By David Poulson
You may have caught this weird judicial twist in a recent story on the Knight Center’s environmental news site: A Wisconsin judge ruled that manure was not a waste but a valuable commodity.
That’s no surprise. Anyone with a backyard garden knows that.
But providing that legal stamp produced a counter-intuitive outcome. It meant that an insurer was on the hook for damages when a farm polluted nearby wells with that valuable manure.
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Knight Center grad gets northern Michigan reporting post
Knight Center alum and 2012 MSU graduate Carol Thompson has just picked up a new gig as a business reporter for the Traverse City Record Eagle.
Carol, who reported for the center’s Great Lakes Echo from 2011 to 2012, will cover northern Michigan industry, business trends and the people who make the community tick.
And while not an environmental beat, she says that commerce takes resources, and business reporting will lead to stories on environmental impacts of local industries and some businesses’ sustainable efforts.
Carol spent two years at the Peninsula Pulse newspaper in Door County, Wis., where she wrote for all sections of the weekly paper. She reported on environmental issues, local government, health care, music and just about everything that goes on in a tight-knit, tourist community.
While at Great Lakes Echo, she covered such issues as Avian botulism, cottage food industries and the unique environmental challenges faced by islands.

Knight Center student wins journalism awards in diverse media
MSU Knight Center for Environmental Journalism graduate student Gregory Monahan was recognized recently by the Michigan Association of Broadcasters and the MSU School of Journalism.
Monahan won two first-place awards in the journalism school’s Best of MSU competition. He also was a member of Focal Point, the newscast that came in first place in the MAB’s College Television Daily Newscast/Sportscast category.
Monahan took the top spot in Best of MSU’s Radio Feature section for his interview with Michigan Technological University professor John Vucetich about Michigan’s wolf hunt, which started Nov. 15 in the state’s Upper Peninsula. The story was published on the center’s Great Lakes Echo news service.
Monahan also won for his weekly humor columns at the State News.
The Best of MSU awards is a new program that recognize the best student journalism at Michigan State during 2013. The school will enter first-place finishes into the Society for Professional Journalists Mark of Excellence awards.
Monahan is in his second semester of graduate work at MSU, and contributes regularly to Great Lakes Echo.
Environmental journalists should seek the high ground for context
By David Poulson I once worked with a photographer who had two informal rules on every out-of-town assignment: Eat well on the company dime and never miss the chance to fly.
I certainly enjoyed those expense account meals that I shared with Ralph. But I think the greater lesson was in his insistence on flight.
I don’t mean flying to an assignment. That never happened. But Ralph was convinced that the only way we could truly capture a news story was by renting a plane.
It wasn’t just a photo thing.
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