Obama proclamation creates three national monuments on 1.8 million acres in Sonoran Desert

Times map: boundaries proposed by Sen. Feinstein

"President Obama designated three new national monuments in the California desert Thursday, expanding federal protection to 1.8 million acres of landscapes that have retained their natural beauty despite decades of heavy mining, cattle ranching and off-roading," Louis Sahagun reports for the Los Angeles Times.

Obama acted after Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., was unable to get the designations made by legislation. "Much of the land was purchased more than a decade ago by private citizens and the Wildlands Conservancy, then donated to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in anticipation of its eventually receiving the protection of national monument status," Sahagun notes.

The Mojave Trails National Monument "protects wildlife corridors linking Joshua Tree National Park and the Mojave National Preserve," Sahagun writes. "Sand to Snow National Monument, about 45 miles east of Riverside, includes about 154,000 acres of federal land between Joshua Tree National Park and the San Bernardino National Forest in San Bernardino and Riverside counties. The area includes 24 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail, an estimated 1,700 petroglyphs and Big Morongo Canyon, a bird-watching destination along a perennial stream designated a federal Area of Critical Environmental Concern in 1982."

The Castle Mountains National Monument "surrounds, but does not include, an open-pit mine at the southern end of the Castle Mountains owned by NewCastle Gold Ltd., of Canada, which has a permit allowing it to excavate nearly 10 million tons of ore through 2025. Mining at the site was suspended in 2001 because of low gold prices," Sahagun reports.

HIV outbreak in rural Ind., driven by intravenous drug use, puts other rural areas on notice

Last year's outbreak of HIV in rural Indiana—blamed on a rise in intravenous drug use—has put other rural areas on notice to look for warning signs to prevent a similar epidemic in their necks of the woods. The number of HIV cases in southeastern Indiana, mostly around Austin in Scott County, stands at 188, according to state data. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study released in December said that rural areas lack prevention services for opiate addiction and HIV infections.

The Indiana epidemic has put Virginia officials on notice, Becca Pizmoht reports for the Madison County Eagle. While HIV rates remain stable statewide, "concern grows that rural counties are seeing a disproportionate number of new cases. Several factors are cited as possible causes, including lack of available education and testing and increased intravenous drug use in rural populations." Madison County (Family Search map), population of 13,000, has not had any reported HIV diagnoses since 2011, but adjoining Greene County (18,000) has had six and Orange County (34,000) eight.

Ann Rhoades, director of HIV Surveillance in Virginia, told Pizmoht, “After the Indiana outbreak we have been watching rural areas more closely. Urban areas have a lot of available testing and there are needle exchange and education programs in place. We need to have education and testing available to our rural populations because there is a stigma attached to HIV sometimes people in small communities aren’t willing to get tested.” (Read more)

Grant will fund crude-oil derailment training for 18,000 rural and remote emergency responders

A rise in train derailments carrying crude oil and other flammable materials through rural areas has caused concern that emergency responders in small communities are not trained to deal with such events. That's about to change. This year about 18,000 first responders in rural and remote areas will receive "specialized training at local fire stations for handling emergencies involving flammable liquids moved by rail," Mike Cook, executive director of Hazardous Materials Compliance and Training at the Transportation Technology Center, reports for the Daily Yonder. (American Association of Railroads photo: Firefighters training for an oil spill)

Training programs are part of a $2.4 million grant from the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration that will send rail-safety experts from the Security and Emergency Response Training Center in Pueblo, Colo., around the country "instructing rural volunteer emergency responders about flammable liquids emergency response and rail incidents involving crude oil," Cook writes. The grant "will also fund the creation of a new web-based training program about flammable liquids moved by rail." (Read more)

Owner of coal mine where underground fire has burned for a year asks Ill. to approve expansion

The owner of a coal mine in Hillsboro, Ill. (Best Places map), "where an underground fire has smoldered for nearly a year, is asking state regulators to approve an expansion that some local residents fear could jeopardize public health and cause environmental damage," reports Alan Sher Zagier of The Associated Press. Deer Run Mine, located about 65 miles northeast of St. Louis, ceased production in January "after what it calls a 'combustion event' that elevated carbon monoxide levels below ground and kept out workers for most of the past 11 months."

