino, 4.0 percent African American and 4.0 percent Asian American. Vice Provost David Johnson assures that the similarity in these numbers is purely coincidental. The issue is the Hispanic or Latino and Asian populations are growing while the African American population is not.For Lott and Williams, these figures mean unfulfilled promises.In May 2006, the Board of Trustees endorsed a plan to double minority enrollment by fall 2013. At the time, minorities made up 10.2 percent of the Bloomington student population. With the deadline nearing, the University is far from meeting its goal. This semester, the student population is composed of 14.4 percent minority students, students who identify as Hispanic, African American, Asian American, American Indian, Pacific Islander, or two or more races.The board continues to aim for the goal of doubling minority enrollment, William Cast, chair of the Board of Trustees, said. But as they analyze each year’s reports, board members realize it is next to impossible to accomplish the goal by next year. Junior Leighton Johnson, a vocal advocate on the issue, said he feels as though the board has given up on its promise. “The University clearly stated it was their agenda, it was their desire, it was their promise to do something,” Johnson said. “If you say you’re going to do something, you should do it.”For many minority students like Leighton, these historical statistics illustrate a lack of diversity on campus. But for IU researchers and administrators, there is more to minority representation than the numbers say. Is it possible to evaluate campus diversity solely from statistics? Who is the four percent? Race redefinedIncoming students answer two demographic questions when enrolling at IU.Question 1: What is your ethnicity?The student is given the option of checking whether they are A. Hispanic or Latino or B. Not Hispanic or Latino. Question 2: What is your race?The student must then self-identify from one or more racial categories: white, black or African American, Asian American, American Indian or Alaska Native or Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander. These federally mandated questions have been used to collect enrollment data since 2010, said Todd Schmitz, executive director of University Institutional Research and Reporting. With these changes, anyone who selects an ethnicity of Hispanic or Latino is automatically categorized as Hispanic or Latino, even if they selected additional races. “It trumps everything else,” Schmitz said. “Prior to 2010, we didn’t have that. Hispanic was just one of seven categories.”Non-Hispanic students who select more than one race are automatically placed within a “two or more races” category, he said. The category changes have caused the multi-race and Hispanic percentages to increase substantially. The changes have also made it impossible to compare ethnicity enrollment figures before and after 2010, Schmitz said. The new system has thrown students like junior Christian Parroco into an identity crisis. Parroco is 50 percent Filipino, 25 percent Puerto Rican and 25 percent African American. “I probably identify the most with black,” Parroco said. “It’s the easiest to tell people because it’s the easiest to see.” Parroco considers himself African American, and his most dominant ethnicity is Filipino. But when it comes to enrollment, he is categorized as Hispanic or Latino. “If there is one race I definitely don’t identify with, it’s probably Hispanic,” Parroco said. “I don’t think it’s representative of what we actually are. It’s a part of what shapes us, but it can’t be summed up in a quick sentence that people like to hear.” On a more diverse campus in a more diverse world, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to group minority populations. More and more students are identifying with multiple races, skewing any attempt at tracking progress based on narrow racial and ethnic definitions. Although there might be growth in multi-racial African American students, the percentage of students who identify solely as African American has plateaued, law professor Kevin Brown said. “We’re basically never going to get more than four percent,” Brown said. “But to talk about the four percent is to harken to a concept of race that no longer applies.”The four percent is stagnant, but there might be more African American students on campus than what the four percent reveals. Understanding IU’s diversity challenge means analyzing the breakdown of the black student population. In 2011, African American student racial affiliation was broken down beyond official categories. Although there were 1,776 students enrolled as “African American” on campus, 374 additional students reported that they identified with being African American. These students could be enrolled as Hispanic or Latino, International, or two or more races.Brown said it’s proven that multi-racial students perform better on the SAT and ACT tests, aiding a shift in the student body from African American students to multiracial students. “You’re watching a turnover going on,” Brown said. “The black kids are being dealt out of this.”As a first generation college student, Lott said she noticed the disadvantages her peers faced in Gary. “It starts at home, at the schools, with our parents,” Lott said. “We don’t have the drive. We hear it a couple of times at school but that’s very different than someone who grows up with a college fund.”Choosing from a select fewMeasuring the progress of diversity on campus is a complicated task. Recruiting minority students is equally challenging. David Johnson said the university faces a limited pool of admissible minority applicants in the state. Much like IU, Indiana high schools are graduating a stagnant percentage of African Americans. A report by the Interstate Commission for Higher Education predicts that the number of black non-Hispanic public graduates in Indiana will remain about the same through 2028, and Hispanic and Asian/Pacific Islander graduates will continue to increase. Indiana is overwhelmingly white. There are a limited number of minority students graduating high school, and among them, only a small fraction are competitive enough to be accepted to IU, David Johnson said. “10 percent of high school graduating seniors are African Americans in the state of Indiana,” David Johnson said. “They’re not all admissible to Indiana University. We are not an open-door institution.”Lott and Williams came from a predominantly African American high school, but the majority of their peers lacked the grades and test scores to get into IU. DeLeon said only about nine students came to IU, and most of them were in the honors program. Office of Admissions Senior Associate Director Mary Tourner said IU works hard to be competitive with Indiana private schools such as Butler University, who often have the ability to offer additional funding and programs. “In Indiana it is pure competition,” Tourner saidLeighton Johnson acknowledged that in-state diversity is limited, but said the university should not take this as an excuse. IU should reach out to minority students in urban areas outside of the state, he said. “It’s more than just Indiana,” Leighton Johnson said. “We need to go beyond Indiana to get these students.”Despite the lack of African American students in Indiana, IU admits a higher percentage of its minority students from Indiana than from other state. This fall semester, 5.9 percent of in-state students were African American, compared to 2.9 percent of out-of state students, according to University Institutional Research and Reporting. Vice Provost Johnson said this year, the Office of Admissions has begun new efforts to recruit minority students from other states, like the Hoosier Hospitality program. This spring, admissions representatives will invite minority admitted students in the New York and Chicago areas to have brunch with admissions officials in their own town. But if an out-of-state student can’t afford out-of-state tuition, recruitment isn’t enough. Brown said he thinks the University is unwilling to provide the large scholarships necessary to draw out-of-state minority students. He said it is financially logical to recruit international students, a visibly important focus for President Michael McRobbie. “If you’re scrambling for money, the question is often, should I give scholarship money to an inner-city kid who may or may not graduate and who probably won’t in the long run make as much money as this student from China?” Brown said. It all comes down to the money. Beyond black and white For five years, Williams has been “the black girl” in class, the one who is always called on to answer questions about race, she said. She said she no longer wants to be one of only five black students in a 200-person lecture hall. Lott said she is tired of walking around campus and not seeing students who look like her.“We dedicate four, five years of our lives here,” Lott said. “This is our world. I should feel like I have some say, some impact. I should be taken care of.”For Lott to have her voice heard, students need to be a part of the discussion, Leighton Johnson said. This requires working with the administration, not against them. Last spring, Leighton Johnson approached Edwin Marshall, Vice President of Diversty, Equity, and Multicultural Affairs, about creating a student diversity advisory board. The group includes student leaders from the Hudson and Holland, the Scholarship Advisory Committee and IU Student Association. Tourner has also worked with the group, providing thoughts on behalf of the Office of Admissions. “We need to make a coalition of students so we don’t have to advocate or create a stir to make our voices heard,” Leighton Johnson said. The group has met with Marshall to discuss pressing concerns with diversity on the Bloomington campus. They address the issue of the four percent. They talk about what they believe is a lack of funding and staffing for minority scholarship programs, such as Hudson and Holland. Most importantly, Leighton Johnson said, they want to create a campus that reflects an evolving world, a campus where every student learns in an environment that cultivates creativity, challenges assumptions and fosters diverse perspectives. “The whole demographic of America is changing,” he said. “If Indiana doesn’t change with it, then they’re going to be left behind.”
