This is the WFHB Local News for Monday, May 11th, 2026.
In today’s newscast, you’ll hear Bloomington astrobiologist Lisa Pratt, a former Planetary Protection Officer for NASA. Learn more about Indiana’s connections to the Artemis II moon voyage later in the show in a feature report.
You’ll also hear Lea Woodard from Hilltop Garden and Nature Center, where spring is in full bloom. Hilltop is open to the community – learn about educational opportunities and ways to volunteer later in the show on a new episode of Activate!
Bloomington City Council approves Hopewell South PUD
By Claire Zeyen
Photo by Jessie Grubb.The Bloomington City Council unanimously approved a planned unit development for the Hopewell South project last Wednesday.
This comes after months of deliberation on the first phase of a project aimed at bringing more affordable housing to Bloomington.
The Hopewell project is a city-led redevelopment project that aims to transform the former IU Health Hospital into a mixed-use neighborhood. City Clerk Nicole Bolden introduced the ordinance.
“This ordinance amends the zoning of the property from residential, urban lot and residential multi family within the transform redevelopment overlay to planned unit development,” said Bolden.
Much of the discussion centered on balancing sustainability goals with long-term affordability. Councilmember Matt Flaherty said energy efficiency measures could reduce costs for future residents.
“My orientation to energy efficiency and electrification generally is about creating affordable healthy homes. Gas appliances cause childhood asthma at very high rates. They’re unhealthy for all of us. We shouldn’t want those appliances,” said Flaherty. “It lowers utility bills over time, providing dramatic return on investment, actually, even though it does increase upfront costs to a degree.”
Anna Killion-Hanson, director of Housing and Neighborhood Development, warned council members about concerns from the Bloomington Redevelopment Commission regarding rising construction costs and affordability expectations.
“We don’t have bottomless amounts of money to be able to subsidize between the cost to build,” said Killion-Hanson. “The RDC feels like they really can only commit to the 25% right now.”
Next, Council President Hopi Stosberg considered how far the city should go with permanent affordability requirements in the project.
“I also like sticking with the 50 percent,” said Stosberg. “We could amend it later if it really became impossible to practically do that.”
The next Bloomington City Council meeting is scheduled for May 20th.
Featured Segments:
WFHB reporters Elyse Perry and Kam Shaw speak with a local resident about the problem of affordability in Bloomington (Photo by Kade Young).Bloomington consistently ranks as one of the most expensive cities to live in Indiana. In today’s feature report, WFHB News Correspondents Kam Shaw and Elyse Perry took to the streets of Bloomington to ask residents about affordability. That’s coming up next on the WFHB Local News.
(Photo courtesy of Major Tool & Machine)Last month Artemis II completed a 10-day voyage around the Moon, setting a record for the greatest distance humans have traveled in space. Indiana played a part, with Hoosiers filling more than a thousand NASA jobs with $200 million in economic impact. Eighteen Indiana suppliers contributed to the Artemis program. Indianapolis company Major Tool & Machine did the friction welding on the rocket engines. Here in Bloomington, Dr. Lisa Pratt is a former Planetary Protection Officer for NASA. Space travel fascinates the imagination, but Pratt says it also impacts life on Earth in practical ways that you may not think of. Technologies built for orbit find their way into our everyday lives. Water filters, cordless power tools, and even some lifesaving medical devices started in the space program. Correspondent Ben Sharpe has that story in a feature report produced in partnership with The Media School at Indiana University.
Spring is in full bloom at Hilltop Garden and Nature Center. Hilltop is part of Indiana University, but it’s not connected to a specific academic unit and it’s not just for IU students. Hilltop is focused on gardening education, and their work extends into our local school system. Manager Lea Woodard says Hilltop distributes seed kits to local schools, and she’s really excited about their Junior Master Gardener program that gives local preteens their own garden plot at Hilltop. There are also gardening classes for adults and plenty of opportunities to volunteer. Woodard speaks to the joy and sense of accomplishment that gardening can bring on a new episode of Activate!, coming your way right now on the WFHB Local News.
Credits:
You’ve been listening to the WFHB Local News,
Today’s headlines were written by Claire Zeyen and Kade Young, in partnership with Cats – Community Access Television Services.
Elyse Perry and Kam Shaw produced today’s voxpop on affordability in Bloomington.
Today’s feature story on Indiana’s connections to the Artemis II moon voyage was produced by Ben Sharpe in partnership with The Media School at Indiana University. Theme music by Everyday Astronaut.
This episode of Activate! was produced by Jack Hogan through WFHB’s partnership with The Media School at Indiana University.
Our theme music is provided by Mark Bingham and the Social Climbers.
Engineer and Executive producer is Kade Young.
Anchors are Zoe Moczek and Kam Shaw.