N.C. newspaper sparks community to rally around child welfare

What began as a normal crime beat assignment for Shelby Star reporter Olivia Neeley, right, quickly evolved into an ongoing series by the newspaper and eventually into a call for action among community members. Neeley reported on a shooting that left two people dead in Shelby, N.C., in August 2009, and produced a short online update and blurb for the next morning's print edition. Upon returning to the community the next day, Neeley was struck by the matter-of-fact tone several children  took toward the shooting. One girl, in a nonchalant tone, simply asked "Who got killed?" (Freedom Communications photo)

"I felt particularly uncomfortable at the scene (the night before), so I could only imagine how those children felt," Neeley told Freedom Communications, for a feature story on the company's Web site. "When the girl said it the way she did, very casually, I just couldn’t believe it." The question, "Who got killed?," became the headline for an ongoing series sparked by reader input regarding their shock at the problems facing children in the community. Star publisher Skip Foster appointed Neeley the lead reporter on the project, shifting her from the crime beat to covering children in peril.

"It would not be an easy task or pledge to live up to," reported Freedom. "People, including the children themselves, are reluctant to talk about abuse or neglect. Secondly, it was very important to protect the children’s identities while still giving a detailed account of those involved." The series produced a number of heart-breaking stories about local children, and after much reaction from readers, Neeley began pointing them to local charity organizations. A group of local community leaders announced an event, called Connect, Commit to Change, to benefit the agencies helping children.

"The Star ran ads in the paper to promote the event, and set a goal of recruiting 15 agencies to participate. They got more than 50," according to Freedom. Participants were asked to fill out "I commit to" cards that contained promises to connect specific talents, like pro bono legal help, with specific needs. The Star later published the cards to hold participants to their promise."We had no idea how many people would attend the event, and were naturally a little nervous when the day arrived," Neeley said. "But then people kept rolling in, and it was amazing to see what one quote from a little girl a year ago could do to inspire an entire community." (Read more)

Texans question whether state has enough oversight of drilling operations

Texas Railroad Commission inspectors personally supervised just 15.4 percent of the 10,140 surface-casings performed at drilling sites in the 12 months ending Aug. 31. The casing process, which has oil and gas operators sink steel pipe into the ground and cement it into place, is considered a key step in preventing water pollution at well sites, Jack Z. Smith of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports. Commission spokeswoman Ramona Nye said commission inspectors witnessed as many casings as possible, and for the rest, agency "geologists and engineers closely reviewed forms filed by oil and gas operators regarding well construction," Smith writes.

Nye explained that when operators make their filings, "they must declare, under threat of prescribed penalties, that the information is 'true and correct.'" Sharon Wilson, an organizer for the Texas Oil and Gas Accountability Project, joined with other critics in saying the agency is too close to the industry to regulate it, telling Smith the industry "has been running roughshod over Texas for decades." She added, "We have hundreds of drilling waste pits that have been abandoned all over North Texas or not covered up and properly remediated. All these are potential sources of water contamination."

Houston attorney Claude Cooke Jr., who has energy clients and worked in the oil industry, countered that regulators throughout the U.S. "have been doing a good job," and oil and gas operators and the contractors they hire have "a lot of financial incentive to do it right." Due to the recent boom in natural gas drilling operations in the Barnett Shale, the commission has been left understaffed, Gary Hogen, president of the North Central Texas Communities Alliance, told Smith. "We're not anti-drilling," Hogan said of the alliance. "We're very pro-responsible drilling." (Read more)

Coal could be deciding factor in U.S. Senate race in Kentucky

It's no secret that coal is playing a large role in political campaigns across central Appalachia, and in Kentucky the issue may end up deciding whether Democrat Jack Conway or Republican Rand Paul wins the state's contested U.S. Senate seat. "In Western Kentucky, one concern is that cap and trade would cause higher rates for electricity produced by burning coal, hurting two large aluminum smelters that employ 1,500 people and support thousands more jobs," Bill Estep of the Lexington Herald-Leader reports. "In Eastern Kentucky, where coal is an economic linchpin, companies and many miners fear tougher environmental regulation will cripple surface mining."

