WFHB FireHouse Broadcasting

The Conspiracy Tour is a month-long excursion across the United States to build solidarity for political activists in the Midwest who are facing severe state repression and give local organizers some basic guidelines for dealing effectively with law enforcement. The tour is in support of the RNC 8, political organizers from Minneapolis facing charges of conspiracy to riot and conspiracy to damage property from the 2008 Republican National Convention. As part of the RNC Welcoming Committee, they organized logistics for protesters such as a meeting space and free meals.

Several times a year WFHB partners with the Bloomington Storytelling Project to host a live storytelling event, featuring local stories shared by the people who experienced them. There are only two rules for story submissions: they must be less than fifteen minutes long, and they must be true. The first installment of Bloomington Storytelling Project one year ago was recently recognized by the Society of Professional Journalists as the Best Radio Special in Indiana in 2009. The project is now developing a weekly half-hour story showcase.

Another world is possible, another U.S. is necessary. That was the slogan for the 2010 U.S. Social Forum, which drew fifteen thousand progressive-minded people to Detroit in June for five days of workshops on social problems and solutions. In July, the local branch of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom hosted a public forum to give some of Bloomington’s participants a platform to share what they learned. This program is a series of testimonials from that forum, from seven local people who went to Detroit.

Steve Higgs is perhaps best known as the editor of the Bloomington Alternative, a local online journal for news and commentary that has a long-standing partnership with WFHB News. This veteran muckraker has spent decades covering social and environmental justice and the neverending tug-of-war between people and corporations. His new book is called "Twenty Years of Crimes Against Democracy: A Grassroots History of the I-69 NAFTA Highway".

Alexa Tarter graduated from high school in West Lebanon, Indiana, in 2005 and graduated college in 2009. Now she works for the Haiti Foundation Against Poverty, a Michigan-based non-profit charity which helps provide Haitian children with life necessities like food, clothing, shelter, and education. In 2006 the program began food distributions. In 2008 they opened their own elementary school in Haiti, and last year opened a medical clinic for youth.

Arianna Huffington is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post, a popular website for news and commentary. She is also a nationally syndicated columnist and co-host of Left, Right and Center, public radio’s political roundtable program. In 2006 Huffington was on Time magazine’s list of the world’s most influential people, and last year Forbes Magazine called her one of the most influential women in media.

At only thirty-six years of age, Julia Butterfly Hill is already a legend in the American environmentalist movement. Hill is best known for living in a California Redwood tree nicknamed “Luna” for two years to stop loggers from cutting it down. The experience changed her life, and today Hill is an internationally known author and inspirational speaker. She is also the co-founder of the Circle of Life Foundation, and the Engage Network, a nonprofit that trains civic leaders to work toward social change.

The Dalai Lama may travel the world as an inspirational spiritual figure, but Bloomington, Indiana has a special and unique connection to his life and legacy. His older brother, the late Indiana University professor Thubten Jigme Norbu, was a longtime Bloomington resident who founded our local Tibetan Cultural Center. During his most previous visit in 2007, the Dalai Lama gave the center a new name: the Tibetan Mongolian Buddhist Cultural Center. In May 2010 the Dalai Lama once again visited Bloomington for a series of teachings on the Heart Sutra.

The Dalai Lama may travel the world as an inspirational spiritual figure, but Bloomington, Indiana has a special and unique connection to his life and legacy. His older brother, the late Indiana University professor Thubten Jigme Norbu, was a longtime Bloomington resident who founded our local Tibetan Cultural Center. During his most previous visit in 2007, the Dalai Lama gave the center a new name: the Tibetan Mongolian Buddhist Cultural Center. In May 2010 the Dalai Lama once again visited Bloomington for a series of teachings on the Heart Sutra.

The Dalai Lama may travel the world as an inspirational spiritual figure, but Bloomington, Indiana has a special and unique connection to his life and legacy. His older brother, the late IU professor Thubten Jigme Norbu, was a longtime Bloomington resident who founded our local Tibetan Cultural Center. During a previous visit in 2007, the Dalai Lama gave the center a new name: the Tibetan Mongolian Buddhist Cultural Center. In May 2010 the Dalai Lama once again visited Bloomington for a series of teachings on the Heart Sutra, aided by his personal interpreter Dr. Thupen Jinpa.