July 9, 2026: Host hotel pitches, jail sites, Seminary Pointe rally, Nov. 3 ballot

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.

Thursday: Slow down. There could be fog through 9 a.m. Dress cool. The day will be mostly sunny, with a high near 89F°. Towards evening, starting around 6 p.m. wet weather will start to become likely with a 70% chance of rain. The rain will come with thunderstorms at a likelihood of around 50%.

Friday: Wear something that will dry fast. Starting early in the day there will be a 50-50 chance of rain and thunderstorms, and your best bet might be to leave the umbrella and rain gear if you’re the kind to lose those items, and hope for the best. The high temperature will be around 85F°.

Sign up for weather alerts: Monroe County emergency alert system

Recent articles

• Dora, MHG pitch host hotel plans for Bloomington convention center, land-swap question lingers.  Dora Hospitality and MHG Hotels pitched competing plans Wednesday for a convention center host hotel, differing sharply on parking and financing. The CIB is expected to weigh the proposals July 15 as a possible land swap for the preferred College Square site remains unresolved.
• Monroe County jail panel narrows options inside city to five sites ahead of final meetings.  A jail-site panel narrowed its active list to five options Monday, including: renovation of the current justice center in combination with the Curry Building; and three sites near I-69. Members also refined evaluation criteria and sought more data before meetings on July 9 and July 13.
• Housing advocates rally at Bloomington city hall as two key public bodies trade blame.  At least 60 people rallied at Bloomington city hall Monday, urging the RDC and CIB to negotiate a land swap that could preserve Seminary Pointe. Hours earlier, mayor Kerry Thomson’s administration and CIB president John Whikehart traded statements over how talks should proceed.
• Monroe County ballot nears final shape: Davis files write-in bid, Trimble’s final paperwork pending.  Monroe County’s latest Nov. 3 ballot adds write-in clerk candidate Joe Davis and three Democratic township board candidates. Republicans left some major countywide vacancies unfilled, including sheriff, while Lisa Jeneé Trimble’s independent assessor candidacy awaits final paperwork.

Other notes

Mobile responsive design for The Bloomington Chronicle. The timeline collection called The Bloomington Chronicle, which is part of the backbone of the Total News framework that runs The B Square, now has a mobile-friendly layout. If you’ve never had a look at one of the timelines on The Chronicle that are under ongoing construction, try starting with the one about the Monroe County jail.

On the calendar

Final ARPA spending. On the 10 a.m. Thursday (July 9) agenda for the Monroe County commissioners is a review of county council actions on the expenditure of ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) pandemic relief funds. The money has to be spent by the end of the year.

It’s a pretty light agenda, which means there’s potentially room to add items, if not to the regular meeting agenda, then to the work session agenda, which has just one rezone item. Possible topics for additional agenda items include jail planning.

Penultimate jail site committee meeting. Set for 6 p.m. on Thursday (July 9) is the next-to-last meeting of the Collaborative Justice Project Working Subcommittee Meeting, which is supposed to make a recommendation about a site for a new jail at its July 13 meeting, which is next Monday. The committee will be starting from an updated annotated evaluation matrix, with the five short-listed sites clumped to the left. For B Square background see: Monroe County jail panel narrows options inside city to five sites ahead of final meetings

Special meeting of election board. Set for Friday (July 10) at 10 a.m. is a special meeting of the Monroe County election board. The regular meeting of the board in the first week of July was canceled. I’m not positive what items could be on the agenda, but one possibility will be to prepare for action on ballot items for the Nov. 3 election. Joe Davis has registered as a write-in candidate for clerk, even though Indiana’s “sore loser” law would preclude his candidacy. He lost a Democratic Party primary race for clerk. It’s not obvious to me who, if anyone, is responsible for enforcement of the law. For B Square background see: Monroe County ballot nears final shape: Davis files write-in bid, Trimble’s final paperwork pending.

Street Busking around dusk: Thursday (July 9). In front of Walkover Sounds & Stones, the record store next to Amrit India on the courthouse square, on Thursday towards dusk, which is around 9 p.m., saxophonist John Layton and friends will be busking. I listened to John play for over an hour on Wednesday evening. Stop on by.

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 Marcona!

This very, very good boy is an Australian shepherd mix. Here’s what the shelter staff have written about Marcona.

I am new to the shelter and we are all getting to know each other. If you are interested in adopting, stop by the shelter for a visit.

Photo Finish: Kirkwood Avenue & Walnut Street

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

Thanks for reading. I hope you have a great weekend!

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

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