Royalty rates for Internet radio broadcasters are about to triple. And the increases will be retroactive to Jan. 1, 2006.

While this decision will put money back into the hands of record labels and artists who have felt the blow of diminishing music sales and downloading, it might also mean the end of many small Internet radio stations and the Web streams that accompany many non-commercial stations.

“It will shut down our Web stream, for certain,” said WFHB News Director Chad Carrothers. “The Web stream is just something we can’t afford to subsidize with the increase, especially with it being retroactive.”

Bloomington’s WFHB runs on a staff of “three and a half,” according to Carrothers, and despite having approximately 200 volunteers, “We are a small station, … and we just don’t have a budget for that kind of thing.”

On Saturday, June 16, 10 Bloomington local foods organizations and businesses opened their doors to the community to promote sustainable practices and policies.

Businesses as diverse as orchards, wineries, organic gardens and greenhouses participated in the afternoon Local Foods Tour, the inaugural sustainability tour sponsored by the Bloomington Commission on Sustainability (BCOS).

"There's a lot of interest in eating healthy, and local foods supports that interest," said Keith Clay, BCOS member and a professor of biology at IU.

On June 4 at midnight, IU student-run radio station WIUX changed its place on the dial for the second time in two years, moving from 100.3 to 99.1 FM.

The move was forced upon the station by federal rules that require low-power stations to concede airspace to higher-powered stations that choose to increase their broadcast range.

"About halfway into the first year on FM, there was talk that WYGB might eventually encroach on (WIUX's) frequency, and we'd have to vacate it," said Craig Shank, WIUX station manager for the 2007-2008 school year. "But at the time we were told that it would be something that, if it did happen, would not affect us for a few years."

In 2005, the FBI reported 1,017 hate crimes nationally based on victims' sexual orientation, 14.2 percent of all hate crimes reported in that year.

Hate crimes are classified by the Human Rights Campaign as unlawful acts motivated by bias against a person based on the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender or disability of the victims.

According to a 2001 Department of Justice report, hate crimes are under-reported, and only 20 percent of those reported result in arrest.

"Out of all hate crimes, one in seven are sexuality motivated," said Matthew Brunner, Bloomington Field Organizer for the Human Rights Campaign.

The anticipated firing of a Fort Wayne-area high school journalism teacher has received national attention for First Amendment issues, and members of the Bloomington community are speaking up.

In a letter to Woodlan Junior-Senior administration officials IU journalism professor Jack Dvorak questioned the decision to censor the school newspaper and put its advisor on leave after the newspaper printed an editorial concerning homophobia.

In his letter, Dvorak, also director of the High School Journalism Institute, cited educational and legal ramifications as the two main areas of concern in the case.

“People must wonder how a school system can teach about the Constitution and Bill of Rights and then turn around and deny those fundamental rights of both teachers and students.” Dvorak wrote to High School Principal Edwin Yoder and East Allen County Schools superintendent M. Kay Novotny. “Why would the school want to contradict itself with these types of mixed messages? What types of civics lessons are being taught when this happens?”