Quick hits: Cold Case Card Deck to solve crimes; USPS podcast; Walmart's new milk plant; states snip SNAP snacks

Maine State Police hope their card deck 
will generate tips on unsolved cases. 
(Maine State Police photo via Midcoast Villager)

The Maine State Police are launching a Cold Case Deck of Cards initiative to generate leads for unsolved cases. "The deck features 52 of Maine State Police’s unsolved homicides and suspicious missing person cases and will be distributed to inmates in correctional facilities across the state," reports Jim Leonard of the Midcoast Villager. "This marks the first time the concept has been implemented in Maine. Similar initiatives in more than two dozen states have been credited with helping solve multiple homicide investigations."

Just because cranberries are tart doesn't mean they require a ton of sugar to become tasty. "Diabetics or anyone who wants to reduce the added sugars they’re consuming can try a few culinary tactics to lower their sugar intake while still enjoying this holiday treat," writes food scientist Rosemary Trout for The Conversation. "Don’t cook your cranberries much longer after they pop. You’ll still have a viscous cranberry liquid without the need for as much sugar. … For a richer flavor and a glossy quality, add butter. … Adding chopped walnuts, almonds, or hazelnuts can slow glucose absorption, so your blood glucose may not spike as quickly."

In a tribute to snail mail and history buffs, a new podcast, "People of Agency," offers listening excursions into "the stories of individuals who have shaped USPS over its 250-year history," reports Sean Michael Newhouse of Government Executive. The show is co-created and co-hosted by Aileen Day, a political communications consultant, and Maia Warner-Langenbahn, who co-hosts the "Well, I Laughed" podcast. In the show's first episode, the duo recount the story of Mary Katherine Goddard, who was "put in charge of Baltimore’s mail in 1775 and printed the first copy of the Declaration of Independence that listed all of its signatories."

In a bid to have more control over production and supply, Walmart recently opened its "second U.S.-owned milk processing facility in Valdosta, Ga., a $350-million plant supplying milk to more than 650 Southeast stores," reports Taylor Leach of Dairy Herd. While the company does purchase milk from local farmers, "some critics have warned Walmart buys milk from only a handful of large farms, putting smaller farms under further pressure. … The opening also follows Walmart’s recent investments in case-ready beef plants in Thomasville, Ga., and Olathe, Kansas."

Shaking your real Christmas tree before bringing it 
into your home can keep bugs from coming inside.

The holidays can be full of surprises, but discovering six-legged stowaways in your freshly cut Christmas tree shouldn't be one of them. "Bringing a real Christmas tree into your warm living room can accidentally wake up thousands of dormant bugs, turning your cozy holiday into a surprise visit from nature," reports Jenn Jordan of The Weather Channel. To prevent insect or spider visitors from entering your home, while your tree is still outside, give it more than one seriously hard shake. Many tree farms use mechanical shakers, which can also do the trick.

From the bubonic plague to cholera pandemics to deadly staph infections, bacterial illnesses often pose one of the biggest challenges to human survival. But with innovation, microorganisms can also help humans do remarkable things. "In the boulder-strewn desert east of Tucson, Arizona, miners are using sulfuric acid and bacteria to bring online the first new U.S. copper production in more than a decade," reports Ryan Dezember of The Wall Street Journal. Advances in technology are key to how this copper is mined. The enterprise uses "microbes to strip copper from ores that are otherwise uneconomical to mine." The Grand Canyon's state motto just happens to be Ditat Deus, which is Latin for "God Enriches." Last year, 70% of U.S. copper came from Arizona.

A total of 18 states have banned some non-nutritious foods from SNAP purchases. 
(Axios graph, from USDA data)

More states are restricting junk food purchases with Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits to increase the federal funding they receive. "Six more states agreed to ban the use of SNAP benefits for junk food under new deals with the Trump administration," reports April Rubin of Axios. "The new waivers restrict the purchase of non-nutritious items like soda, energy drinks, certain juices, prepared desserts and candy." While which foods and drinks are restricted varies by state, all states with added nutritional restrictions will all receive more federal dollars to support their SNAP programs.