Bell County Judge-Executive Albey Brock predicts coal will be the deciding factor in who wins the eastern counties. "On Election Day, when they go vote, how (Conway and Paul) stand on coal is how these counties are going to go," Brock, a Republican, told Estep. Among the issues is the candidates' stance on cap-and-trade, which both say they oppose. Paul rejected cap-and-trade early on, and claims Conway originally supported the proposal before changing his mind, which the Conway campaign denies.

"When asked whether Congress should do anything to limit greenhouse-gas emissions, Conway said the government needs to invest in technology that would allow coal to be burned more cleanly," Estep writes. "Paul said any discussion of whether the government should move to limit emissions should acknowledge that the nation’s skies already are much cleaner than 30 years ago." Conway told Estep he believed the science behind global warming was "fairly well established on that." Paul was less clear in his opinions on climate change, saying "I think anyone who makes an absolute conclusion is probably overstating their conclusion."

Paul's general platform of reducing government's role on many fronts includes a lessened role for the Environmental Protection Agency. Conway told Estep water-quality standards must be met and that the EPA has a role in policing coal, but the agency doesn’t need to "come in and legislate." Paul also said earlier reports that he was against any federal oversight of mine safety were wrong, but he generally favored local control over federal. (Read more)

Iowa Farm Bureau proposes end to direct payments

In breaking with most mainstream agriculture industry groups, the Iowa Farm Bureau announced last week it favored ending direct payments to farmers beginning with the 2012 Farm Bill. "Iowa's position now goes to the American Farm Bureau Federation annual meeting in January in Atlanta, where it will be considered for the organization's position as debate gathers for the 2012 bill," Dan Piller of the Des Moines Register reports. "Southern cotton and rice farmers traditionally advocate for direct payments, so nobody at Iowa Farm Bureau headquarters in West Des Moines, where the delegates met, predicted an easy ride for Iowa's position."

"I've been talking to the Texas and Illinois Farm Bureaus," Iowa Farm Bureau President Craig Lang, an advocate of a changed position, told Piller. "They're just getting started. Iowa is out front on this one." The resolution, adopted at the Farm Bureau's summer policy conference reads that "direct payments should be replaced by using this money for an improved revenue insurance program." The proposal "reflects a a plan suggested by Iowa State University professor Bruce Babcock, who has said that most farmers would benefit more from a stronger subsidized crop insurance program," Piller writes. (Read more)

Feds yet to allow solar projects on public land

Five years after the federal government opened vast stretches of federal land in the southwest for solar energy generation, no electricity has been produced there. "An Associated Press examination of U.S. Bureau of Land Management records and interviews with agency officials shows that the BLM operated a first-come, first-served leasing system that quickly overwhelmed its small staff and enabled companies, regardless of solar industry experience, to squat on land without any real plans to develop it," Jason Dearen reports for AP.

In Nevada, a Goldman Sachs & Co. subsidiary with no solar power background has claims on nearly half the land for which applications have been filed, but has no plans for any of the sites, AP reports. "The Obama administration says it is expediting the most promising projects, with some approvals expected as soon as September," Dearen writes. "And yet, it will be years before the companies begin sending electricity to the Southwest's sprawling, energy-hungry cities." In 2005, Congress mandated BLM approve by 2015, 10,000 megawatts of renewable energy on public lands, about enough to fuel five million homes during peak production.

"The Bush administration, however, kept BLM's focus on oil," Dearen writes. "BLM's database of solar applications shows many languished for years while the agency approved more than 73,000 oil and gas leases in the last five years. BLM has yet to give final approval to one solar lease." Two Goldman subsidiaries filed 52 of the 354 applications throughout the region, more than any other company. "Those 52 applications are an example of the problem of clogging up the system," V. John White, executive director of the California-based Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies, told AP. "Some of these lease applications tied up more land than would be needed for a real project." (Read more)

Next Farm Foundation Forum in D.C. will examine budget implications for the next Farm Bill

The Farm Foundation Forum in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, Sept. 14, will examine budget implications for the next Farm Bill. Presenters will include Craig Jagger, chief economist of the House Agriculture Committee; Patrick Westhoff of the Food and Agriculture Policy Research Institute; Chuck Conner of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, and Ferd Hoefner of the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition. Following their presentations, the discussion will be moderated by former U.S. Rep. Charlie Stenholm of Texas.