(02/08/13 5:50am)
Breaking down diversity by numbers
(02/04/13 5:18am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Glorianne Leck pours a cup of coffee for her partner as they sit down at the kitchen table, the smell of fresh cornbread muffins filling the tiny room. Her wrinkled hands clear aside the half-finished puzzle on the rainbow-patterned tablecloth. A T-shirt quilt above the table shows decades of Glorianne’s involvement feminist campaigns. A shirt from the 1978 March on Washington for the Equal Rights Amendment. A gold shirt from the National Organization for Women with the words, “Out of the mainstream, into the revolution.”Glorianne, 71, has been a community activist her whole life. As she ages in a different community, in a different era, Glorianne continues to speak for a group she said is underrepresented. She stands for the 65-year-old gay man estranged from his family, living isolated in Owen County. For the 80-year-old woman who worries that when she dies, her partner might not receive the necessary benefits. For the elderly gay couples that simply cannot find something to do on a Saturday night in a college town. Although Bloomington may be LGBT-friendly, Glorianne said, its residents are not addressing the challenges faced by a distinct demographic: the aging LGBT community. They lack support systems, social activities and legal and medical resources to plan for their future, she said. One year ago, after attending Bloomington’s PRIDE festival, Glorianne came up with an idea. She envisioned an organization that would address the needs of the aging LGBT community and provide them with a social group they could feel comfortable with. The recently formed LGBT Aging and Caring Network is carrying out Glorianne’s vision. Due to her age and recent medical issues, she said she hopes to let others take the reins on leadership of the group.Its three-part mission consists of building support networks, providing educational assistance with medical and legal issues, and seeking out suitable social activities for the aging LGBT community in Bloomington. “They need places to go,” Glorianne said. “We need to reach out to them.” ***A woven plaque on Glorianne’s lavender-colored bedroom wall reads Sept. 8, 1994. It was on that day, flying in a hot air balloon over Taos, N.M., that Glorianne and her partner, Susan Savastuk, made their commitment.The couple met in Youngstown, Ohio, where Susan grew up. Glorianne taught as a philosophy professor for 35 years at Youngstown State University, where she was always known as “the lesbian professor,” she said. Glorianne was an LGBT advocate in her community, and was selected as a delegate for presidential nominee John Kerry during his 2004 campaign. In 2006, Susan decided she was ready to leave the crime-heavy city for a calmer living environment. She suggested the couple move to Bloomington. “I said ‘what? I’ve always thought of it as this redneck state,” Glorianne said.Their first night in Bloomington, Glorianne and Susan went to the Player’s Pub and after dinner, they danced. That was the night they realized they were in the right place. “We were used to everyone staring, but it was just so natural,” Susan said. “You had to search for it in Youngstown. Here, everyone was so accepting of us being a lesbian couple. We looked at each other and said ‘Wow, we’ve died and gone to heaven.’” Susan and Glorianne said they feel comfortable in Bloomington, with its liberal-leaning college community. But even in comfort, Glorianne said, many members of the aging LGBT community are falling through the cracks. In a town where most LGBT resources are targeted toward the college-aged demographic, finding ways to socialize with similar people becomes difficult for members of the aging LGBT community, Glorianne said. The LGBT community has access to support groups through IU GLBT Student Support Services Office, but these groups are targeted to individuals aged 18 to 25. Events like PRIDE are also focused on the younger population, Glorianne said. Last year’s PRIDE festival included a late-night dance as one of the main events. Glorriane and Susan said most people their age might not like staying out late or are unable to drive after dark. Meanwhile, social activities catered toward the aging population might not resonate with the local LGBT community, Glorianne said. Even in places dedicated to the aging demographic, such as senior centers, Glorianne said she feels it is harder to be herself. “When I first went to the senior center, you could just feel the heterosexual interaction,” Glorianne said. “These old guys hit on you. I just felt like an outlier.” In rural areas or even in nursing homes, members of the aging LGBT community often go back in the closet, due to the stigma that remains from earlier, more conservative generations, Glorianne said. Many of these individuals are estranged from their families or rejected from traditional support systems, such as churches, she said. Chuck Peters, 55, a new member of the LGBT Aging and Caring Network, is a cataloguing librarian at the IU Music Library. Since he has no spouse or children, he said the thought of growing older and possibly being alone is on his mind. “It’s hard to be old and not straight, just because of our culture’s tradition,” Peters said. “Support systems haven’t automatically included people who are different. You have to forge your own way.”Glorianne said she realizes the potential the LGBT Aging and Caring Network has for providing much-needed resources, for getting students involved in the cause and for addressing the challenges facing the aging LGBT.“If we do this right, in 10, 15 years, we won’t have to talk about it as an LGBT problem. It’ll be an elder problem,” Glorriane said. “But because of our history and our discomforts, there are unique features in the older LGBT group that just require a bit more attention right now.” Because Indiana does not recognize domestic partnerships as a legal union, same-sex couples are not provided with the tax, inheritance and retirement benefits that are automatically given to spouses, IU law professor Aviva Orenstein said. However, both Bloomington and IU offer health benefits to domestic partners, Orenstein said. LGBT individuals have the ability to seek out power of attorney, granting one partner the right to make medical decisions for the other if he or she becomes unable to. They can include their partners in their will and in their retirement benefits, but it is both expensive and time-consuming. “If you’re motivated it’s not impossible to come close to the benefits of marriage, but you never get the same social benefit or legal benefit,” Orenstein said. These are concerns the average 25-year old lesbian couple does not have to think about as much as Glorianne and Susan do. Glorianne and Susan are well prepared for their future. They understand the benefits available to them as a same-sex couple. But the same cannot be said for many members of the aging LGBT community, Susan said. “People don’t get living wills, they don’t get power of attorneys,” Susan said. “They don’t ask, ‘What am I going to need when I’m 80, and I’m a lesbian, and I’m by myself?’”In the corner of Glorianne’s living room stands a poplar-wood bookshelf built by her cousin. There are handles on both sides. “It’s my coffin,” she said. “I wanted to figure everything out for when I die so that Susan doesn’t have to.”
