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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.

On split vote, public safety income tax committee recommends: No “off-the-top” allocations this year for rural fire departments

On split vote, public safety income tax committee recommends: No “off-the-top” allocations this year for rural fire departments

A committee of the Monroe County tax council voted Tuesday morning against a recommendation to allocate $353,700 of public safety income tax money to support requests made by four rural fire departments in the county. The potential direct allocation of funds to the fire departments would have made up

Bloomington RDC OKs payment of property taxes connected to real estate deal for convention center expansion

Bloomington RDC OKs payment of property taxes connected to real estate deal for convention center expansion

On Monday night, Bloomington’s redevelopment commission (RDC) approved the payment of some property taxes, on land it does not (yet) own. The uncommon circumstance arose from the fact that when the RDC purchased the Bunger & Robertson property on College Avenue last year for $4,995,000, the deal

Bloomington hopes to put $2M of local money into $10M “tech accelerator” if feds will make up the difference

Bloomington hopes to put $2M of local money into $10M “tech accelerator” if feds will make up the difference

Bloomington is applying to the federal government for an 80-20 matching grant that would pay for a $10 million “tech accelerator” to be constructed in the Trades District area of downtown Bloomington. According to Jennifer Pearl, president of the Bloomington Economic Development Corporation, the tech accelerator would “make programming

Bloomington public bus driver tests positive for COVID-19, BT still on course for closer-to-normal service on Aug. 24

Bloomington public bus driver tests positive for COVID-19, BT still on course for closer-to-normal service on Aug. 24

In a press release issued late Monday afternoon, the city announced that a Bloomington Transit (BT) bus driver has tested positive for COVID-19. That’s the second BT employee who has tested positive for the pandemic disease. The first was a maintenance worker. Nine other city employees have also

Bloomington’s city council asks for dollar amounts on active tax abatements, accepts report saying all are in “substantial compliance”

Bloomington’s city council asks for dollar amounts on active tax abatements, accepts report saying all are in “substantial compliance”

At last Wednesday’s regular meeting, Bloomington’s city council accepted a report about tax abatement activity over the last year, from the city’s five-member economic development commission (EDC). The oldest tax abatement reviewed by the council dates back to 2013. The most recent one was last year.

Opinion | Bloomington city council’s legislative process should require an anti-racist step; training by locals would help

Opinion | Bloomington city council’s legislative process should require an anti-racist step; training by locals would help

What if every ordinance and resolution considered by Bloomington’s city council had to be scrutinized and debated publicly based on this question: How is this legislation anti-racist? I think building such a step into the city council’s regular process could complement Bloomington mayor John Hamilton’s recent

IU Health COVID-19 response: Capacity limits mean dialing down elective procedures, shifting patients to deal with recent surge

IU Health COVID-19 response: Capacity limits mean dialing down elective procedures, shifting patients to deal with recent surge

At IU Health’s hospital in Bloomington, the area’s recent surge in COVID-19 cases has pushed administrators to find ways to make space for new patients. A month ago in Monroe County, the seven-day average of confirmed new positive COVID-19 cases had settled around 2. That