Despite a lack of production Foresight Energy has asked "the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to approve a 7,731-acre expansion into areas unaffected by the fire," Zagier reports. "While such underground fires aren’t uncommon in mines, expansion opponents argue that the company’s inability to get it under control should give pause to the request." The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration says the fire poses no immediate threat.

"Deer Run, which opened in 2011, operates as a longwall mine, a mechanized process in which enormous shearers slice coal from earthen panels that can stretch for several miles," Zagier writes. "The technique allows for greater coal extraction with fewer workers than traditional 'room and pillar' mining while also causing the surface land above to sink by several feet." (Read more)

Nevada tourism campaign trying to entice urban residents to rural areas by suggesting they not go

Nevada tourism officials are getting creative to try to lure urban dwellers to visit rural attractions, Richard Velotta reports for the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Only 6 percent of Nevada's urban residents visit rural sites, compared to 25 to 50 percent in most other states, said state tourism-commission Director Claudia Vecchio. (Review-Journal photo: Lake Mead)

The Discover Your Nevada program, which "has no advertising budget and most of the publicity is developed by the office's in-house public relations department," was created four years ago "to publicize rural destinations and events to urban audiences," Velotta writes. One new campaign idea is to attempt to use reverse psychology to get urban residents interested in visiting rural areas. "The marketing committee of the Nevada Commission on Tourism on Thursday said they could deliver a list of 15 reasons not to go to Lake Mead or Lake Tahoe, a strategy that could draw considerable attention but ultimately result in a higher level of interest." Commissioner Don Newman told Velotta, "It's a little dangerous at first glance."

The program in the past "has incorporated online destination-popularity votes, geocache and scavenger hunts and road trips taken by Gov. Brian Sandoval and former Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki," Velotta writes. Hutchison, who chairs the tourism commission, told Velotta, "I think there are a lot of people in Nevada who don't even know about these places." (Read more)

Sexual assault victims in Minnesota's under-served areas often receive less care, study finds

Sexual assault victims in Minnesota's rural and underserved populations have limited resources and often receive less care than similar victims in urban areas, says a report by the Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault (MCASA). The study consisted of 139 respondents to a survey sent to health professionals who treat sexual assault victims. Only 42 percent of respondents said they feel there is an appropriate medical forensic response to victims from underserved populations in their area, 21 percent responded sometimes and 17 percent said they were unsure.

"Lack of a culturally responsive and appropriate approach creates additional barriers, injustices, and potential re-traumatization for victims from underserved populations," states the report. The main problem is not enough trained medical professionals in the area, said respondents. The current atmosphere also creates barriers, such as a lack of non-English speaking health professionals. Another problem in underserved areas is a lack of resources, which forces health professionals to send patients to other facilities. Overall, 52 percent of respondents estimated that between 90 to 100 percent of patients told to go to a different facility for their exam do not got, mainly because of transportation limits or higher costs. When patients are told they can be treated at a facility they often face long wait times.

While treatment is good in urban areas, "in most of rural Minnesota, she said, medical professionals lack training to administer physical sexual assault tests and help victims obtain a variety of types of help," Don Davis reports for the West Central Tribune in Willmar, Minn. "Kasey Baker of Willmar-based Safe Avenues said some rural hospitals without personnel trained in sexual assault cases may send victims to nearby hospitals, with large ambulance bills being sent to the victims." Baker told Davis, “The reality is that the current way in which exams are conducted in Minnesota can and have retraumatized victims.”

Drug-overdose deaths spike in rural Colorado

Drug overdose rates in Colorado have hit record levels, increasing 68 percent from 2002-2014, with numbers especially high in rural Southern agricultural counties, says a report by the Colorado Health Institute. In 2002, the state had 9.7 drug overdose deaths per 100,000 people. Deaths nearly doubled in 2014, up to 16.3 per every 100,000 residents, above the national average of 14.7 drug-related deaths per every 100,000 people. (Colorado Health Institute graphic: Drug overdose deaths in 2014)

Twelve counties had more than 20 overdose deaths per 100,000 people. Seven are located in rural areas, all in the southern half of the state. Baca County, near the Kansas border, had the biggest increase, going from 4.1 to more than 20 deaths per 100,000 in 2014. (Drug overdose deaths in 2002)

An influx of heroin to the state's poorest and least populated counties is one of the reasons for the increase, along with a rise in abuse of prescription drugs and methamphetamine. In 2012-13 Colorado ranked 12th nationally in non-medical use of opioid painkillers, with state statistics showing that 25 percent of state residents said they had used pain medications not prescribed by their doctor and 29 percent saying they had used pain medications prescribed for someone else.