Battle over mining in Arizona is about U.S. green energy needs, religious rights and land use

A view of Palabora, a South African copper mine, which was partially developed by Rio Tinto. Palabora's mine crater is roughly 1.24 miles across. Resolution's crater is expected to be 2 miles across. (Adobe Stock photo)

Resolution Copper wants to dig 5,000 to 7,000 feet into Arizona's Oak Flat desert to mine the region's vast copper-molybdenum deposit. The resistance to the project by Native American tribes and religious groups goes just as deep.

The Resolution Project has been under development by mining behemoths Rio Tinto and BHP Group since 2002. The companies and project supporters insist extracting the region's copper deposit is vital to shore up the mineral competition with China and for the U.S. transition to renewable energy. The opposition sees the mine and its expected 2-mile-across crater as exploitation of tribal holy ground.

Overall, the project has powerful backers: "It has generally been supported by the Obama, Trump and Biden administrations, though the latter has asked for more study as it seeks to balance its desire for clean-energy supplies with protections for the environment and the interests of Native Americans. The project can’t advance until that study is completed," report Phred Dvorak and Rhiannon Hoyle of The Wall Street Journal. "Many state and local officials [also] back the project."

Resistance to the project centers on Oak Flat, a stretch of land many Apaches consider sacred ground. The entrance to the mine is on Oak Flat, with the copper thousands of feet below. The main Apache opposition group, known as Apache Stronghold, was formed by the Apache San Carlos tribe and is represented by the Becket Fund, "a high-powered Washington, D.C., law firm known for championing conservative causes," Dvorak and Hoyle write. "Becket said it is planning to take its fight to the Supreme Court, where it has an 8-0 record."

Once Apache Stronghold and Becket joined forces the cause gained "a host of new religious allies. . . . Scores of religious groups have also submitted amicus briefs supporting Apache Stronghold’s suit," the Journal reports, "including organizations representing Mennonites, Seventh Day Adventists, Sikhs and Muslims."

Meanwhile, Resolution developers say "they have invested in an extensive monitoring network for groundwater, springs and other bodies of water that will be checked by regulators and a community working group," Dvorak and Hoyle add. "Resolution’s owners are trying to honor that commitment by consulting and joining with local tribes in good faith for the duration of the project, said Gare Smith, a lawyer who focuses on human rights and advises the project’s owners."

Not all regional tribes oppose the mine. "Other local tribes are attracted by potential economic benefits in a state where the tribal poverty rate is 29%," the Journal reports. "Among the ones with ties to Oak Flat, most have at some time officially opposed the mine."

To read more about U.S. copper needs, click here.
To find out more about the animals and plants that are native to Oak Flat, click here.

Newspaper series focuses on water crisis looming for 30 million dependent on the Colorado River

The West is fast running out of water. Its lifeblood, the Colorado River, reports Utah's Deseret News, "is being hemorrhaged by cities, by farms and ranches, by power plants and by the more than 30 million people who depend on its water in the United States and another 6 million people in Mexico." (Photo of the Colorado River in Southern Utah by Tom Smart)

In a three-part series aimed at explaining the extent of the crisis, reporter Amy Joi Donoghue writes that this year's flows "are near historic lows with runoff about a third of average, pushing the seven states that share the river toward another year of drought." And, continues Donoghue, "Those stresses are further trumped by the dire predictions provided by the agency managing the Colorado River system, forecasting demand far outstripping supply during the next 50 years, reaching crisis levels within two decades. It reveals a coming tug-of-war over water resources that may pit state against state in the fight for new development, jobs, housing and force an answer to one of the West's most enduring questions: Who is entitled to the water?" (Read more)

More problems facing the region is offered by Jodi Peterson, writing in The Goat Blog on the High Country News website:
1) A U.S. Geological Survey study predicts that within 15 years, the population in the region served by the river will increase to 45 million.
2) By 2050, climate change will warm the basin and dry out its soil to an extent not seen since the 1930s Dust Bowl.
3) By the end of this century, the basin will see a 20 percent decrease in runoff, thanks to warming temperatures and earlier spring runoff.
4) Snowpack across the basin was well below average this year, less than half of normal.
Severe, even record-setting drought is foreseen for Utah, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico. (Read more)

Alabama legislature adds public-notice feature to immigration law, keeping its core in face of U.S. suit

The Alabama legislature on Wednesday tinkered with the state’s controversial immigration law, keeping certain portions intact and adding a new provision that would require publication of the names of undocumented immigrants who appear in court, even if they are eventually acquitted of the crime, reports Bryan Lyman of the Montgomery Advertiser. The bill now goes to Republican Gov. Robert Bentley to sign.

