A support group and a lab in the St. Louis area provide resources for people with the allergy to mammal products — and evidence that its effects can be reversed.
Barge tows make their way down the Mississippi River near the Quad Cities of Iowa and Illinois on Sept. 18, 2023. Aerial support provided by LightHawk. Credit: Nick Rohlman, The Gazette
Ag & Water Desk reporter Madeline Heim stands at the bottom of the Mississippi River inside a lock that was dewatered for maintenance in late January 2024. Credit: Mark Hoffman, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Since the Ag & Water Desk launched in 2022, we’ve been reporting on the lack of a multi-state compact for the Mississippi River basin. This kind of collective legislation could help coordinate environmental protection and planning across the watershed’s vast area.
Our stories have covered advocates’ efforts to pass such a compact, akin to the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, and the impact it would have for conservation. Several past initiatives like this for the Mississippi River have fallen short of federal passage.
A public opinion study, conducted to inform the Ag & Water Desk’s reporting and released in October, found that the majority of respondents in the basin support such a plan.
Now, a proposed compact called the Mississippi River Restoration and Resilience Initiative is back in Congress. This week, Wisconsin Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin introduced a new version of the bill, which Democratic Rep. Betty McCollum of Minnesota will bring forward in the House.
This is a subject that’s near and dear to our hearts, nerdy as it is, and we’ve been devoted to parsing it out for the public. A multi-state compact faces lots of challenges, as it would entail getting the ten mainstem river states to work together and leverage resources to draw down on federal support for projects that would hypothetically benefit all.
We’ll be keeping our eyes on these two bills as they work their way through Congress, and we’ll be updating you along the way!
Thanks for reading,
Tegan Wendland Ag & Water Desk Editorial Director
PS: We’ll also dig into collective governance solutions for watersheds like the Mississippi at our annual journalists’ workshop on covering rivers, April 3 in Philadelphia as part of this year’s Society of Environmental Journalists conference. Join us!
Our latest stories
An aerial view of broken wetlands in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, where the Mississippi River meets the sea. photo by Kezia Setyawan, WWNO
“If anything, since (this legislation) was first introduced, the conditions of the world we live in just keep showing us that there is an urgent need to address these problems, and they’re not solving themselves.”
By Madeline Heim, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel — Feb. 7, 2024
New carbon and hydrogen pipelines proposed as climate change solutions face stiff resistance from Midwest farmers and landowners, who cite past projects that exposed regulatory gaps and left behind considerable damage.
By Eric Schmid, St. Louis Public Radio — Feb. 2, 2024
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Our senior advisor Mark Schleifstein is closely following climate and environmental policy updates from Gov. Jeff Landry’s new administration — click here to read his reporting for The Times Picayune/New Orleans Advocate.
The cicadas are coming, report Bryce Gray in St. Louis and Brittney J. Miller in Iowa.
Introducing our new data journalist, Jared Whalen!
Jared joins us from Philadelphia and will work with our reporters on data-driven projects, graphics, and investigations. He has worked in newsrooms including Axios, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and The Delaware News Journal and is a graduate of Temple University.
The Desk wishes a fond farewell to outgoing data journalist Kae Petrin. We look forward to sharing Jared’s work with you soon!
