Journalism with rural resonance gets several nominations in Scripps Howard Awards; winners to be named March 3

Climate change, investigative journalism and newsroom collaborations were frequent themes in the 2019 Scripps Howard Awards finalists announced this week, Rebecca Cochran reports. Several nominees had rural resonance; in the Community Journalism category, all three warrant mention.

Troubled Kids, Troubled System, from the Missoulian in Montana, examines reform schools in rural areas that often operate with little oversight. Some former students say teens were physically and sexually abused, and some teens died by suicide at the schools. The for-profit schools, which sometimes charge parents more than $100,000 a year, often are not overseen by mental-health, child-safety or education experts. None of the 58 complaints investigated by the state have resulted in significant disciplinary action against any program.

The Anchorage Daily News partnered with ProPublica's Local Reporting Network to produce Lawless, a series that uncovered a sexual assault crisis in rural Alaska and how the lack of public-safety services makes it worse. After the series ran, U.S. Attorney General William Bar declared the lack of law enforcement in rural Alaska a federal emergency, and the Department of Justice has promised more than $52 million in federal funding to improve the situation. The U.S. attorney in Anchorage also announced the hiring of additional rural prosecutors, and Gov. Mike Dunleavy said the state will hire 15 additional state troopers.

The other Community Journalism nominee was MLK50, a Memphis non-profit reporting on economic justice, worked with ProPublica to produce Profiting from the Poor, a series that made the area's largest hospital system stop its aggressive pursuit of the poor (including its employees) for unpaid bills, forgive nearly $12 million in debt and made discounted or free care easier to get.

In the Investigative Reporting category, the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News were nominated for their Abuse of Faith package, which put the Southern Baptist Convention under the spotlight for not adequately dealing with allegations of sexual abuse. As part of the package, they published a searchable database of church officials and volunteers who had been convicted of sex crimes or made plea deals with prosecutors.

Partial screenshot of Washington Post story by Eli Saslow

The Washington Post was nominated in the Human Interest Storytelling category for The State of Health Care in Rural America, which illustrated the dire situation of rural health care through Eli Saslow's story of a struggling hospital in Oklahoma.

The Post received seven nominations, the most of any news outlet. In the Multimedia category, it was nominated for its Gone in a Generation piece, which explored how global warming is already changing Americans' lives, including farmers, hunters, and those who live in flood zones.

In the Environmental Reporting category, What Can Be Saved? by The Associated Press was nominated for its wide-ranging reporting on the impact of climate change, including in Everglades National Park. Also nominated was The Oregonian's Polluted by Money, which explored how corporate lobbying has weakened or halted state efforts to deal with environmental issues such as climate change, disappearing bird habitats, carcinogenic diesel exhaust, industrial air pollution, oil spill planning, and pesticides sprayed from helicopters.

One Disaster Away, about insufficient protections for vulnerable people as climate change worsens natural disasters, was nominated in the Topic of the Year category, The Impact of Climate Change on Communities. The series is a partnership between The Center for Public Integrity, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, High Country News, Ohio Valley ReSource (a public radio consortium in Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia) and StateImpact Oklahoma.

In the Distinguished Service to the First Amendment category, the Orlando Sentinel scored a nomination for its Florida's Fading Sunshine Laws package.

The winners will be announced March 3. The Scripps Howard Foundation, the philanthropic arm of E.W. Scripps Co., will present more than $170,000 in prize money to the winners on April 16 in Cincinnati. The awards program will be rebroadcast April 26 on Newsy and on Scripps television stations throughout the summer.

Congress deciding whether to ban, or almost ban, jailing truants, who are disproportionately rural

A bipartisan bill to change aspects of the juvenile-justice system passed the Senate Aug. 1 and now moves to a conference committee to mesh the bill with a similar one the House passed in May. The Senate bill would mostly prevent juveniles from being incarcerated for "status offenses," those that are only a violation for minors, such as skipping school or running away from home.  "The Coalition for Juvenile Justice noted that while the Senate bill would allow young people to be put into the juvenile-justice system for skipping school in certain circumstances, the House bill would eventually disallow the practice entirely," Ujifusa reports. Rural schools have the highest rates of chronic absenteeism, according to a Department of Education report. Here's a county-by-county map (click on it for a larger version):

Share of chronically absent students, as mapped by U.S. Department of Education

"The bill also puts a greater emphasis on screening and treatment for those with mental-health issues, retaining educational records of juveniles in detention centers, and ensuring that students in juvenile-justice centers get appropriate credit for academic work while they are in the juvenile-justice system," Andrew Ujifusa reports for Education Week. Both bills are a reauthorization and update of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, first passed in 1974 and reauthorized in 2002.

