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Twenty-four-year-old Matthew Smith of Morgantown drowned last night in Lake Maxine near Plano in Morgan County; Stephen Moore of Columbus is free on twenty thousand dollars bond this afternoon after being charged with conspiracy to commit arson in Brown County; The Indiana Medical Licensing Board is considering the fate of Doctor Kamal Tiwari at this hour; Todd Young raised more money than 2010 opponent Baron Hill in the second quarter of 2010; a heat advisory is in effect today through 7pm, with another heat advisory already in effect for tomorrow; The largest animal rights organization in the world gives Bloomington a wink on its list of North American cities friendly to vegans and vegetarians; Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business finds itself a million dollars richer today after accepting an endowment from Alan and Susan Graf; the upcoming local concert by opera star Angela Brown has been postponed due to illness

FEATURE

It’s budget week in Bloomington with four straight nights of number crunching at City Hall, concluding tonight with a marathon session on the city’s public works budget. It will take nearly fifty-six million dollars to run B-town in 2011, and last night the city council spent four hours hearing presentations from the planning department, Housing and Neighborhood Development, Community and Family Resources, Parks and Recreation, and the department of Economic and Sustainable Development. The Economic and Sustainable Development department is the city’s newest administration, having presented its first budget as a stand-alone department only two years ago, after its original genesis in the Mayor’s office. While many department budgets remain essentially flat in their spending, the ESD budget goes up seventeen percent this year and includes full funding for the city’s first Sustainability director, Jackie Bauer hired in April. There’s also a big jump in a line item no council member asked about: the budget for professional consultants and workshops jumps nearly four hundred percent, from fifty-five hundred this year to more than twenty-six thousand next year. Department director Danise Alano outlines the department’s functions and looks toward a greener and more prosperous Bloomington in this WFHB radio exclusive.

VOICES IN THE STREET

Asking local residents about YOUR funding priorities for 2011.