Nearly 30 years after 120 residents packed a town hall to fight for it, the Dillsboro Public Library is celebrating a major renovation with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Built in 1818 by Lawrenceburg founder Samuel C. Vance, the Federal-style Vance-Tousey House remains one of southeastern Indiana's most treasured historic landmarks.

After 34 years with the Indiana State Police, retired trooper Matt Burkhardt of Lawrenceburg reflects on a career spent policing the Dearborn County community that raised him, answering the hardest calls, working alongside the people he most admired, and learning what it costs to wear the badge for a lifetime in your own hometown.

What I couldn’t leave behind was a quiet conviction that had been growing in me the entire time… that this community deserves to be truly seen, and that the thing I cared about most, real human connection, was slipping further out of reach with every passing year.

Stand anywhere in Dearborn, Ohio, Switzerland, Ripley, or Franklin County and you are standing on a piece of ground with an identity crisis for the ages. There is a wedge of land here, bounded by the Ohio River, three state lines, and an old treaty boundary, that the history books nicknamed “The Gore.”

The South Dearborn Class of 2026 earned nearly $3 million in scholarships before leaving the building. Here's how the community sent them off.

11 students from local high schools are participating in the initiative, which aims to give young people interested in legal careers direct exposure to how the criminal justice system actually works.