Clintons turn Indiana into presidential battleground

Indiana is shaping up as a potentially pivotal battleground in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, with early observers thinking Barack Obama from adjoining Illinois starts out with and edge but seeing Hillary and Bill Clinton make a strong effort, especially in the state's smaller cities and towns. Indiana's population is almost 30 percent rural.

Yesterday, the New York senator visited two cities with almost identical population and trends -- Anderson and Terre Haute, both with about 57,000 people by 2006 Census Bureau estimates, almost 4 percent fewer than the census counted in 2000. The Herald-Bulletin of Anderson said in an editorial that Clinton's appearance there was "electric with hope."

The Tribune-Star of Terre Haute, also part of Community Newspaper Holdings Inc., focused on Clinton's staged, sit-down discussion "with several invited Wabash Valley citizens who described some of the challenges they or family members face in today’s economy," reports Sue Loughlin. (Read more)

The paper's coverage also includes an interview Loughlin got with Clinton, a crowd story, and video of Clinton speaking, with Sen. Evan Bayh at her side. (Photo by Charles Dharapak, Tribune-Star)

The Herald-Bulletin posted a short story about Clinton's speech there and another short piece about the crowd. By far its longest story was about two bomb threats against the event, one called in to its own newsroom. The story quoted an unnamed staff member who took the call as saying, “I don’t remember precisely the words, but essentially it was, ‘Listen carefully, there’s a bomb set to go off at the Wigwam at 3:40 p.m. I thought it was a joke.”

The story continued, "He said at first it sounded like a coworker was playing a prank, but when he looked around the empty newsroom — cleared of photographers, editors and reporters busy covering the campaign stop — he realized the threat could be real and immediately called 911. Police dispatchers told the staff member they would relay the threat to officers at the scene." Police said the arena had been swept five times and the event was not disturbed.

Obama gives candid answers, paper lays 'em out

Sen. Barack Obama answered questions "quite candidly" during his visit last night to Beckley, W.Va., in the heart of the Appalachian coalfield, reports Audrey Stanton of the local Register-Herald. And the Community Newspaper Holdings Inc. daily in the town of 17,000 did right by the issues, devoting more than 1,200 words to Obama's give-and-take on tough topics such as coal. (Photo by Rick Barbero, Register-Herald)

"When Nelson Staples of Beckley asked him how he planned to lower the cost of gasoline in the United States, Obama responded with an answer that included investing in alternative fuel research, investing in refinery capacities, having a more sensible policy in the Middle East, strengthening the value of the dollar by improving the economy, charging polluters and creating more fuel-efficient vehicles in the United States," Stanton reports, continuing with dialogue:

When Nelson Staples of Beckley asked him how he planned to lower the cost of gasoline in the United States, Obama responded with an answer that included investing in alternative fuel research, investing in refinery capacities, having a more sensible policy in the Middle East, strengthening the value of the dollar by improving the economy, charging polluters and creating more fuel-efficient vehicles in the United States.

“But the hard truth is, the only way to, in the long term, reduce gas prices is to reduce demand,” Obama said.

“ ... So, in the meantime, what kind of car do you drive?” he asked Staples.

The laughter from those sitting around the Beckley resident gave him away even before he answered: “An Escalade.”

Obama shrugged his shoulders and widened his eyes.

“I’m sorry,” Obama said, “but this is what I’m talking about right here.”

As for the really big energy question in West Virginia, the future of coal, a man from Fayetteville "asked Obama how he could help the state strike a balance between the environmental damage caused by the coal and logging industries and the environmental concerns of eco-tourism."

“The truth is, we don’t have perfect energy sources,” Obama said, adding that even though he supports wind energy, he is aware windmills threaten migratory birds. “Every source of energy has some problems. .... There are ways of removing coal that work well ... in a way that does not degrade the environment. But there are other companies tearing stuff up. The key for us has to be to work with those companies that are engaging in the best practices and understanding that over time everybody has an investment in the environment of West Virginia. ... But we have to do it in a way that does not completely eliminate the industry that provides a livelihood for a lot of people. We have to make a transition to clean energies, but it’s not going to happen overnight.”

As for longstanding questions about coal-mine safety, raised by the son of a Beckley coal miner:

“Coal mining remains one of the most dangerous occupations there is,” Obama said. “I want to do everything that’s needed to improve coal mine safety.” Obama said he planned to meet with Sens. Jay Rockefeller and Robert C. Byrd, both D-W.Va., to make sure the necessary safety measures are in place to ensure the safety of miners.

Obama also pledged "strong enforcement" of the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act, in replying to a questiomner who said a coal mine had polluted a stream near his home. There's not much analysis in Stanton's story, but a lot of quotes and facts; to read it, click here.

The day before, Obama told Jim Morrill of The Charlotte Observer that some of the manufacturing jobs lost in North Carolina "just aren't coming back." When Morrill asked him where the new jobs would come from, Obama said laid-off factory workers could get construction jobs improving infrastructure, such as "broadband lines, for example, that can help stitch rural communities into the Internet. … We can put people back to work building windmills; that takes a lot of steel." The video of the interview appears to have been taken down, but the Observer offers an edited transcript.

Foes of Virginia coal plant say law for it violates interstate commerce by mandating Virginia coal

Opponents of a proposed Dominion Power plant in the southwest Virginia mountains contend that a state law allowing the plant "is unconstitutional because it requires burning of Virginia coal," reports Keith Strange of The Coalfield Progress in Norton, near the Virginia City plant site.

The Southern Environmental Law Center "filed a 60-page brief with the State Corporation Commission, alleging the legislation’s Virginia-only coal provision violates the U.S. constitution’s interstate-commerce clause," Strange reports. "They filed the brief on behalf of Appalachian Voices, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, the Sierra Club and Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards." SELC staff attorney Cale Jaffe said the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a similar measure in Oklahoma, which required all coal-fired plants in that state to burn at least 10 percent Oklahoma-mined coal. (Read more; subscription required)

Self-employment rises in rural areas, but average income of rural self-employed appears to fall

"Self-employment has become a major source of jobs in large areas of rural America — particularly down the midsection of the country," Bill Bishop writes in the Daily Yonder. "But even as more people begin to work for themselves, incomes are dropping" -- at least on average, and according to the available data.

Bishop's report is based mainly on a study by Stephan Goetz of Penn State, published in the latest edition of Rural Realities, the quarterly of the Rural Sociological Society. "Since 1969, the number of self-employed rural workers has expanded by over 240 percent, to 5.3 million," Goetz writes. "In comparison, there was only a 61 percent growth in rural wage and salary workers over the same time period." If the trend continues, by 2015, one of every four rural workers will be self-employed.

But even as self-employment booms, average income of the self-employed has declined "to historic lows," Goetz writes. "In 2005, the average self-employed worker earned only one-half of what wage-and-salary employees captured ($16,851 versus $31,596)." But those data may not be definitive, because they could be driven in part by part-time proprietorships of retirees, spouses or partners who are not a household's main source of income, and so on. Goetz acknowledges, "Better data than those currently available are needed to examine whether these differences are due to part-time vs. full-time employment differences or linked to underreporting of self-employment income." (Read more)

Goetz's report includes county-by-county maps showing percentages of self-employed workers, divided into five categories, or quintiles. "The South has the lowest proportion of self employed," Bishop writes. "Tunica County, Miss. ... has the lowest proportion of self-employed in the country." It's a big casino county, near Memphis, Tenn. Not too far away, Meigs County, Tenn., has the highest percentage of self-employed. Decatur is the county seat.