(01/24/13 7:07pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>For students, conserving energy at home can help decrease costs and lessen the impact on the environment. City of Bloomington Senior Environmental Planner Linda Thompson discussed how students can live a more environmentally friendly lifestyle. Unplug itUnplugging electronics when not in use can prevent wasting electricity. In the average home, 75 percent of electricity used to power home electronics is consumed while the products are turned off, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.Even when household electronics appear to be idle when turned off, a phenomenon called “phantom load” causes unnecessary use of energy. “It’s the small drain that is necessary for the appliance to be in a standby mode,” Thompson said.Conserve waterPurchasing low-flow water fixtures, such as those with WaterSense labels, can help conserve water and reduce utility bills. A low-flow showerhead costs $10 to $30 and can reduce water usage by up to 50 percent, according to the IU Office of Sustainability.Taking shorter showers and developing more efficient laundry routines can also help conserve water. Thompson said doing laundry in the evenings and nights can help avoid the “peak demand” times of the day.“Put up a clothesline indoors and outdoors, enabling you to hang damp laundry whenever you can,” Thompson said.Switch to energy-efficient appliances, lightsChanging light bulbs, or suggesting a light bulb change to a landlord, is an effective way to reduce energy use. Light-emitting diode (LED) and compact fluorescent lights (CFL) are energy-efficient alternatives to incandescent lights. According to the IU Office of Sustainability, CFLs use 50 to 80 percent less energy than incandescents, last 10 to 13 times longer and could save a student $6 per year on electric bills. Purchasing ENERGY STAR appliances will also reduce inefficient energy consumption. These appliances run up to 40 percent more efficiently to conserve energy and reduce utility bills, according to the IU Office of Sustainability. RecycleIf students do not have access to on-site recycling, recyclable materials can be brought to two different locations in Bloomington. The Downtown Recycling Center is located behind City Hall, and the Central Recycling & Reuse Center and Hazardous Materials Facility, 3400 S. Walnut St. For hours of operation, visit bloomington.in.gov/recyclingcenter and mcswmd.org/locations.central.html.Bike or walk to classDevelop a more eco-friendly lifestyle by renting a home close enough to campus to walk or bike. This practice also saves a significant amount of money on gas. The IU Office of Sustainability estimated that students spend close to $300 per year on gas. Grow your own or buy localThompson encourages students to either plant a garden to grow produce from home or buy organic food products from local suppliers.“Food has a surprisingly large environmental footprint,” Thompson said.Grow your own or buy localThompson encourages students to either plant a garden to grow produce from home or buy organic food products from local suppliers.“Food has a surprisingly large environmental footprint,” Thompson said.
(01/24/13 3:13am)
Mary Armstrong-Smith from Prevent Child Abuse Indiana awards NET president Jeff Allen with an official charter certificate at a press conference Wednesday at the Broadview Learning Center. County and city employees gathered for a press conference announcing the creation of a Bloomington chapter of Prevent Child Abuse NET to create neighborhood-based prevention solutions to child abuse.
(01/07/13 5:09am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Instead of watching the ball drop on New Year’s Eve, a group of seven students welcomed the new year at a midnight Catholic mass in a small town in Haiti. For the first time, the St. Paul Catholic Center sent the group of students, along with two coordinators, on a mission trip to Saintard, Haiti, from Dec. 28 through Friday.The purpose of the trip was for the church to cultivate a partnership with a parish in Saintard, which is two hours north of the capital of Port-au-Prince, in order to establish it as a sister church. “The majority of what we did was build a relationship, figuring out where we can help, who we can send down and what skills we should be looking for,” junior Allen Graham said.The group stayed in a compound of the parish and spent most of their time socializing with local orphans and children in poverty, and 80 percent of the town’s population consists of children, Graham said. “It’s a lot of children walking around in groups raising each other,” Graham said. Sophomore Julie Swihart, another member of the group, said this may be due to the low life expectancy in Haiti. Twenty-five percent of Haitians die before the age of 40 and only about 5 percent of Saintard residents are married, Swihart said. “The kids there love everybody,” Swihart said. “They’d come up and grab our hands and would want to walk with us.” Many of the children the group met with belonged to a new school in the town, a one-story school started six years ago by one Haitian priest. “He didn’t have enough money to finish the second level,” Swihart said. “It’s going to cost $35,000 to finish.”One of the group’s main projects was planning a Christmas celebration for the school’s students. Two hundred children attended the event, many of who attend the school, Swihart said. “We didn’t turn away the street kids,” Swihart said. “Not everyone goes to school there. It’s a privilege, not a right.”They were provided with food and small toys, which were donated largely from St. Paul parishioners in a toy drive prior to the trip. “The best things we had were glow sticks,” Swihart said. “They loved those. They were still wearing them the next day.”In addition to the Christmas party, the group presented the students with a hygiene seminar, teaching the children how to brush their teeth and reminding them not to eat food that has falls on the ground. “They were things that in America would be basics but there might not be common knowledge,” Graham said.On New Year’s Eve, it was the locals’ turn to provide the group with a new experience. In Haiti, Independence Day falls on Jan. 1, so for Haitians, it becomes a double holiday, Swihart said.“On the 31st, everyone goes to midnight mass and on the first everyone has pumpkin soup,” Swihart said.The pumpkin soup symbolizes a time when wealthy French citizens would eat pumpkin soup while the Haitians were enslaved, Swihart said. By eating pumpkin soup, Haitians celebrate the transfer of power after their independence. The group from St. Paul’s had been fundraising and preparing for the trip since the beginning of the fall semester. The group hopes to continue to send groups down to Saintard in order to provide medical, financial or structural support, Graham said. “We definitely want to do a medical mission trip,” he said. “There’s no doctor in the town and the closest doctor is in Port-au-Prince.” Graham said the group would also like to support the local priest in finishing the construction of his school. Swihart said she has considered starting a sponsorship program through St. Paul’s that will help pay for local children to get an education. She said the mission trip was an eye-opening experience completely different from previous trips she has taken within the United States.“The little they have is shared with everyone,” Swihart said. “It definitely got me thinking about how to change my lifestyle at home.”Graham said his time spent with the Haitians also brought him to a new realization about life in the United States. “Even though the Haitians have so little, they are easily happier than Americans,” Graham said. “They live day by day and take things one step a time.”
