By John Krull
TheStatehouseFile.com 

INDIANAPOLIS – The years melt away.

The three of us – two old buddies from my newspaper days and me — sit in my kitchen and sip Scotch and bourbon as the night chills and deepens. Earlier, we grilled some steaks and brussels sprouts and caught up with each others’ lives.

Once we spent a lot of time together. We weren’t young then, but we weren’t old, either. We were in our 30s, that scrambling decade when people build their careers.

And their lives.

We worked long hours for a dying afternoon newspaper, The Indianapolis News, and loved it. Will and I were reporters and writers for the paper. Rich was a photographer. The job was all about deadlines, about turning out in tight frames words and pictures that made stories come to life.

We managed the stress by working out. We’d run over our lunch hours and shower in a newspaper washroom that somehow had escaped the Environmental Protection Agency’s attention before returning to our labors. We’d do even longer runs on the weekends, pounding our way over dirt trails in the early morning hours, then scarfing down cheap breakfasts and coffee while we traded stories and jokes.

Those were good days, and they passed as good days always do.

Too fast.

We had no idea then, more than 20 years ago, the huge changes that awaited the news business. We just knew that we were three guys who were living their lives and doing work that mattered. We were guys who got to tell the tale.

But then years passed.

Life happened.

Marriages came along and, in some cases, ended. Fathers all, we saw children grow to maturity.

And we all left the newspaper business.

I was the first, leaving a little more than 20 years ago. Rich followed a decade later. Will hung it up earlier this year.

Now we’re three old guys on either side of 60, sitting in a kitchen, reconnecting. We haven’t gotten to see each other much these past years, so there’s a lot of ground to cover.

But it comes easy.

We sit, we sip our drinks and we share our stories, savoring each. We talk about joys. We talk about disappointments. We talk about friends going through hard times. We talk about friends going through good times. We talk about friends who have died.

And we shake our heads in mourning.

Two of us can’t really run anymore. The one who can run does it a lot slower than he used to. We’ve all been subject to the aches and ailments that accompany the passage of time.

We marvel at how quickly we moved from being young Turks to becoming elder statesmen.

But then we smile at old memories. We trade old jokes. We tease each other in familiar ways. We talk with fondness about landmarks from our past that have disappeared. We reminisce about the deep, even sweeping, alterations in the landscapes of our lives.

We laugh, far into the night.

Then it’s time to say farewells.

After warm hand clasps and a few last affectionate jibes and cracks, my buddies step out into the dark and cold and go home. We all head back to our lives.

I find myself lingering at the front door after they’ve left, thinking about the days when the three of us ran together. What a gift those times were.

There is so much about this world that shifts and moves. So much that is dear to us disappears or just goes away. So often, the ground beneath our feet quakes and pitches.

So many things change.

Thank God some things don’t.

FOOTNOTE: John Krull is director of Franklin College’s Pulliam School of Journalism and publisher of TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.

7 p.m. Wednesday, November 13

USI Women’s Basketball opens Screaming Eagles Arena’s basketball season against defending national champions

The University of Southern Indiana Women’s Basketball team will open their 2019-2020 home season in Screaming Eagles Arena at 7 p.m. Wednesday, November 13 against defending Division II national champions University of Central Missouri. Tickets will be available at the door and can be pre-purchased at GoUSIEagles.com. Ticket Link

Final Reading Series event brings two poets to campus

Award-winning poets Emily Skaja and Marcus Wicker will be reading from their collections, Brute and Silencer at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, November 14 in Forum I located in the Wright Administration Building Forum Wing on the University of Southern Indiana campus. A reception with light refreshments, Q&A and book signing will follow the reading. All Southern Indiana Reading Series events are free and open to the public. More Information

Shakespeare returns to the USI Theatre stage with “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”

University of Southern Indiana Theatre will continue its 2019-2020 season with the classic comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream, written by William Shakespeare and directed by Elliot Wasserman, USI professor of theatre. The production runs from November 14-17, 2019 in the USI Performance Center located in UC east on USI’s campus. Read More

Reception at 2 p.m. Sunday, November 17; on exhibition through Sunday, December 8

