This is the WFHB Local News for Monday, October 25th, 2021.

Later in the program, WFHB News speaks with Erin White, Director of Leisure, Marketing and Media Relations for Visit Bloomington, about the second annual Bloomington Restaurant Week, which celebrates local restaurants in light of the Covid-19 pandemic. More in today’s feature reports.

But first, Abe Shapiro has your local news brief:

On Thursday, The Monroe County Board of Health voted to extend the countywide mask mandate into November.

The mandate is likely to remain in effect until cases drop below 50 per every 100,000 residents.

Recently, the rolling average has dipped towards 100 cases per 100,000 residents, meaning Monroe County remains in the yellow rank of advisory but is now in hot pursuit of blue, the rank provided to counties no longer requiring a mask mandate.

Based on comments from IU vice president for strategic partnerships Kirk White, 93 percent of IU students are vaccinated. However, because Monroe County’s overall vaccination rate stands at around 60.7 percent, Board of Health member Robert Wrenn reasoned that the vaccination rate for the non-university population must be lower.

While the board of health was unanimous, one concern came from board member Mark Norrell, a schoolteacher. Norrell commented that while he and his students must, “do what we gotta do," he expressed frustration that wearing a mask obscures facial expressions of both himself and his students, hindering effective communication in the classroom.

Norrell explained “My students cannot see my facial expressions. They don’t know when I’m kidding around and I’m smiling. I can’t recognize faces as well as I did.

Despite the Board’s affirmative vote for extending the mask mandate, The county’s board of commissioners will need to approve the board of health’s change to the regulations. Such a vote has been scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 27 at 10 a.m.

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The Indiana Supreme Court announced today the implementation of a pre-eviction diversion program for providing rental assistance to landlords and tenants in a more effective manner.

Tenant lawyers expressed concerns that the program is non-mandatory and that landlords will not have an incentive to participate.

In addressing the possibility of making participation in the program mandatory, Indiana Court of Appeals Judge Robert Altice Jr. replied that “It can be difficult for a court, not a legislative branch, to mandate a landlord to do certain things."

In September, the Indiana Supreme Court created a nine-person task force to review the eviction process in the state and submit recommendations on how the program should work by Jan. 17.

Following the expiration of the federal eviction moratorium on Aug 26, tenants were being taken to court by their landlords over non-payment of rent, However, effective Nov. 1, courts must advise tenants and landlords at the first hearing of any eviction case if they are interested in or pursuing rental assistance or participating in a settlement conference.

The free Landlord and Tenant Settlement Conference Program, which both landlord and tenant must both agree to participate for this option to be considered, entails that tenant and landlord engage in a discussion facilitated by a neutral helper to ensure productivity on both sides. While facilitators may be registered Indiana mediators, senior judges, or attorneys but cannot offer legal advice to either party.

The federal government gave about $410 million to Indiana state and local governments in December 2020 for distribution to houses in need of emergency rental assistance (ERA) but only 38% of those funds have been allocated as of Sept. 27.

When questioned about this, Brandon Beeler,