"In Meigs, located in the southeastern portion of the state, for every 100 wage workers, there are 185 people who are self-employed," Bishop writes. "Meigs has had its problems. The community lost its garment-manufacturing base some time ago. It has few public sector jobs. And the county has had a considerable number of people leave. So those working for themselves in Meigs county do wood working. They drive trucks and make pottery. There are also a number of musicians in the county." For the rest of Bishop's report, also based on an Ohio State study in Ohio, click here.

Columnist: Sunshine Week is time for presidential candidates to come clean about open government

As Sunshine Week rolls on, Mark Fitzgerald of Editor & Publisher writes that the presidential candidates are overdue in speaking out on issues of open government and full disclosure. He explains that the American Society of Newspaper Editors had failed to any draw a response to its open government survey until Sen. Hillary Clinton responded on Saturday. Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain have failed to answer. Fitzgerald writes:

Clinton squeaked under the Sunshine Week wire with a survey that repeatedly wags its finger at the 'excessive secrecy' of the Bush administration -- and ignores her own transparency-challenged record.

Obama at long last used the lull between primaries late last week to finally address an issue he has preferred to keep in the shadows for the past year -- the full extent of his political and financial relationship with Illinois power broker Tony Rezko, who is now on trial in Chicago on federal corruption charges.

He has yet to respond to the Sunshine Week survey, but, as the indefatigable Chicago Sun-Times political columnist Lynn Sweet -- who deserves much of the credit for pressuring Obama to come clean -- reports, he now believes he's positioned to make a campaign issue of transparency."

Fitzgerald says that Clinton has "talked the talk" but has still not released tax returns or her records as First Lady. He says McCain refuses to release his tax returns and supports keeping certain Vietnam War documents classified. At the same time, McCain does support a federal shield law for reporters. Fitzgerald's main point is that it's definitely time for openness — as it relates to the candidates and government in general — became an issue on the campaign trail. (Read more)

Sunshine Week continues through Saturday. More information is available here.

Once considered pointless, E. Carolina University's medical center makes big economic impact

Although North Carolina lawmakers initially opposed giving Greenville-based East Carolina University the opportunity to start a medical school, no one regrets the decision now. Since its first class in 1977, "the medical school has transformed Pitt County Memorial Hospital and the region," reports Jerry Allegood of The News & Observer in Raleigh. "Not only did the school boost health care in Greenville — now there are about 500 doctors and 1,200 nurses on the hospital staff alone — but it also fostered a far-reaching regional health care system serving 1.2 million people in 29 eastern North Carolina counties."

Without the university and the medical school in that part of the state, "we would look like a developing nation," former U.S. Sen. Robert Morgan, an ECU graduate and longtime political supporter, told Allegood. The university is about two hours east of Chapel Hill, home of the University of North Carolina medical center.

The initial goal was to increase the number of doctors for the state's rural areas, but the resulting growth of the hospital has been an economic boost thanks to the med center's 6,300 jobs. "With tobacco's decline and the near-extinction of small-town hospitals, this latest development boom underscores the medical complex's role as an economic engine and provider of rural doctors," Allegood writes. (Read more)

Iowa farmland values surge; up 2/3 since 2003

Farmland values in Iowa keep rising, at an accelerating rate: 18 percent in the last year and 11 percent in the last six months, reports Agriculture Online.

The figures come from the latest survey conducted by the Iowa Farm and Land Chapter #2 of the Realtors Land Institute. "The survey polls farmland value specialists and real estate agents for their estimates of 'bare, unimproved land,' says Troy Louwagie, RLI Land Trends and Values committee chairman and Hertz Land Management agent in Nevada, Iowa," Ag Online reports.

Since 2003, land prices in Iowa have increased by two-thirds, thanks to the surge in corn and soybean prices cause by demand for ethanol and biodiesel. "The highest average farmland value in the state came in west-central Iowa, where high quality crop ground fetched an average of $5,630 per acre," Ag Online reports. "Southwestern Iowa saw the largest value climb in the last six months; land values there rose by 14 percent since September of last year." (Read more)

New rule leaves 45 non-metro counties too 'ozony'

The Environmental Protection Agency recently revised its standards for acceptable levels of ozone, and according to those standards, 45 non-metro counties possess health-hazardous levels, reports Julie Ardery of the Daily Yonder. In the EPA map above, the counties in pink exceed the new standard of .075 parts per million; those in blue were between .070 and .075. The old standard was 0.8.

EPA and the American Lung Association wanted to move the standard even lower, but some officials, such as Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., said the new standard would hurt his state since areas could lose federal funds due to high pollution levels. Four of the nine non-compliant Oklahoma counties were rural, Ardery notes.

"Polluted country air poses hazards to people, animals, and even crops," she writes. "Ozone (O3) is produced when sunlight interacts with emissions from cars and trucks, factories, and power-plants. It causes asthma, damages the lungs of animals (human and otherwise), and stunts the growth of plants." Ardery cites a recent study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that says if current ozone trends continue, "by 2100 the global value of crop production will fall by 10 to 12 percent." (Read more)

Oregon town gradually accepts immigrant influx

Immigration, legal and otherwise, is transforming the look of America's small- and medium-sized communities. Lise Nelson, a University of Oregon geography professor, found a case study of those changes in Woodburn, Ore., which in the 2000 census had 20,000 people and was the largest city in the state with a majority of Latinos. (Encarta map)

Drawing from archived newspaper articles, public records and personal interviews conducted in English and Spanish, Nelson described a somewhat grudging acceptance of the new neighbors in journal articles for Geographical Review and Cultural Geographies. "Woodburn is a place that represents a microcosm of the broader-scale migration and settlement dynamics that are changing small- and medium-sized towns throughout the United States," Nelson said in a university news release.

"Woodburn's farmworker housing struggle in the 1990s offers a window into the shifting dynamics of belonging and identity," Nelson writes. "The housing struggle reflected a deep resistance on the part of some white residents to the presence of Mexican immigrants, yet today we see, at least on an official level, a more active embracing of Woodburn's multicultural identity. A few years ago Woodburn inaugurated, as its first urban renewal project, a downtown plaza, designed in a Latin American style. For several years now the city has helped organize a community celebration of Mexican Independence Day. This is not to say the picture is all rosy, as racism and discrimination against immigrant residents have not disappeared, but there have been public and visible changes."

Woodburn is not truly rural, but Nelson's work looks at the population changes occurring throughout the adjoining farming areas of the Willamette Valley, including the small towns of Gervais and Canby, thanks to expansion in the nursery industry and increase in agricultural processing plants. (Read more) To read Nelson's Geographical Review article, go here. To read her article from Cultural Geographies, go here. To view a slide show on the subject, narrated by Nelson, go here.

Spot coal prices have risen by half in last 5 months

The world price of coal on the spot market has jumped by half in the last five months, a greater increase than the much more widely reported increase in crude-oil prices, notes The Washington Post in a thorough, 2,461-word story. "Coal is suddenly in short supply and high demand worldwide," write Steven Mufson and Blaine Harden, due to "an untimely confluence of bad weather, flawed energy policies, low stockpiles and voracious growth in Asia's appetite."

