This is the WFHB Local News for Thursday, February 4th, 2021.

Later in the program, we have an excerpt from our longest-running public affairs program, Interchange - which interviews academics and experts on the questions that shape how we understand ourselves. Today’s excerpt is from last week’s show, How to Be Anti-Fascist. More on that in today’s feature reports.

Also coming up in the next half hour, we have Better Beware - your weekly consumer-watchdog segment. Today’s segment focuses on reports of people receiving packages they did not order and fake online reviews for those items.

But first, your local headlines:

Bloomington City Council

The Bloomington City Council deliberated the approval of Economic Development Revenue Bonds and Lend Proceeds for the Renovations of Affordable Housing at Crestmont. Director of the Bloomington Housing Authority Amber Skoby spoke about the project location during their February third meeting.

Skoby mentioned the Housing Authority would maintain ownership of the property, however federal subsidies would be received differently. She mentioned Bloomington RAD two LP would acquire ownership of the housing units to receive tax credits.

Skoby reported renovations would bring units up to code requirements such as handicap accessibility, structural repair, unit modernization, and energy efficiency. She stated resident relocation during renovation would be paid for by Bloomington Housing Authority.

Council members unanimously approved the bonds for housing renovation.

Monroe County Commissioners 

County Attorney Dave Schilling proposed an amendment to the Stormwater System Fee Establishment Procedures during the February third Monroe County Commissioners meeting. He stated the amendment would amend Fee Structure language to compliment the statutory language.

Schilling mentioned the amendment would also allow stormwater fees to be increased with respect to the cost of service. Commissioner Lee Jones mentioned impervious surfaces created an increased demand for stormwater funds.

Jones stated the amendment would bring the county into accord with state statute. Commissioner Julie Thomas mentioned climate change has also impacted the need to increase stormwater fees. She mentioned fees would NOT be increased without reasonable cause.

Thomas said completed projects would benefit all county residents. Commissioners unanimously approved the amendment.

Feature Reports:

Up first, we have an excerpt from last week’s episode of Interchange, How to Be Anti-Fascist. This episode revolves around the radical work of Muriel Rukeyser, who authored the Life of Poetry in 1949, which can be called an anti-fascist manifesto.

Host Doug Storm invited Eric Keenaghan, an associate professor of English in the SUNY system at Albany. Keenaghan is currently editing The Usable Truth and Other Selected Prose, a collection that recovers some of Rukeyser’s forgotten or suppressed shorter-form nonfiction including her essays, journalism, activist writings, and lectures.

Interchange is WFHB’s longest-running public affairs program that explores the questions that shape how we understand ourselves. You can find this episode and more online and wherever you get your podcasts.

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Up next, we have Part II. of Artbeat - a follow-up to an excerpt we aired on Tuesday’s local news. Artbeat is a weekly program, where you hear from artists, activists and educators about their work. In today’s Artbeat, Dr.