Indiana
Op/Ed: Land conservation efforts in Indiana experienced ‘biggest day ever’
Indiana simply skilled its greatest day ever for land conservation.
I’ll forgive readers in the event that they didn’t know that. However I’ll additionally guarantee them that they and their fellow Hoosiers will profit from that day ― actually ― without end.
On Sept. 6, the Subsequent Degree Conservation Belief Mission Committee met and determined the way to distribute greater than $23 million of the $25 million the state of Indiana put aside for land conservation within the biannual funds handed final 12 months. With the assistance of these funds, parts of the Indiana panorama might be protected in perpetuity by land trusts throughout the state.
Extra:Indiana DNR earmarks $25 million in federal funding for land acquisition and conservation
To the state authorities’s credit score, when it put out requests for proposals for these funds, it instructed land safety teams to “dream huge.” And we did. The conservation group recognized swaths of historical forest, vibrant wetlands, distinctive geological formations, endangered species’ habitat and different vital pure locations, many who we thought we would by no means have the sources to buy and shield. The requests totaled greater than $30 million.
This doesn’t imply that organizations merely discovered methods to spend cash. The Subsequent Degree Conservation Belief gives as much as three-to-one matching grants, which signifies that each group that requested funds additionally dedicated to elevating cash from donors.
The result’s that within the close to future extra money than ever might be used to buy important parcels of Indiana’s pure areas and place them into protecting care without end. Hoosiers may have alternatives to get pleasure from pristine pure areas, to expertise Indiana’s native natural world, and likewise to profit from improved water and air high quality effectively past these properties.
Extra:Hamilton County looking for parkland to fulfill development. Here is what’s been acquired
The funding was distributed from amongst divisions of the state’s Division of Pure Assets including to parks, forests, fish and wildlife areas and nature preserves in addition to county and native parks and a number of land trusts from throughout the state. This can be a huge deal as a result of these latter properties might be open to the general public however their ongoing care won’t require tax {dollars}.
For instance, the Central Indiana Land Belief is utilizing its $3.1 million to assist buy and shield land simply west of Greencastle in Putnam County. A 570-acre web site generally known as Fern Station, this property has been on our want checklist for greater than a decade as a result of it represents traditional Indiana forestland and serves as dwelling to plenty of uncommon and endangered species. It sits nearly undisturbed now ― with solely a single gravel highway slicing by way of it ― however, unable to discover a purchaser, the landowner had been contemplating dividing the land into parcels on the market.
With out the assistance of state funds, we would by no means have been capable of increase sufficient cash to guard the property, which can characterize the biggest single land buy in our historical past. And, as a result of it sits close to one other protected property ― the Fern Cliff Nature Protect ― it helps to extend the crucial mass of protected land in that space.
Extra:Indiana communities are wanting as much as bushes to scale back the influence felt from local weather change
With the funds from the Subsequent Degree Conservation Belief, related transactions will happen throughout the state, bringing hundreds of acres of land below safety. This can be a crucial step at a time after we lag effectively behind different states by way of protected land and proceed to lose hundreds of acres to growth yearly.
We applaud Indiana’s leaders for making these funds out there for funding in the way forward for Indiana’s pure locations, and we thank the beneficiant land preservation supporters throughout the state for offering the matching funds wanted to make these purchases potential. Collectively, we’re all working to protect the very best of Indiana’s pure legacy.
Cliff Chapman is government director of Central Indiana Land Belief.
PARADISE ISLAND, The Bahamas – Indiana and Providence have one last chance to salvage a win Friday in the Battle 4 Atlantis seventh-place game. The loser will head home as the member of the eight-team tournament to go winless in the three-game stretch.
Indiana entered the tournament with a 4-0 record and ranked No. 14 in the nation, but it suffered an 89-61 loss to Louisville Wednesday and an 89-73 loss to Gonzaga Thursday. Providence had a 5-0 record before losing 79-77 to Oklahoma and 69-58 to Davidson.
