Quick hits: U.S. gets 2nd dark-sky reserve; USDA names more state chiefs; Google can show your town since 1985

Here's a roundup of stories with rural resonance; if you do or see similar work that should be shared on The Rural Blog, email us at heather.chapman@uky.edu.

Medical coding can have an oddly large impact on rural health-care inequalities. Read more here.

A musicology professor reflects on the sage songwriting of fellow West Virginian Bill Withers. Read more here.

Rural Texans who met Putin almost 21 years ago reflect. Read more here.

Just days after The Post and Courier in South Carolina reported that a Greenwood judge Curtis Clark's family improperly profited from real estate auctions that he ran, the state's chief justice stripped Clark of his job overseeing foreclosures. Read more here.

Town at epicenter of solar-eclipse buzz hopes its welcoming efforts stoke pride and optimism

The lights on Hopkinsville's Alhambra Theatre were
restored for the eclipse. (Photo by Jennifer P. Brown)

We've covered how Hopkinsville, Ky., amplified and prepared for the international attention brought by its proximity to the point of greatest eclipse on Aug. 21. The city's rationale was that the rare event would bring in huge profits to the town and raise awareness about it as a destination for future tourists. Now that the eclipse is over, former Hopkinsville newspaper editor Jennifer P. Brown digs into whether the efforts paid off, in a piece for The Daily Yonder. It speaks to the larger question of how small towns can use rare or one-time events as a springboard for economic development. Some small towns were unwilling or unable commit resources to welcoming visitors.

Hopkinsville prepared exhaustively for the eclipse. It started working on it 10 years ago and hired a full-time eclipse coordinator in September 2016. The town of 32,000 improved roads, spruced up, and planned a three-day festival to welcome visitors from all over the world. As estimates for the crowds surpassed 100,000, "The city took reservations for camping spots and one-day viewing sites at several parks. Two whiskey distilleries in the county rented out space for overnighters and promoted big plans to celebrate with spirits, musical entertainment and food trucks," Brown writes.

So how did it pan out? Mayor Carter Hendricks told Brown that the eclipse brought in about $30 million in spending and what early estimates say was a crowd of 150,000. Coffeehouse owner Amanda Huff-McClure told Brown that business was good on the Friday before the Monday eclipse, "amazing" on Saturday, and Sunday was "breakneck speed and great numbers." She thought Sunday was the most crowded the business could possibly be, but "then on Monday, we doubled that. Monday was insane for us. We got the last available parking space in the free public parking at 5:45 a.m. We had people banging on the glass wanting to know when we were going to open by about 6:15."

Will the eclipse bring future benefits? Interestingly, it's not the city's amenities but the people that might be the biggest attraction to visitors. Louisville Courier-Journal photographer Michael Clevenger wrote, "In the end you can plan for portable toilets and traffic flow and campgrounds for 200,000 of your closest friends. But you can’t buy helpfulness. You can rent hospitable. You can’t fake friendly. Hopkinsville figured out how to host the world but remembered the intangible things that make us uniquely Kentucky. And it showed. The sun and the moon may have stolen the show in Hopkinsville on August 21, but Hopkinsville stole my heart.”

Brown says that's where her hopes lie for the future of Hopkinsville beyond the eclipse. "If more entrepreneurs like Amanda and April see value in downtown, if more people want to spruce up and dig in, then I’ll believe this turn in Hopkinsville’s fortunes is real. I’ll believe it’s about much more than a solar eclipse."

Tips and links for covering Monday's solar eclipse

In an eclipse, the moon shadows part of Earth.

The first coast-to-coast solar eclipse in 99 years is coming up Monday, Aug. 21, so here's an omnibus post with tips for covering the event and links to interesting stories and helpful resources.

