July 6, 2026: Fourth of July parade, patriotic birds, encampment-to-housing, initiative, jail site scoring

Civic Solver

This week’s puzzle is a 10-question news quiz. If you have read the B Square faithfully over the last week, you will ace this quiz. (You're allowed to look stuff up on The B Square as you take the quiz!)

Weather Talk

Based on the National Weather Service forecast in text and charts here’s some advice.

Monday: Slow down. It will be foggy this morning. It’s a toss up whether to take an umbrella. There’s a small chance of rain and thunderstorms that increases to around 50% after 2 p.m. The high temperature will hit 83F°.

Tuesday: There’s only a 10% chance of showers and thunderstorms for a brief time just 5 p.m. You can get away without an umbrella. It will be mostly sunny, with a high near 86F°.

Sign up for weather alerts: Monroe County emergency alert system

Recent articles

• Photos: Bloomington’s 2026 Fourth of July parade.  The 2026 edition of Bloomington’s Fourth of July parade unfolded under sunny skies and temperatures around 80F°. The city’s parks and recreation department oversaw basic logistics, with several city departments playing their customary key roles. Juliette Kniola captured highlights for The B Square.
• Sunday Funnies: Hawk v. Fish.  Hawk says: Bloomington’s Housing and Neighborhood Development department wanted to host an elegant evening of formal dining and dancing followed by a viewing of the World Cup match. But FIFA heard about it gave the whole event a red card. Very weird. Why does Fish say it's not weird?
• Monroe County property transfers through June 30, 2026.  This report includes new property transfers in Monroe County that haven’t previously been reported by The B Square, with dates ranging from May 23, 2026 to June 30, 2026. The data in this report comes from Beacon, the county’s online geographic information system for property and parcel data.
• Retro photos for July 4th: Red-tailed hawk, great white egret, great blue heron.  Fourth of July parade flyover // Three birds / Photographically frozen in flight / One red, one blue, one white / Hawk, heron and great egret / They could not  know they made a flag / And if they did, they would not brag / Because the human course of events / Does not hold nature in suspense
• Bloomington nonprofit initiative aims for leases, not shelter beds, as camping ban starts.  Heading Home’s Streets to Stability initiative would move people from Bloomington-area encampments directly into housing, starting with 10 to 12 people once funding is secured. The effort is being planned as Indiana’s new public-camping law takes effect.
• Jail site panel to start scoring, Monroe County commissioners decline role.  A jail site committee is set to start scoring properties, but Monroe County commissioners confirmed they won’t formally join the process. On Wednesday, the panel added a constitutional-care screen, flagged floodway concerns at 3 sites, and will meet three more times before a mid-July recommendation.

Other notes

Lost chances for puns. On the occasion of the 250th anniversary of American independence, I am sorry to have omitted the obvious pun in connection with the publication of some photos of hawks, herons, and egrets. They were all wearing their bird suit of happiness. Perhaps I will remember next time.

On the calendar

No RDC meeting. There is no meeting of Bloomington’s redevelopment commission on Monday (July 6). I have heard it described as “canceled” but I can’t find a trace of it on current official government sources. The custom is to mark events as “canceled” on the calendar item, not to delete them entirely. The B Square’s community calendar does include an RDC meeting for Monday, but that may have been sourced from an old syndicated calendar feed that included the meeting as a recurring event. [Added 8:08 a.m. July 6, 2026. The official RDC meeting schedule adopted by the RDC at the start of the year does not show a July 6 meeting date.]

If you need an RDC-related topic to fill the Monday 5:15 p.m. time slot, Bloomington Homes for All is holding a rally outside city hall, calling for the preservation of Seminary Pointe. For B Square background on that, see: CIB narrows Bloomington convention center host hotel field to Dora, MHG and Advocates say financing plan for Seminary Pointe feasible, if land swap happens

Jail site committee. On Monday (July 6) at 6 p.m. the jail site review committee will hold another meeting. For recent B Square background, see: Jail site panel to start scoring, Monroe County commissioners decline role

Hotel proposals. On Wednesday (July 8), starting at 12:30 p.m., the Monroe County capital improvement board (CIB) will hear presentations from two hoteliers for development of the Seminary Pointe block as a host hotel. For B Square background, see: CIB narrows Bloomington convention center host hotel field to Dora, MHG.

Carwash fundraiser: July 18. Is your car filthy? Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Central Indiana invites the community to support the 17th Annual Crew for Kids fundraiser on Saturday, July 18, 2026, with a rain date of Saturday, July 25. For one day only, visit a participating Crew Carwash location and purchase an Ultimate or Ultimate 360 wash. Fifty percent of the cost will be donated directly to Big Brothers Big Sisters, helping join Bigs and Littles together for effective mentorship and impacting lives for the better through meaningful one-to-one relationships. Bloomington participants can visit Crew Carwash at 235 South Pete Ellis Drive or 3430 West 3rd Street.

Meet Ed!

This very, very good boy is a redbone coonhound. Here’s what the shelter staff have written about Ed.

Ed is an enthusiastic hound that LOVES spending time with people, meeting dog friends, and eating tasty snacks. If you're looking for an energetic companion Ed is ready to spend it with you!

Photo Finish: Courthouse square

The Photo Finish items are drawn from the B There section of the B Square website.

Thanks for reading. I hope your week is off to a great start!

Dave Askins
734-645-2633
dave@bsquarebulletin.com

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