Nov. 17, 2025: Free speech, government merger, football, grant denial, property transfers

Funding the B Square: Every piece of the puzzle

Solely due to the individual financial contributions of many of you, The B Square has been able to provide a livelihood for one person and to pay for occasional work by some freelance reporters and photogs. To all of you who have already clicked on the big red button in the upper right hand corner of the website: Thank you!

To expand The B Square’s staff, and to put it on a sustainable financial footing for the next decade or more, we are working to add corporate sponsorships.

Part of the sponsorship mix will be ... puzzles. They will be included as links in the Almost Daily Bulletin. Today marks the launch of the puzzle feature. When you have read every precious word in this bulletin, which means you have reached the bottom of the screen, only then will you see the puzzle link. Today’s puzzle is a jigsaw. There will be other kinds, too.

Weather Talk

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

Monday: Wear a warm jacket and a hat, because the day will start from an overnight low of around 28F°. Don’t worry about an umbrella, because it’s not going to rain—it will be mostly sunny. The high will be around 55F°.

Tuesday: It won’t start as cold as Monday, but you’ll still need a jacket to keep you warm, starting from an overnight low of 41F°. The high temperature will reach around 53F°. Take an umbrella or wear a rain jacket, because around 4 a.m. Tuesday morning it will probably start raining. That nearly 90% chance of rain will continue through noon, and then diminish slightly over the next six hours or so. With the rain will come possible thunderstorms. The total new rainfall amount is predicted to be between a quarter and half an inch.

Sign up for weather alerts: Monroe County emergency alert system.

Roundup of recent articles

• Before kickoff on gameday, protesters hold ‘funeral’ for free speech at Indiana University.  A dozen protesters staged a funeral-themed demonstration at Sample Gates on Saturday, criticizing IU’s leadership and state policy changes they say restrict free speech. The event was held ahead of the IU–Wisconsin game.
• Sunday Funnies: Hawk v. Fish.  Hawk: Did you hear that Richland Township and Ellettsville are thinking about getting married? What does Fish say in reply?
• Monroe County property transfers through Nov. 11, 2025.  This report includes new property transfers in Monroe County that haven’t previously been reported by The B Square, with dates ranging from Oct. 30 to Nov. 11, 2025. The data in this report comes from Beacon, the county’s online geographic information system for property and parcel data.
• Richland-Ellettsville consolidation proposal could feature rural–urban tax differences.  At a joint meeting Friday, Ellettsville and Richland Township officials reviewed how a possible 2027 consolidation could structure taxes and services across rural and urban areas. Reorganization committee appointments will come soon.
• South overwhelms Floyd Central 55–7, advances to football semi-state at New Palestine.  Bloomington South erased an early 7–6 deficit with 49 unanswered points to beat Floyd Central 55–7 and claim a third straight regional title. Duncan Combs threw for 186 yards, Braylen Townsend ran for 110, and Sam Giles sparked the surge with a 98-yard kickoff return.
• Monroe County OKs surface upgrades: Downtown parking lot, rural border bridge.  Monroe County commissioners approved two surface-repair projects Thursday: a $296,000 overhaul of the North Showers parking lot ahead of 2026 early voting, and a joint $46,500 agreement with Owen County to fix roadway approaches to Bridge 209, with Monroe County managing the work.
• Monroe County commissioners exclude $1,800 grant to Seven Oaks Classical School on 2–1 vote.  Monroe County commissioners voted 2–1 to remove a recommended $1,800 Sophia Travis grant for Seven Oaks Classical School, citing its charter school status and past conflict over COVID mask rules.

On the calendar

Rejection of bids for Hopewell East. On the 5 p.m. Monday (Nov. 17) agenda for Bloomington’s redevelopment commission (RDC) is the rejection of all the bids for Hopewell East that were submitted in response to an RFP (request for proposals) that was issued this time last year. The bids were opened in early April. It’s possible that Bloomington mayor Kerry Thomson’s administration will be following a similar strategy that it did for Hopewell South, when all the bids were rejected. The administration announced that pre-approved designs are planned to be offered as a way for smaller, local builders to get into the development mix.

Also on the RDC calendar is an executive session for the hour before its regular meeting on Monday. That’s likely about the negotiations with Dora Hospitality for the land at 4th Street and College Avenue (the former Bunger & Robertson site) for the development of a hotel there. For B Square background see: CIB gives mid-December ultimatum on Bloomington’s convention center hotel deal.

Appeal of noise ordinance violation. On the 5:30 p.m. Tuesday (Nov. 18) meeting agenda for the board of public works is an appeal of a noise ordinance violation. Otherwise, the agenda looks like standard board of public works fare.

Hiring freeze reviews. On the 5 p.m. Tuesday (Nov. 18) meeting agenda for the county council are several reviews of requests from departments to make hires in the context of the newly implemented hiring freeze.

There is no item listed on the agenda explicitly labeled for discussion of the decision by county commissioners last Thursday to exclude a $1,800 Sophia Travis grant award to Seven Oaks. But there is a general item called “presentations/discussions” when it could conceivably come up.

Bloomington Transit publicity campaign. On the 5:30 p.m. Tuesday (Nov. 18) meeting agenda for the Bloomington transit board there are no action items. But the board will get an update on a planned 2026 publicity campaign called “Bloomington Transit for All.”

SRO housing. On the 6:30 p.m. Wednesday (Nov. 19) meeting agenda for the Bloomington city council is the approval of an ordinance change related to SRO (single room occupancy) housing. The proposal recommended by the plan commission includes a maximum of three bedrooms per SRO in R1–R4, a limit of two adults per bedroom, and a requirement that the property owner reside on the premises. For B Square background, see: Bloomington plan commission backs SRO housing amendment with owner-occupancy rule.

Nov. 19: Live tree auction. The annual New Hope for Families live tree auction in connection with its Hope for the Holidays program takes place on Wednesday, Nov. 19 starting at 6 p.m. at the Switchyard Park pavilion. The trees have been decorated by various community groups. The tree auction is how three days of public viewing of the trees wraps up. Over the three days, there’s a schedule of music, food trucks and Santa Claus. Details for the schedule and the fundraiser are available on the New Hope web page.

Nov. 23: Beth Shalom Holiday Bazaar and Art Fair. From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday, Congregation Beth Shalom (3750 East 3rd St.) is holding the 18th annual Beth Shalom Holiday Bazaar and Art Fair.

On offer you’ll see: Clothing, jewelry, judaica , paintings, photography, pottery, quilts, woodworking, home-baked sweets, challahs and breads, gift shop, Chanukah goodies, and a special guest—the Planted Bloomington food truck.

Participating artists include: Katya Alexeeva, Julie Bloom, Kevin Boas, Debbie Cohen, Larissa Danielle, Dayana Ferrera, Martha Foster, Amanda Field, Juliet Frey, Brenda Kesmodel, Laura McIntosh, David Gantz, Jane Gantz, Chizuko Johnson, Sara McQueen, Marcy Neiditz, Anita Park, Marta Scalabrini, Irina Shishova, and Kim Williams.

Dec. 1: Online auction for “Batman House” ends. The big old mansion at Kirkwood Avenue and Madison Street is up for auction for a minimum bid of $750,000. The high bid so far is still $760,000. The auction is being conducted online.

Meet Danny!

This very, very good boy is a black Labrador retriever mix. Here’s what the shelter staff have written about Danny:

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: B-Line & Hillside Drive

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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