Overall, 63 of Colorado's 64 counties experienced an increase in drug overdose deaths from 2002 to 2014, David Olinger reports for The Denver Post. Tamara Keeney, a policy analyst at the Colorado Health Institute, told Olinger, "We do know that heroin and prescription drugs are what's driving the increase across the board. Cocaine has actually decreased as a cause. It was surprising to us to see that it wasn't just the urban counties."

Bent County Coroner Dave Roberts, who said many of the deaths in his county are the result of prescription painkillers, said the average age of death is early 30s, Olinger writes. Roberts told him, "When I first started, there were hardly any overdoses. Now it's really prevalent... It's amazing the amount of meth that's in small counties."

Remaining occupiers at Oregon refuge surrender

The armed standoff at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in rural Harney County, Oregon came to a peaceful end today, Les Zaitz reports for The Oregonian: Cincinnati-area resident "David Fry was the last to surrender, finally emerging after an extended phone dialogue with supporters who tried for over an hour after the others left to get him to walk out. . . . The holdouts all face arrest on a federal charge of conspiracy for their roles in the armed occupation."

"FBI agents in armored vehicles had moved in Wednesday night on the four still at the refuge, hemming them into their camp and insisting they put down their guns and surrender," Zaitz reports. "Also Wednesday night, the FBI arrested Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy at Portland International Airport. He faces federal charges related to the 2014 standoff at his ranch."

Zaitz writes, "The surreal scene played out over social media . . . through an open phone line being streamed to YouTube. At one point, an estimated 60,000 people listened as the occupiers displayed anger and panic, prayed with those on the phone and yelled at the FBI agents surrounding them. They're the remainders of a group of anti-government militants who took over the wildlife refuge headquarters Jan. 2. The four have been on their own since Jan. 28—two days after the occupation leaders were arrested on a highway north of Burns and protest spokesman Robert 'LaVoy' Finicum was shot and killed."

Crowdfunding story leads Maine paper to examine ethical issues and develop an accountability policy

How should news media approach crowdfunding stories? What's the difference between a newsworthy story and shameless promotion? Those are some of the questions at the heart of a debate concerning a story by Jackie Farwell of the Bangor Daily News about a local woman who used crowdfunding to search for a kidney donor and raise money for expenses, Joseph Burns reports for the Association of Health Care Journalists. The newspaper has used the experience to begin developing a policy on crowdfunding. Farwell writes:

Jackie Farwell

"When Christine Royles painted a plea for a kidney donor on the rear window of her car, she had no idea of the ethical dilemma she was about to provoke. As we covered the hospital’s response to the crowdsourcing effort behind her surgery, I worked with Anthony Ronzio, the news and audience director at the BDN, to sort through the medical crowdfunding editorial policy questions inherent in medical crowdfunding. In so doing, we wrestled internally with the role of media coverage in Royles’ ultimately successful search for a donor.

"Many outlets reported on her plight, publicity that no doubt directed many dollars to the fundraising campaign for the man who agreed to donate his kidney to her. The outpouring of generosity threatened to derail the transplant, in part because the hospital was leery of federal regulations that prohibit individuals from profiting from the donation of an organ. Royles’ case, while unprecedented in Maine, raised questions about medical crowdfunding that we knew would persist with the popularity of websites such as GoFundMe and Indiegogo.

"We re-examined our coverage from a couple of vantage points: What did our audience need to know about this trend, and how should we cover individual crowdfunding campaigns in the future? We also set out to develop an editorial policy aimed at medical crowdfunding. Online fundraising for a honeymoon or a new car is one thing, but lives are often at stake when people turn to the Internet to pay for their health care. As we presented in the story, online crowdfunding raises ethical questions that set it apart from a spaghetti supper at the high school gym.

