Conference sponsors offered to cover expenses for all attendees, an option that several reporters said was the only way they could attend in a time of tight to nonexistent travel budgets. “Our travel budget is essentially zero,” said environment reporter Mike Taugher of the Contra Costa Times in Walnut Creek, California. He and others said their publications had no problem with the conference paying expenses, especially given the Neiman partnership. Anthony Flint, of the Lincoln Institute, said the intense two-day conference was the equivalent of a “mini-fellowship.”

While most came from one of the “Two Cultures” of environment or land-use coverage, a few reporters are already straddling the fence. “I’ve always made the link between growth and the environment,” said The Tampa Tribune’s Yvette Hammett, whose beat includes environment and growth development issues. “[But] I haven’t done much in making the connection between climate change and local land use issues, including walkability.”

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