This is the WFHB Local News for Tuesday, January 13th, 2026.

In today’s newscast, you will hear Erin Aquino from the Bloomington office of Exodus Refugee. Hear about the chilling effect of ICE on a local immigrant, and social workers trying to help, later in the show in a feature report.

Also coming up in the next half hour, we pay homage to beloved Bloomington residents who recently passed away, Lee Williams and Dan Combs.

Featured Segments:

The founding director of the Lotus Festival died Sunday. Lee Williams was well-known as a music promoter even before Lotus, as the booking agent for the music venue Second Story. Williams co-founded the annual festival and its parent nonprofit organization, the Lotus Education and Arts Foundation, serving as executive director from 1995 until 2014, and as artistic director through 2017. Lotus and WFHB literally grew up together, with WFHB launching in 1993 and Lotus in ’94. From the beginning the two nonprofits had intertwined missions and a meaningful partnership that amplified the impact of both organizations. Former WFHB News Director Chad Carrothers credits Lee for building that partnership. It became a WFHB News tradition for Chad to find Lee prowling downtown Bloomington on Lotus Friday about 30 minutes before our newscast went live, to get a breaking report on how opening night was shaping up. Here’s five minutes from the 2009 version.

Even before the death of a Minnesota woman in a confrontation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, the presence of ICE was having a chilling effect in Bloomington and beyond. Erin Aquino works in the Bloomington office of Exodus Refugee, an organization that Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita claims was part of “a coordinated effort by entities in Bloomington to help illegal aliens evade apprehension.” Correspondent Brendan Brown speaks with Aquino, and with a local naturalized citizen, in a feature report produced in partnership with The Media School at Indiana University.

Dan Combs, longtime Perry Township Trustee, died last week at 73-years-old. Combs was a highly influential figure in Bloomington and fought for the down trodden. He served for almost 40 years as Perry Township Trustee, taught at Bloomington High School South and championed solutions for those facing hard times. Combs hosted several episodes of the Bicentennial Journal on WFHB in 2018. The Bicentennial Journal was a local radio series, celebrating the bicentennial of Monroe County. We turn to that archived episode with Combs from July 31st, 2018.

Up next, we have Lil Bub’s Lil Show – a co-production between WFHB and Lil Bub’s Big Fund. That’s coming up next on the WFHB Local News.

Credits: