Cleveland Dietz

Ellettsville resident Weiwei Zhao’s daughter may not see her Head Start home visitor again after April 26. The South Central Community Action Program provides Head Start services in Monroe County. The organization’s board of directors and Head Start Parent Council voted to eliminate the home-based program, which serves parents of children up to three years … Read more

The Richland-Bean Blossom Community School Corp. school board unanimously voted to reduce the hours that part-time employees, substitute teachers, and lay coaches work per week by May 1. All board members were present. The decision will impact 57 RBBCSC employees. “It’s going to cost them two and a half hours of pay a week and … Read more

More discouraged workers re-entered Indiana’s workforce in January and February than at any time in the last 20 years, an Indiana Department of Workforce Development report said. Almost 22,000 people were added to the labor force. Of those, 13,800 were discouraged workers. The higher number of job seekers increased the unemployment rate. By February, it … Read more

Representatives from the YMCA of Monroe County and the Town of Ellettsville will present information about the Northwest YMCA facility at an informal breakfast April 24. Featured speakers at the event include Ellettsville resident Darby McCarty, chairman of the Smithville Charitable Foundation; Kit Klingelhoffer, of the YMCA board of directors; Roberta Kelzer, executive director of … Read more

The Ellettsville Fire Department conference and training room will soon be filled with children and their mentors as they build their lemonade stands for Lemonade Day. Chris Tann, unit director at the Lincoln Street Boys & Girls Club, said the workshop will need six to eight volunteers, including one with carpentry skills. “This person would … Read more

When Ellettsville resident Meghan Mayhugh joined the sport, she did so as someone doctors told would never walk again. They gave her the prognosis after a back surgery to repair her scoliosis, an abnormally curved spine. She remembered that when she joined Bloomington’s Bleeding Heartland Rollergirls in 2007. It was one more physical sport in … Read more

Indiana remains silent on how federal sequestration impacts its school corporations. Federal funding for school corporations such as Richland-Bean Blossom Community School Corp. comes from Title I education funding and two special education funds. The state distributes the money according to formulas it developed. For Title I, the formula accounts for the poverty rate in … Read more

A discussion panel made up of law enforcement officials and one school administrator explained their roles in combating bullying to community members during a March 25 public forum organized by the Richland-Bean Blossom Community School Corporation’s anti-bullying task force. Stinesville Elementary School Principal Bill Buxton, Monroe County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Mike Pershing, Ellettsville Town … Read more

The Monroe County Parks and Recreation Board approved a proposed five-year master plan for county parks at its March 20 meeting. The master plan included trail maps, with distances recorded in the legend, for all Flatwoods Park trails. General improvements, as well as maintenance projects, for specific trails are also set to begin under the … Read more

With federal sequestration underway, dramatic cuts in funding are expected to occur at the Area 10 Agency on Aging. According to Kerry Conway, executive director of the agency, it faces a 5.1% cut in operational funding. The cut is estimated to result in 4,200 fewer meals delivered to the homebound, 18,000 fewer Rural Transit bus … Read more