(12/10/12 5:54am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>A group of about 75 Bloomington residents held picket signs and posters in support of Medicaid expansion Saturday outside the Monroe County Courthouse.One poster read “Pence punishes the poor,” while another said “Health care Reform — we’re not done yet.”Two petitions, one directed to Rep. Todd Young, R-9th District, and the other to Gov.-elect Mike Pence, were passed around for members of the crowd to sign.The rally was organized by Milton Fisk, director of the local chapter of Jobs with Justice, a national network aiming to increase power for working people and address the causes of problems facing workers and communities. Fisk is also an IU professor emeritus of philosophy.The national branch of Jobs with Justice recently encouraged all local chapters to have protests against any austerity measures of interest to the community, Fisk said. Rather than protest general austerity, Fisk said he chose to focus on Medicaid expansion.“The issue of Medicaid seemed of most local interest because Indiana has such a horrible Medicaid system,” Fisk said.Sen.-elect Mark Stoops, D-Bloomington and two others also spoke at the rally. Afterwards, a group of about 20 participants marched to Young’s office at the Showers Building, 401 N. Morton St., to present the petition.After realizing the doors to Young’s office were locked, the group unsuccessfully attempted to enter the building through the City Hall entrance. They found no way to connect to Young’s office.“(The rally) sort of disappeared when we found out we couldn’t get into Todd’s office,” Fisk said.In the petition to Young, citizens encouraged the congressman to stand firm against federal pressures by the U.S. Congress “to limit the availability of basic health care to people whose income is at or below 133 percent of the federal poverty level.”The group made similar requests in a petition for Pence, with an added focus on Medicaid in Indiana.Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, states have the option not to expand Medicaid coverage, according to the Medicaid government website.“Indiana hasn’t decided yet, but Pence has made quite a bit of noise hinting that they’re not going to do the expansion,” said Dr. Rob Stone, one of the speakers at the rally. “At the Indiana level, let’s expand. At the federal level, let’s not contract.”Stone is the director of Hoosiers for a Commonsense Health Plan and has been a doctor at IU Health Bloomington Hospital for nearly three decades.Stone said the Medicaid coverage legislation is of major concern to the hospital.“The hospital takes care of lots of uninsured people,” Stone said. “The Indiana hospitals need this money. Hospitals have talked about laying people off.”Fisk said Pence has suggested plans to hold out for expansion of the state’s current Healthy Indiana Plan. According to the Indiana Medicaid website, the plan covers individuals who do not live with a dependent child and parents who earn up to approximately $44,000 annually for a family of four, have been uninsured for six months and do not have access to insurance through their employer.“That program could not come anywhere near to covering the number of people that need health care at the lower income level,” Fisk said. “That’s why we’re pushing.”The state’s expansion of Medicaid is a pressing issue for local non-profits as well.One rally participant, Toby Strout, is the executive director of Middle Way House, a Bloomington nonprofit that works with women coping in the aftermath of domestic violence.Middle Way House helps these women gain employment. But with low Medicaid coverage, this income increase could mean a loss of essential medical care, Strout said.“Once they begin earning a ridiculously low amount of money, they lose their Medicaid,” Strout said. “If they lose their Medicaid, they lose their prescriptions. They lose their ability to work, so they don’t end up making any money.”
(12/10/12 5:26am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Upon entering Jeff Scofield’s dimly lit antique store, The Warehouse, Saturday afternoon, shoppers were greeted with live piano music, tinsel–clad Christmas trees and trays of cookies scattered throughout the store. The Warehouse was one of 14 stores in downtown Bloomington holding holiday open houses Saturday and Sunday, offering shoppers discounts, refreshments and maps to other vintage stores. “A lot of times these stores have holiday open houses, but they’re all at different times,” said Scofield, who created the event last year. “I think it’s really important for us to work together.”The holidays aren’t typically a busy time for antique stores. Most shoppers flock to major department stores for holiday gifts, Scofield said. But last year, the “14 Shops of Christmas” event significantly increased traffic and sales at The Warehouse, 426 S. College Ave, which offers mid-century decorative art and furniture, he said. Sara Harvey, owner of Vintage Wearhouse, 401 E. Fourth St., said the event helps publicize Bloomington’s vintage store scene. “This gives us a chance to show them where the other places are,” Harvey said. “It’s a matter of sharing.”The advertising provided is cheaper than the usual forms of publicity, Harvey said, because Scofield takes the cost of posters, fliers and radio ads and divides it among the 14 stores. Vintage Wearhouse paid $40 for all event publicity, compared to the $76 a small advertisement in the Herald-Times costs, Harvey said. Amber Zaragoza, owner of vintage store Anatomy, 116 S. Grant St., said she supports the collaboration because it could bring new consumers to the thrift-shopping market. “It’s important for people to know that if you shop at one vintage store you can shop at the others,” Zaragoza said. “We can spread the wealth.”Zaragoza is a 2008 IU graduate who majored in painting and art history. She opened her shop a year and a half ago. Zaragoza said she has seen a slight increase in sales during the holiday season, especially since the election. “Everybody talks about how bad the economy is so we all hide,” Zaragoza said. “It’s a little rocky during election years. I’ve talked to a lot of other businesses and they all said it’s true.”Anatomy provided shoppers with 20 percent off all store merchandise, which consists mostly of clothing and accessories. Sisters Betsy and Emily Winters, a junior and senior at IU, respectively, weren’t aware of the open houses until they arrived at Anatomy Dec. 8. “I haven’t even heard of half of these, which is weird because they’re all near here,” Betsy Winters said. The sisters said they planned to visit other stores on the list in the hopes of finding one-of-a-kind holiday gifts for their relatives. “They’re unique,” Betsy Winters said. “Other people aren’t going to have them. I would rather support a local business.”Emily Winters said she also appreciates the opportunity to reuse already-produced goods.“At least this has already been made in a sweatshop,” Emily Winters said. “We can cut off the middle man a little bit.”Zaragoza said Bloomington’s artistic and progressive community is a supportive and ideal market for vintage stores. “There’s a big awareness about the importance of shopping locally,” she said. Harvey said some of her store’s best customers are parents of IU students who come to drop off or pick up their sons and daughters. They are often impressed by the number and variety of antique stores within close walking distance. “They are really appreciative that this is here, and they can make a day out of it,” Harvey said.For Bloomington resident Andrea Scheibel, the antique shopping extravaganza offered her a chance to try shopping vintage for the first time. “It’s nice not always going to all the big stores,” Scheibel said, as she flipped through antique Life magazines at The Warehouse. “It’s been a fun, unusual holiday shopping day.”
(12/10/12 2:36am)
Milton Fisk, director of Jobs with Justice, leads rally participants Dec. 8 in a march to the office of Rep. Todd Young, R-9th District, to petition for the expansion of Medicaid on federal and state levels.
(12/10/12 2:36am)
Milton Fisk, director of Jobs with Justice, leads rally participants Dec. 8 in a march to the office of Rep. Todd Young, R-9th District, to petition for the expansion of Medicaid on federal and state levels.
