Dave Askins

A proposed water rate increase by the city of Bloomington utilities (CBU) would have the average residential customer paying about $45 more per year in water fees by 2024. The proposal got a first look from the finance committee of the city’s utilities service board (USB) at its Monday

On Sunday, Indiana’s department of health dashboard noon update recorded one additional death in Monroe County due to the COVID-19 pandemic virus. It came on the first day of the year. That brings Monroe County’s total COVID-19 deaths since the start of the pandemic to 98.

Monday of Christmas week was the last meeting of 2020 for Bloomington’s redevelopment commission (RDC). It was a landmark event for a city of Bloomington government meeting. It was not special because the meeting was held using Zoom’s video-conferencing platform. Video-conferenced public meetings have been standard

Monroe County officials who won election in November took their oaths of office at noon on Friday, New Year’s Day. The 50-minute-long ceremony was hosted by the Monroe County Democratic Party. Election winners were all Democrats. The continuing COVID-19 pandemic, which added another death to Monroe

Even for a publication like The B Square Beacon, which specializes in local government coverage, the dominant story of 2020 was the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic changed the way local government meetings are run, in some ways for the better. But COVID-19 was not the only important story

At a press conference on Wednesday, Monroe County commissioner Julie Thomas called COVID-19 vaccine distribution a “hurry-up-and-wait” situation. She said in her household the question comes up every other day: “Is it here yet? Is it our turn yet?” For most people, the answer is no.