March 7, 2025: Vote centers, convention center, legislative update

A note about scheduling

The previous publication schedule for this morning email message, called the Almost Daily Bulletin, was Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

This week it was Tuesday and Friday. In this initial relaunch phase, starting next week, I will try to send on two days—Monday and Thursday.

If you ever find yourself looking for an old edition of the Almost Daily Bulletin, and you don't want to rummage through your email inbox, they all get posted to the website, too, in their own section.

One question I've heard a lot so far: Will there be a way to donate money to The B Square? Yes. That's in the works, and as soon as it's ready, it will be announced. By the start of April, I will hope it will be sorted out.

Weather

Based on the National Weather Service forecast here's some advice.

Friday: Wear a warm jacket—it's not getting warmer than 49°F. In the evening, take an umbrella, because there's a 50-50 chance of rain, between 7 p.m. and 3 a.m. If you're out late, dress in layers; temperatures will drop to freezing overnight.

Saturday: You'll need a jacket or a warm sweater, because the start to the day will be just above freezing. Even though the clouds will give way to sun, it won't get warmer than 47°F.

Roundup of recent articles

• Vote center plan for Monroe County to get public hearing, no longer appears dead The Monroe County election board has voted to hold an initial public hearing on a proposal to convert all 29 of the current precinct-based polling locations to vote centers by the 2026 election cycle. This change would allow any registered voter in the county to cast a ballot at any vote center. No date has yet been set for the public hearing.
• Bloomington council OKs $46.8M bond issuance to help fund $70M convention center project The Bloomington city council approved the issuance of $46.8 million in lease rental revenue bonds to help finance the $70 million expansion of the Bloomington Convention Center, which will add approximately 60,000 square feet and is expected to be completed by February 2027. This project will be funded by the bonds, with debt service primarily covered by the city's share of food and beverage tax revenues. Economic development local income taxes will serve as a backup.
• Tax notebook: $6.9M total extra local income tax revenue in 2025 for Monroe County units—half as much as last year Monroe County government units will receive approximately $6.9 million in extra local income tax revenue in 2025, which is about half of the $14.3 million received in 2024. This supplemental amount from the State Budget Agency's trust account will be distributed, because the account balance exceeded the state legislature's threshold. The money goes to various local units including Bloomington, Ellettsville, and Monroe County.

On the calendar

The big calendar has seen some improvement since the end of last year. It's still a big pile of events, but there are some filters for different categories. I have not yet classified all the syndicated feeds correctly. The biggest improvement is that all those events will now now load lickety split in your browser.

March 8 (Saturday): What's the General Assembly doing? This year's session of the state legislature is just past the halfway point, when bills crossover between the house and the senate. From 9:30 a.m. until 11 a.m. on Saturday, the local League of Women Voters is hosting a legislative update by Zoom with area state representative and senators. State legislators representing Monroe and Brown counties have been invited to give a brief report for 5-10 minutes, then take questions from the public. You need to register to get access to the Zoom meeting.

March 26 (Wednesday): Nobel Peace Prize. This is a couple weeks out. Starting at 7 p.m. at First United Church (2420 E. 3rd St.), Ira Helfand will be speaking on the topic of preventing nuclear war. Helfand is a member of the international steering group for International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN). ICAN was the winner of the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize.

April 24 (Thursday): Sierra Hull at The Bluebird. This is over a month away, but I think tickets for Sierra Hull's show at The Bluebird on North Walnut in downtown Bloomington are going to sell out. You will be so mad you missed the show. Hull's fingers flutter across her mandolin strings like a hummingbird's wings, and she sings like nightingale. Dropping today, March 7, is Hull's new album, Tiptoe High Wire.

Reporting in the works

Union labor. There was one point of contention that got aired out at Bloomington's city council meeting on Wednesday, when the council approved the issuance of $46.8 million in bonds to help fund the convention center expansion: What is the project's commitment to the use of union labor? The B Square has already reported the basic outcome of the council's action as a Civic Ticker item. But I will try to pull something together on the deliberations about union labor, maybe by the end of the day Friday. If not, then over the weekend.

Meet Diamond!

Diamond is a very, very good girl, described by shelter staff like this:

Best. Dog. Ever. Diamond loves people. She loves other dogs. She loves cats. She came to us emaciated and in very bad shape. After some TLC from staff and her amazing foster family, she is now ready to make her adoptable debut. Apply to meet this above average gal today!

Photo Finish (from B There)

For more items like these, see the B There section of the B Square website. If you'd like to consider occasionally contributing to The B Square brief factual observations about the world outside your own head, as you go about your normal business in this place we call home, let me know. (Photos are optional for B There.) If you're looking at this bulletin in your email inbox, you should be able to reach me by hitting Reply.

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

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