The Forum will be held from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the National Press Club, 529 14th Street NW. Coffee will be available at 8:30 a.m. If you plan to attend, please RSVP by noon Friday, Sept. 10. There is no charge to participate, but registration is requested.  Who should participate? People with an interest in agricultural, food and rural policy, including members of Congress, congressional staff, executive branch officials, industry representatives, representatives of non-=governmental organizations, academics and journalists.

FDA to consider safety of genetically engineered salmon

UPDATE 9/8: The Food and Drug Administration ruled Friday "salmon genetically engineered to grow quickly is safe to eat and poses little risk to the environment," Andrew Pollack of The New York Times reports.The assessment makes it more likely that the fish will become the first genetically modified animal to enter the American food supply." (Read more)

The Food and Drug Administration is set to decide this month if a faster-growing, genetically engineered fish is safe to eat, which could pave the way for other genetically engineered meats. "The fish, made by Aqua Bounty Technologies Inc., is manipulated to grow twice as fast as traditional Atlantic salmon, something the company says could boost the nation's fish sector and reduce pressure on the environment," Susan Heavey of Reuters reports. "But consumer advocates and food safety experts are worried that splicing and dicing fish genes may have the opposite effect, leading to more industrial farming and potential escapes into the wild."

(Aqua Bounty photo comparing engineered
salmon with Atlantic salmon of same age)

"They're basically putting the fish on permanent growth hormone so it grows faster ... so they can sell bigger fish faster," Jaydee Hanson, a policy analyst for the nonprofit Center for Food Safety, told Heavey. If the salmon, left, is approved, the FDA decision could pave the way for "the company's engineered trout and tilapia," Heavey writes. "Other scientists are also developing altered pigs and cows for food." FDA will host a three-day meeting about the salmon beginning on Sept. 19 where it will hear available data and advice from outsiders.

Aqua Bounty Chief Executive Ronald Stotish told Reuters the company has analyzed its salmon and found no differences that warrant any kind of special labeling. "This is an Atlantic salmon in every measurable way," he told Heavey. "When you look at the fish, it's impossible to see the difference." Stotish also noted his companies' salmon could help wild salmon populations and curb costly imports. "We're not saying if they approve our salmon we're going to feed the world," Stotish told Reuters, but "there's a general consensus that overfishing is a fact of life." (Read more)

EPA tells Wyo. town the water isn't safe to drink

The Environmental Protection Agency has told residents of a small Wyoming town near extensive natural gas drilling not to drink their water. "The announcement accompanied results from a second round of testing and analysis in the town of Pavillion  by Superfund investigators for [EPA]," Abrahm Lustgarten of ProPublica reports. "Researchers found benzene, metals, naphthalene, phenols and methane in wells and in groundwater. They also confirmed the presence of other compounds that they had tentatively identified last summer and that may be linked to drilling activities."

"Last week it became clear to us that the information that we had gathered was going to potentially result in a hazard -- result in a recommendation to some of you that you not continue to drink your water," Martin Hestmark, deputy assistant regional administrator for ecosystems protection and remediation with the EPA in Denver, told a crowd of about 100 gathered at a community center in Pavillion (pop. 174) Tuesday night. "We understand the gravity of that." EnCana, the oil and gas company that owns most of the wells near Pavillion, will "contribute to the cost of supplying residents with drinking water, even though the company has not accepted responsibility for the contamination," Lustgarten writes. (Read more)

"What I believe is we need to find the source. We need to get this shut down now before it just keeps spreading," Pavillion-area resident Louis Meeks told Dustin Bleizeffer of the Casper Star-Tribune. EnCana officials at the meeting refused to connect the water quality with drilling operations. "While there's been a full year of additional testing, the science remains inconclusive," EnCana spokesman Randy Teeuwen told Bleizeffer. He said the EPA's findings "further confirms there is bad water in the area. But we've known that for a long time. It still does not point to oil and gas operations." (Read more)

Egg buyers may look to strengthen their own inspection rules

In the wake of a massive egg recall that has left questions about federal food safety regulations, some egg buyers are considering boosting their own food safety regulations. Costco, one of the companies that bought eggs included in the recall, "will start requiring all of its suppliers to vaccinate their hens against salmonella," Phillip Brasher of the Des Moines Register reports. "Inoculating hens is considered a good, though not foolproof, way to prevent salmonella contamination in eggs."

