diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
index b7d800ee..729a18b0 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 Package: soilDB
 Type: Package
 Title: Soil Database Interface
-Version: 2.8.4
+Version: 2.8.5
 Authors@R: c(person(given="Dylan", family="Beaudette", role = c("aut"), email = "dylan.beaudette@usda.gov"),
              person(given="Jay", family="Skovlin", role = c("aut")), 
              person(given="Stephen", family="Roecker", role = c("aut")), 
diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index 27a3221f..abd2c968 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -1,10 +1,12 @@
-# soilDB 2.8.4 (development)
+# soilDB 2.8.5 (development)
+ - `fetchLDM()` add support for `area_type` with local database connections (`dsn` argument)
+ 
+# soilDB 2.8.4 (2024-08-17)
  - `createSSURGO()` bug fixes following changes in 2.8.3
    - generating `gpkg_contents` for GeoPackage files failed to add entries for "features" data_type
    - `filename` argument not properly handled in some cases
  - `SDA_query()` handle another possible failure point in error handling code
  - `createStaticNASIS()` use `odbc::dbListFields()` instead of `odbc::odbcConnectionColumns()`
- - fetchNASIS Vignette
  
 # soilDB 2.8.3 (2024-06-11)
  - Updates to SoilWeb web coverage services