The bill kept in place the measure that has generated the most controversy: the requirement that police verify the immigration status of anyone they suspect of being in the country illegally. The law drew a suit from the U.S. Justice Department last year. Politico's Tim Mak provides the legal lay-of-the-land since: "In October, a federal appeals court temporarily blocked parts of the law that would require schools to verify the immigration status of students. The U.S. Supreme Court is currently waiting to rule on a case challenging a similar immigration law in Arizona. That case was heard in April. It was not immediately clear what the legal impact of the tweaks to Alabama’s law will be in regard to the legal action underway against the state."

Arizona governor vetoes bill to take over federal land, calls it unconstitutional and costly

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer vetoed legislation Monday that would have allowed the try to state to take public land from the federal government, a fight that several Western states talked about but that only Utah, so far, has decided to wage. Robert Gehrke of The Salt Lake Tribune reports that Brewer, well-known as a feisty conservative, informed legislators that the bill appeared to be "not reconcilable" with the U.S. Constitution and Arizona’s Enabling Act and that it would create uncertainty for holders of leases on federal lands.

Gehrke writes that the governor also pointed out, "If Congress were to transfer control of the land to the state, Arizona would be on the hook for up to $23 million in costs to manage the land, and that it is premature to put fixed dates for action into statute until the state has met its other funding needs. "As a staunch advocate for state sovereignty, we still must be mindful and respectful of our federal system," Brewer wrote. "I understand and share Arizona’s frustration in trying to manage our natural resources with our various partners; however, this legislation is not the answer."

In short, Gehrke notes, "Brewer relied on the same arguments that opponents of similar legislation in Utah raised when the bill demanding Congress turn over nearly 30 million acres of federal land passed the Legislature and was signed by Gov. Gary Herbert." (Read more.)

Arizona gun laws are unlikely to change

Arizona's "love affair with guns came under new and intense scrutiny Saturday after a gunman began spraying bullets outside a Tucson-area supermarket, killing six people including a 9-year-old girl and a federal judge, and wounding 14 others, among them U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords," writes Daniel González, Alia Rau and Ron Hansen of the Arizona Republic. The state has some of the laxest gun control laws in the U.S., including recently passed laws that allows residents to take guns into bars and carry a concealed weapon without a permit. In the upcoming legislative session, Rep. Jack Harper is introducing a bill that will allow university and community-college faculty to carry guns on school grounds.

The debate in Arizona takes two forms, write the reporters: everyone should be armed or make gun laws more restrictive. The Pima County sheriff, Clarence Dupnik, said after the shooting that Arizona is the "Tombstone of the United States of America" and assailed the state's lax gun laws as a possible contributor to Saturday's massacre. Harper's response, "The Giffords event was in Sheriff Dupnik's jurisdiction and no law enforcement was present. Sheriff Dupnik should stop blaming others for his office's lack of presence at the event."

Bob Boze Bell, executive editor of "True West," a Cave Creek magazine devoted to Old West history, said  Arizona's gun culture is rooted in the state's rural ranching past dating back to the mid 1800s, when people fleeing federal regulations flocked to Arizona and needed guns for hunting and protection. "There is a passionate, independent streak that Arizonans have to own firearms," Bell said. "They don't want to be usurped and they don't want to be told what to do and that runs deep in Arizona. . . . It is met now by modern culture where most of the state is urban but there is still a rural mindset, even among many of the people who live in the city." (Read more)

Politico.com reporters Molly Ball and Shira Toeplitz take a look at the lack of debate in Congress regarding gun laws following the shooting. In the past, after a similar type of incident, the National Rifle Association would launch a lobbying effort to "make sure lawmakers have their guns-don’t-kill-people talking points," writes Ball and Toeplitz. So far, Congressional staffers say they have not been contacted by the NRA. Jim Kessler, a former policy director for the now-defunct Americans for Gun Safety, said "the NRA is the most effective single-issue lobbying group in America." (Read more)

Propublica.org's Marian Wang details some of the issues around the Arizona gun laws.