"There are a lot of guys going, 'Hey, wait a minute. [Investigators] are finding stuff and our guys were there and they didn't see it,'" Craig Wilson, who oversees food safety for Costco, told Brasher. The companies previous inspections at the Hillandale farm where the salmonella outbreak started were done by an outside firm, which focused on ensuring the hens were treated humanely. Still those auditors should have noticed the rodent holes later found by federal investigators in the Hillandale henhouses, Wilson told Brasher.

"Some retailers or food service companies are considering requiring egg farms to have salmonella-prevention measures in place, and more farms are expected to seek certification under a quality-assurance program operated by the Food Marketing Institute, a supermarket trade group," Brasher writes. "More than 100 egg processors are certified under the institute's program for packing facilities, but only one egg farm, in California, is certified as a producer." To gain certification farms must be inspected by auditors, who are accredited by the program.

"I guarantee there will be a lot of interest in that," Ken Klippen, an official with Minnesota egg producer Sparboe Farms, told Brasher. "We don't want to go through this again." Howard Magwire, vice president of government relations for the United Egg Producers, noted the certification program can be costly to farmers, and his group is looking "at starting some kind of program that producers can use to assure customers that farms are preventing salmonella contamination," Brasher writes. (Read more)

Rural S.C. library offers e-book readers to the community

The Georgetown County, S.C., (pop. 60,703) public library system has purchased 25 Amazon Kindles for patrons in the county to use at the library. The library also bought $2,500 worth of e-books thanks to a national Library Services and Technology Act grant. The e-book reader is the latest tool made available at Georgetown County Library, reports Digital Communities.

Many local residents in the rural community don't have the means to buy new technologies, so the library helps bridge the generational and digital divides.  "We're a small, rural library system and we think this technology will interest young people, particularly young males. They're the hardest to reach," Dwight McInvaill, director of the Georgetown County Library, told Digital Communities. In Georgetown County, the library is hoping to improve the school drop out rate by offering new technology to the county's students. The Kindles are available for teaching and reading, but not lending.

One-third of Americans older than 14 use the Internet at public libraries to keep in touch with friends and family, do research and find jobs, according to the report, Opportunity for All: How the American Public Benefits from Internet Access at U.S. Libraries.

Reports says rural states got most bang for stimulus transportation bucks

A new study from the libertarian Reason Foundation reports stimulus package transportation funds had the greatest effect in rural states. The study reveals: "For states such as North Dakota and South Dakota, stimulus funds can comprise more than 40 percent of their annual highway spending while in New York and Texas, they account for about 14 percent," Henry Goldman of Bloomberg reports. The stimulus package included $26.6 billion to finance 13,000 road projects through Feb. 26.

"Given the focus of stimulus funds on projects that are likely to significantly impact system condition, their impact should be largest in smaller rural states that already have relatively good systems,” the report concluded. Based on 11 indicators reported to the Federal Highway Administration, including spending on highways, pavement and bridge condition, urban interstate congestion, fatality rates and narrow rural lanes, Reason Foundation concluded the overall condition of the state-owned highway system 'has never been in better shape." The report noted the recession, which has decreased travel, also affected road conditions.

"Allocations of stimulus funds paralleled the existing federal highway aid program allocating funds to each state," Cathy St. Dennis, a Federal Highway Administration spokeswoman, told Goldman. "When you look at the data, California and the other big states got the most money. There was no intent to favor the small states." The study reports North Dakota, followed by Montana, Kansas, New Mexico and Nebraska, led all 50 states in road performance. Rhode Island, Alaska, California, Hawaii, New York and New Jersey stood at the bottom of the rankings, Goldman writes. (Read more)

Two Massey officials went inside mine immediately after April explosion

In the hours following the April explosion at Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia that killed 29 miners, two Massey officials re-entered the mine unsupervised for four hours, National Public Radio reports. The two officials "traveled nine miles underground and reached the area of the longwall mining machine that is considered a possible source of the explosion," Howard Berkes of NPR writes. "They remained underground even after the Mine Safety and Health Administration issued a so-called (k) order closing the mine to all but official rescuers and authorized activity."

