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Beyond Bloomington 165 results
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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The primary reason Salt Creek was dammed in the 1960s was to control floodwaters downstream. While the Monroe Lake Control Tower (above) regulates water flow from the reservoir through the dam, the rest of Lake Monroe has become a valuable resource for drinking water, recreation, industry, wild habitat, and other uses well beyond its watershed. | Photo by Anna Powell Denton

How Healthy Is Lake Monroe — and How Long Will It Survive? Deep Dive: WFHB & Limestone Post Investigate
Michael G. Glab, Anna Powell Denton
“Lake Monroe is a reservoir, and all reservoirs eventually fill up,” says Michelle Cohen, executive director of Lake Monroe Water Fund. But, she adds, those who rely on the lake for drinking water, recreation, and other uses have the power to extend its life as long as possible. Writer Michael G. Glab takes a deep dive into the health of Lake Monroe. Click here for his report for Deep Dive: WFHB & Limestone Post Investigate.
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Members of the Indiana House of Representatives and Indiana Senate meet during legislative sessions to pass laws at the Indiana Statehouse (above). Many of those lawmakers have economic interests in the industries that stand to benefit from the laws those lawmakers author and vote on. | Limestone Post

Lax Ethics Rules Could Create Conflicts of Interest for Indiana Lawmakers
Arnolt Center for Investigative Journalism The Indiana Environmental Reporter
The Arnolt Center for Investigative Journalism and the Indiana Environmental Reporter reviewed statements of economic interest filed in 2022 by Indiana’s state lawmakers. They found more than 100 bills enacted from 2019 to 2022 that benefit industries the authors have ties to, creating at least the appearance of a conflict of interest. Click here to read their findings.
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A nurse dispenses liquid Methadose, an FDA-approved medication that helps people addicted to opioids. Myths about will power and moral weakness keep people with opioid use disorder from receiving effective medications like methadone, buprenorphine, and naltrexone. | Photo by Whitney Hayward/Portland Press Herald via Getty Images

Myths Persist about People with Opioid Use Disorder
Melissa Cyders and Melissa S. Fry
Myths about will power and moral weakness keep people with opioid use disorder from receiving effective medications, say Melissa S. Fry and Melissa Cyders, IU professors who study opioid use disorder and the attitudes that surround it. First published in The Conversation, their article dispels myths that make people hesitant to support science-based treatments. Click here to read their article.
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The U.S. electrical grid is a complicated network of wires that traverse the continent and connect with regional private operators who then transmit and distribute power. Some call it “a patchwork of operators with competing interests,” writes Rebecca Hill. Indiana’s electricity comes primarily from coal, natural gas, and a growing renewables market, but the transition to renewables is not without problems. | Photo by Benedict Jones

The Power Struggle in Indiana’s Changing Energy Landscape Deep Dive: WFHB & Limestone Post Investigate
Rebecca Hill, Benedict Jones
Indiana’s electricity comes primarily from coal, natural gas, and a growing renewables market. The transition to renewables, though, is not without problems, and the grid operators, regulators, and Indiana legislators are at odds with how to handle it. Rebecca Hill takes an in-depth look at Indiana’s power structure, as part of Deep Dive: WFHB & Limestone Post Investigate. Click here to read about the transition of Indiana's energy landscape.
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While Matt Hart says his latest book, “FAMILIAR: via Walt Whitman, obliterated from the Spanish of León Felipe,” is a new work “that enacts/evokes some resemblances” to Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself,” he says the two poems are “wildly different” from each other.

New Poetry Book by Matt Hart Is ‘Reconceived’ Translation
Hiromi Yoshida
Matt Hart’s book-length poem FAMILIAR is called “a joyous obliteration” of Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself,” by way of a Spanish version of Whitman’s poem by León Felipe. Local poet Hiromi Yoshida interviewed Hart about his work and specifically this book, which was published by an imprint of local publisher Ledge Mule Press. | Click here to read about Matt Hart and FAMILIAR.
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In the 1960s and ’70s, a generation that was told not to trust anyone over 30 nevertheless adored Hoosier writer Kurt Vonnegut Jr. | Photo by Ulf Andersen/Getty Images

Why Kurt Vonnegut’s Advice To College Graduates Still Matters Today
Susan Farrell
Kurt Vonnegut gave dozens of quirky commencement addresses in his lifetime. He made some preposterous claims, made people laugh, and made them think. They were speeches college graduates remembered, says Susan Farrell, an English professor and founding member of the international Kurt Vonnegut Society. Vonnegut’s advice, she says, still matters to graduates today. Click here to read why, and so on.
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A new queen emerges from a queen cell in a honey bee hive of writer and beekeeper Erin Hollinden. Honey bee populations in the U.S. have declined from 6 million in the 1940s to 2.5 million today. But more than 200,000 hobbyist beekeepers such as Erin are trying to keep them (and ultimately us) alive. | Photo by Marla Bitzer

Local Beekeepers Labor with Love as Honey Bees Decline Worldwide
Erin Hollinden
Honey bee populations in the U.S. have declined from 6 million in the 1940s to 2.5 million today. Pesticides, drought, and habitat destruction, are just a few reasons the bees are dying. But more than 200,000 hobbyist beekeepers, like writer Erin Hollinden, are trying to keep them (and ultimately us) alive. Click here to read Erin’s article.
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The First Baptist Church (Colored) in West Baden Springs was built in 1920 for the many Black employees of the West Baden Springs Hotel. By 2014, it had fallen into disrepair, but a group of Bloomington residents, including historian Elizabeth Mitchell, renovated it. | Photo by Elizabeth Mitchell

Travel with Laurie: Historic Treasures in French Lick and West Baden Springs
Laurie D. Borman
“Travel with Laurie” is a new Limestone Post series by Laurie D. Borman about the sundry and fascinating travel destinations in southern Indiana. In her first article, Laurie explores some of the historic treasures in and around the highly rated resort towns of French Lick and West Baden Springs. Click here to hop aboard!
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