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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.

Bloomington finalizing digital equity plan, with recommendation for new staff position

Bloomington finalizing digital equity plan, with recommendation for new staff position

At a sparsely attended public meeting last Tuesday, Bloomington’s IT director, Rick Dietz and consultants from Maryland-based CTC Technology and Energy made themselves available for feedback on the city’s draft digital equity strategic plan. The introduction to the plan describes “digital equity” as a situation where “all

COVID-19 Update | First vaccine doses a week away, as cases, deaths, positivity rates make hospital capacity the story of the day: “We haven’t seen a decrease in patients that we’re hoping to see.”

COVID-19 Update | First vaccine doses a week away, as cases, deaths, positivity rates make hospital capacity the story of the day: “We haven’t seen a decrease in patients that we’re hoping to see.”

Eighty-three percent of IU Health system’s intensive care unit (ICU) beds are filled statewide, but not all of them with COVID-19 patients. That’s according to Brian Shockney, president of IU Health’s south central region, speaking at Friday’s weekly press conference of local leaders to

Sidewalk committee to talk about equity at Dec. 15 meeting

Sidewalk committee to talk about equity at Dec. 15 meeting

One of the outcomes of Thursday’s meeting held by the Bloomington city council’s sidewalk committee was the addition of an agenda item to the four-member group’s next meeting, on Dec. 15. At the mid-December meeting, the committee will take up the question of its role

New Hoosier daily high of 8,514 coronavirus cases, city of Bloomington employees contribute to count

New Hoosier daily high of 8,514 coronavirus cases, city of Bloomington employees contribute to count

Through Nov. 14, the city of Bloomington had logged 17 confirmed coronavirus cases among its employees. On Thursday, the city issued two separate press releases announcing the 35th and 36th positive tests among city employees. That made for 19 cases in the last 19 days. On Wednesday night, in remarks

Cibor bloomerangs in order to head up new city engineering department

Cibor bloomerangs in order to head up new city engineering department

At its Nov. 18 meeting, Bloomington’s city council approved the creation of a new engineering department It amounted to a statutory legal formality, after a new department was included in the structure of the 2021 budget, which was adopted by the city council in mid-October. The city now

Monroe County lengthens time for CARES-style business relief, townships draw on $200K in county help: “December is not an easy month.”

Monroe County lengthens time for CARES-style business relief, townships draw on $200K in county help: “December is not an easy month.”

At its regular meeting on Wednesday, Monroe County commissioners approved a reconfiguration and an extension into next year, of a program under which it has already approved distribution of $238,880 to businesses or social service agencies and $85,713 to other taxing units. The distributions were for reimbursements related

The B Square Beacon: Local news experiment goes month-to-month into 2021

I want to start by saying thank you to everyone who has made a financial contribution to The B Square Beacon over the last 11 months. Based on those contributions, I plan to continue operations into 2021 by still putting nearly every waking moment into reporting on local government in