"Mining companies are enjoying a windfall. Freight cars in Appalachia are brimming with coal for export," the Post reports. "While the price of coal has slipped slightly in recent weeks, many analysts and companies are wondering whether high prices are here to stay. As increasing numbers of the world's poor join the middle classes, hooking up to electricity grids and buying up more manufactured goods, demand for coal grows. World consumption of coal has grown 30 percent in the past six years, twice as much as any other energy source. About two-thirds of the fuel supplies electricity plants, and just under a third heads to industrial users, mostly steel and concrete makers. Meeting rising demand will prove difficult. To maintain its role as the world's producer of last resort, the United States will need to make major investments in mines, railways and ports."

And what about global warming? Mufson and Harden write, "If high prices last, that would raise the cost of U.S. electricity, half of which is generated by coal-fired powered plants. Expensive or not, coal is almost always dirtier to burn than are other fossil fuels. Although its use accounts for a quarter of world energy consumption, it generates 39 percent of energy-related carbon dioxide emissions. Climate-change concerns could lead to legislation in many countries imposing higher costs on those who burn coal, forcing utilities and factories to become more efficient and curtail its use. Climatologists warn that without technology to capture and store carbon dioxide emissions, burning more coal would be disastrous." (Read more)

Mississippi, a state of limited access to government records, making police reports available to public

Mississippi journalists and other open-government advocates won a victory today, with final passage of a bill that would guarantee public access to incident reports by police. House Bill 474 passed the Senate unanimously and is headed to Gov. Haley Barbour.

The bill "would clarify the definition of incident reports that include information such as the name of a person arrested or charged with a crime," reports Leah Rupp of The Clarion Ledger in Jackson. "Investigative reports, which usually include more detailed information, would only be made public if the law enforcement agency chose to give it out."

The bill is the result of a year of lobbying by the Mississippi Press Association and other groups, and compromises among MPA, the House, the Senate and law-enforcement officials. It appeared to get a boost from Mississippi newspapers' recent package of stories, "Secrecy in Mississippi," showing how the Magnolia State had some of the country's most limited access to government records. (Read more)

Another Appalachian furniture plant bites the dust

Another furniture factory in Southern Appalachia has closed, this one a leader in "a controversial but ultimately successful campaign to persuade the federal government to investigate the pricing of wooden bedroom furniture pouring in from China," says The Roanoke Times.

The furniture makers proved "Chinese manufacturers were violating anti-dumping trade laws by exporting furniture at illegally low prices," and federal agencies imposed fees on the imports and distributing the money to the American complainants, Duncan Adams reports. Vaughan Furniture of Galax, Va. (near center of Encarta map), got $3.3 million over several years, enough to keep it going -- but in the end, not enough to keep it open. It employs 275 people and is the last factory of a company that once had five.

Founded in 1923, "The company expects to employ about 35 people as it moves forward as an importer, distributor and supplier to furniture retailers," Adams writes. "Vaughan Furniture will apply for federal benefits available to workers whose job loss can be attributed to foreign competition. The Trade Adjustment Assistance benefits can, among other things, help pay for job training, provide relocation allowances, extend payment of unemployment benefits and provide a tax credit for health insurance coverage costs."

The story is "Breaking News" on the Web site of the weekly Galax Gazette. The closing is the latest in a series on the Blue Ridge Plateau and adjoining Piedmont of Virginia and North Carolina. Adams calls the toll in the Old Dominion: "In 2007, Hooker Furniture in Martinsville, as well as Stanley Furniture, Ridgeway Furniture and Bassett Furniture Industries, all in Henry County, each closed a manufacturing plant, with related layoffs." (Read more)

Bill Clinton dubs himself 'designated rural hit man'

After former President Bill Clinton wandered off the reservation with some inopportune comments in South Carolina, the presidential campaign of his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, started scheduling him more heavily in rural areas, where she usually does well and there is less national media attention. Yesterday, in Indiana's southeastern corner, he acknowledged his new role.

"I'm the designated rural hit man," the would-be First Gentleman told a crowd in Lawrenceburg, a town of 4,700 in the Cincinnati metro area, reports Pat Crowley of The Cincinnati Enquirer, who writes:

"I like to go to small-town America," said Clinton, who left here early Tuesday afternoon for campaign events in Richmond and Fort Wayne.

"I like to go out to the heartland of the country campaigning.

"It is places like this that are going to propel her to the Democratic nomination and ultimately to the presidency," he said, followed by a loud cheer.

Many in the crowd of 400 "waited 90 minutes in the rain to hear Clinton deliver a 40-minute stump speech for his wife," Crowley reports. (Read more) Crowd estimates are tricky. Bill Ruthhart of The Indianapolis Star, a sister Gannett Co. Inc. paper, pegged the crowd this way: "About 375 people packed a small room in the center to listen to Clinton, and 125 listened in an adjacent room. About 150 students and 50 adults listened to the speech in a nearby firehouse."

Ruthhart reports, "Much of Clinton’s 40-minute speech focused on the economy. He said Hillary Clinton would turn the economy around by solving the subprime-mortage crisis and generating new jobs through an aggressive energy policy." (Read more) "He said his wife appreciated the support she had won in rural areas on her way to primary victories in Ohio, Texas and Missouri," The Associated Press reported. (Read more) For more details on the speech, see Crowley's blog. (AP photo by David Kohl)

Iraq, 5 years on: City enlistment drops; rural stable

As we noted Sunday, the upcoming fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq has reporters reflecting, and noting rural America's disproportionate share of the human cost. The trend appears likely to increase. Douglas Fischer the San Mateo County Times reports that inner-city recruiting has "dried up" but "Rural areas remain stable," with an enlistment rate 43 percent higher than in major cities.

The paper's analysis of enlistment data from 2001, 2003 and 2006 show last year's enlistments in cities of more than 300,000 "dropped, on average, 15 percent from levels from before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks." Per-capita enlistment in such cities is now 8.7 per 10,000 people; in small towns, 12.4 per 10,000.

Fischer has a great lede for his story: "Five years into the war in Iraq, not one service member from Oakland has been killed in battle. Sixty miles to the east, the ranching and bedroom community of Tracy, one-fifth Oakland's size, has lost seven soldiers to the war." Tracy has 80,000 people and an enlistment rate of 13.3 per 10,000. (Photo by Gina Halferty of the San Joaquin Herald shows the pertinent part of Tracy's war memorial, due for an update.)

Tim Marema, vice president of the Whitesburg, Ky.-based Center for Rural Strategies, told Fischer the economic opportunities — are lack there of in rural areas — have a clear influence. "For young people who want to choose the military, good for them. Our nation needs them," Marema said. "But it shouldn't be a choice made under duress. It should be a choice, and, in the sense of fairness, we would hope all our young people would have the same opportunities as they look at how they want their lives to unfold." (Read more)

Successful at home, ConnectKentucky goes national to expand rural broadband access

ConnectKentucky began four years ago in Bowling Green with five employee and a mission was to expand broadband access across the state. The nonprofit has taken off since then, growing into a national organization called Connected Nation with an office in Washington, D.C. and similar projects in other states, reports Ameerah Cetawayo of The Daily News in Bowling Green.

"Connected Nation, which also provides consulting services to the state of California, has been contacted by at least 25 other states about adopting some or parts of the ConnectKentucky initiative that pushed the broadband availability in Kentucky’s mostly rural 120 counties from 60 percent to 95 percent of Kentucky households in three years - growth unmatched by any other state, according to the company," Cetawayo writes.

