The rapid COVID-19 developments and the almost-immediate dissemination of often less-than reliable information on social media challenged the Columbia Missourian’s efforts to ensure people could easily access our accurate and reliable reporting.

The coronavirus pandemic has newsrooms across the country and the world scrambling to deliver vital information, but newsroom drone pilots may feel a little left out of the action as this story has put people indoors, carrying the story there with them.

Garrison had been waiting for an Indiana state agency to respond to his open records request. He knew the data existed and, if he could just get a full copy of it, he could finally answer a question that had bugged him for over a year.