This is the WFHB Local News for Wednesday, September 1st, 2021.

Later in the program, The Buskirk Chumley Theater recently announced that it will require vaccination or a negative Covid-19 test ahead of its fall season. WFHB News spoke over the phone with Jonah Crismore, Executive Director of the Buskirk Chumley, about the new policy. That’s coming up in today’s feature report.

Also coming up in the next half hour, we have Better Beware - your weekly consumer-watchdog segment hosted and produced by Richard Fish.

But first, your environmental news brief:

Hurricane Ida, now classified as a tropical storm, recently made landfall in Louisiana as a Category 4 hurricane with winds reaching 150 miles per hour. The U.S Geological Survey has announced that the force of the winds and the storm stopped and reversed the flow of the Mississippi River. The river's flow went from two feet per second south to half a foot per second north. This is an extremely rare occurrence, as the last time it occurred was during Hurricane Katrina. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other researchers have found that climate change has increased the amount of natural disasters per year and has also increased the intensity, thus making them more deadly.

Residents of Tell City Indiana living near a former General Electric factory have recently filed a lawsuit against General Electric citing the effects of the contaminants that the plant released into the environment on the property values and human health in the area. The contaminant trichloroethylene was found on 76 properties. Researchers believe that there is a connection between this contaminant and an increase in Parkinson’s disease. General Electric has stated that they are fully committed to working with Tell City to complete an assessment of the damage and fix the situation.

A federal judge has recently struck down a Trump-era environmental rule that removed federal restrictions against pollution of the nation’s waterways. The policy had allowed farmers, real estate developers, and others to discharge pollutants such as fertilizers, pesticides, industrial chemicals, and other harmful substances into streams and wetlands. The Biden administration was firmly against this policy due to the possibility of serious environmental harm that would result from a continuation of the Trump-era policy. Environmental groups celebrated the decision as a victory for clean water and scientific integrity.

Bloomington City Council Special Session

The Bloomington City Council discussed removing parcels from annexation at its August 31st special session. Council members sponsored multiple amendments removing land from annexation ordinances. Council member Matt Flaherty addressed public concerns around how the annexation lines are drawn. He said the lines can look arbitrary because in a way, they are.

Council member Steve Volan proposed an amendment that would remove a parcel around Lori Lane. He clarified that he did not support many arguments against annexation, but that the narrow entrance to Lori Lane would not support added city traffic.

Council member Sue Sgambelluri shared her criteria on what should be exempt from annexation. She said the annexation process was thorough and surgical and that removing areas from annexation should be equally surgical.

Council members voted for 2 of the 3 proposed amendments, removing a total of 6 parcels from current annexation ordinances. The council will consider more amendments in the future leading up to the September 15th final vote.

Hubbub at the Park

Amidst all of the hubbub going on with the city budget meeting...