The officials were "Chris Blanchard, president of the Massey Energy subsidiary that manages the Upper Big Branch mine, and Jason Whitehead, who was director of underground performance at the time and is now a Massey vice president," Berkes writes. Massey would not make Blanchard and Whitehead available for an interview but company Vice President and General Counsel Shane Harvey told NPR they "risked their lives to save fellow coal miners. ... These rescue efforts were their one and only objective." Kevin Stricklin, chief of coal mine safety for MSHA, told Berkes it's not known whether Blanchard or Whitehead did anything wrong in the mine but "there's a question that's gonna come up of whether there was any tampering that took place."

Blanchard, Whitehead and other Massey officials found one severely injured miner in the first group of victims about three-quarters of a mile inside. The group attended to the miner who was eventually led to safety before Blanchard and Whitehead proceeded deeper into the mine, Berkes writes. "The impulse is to get into the mine and see if you can bring people out alive," Ed Clair, who spent 22 years as the chief lawyer at MSHA. "My own view is that it was irresponsible for them to be there. With the best of intentions, they clearly took extreme risk with their own lives and with the lives of rescuers." MSHA official Stricklin explained, "I was emphatic that I wanted those two guys out of there. And at the time, it was more for their safety than ... that I thought anything was being tampered with." (Read more)

Death of South Carolina soldier illustrates Iraq war's high toll on rural America

In the wake of President Obama's announcement this week of the end of combat operations in Iraq, a rural South Carolina area's story from the war is an important reminder to the disproportionate toll military service has on rural areas. Rodricka Youmans of Allendale, S.C., joined the Marine Corps in 2003 after failing to find a job in his hometown and was killed less than a year later in Iraq, Johnny Edwards of The Augusta Chronicle reports. "What happened to Youmans is a stark example of the heavy toll paid by Allendale County and other small communities in the Iraq war," Edwards writes. "Their price in flag-draped coffins, according to community leaders and demographic research, has been disproportionately high, attributable to the economic ills in much of rural America."

Ten of the 18 soldiers killed in Iraq from the greater Augusta area came from towns of 7,000 people or fewer, Edwards reports. The newspaper's analysis of Pentagon and Census Bureau data showed "Allendale County and neighboring Barnwell County, both rife with poverty and unemployment, suffered South Carolina's highest and second-highest rates of Iraq war deaths per capita," Edwards writes, noting "nationally, among the top 10 for losses per capita were such sparsely populated states as Vermont -- which had the highest rate at 0.35 deaths per 10,000 people -- Montana, Wyoming, Alaska, North Dakota and South Dakota."

"He [Youmans] joined because he was looking for a job," Rodricka's father, Johnnie Youmans, told Edwards. "If he could have found a job, he probably wouldn't have gone in." Using data from the Defense Department, the White House Office of Management and Budget and the Census Bureau, a 2006-07 study from the University of New Hampshire's Carsey Institute "found that the death rate for outlying counties was 48 percent higher than in metropolitan or suburban counties," Edwards writes. "Though only 19 percent of the nation's adult population lives in rural areas, those areas suffered 26 percent of the casualties." (Read more)

Rural Alaska schools take legal action against parents to improve attendance

Rural Alaska school districts have joined with a growing number of school districts across the country in pursing legal action against parents whose children don't attend school. Parents of truant children could face jail time under the new policy, and the Alaska schools are not alone, Jill Burke of the Alaska Dispatch reports. "Already this year school districts in Texas, Pennsylvania and Alabama have resorted to arresting parents," Burke writes. As administrators look to turn around poorly performing rural schools, improving attendance rates has been among the first areas they check.

"In the Inupiat Eskimo village of Kivalina, getting kids to class is a top priority this year for the Northwest Arctic Borough School District," Burke writes. "For at least the fifth year in a row, Kivalina's McQueen School has failed to get its students to meet federal reading and writing standards." Last year students at the school missed on average more than two months of class, and only eight of the 66 students who took standardized tests were judged proficient in math. Nine students scored proficient in reading and writing.

Under Alaska's compulsory education laws "for every five days a school age child misses class without a legitimate excuse, parents can be charged with a civil violation and fined up to $500," but law enforcement agents were often too busy to follow through on schools' complaints. Now Michelle Woods, attendance counselor for Northwest Arctic, is forcing state troopers to investigate by charging parents with contributing to the delinquency of a minor, a misdemeanor crime that carries a penalty of up to year in jail and requires an investigation from troopers as well as the Office of Child Services. "It's not a matter of putting (parents) in jail," Woods told Burke. "What we want is the kid in school." (Read more)

Do W.Va. University and Nike honor coal miners killed at Upper Big Branch?

