It’s easy to miss important news events happening locally. While we continue to surface them for you every Monday of this month, we put together a bonus treat: a summary of 31 local news stories buried below the fold last year. Take a trip down 2020 with these local events, or jump right to the updates worth our attention from last week. And to give more love to the local sources publishing these stories, we reduced the number of places we pull information from for this edition. Let us know what you think of this direction by responding directly to this email! 

A Black police chief reconsiders his force’s role in today’s America

Sat Feb 6

Following the 2020 Black Lives Matters protests, trust in police reached its lowest point in 30 years, according to a study released in August. Ed Denmark, a police chief in the central Massachusetts town of Harvard, wants to change that. Denmark, who is Black, says America’s approach to policing is currently broken. 

What’s his approach to the problem?

• Removing the “stat sheet” that encourages his police officers to make more arrests each year.
• Teaching policing and public administration at a pair of local colleges. 
• Helping to rewrite criminal justice college curriculums to focus on minimizing conflict during police encounters.

The nation-wide protests also came with a rallying cry to reduce police budgets. Most changes that followed were the result of overall pandemic cost-cutting in major U.S. cities. But while the dollars seemed lower, law enforcement spending as a percentage of the budget actually went up slightly (from 13.6% to 13.7%). Meanwhile police reform at the federal level struggles with two opposing sides: civil rights groups, who are pressuring the Biden administration to act on reform, and law enforcement representatives, who are pushing to be involved before any decisions are made. 

Want to learn more? Visit The Boston Globe, Bloomberg, and Voices of America to read about this story and the Gallup for the research.

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Mississippi debates whether to expand Medicaid — only for state prisoners

Sun Feb 7

Mississippi is among the dozen states that doesn’t offer Medicaid, a government-run program to expand healthcare for those near poverty. In fact, the state takes a larger share of federal money than most, but has continued to refuse health care assistance despite having 300,000 Medicaid-eligible residents. 

But now the state is considering a new proposal that will allow Medicaid, at least for its critically-ill prison population. Since states are legally obligated to pay healthcare costs for its incarcerated population, Mississippi is accepting federal payments to cover two-thirds of the $80 million spent annually on healthcare costs for their prisoners. While the proposal makes its way through the Legislature, hospitals hope this leads to federally-funded Medicaid being approved for the general population.

But concerns are rising from both sides of the political aisle on that front. Republican governor Tate Reeves claims Medicaid simply costs the state too much. And Democratic legislator David Jordan questions why the state is turning down nearly one billion dollars in Medicaid expansion funds from the federal government to help the non-prison population with its health care. 

Want to learn more? Visit Mississippi Today or Mississippi Clarion Ledger to read about this story.

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Idaho considers taking a step back to protect its endangered salmon

Sat Feb 6

Idaho’s rivers went from hosting millions of wild salmon to just 4,000 in 2019. As a result, these salmon are now considered threatened and endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act. Residents and public officials blame hydroelectric dams for blocking salmon migration patterns, killing millions of fish unable to make it back to the Pacific.

Now, one Republic congressman has a $33 billion plan to restore salmon to their state rivers. Mike Simpson, who has been representing Idaho’s second congressional district since 1999, hopes the plan gets included in President Biden’s upcoming infrastructure plan. The plan intends to:

• Remove four dams in an effort to improve both salmon fisheries and water quality. 
• Protect the free-flowing river as a national recreation area, administered by both the federal government, state officials, and American Indian tribal councils that have lived in the area for generations. 

Why is this story important? 

More legislators across the Western U.S. — both Democrat and Republican — are looking to protect natural resources to help boost tourism in rural economies that are losing jobs. Whether or not this plan becomes a reality, expect to see more efforts across the West to protect wildlife for the public’s benefit. 

Want to learn more? Visit The Idaho Statesman to read about this story.

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This edition of Below the Fold is a part of our four-part series on Loving Local News. Enjoying the stories listed? Let us know. ↓