(12/10/12 2:34am)
Bloomington resident Travis Bloom performs live holiday music at The Warehouse, an antique store on S. College Ave. participating in the "14 Shops of Christmas" local holiday shopping event Dec. 9
(12/07/12 4:50am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Monroe County Fairgrounds community room was packed with at least 100 people Thursday night who gathered to address the plans for the next I-69 section connecting Bloomington and Martinsville. The Indiana Department of Transportation presented the public hearing on the Tier 2 Draft Environmental Impact Statement, a detailed evaluation of the preferred alternative route for the highway and its compliance with environmental and legal concerns. The Section 5 corridor is 21 miles long and upgrades the existing State Road 37 to interstate standards, INDOT spokesperson Will Wingfield said.In the community room, INDOT representatives guided attendees through the maps and diagrams that detailed the construction plans in different regions of the preferred Section 5 route. A comment area in the center of the room allowed community members to submit opinions, which can also be submitted online or by mail until Jan. 2, Section 5 Team Manager Mary Jo Hamman said. “All of the comments we receive are reviewed and will be documented in the final decision as INDOT moves forward,” Hamman said. The discussed Section 5 meets where Section 4 ends in Bloomington, a stretch that is expected to open by 2014. “Once Section 4 opens, there’s going to be a lot of traffic,” Wingfield said. “We’re working on getting out the safety improvements needed to take I-37 to interstate standards.”Hamman said the preferred alternative described in the draft reduces the environmental and financial costs by building on existing infrastructure.“We’re looking at reusing the existing pavement out there today,” Hamman said. “That will reduce cost and construction time.”In the corner of the community room, a banner that read “Save it, don’t pave it” marked the booth belonging to Citizens for Appropriate Rural Roads. CARR representative Thomas Tokarski gave an opposing statement during the forum. “It’s time for a time-out on I-69,” Tokarski said. “Many things have changed since this highway was proposed 22 years ago. Indiana cannot maintain the roads and bridges it already has.”All public comments were limited to two minutes and were regulated by a large stoplight, which provided yellow and red lights to warn speakers of time restraints. Police officers stood at the entrance of the auditorium, overseeing the public comment portion. Several speakers voiced concerns about funding the next section of I-69. “We hear a lot of talk about this fiscal cliff,” said Tim Maloney, senior policy director for the Hoosier Environmental Council. “It is our own fiscal cliff as we continue to plan for I-69 but not on how to pay for it.”INDOT has planned a route that will attempt to minimize the residence displacements, Hamman said. For the preferred alternative, an estimated 150 residencies, 32 businesses and one church will potentially be displaced, Hamman said. Martinsville resident Melissa Schiff said she owns seven businesses in Martinsville that are listed as potentially displaced properties. “If you lose your property right now you may get enough to pay off your mortgage, but you may not get another mortgage in this environment,” Schiff said. “When they pay for your real estate, they don’t pay for your loss of business.”Bloomington resident Jim Murphy voiced his appreciation of the proposed safety improvements I-69 could provide. Murphy also gave a personal testimony to the safety concerns. Three years ago this month, an automobile accident killed his mother, sister and brother.“The driver of that vehicle was driving from Evansville,” Murphy said. “If this highway had been there at that time, my family would be here today.”Bloomington resident Bruce Storm, a small business owner with 19 children, also said he is an adamant supporter of the highway and the improvement it could provide to economic development. “As an active realtor, I have my ears to the ground,” Storm said. “Southwest Indiana needs this highway. We need to understand the money will come because this project is too important for it not to come.”
(12/06/12 4:40am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Newborn Everett Philippsen sucked on his mother’s forefinger as he lay in her arms, wrapped in a white blanket. “You were very punctual,” Columbus resident Melissa Philippsen said to her new son. Melissa began labor shortly after 2 a.m. Wednesday at the Columbus Regional Hospital, exactly 40 weeks and one day into her pregnancy. Everett was born at the optimal term length for labor, but the same cannot be said for a growing number of babies born nationwide. One out of every eight babies in the United States is born prematurely, according to March of Dimes Program Specialist Minjoo Morlan. The Columbus Regional Hospital is one of 100 hospitals nationwide and four hospitals in Indiana that has been selected to implement a 39+ Weeks Quality Improvement Service Package through the March of Dimes “Healthy Babies are Worth the Wait” campaign. Since Saturday, the hospital is enforcing a new policy that prohibits unnecessary elective-induced labors and cesarean deliveries scheduled before 39 weeks of pregnancy. “Before it was a good idea, but now it’s the absolute rule,” Birthing Center Manager Diane Taylor said. The other three hospitals participating from Indiana are Terre Haute Union Hospital, DeKalb Health in Auburn, Ind.,and Floyd Memorial Hospital in New Albany, Ind., Morlan said. Taylor said the center was chosen for the initiative because it had already been making strides in premature birth prevention since 2006. “We were almost always hitting that goal of 39 weeks,” Taylor said. “They asked us to join the initiative to share our success.”The March of Dimes initiative grant will allow the hospital to enter data in a web-based portal in order to monitor monthly progress and compare data with other hospitals, Morlan said. The organization will also provide the hospital with technical assistance, patient education programs and ways to connect with other hospitals in the nation that have completed the process before. “It’s educating the staff members and helping the hospital provide healthier messages to the community,” Morlan said. Clinical Nurse Specialist Margie Campbell said the number of inductions has been increasing steadily during the last decade. The reported rate of labor induction in the U.S. has more than doubled since 1990, from 9.5 percent to 22.5 percent in 2006, according to a press release. “There’s an increased risk of a C-section when you’re forcing it to happen,” Labor Nurse Amy Imlay said. “It also makes for longer labors.” Morlan said the rising trend in induced labors is due to a lack of awareness of the risks involved. She emphasizes the need to clarify proper term lengths to expecting mothers. “People might think nine months of pregnancy is full term. However, full term is actually 40 weeks,” Morlan said. As a new mother, Philippsen said she believed a natural pregnancy and labor were essential in order for baby Everett to be as healthy as possible. “I’m all for that,” Philippsen said. “I felt like he would come when he was ready, and that was what was important to me.”By Samantha Schmidt
(12/04/12 3:27am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Freshman Grace Koury spun in her romantic white tutu as artificial snowflakes fell from above. “The Nutcracker” was Koury’s first production as a ballet dancer in the Jacobs School of Music and her first time dancing in front of 1,460 people in the sold-out Musical Arts Center auditorium. As she took her final bow on stage, she envisioned herself as a professional ballerina finishing her company’s annual “Nutcracker” production. She reflected on her decision to come to IU and pursue an undergraduate degree in ballet, a choice that is difficult for any aspiring ballerina to make. After being accepted into the Jacobs School during her senior year of high school, Koury was given an offer to dance professionally for the Los Angeles Ballet. “It was really hard to choose this over a traineeship, because the window gap is very small for getting a job opportunity,” Koury said. “There’s always girls younger than you coming up. Since careers can be short, the earlier you start, the longer your career will be.”In the world of ballet, it is common for companies to begin hiring dancers at the age of 17 or 18, ballet department Chair Michael Vernon said. Dancers who start working for a company at a young age are often promoted sooner to soloist positions, he said. “Young people are very impatient,” Vernon said. “They just want to get on stage and dance.”Koury said when she first started the school year, she began to have second thoughts about her decision. “For me it was because of the unknown,” she said. “It’s kind of hard being here, because people my age are dancing professionally now. It’s just kind of a time-game you have to think about.”Vernon said it is common for ballet students to leave the program after receiving a job offer at a company. “It happens about three or four times a year,” Vernon said. “We lost a freshman and a junior last year.”Koury said as she began rehearsals for “The Nutcracker” and her days became even more consumed by dance, her second thoughts became less painful. She said the production made her appreciate the professional nature of the ballet department. “It wasn’t like a school production,” Koury said. “It was like a company production. Getting to see all the upperclassmen and how incredibly talented they are, I realized I could strive for that,” she said. Vernon said the Jacobs School offers students an experience that is very similar to that of a major professional company. Most of the faculty have experience dancing in the professional field, and Vernon often uses his connections with companies to help his students find jobs after graduating, he said. “Students have a chance to dance lead roles well before they would in a ballet company,” Vernon said. There are currently 52 dancers in the ballet program, and the department enrolls anywhere from 15 to 20 freshmen each year. About one out of every eight dancers who auditions is accepted into the program, Vernon said. Freshman Alex Hartnett deferred her enrollment to IU for a year so she could dance with the professional company Ballet Arizona immediately after graduating from high school. “It was bittersweet,” she said. “I really wanted to go out and dance, but I had already fallen in love with IU.”Hartnett said she decided to accept the offer to gain experience and an understanding of the professional work environment. “It was not only what was expected, but it was what I wanted to do,” Hartnett said. “Being a professional ballerina dancer has been my dream for so long.”Hartnett said the training and rehearsal schedule at Ballet Arizona was very comparable to the workload in the Ballet Department at IU. At Ballet Arizona, she had classes and rehearsals every weekday from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. As a freshman ballet major at IU, she dances from 11:30 a.m. to 5:45 p.m. Monday through Friday. Hartnett said it is common for many ballet majors to graduate in three years to begin working as soon as possible. Due to the short length of a ballet dancer’s career, an undergraduate degree is extremely important for aspiring ballerinas, Vernon said. Ballerinas often retire in their mid-30s, depending on the person’s physical health. “There’s definite drawbacks to starting young,” Vernon said. “When you do retire or if you get injured, you won’t have an education to fall back on. The years (in college) are far better spent when you’re 18 than when you’re 40.”Hartnett said the program requires students to take classes in a field of study outside ballet. She recently decided to pursue informatics as her outside concentration. “Being here and getting my degree is going to be so useful,” Hartnett said. “It’s so great that they let you explore those interests while still focusing on your ultimate goal.”