UPDATE 9/3: Nike issue this statement, reported by Ward on Coal Tattoo: "The new WVU football uniform was designed to celebrate the football team and honor the heritage of coal mining in the state. We are modifying the graphic of the player on our website to address concerns."

West Virgina University announced Wednesday its football team will forgo its usual blue and white uniforms for its Nov. 26 game against border-rival University of Pittsburgh in favor of uniforms honoring the 29 West Virginia coal miners killed in an April explosion. The new uniforms will be white, but darkened slightly to appear as if a fine layer of coal dust lined the surface, Ken Ward Jr. of The Charleston Gazette reports on his Coal Tattoo blog. The uniforms, dubbed Pro Combat, will be supplied by Nike and will carry a graphic with the number 29 in honor of the Upper Big Branch miners.

Nike image

A Nike advertisement for the uniform can be found here. The voice-over which runs over a picture of a football player in front of what appears to be a strip mine says, "Every day, the coal miners of West Virginia put it on the line for their families. That’s why every Saturday in the fall, the Mountaineer football team is willing to put it all on the line for them, with a never-say-die attitude and toughness you have to live to understand." (Read more)

Huffington Post columnist Jeff Biggers is among those with a problem with the ad. "NIKE is now running an ad with a background of a massive strip-mine or mountaintop removal operation in one of the most bizarre panders to Big Coal--and one of the most disrespectful slights of coal miners," Biggers writes. "Instead of featuring underground miners, such as those who died at the Upper Big Branch disaster, Nike features an open strip mine with a dramatic voice over: 'It's just the way things are done in West Virginia.'" Biggers also took issue with the ad's claim that football players "put it on the line" like coal miners. (Read more)

W.Va. regulators to investigate link between quakes and fracking

Eight small earthquakes in central West Virginia have led state regulators to consider seismic monitoring near a disposal well for natural gas-drilling fluids. Oklahoma-based Chesapeake Energy "has injected more than 10.6 million gallons of brine and hydraulic fracturing fluid into the well since March 2009," The Associated Press reports. "Some geologists suspect high pressure and wastewater have lubricated old fault lines, allowing them to slip and trigger small earthquakes. Chesapeake isn't so sure, but it has agreed to reduce the volume of fluid it's injecting."

Gene Smith, compliance manager for the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, told AP no seismic events have been reported at 70 similar disposal wells around West Virginia, but the state will investigate. "We're looking at the mechanics of the well, the geology of the area and the events that have been happening in the area, to see, from a scientific level, if what's taking place could cause earthquakes," Smith told AP. Since April 4, eight earthquakes between 2.2 and 3.4 on the Richter Scale have hit Braxton County, though no damage was reported.

Marshall University geology professor Ronald Martino told AP it was "quite possible" the quakes are linked to the high-pressure injection of fracking fluids. Chesapeake spokeswoman Maribeth Anderson countered "natural seismicity has long been observed in this part of Appalachia," and seismic activity often occurs in clusters. A study released in March University of Texas and Southern Methodist University pointed to similar disposal wells as a likely cause of several small earthquakes near Grand Prairie and Irving. (Read more)

Lake Cumberland dam repair work to resume soon

Repairs on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' most closely monitored dam will soon resume now that the reasons for movement in the earthen portion of the dam have been determined, reports The Times Journal of nearby Russell Springs. A concrete curtain is being installed in the earthen portion to stop leaks caused by the erosion of karst limestone under the dam, which impounds 101-mile-long Lake Cumberland. For more background, go here.

UPDATE, Nov. 18: The Times Journal reports that the Corps has changed its construction techniques in the troublesome area, the earthen portion of the dam that adjoins the concrete portion. "A six-month study showed the movements were not the result of deep-seated sliding of the embankment, but rather shallow movements attributed to several other causes," the newspaper reports. The change probably means that repairs to the dam, and return of the lake to its normal water level, will be delayed. "the Corps will negotiate contract modifications over the next few months, officials said. The contractor will begin to procure the necessary equipment and casing which will be fabricated and mobilized to the site over a period of five to eight months," The Times Journal reports.