Tips for coverage

• Get there early. Experts say the eclipse could cause historic traffic jams, so allot several hours more than you think you'll need to get there and back.
• Be aware that cell phone coverage may be spotty and plan accordingly. Some rural areas are getting extra cell service for the day, but don't count on it.
• Bring supplies. Traffic and strained local infrastructure may limit access to food, water and fuel. So gas up your car before you go, and bring food, plenty of water, sunscreen, bug spray, solar eclipse glasses, and whatever recording, writing or photography equipment you need at the scene. Bring a portable phone charger if you will not be near your car, as well as backup batteries for your gear. Consider bringing a portable wi-fi hotspot if you'll be transmitting stories or photos from the scene. If you're staying near your car and can pack a little more stuff, bring a camp chair, a lightweight folding table, and a canopy tent.
• If you plan to photograph the eclipse with your smartphone, you can safely do it by taping the lens from a pair of eclipse glasses over the lens. If you are using professional equipment, use a solar eclipse filter (not the same as a regular solar filter). Here are some articles on how to photograph the eclipse. Never point any camera, smartphones included, at the sun until it is fully eclipsed or you'll fry the imaging sensor. Apple says a filter may not be needed for iPhones during the eclipse, but better safe than sorry. You won't need any kind of filter when the sun is fully eclipsed, but the filter needs to go back on as soon as the sun starts peeking out again.
• If you are photographing the eclipse, get as close to the center of the 70-mile-wide path of totality as you can; it'll give you more time to get your shots. Totality is around one minute a few miles from the edge of the path, but as much as two minutes and 30 seconds at the center. Here's a zoomable map that tells you whether you'll be in the path of totality and if so, for how long.

Helpful and interesting links

• GreatAmericanEclipse.com is a great one-stop shop for all your informational needs. It features maps of the path of totality over each state, a map of probable traffic bottlenecks, safety tips, historical eclipse information, fun facts, and an eclipse animation gallery.
• Eclipse2017.com is a similar site with plenty of info about the eclipse. One great feature is a state-by-state list of communities that are planning official community celebrations. It's not a comprehensive list, so do your homework, but it's a good place to start.
• This tool from Vox shows you what you'll see from any ZIP code in the U.S. Enter a code, and it will tell you the percentage of the sun that will be covered, show you a time-lapse animation of what you'll see and when the eclipse will be greatest, and how far you'll need to travel to get to an area with totality. 
• If you don't already have eclipse glasses, they're scarce, but you may still be able to get your hands on a pair at a local store. You may be able to snag a pair online, but beware of fakes that will damage your eyes. Click here for a list of legitimate solar viewer manufacturers, brand names they may be sold under, and chain stores and online vendors that sell them.
• Here's an article from the Poynter Institute about one small-town Idaho journalist's plans to cover the eclipse while camping.
• NPR's plans to cover the eclipse include "22 videographers, kid reporters and local newsrooms."
• Another Poynter article has a round-up of how some different newsrooms are planning to cover the eclipse.
• University of Kentucky students are planning to live stream the eclipse from the edge of space with a solar balloon.
• This 10-year-old article from the Kentucky New Era is one of the earliest articles we can find about the eclipse. It predicted (probably underpredicted) the massive crowds expected in Hopkinsville, and revealed a few intriguing facts. For one thing, the point of greatest eclipse (where the sun is most fully covered) is not in the well-publicized Christian County seat but in the nearby community of Cerulean. That's beautifully apropos, since cerulean is a shade sometimes equated with a deep blue sky. The exact point of greatest eclipse is in a field just off Princeton Road. Another fun fact? The eclipse will happen on the 62nd anniversary of the Kelly Green Men incident, in which a Christian County family said aliens landed near their home. That's the source of the phrase "little green men."
• The tallest building in Hopkinsville, pop. 32,000, is a grain elevator. A video camera with a 360-degree pan has been installed on top of it for livestreaming of the eclipse, the New Era reports.

Small, needy towns wary of trying to draw crowds for eclipse, but plan modest events, and hope

The old saying goes, "You have to spend money to make money." Some small towns along the totality path of the Aug. 21 solar eclipse are doing just that: sprucing up local facilities, hiring extra law enforcement, and planning festivals that they hope will be big money-makers. They also hope visitors might see what a great place their town is to live and work. But some cash-strapped towns say they don't have the money to buy in on eclipse fever, and residents worry about committing resources to cater to crowds that may never show up.

A melon vendor and customers in Wickliffe, Ky. (New York Times photo: Andrea Morales)

Google map

Wickliffe, Ky., where the Ohio and Mississippi rivers meet, is one such community. The shrinking town of 670 has one defunct paper mill that closed in 2015, a few restaurants, and no longer has a police officer or a hotel. Because the town is in the path of totality, Mayor George Lane thought about cashing in on eclipse fever, as Hopkinsville, Ky., has done. "But the millions flocking to see the eclipse will also mean a logistical headache, a claim on local resources in places like Wickliffe that have few resources left," Campbell Robertson reports for The New York Times. "I kept reading more and more were coming," Lane told Robertson. "We’re just not geared up to handle this."

