Wisconsin may join states that teach commercial truck drivers how to keep an eye out for human trafficking

A bill in the Wisconsin state Senate would give more long-haul truck drivers the tools to help fight human trafficking. A similar bill was introduced in 2017 but stalled in the Senate.

"At least eight other states have enacted similar policies, which one group says has led to a dramatic uptick in the number of trafficking reports from truckers—from sporadic calls to the National Human Trafficking Hotline to more than 2,300 reports and counting," Katie Queram reports for Route Fifty. "Those calls opened 635 cases of sex trafficking involving 1,186 victims, according to the nonprofit organizationTruckers Against Trafficking."

In Wisconsin, "Senate Bill 25, introduced in February and recently approved by a committee, would require commercial motor vehicle driver education classes include information on how to recognize and prevent human trafficking," Queram reports. "Proponents said the measure makes sense because human trafficking regularly occurs along highways and at truck stops and rest areas, places populated primarily—and sometimes only—by truck drivers."

Many private truck-driving schools already warn drivers to be on the lookout for human trafficking, but students at state technical colleges may not get that training, according to Dan Johnson, vice president of the Wisconsin Motor Carriers Association. Johnson testified in favor of the bill in March, telling lawmakers, "Education is the key to [fixing] this problem."

Wisconsin's more than 312,000 licensed commercial drivers are in a unique position to keep an eye out for human trafficking, according to Sen. LaTonya Johnson, a Milwaukee Democrat who is the bill's main sponsor. "This is a huge network of eyes and ears within the interstate trade industry that can support law enforcement in the investigation, arrest, and prosecution of traffickers," she said in a recent public hearing.

Torture allegations put rural Ohio town's drug epidemic back in the spotlight

Allegations of torture have once again cast a negative light on the drug epidemic in rural Chillicothe, Ohio (Best Places map). In the town of only 21,000 residents, drug overdoses more than doubled from 2013 to 2014, and increased prostitution has led to six cases of women disappearing in the past 18 months, all of them addicts. Now, a man has told police that this summer he was terrorized for several hours "in retaliation for stealing thousands of dollars in drugs," John Caniglia reports for The Plain Dealer.

Arthur Hamlin said convicted drug dealer Earnest Moore III and others "seared him with red-hot kitchen utensils, poured boiling water on him and pummeled him, according to a police report," Caniglia writes. Moore, who some have suggested is involved in the disappearances of the six women, denied the torture allegations. A resident who declined to give her name told Caniglia, "It was vicious and terrible and something that you hear about in a Third World country, not in Chillicothe, Ohio. I'm scared, and I'm ready to move.''

Moore, who has a long history of drug infractions, is largely believed to be behind the town's drug woes, Caniglia writes. He was incarcerated from 1995 to 2000 for drug abuse and attempted abduction and from 2007 to 2011 for cocaine trafficking. His current business "appeared to take root in 2014 in Gallia County, one of Ohio's smallest and poorest." Located 60 miles southeast of Chillicothe, Gallia County county is part of a region that has battled a heroin plague for years. Charges against Moore in 2014 in Gallia County were dismissed so that a federal case could be made. Investigators have called Moore "a 'person of interest,' in a general way, in the peddling of drugs and the sex trafficking of women in Chillicothe." Moore is being held on the torture charges in lieu of a $750,000 bond. (Read more)

Undocumented workers in some rural agricultural communities have high rates of STDs

In rural agricultural towns like Mendota, Calif., (Best Places map) where there is not much to do when the work days ends, the sex industry thrives, and sexually transmitted diseases, especially among undocumented workers, are a cause for concern, Diana Aguilera reports for Valley Public Radio. Fresno County has one of the highest rates of STD’s in the state.

"Lack of access to health care, six-day work weeks and tough living conditions makes it hard for many farmworkers to visit a doctor," Aguilera writes. City councilmember Joseph Riofrio told Aguilera, “There’s a lot of unsafe sex because of people, you know, drinking, getting drunk, feeling lonely, far away from home. There’s people that come from Fresno or Merced. They’re looking for customers either at the motel across the street or the motel right here, and they’ll rent the room throughout the night.”