Deadline for Gish Award nominations is midnight

Nominations for the Tom and Pat Gish Award in rural journalism are due by midnight tonight, Sept. 1. To nominate a candidate, send a detailed letter explaining how the nominee shows the kind of exemplary courage, tenacity and integrity that Tom and Pat Gish demonstrated at The Mountain Eagle in Whitesburg, Ky., for 51 years. Broadcasters are also eligible. Documentation does not have to accompany the nomination, but is helpful in choosing finalists, and additional documentation may be requested or required. Send your nominating letter to Al.Cross@uky.edu or get it postmarked by midnight and send to 122 Grehan Journalism Bldg, University of Kentucky, Lexington KY 40506-0042.

The Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues named the award for Tom and Pat Gish, above, who were the first recipients of the award, in 2005. Tom died in November 2008; Pat has health issues but remains publisher, and their son Ben is editor. This year, the Gish family won the Eugene Cervi Award from the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors for consistently acting in the conviction that “good journalism begets good government.”

The 2007 Gish Award was won by the Ezzell family of The Canadian Record, a Texas weekly that has held local, state and national politicians accountable, fought political extremism, opposed unwise military adventures and helped protect the environment, often against organized and violent opposition. The 2008 award went to James E. Prince III, and Stanley Dearman, current and former publishers of The Neshoba Democrat, a weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Miss. The Democrat was recognized for its leadership, especially on civil rights and reconciliation over the last four decades. For a more detailed description of the award, its history and those of the recipients, click here.

The Gish Award was not presented in 2006 and 2009, but it will be in 2010. The Institute seeks nominations that measure up, at least in major respects, to the records of previous winners.

It's neither easy nor cheap to produce healthy eggs

"In the world of agriculture, few things are more difficult than getting a healthy chicken to lay a healthy egg," writes P.J. Huffstutter for the Los Angeles Times. After a salmonella outbreak in California 15 years ago, the state tightened regulations that industry experts say wiped out salmonella in California-produced eggs. Nine other states adopted the same regulations, but it has made producing eggs in those states more costly than other states, particularly farms in the Midwest. The recent recall was for eggs from Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms, both located in Iowa. (Photo by Associated Press)

In California, hens are vaccinated three times, have their droppings checked five times and have their feed tested six times during their two-year life span, for about 8.5 cents per bird, reports Huffstutter. In the Midwest, energy, farmland and feed cost less and regulations are less onerous than California. One dozen Midwest-produced eggs cost 53.5 cents, about 16% less than in California, according to Iowa State University's Egg Industry Center.

But even with tighter regulations, farmers, food-safety experts and lawmakers warn that the FDA's new regulations may not do enough to prevent another massive recall. "In the confusion between who does what, who tests what and who's responsible for what, Salmonella enteritidis falls through the cracks," Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University, told Huffstutter. (Read more)

Meatpacking plant faces lawsuit following 2008 Ramadan firings

In Sept. 2008 we reported Muslim workers at a JBS Swift meatpacking plant in Grand Island, Neb., had walked off the job mid-shift after complaints the company wouldn't accommodate their religious practices during Ramadan. In Sept. 2009 we reported JBS's attempt at accommodations for its Muslim workers at the facility in hopes of avoiding the previous year's controversy. But Tuesday, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed suit against JBS saying the company "failed to make reasonable religious accommodations, violating the workers’ civil rights, since at least December 2007," Timberly Ross of The Associated Press reports.

The lawsuit alleges "plant supervisors and non-Somali employees also harassed the Muslim workers, 'interrupted their prayers, refused to let them pray, threw meat at them, called them names,' among other things," Ross writes. The 2008 controversy escalated after management initially altered Muslim workers' schedules to accommodate prayer time, but changed their position following complaints from other workers. JBS then fired 86 Muslim employees who walked off the job for a second time. The company later hired back 12 of the employees.

The lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Omaha seeks an order "requiring JBS Swift to provide prayer time and to refrain from retaliating against workers who ask to pray. It also seeks monetary compensation for the fired workers," Ross writes. A call to JBS headquarters in Greeley, Colo., from AP was not returned Tuesday. (Read more)

Cattle industry trade press takes sides following Fort Collins meeting

Monday we reported opinions at the Fort Collins, Colo., meeting about anti-trust issues in the agriculture industry garnered mixed opinions from the 2,000 participants. Subsequent commentary about the meeting illustrate that split. "Much of the officials’ opening remarks made clear that they recognize Rural America is in crisis and that young people who want to farm or ranch should be able to do so and make a fair profit, and that to correct the situation, there must be an open, public dialogue on these very complex, but important issues," cattle-industry group R-Calf USA writes in a news release.

R-Calf cites statistics from U.S. Department of Agriculture Sec. Tom Vilsack as justification for its position: "the Top 4 cattle packers control roughly 80 percent of steer and heifer procurement, and the Top 4 hog packers control roughly 65 percent of the market." R-CALF Region VI President Max Thonsberry said in the release, "R-CALF USA members are fortunate to finally have the opportunity to make our voices heard in an effort to make sure we preserve a competitive market capable of generating a fair, competitive profit from our efforts. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and we must seize it to correct these producer issues now. If we don’t, there likely won’t be a U.S. cattle industry comprised of independent cattle producers in another decade or so." (Read more)

Not everyone agreed with R-CALF's position. "Those words in the rules that hint that there are legitimate reasons for price differentiation have their meaning mostly stripped away by the fact that the rule's primary focus is to make it possible for anybody to sue any time any price differentiation takes place," Troy Marshall writes for BEEF Magazine of the proposed Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration rule. "The meeting in Fort Collins will inevitably be looked back on as a colossal waste of time and energy; it will do nothing to effect real opportunities like building beef demand. The meeting might be a sideshow, but the rules and their effects are anything but." (Read more)

Results of rural/urban analysis of stimulus spending reveal little

County-level breakdowns of stimulus spending per person show rural counties received slightly more money than their urban counterpart, but the difference was too small to draw meaningful conclusions. "Are there patterns here? Frankly, there are no common factors that explain why some counties have gotten more stimulus spending than others," Roberto Gallardo and Bill Bishop report for the Daily Yonder. "Poor counties aren’t getting more per person than rich ones. Counties with high unemployment receive slightly less money than those with low unemployment." Gallardo and Bishop used ProPublica's database of stimulus spending for the analysis.

"We tested measures of poverty, education and employment, and none of these were statistically relevant to how stimulus money was distributed," the Yonder writes. "Rural counties received $782 per person in stimulus money, in this revised calculations. Urban counties received $690 and exurban counties received $673 per person." After removing state capital counties, which were credited in the database with money given to state governments for distribution, the analysis showed rural counties that voted for President Obama in the 2008 election received $915 per person, compared to $734 per person in counties that voted for John McCain. (Read more) (Yonder chart of rural county stimulus money)

Farm exports up, helping industry weather the recession

While much of the U.S. economy continues to struggle despite signs of a slow recovery, federal estimates of farm trade and income show the agriculture sector is being boosted by a surge in exports. "The estimates confirm what economists have been saying for months: agriculture, which was generally not hit as hard by the recession as many other segments of the economy, remains a small bright spot going forward," William Neumann of The New York Times reports. Estimates predict U.S. farmers will ship $107.5 billion in agriculture products abroad by Sept. 30.

“We’re just having a robust rebound in the agricultural sector and promises of more growth,” Jason R. Henderson, vice president and economist at the Omaha branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, said in a recent interview. The $107.5 billion would be the second highest total ever in a fiscal year, behind the $115.3 billion worth of exports from 2008. Next year exports are expected to top $113 billion, Neumann writes. U.S. Department of Agriculture Sec. Tom Vilsack pointed to grains and meats as leader in the rebound and called the estimates "very encouraging."

"The export growth is propelled by higher prices for many products, including wheat, whose prices have skyrocketed as drought and punishing heat decimated crops in Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan," Neumann writes. "Exports to Asia have been particularly strong, and China is forecast to surpass Mexico next year to become the second-largest foreign buyer of American farm products. Canada is the No. 1 export market." Total net farm cash income was estimated at $85 billion, up 25 percent from 2009 and above the ten-year $72 billion average. “The farm economy in rural America has not suffered as severely as the industrial part of the economy and, because of the strong exports, the rural economy is recovering what it lost during the downturn,” Roy Bardole, chairman of the Soybean Export Council, told Neumann. (Read more)