"News outlets’ ability to convert readers into potential fundraisers has become more overt with the ease of online donation. We know our coverage can amplify a campaign’s reach, so we wanted guidelines for when and how to cover them.While we’re still in the process of developing a policy, here are the main points of discussion:

• Individual campaigns must be unique to warrant coverage, whether in the amount of money raised, the public response, the personal story, or other factors. Royles’ case was unique in that it presented the hospital with unprecedented ethical and legal questions that delayed her transplant. 
• We must confirm the facts of a campaign if we cover it. That could mean asking for medical records or interviews with doctors, a potentially challenging step when patients are in vulnerable and time-sensitive situations. 
• In some stories, the campaign itself is the news hook. In others, the person’s health struggle is the focus, and the campaign is a secondary element. Are we obligated to do all or nothing, either agreeing to mention these campaigns or write no story at all? 
• Do we link to the campaign? It seems like an obvious step and readers may want a link if they’re moved to donate or learn more. But should we consider omitting links to avoid the amplifying effect? We don’t want to set ourselves up to pick winners and losers. 

"We don’t have all the answers to these questions, but we’ll keep seeking them. We welcome any thoughts you’d like to share."

In rural Mardi Gras tradition, adults in white Cajun and black communities chase kids with switches

While Mardi Gras revelers flooded New Orleans, an obscure tradition continued in some rural isolated white Cajun and black communities that consists of masked adults chasing children with switches, reports The New York Times' Campbell Robertson, who is based in New Orleans. The children, who are prodded to taunt the adults, are eventually caught, whipped and forced to kneel and say prayers to repent for their sins. (NYT photo by William Widmer: A chase through the swamp in Choupic)

"Each of these small Catholic communities lies off the main arteries; each consists of a cluster of houses strung along a road passing roughly from a church to a sugar cane field," Robertson writes. "And though there is almost no communication among the communities, the Mardi Gras practices in them are the same in their essentials. Young men dressed in costumes and masks—calling themselves the Mardi Gras—roll down the main drag brandishing switches of peach or willow (the whip of choice in Gheens), bamboo (Promised Land), or broken fishing poles and golf club shafts (Choupic). Their targets are the children and young teenagers, who taunt and backtalk from the roadside but know that when the Mardi Gras jump out and the chase is on, no adult is a friend and any parent will sell out a son or daughter hiding in a back seat or under a bed."

"They almost always go easy, particularly on the younger children and the ones they do not recognize," Robertson write.s "A few light taps is all. This is the day and age we live in: A video could show up on YouTube, the elders warn the young maskers, or some parent could raise a stink and the whole tradition, dating back long past living memory, could be shut down." Mark Breaux, 57, of Gheens, told Robertson, “People have come here now that is not used to it and that don’t want their kids getting whipped. Our parents, they never minded it because they know what it’s about.”

"The whippings seem to get tougher and the chases get better as the memories go back farther," Robertson writes. "Way back when, the older men and women say, the Mardi Gras rode in on horses and carried bullwhips. The children really had to know their prayers back then and were not allowed to get away with saying their ABCs as they do now. In Promised Land you knew never to mess around with a certain Mardi Gras named Pokey, as he was capable of anything. That was when they would really hurt you."

The origin of the tradition is up for debate, Robertson writes. Barry Ancelet, a professor at the University of Louisiana in Lafayette, said "similar practices can be found in the ancient pagan springtime festivals, in medieval European rites and in African-Creole rituals," but for most locals "they all just knew that where they lived, the roots went deep, back to parents of grandparents." (Read more)

Major media often overlook plight of rural schools

The struggles of rural schools are often overlooked by journalists who focus on urban schools, David Gutierrez writes for Harvard Political Review. "This disparity in media coverage is understandable — the crumbling infrastructure of cities, the poverty and segregation faced by inner-city students, and the presence of a school-to-prison pipeline are all serious problems that demand reforms. But in a media market where large newspapers and television stations now compete with international media outlets, rural educational issues can be forgotten in the commotion. Many rural school districts face concerns that stem from the current demographic and economic state of rural areas, the lack of technological infrastructure, and the difficulty of hiring and retaining teachers."

Rural schools sometimes face high levels of poverty, funding disparities, transportation burdens, teacher shortages and inferior technology, Gutierrez writes. "The current state of rural education is bleak, but with a renewed scrutiny on the American education system, it is time to address all underperforming schools, regardless of their location. While the problems rural schools face are connected with larger problems of economic development, there are some things that can be done to help them. These solutions will require a concerted effort to effect substantial change and to ensure that every child, urban or rural, receives an equal opportunity to succeed."

