With states, including Indiana, preparing to begin opening up their economies, despite falling short of meeting the medical guidelines experts have recommended, how will this work out?  Will the public go along with this?  That’s the subject of tonight’s Log.

Megan Baumgartner had a very pleasant job to complete during the afternoon of Friday, May 8th – she had the duty to inform 73 local business owners that they are approved for the city’s COVID-19 small business loan program.  However, she had another responsibility – notify that 20 businesses that were not approved for the loan.

A total of 93 local small businesses in Fishers applied and 73 were approved.  A five-member panel made the decisions on which businesses were approved and how much they will receive in loans, and also which businesses will not receive the loan.  The committee consisted of members from the Fishers Redevelopment Commission, representatives of the OneZone Chamber of Commerce and the Chairman of the City Council Finance Committee.  The loan application deadline was last weekend and the committee reviewed all the applications in a matter of days.

Baumgartner, Director of Economic Development for the City of Fishers, says only a few business owners received the maximum $15,000 loan, with most in the $7,500 range.  The city funded the loan program with $500,000 received from a previous Economic Development deal.  Had the loan program not been developed, the $500,000 would have been used in the city’s economic development efforts.

Of the businesses with loan approvals, about 30% were personal service operations, such as salons and spas.  Another 30% consist of restaurants and retail operations.  The remaining 40% were gyms and providers of other personal services.

Baumgartner says those approved for the city’s small business loan program should begin to receive the money in the next 2-3- days.

The approved small business loans have very favorable terms, but they must be paid back.  The 1% interest does not begin running, and payments are not due, until 6 months after the payout, then payments are due for the following 3 years.

City officials plan to announce the names of those businesses approved for loans, but will not disclose the loan amount.  A $5,000 grant from Duke Energy allowed the city to add the 73rd business loan approval.

On another issue, Baumgartner says the ongoing construction for current economic development projects in Fishers have not been slowed by the novel coronavirus.  However, she added that some new economic development announcements have been put on hold for now due to the economic slowdown due to COVID-19.

You can listen to the entire podcast interview with Megan Baumgartner at the link below.

The newly-formed Fishers Health Department has conducted 500 coronavirus tests since opening up a testing program for residents of the city.  According to a story from WISH-TV reporter Travis Robinson, and published on the front page of the Hamilton County Reporter’s May 8th edition, Mayor Scott Fadness says the new health department has done 2,000 assessments resulting in the 500 tests completed so far.

Read the entire story at this link.

The pandemic is impacting all of us in some way, many feeling the pain more than others.  There are ethical questions we must ask ourselves as we make personal choices during this time.  I suggest one question to ask yourself each and every day.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had impacts that are serious and deadly.  The number of people losing their lives and suffering from the virus is a very serious matter.  But with so many of us staying at home most of the time, we miss our live sporting events on TV.  I talk about that, and the latest on Shake Shack in Fishers, in this edition of the Log.

This is Teacher Appreciation Week, so I thought it would be a good time to check-in with Janet Chandler.  She is a long-time educator at Hamilton Southeastern High School and is the President of the Hamilton Southeastern Education Association.  We discussed how local teachers are handling the virtual learning environment and a few other subjects.

Amazon announced in late 2018 its decision to locate their second headquarters in New York City and suburban Washington DC (Virginia), only to withdraw the New York offer after major push-back by the public on the $3 billion incentive package.  The Indianapolis metro area made an offer, and the public still does not know anything about that incentive offer.  A recent court decision does not help the cause for disclosure.

On this Log, I handle a number of items from Monday’s news in Fishers.  There is the cancellation of Symphony on the Prairie this year, Hamilton County Health Department hands off a list of duties to the new city department, and there are several education-related items in my Log tonight.

A Noblesville man was exchanging information in a minor accident on I-69’s northbound lanes near 116th Street Monday morning when he was reportedly hit be a vehicle.  Fishers Police say Steven Hahn, 18, was transported to a nearby hospital in serious condition.

Here is what happened, bases on the police department news release:

“The Fishers Police Department Crash Team was called to the scene. Based on witness statements and evidence gathered by Investigators it appears the pedestrian was standing next to a GMC pick-up truck exchanging information due to a previous minor crash. During this exchange a semi tractor-trailer, traveling northbound, collided with the GMC and the pedestrian. Both drivers are cooperating with the investigation. Neither drugs nor alcohol appear to be a factor.”

The drivers of the vehicles involved were identified by police as Stanley Ridley, 69, from Ontario, Canada…and Lou Ann Ridenour, 54, from Pendleton.

Fishers Police continue to investigate the accident.

Today, May 3rd, 2020, is World Press Freedom Day.  But just 2 days prior, we discovered the news media in Bloomington, Indiana took a very serious blow.

On May 1st, Indiana Public Broadcasting (WFIU radio and WTIU television, both in Bloomington) reported that the local newspaper, the Herald Times, had pink slipped both the news editor and the sports editor.  Both were reportedly told their jobs would be eliminated at the end of last week.

Rich Jackson had been the senior executive editor.  He also had an apartment provided by the newspaper which he was ordered to vacate by noon May 1st.   Jackson had been in that position for about ten months.  He’s writing a blog about this experience.  He’s reported on homelessness in the past, now, he writes, he is homeless.

Sports editor Patrick Beane had been with the newspaper 30 years and was just returning from a furlough when informed the layout for the sports section he prepared Thursday night would be his last.  The sports section of the Herald Times had won many awards under Beane’s leadership.

The newspaper business is dying before our very eyes and the journalists toiling to bring you the news are being let go at a record pace.  My heart goes out to the news people impacted by the downward spiral of the news business, but I mostly feel for the public which will once again be deprived of the news coverage we all deserve in a free and democratic society.

So, in Bloomington, there is not much to celebrate on World Press Freedom Day.  I know all existing news organizations are under intense economic pressure.  The Indianapolis Star is covering the biggest story in its history with 25% of its reporting staff on furlough at any given time.

Closer to home, Jeff Jellison, publisher of the Hamilton County Reporter, has vowed to continue with his newspaper and plans to tough out during the current hard times.  The Noblesville Times continues to publish.

Current publishing issues a weekly paper to six local communities, including Fishers.  However, Current in Fishers, which has mailed a copy of its weekly paper to anyone with a Fishers mailing address since its inception, is sending print editions to 25% of Fishers addresses each week on a rotating basis.  You can still read the paper online if you wish.

I must give kudos to the Indianapolis Business Journal, a locally-owned weekly newspaper that does good current reporting on its Web site.  So far, there have been no layoffs or cutbacks there.

Bottom line, life is tough all over in the news business these days, particularly local news. Yet, we need local news now more than ever.  I wrote my Fishers local news blog for more than 8 years and finally had to call it quits.  However, I saw that the local media wasn’t paying much attention to Fishers in the COVID-19 crisis so I do write a story on this blog now and then.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…..subscribe to your local media outlets.  It is more important then ever to support the news sources we have.  Because if we don’t, tomorrow it may not be there at all.