(12/03/12 4:29am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Indianapolis-based Timmy Global Health is one of 25 organizations competing for $1 million and the title of the nation’s best non-profit organization at the 2nd Annual American Giving Awards presented by Chase Bank.Timmy Global Health is the only organization from Indiana in the competition, which is described as the “Oscars of nonprofits,” Timmy Global Health Executive Director Matt MacGregor said. Online voting, which lasts until Tuesday, will decide the five finalist charities that will split $2 million in grants, with one organization winning the top $1 million prize, MacGregor said. NBC will announce the winners and air the AGAs nationally on Saturday. Timmy Global Health, which was founded in Indianapolis in 1997, has a dual mission of expanding health care across the world and inspiring the next generation to become involved in global health disparities, MacGregor said. The organization sends medical service teams and resources to support seven community-based health and development projects in Ecuador, Guatemala, Dominican Republic, Nigeria and the United States, according to the organization’s website.Timmy accomplishes its international efforts through the work of 35 student chapters nationwide. IU is home to the first and largest Timmy student chapter, which was founded 11 years ago, IU chapter president David Plankenhorn said. Macgregor said IU’s group has been the strongest and most consistent chapter. “There’s such a passion across our student chapters for the work we do,” Macgregor said. “They’re really the foundation of our work.”IU’s Timmy Global Health chapter sends a group of about 20 students on a medical brigade to rural Guatemala every year during spring break, Plankenhorn said. The students raise between $15,000 and $20,000 each year to fund and provide resources for a clinic in a Guatemalan school called Pop Wuj. Aside from fundraising, students seek vitamin donations at Kroger grocery stores to provide for children in Guatemala. The group also takes part in philanthropy projects in the Bloomington community, Plakenhorn said. “The reason I’m so invested in Timmy is because of how sustainable it is,” Plankenhorn said. “It’s not like we’re going down there and leaving. We have people down there all year long.” Plankenhorn said he appreciates the way the organization supports its student volunteers and encourages future careers in medicine. “They really invest in what we do and take the time to explain it to us,” Plankenhorn said. “After I graduate, Timmy is going to be one of those things I continue to do as a physician.” Students in the organization are pushing for votes this week by sending emails and encouraging students to vote at locations, such as the Herman B Wells Library. The voting takes place on Facebook as well as a website through Chase Bank Community Giving. Macgregor said the Indiana network has been essential in the effort to win votes. “The owner of the Colts is tweeting about us,” Macgregor said. “The mayor of Indy is tweeting about us and included us in a newsletter. This community is really getting behind us. I’m feeling optimistic.”If Timmy wins one of the top monetary prizes, Macgregor said the organization plans to use the money to increase its investments in public health programs as well as volunteer opportunities for students. Even if the nonprofit does not win, the competition has provided an important boost in publicity for Timmy Global Health, Plankenhorn said. “We’re taking a big step from a local organization to a national organization,” Plankenhorn said. Macgregor hopes the competition will not only shine the spotlight on Timmy Global Health but also on the state of Indiana. “There’s this Hoosier pride we have,” Plankenhorn said. “We want to make sure that when the curtain opens, it’s an Indiana organization that gets the top prize.”