USI Class of 2019 capstone artwork featured in Senior Seminar Exhibition

The McCutchan Art Center/ Pace Galleries, located on the University of Southern Indiana campus, will feature the 2019 Senior Seminar Exhibition beginning Monday, November 4 and ending on Sunday, December 8. A reception for the student artists will be held in the galleries at 2 p.m. Sunday, November 17. Read More

Exhibit open through Saturday, December 7

New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art to feature popup exhibition

The New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary will host “Praxis,” a pop-up exhibition, through Saturday, December 7. “Praxis” is a physical manifestation and continuation of the dialogue initiated between the panelists and audience members of the Marketing Yourself as an Artist event that was held this past September. More Information

Thursday, November 21 – Sunday, November 24
Celebrate the holidays with Renaissance food, music at USI’s 50th annual Madrigal Feaste
The University of Southern Indiana Chamber Choir will host the 50th annual Madrigal Feaste will be held Thursday, November 21 – Sunday, November 24 in Carter Hall located in University Center West on the USI campus. Doors open at 7 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 1 p.m. for the Sunday matinee. USI’s most enduring musical tradition, the Madrigal Feaste is a reenactment of a 15th-century royal feast, including dancing and merriment on a grand scale. Processionals and holiday music accompanying each item on the menu as performers and guests welcome the holiday season. Read More

EPA Proposes First Updates to Environmental Appeals Board In 27 Years

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to streamline and modernize the review of permits by the agency’s Environmental Appeals Board (EAB) while providing more flexibility to regulated parties, states and tribes, and the public. Under this proposal, interested parties would be empowered to choose the option for resolving a permit dispute that is best suited to their needs.

The Agency’s proposal aims to facilitate speedy resolution of permit disputes—either through alternative dispute resolution, a hearing before the Board, or a more timely judicial review. EPA proposes several additional reforms designed to streamline the current administrative appeal process and to provide appropriate checks and balances on how the EAB exercises its delegated authority. The Agency is seeking broad input through the public comment process on these proposed changes.

“Under President Trump’s leadership, we have made the Agency more accountable to the public and with this proposal, we are continuing to build on that success,” said EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler. “The Agency now works more collaboratively with the states and tribes than it did 27 years ago and the EAB’s new role will reflect this reality.”

The proposal’s key elements are designed to simplify the review process, expedite permitting, and allow parties who would like to challenge EPA’s permits in court to do so more quickly. The proposal builds on the Board’s successful voluntary Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) program that, to date, has resolved over 90 percent of cases that have gone through the program without litigation. The EAB’s ADR program promotes faster resolution of issues and more creative, satisfying and enduring solutions. The proposal provides parties challenging EPA’s permits with options to resolve their disputes, including ADR or a traditional appeal before Board. All parties would have a voice, and if they do not unanimously agree on the path forward, the permit becomes final and can be challenged in federal court without going through the additional administrative processes within the EPA.

The proposal also seeks to clarify the scope and standard of EAB review; remove a provision authorizing participation in appeals by amicus curiae, and eliminate the EAB’s authority to review Regional permit decisions on its own initiative in the absence of an appeal brought by an interested party. EPA also includes new deadlines for EAB action and other provisions to promote internal efficiency.

Finally, EPA also proposes to set twelve-year terms for EAB Judges in lieu of the indefinite terms currently in place; a new process to identify which EAB opinions will be considered precedential; and a new mechanism by which the Administrator, through the General Counsel, can issue a dispositive legal interpretation in any matter pending before the EAB.

These EAB reforms are in line with the Trump Administration’s efforts to reform and modernize EPA which include:

• A directive to end the controversial “sue and settle” practice which removes the ability of third-party groups to circumvent the regulatory process and requires the Agency to engage in actions without public comment.
• Reforming EPA’s science advisory committees, to ensure independence, geographic diversity, integrity.
• Implementing EPA’s Lean Management Systems and creating the Office of Continuous Improvement which measures progress made on 400 metrics and provides accountability to the public.
  • Realigning the Agency’s regional offices to ensure clarity and consistency in the Agency’s functions from Headquarters to the local level.
  • EPA also took steps to modernize and clear out our FOIA backlog. The steps the Trump Administration has taken will bring EPA into compliance with federal law and continue to be responsive to the public despite a 400% increase in FOIA requests since January 2017.