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The wide-ranging issues about protecting Indiana’s wetlands present a conflict between people who advocate for the critical functions wetlands provide and those who say wetland regulations drive up construction prices and hamper growth. Above, a swamp in Beanblossom Bottoms in Monroe County. | Photo by Anne Kibbler

What’s at Stake in the Debate Over Indiana’s Wetlands? Deep Dive: WFHB & Limestone Post Investigate Wetland Preservation
Anne Kibbler
Laws protecting Indiana wetlands have been rolled back in recent years. Some people argue that wetlands must be preserved because of the critical functions they provide. Others say wetland regulations drive up construction prices and hamper growth. This Deep Dive by Anne Kibbler looks at the myriad questions and wide-ranging issues in the debate over Indiana’s wetlands. Read it here.
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The mobile integrated health program in Monroe County, which works with local health organizations to provide one-on-one care to patients, is part of a nationwide trend to help fill gaps in the healthcare system. Above, community EMTs work in the Bloomington Fire Department’s MIH program (l-r): Trisha Rademachir, Lily Blackwell, Shelby VanDerMoere (program manager), and Amber Stewart. Not pictured is newest MIH Daniel Stidd. | Photo provided by Shelby VanDerMoere

Mobile Integrated Health Helps Fill Gaps in Local Healthcare System
Rebecca Hill
The mobile integrated health program in Monroe County works with local health organizations to provide one-on-one care to patients, emphasizing a non-emergency approach and increasing efforts to meet people where they live and work. Writer Rebecca Hill takes an in-depth look at MIH programs across the state that are part of a nationwide trend to help fill gaps in the healthcare system. Read about MIH in Indiana.
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One out of ten Bloomington residents struggles with food insecurity. A patchwork system of food banks, community kitchens, food-assistance programs, and other initiatives helps people get healthful food, but experts say it doesn’t address the root of the problem: poverty. | Photo by Olivia Bianco

‘Patchwork’ of Aid for Food Insecurity Doesn’t Address Its Cause Deep Dive: WFHB & Limestone Post Investigate Food Insecurity, Part 2
Christina Avery and Haley Miller
One out of ten Bloomington residents struggles with food insecurity — having limited or uncertain access to food. A patchwork system of food banks, community kitchens, food-assistance programs, and other initiatives helps people get healthful food, but experts say it doesn’t address the root of the problem: poverty. Read part 2 of our Deep Dive into food insecurity.
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A new report by The State of Local News Project at Northwestern University shows that where you live and how much money you make affect whether you live in a news desert or a news oasis. | Photo by Gary Hershorn/via Getty Images

Wealthier, Urban Americans Have Access To More Local News Roughly half of US counties have only one outlet or less
Sarah Stonbely
A recent report by The State of Local News Project at Northwestern University documents the changing local news landscape across the country. Among other findings, it shows how many news outlets are operating in each county across the country. Southern Indiana, for example, has more counties classified as news deserts than news oases. Republished from The Conversation.
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Beth Edwards was an award-winning environmental journalist for the Indiana Environmental Reporter, based in Bloomington. Limestone Post is republishing four of her most impactful reporting projects: on coal ash, confined animal feeding operations, Martinsville’s drinking water, and a coal-to-diesel plant that had been planned in southern Indiana. | Photos by Beth Edwards (top left and bottom right) and Matthew Kaplan (bottom left); illustration by Sophia Chryssovergis

The Work of Beth Edwards, Award-Winning Environmental Reporter
Beth Edwards
Beth Edwards was an award-winning environmental reporter who, along with Enrique Saenz, developed the Indiana Environmental Reporter at Indiana University into a source for environmental news that was respected statewide and nationally. Limestone Post looks at four of her reporting projects: on coal ash, confined animal feeding operations, Martinsville’s drinking water, and a controversial coal-to-diesel plant. Read Beth Edwards’s work here.
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Indiana ranks among the worst in the country for policies that strengthen rural education and support the learning and development of rural students, according to a report by the National Rural Education Association. | Photo by WR Heustis/Pexels