Ariz. journalist shows how to localize budget cuts

State budget cuts offer many opportunities for rural journalists to localize the topic. Joanna Dodder Nellans of The Daily Courier in Prescott, Ariz., starts her story this way: "Deep state budget cuts are affecting a vast array of Prescott-area citizens, from toddlers to the elderly."

The Arizona Department of Health Services is set to increase its licensing fee for preschools, raising local Cornerstone Christian Preschool and Daycare's fee from $150 to $14,000 annually. The director tells Nellans she will struggle to pay the fee without passing a portion of the price onto already struggling parents. If the daycare operated at full capacity, Nellans reports, the $14,000 would equate to a $6.50 per child per month fee for parents.

At the other end of the age spectrum, Nellans reports many elderly locals will soon lose free services as the Northern Arizona Council of Governments' (NACOG) Area Agency on Aging cuts support for home services. Several set to lose those benefits voiced concerns to Nellans that they would end up in nursing homes or emergency rooms without the services they're used to receiving. (Read more)

Obituary celebrates Arizona rancher, speaks to changing landscape in rural Southwest

The front-page obituary for rancher Delbert Pierce that appeared in The Daily Courier not only celebrated the life of a key member of the Prescott, Ariz., community, it highlighted the changes many rural areas have seen over the past few decades. Pierce died last week at the age of 91, and he "was as a man who knew the Arizona landscape, right down to every flower and tree and animal, because he took care of them with his own hands," writes Joanna Dodder Nellans. "Numerous awards and his induction into the Arizona Ag Hall of Fame attested to these facts, but they are not what people remember." (At left in a family photo is Pierce with his wife, Anna Beth, who died 12 days before he did.)

Pierce purchased his Las Vegas Ranch, just north of Prescott, in 1959 and eventually expanded it to 18,360 acres. "He was just an honest, hard-working person who took good care of cattle," Pierce's neighbor and fellow long-time rancher, John Kieckhefer, told The Daily Courier. Kieckhefer's wife Lynda said, "It's hard. These old pioneers are leaving us. It's just kind of the passing of an era." (Read more)

In the comments section of The Daily Courier's Web site, one reader's comment explained why the obituary deserved its front-page placement: "This article captures an important dimension of what was historically significant about this region while at the same time celebrating the life and career of a life well-lived."

McCain ends bio tour with bipartisan theme in Ariz.

Arizona Sen. John McCain ended his five-day biographical Service to America Tour on the steps of the Yavapai County Courthouse in Prescott, Ariz., where he ends all his campaigns and about an hour from where he lives -- and where his predecessor in the Senate, Barry Goldwater, started his first senatorial campaign and his 1964 general-election campaign for president. (Encarta map)

The county is strongly Republican, but "McCain avoided the usual kind of stump speech ... instead offering his perspective on the bipartisanship of two legendary Arizona politicians, Barry Goldwater and Mo Udall, and pledging to continue their example," reports Joanna Dodder Nellans of the Daily Courier in Prescott. Goldwater and Udall, a Democratic congressman who ran for president in 1976, were friends, McCain said, because of "their mutual respect for each other's character, devoted service to the state they loved, and patriotism." Nellans adds:

While Goldwater and Udall were famous sons of Arizona pioneer families, "I was 45 years old when I moved to Arizona and finally found a home and the comfortable feeling of belonging to something smaller than a nation," McCain said. "When I entered politics here, I was viewed with resentment by some for my lack of an Arizona pedigree." But Udall took him under his wing.