The nearby village of Barlow is similarly down on its luck, with no police officer, hotel, grocery store, gas station, or drug store. But Barlow's mayor, Jo Wilfong, says she's not going to pass up the opportunity. "The city is planning a big barbecue on eclipse day," Robertson reports. "Live music is lined up, and T-shirts are for sale ('I Blacked Out In Barlow, Ky')." The town, having recently voted to allow alcohol sales, "will even have a beer tent," he adds. Wilfong says making money isn't the point of the town's eclipse festivities. "We’re just opening up this area to people who have never been here before, who might see this as a business opportunity or a place to live," she told Robertson. Though there are few businesses in town, "maybe somebody will look around, see a nice, friendly town and decide to open a convenience store," Robertson writes. "That would be the jackpot. It is not impossible to imagine."

Rural areas get temporary cell-phone boost so networks can handle influx of eclipse viewers

An AT&T cell on wheels tower near Hopkinsville, Ky. (AT&T photo)

Roads, restaurants and hotels won't be the only thing stressed by the influx of solar-eclipse viewers to areas along the path of totality on Monday, Aug. 21. "In an era of Instagram, Snapchat and live-streaming, they'll almost certainly need cell-phone service. But the latter could be a problem" in many small towns and rural areas along the path of the eclipse, Brian Fung reports for The Washington Post.

Towns such as Madras, Ore., and Hopkinsville, Ky., have been preparing for the eclipse for years, and they've made a point to ask about getting extra cell service. "All four nationwide carriers — AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint — are addressing the problem by rolling out surge capacity," Fung reports. "Some are going to be cells on wheels, or COWs. Others are known as cells on light trucks, or COLTs. But whatever they're called, they're all designed to do one thing particularly well: Boost wireless capacity, in some cases by more than 300 percent." Carriers say the spikes in usage will likely travel with the eclipse's totality, and networks should be able to absorb the surge as easily as they would a major sporting event.

How much will this extra cell coverage cost the small towns? Nothing, in most cases. "It's in the best interest of the providers to be here," Madras resident Brian Crowe told Fung. "They want coverage for their customers." And in Madras, Fung reports, "It'll run the other way around: The telecom companies will be paying rent." Rural residents should enjoy the extra bars while they can.

Rural areas and small towns prepare for influx of solar-eclipse viewers four weeks from today

The path of the August 21 solar eclipse (Los Angeles Times graphic)

As the historic August 21 solar eclipse draws near, towns along the path of totality are bracing for tens of thousands of visitors. "Whatever the biggest event in town is, they are going to get at least twice as many people — and usually more than that,"eclipse chaser and crowd consultant Kate Russo told Deborah Netburn of the Los Angeles Times. "This is not just a science event. This is a human event and something very powerful and life-changing." The eclipse will be the first to affect coast-to-coast America since 1918.

Signs in Hopkinsville, Ky., mark sites to view
eclipse. (Associated Press photo by Alex Sanz)

Hopkinsville, Ky., began planning for the eclipse 10 years ago since it is close to the point of greatest eclipse, which means the moon will look the biggest relative to the sun and the eclipse will last the longest. That will draw a big crowd, including some NASA astronomers. The town of 30,000 has employed a full-time eclipse coordinator since last September. "The community has enthusiastically embraced its role as eclipse central, even adopting the name 'Eclipseville' and painting a mural on the building next to Whistlestop Donuts, an iconic spot next to the railroad tracks that most everyone sees when pulling into downtown," Netburn reports. "It is renting 15-by-15-foot viewing stations in local parks for $30, parking pass included." The city also asked for 85 members of the National Guard to help with anticipated traffic. Since most of the world's bowling balls are manufactured in Hopkinsville, they're planning to produce a solar eclipse-themed bowling ball for the occasion, too.

Hopkinsville, Ky. (Wikipedia map)

Though 12 million Americans live in the 70-mile swath of totality, where the eclipse will be most dramatic, most of that path goes over rural areas. Almost all public campsites along the eclipse path have been reserved a long time ago, and managers for public lands are worried about the influx of eclipse watchers, reports Zach Urness for The Statesman Journal in Salem, Oregon. "It’s the peak of fire season. Our emergency responders are going to be spread thin. And the forest is going to be filled with a lot of people who don’t camp very often and might have little experience with the outdoors," Jean Nelson-Dean, the public information officer for Deschutes National Forest, told Urness. Park rangers advise those who want to view the eclipse on public lands to get to your viewing spot early, expect traffic to be heavy, don't litter or destroy fresh vegetation, and don't try to climb mountains for a better view if you're an inexperienced mountaineer.

One other piece of advice: Watch the weather forecast and have alternate locations in mind. An eclips just isn't the same if it's cloudy.