School Matters: Indiana Short-Changes Rural Schools [column]
Steve Hinnefeld
“School Matters” is a new Limestone Post column by journalist Steve Hinnefeld that will cover local and regional education, as well as statewide legislation that could affect schools in our community. In this first article, Hinnefeld looks at Indiana’s low national ranking for policies that address rural schools and rural students. Click here for School Matters.
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[Photo Gallery: 20 photos]: Legislation recently introduced by Sen. Mike Braun would double the size of the Charles C. Deam Wilderness Area by Lake Monroe and convert another 29,000 acres of Hoosier National Forest into the Benjamin Harrison National Recreation Area. This photo was taken from the Hickory Ridge Lookout Tower, which stands 133 steps above the Deam’s Terrill Ridge, a thousand feet above sea level. Built in 1939 to identify forest fires, the tower is a popular destination due to its magnificent 360-degree view of the Southern Indiana forest. | All photography in the gallery above by Steven Higgs

On Saving the Deam Wilderness and Hoosier National Forest | Photo Essay Deep Dive: WFHB & Limestone Post Investigate the Hoosier National Forest
Steven Higgs
“In wildness is the preservation of the world,” wrote Henry David Thoreau in Walden in 1854. Now, in this photo essay, journalist and photographer Steven Higgs considers Thoreau’s declaration vis à vis the Deam Wilderness Area in the Hoosier National Forest, especially in light of proposed legislation that would double the Deam’s size. Click here for a Deep Dive into “the Hoosier.”
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Over thousands of years and across diverse landscapes, Indigenous peoples developed traditional ecological knowledge about the bison and their ecosystems, writes Indigenous scholar Rosalyn R. LaPier. Meanwhile, they also developed religious customs and sacred places important to their relationship with bison. | Limestone Post

Bison Are Sacred to Native Americans — But Each Tribe Has Its Own Special Relationship to Them
Rosalyn R. LaPier
Over thousands of years and across diverse landscapes, Indigenous peoples developed traditional ecological knowledge about the bison and their ecosystems, writes Indigenous scholar Rosalyn R. LaPier, an enrolled member of the Blackfeet tribe. Meanwhile, tribes also developed religious customs and sacred places important to their relationship with bison. Click here for this article from The Conversation.
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Legislation recently introduced by Sen. Mike Braun would double the size of Indiana’s official wilderness area, making places like Nebo Ridge (above), Browning Mountain, Bad Hollow, and Panther Creek off-limits to logging, among other restrictions. The bill would also create the Benjamin Harrison National Recreation Area, Indiana’s only NRA. | Photo by Steven Higgs

New Legislation Would Double Size of Deam Wilderness Bill would also establish a new national recreation area by Lake Monroe
Steven Higgs
Legislation recently introduced by Sen. Mike Braun would add 15,300 acres to the Charles C. Deam Wilderness Area’s 12,953 acres, making places like Nebo Ridge, Browning Mountain, Bad Hollow, and Panther Creek off-limits to logging. The bill would also create the 29,000-acre Benjamin Harrison National Recreation Area, Indiana’s only national recreation area. Click here for details about the bill.
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Parents, educators, and advocates say the Indiana General Assembly passed harmful and unnecessary laws that are taking effect this school year. They say public schools, including those in the Monroe County Community School Corp., face a “slate of hate” — laws that underfund mandates, intimidate vulnerable students, and even create a “chilling effect” on librarians. Above, students are greeted on the first day of school at Fairview Elementary School by members of the city of Bloomington’s Commission on the Status of Black Males. | Photo by Garrett Ann Walters

Local Parents, Educators Face ‘Attack’ on Public Schools from Indiana Lawmakers
Steve Hinnefeld, Garrett Ann Walters
Parents, educators, and advocates say the Indiana General Assembly passed harmful and unnecessary laws that are taking effect this school year. Laws that prioritize private over public schools, underfund mandates, intimidate vulnerable students, and even create a “chilling effect” on librarians, they say, amount to a “slate of hate.” | Click here for an education deep dive by Steve Hinnefeld.
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During legislative sessions at the Indiana Statehouse (above), any member of the Indiana House of Representatives or Indiana Senate can sponsor a bill. While a bill in either chamber must pass through a series of gatekeepers before becoming law, conflicts of interest among the lawmakers are usually not considered. | Limestone Post

Conflicts of Interest Continued During Indiana’s 2023 Legislative Session
Enrique Sáenz
This is the second article in a two-part series on lax ethics rules in the Indiana State Legislature. Both articles come from a joint investigation between the Indiana Environmental Reporter and the Arnolt Center for Investigative Journalism that shows how some Indiana lawmakers stood to benefit financially from environmental legislation they introduced or supported. Click here for the article.
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