For more of the story, click here. In an advance story, Nellans noted that Goldwater's uncle, Morris Goldwater, was mayor of Prescott, pop. 34,000, and a founder of the Arizona Democratic Party.

Founder of Western Newspapers Inc. dies; built company into multimedia enterprise

Donald Norman Soldwedel, the man behind multimedia enterprise Western Newspapers Inc. and a member of the Arizona Newspaper Hall of Fame, died Wednesday in Tucson at 83.

In an editorial, The Daily Courier of Prescott, which Soldwedel acquired in 1958, called him "an ideal prototype" for a newspaper leader. Soldwedel built Yuma-based WNI into a collection of "three daily newspapers, 12 non-dailies, 44 specialty publications, two radio stations, two telephone directories, an outdoor advertising company, a specialty sign firm, two central printing plants, one commercial print shop, and numerous news and advertising-related websites," The Courier writes in an obituary.

Soldwedel was a director of the Newspaper Association of America from 1977 t0 1985, and as part of the organization he "helped in the development of kenaf fiber as a workable substitute for trees in the production of newsprint," the Courier writes. (Read more)

Balloons offering Internet access in rural areas

Many rural areas are still waiting for something many Americans take for granted: access to the Internet. Logistical and geographic obstacles have kept more than a third of rural Americans without Internet connections, and so the issue requires some creativity, such as the answer from Space Data Corp. which is drawing attention from Google. Space Data sends balloons carrying a "shoebox-size payload" of electronic gear 20 miles into the stratosphere, and from that height, they offer miles of wireless coverage below, reports The Wall Street Journal's Amol Sharma (who also took the photo).

The balloons don't float forever; after about day, they pop and the electronics — protected by Styrofoam — glide back to earth on a parachute. "This means Space Data must constantly send up new balloons," Sharma writes. "To do that, it hires mechanics employed at small airports across the South. It also hires farmers — particularly, dairy farmers." The farmers are paid $50 per launch, and the company offers $100 for every electronics unit recovered.

Currently, the Arizona-based company has at least 10 balloons aloft constantly, which provide wireless service for oil companies and truckers in the South. Some environmentalists have concerns about the shreds of latex that fall to earth after the balloon pop, but the company's chief executive, Jerry Knoblach, told Sharma the operation has been reviewed by a dozen federally agencies and found to have no environmental impact. In fact, he said, there might be a positive effect since balloons do the work of 40 cell phone towers. (Read more)

Homeowners say New Urbanism front porches make better neighbors and neighborhoods

When garages became part of home design, front porches got left out. The architecture movement called New Urbanism seeks to reverse that trend, and there are plenty of front-porch fans in Prescott, Ariz.

Ken Hedler of The Daily Courier in Prescott reports, "The homeowners sit on their front porches - at least when the weather is warmer - and strike up conversations with neighbors and other passersby," Hedler writes of locals such as Linda and Ron Woodward (above, in a Courier photo by Jo L. Keener). "Their porches feature porch swings, rocking and wicker chairs, and other furniture."

Lora Lee Nye, a councilwoman in the town of 34,000, told Hedler front porches and pedestrian-friendly streets make for safer neighborhoods. "The planners and designers are indirectly responsible for increasing the crime rate," Nye said of a lack of front porches. "Of course, that was not their intent. That is the result." (Read more)

Soaring price of gold reopens mines in Arizona

The glory days of the Gold Rush may be history, but the lure of gold is bringing fortune hunters back to Arizona's mines. With the price of a gold at just under $900 per ounce, weekend diggers and mining companies are returning to Arizona's mines, reports Max Jarman of The Arizona Republic. (Dale Enloe shovels dirt, which he'll sift using a machine called a highbanker; Republic photo by Pat Shannahan)

"Investors increasingly have looked to gold as a haven because of falling stock prices and the real-estate slump," Jarman writes. "Demand has pushed up the price of gold as much as 45 percent in the past 12 months and brought a dozen or so mainly Canadian mining companies into the state."