*** LIVE BLOG:Once the game starts, CLICK HERE to read our live blog written by Jack Ankony, including live updates, highlights and thoughts on the game.
Bart Torvik rankings
Projected score: Indiana 72, Providence 67. Torvik gives the Hoosiers a 68% chance of victory.
Indiana Hoosiers
Providence Friars
Meet the coaches
How does a team shake off its first loss of the season while facing a top-15 program that also has a lot to prove following its first defeat?
Ask Gonzaga men’s basketball head coach Mark Few — he and his coaching staff appeared to have all the answers to guide the Bulldogs to an 89-73 victory over No. 14 Indiana on Thursday to advance to the Battle 4 Atlantis fifth-place game.
The Zags (5-1) didn’t waste any time putting their overtime defeat to West Virginia behind them, as they jumped out to an 8-0 lead over the Hoosiers (4-2) in the first couple of minutes before taking a double-digit lead into halftime. Oumar Ballo kept Indiana in the fight early on to make it a 1-point game nearing the 9-minute mark in the first half, yet despite the former Zag’s efforts, Gonzaga capitalized on second-chance opportunities and transition points to go on a 21-2 scoring run, highlighted by an alley-oop dunk from Khalif Battle. The sixth-year guard led his team with 16 points and grabbed five rebounds, while five of his teammates scored in double figures, thanks in large part to Ryan Nembhard’s 13 assists.
With the win, Gonzaga will play the winner of Providence/Davidson in the fifth place on Friday at 5:30 p.m. PST/8:30 p.m. EST.
Here are three takeaways from the victory.
BULLDOGS IMPOSE THEIR WILL DOWN LOW
Braden Huff noted the Bulldogs didn’t have much of a presence in the paint in their loss to the Mountaineers. The Zags went a season-worst 19-of-44 (43.2%) from inside the arc and never established themselves on the low block, instead settling for 3-pointers when their first action didn’t lead to a score from 5 feet out.
Ballo and 6-foot-9 forward Mackenzie Mgbako posed a different kind of challenge, though, despite a hot start from Ballo, who scored 17 of his team’s first 31 points, Gonzaga’s bigs controlled the interior and the boards in totality. The Zags outrebounded the Hoosiers, 42-27, and outscored their opposition, 23-4, in second-chance points.
“Our bigs did a good job,” Few said after the game. “That’s the first team we played that’s kind of like us — likes to throw the ball inside a lot, really ducks in and really puts a lot of foul pressure on you. We were in massive foul trouble in the first half. Got in even more trouble in the second half. But they kept playing. They kept repeating and moving them in and out of there, and they were able to stay in the game.”
Ballo gave the Hoosiers a much-needed spark after they fell into an 8-0 hole. The 7-foot-tall, 237-pound redshirt senior nailed a few right-handed hook shots to put his team in position to compete with the No. 3-ranked team in the country. Ballo led all scorers with 25 points.
“Clearly he’s gotten a lot better,” Few said of Ballo. “I mean that was what six years ago [when Ballo arrived to Gonzaga as a freshman]? He’s older, he’s gotten in great shape. I’m happy for him. That right-handed hook was going tonight but we were OK with that. We just didn’t want him to get a whole lot of stuff between us and the basket.”
Michael Ajayi had his best game as a Zag, recording 15 points and nine rebounds on 5-of-9 from the field, while Ike finished with 14 points and seven rebounds. Ben Gregg added 13 points off the bench and held down the center spot while Ike and Huff had to sit on the bench due to foul trouble in the second half.
AN EMPHATIC RESPONSE
Gonzaga’s players looked ready to flush away the dramatic loss to WVU the moment they stepped off the floor Wednesday. Having a short memory is somewhat necessary when playing three games in as many days, regardless of the final score. Safe to say the Bulldogs embraced that mentality heading into Thursday’s consolation game.