Supreme Court ruling won't stop the decline of coal in Central Appalachia, industry experts say

Despite coal backers celebrating the Supreme Court's order blocking the Obama administration's Clean Power Plan, industry experts say it won't stop the ongoing decline of coal in Central Appalachia, Ken Ward reports for the Charleston Gazette-Mail.

"James Van Nostrand, director of the Center for Energy and Sustainable Development at the West Virginia University College of Law, noted that other factors are playing major roles in the coal downturn that has cost the industry a significant chunk of its market share and thousands of West Virginia miners their jobs," Ward writes. "Among those factors: plentiful and low-priced natural gas resources, decreasing costs of renewable energy sources like solar and wind; and, in Central Appalachia, cost challenges that make the region’s coal less competitive." Van Nostrand told Ward, “I don’t think the stay will reverse what is happening, but it may slow down the de-carbonizing of the country’s electric supply until the legal issues are resolved." (West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy graphic)

Morgantown environmental consultant Evan Hansen, a candidate for the state House, said the Clean Power Plan "is only one of many factors affecting West Virginia’s mining industry," Ward reports. Hansen told him, “The most important is simple economics—whether coal mined here can compete in the marketplace against coal mined in other parts of the country, natural gas and solar. It’s also a matter of geology, because so many of West Virginia’s thickest and easiest-to-access coal seams have been mined already.” That has helped make Central Appalachian coal the most expensive to mine.

Ten years ago, industry consultant Alan Stagg told the "Covering Coal" seminar of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues (publisher of The Rural Blog) that depletion of the resource in southern West Virginia had created a situation he'd never seen: production falling while prices and demand rose. After two years of increased production, the downward trend returned, and accelerated.

Sanders did better in rural N.H. than Clinton; rural vote helped Kasich get clear 2nd place in GOP race

Democratic winner Bernie Sanders and Republican runner-up John Kasich did better in the seven rural counties of New Hampshire than in the three metropolitan counties, the Daily Yonder reports in its analysis of the first presidential primary.

"The Ohio governor conducted over 100 town hall meetings in the state and maybe that paid off in rural communities," Tim Marema and Bill Bishop report. "Kasich won 13.5 percent of the vote in metropolitan New Hampshire, but notched about 17 percent in rural counties."

The Yonder was among those noting that Hillary Clinton's 39 percent "share of the statewide vote was comparable to the last time she ran in the New Hampshire primary – in 2008 against Barack Obama and John Edwards. . . . This year, the same percentage of the vote handed her a 29-point loss. Turnout was down 10 percent for Democrats from 2008, while Republicans saw about a 20 percent increase in voters over 2008."

High court blocks power-plant rules while legal battle goes on; rural electric co-ops cheer

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday blocked the Obama administration's Clean Power Plan "until a lower court has resolved the legal case against it," Curtis Tate reports for McClatchy Newspapers. "Under the plan, states would have to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions by a third by 2030. But states that rely heavily on coal to produce electricity, including Kentucky and West Virginia, had argued that the plan was unconstitutional." West Virginia and Kentucky are second and third to Wyoming in coal production and get the vast majority of their electricity from coal.

The court's order means that the states that sued to stop the rules, which are aimed at greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change, won't have to comply while the legal battle is being fought in a lower appellate court. The ruling was good news for rural electric co-ops, which also rely heavily on coal. Chris Perry, president and CEO of the Kentucky Association of Electric Cooperatives, said in a press release, "Without this stay, co-ops would have been forced to take expensive and irreversible actions to comply with the rule."

(Climate Desk graphic: States suing over the rules, ranked by percent of their electricity that comes from coal, as of Oct. 23, 2015)

Production of Central Appalachian coal—produced mainly in West Virginia and Kentucky—was 40 percent below average between 2010 and 2014, and a decline in coal jobs has led West Virginia to have the negative distinction of being the only state in the U.S. where more than half of adults are out of work. Coal was also an issue in the November election in Kentucky, where Republicans tied Democrats to Obama's energy policies, Tate writes. Since Obama took office in 2008, "Republicans have shut Democrats out of the governor’s mansion, both U.S. Senate seats and five of the state’s six House seats."

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey told The Associated Press, "We are thrilled that the Supreme Court realized the rule’s immediate impact and froze its implementation, protecting workers and saving countless dollars as our fight against its legality continues." Wyoming’s Gov. Matt Mead also applauded the decision, AP reports: “This is a big win for Wyoming and the nation. It puts on hold this very bad policy based on a deeply flawed process while the legal issues are being addressed. I couldn’t be happier.”