(11/30/12 5:30am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The room was silent as the list of names of local deceased HIV/AIDS victims was read. Community members and volunteers gathered at the Fountain Square Ballroom Thursday for a celebration and remembrance in honor of World AIDS Day, which is celebrated Saturday. Nashville, Ind., resident Robert Brinkley barely missed the list of names this year. He has been HIV-positive for 32 years and has been placed on life support three times, most recently in February. He feeds himself through a tube and experiences frequent seizures from years of chemotherapy. “My doctor says no one in the U.S. has lived this long with AIDS,” Brinkley said. “For some reason, God got a purpose for me. There could be a cure in my body that’s keeping me alive.”Brinkley said the virus is now undetectable in his body. Positive Link, a nonprofit organization that works through IU Health Bloomington Hospital,, is the regional HIV/AIDS support organization that provides prevention and social services for those impacted by the virus in southeast Indiana, Health Educator Meredith Short said. Positive Link provided Brinkley with counseling, therapy and financial help. They helped him recover from a drug addiction and even paid for a plane ticket when his mother died. Most importantly, it provided him with a companion, Bloomington resident Barb Muncy. At the World AIDS Day ceremony, Muncy was awarded with the Celia Busch “Making a Difference” award for her work through Positive Link, and especially for her dedicated relationship with Brinkley. “I was all strung out on meth at the time and Positive Link didn’t know what to do with me,” Brinkley said. Positive Link connected Muncy with Brinkley and they began speaking on the phone about once a week. Now, Brinkley calls Muncy three times per day, Muncy said. She accompanies Brinkley to his doctor’s appointments, goes to all of his therapy sessions, brings his medicine to his home and even takes care of his dog when he leaves town. “She’s been like a golden angel sitting on my shoulder all the time,” he said. Muncy choked up while accepting her award and said she was overwhelmed by the recognition. “It’s really been an honor and a privilege to work with him,” Muncy said. “He is special.”This is the 19th year the World AIDS Day event has taken place. This year’s theme was “Getting to Zero,” referring to reaching a level of zero new infections. It was organized by the Community Action Group of South Central Indiana, which represents several HIV/AIDS support groups, including Positive Link. The ceremony included several musical performances, including appearances by IU musical theatre students and IU a capella group Ladies First. The event’s emotional climax was a remembrance ceremony. One by one, members of the audience went to the front of the room to light a candle in honor of a loved one who has died of the infection, a few individuals saying names into a microphone. “It’s very powerful to see so many people from the community celebrating how far we’ve come and remembering those who have lost their lives,” Positive Link Care Coordinator Tammy Baynes said. In addition to social support, Positive Link provides financial assistance to local HIV victims, often paying for medical insurance, housing, transportation and food. During the holiday months, Positive Link organizes a gift drive, called Gifts of Grace, that collects wish lists from clients and invites community members to “adopt” someone affected with HIV. There will be 233 clients who will be receiving gifts this year, Short said. As of June 2012, there were 221 known cases of HIV in Monroe County, Short said. Eighty percent of Positive Link’s clients live on or below Indiana’s poverty level, according to a statement made by Positive Link in a press release. “It can severely impact people’s ability to work,” Positive Link Prevention Coordinator and CAG Chair Emily Brinegar said. “It’s a difficult cycle. Living on social security, you don’t have a lot of money. Medical costs can be dangerous.”Short said there are still cases in which employers will lay off HIV positive workers if they find out about their diagnosis. “There’s still a stigma with HIV, unfortunately,” Short said. “There’s a lot of fear based on lack of education.”Positive Link aims to increase awareness about the risks and continue to support its clients to meet their basic needs. Brinkley said Positive Link has completely changed his life. “They held my hand when I couldn’t hang on no more,” Brinkley said. “They held on for me.”
(11/30/12 4:34am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Indiana Economic Development Corporation announced a record-breaking number of new or expanded businesses in the state for the year 2012. The 220 companies working with the IEDC have already decided to expand or establish new business operations in Indiana, an increase from the 219 decisions announced last year, IEDC spokesperson Katelyn Hancock said. “It’s exciting that we have already surpassed previous records with five weeks left of the year,” Hancock said. The companies, which included corporations such as Magnetation, Amazon, Finish Line, Appirio and Toyota, anticipate creating 20,866 new jobs and investing a combined total of $3.6 billion in Indiana operations in coming years, according to a press release. The new jobs pay an estimated average hourly wage of $22.35, above the state’s current average hourly wage of $19.66. Meanwhile, the average amount of state conditional tax incentives offered to companies on a per job basis is $8,916, down from around $37,000 in previous administrations, according to the release. “This is especially remarkable considering the ongoing concerns over the fiscal cliff that have caused many companies to curtail investment plans,” said Dan Hasler, secretary of commerce and chief executive officer of the IEDC. By working with the IEDC, companies are awarded performance-based tax credit as well as training grants, Hancock said. Indiana ranked fifth in the 2012 Pollina Corporate Top 10 Pro-Business States study, according to the IEDC website. It is also one of only nine states to earn a AAA credit rating.Hancock said Indiana’s low taxes and highly skilled workforce make the state an attractive place to locate a business.“We have a robust infrastructure,” he said. “That’s key for companies. Indiana is located within a day’s drive of 80 percent of the U.S. population.”Gov. Mitch Daniels has focused his two terms on transforming Indiana into a pro-growth state, according to the release.In February 2012, Daniels signed the controversial right-to-work legislation, which prohibits employee contracts that require union membership, making Indiana the first state in the industrial Midwest to pass such laws. Opponents to the law argue the right-to-work law will weaken unions, creating lower wages and worse working conditions in the Hoosier state.“It gives companies the flexibility to respond more effectively to the needs of the marketplace,” Hancock said. “Companies more and more are saying right-to-work is factoring into their choice to locate their businesses here.”Hancock said Gov.-elect Mike Pence has supported the state’s current pro-business efforts. “I think we’ll see a very seamless transition,” Hancock said. “Mike Pence wants to make Indiana an even more attractive place for business.”
(11/27/12 5:13am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Hostess fruit pies, classic white Wonder Bread and Duplex cookies were some of the last items left on the barren shelves in the Wonder Bread Hostess outlet store in Bloomington Monday afternoon. Lead clerk and Bedford, Ind., resident Ruby Lovell swept the floor of the practically empty store. She has worked in the same shop for 34 years, and today could be her last day. When Lovell arrived at work at 7 a.m., she did not know whether the store would open another day. If a shipment arrived overnight, there would be products to sell. If not, the store would be closed for good. On Nov. 16, employees were notified that Hostess Brands Inc. was shutting down, and the outlet store would be forced to close, Lovell said. The winding down process officially began after a failed mediation Nov. 20 between Hostess and the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco and Grain Millers Union, the group that initiated a nationwide strike that crippled the financially struggling company, according to a press release. The wind-down means the loss of 18,500 jobs nationwide, according to a press release. Two major Indiana bakeries in Columbus and Indianapolis and at least 20 outlet stores across Indiana have been forced to close, said Bloomington store clerk Kristina Bauer. Employees at the bakery in Columbus were instructed not to speak to any media outlets about the closure.The Bloomington store and one other outlet store in Indianapolis were the only two Hostess stores in Indiana that remained open as of Monday, Bauer said.“We had a two-hour notice,” Bauer said. “They told us that as soon as the store was empty, this (Bloomington) location would be shut down.” On Nov. 17, the store began selling all products at 50 percent off. The store’s inventory sold out almost entirely as customers rushed to stock up on Hostess products. Monday was the first day the store began to clean off its shelves, Bauer said. “By Thursday closing, we didn’t have anything,” Bauer said. “No Twinkies, no Ding Dongs.”Bauer said the store has been facing closure concerns for more than a year. Hostess Brands Inc. filed for bankruptcy in January. Despite the closure, Bauer said she doesn’t blame the unions for striking for higher wages. For Lovell, the nationwide strike means the loss of her job and the loss of an essential store for the community. “I was looking forward to retirement, not the whole place closing down,” Lovell said. “The strikers were like suicidal people that had no feelings for anyone but themselves.” The small store on South Old State Road opened Aug. 17, 1978. Before that, the Hostess outlet was a “hole in the wall” on South Walnut Street, where Spring Dry Cleaners is currently located, Lovell said. Lovell was one of three employees at the store when it first opened. “I needed a job to raise my kids,” she said. “I had been here 14 years before I became manager.”Lovell said she believes low-income families will be hit hard by the closure of Hostess. “Hostess products played a big role,” Lovell said. “Grandma could afford to feed her grandkids.”Bloomington resident Douglas Ross is a regular. He said he goes to the Hostess store once per week to buy a loaf of bread. “For $4 you can buy enough bread here to last a month,” Ross said. “Now that’s about what it costs for one loaf elsewhere.”The store sold all Wonder Bread loaves for 99 cents per loaf year-round, Bauer said. She said she would often hear from people who would pay up to $2.89 per loaf at the Kroger grocery store down the street. Bloomington Kroger officials said all Hostess products were taken off the shelves as soon as the company announced its closure. Bauer said the outlet often received customers from other counties who would make the drive to get the store’s savings. “This whole community is like a big family,” Bauer said. “A lot of people come once a day ... you see the same people over and over again.”Ross said he grew up eating Hostess products and remembers buying Zingers as a child, when the company sponsored the Charlie Brown Christmas television special. “Once in a while it was a good treat,” Ross said. Ellettsville, Ind., resident Mike Drake said he hopes a company will purchase Hostess assets so the products will continue to be available to customers. Drake said he would shop at the store every couple of weeks to purchase Hostess snacks for his children’s school lunches. “The kids are gonna miss it,” Drake said. “What kid doesn’t love Hostess?”