The organization's funding is an 80/20 split between public and private money, and its officials said the 2007 Connect the Nation Act — contained in the Farm Bill — brings even more potential for growth since the bill seeks to speed deployment of broadband in rural areas. Connected Nation currently is working to help create better measurements for broadband availability. Cetawayo explains the existing standard comes from the Federal Communications Commission's definition and says that as long as one business or resident has access in a ZIP code the whole ZIP code is deemed "connected." Connected Nation looks at download/upload speed and census data to find gaps in service. (Read more)

Connected Nation's report, "The Economic Impact of Stimulating Broadband Nationally," estimates that $134 billion could be gained by increasing broadband across the country. To read the report and see state-by-state estimates, go here.

With no local newspaper watching government, residents in Saltville, Va., work to keep tabs

Newspapers pride themselves on being watchdogs of government at all levels, and in small communities that role is even more vital. In remote Saltville, Va. (pop. 2,200, Encarta map), the nearest newspapers are two weeklies and a daily owned by Media General Inc., but the town's residents say they need someone else keeping tabs on local government. For now, a group of locals plans to form a group to send people to committee meetings and post updates on a Web site, reports Debra McCown of the Bristol Herald Courier (Media General's nearby daily).

"Some residents say they believe town meetings are conducted improperly, they feel they do not know what’s going on and some claim there have been cases of favoritism and cronyism," she writes in a February article. The Herald Courier's Web site does not have any recent updates, and a quick search of the Web site for the Smyth County News & Messenger (a nearby Media General weekly) did not uncover an initial report or any recent news from Saltville.

The lesson here is the importance of local newspapers for local government, especially their ability to inform people about what is going on in committee meetings or other sessions. When no one is watching how officials are making decisions, residents lose touch with their government. In this case, it seems some residents are taking a proactive approach to solving that problem. (Read more)

CDC goes to West Virginia to investigate rising number of prescription drug overdoses

Appalachia's abuse of prescription medicine has been called an epidemic. Readers, viewers and listeners may have thought that terminology gave the word a different meaning, but the folks who specialize in studying and controlling epidemics are tackling this one. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently stepped in to help West Virginia researchers investigate why the state's rate of drug overdoses leads the nation and find ways of addressing the epidemic, reports Scott Finn of West Virginia Public Broadcasting.

Drug overdose has become the leading cause of death for young adults in the state. In 2006, 332 West Virginians died from accidental drug overdoses, and the "average victim was a man in his 30s, living in southern West Virginia," Finn reports. "More than half the victims had a history of chronic pain, mental illness or substance abuse." The study also found that "doctor shopping," going to multiple doctors for multiple prescriptions, played a major role. "The average victim had been to three doctors and three pharmacies in the last year," Finn explains. "Some went to a lot more," such as a few who had gone to 22 different providers in one year.

Prescription drugs were the leading cause of these overdoses; more than 90 percent of victims died from prescription drugs, with methadone contributing to a third of those deaths. "Approximately a third of the drugs that killed individuals were valid prescriptions, were validly prescribed products, which means that most of the folks that are dying from prescription drug overdose are obtaining those drugs through non-sanctioned means," Dr. Aron Hall, CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service officer for West Virginia, told Finn. (To listen to the report, go here.)

A February 2007 report by the CDC prompted the study, reports Tara Tuckwiller of The Charleston Gazette. That report "showed unintentional poisoning deaths climbed 550 percent in West Virginia between 1999 and 2004, far more than in any other state," she writes. (Read more)

Kentucky's rural demographics and history give Clinton an advantage in state's May 20 primary

As the Democratic presidential primaries roll on, white men could be the key to the contest. Dan Balz of The Washington Post examines this crucial bloc of voters in light of Ohio's results, which he says raise the "question of whether racial prejudice would be a barrier to (Obama's) candidacy in some of the major industrial battlegrounds in the general election if he becomes the Democratic nominee."

Given the demographics and history of Kentucky, that question will be a key one in the state's May 20 primary, a fact that likely gives Clinton an advantage, writes Al Cross in his Sunday column for The Courier-Journal of Louisville. Cross focuses on Kentucky's voters — about 40 percent of whom are rural — but it's a similar look at the intersection of race and politics in this campaign.

The campaign's recent storylines and results highlight "the harder fact about race and Obama," that "there are still some white voters for whom his race is a disincentive or even a disqualifier," Cross writes. Exit polling from Ohio's March 4 primary shows Clinton held an advantage among voters who said race was a key factor for their vote, such as in the state's Appalachian 6th Congressional District — known as "Pennsyltucky" since it borders Kentucky and Pennsylvania — where Clinton won 72 percent of the vote. Add that to polls and results from other states that shows Obama's struggle to win over lower-income, lesser-educated whites, and it looks like Clinton should have an advantage in a Southern state like Kentucky.

Six weeks ago, Cross wrote that Obama could win Kentucky thanks to "swing voters over 55 who still feel angst about how they acted during the civil rights struggle of the 1960s and would like to cast a cathartic vote" for an African American. This week, he has a different outlook and writes:

That was wishful thinking -- not in hope of an Obama victory, but in hope of a victory over our racist past, which still lingers. William Faulkner was not just describing the old Confederacy when he said, "The past is not dead. In fact, it's not even past." Obama says he is the candidate of the future. If he is to succeed, he must confront the past -- and in some places, the present.

Cross is director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues and former political writer for The Courier-Journal. Forgive the "cross-promotion" here, but the column is worth checking out since Kentucky — with all its baggage — is entering in the political spotlight. (Read more)

This is Sunshine Week: What are you doing for it?

Yesterday began Sunshine Week, a national initiative to open a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information. It continues through March 22. Participants include print, broadcast and online news media, civic groups, libraries, non-profits, schools and others interested in the public's right to know. News outlets are encouraged to join in the effort to build public support for open government and maccess by the public and journalists. One focus of the effort in this big election year is to put the issue to candidates.

Sunshine Week is led by the American Society of Newspaper Editors and is funded primarily by a challenge grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Many state press associations have Sunshine Week materials on their Web sites. The coordinator for weekly and community newspapers is Steve Haynes, publisher of the Oberlin Herald in Kansas and president of the National Newspaper Association. He is at 785-475-2206 or here.

Evangelical environmentalists get bill to limit mountaintop mining on agenda in Tennessee

Evangelical environmentalists in Tennessee are pushing for a bill that would limit mountaintop strip mining of coal in the state, which they fear is about to increase. And they might have a better chance of getting something passed on the subject than elsewhere; the bill has bipartisan support and is linked to the state's tourism industry.

Because Tennessee turned over strip-mine regulation to the federal government many years ago, mountaintops mined for coal in the state must be restored to their approximate original contour. That means Tennessee does not have typical mountaintop-removal mines, like those that put their excess dirt and rock into surrounding hollows in Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia. But the "cross-ridge mining" that is allowed in Tennessee ruins hydrology and scenic vistas, opponents say. They say only 327 Tennesseans work in coal mining, while the major mining area is in the watershed of the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area.

The bill pushed by the Lindquist-Environmental Appalachian Fellowship would "would prohibit surface mining above 2,000 feet or within 100 feet of a stream or other waterway," Theo Emery writes in The Tennessean of Nashville. "It would prevent any additional permits for surface coal mining from being issued until after the federal government does a new environmental review of the effects of surface mining." A map from the LEAF Web site shows current mountaintop mines in red, proposed mines in yellow and potential sites in green.