One of the Senate bill's sponsors, Republican Charles Grassley of Iowa, said the bill includes "important new accountability requirements that safeguard taxpayer dollars and prevent states from being rewarded when failing to provide the minimum standard of protections for minors." The other primary sponsor, Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, said the legislation "helps kids stay on track at school."

Prosecutor shuts down access to records related to fire in Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Wildfire along US 441 near Gatlinburg on Nov. 28
(Knoxville News-Sentinel photo by Jessica Tezak)

Tennessee officials are refusing to honor open-records requests about last year's devastating fire at Gatlinburg, claiming it could harm the case against two juveniles charged with arson, Don Jacobs reports for the Knoxville News-Sentinel. Fourth Judicial District Attorney General Jimmy Dunn sent a letter to media outlets Dec. 15 asking them to use that reason "to explain why nothing more would be forthcoming as he investigated the aggravated arson charges filed Dec. 7 against the boys, ages 15 and 17," Jacobs writes.

"Consequently, otherwise public records in any way connected to the investigation of the fires that started in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and five days later swept into Gatlinburg were deemed off limits. When public agencies refused to release information or records, each would cite Dunn's request, which is not a court order," Jacobs reports.

"Dunn apparently has the authority to issue the blanket gag order because of a state Supreme Court decision issued in 2015 in the Vanderbilt University rape case, according to Richard L. Hollow, general counsel for the Tennessee Press Association," Jacobs writes. "Any challenge to a denial of information, Hollow said, would have to go before a judge. Dunn is under no obligation to explain why he doesn't want some records, such as after-action reports on a fire department's performance, kept from public disclosure. Such an explanation, Hollow said, could provide insight into Dunn's strategy for prosecuting the cases."

The fire burned 17,000 acres, killed 14 people, injured nearly 150 others and destroyed 2,174 structures and affected almost 300 more.

Two Tennessee teenagers charged with igniting fire in Great Smoky Mountains and Gatlinburg

National Guard video of fire damage around Gatlinburg, via Knoxville News-Sentinel

Tennessee officials have charged two teenagers with starting the fire that burned 17,000 acres in and near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, killed 14 people, injured nearly 150 others and destroyed more than 1,700 2,174 structures and affected almost 300 more.

The pair are in custody, charged with aggravated arson, and could be tried as adults, said Jimmy Dunn, the district attorney general. Dunn "refused to give any details about the case, including the teens' ages or genders, except that 'They are not from Sevier County … they are residents of Tennessee'," Tyler Whetstone reports for the Knoxville News-Sentinel.

"Agents of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have worked around the clock since last week on the case," Whetstone writes. The National Park Service, which said all along that the fire appeared to have been "human-caused," set up a tip line that helped break the case, said Steve Kloster, the park's chief ranger.

“I want to thank everyone who responded to the National Park Service’s tip line. The public was critical in responding to that tip line and giving the investigators something to work with,” Kloster said.

The fire started near the Chimney Tops in the park and was swept into Gatlinburg by winds that sometimes exceeded 80 miles per hour after months of drought had turned the forest into a tinderbox. The city is allowing residents and property owners to re-enter permanently tomorrow and will be open to the public Friday.

Annual Kids Count report offers a wealth of information on child well-being in your community

The annual Kids Count report by the Annie E. Casey Foundation was released today. The report features county-level data in five categories: child well-being; economic well-being; education; health; and family and community. While job growth and consumer spending are up and unemployment is down, the report found warning signs that the recovery could be leaving the lowest income families behind, especially families of color. (Annie E. Casey Foundation map: States ranked by health)

States were ranked for each category. For child well-being, Minnesota was ranked No. 1, followed by New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Iowa and Vermont. Mississippi was ranked last, with New Mexico at 49, Louisiana, 48; Nevada, 47; Arizona, 46 and Alabama, 45. The top five states for economic well-being are: North Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota. The bottom five are: Mississippi, California, New Mexico, Louisiana and Nevada.

When it comes to education, Massachusetts leads, followed by New Jersey, New Hampshire, Vermont and Connecticut. The bottom five states are: Nevada, New Mexico, Mississippi, Louisiana and West Virginia. The top five states for health are: Iowa, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Illinois. The bottom five are: Mississippi, Louisiana, New Mexico, Montana and Nevada. When it comes to family and community, the top five are: New Hampshire, Utah, Vermont, Minnesota and Maine. The bottom five are: Mississippi, New Mexico, Louisiana, Texas and Arizona.

The report provides excellent information for local stories, and we recommend checking it out. To read the report, click here.

As juvenile detention rates decrease in many states, rates are on the rise in some rural states

The U.S. has reduced the rate of juvenile incarceration by nearly half since the mid 1990s, as states turn to other methods, such as mediation, family therapy and substance abuse treatment, Dana Goldstein reports for The Marshall Project. "A large body of research shows that for juveniles, those interventions are more successful than incarceration in helping them avoid further crime, complete their educations and find employment."

