The Indiana Publisher

September 2019 Page 13 Makenna Mays The Brookville Democrat BROOKVILLE—Brookville has been part of an Opportunity Zone area for a little more than a year now. In that time, it has become home to the first funded Opportu- nity Zone projects in Indiana, including the Valley House Flats, the Whitewater Publications newspapers and the Cobblestone Hotel. Nick Lawrence, of the Wheatley Group, organized a campaign to have the area chosen as one of the state's 156 Opportu- nity Zones. These zones are economically distressed commu- nities that have been nominated for the designation by the governor and certified by the Secretary of the U.S. Treasury. The goal of these designated areas is to encourage long-term investments in low-income and rural communities nationwide to incentivize investments into housing, small business and infrastructure. Franklin County's Opportunity Zone includes all of Brookville. It goes up Indiana 101 to Golden Road and then down Indiana 252 and U.S. 52 near White's Sale Barn. The creation of this zone came at a perfect time for both Mick and Jenny Wilz. In 2018, the Wilz's sold their family business, and because of the county's Opportunity Zone status, were able to defer capital gains from the sale of their business back into the community. "It was just the perfect fit at the perfect time for us," said Jenny. "We had funds; the Opportunity Zone was in Brookville; and there were projects available that will have a positive impact on our community." There was a timeline of less than a year to fund the projects. Those projects were a 45-room Cobblestone Hotel, the second oldest newspaper in Indiana (the Brookville American) and the oldest businesses in Union and Franklin County and the Valley House Hotel. In selecting the newspaper, the Wilz's believe a newspaper is vital to any community. On July 23, a state Opportunity Zone summit was held in Indianapolis at the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Historical Center for anyone who might be interested in investing. Brookville is home to Indiana's first funded Opportunity Zone projects In selecting the news- paper, the Wilz's believe a newspaper is vital to any community. Project includes area newspaper A growing number of local and regional news organizations and journalists lack the legal support they need to pursue enterprise and investigative stories in their communities — the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press is commit- ted to helping change that. Thanks to the generous $10 million investment from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Reporters Committee will expand to provide direct legal services to more local journalists through its new Local Legal Initiative. The Reporters Committee is now accepting proposals from communities that could benefit from the Local Legal Initiative, which will, for the first time in RCFP's 50-year history, place a member of our legal team in up to five locations across the country to bolster local enterprise and investigative journalism. These attorneys will help local journalists and news organizations defend their rights to gather and report the news, gain access to public records and court proceedings, and hold state and local governments accountable. We're committed to collaborating with local and regional partners, which could include nonprofit and for- profit local and regional news organizations, state and local press associations, law firms, state and regional nonprofit organizations, universities and other educational institutions, and anyone helping local journalism thrive. Proposals can be submitted at rcfp.org/local until Oct. 31, 2019. — The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press Local Legal Initiative attorneys to help bolster investigative journalism For updates follow HSPA on Twitter & Facebook: @OurRight2Know, Facebook.com/Hoosier State Press Association/ Jon O'Bannon presents Seymour Police Chief Bill Abbott with the Frank O'Bannon Sunshine Award. Event Center for their annual awards lunch. Hundreds of certificates and plaques were distributed in recogni- tion of excellence in writing, photog- raphy, design and multimedia. A number of special awards were given including The Ray Moscowitz Award which was pre-sented to Jeff Parrott of the South Bend Tribune in recognition for fos-tering the advancement of the First Amendment through his dogged coverage of the city's public trans-portation system, Transpo. Christopher Stephens of the Herald-Bulletin (Anderson) received the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust Environmental Journalist Award. Gene D'Amado, president and CEO of the Trust presented the award to Stephens for his wide-rang- ing monthly series on environmental issues. Seymour Police Chief Bill Abbott received the Frank O'Bannon Sunshine Award. The honor, named for the late Indiana governor, recog- nizes outstanding efforts to protect and enhance the concept of open government. Nondaily Blue Ribbon Newspaper honors were given to the Brown County Democrat (Nashville). A judge noted the Democrat's quality and variety of reporting. In the daily category the Herald- Bulletin (Anderson) took home top honors with a judge remarking on its great in-depth coverage and nice local sports and features. For PDFs of both awards presen- tations, visit www.hspa.com. Awards Continued from Page 1

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