This is the WFHB Local News for Wednesday, February 17th, 2021.

Later in the program, WFHB Correspondent Aaron Comforty spoke with Katie Blaire, the Director of Advocacy and Public Policy at the ACLU of Indiana, to discuss anti-riot bills that were recently proposed in the Indiana State Legislature. Critics of the bills say that they aim to chill free speech and criminalize protest.

Also coming up, we have Better Beware - your weekly consumer-watchdog segment with Richard Fish.

But first, your local headlines:

City of Bloomington sanitation services are cancelled for the rest of the week. Regular trash and recycling pickup will return on Monday of next week (Photo courtesy of City of Bloomington).

Bloomington Sanitation Services Cancelled for the Rest of the Week

The City of Bloomington cancelled trash and recycling services through the remainder of the week.

According to a press release, the decision was made as a result of snow accumulation and expected heavy snowfall on Wednesday night.

Adam Wason, public works director for the city, says that the reasoning behind pushing sanitation services back had to do with worker safety concerns.

“Overall we had more snowfall this last Monday-Tuesday than we probably had in the last two seasons combined,” said Wason.

Yael Ksander, communications director for the office of the mayor, says after consulting with sanitation staff, public works management determined that maneuvering heavy carts over large banks of snow would present excessive difficulty and risk to worker safety.

Wason explained more of the process behind delaying trash and recycling services for the week.

“We got our leadership together at the sanitation division,” said Wason. “The concurrence amongst everybody was that employee safety would really be in jeopardy.”

He gave a timeline of when services will return to its regular schedule.

“We will start back up next Monday like a normal week,” he said.

Lastly, Wason provided multiple ways residents can receive updates on trash and recycling notifications from the city of Bloomington.

“We have a new service called Recollect that we’re using,” he said, “it’s real helpful for residents to find out more about sanitation services.”

To get direct access to the city’s new Recollect platform, visit api.recollect.net/r/area/bloomingtonin

Monroe County Now Under “Yellow” Advisory

As of 3 p.m., Monroe County is currently under an “yellow” travel advisory.

According to the Indiana Department of Homeland Security, a yellow travel advisory means that, “routine travel or activities may be restricted in areas because of a hazardous situation, and individuals should use caution or avoid those areas.”

It also means that schools and businesses may begin to implement their emergency action plans, according to the county alert system.

To receive weather alerts from the county, you can visit co.monroe.in.us and then click “Resident Alert Sign Up” under the megaphone icon.

The National Weather Service forecasted a 40 percent chance of snow, mainly after midnight. The NWS indicated that snow is expected to continue until Thursday until 4 p.m.

According to Monroe County Emergency Management, the Monroe County area should expect bitter cold temperatures over the next couple of weeks.

The county is offering warming stations for temporary relief from February 8th to February 23rd. To view a list of these warming stations, click here.