The last Arizona gold mine closed in 1998, but companies are working to reopen mines, especially in western Arizona. The state expects to bring in $300,000 this year from mineral exploration permits, up from $96,000 in 2006, Jarman reports. At the same time, more and more people are spending a weekend gold-panning. A weekend of prospecting can bring in $1,000, one gold-panning club leader told Jarman. (Read more)

Entrepreneur behind in-flight catalogs sets sights on making energy from wood waste in rural Ariz.

Robert Worsley had a multi-million dollar idea when he created SkyMall magazine to sell gifts to bored airline passengers. The Arizona entrepreneur thinks he might have an even bigger idea now. Worsley wants to turn "green waste" and the byproducts of a newsprint factory into electricity, reports Ryan Randazzo of The Arizona Republic.

Along with Tempe-based Renegy Holdings Inc., Worsley plans to open a a $53 million, 24-megawatt biomass power plant this spring near Snowflake, about 130 miles northeast of Phoenix. (Encarta map)

"The company has amassed acres of wood chips, about 300,000 tons, and the state's two largest utilities have agreed to buy electricity from the projec," Randazzo writes. "Renegy collects "green waste" from landfill drop-offs across northern Arizona, including Payson, Pinetop-Lakeside and Strawberry. The company also has deals for forest-thinning projects that are designed to prevent massive fires." (Read more)

The plant will be built at Abitibi Consolidated's paper mill in Snowflake, and the mill is welcoming the arrival, reports the Silver Creek Herald, the 3,000-circulation weekly in Navajo County. “Overall, things are looking good here at the mill,” manager John McKee told reporter Linda Kor. (Read more)

Small daily in Arizona offers week-long look at the local costs of illegal immigration

The Daily Courier of Prescott, Ariz., circulation 18,000, has begun a week-long series on the cost of illegal immigration in Central Arizona.

"Northern Arizona University Economist Ronald Gunderson argues that those people are a key benefit to the American economy, especially as the baby boom generation retires and fewer Americans are standing in the wings to fill the jobs the 'boomers' are vacating," says a long editor's note. "Local Hispanic leaders contend illegal immigrants benefit society far more than the few who commit crimes. The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps and others argue that those immigrants represent substantial costs to society through law enforcement, education, health care and social services. The Daily Courier began this series of articles to put a local price tag on costs and benefits of illegal immigration and to examine how it affects local institutions and the economy. Our reporters found out quickly that it's a difficult task because even though illegal immigration is a hot political issue locally and nationally, many local institutions lack the means to separate out the costs illegal aliens generate from the expenses of serving American citizens."

In the first story, "Illegal immigrants drive up medical costs," Derek Meurer explains that Yavapai Regional Medical Center (in a Courier photo) and other local hospitals incur major costs for treating immigrants, and that those costs do not get reimbursed fully by Medicare. The costs extend to county departments. "According to a 2007 report to Yavapai County Supervisor Carol Springer, illegal immigration cost the Community Health Service department $1,067,615 annually," Meurer writes. "The report estimated that county departments lose $7,633,557 total each year due to illegal immigrants."

Ariz. town getting $800 million rock theme park

The official Web site of Eloy, Ariz., proclaims the town of 10,000 is "right in the heart of Arizona's future," and points to the town's library, two swimming pools and three recreation centers as some the community's amenities. That list might get a lot longer, thanks to a Phoenix group of investors who plan to open an $800 million rock-and -roll theme park outside the town in Pinal County by 2012, reports The Arizona Republic.

The project is called Decades Music Theme Park, and investors chose Eloy for its location near the junction of Interstates 8 and 10 and its relative proximity to metropolitan populations, reports Ronald J. Hansen. Eloy is 65 miles from downtown Phoenix and 60 miles from downtown Tucson. Peter Alexander, a former Disney Epcot project manager who consulted on the Decades project, told Hansen the new park could attract 5.4 million visitors each year.