“There’s a lot you say in a 24-hour period like that,” Few said in regard to how he addressed his team in wake of their loss to WVU. “We talked about how in a game like the other night, comes down to one or two possessions, we’ve got to be able to execute, especially on defense. I didn’t feel like we played very good ‘D’ last night.”
The Zags flipped the script on that end of the floor against the Hoosiers. While Ballo was rolling down low, his teammates weren’t creating much on offense from the perimeter. Indiana’s starting backcourt of Myles Rice and Kanaan Carlyle combined for 12 points on 4-of-14 from the field. Malik Reneau, who led the way with 21 points against the Cardinals, put up a goose egg in the first half before ending the night with a quiet six points in 24 minutes of action.
ONTO PROVIDENCE/DAVIDSON
The Zags can enjoy the rest of their Thanksgiving holiday while they await their opponent for tomorrow’s fifth-place game at 5:30 p.m. PST. Gonzaga will face the winner of Providence (5-1) vs. Davidson (4-1) to conclude its trip in The Bahamas.
The Friars nearly completed a wild comeback against Oklahoma in the final minutes of their quarterfinal matchup on Wednesday. The Sooners led by nine points with 44 seconds left but missed free throws and a traveling violation made it a 2-point game in the final seconds. Wesley Cardet Jr. had 17 points, Jayden Pierre and Bensley Joseph 16 each and Corey Floyd Jr. put up 13 for Providence.
The Wildcats got blown out, 104-71, by No. 24 Arizona on Wednesday. Connor Kochera tallied 20 points and Bobby Durbin nailed five 3s for Davidson, which went 38% from the field.
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Indiana
How to watch Gonzaga Bulldogs vs. Indiana Hoosiers: TV channel, live stream for Battle 4 Atlantis game
A pair of AP Top 25 teams look to bounce back from their first letdowns of the season on Thursday when No. 3 Gonzaga takes on No. 14 Indiana in the Battle 4 Atlantis event from The Bahamas.
The Bulldogs (5-1) were less than 30 seconds away from advancing to the semifinal round before West Virginia mounted a swift comeback in the final seconds behind Tucker DeVries, who sunk two free throws in the final seconds of regulation to force overtime. The Mountaineers held the Zags to 2-of-10 from the field in the extra period to come away victorious, 84-78, over the No. 3-ranked program in the country. Gonzaga also led by eight points at halftime and by double-digits at the 18:35 mark in the second half.
Braden Huff’s 19 points led his team, followed by Khalif Battle with 16 points. Javon Small scored a season-high 31 points for West Virginia, which went 14-of-28 (50.0%) from the field in the second half.
The Hoosiers (4-1) are looking to rebound from Wednesday’s 89-61 loss to Louisville in their Battle 4 Atlantis opener on Wednesday. Malik Reneau led Indiana with 21 points while former Zag Oumar Ballo recorded 11 points and six rebounds.
The Bulldogs and Hoosiers have met four times before, all at neutral sites, with the series split at 2-2. The two last met in the 2008 Hartford Classic in Indianapolis, Indiana, where the Zags came out on top, 70-54.
The winner of Thursday’s game plays at noon PST on Friday in the third-place game. Loser plays at 8 a.m. PST in the seventh-place game.
HOW TO WATCH GONZAGA VS. INDIANA
Who: Gonzaga and Indiana meet in the consolation bracket of the 2024 Battle 4 Atlantis
When: 11:30 a.m. PT/2:30 p.m. EST | Thursday, Nov. 28
Where: Imperial Arena at Atlantis Resort | Nassau, Bahamas
TV: ESPN2
2024 Battle 4 Atlantis Schedule:
Nov. 28 – Semifinals
Noon ET – Louisville vs. West Virginia
2:30 p.m. ET – Gonzaga vs. Indiana
5 p.m. ET – Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner
7:30 p.m. ET – Game 3 loser vs. Game 4 loser (consolation bracket)
Nov. 29 – Championship
11 a.m. ET – Seventh-Place Game
3 p.m. ET – Third-Place Game
5:30 p.m. ET – Championship Game
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