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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.

Monroe County health board to decide on Sept. 22 about possible extension of mask mandate into October

Monroe County health board to decide on Sept. 22 about possible extension of mask mandate into October

Monroe County’s indoor mask mandate, which is intended to help prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic virus, will almost certainly stay in place through its current expiration date of Sept. 30. The mask mandate has been in place since Aug. 5. Whether it will be extended into

COVID-19 Update: Hospitalizations keep climbing

COVID-19 Update: Hospitalizations keep climbing

The long Labor Day weekend meant that on Tuesday at noon there were four days worth of fresh data updated to the state of Indiana’s COVID-19 dashboard. A note indicated hospitalization numbers for three of the days—Friday, Saturday, and Sunday—would be missing. But Monday’s statewide

Column: Bloomington’s city council should allow future annexees to serve on redistricting advisory commission

Column: Bloomington’s city council should allow future annexees to serve on redistricting advisory commission

All eight annexation ordinances that Bloomington’s city council will consider on Sept. 15 include a date on which their affected areas become a part of the city: Jan. 1, 2024. That’s less than two months after the next city elections for mayor, city clerk and city councilmembers. If

Column: Bloomington city council should quickly kill ordinance on meeting length, focus instead on budget, annexation and climate change

Column: Bloomington city council should quickly kill ordinance on meeting length, focus instead on budget, annexation and climate change

Introduced at last Wednesday’s Bloomington city council meeting was a possible new local law (Ordinance 21-34) that would attempt to put a time limit on city council meetings. Probably every current and future Bloomington resident would welcome a world where the meetings of the local legislature did not

Bloomington corporation counsel on city council’s police pay resolution: “This is in some ways the council taking over the bargaining process.”

Bloomington corporation counsel on city council’s police pay resolution: “This is in some ways the council taking over the bargaining process.”

The backdrop of a city council work session on Friday was news that another Bloomington police officer had unexpectedly left the department the day before, following on the heels of a resignation the previous week. The focus of the work session was to consider a resolution calling for increased police

Bloomington gets final OK from feds for $3.5 million grant towards technology center

Bloomington gets final OK from feds for $3.5 million grant towards technology center

In a news release issued Friday afternoon, the city of Bloomington announced that it had received a $3.5-million award from the federal Economic Development Administration (EDA) to help build a technology center in the Trades District. The location is north of Bloomington’s city hall building in the

Monroe County election board member on voting logistics: “We don’t want to be forced to make lemonade out of lemons.”

Monroe County election board member on voting logistics: “We don’t want to be forced to make lemonade out of lemons.”

Monroe County commissioners want the election board to consider an approach to early voting that would use more than one location for voters to cast their ballots ahead of election day. County commissioners would also like the election board to pursue the option of establishing “vote centers” for voting on