This is the WFHB Local News for Thursday, January 13th, 2022.

Later in the program, we have the January edition of Prescription for Healthcare - a monthly podcast collaboration between WFHB and Medicare for All Indiana. Our guest today is Kay Tillow - a Louisville-based activist and labor organizer who supports universal healthcare. More in the bottom half of our program.

Also coming up in the next half hour, WFHB's Youth Radio took to the streets of Bloomington to ask residents how all the rain last December affected them, affected the climate and what can be done to help.

Hollingsworth Won’t Seek Re-Election in 2022

Photo courtesy of CNN.

U.S. Representative Trey Hollingsworth who represents the 9th District in Indiana, says he will not seek re-election in 2022.

In an op-ed in the Indy Star, the Republican congressman cited his belief in term limits as the driving force behind his decision.

He says, “I took a pledge to limit my own terms because of this very idea: to remind me to focus on the people and that serving the public wasn’t intended to be a career by our founders.”

Indiana’s 9th Congressional District includes Bloomington and suburbs of Indianapolis and Louisville. Right now, five Democrats have announced their candidacy for the 2022 race along with one GOP candidate and one Libertarian challenger.

According to the Washington Post, Hollingsworth served on the House Financial Services Committee since he took office five years ago. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and Georgetown University, he co-founded a company that rebuilds manufacturing sites.

Eugene Scott, a national political reporter for the Washington Post, wrote that Hollingsworth ranked among the wealthiest members of Congress during his first term.

Hollingsworth garnered national attention when he was one of 35 Republicans who broke ranks with their own party to establish an independent commission to investigate the January 6th Capitol riot.

In his op-ed, Hollingsworth says, “much of my time in Congress has been invested in battling Washington itself. I voted against bad budgeting, reckless spending and overregulation. I believe we need strong term limits. I hope Congress passes strict lobbying bans. We need to compel our representatives to work to better their constituents rather than better themselves or their careers.”

Republicans have represented the ninth district since 2010. The last Democrat to hold that office was Representative Baron Hill who was elected in 2008, nearly fourteen years ago. The general election will happen on November 8th, while the primaries will take place on May 3rd. The filing deadline is February 4th.

The John Waldron Arts Center Reopens After an Almost Two-Year Closure

Photo courtesy of Bloom Magazine.

Following a 21-month closure, the John Waldron Arts Center reopened on January 4th for use by the public and visual and performing artists.

According to a press release from the City of Bloomington, large events are not expected to take place until later in the year due to a recent spike in Covid-19 cases. A reopening celebration originally planned for last Friday will be rescheduled to a later date.

The John Waldron Arts Center, or simply the Waldron, was built in 1915. It formerly served as Bloomington City Hall and housed the city’s police and fire departments through 1985. In 1990, the city deeded the property to the Bloomington Area Arts Council. The building has since remained an arts venue, and since 1994, has been home to WFHB Community Radio.

In 2010, the city sold the building to Ivy Tech who operated it as an arts space for the next ten years. Then, in December 2020, Ivy Tech announced it would sell the building back to the city,...