One problem is a lack of data on STD rates among migrant workers, Aguilera writes. George Lemp, who took part in a 2005 study by researchers from University of California-Berkeley and experts in Mexico, told Aguilera, “We found that there was a significant increase in risk behaviors after migration to the United States. Their risk of engaging in sex with sex workers went up about two and a half fold.” He said "farmworkers were also more likely to have sex while under the influence of drugs and alcohol after coming to the states. In addition, they were six times more likely to perform sex work for pay and 13 times more likely to have sex with men."

While local campaigns have sought to educate people and provide free condoms, undocumented worker Francisco told Aguilera, “If anyone has anything they don’t say it because they’re embarrassed. We’re very shy; we don’t talk about sex. I think its part of our culture, and that’s the reality.” (Read more)

Increased opiate use leading to rise in prostitution in rural Ohio towns

A handful of rural towns in Ohio are facing an epidemic of drugs and prostitution, with the two going hand-in-hand in areas where opiate use among women is on the rise, Jona Ison reports for USA Today. Drug overdoses more than doubled in Chillicothe (Best Places map) from 2013 to 2014 and increased prostitution has led to six cases of women disappearing in the past year in the town of only 21,000 residents where "strapped police departments are seeking the best way to handle it."

In Zainesville, complaints of prostitution have risen 14 percent this year, with 66 percent of the 105 complaints coming since June, said police chief Ken Miller. Miller told Ison, “They’ve been known to hop in your vehicle at a red light. They’re desperate. They’re out trying to fuel their drug habit, most of them.”

Local police in Mansfield "surveyed a handful of women prostituting and discovered most had been doing it for less than a year and were using drugs, typically heroin," Ison writes. "Nearly half responded if they could stop using drugs, they would stop prostituting." One of the obstacles of kicking the habit is limited treatment options in rural areas.

"While new laws cracking down on pill mills led addicts to seek heroin, a law in 2012 making it harder to sell stolen metals may have encouraged rural prostitution," Ison writes. "As scrap metal dealers shifted to comply with the law, that’s when rural police started seeing women selling themselves on the street, said T.J. Hollis, commander of a task force investigating Chillicothe’s missing women cases." Hollis told Ison, "We started to hear about it from our partners all around the state. They were seeing the same things (prostitution), so I don’t think it was unique to us, but I think it became a symptom of what was going on with the addiction in Ohio and around the country.”

"According to a study of mortality in prostituted women tracked for 30 years in Colorado, women actively prostituting were 18 times more likely to be murdered than women their age who weren’t," Ison writes. "Their leading causes of death were homicide, overdoses and accidents." This story is part of series. Other stories focus on solutions and the Internet side of the problem.

Ron Paul counts on rural votes in Nevada, Maine; falls short in the Silver State

UPDATE: Mitt Romney easily won the Nevada caucuses, getting about 40 percent of the vote in early returns. Ron Paul, running third with 15 percent of the vote counted, carried rural Nye and Esmerelda counties; Newt Gingrich, running second, carried rural Mineral County. For coverage from the Las Vegas Review-Journal, go here. Politico reports, "In a state where expectations for his campaign were higher than anywhere else to date, the Texas congressman’s third-place finish marked an underwhelming outcome for a candidate whose strategy is predicated on running well in caucus states like Nevada." (Read more)

Photo (via Politico): Nevada rally

Ron Paul is counting on a big vote from rural Nevada in today's Republican caucuses, reports James Hohmann of Politico: "In Pahrump, Paul tailored his message to rural voters who are even more interested than his typical backers in government leaving them alone. 'Independence' was the key buzzword. He decried the loss of property rights and drew some of his biggest cheers when he pledged to eliminate the Department of the Interior. (Read more)

In the crowd were owners and employees of brothels, which are legal in most of rural Nevada. Dennis Hof, owner of the Bunny Ranch near Carson City, almost 400 miles northeast of Pahrump, told NBC's Anthony Terrell, "The Bunny Ranch bunnies are supporting Ron Paul because he’s for states' rights." Hof's girlfriend, Cami Parker, added, "All the bunny babes are registered Republicans. We will be at the caucus on Saturday and we are pimping for Paul." (Read more)

Maine, the most rural state, also has caucuses today, but they will continue until next Saturday. There, Politico says,  it's a two-man race between Paul and Romney.