Attorney General Bob Cooper said last week that only the federal government can regulate mining, but LEAF says in its latest Web alert, "He's mistaken. Our bill regulates water issues related to mining, and even when regulating mining, the Federal government is clear that our laws can be more restrictive than federal laws as long as they don't conflict. We are blessed to have some impressive environmental attorneys helping us out on this for free. We think we can bounce over this with good law and discussions. It does, however, make for a bit more work."

Emery writes, "The church group began as a living memorial to a deceased congregation member, Kathy Lindquist. She was passionate about stopping mountaintop mining, and wrote about the issue in her final newsletter column before she died of cancer in 2005." LEAF says the bill is due up in a House subcommittee March 19 and a Senate committee March 26. Coal interests appeared before the committee last week. "Daniel A. Roling, president of Knoxville-based National Coal Corp., said the ban would cost his company $700 million and cripple its operations," Emery reports. (Read more)

Rick Held reports in Metro Pulse, a Knoxville weekly, that more mountaintop mining is on the horizon in Tennessee, with permits pending, and "The Tennessee Valley Authority’s huge investment in smokestack scrubbers for their coal-burning power plants has created an even greater incentive to extract its own coal reserves under the ridges of its vast holdings in the Royal Blue tract," home of a state wildlife management area in Scott and Campbell counties. (Read more)

Iraq war, 5 years on, tests the loyalty of Loyal, Wis.

Loyal, Wis., "is a city of four bars, three churches, three gas stations, two feed mills, two banks, a bowling alley, grocery store, modest homes and 1,290 people," and two casualties in Iraq, where a war enters its sixth year this week, writes Bill Glauber of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Like many rural places, Clark County has lost more than its share of soldiers in Iraq, probably because the military is a greater source of employment for rural youth than for their counterparts in suburbs and cities. (Journal Sentinel map)

The word of the county's two casualties arrived in Loyal exactly two years apart, on the days after Christmas in 2004 and 2006. The first was a father of four, a youth football coach and a bank vice president. The second was a Loyal High School graduate who had gone straight into the Marines. The two men "are honored as heroes. Esteem is less secure for the war in which they fell," the Journal Sentinel says under its headline, "Loyal weighs the cost."

The newspaper distributed a voluntary-reply survey about the war, drawing 224 respondents who said they lived in Loyal. Two-thirds said they opposed the war. Just over half "said the U.S. should begin withdrawing troops from Iraq within a year, and one-fifth favored an immediate withdrawal," Glauber reports, noting that the poll was unscientific and "There is not one anti-war sign in the city." Coni Meyer, who works in the high-school office, told him, "It isn't going to help a grieving family if you're angry."

Loyal was named for Civil War veterans who "proclaimed they were loyal to the Union. That loyalty is tacked to a large plaque at American Legion Post 175, more than 700 tiny pieces of wood emblazoned with the names of those from the area who served in America's armed forces," Glauber reports. (Photo by Kristyna Wentz-Graff) "It is difficult to bridge the space between Loyal and Iraq. ... Loyal is tethered to another 3,000 people who live in surrounding townships and communities that dot the rolling farmland. Some of the old farms are now owned by Old Order Amish families who ride the back roads in horse-drawn buggies painted black. Over there, in Iraq, is an expanse of desert, cluttered, broken cities, a society that continues a fitful and violent emergence from dictatorship, all while under the occupation and protection of U.S. forces. It is so peaceful in one place, often so bloody in another." (Read more)

Rising fuel prices pinch rural schools, commuters

If you're a rural journalist and your news outlet hasn't done a story about how rising fuel prices are causing financial stress for school districts and local governments, and another story about the impact on rural commuters, it's probably time. In The Washington Post today, Kirstin Downey looks at the local-government situation in Maryland and Virginia.

In Loudoun County, Va., "the per-mile cost of operating its 742 school buses has almost tripled in the past eight years, climbing from 30 to 81 cents. If prices keep rising, school officials may need to curtail some services, such as field trips and extracurricular activities."

Fairfax County "is monitoring credit card purchases of fuel, reprogramming engine computers so that diesel-powered vehicles automatically shut down after a certain amount of time idling and installing data recorders to make sure automobiles are being used for appropriate purposes. They are also telling county employees to minimize idling, avoid 'jack-rabbit' starts, opt for right-hand turns to avoid long waits at traffic signals and consider riding bikes to work instead of driving county cars." (Read more)

Commuting is an economic lifeline to rural areas. The Census Bureau's American Fact Finder site has detailed commuting data for most places. One example: For the 379 residents of New Castle, Ky. (Encarta map) who are in the labor force, the average commute in 2000 lasted 25.6 minutes -- longer than the national average. Surrounding Henry County was added to the Louisville metropolitan area after that census because more than a fourth of its workers commuted to metro Louisville. The site will also tell you how many commuters carpooled, drove alone or walked to work.

West Virginia agrees on plan to give some streams special protection

"An eight-year deadlock over a list of streams that would receive special protection from pollution" in West Virginia ended with smiles from government officials and frowns from business interests and environmentalists, reports The Charleston Gazette.

"The final rule language gives the toughest pollution limits almost exclusively only to streams that run through public lands," Ken Ward Jr. writes. "As industry groups had wanted, streams running through private lands would be excluded, unless citizens go through a long process of nominating them for those protections." The legislative process itself was complicated, but Ward makes it understandable.

Gov. Joe Manchin said the law would protect the state's trout streams, most of which are on public land, while protecting landowners' rights. "Environmentalists argue that the Clean Water Act protections at stake don't have anything to do with private property rights," Ward notes. "The streams don't belong to private individuals or landowners, environmentalists say; the state's waters belong to all of the people." Business lobbies argued the public interest of jobs. The West Virginia Chamber of Commerce said, "This could adversely impact economic development in many rural areas of the state and seriously affect future land use."

In related action in the legislative session, Ward reports, "Coal industry officials succeeded in convincing lawmakers to not add nearly 400 streams to a list of specially protected trout waters, [and] approval of a long-sought lessened water-pollution limit for aluminum." (Read more)

States try to reverse decline in hunting, license $

To stem or reverse a decline in hunting, and a resulting drop in license revenue for wildlife programs, many states "are trying to bolster this rural tradition by attracting new and younger people to the sport," reports Ian Urbina of The New York Times.

Last week, the West Virginia Legislature passed a bill that "allows hunting education classes in all schools where at least 20 students express interest," Urbina writes. "At least six other states are considering similar legislation. . . . In the last two years, 17 states have passed laws to attract younger hunters by creating apprentice hunting licenses that allow people supervised by a trained mentor to sample the sport before completing the required course work, which typically takes 8 to 10 hours and can cost more than $200."

Animal-welfare groups frown on such measures, but in rural states with heavy deer populations there are broader concerns. "Without enough hunters, the deer population can grow and has contributed to an increase in road accidents," Urbina writes. "West Virginia has the highest rate of vehicular accidents caused by deer, according to State Farm Insurance."

Urbina's story focuses on West Virginia, but he also reports, "In Illinois, game managers are holding learn-to-hunt classes for single mothers. In Vermont, the Fish and Wildlife Department sponsors youth hunting weekends three time a year. New Hampshire started a “Leave No Child Inside” initiative last year that encourages families and children to try fishing and hunting." In some states, there are efforts to put rights to hunt and fish into state constitutions.

West Virginia and Kentucky move on oral health

Kentucky and West Virginia, rivals for the dubious distinction of worst oral health among the states, are both taking legislative action to improve their situations.

