July 17, 2025: Fluoride fail, writing about wiggly worms, shooting hoops, self-storage
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Weather
Based on the National Weather Service forecast in text and charts here’s some advice:
Thursday: Dress light and airy, and take your sturdiest umbrella or wear a hat with a big brim and a chin tie. You’ll need something to fend off the showers and thunderstorms that have a 50% chance of hitting starting around 11 a.m., which increases to around 70% by 2 p.m. The heat index will be around 93°F with the actual high temperature around 85°F.
Friday: The same advice from Thursday applies for Friday because the forecast is almost identical. But here’s an expert tip: Consult the handy weather app on your smartphone towards Friday evening, because there’s always a chance that a forecast two days in advance might not be perfectly accurate. You would not want to miss Food Truck Friday at Switchyard Park, which will include a musical performance by The Dynamics, followed by Hank Ruff.
Sign up for weather alerts: Monroe County emergency alert system.
Roundup of recent articles
- Locals shoot hoops with IU women’s basketball players at Hoopbus event on Kirkwood. The social media-famous Hoopbus brought a yellow school bus and a chance to shoot baskets with IU women’s basketball players to Bloomington on Tuesday evening. The event was part of Hoopbus’s tour around Indiana to drum up enthusiasm before the WNBA All-Star Game in Indianapolis on Saturday.
- Young writers explore the world and themselves at summer camp. While many summer camps focus on games, entertainment, and competition, the Women Writing for (a) Change summer camp in Bloomington gave young girls a voice to express themselves. Fourth through eighth graders used writing to better understand themselves and the world around them.
- Bloomington goes a year without telling residents it can’t fluoridate drinking water. The city where fluoride toothpaste was invented has been unable to reliably add fluoride to its drinking water for years—and Bloomington officials never notified the public, even after they decided to forgo fluoridating the water supply while waiting for repairs.
- Hearing on public commenting policy for Monroe County’s board of health: Just one person speaks. The Monroe County Board of Health held a meeting Monday afternoon (July 14) for the sole purpose of hearing public comment, as board members seek input about the public comment policy draft that was made public last month. Just one public comment was offered at Monday's hearing.
- Bloomington gives self-storage project more time to get permit—but just 3 months, not a year. At the Bloomington plan commission’s regular Monday night meeting, the already approved site plan for a 110,000-square-foot self-storage building on the east side of Bloomington got a three-month extension—beyond the one year that site plans are normally valid.
Quick notes
Why all this extra information on agendas? Have you noticed that the agendas for many local governing bodies now include a listing of the members, with the terms they are serving and who appointed them? That’s thanks to a new state law [HEA 1509], which says that any meeting notice or agenda has to include the following for each appointed officer serving on the board: their name, appointing authority, and the start and end date of their term.
On the calendar
Banning new power plants for a year. On the 10 a.m. Thursday (July 17) meeting agenda for the board of Monroe County commissioners is a year-long prohibition against building any new power plants in the county, with exceptions for wind and solar. The ability to implement such a ban comes from a new state law, which is intended to allow for just a one-year ban. After that, the ability of local governments to prohibit power plants expires.
How to apply for Monroe County’s Sophia Travis social services grants? On July 29 at 5 p.m. in the Nat U. Hill Room at the historic county courthouse, the county government is hosting a meeting to explain how to apply for Sophia Travis grants.
Friday music at Switchyard Park. Finish off the week with music at Switchyard Park on Friday (July 18). The Dynamics start at 6 p.m. followed by Hank Ruff at 7:45 p.m. There will be food trucks to satisfy all your hungries and thirsties.
Book Swap: Morgenstern’s. On Sunday, July 20, Morgenstern’s is hosting a book swap from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. All books have to be in good condition and printed in the last 10 years. There’s a limit of 5 books to swap per participant.
Vacancy caucus. The Monroe County Democratic Party will be holding a vacancy caucus to elect a new chair of the party on July 20 at 3 p.m in Bloomington’s city hall. For B Square background, see: Ujdak resigns as chair of Monroe County Dems after 3 1/2 months, calls for ‘direct action’ to improve lives of others
Meet Bo!


Up for adoption, as of July 16, 2025, at the city of Bloomington's animal shelter is Bo. Here’s another link: all animals up for adoption at the shelter. (The photo is from the city’s website.)
This very, very good boy is a shepherd mix. Here’s what the shelter staff have written about Bo.
Bo is a young guy with limited social experience. He will need a patient adopter who understands this and can keep things fun and positive while building his confidence. Bo loves LOVES snacks and praise and being near his trusted people for snuggles. Bo would love to learn so if doing activities with your dog is up your alley, Bo is your guy.
Photo Finish: 6th Street & Walnut Street

The Photo Finish items are drawn from the B There section of the B Square website.
The geographic coverage of the B There section is pretty limited. Please consider occasionally contributing to the B There section some brief factual observations about the world outside your own head, as you go about your normal business. (Photos are optional for B There.) The mechanics of making a contribution are pretty straightforward—just let me know if you'd like to learn the ins and outs. If you're looking at this bulletin in your email inbox, you should be able to reach me by hitting Reply.
Thanks for reading. Have a great weekend!
Dave Askins
734-645-2633
dave@bsquarebulletin.com
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