According to the Web site of Decades, the park "will feature interconnected Lands and Districts that represent each decade of rock music – the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s in its first phase – with interactive thrill rides, live music and other attractions where audience members can step back in time to the sights and sounds of each era." Planned attractions include the Grand Funk Railroad, which will circle the park; a Mount Rushmore-style monument with busts of Buddy Holly, John Lennon, Jim Morrison and Elvis Presley; and an MTV arch a la the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. The park still must clear some legal hurdles, including a change to Arizona's amusement park laws to give Pinal County bonding authority, but developers already have purchased the land needed for the 240-acre park. (Read more)

Rural school enrollment up 15 percent last year, with a 55 percent jump in minority students

Enrollment in rural schools is up 15 percent since last year, and minority enrollment is up 55 percent, says the latest report from the Rural School and Community Trust. The jump in enrollment reverses year-by-year trends, yet rural schools, specifically in the South, continue to receive less funding per pupil.

The report also highlights what it calls the "priority states where rural schools produce the worst student achievement outcomes." The report, called "Why Rural Matters 2007: The Realities of Rural Education Growth," was written by Jerry Johnson, the trust's policy research and analysis manager, and Marty Strange, the trust's policy director.

The report ranked states according to 23 factors in five gauges: importance of rural education, socioeconomic challenges, student diversity, policy context and educational outcomes. Based on that, the report found 13 priority states that rank low across these factors: Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas. These states "serve student populations with the severest socio-economic challenges — especially high poverty levels — and they operate with less money than rural schools in other states," the report says.

The lack of funding and a rise in English Language Learner students, who require more teaching resources, have made difficult situations worse. The report concludes that in those priority states, "poverty, fiscal incapacity, low levels of adult education, and low levels of student achievement run in the same mutually reinforcing circles in states in these regions, many of which are as fiscally challenged as their citizens and schools."

Not surprisingly, one of the report's policy recommendations is a priority for the trust: "Keep schools small. Research shows there are academic benefits for students attending small schools in small districts." Other recommendations:

• Keep schools small. Concentrate resources in high poverty areas. The cost of teaching low-income children rises disproportionately as the poverty rate increases; more student support per pupil in schools with high poverty rates is needed.
• Maximize rural school effectiveness and efficiency with technology. Distance learning has been proven to be effective in meeting needs of rural communities.

To download the full report, go here. (Free subscription required.) To read the report overview, see summaries and compare state-by-state results on a clickable map, go here.

Rattlesnake attacks in Arizona surprise experts

Snakes are a routine part of the landscape in Arizona, so many folks think nothing of approaching one -- or even picking one up. As a result, severe bites from Mohave rattlesnakes (at left in a photo from the Arizona Fish and Game Department) in recent months have killed one woman and sent another man to intensive care for five days, reports The Daily Courier in Prescott.

Earlier this month, Jackie Ledwell, 63, died a day after a Mohave rattler bit her foot when she tried to stab it with a knife, writes Joanna Dodder. She died after being flown by helicopter to a hospital in Flagstaff. A few weeks before that, Dave Martin, 49, survived a bite on his hand even after suffering a stroke hours afterward.

Ledwell died from anaphylactic shock, a severe whole-body allergic reaction, that has become more common when it comes to rattlesnake attacks in Arizona, Dr. Michell Ruha, a toxicologist in Phoenix, told Dodder. It could be a trend, but neither Ruha nor local law enforcement officials are sure why. The article does some nice investigation into the possible trend, and it includes reporting of key facts when it comes Mohave rattlers and to snakebites in general. The answer to this trend is simple, Dodder explains, just don't mess with these snakes. (Read more)

Rising ammunition prices mean changes for recreational shooters, law enforcement

Several media outlets have reported on an ammunition shortage facing police departments, and many pointed to the fighting in Iraq as the main culprit. However, National Public Radio reported that rising prices and demand have come from increases in copper. Regardless of the cause, the spike in prices has hit recreational shooters as well, and The Daily Courier of Prescott, Ariz., reports on how they are dealing with it.

Jason Soifer writes that shooters are shunning commercial bullets in favor of cutting costs by making their own. Soifer writes that for about $800, a shooter can buy reloading equipment and “recoup that money in about a year” in saved bullet costs. For other recreational shooters, the only choice is to reduce the number of bullets they use.

Law enforcement officials, however, don’t have those two options, and so they must order well in advance to ensure they have enough bullets when it comes time for training sessions. (Read more)