Last Wednesday’s weekly meeting of the county board of commissioners meeting was a window into ongoing and upcoming events around the area—from the Youth Services Bureau renovation to the Fullerton Road construction, to an upcoming film showing at the Buskirk-Chumley theater.
At Wednesday’s meeting of the Monroe County Board of Commissioners, the board signed off on an application for the renewal of a grant from the Indiana State Department of Health for a program called Baby and Me Tobacco Free.
If it’s approved, the county will receive $29,906 to support a smoking cessation program for pregnant women.
For pregnant women to stop smoking benefits the child, because according to the Center for Disease Control, smoking during pregnancy increases risk of pre-term birth, low birth weight and birth defects of the mouth and lip.
A higher percentage of pregnant women in Monroe County smoke than in the rest of the state, based on numbers from the Indiana State Department of Health (ISDH). And a higher percentage of pregnant women in Indiana smoke than in the rest of the country, according to the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). Continue reading “Monroe County applies for renewal of smoking cessation grant for pregnant women”
Some important pieces of a downtown development puzzle were slotted into place this week, as the City of Bloomington and Monroe County both made progress on separate real estate deals.
The transactions are expected to factor into a planned expansion of the county’s convention center, located at 3rd Street and College Avenue. Neither deal decides the direction of the expansion—at this point only westward appears to have been ruled out. The city wants to expand north. The county is not committed to that direction.
At the Monroe County Board of Commissioners meeting on Wednesday morning, the three-member board approved a $500,000 deal to purchase a couple of parcels making up the parking lot of the NAPA Auto Parts store at Walnut and 3rd streets.
Two days earlier, the city closed on a nearly $5-million deal to buy most of the block north of the existing convention center. The block is bounded south-to-north by 3rd and 4th streets and east-to-west by College Avenue and the B-Line Trail. Deputy Mayor Mick Renneisen told The Beacon the purchase price was $4,995,000. Continue reading “Bloomington, Monroe County both move on separate land acquisitions as part of planned expansion of convention center”