"West Virginia, however, is one of a handful of states that has been moving in the opposite direction," Goldstein writes. Juvenile confinement in West Virginia has risen 42 percent since 2001, the highest rate of any state, and "the state places offenders as young as 10 in facilities such as detention centers and group homes." (Goldstein photo: Kenneth Rubenstein juvenile detention facility in Davis, W.Va.)

South Dakota leads the nation in highest rate of juvenile incarcerations, at 492 for every 100,000, Goldstein writes. Wyoming's rate is 433 incarcerations for every 100,000 juveniles, followed by Nebraska, 337, Oregon 281, West Virginia 278, Arkansas 270, Indiana 258, Kansas 255, Nevada 245 and North Dakota 241. The national average is 196, with Vermont having the lowest average with 59 incarcerations for every 100,000 juveniles.

"A year in a West Virginia juvenile facility costs more than $80,000 per child, compared with $1,000 to $33,000 per child in community programs that have reduced recidivism by up to 20 percent in other states," Goldstein writes. "Research from the Pew Charitable Trusts shows that since 2002, stricter enforcement of low-level offenses like truancy have put thousands of kids into contact with the West Virginia juvenile justice system." One West Virginia probation officer told Pew, “There is a considerable wait period for most therapeutic services in our surrounding area—a wait period that is unacceptable when I am faced with families that need immediate attention."

Other rural states "that are lacking in treatment options, including South Dakota, Wyoming and Nebraska, are also taking an aggressive approach to minor infractions like truancy, alcohol consumption, school fights and violations of probation," Goldstein writes. "West Virginia, for example, defines truancy as more than five days of unexcused absences from school and confines juveniles for this offense at five times the national rate. While the school-to-prison pipeline is often thought of as an urban phenomenon, it is prevalent in rural areas, too."

"Some states—many rural ones—have been trying to find other ways of providing that structure," including banning juvenile incarceration, Goldstein writes. Ohio has RECLAIM, "a program in which every county is offered state funding to provide juvenile offenders with family therapy and substance abuse treatment instead of incarceration... Georgia’s 2014 budget provides $1.6 million for grants to both nonprofit and for-profit health service providers that are able to bring treatment programs to juvenile offenders in rural parts of the state," and a 2009 regulation in Idaho requires that before a case goes to a judge they receive a report from a team identifying relevant services for the child outside of secure facilities. (Read more)

Poverty rates for children in Appalachian Ohio up

UPDATE, Aug. 15: The Columbus Dispatch has since deleted the story from its website, because of errors. An editor's note says: "After this story was originally printed and posted online, a data error was discovered in the report on which the story is based. We have deleted the story because the information provided to The Dispatch was incorrect. According to the updated report, the overall child poverty rate in Ohio increased by 75 percent from 2002 to 2012 and rural, non-Appalachian counties’ child poverty rates increased, on average, by 92 percent. Appalachian counties’ child poverty rates increased by 70 percent. (Read more)

Ohio's child poverty rate went up 39 percent from 2002 to 2012, while it went up 136 percent in just the Appalachian counties, according to the Children's Defense Fund report, Jim Ryan reports for The Columbus Dispatch.

"This is the worst I've ever seen it," said Jack Frech, director of the Athens County Department of Job and Family Services.

The report showed that slightly more than 28 percent of children who live in Appalachian Ohio live in poverty and are "more likely to suffer from hunger, obesity and a lack of health care than children in the rest of the state, the nonprofit child-advocacy group reported," Ryan writes. However, rural, non-Appalachian counties have a 19.65 percent poverty rate, which is lower than the 23.6 percent statewide average.

Executive director of the Ohio Association of Foodbanks Lisa Hamler-Fugitt said the group has attempted to solve the hunger problem in various ways. "It sponsors about 2,500 free farmer's markets with surplus goods from Ohio growers," Ryan reports. Hamler-Fugitt said, "The Great Recession didn't end for the people standing in our food lines."

"The Children's Defense Fund report recommended seven state and local initiatives that would help children in need, including state tax incentives that help families make healthy food choices," Ryan writes. "It also called for more child fitness and wellness programs and incentives to encourage doctors to work in rural areas."

Frech said, "The Appalachian area has historically had a problem with poverty because of the lack of jobs—lack of decent-paying jobs—that goes back years and years."

