This is the WFHB Local News for Thursday, July 2nd, 2026.

In today’s newscast, a federal judge has ordered the release of a Milwaukee Palestinian activist who had been held in ICE custody at the Clay County Jail. An interview with Salah Sarsour’s son coming up in today’s feature report.

Also coming up in the next half hour, WFHB Sports Correspondent Aidan Verde looks into how Indiana rugby prepares for its upcoming season.

CIB narrows Bloomington convention center host hotel field to Dora, MHG

By Dave Askins

Top: Signs were posted on June 10, giving notice of the pending planned demolition of buildings on the Seminary Pointe block. Bottom: Land shaded with purple has been transferred by either the city or the county government to the Monroe County capital improvement board (CIB) to support the convention center expansion project. The gray area bordered in orange is the site of the convention center expansion. It’s the dark purple area that the CIB has targeted for a possible land swap for the blue square to the north, which is the College Square property, formerly owned by Bunger & Robertson. The dark yellow areas are historic districts. The 424 S. College and 222 W 2nd St addresses, indicated with placemarks inside the dark purple area, are listed as “contributing” in the city’s 2018 survey. Map by the B Square.The field for the Bloomington convention center host hotelier was narrowed Wednesday (July 1) to two development teams. Monroe County’s capital improvement board (CIB) is advancing just two of five proposals, from Dora Hospitality and MHG Hotels, for interviews next week.

The proposals came in response to an RFP issued by the CIB in mid-April.

The selection of two interviewees, which came at a special meeting of the CIB on Wednesday, appears to put the CIB on track by mid-July to choose a hotel developer for the Seminary Pointe block south of the existing convention center.

That further dims hopes that a land swap could be worked out to use the Bloomington redevelopment commission’s (RDC’s) College Square block for the host hotel and preserve Seminary Pointe for use as extremely affordable housing and commercial space, which is its current use. College Square (aka the former Bunger & Robertson lot) is the southwest corner of College Avenue and 2nd Street.

The two proposals selected for interviews are from Dora Hospitality, submitted by Vince Dora and Russ Louderback, and MHG Hotels, submitted by Neal and Sanjay Patel. According to the CIB, those were the only two submissions that met the RFP submission requirements.

Both Dora Hospitality and MHG Hotels submitted proposals in response to the CIB’s original request for proposals two years ago. On Wednesday, CIB board member Jay Baer quipped: “The Groundhog Day nature of this from two and a half years ago was throwing me off … I’ve seen this movie!”

The first time around it was Dora that was selected by the CIB as its preferred hotelier. Negotiations between Dora and the Bloomington RDC over the use of the College Square lot finally foundered in early 2026 after lasting for more than a year.

That was the latest edition of B Square Bites – a collaboration between B Square Bulletin and WFHB. To read the full article, you can visit B Square Bulletin and look for the headline: “CIB narrows Bloomington convention center host hotel field to Dora, MHG.”

Featured Segments:

Salah Sarsour, president of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee. Submitted photo from the Islamic Society of MilwaukeeA federal judge has ordered the release of a Milwaukee Palestinian activist Salah Sarsour who had been held in ICE custody at the Clay County Jail. The ruling came days after supporters rallied outside the jail in Brazil, Indiana. Correspondent Kade Young has more.

With Indiana University Rugby being well into its offseason; head coach Luke Gross, and two rugby players in Matthew Chevalier and Peter Drake speak with WFHB Sports Correspondent Aidan Verde on how Rugby has played a role in their lives, and how the sport is much more than just a club sport at IU.

Credits:
You’ve been listening to the WFHB Local News,
B Square Bites was produced by Dave Askins and edited by Claire Zeyen.
Our feature was produced by Aidan Verde.
Our theme music is provided by Mark Bingham and the Social Climbers.
Engineer and Executive producer is Kade Young.
Anchors are Jorge Casillas and Claire Zeyen.