For a legal analysis from Case Western Reserve University law professor Jonathan Adler, in The Washington Post, click here.

Resource offers journalists tips for questioning federal candidates about open government

The American Society of News Editors and OpenTheGovernment.org have created a government transparency resource to assist journalists in interviewing candidates running for federal jobs. The groups "have drafted open-government-related questions" in the hope that "they will be used broadly, by editorial boards, reporters covering the 2016 campaigns and interested members of the public who have an opportunity to speak with candidates. ... Transparency is vital for public accountability, and it needs to be a part of the greater conversation on democracy and open government."

Question topics center on federal open-government issues such as: Transparent policing and accountable law enforcement; the Freedom of Information Act; communications surveillance transparency; secrecy surrounding the drone-strikes programs; electronic records management; whistleblowers; open government collaborations between government and non-governmental organizations; and campaign finance.

“It’s important for the news media to remind federal officials and candidates that we care about open government," said Al Cross, director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, which publishes The Rural Blog.

Rural college president fires tenured professor and student newspaper adviser for lack of 'loyalty'

A college president in rural Maryland has fired two faculty members, one who criticized him and the other an adviser for the student newspaper, which published unflattering quotes from the president on his attempts to dismiss 20 to 25 first-year students to improve retention rates. Simon Newman, president of Mount St. Mary's college in Emmitsburg (Best Places map), reportedly told faculty members last month about struggling students: "This is hard for you because you think of the students as cuddly bunnies, but you can’t. You just have to drown the bunnies … put a Glock to their heads," Rebecca Schisler and Ryan Golden reported for The Mountain Echo, the school paper.
 
Thane Naberhaus, a tenured professor who had objected to the president’s policies, and Ed Egan, a law professor and former trustee who worked with journalism students, were fired Monday effective immediately and without severance, Susan Svrluga reports for The Washington Post. "A few days earlier, David Rehm, who had raised several concerns about the president’s retention plan, was removed from his position as provost. He remains on the faculty."

"Professors from universities across the country—from Stanford to North Carolina Central to the University of Nebraska to Harvard—signed a petition Tuesday calling on the Mount St. Mary’s University administration to reinstate professors who had been fired," Svrluga writes. Within hours, the petition had more than 2,400 digital signatures.

A termination letter from Newman to Naberhaus "said that he 'owes a duty of loyalty to [the university]' and he should 'act in a manner consistent with that duty'," Jeremy Bauer-Wolf reports for The Frederick News-Post. Michelle Cooper, president of the Institute for Higher Education Policy, said the idea that Naberhaus was fired for a lack of loyalty raises red flags. Cooper told Bauer-Wolf, “What is concerning me is that a lot of what is occurring at the Mount is unprecedented. … A lack of loyalty does not present as a just case for a firing. What does that mean, loyalty? It’s just so subjective.”

Bauer-Wolf reports, "The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, known as FIRE, released a statement Tuesday criticizing the firings of the professors. FIRE connects students and faculty whose rights might have been violated to a network of pro bono attorneys. The organization publicly advocates for students and faculty."

Actress Jennifer Garner lobbies Ky. lawmakers for Save the Children work in Appalachia

Jennifer Garner (Courier-Journal
photo by Matt Herp)

Actress Jennifer Garner told Kentucky legislators Tuesday that once she became a Hollywood star with the ability to be a philanthropist, "I knew exactly what I wanted it to be. I knew it had to be kids in rural America."

Garner, who grew up in West Virginia, asked lawmakers "to preserve $1 million in funding for Save the Children’s early childhood and literacy programs that serve more than 12,000 Kentucky children," Valarie Honeycutt Spears reports for the Lexington Herald-Leader. "She joined Save the Children Action Network President Mark Shriver at Senate and House committee meetings to discuss the value of high-quality early learning."

Shriver and Garner, who is on the organization's board, had breakfast with new Republican Gov. Matt Bevin. Bevin has proposed a 9 percent budget cut for most agencies, including preschool services, but his plan has $941,400 for the Save the Children program, and Senate President Robert Stivers, "who held a news conference with Shriver later Tuesday, said, 'I think there is a high likelihood that it would survive' through the legislature's budget process," Tom Loftus of The Courier-Journal reports. "Save the Children programs have shown stronger results in Kentucky than in any other state in helping kids from birth through the third grade, Shriver said."