Annual Kids Count report offers a wide range of information on child well-being in your community

The annual Kids Count report, with loads of county-level information on child well-being, was released last week by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. The report focuses on four main areas: economic well-being, education, health, and family, and also looks at national trends, comparing current data with trends since the first report was released in 1990. This year's report ranks Massachusetts, Iowa and Vermont as the top states for child well-being, with Nevada, New Mexico and Mississippi the three lowest ranked states. (Annie E. Casey Foundation map)

The report has a wealth of information about child well-being, with the four main areas broken up into four sub-sets, which look at the rate of children in poverty; children whose parents lack secure employment; children living in households with a high housing cost burden; teens not in school and not working; children not attending pre-school; fourth-graders not proficient in reading; eighth-graders not proficient in math; high school students not graduating on time; low-birthweight babies, children without health insurance; children and teen deaths per 100,000; teens who abuse alcohol or drugs; children in single-parent families; children in families where the household head lacks a high school diploma; children living in high-poverty areas; and teen births per 1,000.

The report has excellent information for local stories and we recommend checking it out. To read the report click here.

Kids Count annual report shows how children are doing in your community, by many measures

The annual Kids Count report released Monday by the Annie E. Casey Foundation is a treasure trove of information, loaded with data about how children in your community are doing. The report measures how the nation, its 50 states and various localities are doing according to four measures of child well-being – education, health, economic well-being, and family and community.

One of the many data sets available by locality

The report includes a wide range of data for every county and, depending on the state, cities, school districts and other jurisdictions. The data include current and five-year rates of child poverty; median family income and median household income; unemployment; infant mortality rate; child death rate; teen death rate; child abuse and neglect cases; foster care cases; births to mothers who are teenagers, who smoke, who are not high-school graduates, and who get early and regular prenatal care; pre-term births; low-weight births; newborns breastfed when they leave the hospital; early childhood obesity, number and percentage of child-support collections; asthma hospitalizations; recreational facilities; number and percentage of children receiving food stamps, Medicaid, child-care subsidies, Supplemental Security Income, and benefits from the Women, Infants and Children nutrition program; the number and percentage eligible for reduced-price meals at school; the number and percentage in publicly funded preschool; the hourly wage needed to pay fair-market rent and the percentage of renters unable to afford such rent; juvenile justice data; percentage of students ready for college and careers; and the six-year college graduation rate.

There is more, but you should check it out for yourself. And write something about it. Click here to go to the Kids Count data center.

Rural detention center for youth may be closed

A juvenile justice facility in rural California is in danger of being closed, reports Marisa Lagos of the San Francisco Chronicle. The plan to close the Preston Youth Correctional Facility in rural Amador County would "kill an entire county," because it is one of the largest employers in the area, said Assemblywoman Alyson Huber, D-El Dorado Hills, who is fighting the closure.  (Photo by Brant Ward for the San Francisco Chronicle. Guard Dennis Miller surveys Preston in 2001.)

California is trying to "plug a $25.4 billion budget gap," writes Lagos, and closing Preston would save the state $30 million this fiscal year, officials estimate. Preston is the oldest of of five juvenile facilities in California and houses just 224 youths of 1,300 juvenile offenders in the state. Most of the youths there are hours away from their families. By most accounts, the building is in terrible condition.  Sumayyah Waheed, who runs a campaign at an Oakland civil rights group, called Preston a "dungeon" and rattled off a litany of incidents that have occurred there, including suicides and the use of Mace by guards. "Preston is also the most remote, the furthest away from youths' families," she said. "Everyone has to ask their family to travel ... it's really a burden."

The facility employs about 450 people in a county with just 38,000 residents and a 12.4 percent unemployment rate, reports Lagos. Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokesman Bill Sessa said closing Preston is a budget decision, noting that the Department of Juvenile Justice was ordered to cut $39 million from its budget this fiscal year and has already closed eight facilities this decade. The agency is working to place Preston's employees in other corrections facilities within communting distance. (Read more)

Rural editor wins Ky. First Amendment Award

John Nelson, editor of the Advocate-Messenger in Danville, Ky., last night received the James Madison Award for service to the First Amendment, presented by the Scripps Howard First Amendment Center in School of Journalism and Telecommunications at the University of Kentucky. (A-M photo by Clay Jackson)

Nelson, who also oversees editorial operations of other Schurz Communications newspapers in Kentucky, won the award because "He has fought for open government in a number of important ways," former Kentucky Post editor Judith Clabes, the award's first winner, said in presenting it to him. She cited the nomination from Kentucky Press Association Executive Director David Thompson, who wrote, “Few people in Kentucky are as adamant about open government. If more had the drive that John Nelson has exhibited during his journalism career, there would be a demand from every corner of the state that all public agencies operate in ‘sunshine’ and make the agency’s business truly the public’s business.”

As KPA president in 2004, Nelson led Kentucky's first statewide public-records audit and was instrumental in creating the KPA Legal Defense Fund and a lawsuit that KPA filed to open juvenile court proceedings. Federal courts rejected the suit's arguments, but the Court of Appeals "interpreted state law in a way it had never before been interpreted, giving judges an opening to allow the press into the courtroom at their own discretion," he said in his acceptance remarks. Nelson has also been president of the Bluegrass Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.