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The East Monroe Water Corporation rescinds its boil order for customers living near East Kings Road; all three Monroe County Commissioners sign a resolution opposing the Indiana Department of Transportation’s most recent Interstate 69 report; Brown County will receive $1.8 million dollars from the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA); Steve Hogan begins his 60th district Indiana House seat campaign against Democrat Peggy Welch; Indiana Conservation Officers serve a search warrant on Hubbard’s SouthLake near Waverly in Morgan County; the Monroe County Democratic Party issues a statement against Wednesday’s block of satellite voting for the upcoming election; Indiana University stages its third annual Sex, Drugs, and Rock ‘n’ Roll event for incoming students; Indiana State Police troopers will conduct surprise sobriety checkpoint tonight.
FEATURE
The Indiana Department of Transportation held a public hearing last night in Greene County on Section Four of the proposed I-69 extension from Indianapolis to Evansville. It took just over a half hour for INDOT to present its draft environmental statement on the section of roadway that stretches from U.S. 231 near the Crane Naval Surface Warfare Center to State Road 37 just south of Bloomington. The rest of the night was dedicated to a speed round of public comment – just two minutes per speaker. The overwhelming majority of those who spoke expressed opposition to I-69 for a variety of reasons, including its environmental impact, the potential closure of eight roads in Monroe County, and of course the project’s three billion dollar pricetag. Among the more than two dozen voices of opposition who spoke last night were four elected officials from Bloomington, who made the drive to Greene County for lack of a public hearing in our own backyard. Next week we’ll feature an entire hour from the forum, but today we have time only to hear from these four local officials: Indian Creek township board member Cheryl Munson, city councilwoman Isabel Piedmont-Smith, county commissioner Mark Stoops, and we start with local school board member Valerie Merriam in this WFHB radio exclusive.
DOWNBEAT
Our resident music critic Mark Cheedah presents his top local concert picks in a new edition of the Downbeat.