Last week, the West Virginia Legislature unanimously approved a bill that will allow dental hygienists to "polish teeth, scrape gums, take X-rays and give fluoride treatments ... in schools, nursing homes, hospitals and health clinics without a dentist standing over their shoulder," reports Eric Eyre of The Charleston Gazette.

Yesterday in Kentucky, a Senate committee approved a House bill that would require students entering school in 2010 and beyond to prove they have had "a dental screening or examination by a qualified dental professional, physician, registered nurse, advanced registered nurse practitioner or physician assistant." The full Senate usually passes bills approved by a committee.

The bill also requires that if an exam conducted by anyone other than a dentist finds evidence of dental disease, the child will be referred to a dentist. That provision was added in the Senate committee when dentists dropped their opposition to allowing non-dentists to do the exams or screenings. "The Cabinet for Health and Family Services, which was not advocating for the bill because of cost concerns, is now supporting it," reports Sarah Vos of the Lexington Herald-Leader. (Read more)

Bush: If no Farm Bill by April 18, extend for a year

President Bush said yesterday he would sign "the one-month extension of the 2002 Farm Bill Congress passed this week, but will ask Congress to extend it for a year if legislators cannot agree on a new farm bill by April 18," reports Janie Gabbett of MeatingPlace.com.

"I believe the government has a responsibility to provide America's farmers and ranchers with a timely and predictable farm program — not multiple short-term extensions of current law," Bush said in a written statement. "I will sign this legislation to avoid serious disruptions that might result if the current law is allowed to expire without a responsible farm bill enacted in its place."

Bush repeated his threat to veto "any final farm bill that includes a tax increase or does not include reform." (Read more)

Rural Texas sheriff, responding to story about son's arrest, threatens to arrest reporter

When the 42-year-old son of the sheriff in Duval County, Texas, was arrested on charges of public intoxication and resisting arrest, the Alice Echo-News Journal did what it should have done: reported it. And the weekly paper put the story on its front page.

When reporter Christopher Maher interviewed Sheriff Santiago Barrera at the hail about another arrest, the sheriff did what he shouldn't have done. He told Maher, "If you guys keep interfering with my business, I'm going to have you arrested."

So then Managing Editor Nicole Perez wrote County Attorney Ricardo Carrillo, saying, "I am bringing these remarks to your attention in the hope that they will remain as such, just remarks. However, considering the volatile political atmosphere in Duval County I have no doubt that Sheriff Barrera would carry out such a threat."

Asked how Barrera, 67, had stayed in office for 20 years, Carrillo said, ""He's a great politician and a terrible sheriff," according to The Associated Press. Barrera lost in this year's primary election, but "is accustomed to things being done his way in a part of South Texas where elected officials don't easily fade into the woodwork," AP reports -- noting that a deputy in adjoining Jim Wells County shot and killed a radio reporter in 1949. (Read more)

In 1955, Caro Crawford Brown of the Alice Echo, right, now of Corpus Christi, won the Pulitzer Prize for general local reporting for a series of stories about the one-man political rule of George Parr in Duval County. The series "brought decades of corruption and terrorism to an end," according to Texas Women's University, where Brown studied journalism in 1925. (Read more)

Chicken processor, hurt by feed cost hikes, hopes to mobilize consumers against ethanol subsidy

The new CEO of Pilgrim's Pride Corp. "is hoping that consumers, angered over rising food costs, will join meat-industry lobbying efforts to reduce U.S. corn-based ethanol production," reports Richard Gibson of Dow Jones Newswires. "That production has diverted millions of bushels of corn and caused other feed-grain costs for the big poultry producer to more than double in the past two years, CEO Clint Rivers said in an interview."

The company, based in Pittsburg, Tex., recently announced that it would close its plant in Siler City, N.C., and some distribution centers, eliminating 1,100 jobs and 2 percent of its production. "Products are selling below cost, and we have to get some product off the market," Rivers said, adding that he is negotiating with big customers such as KFC and Wendy's. He said consumers are still not feeling the full cost of animal-feed price increases. "Hopefully that will create a groundswell of opposition to what's happening -- using tax dollars to increase the price of our food," he said. "Right now it seems to be an uphill battle." (Read more)

Non-farm labor accounts for 38.5 percent of retail food costs, and farmers get 19.5 percent of the money consumers pay for food, reports Jason Henderson (with the chart at left) in the latest issue of The Main Street Economist, published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. "While marketing costs have increased over time, farm commodity prices have remained relatively stable. Thus, the farm commodity share of retail food prices has diminished. Still, farm commodities account for a substantial part of the retail food dollar, and the two continue to move in tandem," writes Henderson, an assistant vice president in the bank's Omaha branch. (Read more)

Farmers' share of the retail food dollar differs by the type of meat, and so does the food-price impact of the demand for ethanol. Pork and poultry are produced "almost entirely on grain and oilseed protein," reports Aimee Nelson of the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture. Oilseed prices have gone up because of the demand for soybeans to produce biodiesel, and other factors.

Lee Meyer, an economist in the college, told Nelson, “I’ve estimated that the farm level production cost for pork is up 75 percent with the total cost up about 25 percent. The chicken-feed index is up 44 percent, so its total cost of production is up to nearly 20 percent. Cattle are a little different; most only depend on grain for the last one-fourth of the production process. As a result, the impacts of higher grain production are reduced, but they are still significant.”

Nelson writes, "The pork, chicken and beef industries may all respond by cutting production, but Meyer said that will depend on how consumers respond. ... Compared to January 2007, beef prices are up by about 5 percent; pork and chicken prices are up 2 percent and 10 percent respectively." Meyer told her, "With a stressed economy, consumers are expected to cut back as a response to higher grocery and restaurant prices." (Read more)

Gannett Wisconsin papers, mostly rural, consider centralized copy-desk and layout to reduce jobs

Gannett Co.'s 10 newspapers in Wisconsin are considering centralization of their copyediting and layout functions to save money by reducing jobs. "Publishers discussed the idea at a meeting last Wednesday that addressed several topics -- including consolidating work, according to a meeting agenda I've obtained," reports former Gannett reporter Jim Hopkins in his Gannett Blog.

According to Hopkins, the document, says the nation's largest media company is "looking at severance costs, which are significant. They will be meeting to walk through the process. At this time, we’re not sure if there are any showstoppers." Hopkins writes that a tipster tells him that the papers already share copyediting. The papers are The Post-Crescent at Appleton, The Reporter at Fond du Lac, the Green Bay Press-Gazette, the Herald Times Reporter at Manitowoc, the Marshfield News-Herald, the Oshkosh Northwestern, The Sheboygan Press, the Stevens Point Journal, the Wausau Daily Herald and The Daily Tribune at Wisconsin Rapids.

The move, Hopkins writes, "would not be surprising. The company has made clear that it's now favoring newspapers in its portfolio that are clustered together. Proximity makes it easier to share resources," one reason the company sold the Norwich (Conn.) Bulletin, the Rockford (Ill.) Register Star, the Utica, N.Y., Observer-Dispatch and The Herald-Dispatch in Huntington, W.Va., to GateHouse Media last year. A local investor later bought the Huntington paper. "Geography makes the 10 Wisconsin newspapers good candidates for consolidating work," Hopkins notes. "Eight of them are small afternoon dailies, within about two hours of each other." Only the Green Bay and Appleton papers, at 55,000 and 51,000, respectively, have circulations above 21,000. (Read more)

Farm Bill is being extended for five more weeks

In a voice vote this morning, The Senate extended the current Farm Bill through April 18 to give itself "more time to get a broad agreement on spending levels and funding sources" for the next bill, Brownfield Network reports. The House is expected to follow suit tonight. (UPDATE, March 13: The House acted today.)

Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, "repeated earlier assertions that a deal on the next farm bill is 'within reach' and promising that this extension will allow lawmakers to finish work on the measure," Peter Shinn writes. "Other lawmakers issued similar statements with a hopeful tone . . . and even Oxfam America, a group that wants significant reductions in U.S. commodity support programs, expressed optimism that members of Congress will actually complete new farm legislation."

But despite the upbeat talk, passage of a new Farm Bill "remains an open question," Shinn reports. "A senior staffer on the Senate Ag Committee as recently as Tuesday told visiting leaders of a joint lobbying mission by Nebraska Cattlemen and the Nebraska Corn Board that the most likely outcome of the current farm bill stalemate is an extension of the current law for one to two years. Progress may be especially difficult, because one of the key players on the House side of the farm bill negotiations, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel, has been hospitalized for the last several days and has therefore been unavailable for discussions on farm bill funding. (Read more)

Bill Mead, the voice of Tehachapi, Calif., dies at 80

Bill Mead, the formerowner, publisher, editor and current columnist for California's weekly Tehachapi News, died March 7 of a brief illness. He was 80.

"Bill knew and understood humanity well, and his skills with people served him well in his different jobs, which included helping to pass water bonds to make the California State Water Project a reality," Jon Goodman wrote in the News, which Mead sold to a subsidary of the nearby Bakersfield Californian 10 years ago. "Bill was far more professional than other newspaper people working in Kern County then or now. He was an old-school publisher who insisted our little weekly have high standards as though we were a big daily." (Read more)

For Tara McLaughlin's obituary of Mead in the Californian, click here.

Biodiesel plants pose threat of water pollution

Biodiesel plants, touted as a largely non-polluting source of renewable energy, are causing water pollution in Iowa, Missouri, Alabama and probably other states, reports The New York Times.

"The discharges, which can be hazardous to birds and fish, have many people scratching their heads over the seeming incongruity of pollution from an industry that sells products with the promise of blue skies and clear streams," Brenda Goodman writes. But a Missouri official "said she was warned a year ago by colleagues in other states that biodiesel producers were dumping glycerin, the main byproduct of biodiesel production, contaminated with methanol, another waste product that is classified as hazardous. . . . In January, a grand jury indicted a Missouri businessman in the discharge, which killed at least 25,000 fish and wiped out the population of fat pocketbook mussels, an endangered species. "

An engineer for the National Biodiesel Board told Goodman that some producers of the fuel have had problems complying with environmental rules, "but says those violations have been infrequent in an industry that nearly doubled in size in one year, to 160 plants in the United States at the end of 2007 from 90 plants at the end of 2006," Goodman writes.

Rural Miss. voters follow statewide track for Obama; primary results are racially polarized

Barack Obama carried rural and suburban voters by about the same margin in winning Mississippi's Democratic presidential primary tonight, according to the exit poll, conducted for news organizations by the National Election Pool. Mississippi is one of the nation's most rural states, 51 percent rural in the 2000 census. The poll identified 64 percent of voters as rural, 33 percent as suburban and only 3 percent as urban.

Mississippi has a larger share of African Americans than any other state, 37 percent, and they accounted for an even larger share of the electorate; the poll sample was divided evenly between blacks and whites. Obama won only 26 percent of the white vote but 90 percent of the black vote. That was the greatest racial division seen in the contest so far, ABC News reported. The Associated Press said Alabama and Clinton's former home state of Arkansas were as polarized as Mississippi, which borders both.

"The exit polls also indicated roughly 40 percent of Mississippi Democratic voters said race was an important factor in their vote, and 90 percent of those voters supported Obama," CNN reports. Nine percent of voters said race was the most important factor in their vote. Among that group, Obama led 55 to 45 percent, within the margin of error for that small sample. Among the 21 percent who said race was one of several factors for them, Obama got 65 percent. Among the two-third of voters who said race was not a factor, Obama got 57 percent, statistically the same as his 60 percent share of the total vote. (Read more)

Asked the importance of gender, 7 percent said it was the most important factor in their vote. CNN did not provide a breakdown of that small sample. Twenty percent said gender was one of several factors; among that group, Obama got 70 percent of the vote. Among the 70 percent who said gender was not important, he won 55-45. The primary was open, and Republicans accounted for 13 percent of the vote; Clinton carried them overwhelmingly, and those who identified themselves as conservatives. She narrowly won among voters with incomes above $75,000. For the poll results, click here.

Perhaps the most interesting results came when voters for one candidate were asked if they would be satisfied if the other candidate were nominated. CNN's John King said a "stunning" 72 percent of Clinton voters said they would be dissatisfied with Obama as the nominee, while 57 percent of Obama voters said they would not be satisfied with Clinton. "You're beginning to see a polarization within the Democratic electorate as the debate between the candidates gets sharper and sharper," King said.

Bill to limit mountaintop removal mining fails in Ky.

A bill aimed at limiting, if not stopping, mountaintop-removal strip mining for coal in Kentucky failed by one vote in a legislative committee today after getting its first hearing last week.

The bill "would have stopped coal operators from burying creeks and streams with mine waste," reports John Stamper of the Lexington Herald-Leader. The House Appropriations and Revenue Committee voted 13-12 for House Bill 526, but 14 votes were needed to get it out of the committee. Three Republicans abstained, and a Democrat, Rep. Mike Denham of Maysville, left the meeting before the vote and returned shortly afterward, Stamper reports. (UPDATE, March 13: Kentuckians for the Commonwealth said in a press release that Republican Reps. Scott Brinkman and Bob DeWeese of Louisville reneged on promises to vote for the bill.)

"The coal industry had opposed the measure, saying it would bring an end to coal mining in Eastern Kentucky," Stamper writes. Supporters "dismissed those claims as hyperbole and said the bill's main effects would be to increase water quality, reduce flooding and protect aquatic habitat." They said they would keep fighting for the bill. "We'll holler bigger and louder," KFTC's Truman Hurt told the Herald-Leader.

The issue was heard by the committee that handles taxes and the state budget because it could not be heard in the Natural Resources and Environment Committee, which is dominated by coalfield legislators. Last winter, budget committee chairman Harry Moberly, from Richmond in the Bluegrass Region, took his panel on a tour of mountaintop-removal sites. "We'll have future discussions about this bill and anything else about the environment that is not properly addressed," he told Stamper. (Read more)

Video of last week's hearing is available online. For the March 4 meeting, with Kentucky Resources Council Director Tom FitzGerald and two other environmental experts, click here. For the March 5 meeting, which included testimony from the coal industry and KFTC, click here.

Maryland scientists to commercialize bacterium that turns dead plant matter into ethanol

Scientists at the University of Maryland and Zymnetis Inc. will commercialize a bacterium that has more potential than any other to make ethanol of all sorts of organic matter, they announced today. "There's nothing out there that compares to it," researcher Steven Hutcheson told The Washington Post.

"The bacterium Saccarophagus degradans, or sugar eater, can create a mix of enzymes that degrades plant matter. It has the largest known concentration of enzymes that eat carbohydrates, Hutcheson said. . . . The bacterium, which is very difficult to find in nature but easily reproduced in the lab, has turned bench scientists into entrepreneurs," write the Post's Susan Kinzie and David A. Fahrenthold.

