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Dave Askins

Dave Askins

Bloomington, Indiana

Dave Askins is editor and publisher of The B Square Bulletin. A Hoosier native with a background in math and linguistics, he previously co-founded the Ann Arbor Chronicle with his wife, Mary Morgan.

A look ahead to 2022: Bloomington area local government stories

A look ahead to 2022: Bloomington area local government stories

Last year’s lead art for The B Square’s look ahead to 2021 featured this caption: “These numerals began life as a photograph of the sidewalk around the courthouse square in downtown Bloomington, where the crows like to crap. It was that kind of year.” Arguably a worse year

COVID-19 update: Top Hoosier health official’s forecast of “very steep rise in cases” true just one day later

COVID-19 update: Top Hoosier health official’s forecast of “very steep rise in cases” true just one day later

Kristina Box, the health commissioner for the state of Indiana, warned at a Wednesday news conference about the looming impact of the Omicron variant of COVID-19. Box put it this way: “We expect to see a very steep rise in cases over the next several weeks.” On Thursday, the update

COVID-19 update: Confirmed cases, hospitalizations same level as last year, Holcomb looks for help convincing Hoosiers to get jabbed

COVID-19 update: Confirmed cases, hospitalizations same level as last year, Holcomb looks for help convincing Hoosiers to get jabbed

At a Wednesday afternoon news conference, Indiana governor Eric Holcomb announced he had extended his emergency health order another month. It allows local units of government to impose their own more restrictive regulations to try to curb the spread of the COVID-19 virus. But the governor’s order does not

Sidewalk projects: Bloomington city council committee set to apply new criteria for decisions on limited funds for 2022

Sidewalk projects: Bloomington city council committee set to apply new criteria for decisions on limited funds for 2022

At noon on Jan. 6, the Bloomington city council’s transportation committee is scheduled to meet to continue its work on allocating money to add new sidewalks and traffic calming to the city’s street network. Since 2007, a total of about $4 million has been allocated for new sidewalk

Opinion: Bloomington city council should appoint a youth advisor, if it wants to keep pace with the GOP

Opinion: Bloomington city council should appoint a youth advisor, if it wants to keep pace with the GOP

A week before Christmas, both major political parties made local news with their caucuses. Republicans elected 18-year-old Taylor Bryant as Monroe County Republican Party chair. Bryant became the youngest county chair ever for Monroe County and probably the state of Indiana. At their caucus, Democrats chose Jennifer Crossley as a

Column | It’s spelled out for you: Happy New Year, Bloomington!

Column | It’s spelled out for you: Happy New Year, Bloomington!

The “Happy New Year” message in this column is a bit premature, because New Year’s Day 2022 is still nearly a week away. But it’s provided early, so that B Square readers have time to study these letters and try to discern their origin, without any time pressure.

At People’s Market, Santa speaks on climate crisis, potential record warmth at Christmas: “I didn’t cause it, because I use joy and wonder to power my sled.”

At People’s Market, Santa speaks on climate crisis, potential record warmth at Christmas: “I didn’t cause it, because I use joy and wonder to power my sled.”

This year, Christmas fell on Saturday, the regular day for the weekly People’s Market, which operates from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. out of Full House Fitness on Elm Street. The market was open for business as usual this Saturday. Around 10:30 a.m. about a