Only hours left to help us reach our NewsMatch goal
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Thanks to NewsMatch, all new monthly donations will be multiplied 12x, and annual and one-time donations will be tripled. We’re counting on you to help us get there by December 31.
Government
USDA’s Rural broadband plan met with citizen criticism and concerns
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Slow speeds, bad coverage and expensive service.
These are just some of the concerns contained in nearly 300 public comments on Rural Broadband Pilot Program proposed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a review by the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting found.
Government
Business, education, healthcare top of mind as rural broadband expansion inches forward
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When nearly 300 Americans submitted comments this summer on the USDA's pilot plan to bring high speed broadband internet to rural America, they mentioned the great opportunities reliable internet connectivity could bring.
But they also voiced skepticism over the agency's proposed plans for the project, which has been in the works for nearly a year.
With your help, the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting could receive up to $75,000
NewsMatch opens with more than $3 million in matching support for nonprofit newsrooms across the U.S.
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The campaign doubles donations to 155 nonprofit newsrooms in nearly every state across the country, starting Nov. 1 and running through Dec. 31, 2018.
The Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting will also receive an additional match.
fellowship
Join our newsroom as an engagement fellow
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Join our newsroom. Illinois Humanities is looking for an emerging journalist with interest and experience in community engagement for the 2018-19 Engagement Fellowship with the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting in Champaign, Illinois.
We’re partnering with agricultural communities to measure pesticide drift
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If you live in central Illinois, you may have spotted a small, dome-like device that resembles a flying saucer along a fence or in a neighbor’s backyard. Those devices are air samplers, specifically designed to measure pesticide drift. We’ve placed four samplers in agricultural communities to learn more about what chemicals, if any, might be drifting from corn and soybean fields onto nearby backyards, school grounds and parks as spraying gets underway this spring. We have also placed a sampler near our office in Champaign to serve as a control. Below, you will find more information about how this project will contribute to our reporting, how the community helped determine the locations of the samplers and exactly how the samplers work.
Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting
How did the soybean become such a common crop in the U.S.?
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This story was inspired by a question submitted at a Listening Post the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting held in August. Stuart Levy in Urbana, Illinois, asked us what would be needed for row crop farmers to switch from corn and soybeans to “something more sustainable.” We dug into that question, which starts with the unlikely circumstances that turned the soybean into a multi-billion dollar industry, and what this history might reveal about the future of U.S. agriculture.
A matching gift will double your donation
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We are excited to announce a matching gift opportunity from News Match, a national campaign by independent foundations to encourage grassroots support for nonprofit news organizations like ours. Starting right now—and until the end of the year—News Match will match dollar for dollar any donation we receive - up to $1,000 per donation.
Announcing our first-ever audience engagement fellow, Anna Casey
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Illinois Humanities and the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting jointly announced today that Anna Casey has been named their first-ever Audience Engagement Fellow. During the 12-month term of her Fellowship, Casey will work full-time with the Center, a Champaign-based nonprofit investigative newsroom focused on agriculture and agribusiness, to build dialogue with the community members and involve them more deeply in the reporting process.
Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting wins fellowship for Big Ag project
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The Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting has been selected by the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute as one of six fellowship projects for 2017-2018 that will focus on filter bubbles, bite-size training and business-side analytics.