From today's Palladium-Item:

Center City Richmond has created what local officials believe is the largest free Wi-Fi hot spot in Indiana. At 10 a.m. Wednesday, the Innovation Center will hold a "wire cutting" to officially open the free "hot spot."

Over the past year, committee members Phil Quinn of KICKS 96, Mike Dickerson of Summit Computers, Rich Cody of Parallax Systems, Police Chief Kris Wolski and Renee Oldham, Main Street Richmond Wayne County (MSRWC) and the Urban Enterprise Zone, have worked to implement this initiative.

The Center City Wi-Fi District will provide free wireless Internet access to businesses, retailers, students, residents and visitors in an area encompassing the city's central business district. Also included in the network are the Historic Depot District and the Old Richmond District.

For more, read the full article.

Kent Baxter, who helps to run the Abundant Acres Farms CSA mentioned here earlier, has an article in today's Palladium-Item about the benefits of buying local, especially when it comes to food. Highlight:

The advantages include boosting our local economy, possibly reducing the risk of bacterial contamination, and lowering dependency on fuel to transport these food items, possibly decreasing costs of the goods you purchase...By reducing the number of miles our food travels, we can enjoy a fresher and probably safer product due to reduced processing.

You can read the full article.

In today's Palladium-Item, correspondent Pam Tharp writes about how a backyard vegetable garden can save you money and help you eat more healthy food:

Locally grown food is becoming increasingly important to many people. Contamination in the food chain is one concern. The other is the cost of shipping food across the country and the amount of oil required to do so. Urban agriculture cuts shipping and fuel use.

You can read the full article.

Barbara Sha Cox, who we highlighted in December of 2006 for her work in examining the issues around factory farming, has an editorial in today's Palladium-Item with more thoughts on bills being considered by the state of Indiana related to CAFOs:

There are several legislators who are concerned and have introduced legislation to address the issues. However, their legislation is always blocked by those who are not listening to the citizens and have chosen to only listen to agricultural business. Legislators interested in the citizens' point of view include Senator Allen Paul (R-Richmond) with his bill for a moratorium for three years to study the issues and place in law regulations that would address the issues.

You can read the full editorial at the Pal-Item website.

In today's Palladium-Item, Bob Hansen of the Economic Development Corporation of Wayne County has a column on how requesting locally grown food can benefit the local economy:

If only 1 percent more of Wayne County's food was purchased from local sources, it would be $1.54 million more staying in the local economy...We should be making more efforts to help connect local growers with local customers. In my work at the Economic Development Corporation of Wayne County, we are trying to connect local food producers with regional processors.

You can read the full article.

In today's Palladium-Item, Michelle Manchir has a letter about TV star Danica McKellar's efforts to teach girls that pursuing a strong education can be just as worthwhile as other goals typically set out for women. But as Manchir writes, "McKellar's emphasis on girls' appearance trivializes her promotion of academic ambitions and contributing to society in a meaningful way. In fact, she underwrites culture's obsession with female beauty, which is ultimately limiting and unfortunate for women." Further highlight:

I think it's foolish to hope for the day that women's hard work is not trivialized, even just a little, with their ever- sexualized role in popular culture. I do hope, however, that more women, and especially girls, learn to be more media literate and understand that what they see and hear about their appearance everyday on TV and on Web sites is not something they have to achieve to be worthwhile.

You can read the full editorial.

The Palladium-Item has published a summary of biographical information about candidates in the upcoming electoral races in Richmond:

* Mayoral Candidates, Democratic Party
* Mayoral Candidates, Republican Party
* Common Council District 2 Candidates, Republican Party
* Common Council, At Large Candidates, Democratic Party

You can find out more about the voting centers that will be available on the May 8th Election Day using this PDF brochure. You can also view a full list of the candidates (also PDF).