Bloomington police have reported the arrest of a 36-year-old Bloomington man as a suspect in a stabbing that took place downtown in the early hours of Jan. 1.
These shots are from the Monday morning (Aug. 8, 2022). It was perched on the courthouse weathervane, but flew off to the east, then looped back around to the southwest side of the square and landed on top of the Hyatt Place hotel building. It sat there for a couple minutes, surveying downtown Bloomington, before heading off north towards the Johnson’s Creamery smokestack. It did not land on top of the smokestack. Continue reading “Photos: Hawk checks in at Hyatt Place”→
From left: Madison Morgan, Cayla Cloke, Ashley Barron, and Rynn Zimmerman of Era Vintage Photos.
From left: Madison Morgan and Rynn Zimmerman, who work for Era Vintage Photos.
Cayla Cloke, owner of Era Vintage Photos.
Hours of operation for Era Vintage Photos on Walnut Street in downtown Bloomington.
Looking east across Walnut Street. The red arrow points to the Era Vintage Photos storefront. The image is from the Pictometry module of Monroe County’s online property lookup system.
At 6th and Walnut streets in downtown Bloomington, the storefront next to the old Subway sandwich shop is no longer shuttered.
Tuesday was opening day for Cayla Cloke’s new photography-based business called Era Vintage Photos.
On Tuesday afternoon, employees Madison Morgan and Rynn Zimmerman sauntered about on the sidewalk, modeling some fancy renaissance attire and Old West garb, talking to passers-by about the new business.
Cloke told The B Square it’s not just the photographic prints she’s selling—it’s the experience of dressing up in clothes from a different era, and maybe in a whole different guise. “We encourage gender swapping,” Cloke said. She continued, “We also include all sizes, all orientations—you can mix and match how you want.”
Exterior sign design OK’d by Bloomington’s historic preservation commission.
Exterior of Metalworks Brewing Company as of July 1, 2022 with the temporary signage.
A big metal fish sculpture was moved in as a part of the new decor.
A pile of the letters that formerly spelled out “Function Brewing.”
The front panel of an old Ford truck was added to the interior decor.
New individual aluminum block letters, lit with LEDs will soon replace the temporary vinyl banner sign on the facade of Metal Works Brewing Company in downtown Bloomington.
The new signage got approval from Bloomington’s historic preservation commission (HPC) on Thursday.
Metal Works needed a nod from the HPC, because the building, which was constructed in 1905, sits a half block east of the courthouse square, on 6th Street. That puts it just inside the eastern boundary of the courthouse historic district.
The new signage comes after a recent name change to the business, which was formerly known as Function Brewing. The new name was foreshadowed by an ownership change at the start of this year.
Arrested and charged with attempted murder in connection with an early-morning shooting on April 23 near the parking lot of 6th and Lincoln streets is a 33-year-old Bloomington man, Michael V. Carson, Jr.
More than three weeks earlier, BPD announced it had arrested and charged a suspect in connection with a shooting the same night, inside the Kalao Nightclub, which is two blocks northwest of the 6th-and-Lincoln location.
In connection to the Kalao shooting, BPD announced it had arrested 27-year-old Keiantrea Washington of Bloomington, and charged him with attempted murder.
Bloomington police are investigating two early-Saturday shootings within two blocks of each other in downtown Bloomington.
[Updated at 5:44 p.m. on May 2, 2022: Bloomington police announced on May 2 that an arrest was made that day in connection with the Kalao shooting.]
[Updated at 5:23 p.m. on April 23, 2022: Bloomington police have issued an updated news release on the shootings. It is still not known if the two shootings are related. No arrests have been made in either investigation, according to the late Saturday afternoon news release.
Based on video surveillance from inside the Kalao Nightclub, the suspect and the 41-year-old victim were in an altercation just before the shooting. The suspect can then be seen producing a handgun and firing multiple times in the crowded bar area. Two of the victims in the nightclub shooting are still hospitalized. The third has been treated and released, according to the updated BPD news release.
According to the updated news release on Saturday afternoon, on not much has been learned about the shooting near the intersection of 6th and Lincoln streets. Investigators continue to search for witnesses and are attempting to review surveillance footage from nearby cameras, according to the release. The 26-year-old victim from that shooting is currently hospitalized and is in critical condition, according to the late afternoon news release.]
Preparations continue for the May 3 primary elections in Monroe County.
Twenty-nine polling sites were approved by Monroe County’s board of commissioners at their regular Wednesday morning meeting.
The approved sites are mostly the same locations that have been used in the past. Among the sites that are not on the list this year is Genesis Church. A new polling site this year is Bloomington High School North.
Information about which precincts vote at which polling sites will be forthcoming, deputy county clerk Tressia Martin told commissioners.
Also approved by commissioners on Wednesday were several items related to the creation of an early in-person voting site in downtown Bloomington.
View looking southwest from the top of the 4th Street parking garage. In the foreground is the former NAPA building.
NAPA building interior.
B Square file photo of early voting for the 2020 general election at Election Central.
B Square file photo of Election Central in the old Johnson Hardware building on the corner of 7th and Madison streets.
In 2022, Monroe County’s in-person early voting will take place at the former NAPA building on the southwest corner of 3rd and Walnut streets in downtown Bloomington. That’s for the the primary and general elections alike.
There’s still a chance that some early in-person ballots could also be cast at Election Central, in the old Johnson Hardware building at 7th and Madison streets. But that will depend on recruitment of enough election workers to staff both locations.
The use of the NAPA building as an in-person early voting location was approved by a unanimous vote of the county’s three-person election board at its Thursday session.
For the final two weeks of the four-week early voting period, Election Central could be added as an in-person location, but only if an adequate number of election workers can be recruited.
Monroe County election supervisor Karen Wheeler called on potential poll workers to step up. Some past workers are now in their upper 80s or over 90 years old, she said. In the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, Wheeler does not feel comfortable asking them to work this year.
Next Friday it looks like I will again be able to enjoy a breakfast of biscuits and gravy from Village Deli on Kirkwood Avenue.
A temporary shutdown was supposed to go through Sept. 1. There was no word as that date came and went, so speculation had tended towards permanent closure.
According to the Facebook post, online orders only will be taken on Fridays, with full table service for “very limited seating” to be offered on Saturdays and Sundays.
The missing ingredient for a more ambitious re-opening is staff. The Facebook post invites people to apply for positions online. As of Sunday morning, the Facebook post has been shared 120 times. That’s a measure of the affection Bloomington has for the place.
Lots of folks don’t hang out on Facebook. If you have a network that includes folks looking for work, please help spread the word.
And to be clear, it’s not just Village Deli that needs more staff.
I think the next several months could help decide what Bloomington’s retail and restaurant landscape looks like in the downtown area through the mid-2020s.
On Sunday morning, a quick lap around the courthouse square and down Kirkwood Avenue confirmed that Village Deli is not the only place looking for help. Here’s a list of the 14 places I saw with help-wanted signs or notices about staff shortages: B-Town Diner; Baked!; Cafe Pizzaria; The Indiana Store; Nick’s; Five Guys; Noodles and Company; Soma; CVS; Pili’s Party Taco & Deli; Bub’s; Bloomington Bagel Company; B-Town Smoke Time; and Taco Bell.