"Other scientists said that the U-Md. research might mark a significant step in that struggle but that it was difficult to judge the discovery in detail without more information." One said that if such a bacterium existed, "plants would probably have found a way to defend themselves." Promoters said the bacterium works only on dead plant matter. (Read more) For the university's press release and an embedded video, click here.

Big Sandy News, a weekly that expanded to serve several Eastern Kentucky counties, is sold

Eastern Kentucky's Big Sandy News, which expanded its coverage and circulation area, its publication frequency and its accountability journalism far beyond the normal bounds of a Kentucky weekly newspaper, has been sold to a Central Kentucky publisher who is rapidly expanding his holdings.

"Businessman Chris McGehee has purchased the BSN from Sandy Valley Press Inc.," the newspaper reported. "McGehee, a Brandenburg native, owns several newspapers in Kentucky, including the Bath County News-Outlook, the Carlisle Mercury in Nicholas County and the Herald-News in Breckinridge County." The short story did not note that McGehee only recently bought the Bath and Nicholas papers, in the Bluegrass region. It concluded, "McGehee said he anticipates no major changes with the BSN," and quoted him as saying, "I'm pleased with the paper and its operation."

The Big Sandy News was once a typical county-seat weekly, based in Louisa, at the confluence of the Levisa and Tug forks of the Big Sandy River, which flows into the Ohio River one county downstream. It is based in Lawrence County, the northernmost county on the map in its logo above. In 2001, the paper bought the Martin County Sun (upstream on the Tug and easternmost on the map) and opened a bureau in Paintsville in Johnson County (upstream on the Levisa and central on the map). It became truly regional when Publisher Scott Perry brought Susan Allen back from the daily paper in the state capital of Frankfort to run a bureau in Floyd County, southernmost on the map, where they had previously worked together. The paper also expanded circulation and coverage into Magoffin County, westernmost on the map, and began publishing twice a week.

Allen told University of Kentucky student Leah Rowland in 2004 that Perry, who had died several months earlier, wanted a regional paper “willing to tell things like they are – what really goes on” in counties not regularly covered by any daily paper and often dominated by the coal industry. “There are a lot of serious issues that must be told. The community deserves that from their local paper,” Allen said. “You have to step on toes,” Allen said. “Our ad girl Becky has a tough life because of our reporting.” But the paper grew to become one of Kentucky's largest weeklies, with a circulation of 12,000.

March 16-22: Sunshine Week for open government

Sunshine Week, a national initiative to open a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information, will be observed March 16-22. Participants include print, broadcast and online news media, civic groups, libraries, non-profits, schools and others interested in the public's right to know. News outlets are encouraged to join in the effort to build public support for open government and maccess by the public and journalists. One focus of the effort in this big election year is to put the issue to candidates.

Sunshine Week is led by the American Society of Newspaper Editors and is funded primarily by a challenge grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. For a list of regional and state coordinators, click here. The coordinator for weekly and community newspapers is Steve Haynes, publisher of the Oberlin Herald in Kansas and president of the National Newspaper Association. He is at 785-475-2206 or here.

Southern Baptist leaders reverse stand, urge action on climate change and environmental issues

In a major reversal with political implications, leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention said today that climate change and other environmental issues "are among the current era's challenges that require a unified moral voice."

The declaration continued, "We believe our current denominational engagement with these issues have often been too timid, failing to produce a unified moral voice. Our cautious response to these issues in the face of mounting evidence may be seen by the world as uncaring, reckless and ill-informed. We can do better. To abandon these issues to the secular world is to shirk from our responsibility to be salt and light. The time for timidity regarding God’s creation is no more." That statement coincided with an alarming report from Juliet Eilperin of The Washington Post: "The task of cutting greenhouse gas emissions enough to avert a dangerous rise in global temperatures may be far more difficult than previous research suggested, say scientists who have just published studies indicating that it would require the world to cease carbon emissions altogether within a matter of decades." (Read more)

In 2006, the convention said "some in our culture" have "made environmentalism into a neo-pagan religion," and denounced "activists seeking to advance a political agenda based on disputed claims," notes Ron Barnett of South Carolina's Greenville News, home of Convention President Frank Page -- who told Barnett today, "One of the reasons we have been somewhat timid in the past is so as not to be cast into an ultra-left-wing agenda, and we still have that concern. But we feel that it is important to speak out on this even in spite of the possibility that we may be lumped into that group." We doubt there's much chance of that, and the convention so indicated in the preamble of its declaration, saying "the sanctity of human life" and definition of marriage "constitute the most pressing moral issues of our day," and adding later in the document, "Unlike abortion and respect for the biblical definition of marriage, this is an issue where Christians may find themselves in justified disagreement about both the problem and its solutions."

Perhaps most significantly, the declaration called for action: "Many of our churches do not actively preach, promote or practice biblical creation care. We urge churches to begin doing so. We realize that the primary impetus for prudent action must come from the will of the people, families and those in the private sector. Held to this standard of common good, action by government is often needed to assure the health and well-being of all people. We pledge, therefore, to give serious consideration to responsible policies that acceptably address the conditions set forth in this declaration."

The map below, from the Glenmary Center, shows in red counties where Southern Baptists are the dominant religious denomination. Others include: Light blue, Roman Catholic; yellow, Christian (Disciples of Christ and related); brown, Latter-Day Saints (Mormon); orange, Lutheran; green, Methodist; lavender, Mennonite; aqua, Reformed; gray, other. In counties with black dots, the dominant denomination claims half or more of the population.

Clinton's rural base and Obama's urban base make them the ideal ticket, Bill Clinton says

Hillary Clinton's success with rural voters and Barack Obama's with urban voters make them the ideal ticket for Democrats, former President Bill Clinton said yesterday in Pass Christian, Miss. Answering a question from Mike Memoli of NBC and National Journal, Sen. Clinton's husband said:

"I know that she has always been open to it, because she believes that if you can unite the energy and the new people that he's brought in and the people in these vast swaths of small town and rural America that she's carried overwhelmingly, if you had those two things together she thinks it'd be hard to beat. I mean, you look at the, you look at the, you look at the map of Texas and the map in Ohio. And the map in Missouri. But you look at most of these places, he would win the urban areas and the upscale voters, and she wins the traditional rural areas that we lost when President Reagan was president. If you put those two things together, you'd have an almost unstoppable force."

CNN Associate Political Editor Rebecca Sinderbrand reports that Obama told KTVQ of Billings, Mont., "You won't see me as a vice presidential candidate, you know, I'm running for president." And Maureen Dowd says in today's New York Times, "If he thinks Hillary has cut him down to size lately, he’d better imagine what his life would be like as the Clintons’ vice president." (Read more)

But that doesn't mean that circumstances and minds couldn't change, and the results so far do show a rural-urban divide that, if bridged, could help Democrats overcome Republicans' huge advantage among rural voters in the last two presidential elections, a key reason for both of President Bush's elections. "The farther you travel from large cities, the greater the vote for the New York senator," Bill Bishop writes in the Daily Yonder. "The Democratic Party may be divided between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, but it's divided rural and urban, too." (Read more)

Bishop told Howard Berkes of National Public Radio that his analysis, done with geographer Tim Murphy, "seems to go beyond the basic demographic categories we normally look at." Pollster Anna Greenberg told Berkes, "Clinton's doing better with white, working class and older voters. Obama's doing better with younger, college-educated voters. Clinton's voters are more likely to live in rural areas and Obama's voters are more likely to live in urban areas, except for some African-American voters in Southern states." (Read more)