(11/15/12 6:51am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Lily, a 6-month-old beaver, grasped her stuffed beaver toy, her black nose sticking out of her cage. She was found lying on her dead mother in May in northern Indiana, near Michigan. The baby beaver was taken in by WildCare Inc., a wildlife rehabilitation center in Bloomington, where she will undergo two years of rehabilitation for metabolic bone disease. For now, center volunteers have taken the place of Lily’s mom, giving her “beaver lessons” in smacking her tail and collecting branches while feeding her broccoli and blueberries, her favorite foods. “We try to hold her close and talk to her and teach her things she’s going to need for the wild,” Center Manager Jennifer Cunningham said. “She’s spoiled rotten.”Lily is one of the 2,007 animals admitted to the wildlife center this year, a record number that is triple the number of intakes from 2010, Cunningham said. This increase, matched with a decline in funding, has caused the center to temporarily close its doors to animals.The increased intake is attributed to the early spring and summer’s hard-hitting drought, which led to dehydration and emaciation in several wild species, Cunningham said. An upward trend in diseases like West Nile Virus and a hemorrhagic disease found in deer called bluetongue also contributed. “With the increase in intakes and (the animals) staying longer because of illness, it depleted what we had,” Cunningham said. The center, a non-profit organization with a $95,000 annual budget, receives no federal funding or tax money and relies entirely on community donations, Cunningham said. A decrease in donations also contributed to the financial struggles, which led the center to place a hold on intakes.“We were very scared when we looked in our freezer and realized how low we were on food,” Cunningham said. “The money wasn’t there to buy more.”It costs an average of $70 to care for each animal in the center. The center was required to give several of its birds a vaccination for the West Nile Virus, costing an additional $2,000 to vaccinate its 13 baby Eastern Screech Owls.“With the outpour of outreach for the community, we have paid off our debt for 2012,” Cunningham said. “However, it does not leave us with much for the beginning of 2013.”During the last two weeks, due to an increased awareness in the community, the center received roughly $10,000 in donations, mostly from one donor, volunteer Lane Vargas said. Vargas is in charge of organizing WildCare’s fourth annual Holiday Bazaar on Dec. 1, which will serve as an important fundraiser. Cunningham said she hopes to plan additional fundraisers and seek out any grants that could improve funding. WildCare Inc. currently receives a $3,500 stipend from the City of Bloomington, mainly due to the way the center often receives animals from the City of Bloomington Animal Care and Control shelter, Cunningham said. The animal shelter, a member of the city’s Department of Public Works, is provided with year-long city funding, while the rehabilitation center is not. Cunningham said that although WildCare Inc. has had a solid relationship with the local Department of Natural Resources, the state-wide DNR has not proved as supportive. “The DNR likes to drop off animals to us, but they never make a donation,” Cunningham said. “A lot of them feel like we should just leave (wild animals) be.”To avoid another intake influx, the center will set quotas for the number of animals they can accept from each species next year, Vargas said. The center hopes to begin accepting animals again in about two weeks, starting by only taking endangered animals, Cunningham said. Bats are one of several endangered species cared for by WildCare Inc., Cunningham said. Although the center just released its last two bats, by the end of the month, the number of bats in the region that will need rehabilitation will rise. The species is hit hard by daylight savings, Cunningham said. As the days get darker earlier, there is increased traffic on roads during normal eating times for bats, causing increased deaths by vehicle. Cunningham emphasized that wildlife rehabilitation centers like WildCare do more than simply help care for sick, injured and orphaned animals — they also have a positive effect on the local environment. “If you don’t have bats you’ll have an overpopulation of bugs. If you don’t have owls or hawks, you’ll have an overpopulation of rodents,” Cunningham said. “They make the eco-system run. Dogs and cats don’t.” Vargas agrees that many people think humans should just let nature run its course. “Ninety percent or more of animals we get are harmed by humans,” Vargas said. “I don’t really think that’s nature running its course. It’s worth the effort to me.”
(11/15/12 6:47am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Bloomington City Council unanimously approved a highly debated provision Wednesday night requiring all rental units to install hard-wired, interconnected smoke detectors. The mandate requires that all battery-powered smoke detectors be upgraded on the basis that hard-wired interconnected smoke detectors are more durable and less prone to malfunction, City Clerk Regina Moore said. On Oct. 1, 2011, IU student Renee Ohrn died in a fire at Terra Trace Apartments. The smoke detector in the apartment where the fire started had been removed several days prior.The newly required upgrades have received opposition from landlords due to high costs of installation. The smoke detectors would cost about $500 per unit and have a service life-span of 10 years, council member Martin Spechler said.The council’s original proposed changes were amended after the council refrained from voting on the legislation at the Common Council meeting Nov. 7. The most drastic amendment extended the deadline for the smoke detector upgrades from 2014 to Dec. 31, 2018, council member Darryl Neher said. This extension was put forth in order to allow landlords additional time to gather needed revenues to meet the costs of smoke detector compliancy. Prior to passing the ordinance during Wednesday night’s meeting, the council voted 8-1 to pass the deadline extension amendment, with Spechler providing the only opposing vote. Spechler argued that the extension provided too long a time frame to address the hazards. During the public comment portion of the meeting, landlords once again voiced their concerns with the high costs, which the landlord for Varsity Properties said would amount to more than $200,000 worth of installations across all of his properties. However, several landlords expressed their appreciation of the timeframe extension, saying it would help lessen the financial burden. Smoke detector upgrades make up one of several chapters of new provisions in the City’s Property Maintenance code, Title 16. Others include increased inspection fees and a provision requiring attached garages in rental units be equipped with carbon monoxide detectors, according to the legislation documents. Council member Darryl Neher emphasized that despite the extended deadline for installation, the council will work with landlords and the Housing and Neighborhood Development Department to find ways to provide incentives for early installation. Vice President Susan Sandberg said due to the large presence of rental properties in the city, she believes the smoke detector provision marks a crucial safety improvement. “Sixty percent of housing in Bloomington comes from rental properties,” Sandberg said. “It is the right thing to do with respect to safety in this community. It could save a life.”