Iowa moves closer to raising rural speed limits; state official says it would lead to more fatalities

Iowa lawmakers have advanced a bill to raise speed limits on rural two-lane paved roads, despite a warning from a state Department of Transportation official that higher speeds would lead to an increase in fatal crashes, Brianne Pfannenstiel reports for The Des Moines Register. "A three-person subcommittee passed two versions of the legislation—one bill that would increase the speed limit from 55 miles per hour to 60 miles per hour and another that would increase it to 65 miles per hour."

Steve Gent, director of the Office of Traffic and Safety, told the committee, “Pretty much every place that has increased their speed limits has seen an increase in fatalities.” Pfannenstiel reports, "Gent said the department estimates that a 5-mile-an-hour increase could lead to an additional five to 15 fatal accidents each year and a 10-mile-an-hour increase could lead to 10 to 25 additional fatalities." (Read more)

Tiny school district in rural Texas becomes first in state to switch to four-day weeks

One of the smallest and most rural school districts in Texas will become the state's first to transition to a four-day week this fall, under a new law allowing schools more flexibility in setting calendars, Madlin Mekelburn reports for The Texas Tribune. The move will allow the 56-student, K-8 Olfen Independent School District in Runnels County (Wikipedia map) to offer more opportunities for tutoring on optional Fridays.

That's especially important for students who live as far as 35 miles from campus. Olfen Superintendent Gabriel Zamora "Zamora said the schedule is compatible with the unique needs of his rural district, where only one student lives within the district boundary," Mekelburn reports. The district would need to create additional bus routes for students who chose after-school tutoring.

While Monday through Thursday will be mandatory and Friday mostly optional, "students who do not receive passing marks on progress reports will be required to attend school on Fridays to receive tutoring, while passing students will have the choice to stay home," Mekelburn writes. "A handful of weeks during the year will have a full five days of instruction."

Zamora told Mekelburn, "We think this is going to be something great for our students and something that can also benefit a lot of parents out there. I just saw the possibility, once the law was passed and everything. I never thought I would be in the district that had the right circumstances." (Read more)

Study: Rural Western counties with most federal land are in better economic shape than rural peers

Rural counties in the West with more federal or protected land are in much better economic shape than rural counties in the region with less federal and protected land, says a report by Montana non-profit Headwaters Economics. The study, which looked at data from 1970 to 2014, found that rural counties with more federal and protected land "on average had faster population, employment, personal income and per capita income growth than their peers with the lowest share" of federal and protected lands.

From 1970 to 2014, rural counties in the top 25 percentile with federal land saw a population growth of 124 percent, compared to a 26 percent growth in the counties in the bottom 25 percent. Employment in the top counties increased 242 percent, compared to 73 percent in the bottom counties and personal income increased 333 percent in the top 25, compared to 122 percent in the bottom 25. Per capital income was much closer, with an 81 percent increase in the top 25, compared to a 78 percent increase in the bottom 25.

Differences were similar for counties with protected land. Population grew 122 percent in the top 25, compared to 47 percent in the bottom 25. Employment increased 263 percent in the top 25, compared to 98 percent in the bottom 25, personal income increased 380 percent in the top 25, compared to 154 percent in the bottom 25 and per capita income increased 97 percent in the top 25, compared to 78 percent in the bottom 25.

"The study looked at all 276 Western counties without a city of 50,000 or more or with population density below 1,000 people per square mile, designated as 'non-metro' by the U.S. Census Bureau," Krista Langlois reports for High Country News. "To be fair, the overall gains are thus skewed by a few very wealthy counties, like Colorado’s Summit County (home to ritzy ski resorts) and Teton County, Wyoming (home to Jackson Hole), which had personal income growth of 2,757 and 2,253 percent, respectively." Study author Megan Lawson "says that when she took the top 5 percent—the Vails and Aspens—out of the equation, the difference in economic growth between counties with the highest and lowest protected federal land decreased by about 16 percent. But the overall gains were still significant."

Lawson told Langlois, “We’re data-driven, and our reflex to hearing (recent anti-public lands) rhetoric is to look at the data. There are certainly rural places that are struggling, but that’s not the primary story we’re seeing across the West.”