New initiative for rural development issued by SBA

The U.S. Small Business Administration thas extended a rural economic-development program to Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska and Missouri, reports the Springfield Business Journal. The initiative is intended to make it easier for smaller community banks and credit unions to use SBA loans products to finance small businesses.

"Companies throughout America, especially rural America, rely on community banks to finance their growth, and rural small businesses often need strong relationship support, which small community banks are qualified to provide," said Jovita Carranza, SBA deputy administrator. "We are committed to expanding access to private capital for rural entrepreneurs by becoming a better partner for America's community banks."

According to a news release from the SBA, the key features of the plan include: A shorter, simplified application for loans of of $350,000 or less; An expedited SBA loan processing time of 3-5 days for routine loans; Only limited, key financial documentation is required; An SBA guaranty of 85 percent is available for loans of $150,000 or less; 75 percent if the loan is larger; Loan applications may be faxed or e-mailed to SBA; A simplified loan eligibility questionnaire is provided to help small or occasional SBA lenders understand SBA’s eligibility criteria; and SBA provides specialized assistance to small/rural lenders on complex eligibility issues.

Va. board OKs permits for coalfield power plant

"The Virginia Air Pollution Control Board has approved air emissions permits for the Virginia City Hybrid Energy Center in St. Paul, clearing the last remaining major hurdles before construction can begin," Keith Strange of The Coalfield Progress reported at 6:16 p.m. The board approved "two air permits, one based on the use of the most stringent control technology available and the other based on minimizing the impact the plant will have on the surrounding environment.The permits, however, bear little resemblance to the proposal submitted by Department of Environmental Quality officials last week." (Read more; subscription may be required)

Strange writes in a separate piece, "Much of the back and forth stemmed from a letter written by National Park Service environmental engineer Don Shepherd last week--after the public comment period on the permit ended--speculating that the plant could harm the George Washington National Forest and suggesting the consideration of different technology at the plant. But Rob Feagins, the DEQ air manager, pointed out repeatedly that federal authorities have given the nod for the plant, saying it complies with existing regulations."

Controversy abounds over proposed construction of the $1.8 billion, 585-megawatt coal-fired power plant by Dominion Virginia Power, the state's largest electric company. The demand for the plant comes from "Northern Virginia's air conditioners, laptop computers and other electrical devices," David Fahrenthold writes for The Washington Post. "The utility has been met by strong opposition, however, fed by a region-wide hostility to new power projects and a national backlash against the greenhouse-gas emissions associated with coal. On Tuesday, people in a high school auditorium argued a question that would have seemed ridiculous to their grandparents: Should coal be burned for power in Virginia coalfields?" To read more, click here.

"The debate touches core issues affecting all Virginians, including global warming, fossil fuels, air quality, mercury contamination, economic development, state energy needs, jobs and social justice," Scott Harper writes for The Virginian-Pilot of Norfolk. "Almost every politician and local official from the remote, financially depressed region endorses the project, expected to generate electricity for at least 50 years," Harper writes. Dickenson County Board of Supervisors Chairman Donnie Rife "told the board it has the future of the entire region in its hands," Strange writes. "Coal is Southwest Virginia," Rife said. "Coal is Appalachia. There would be no way I could stand up here before you if I didn't think Dominion will be one of our best companies. I'm proud they're coming here to use our product."

"The Wise County debate is among a number of fights over energy in the mid-Atlantic region, including disputes over power-transmission lines planned in parts of Maryland and Virginia," Fahrenthold writes. "In all the battles, power companies say the electricity is needed; opponents say the environment costs are too high." Environmentalists say the Dominion plant would intensify polution that, among other things, would decrease the state's air quality and visibility at Virginia's Shenandoah National Park (pictured in photo by Fahrenthold). "Activists also say the Dominion plant would spew toxic mercury that could end up in streams and the Chesapeake Bay," Fahrenthold writes. "They also say that it would drive up demand for descructive mountaintop-removal coal mines. Dominion officials have defended their proposal, saying they will use technologies that keep pollution at a minimum. On the issue of national parks, they say the plant's impacts would fall within federal guidelines."

When Bubba meets Obama: Appalachian adviser says come visit, talk straight, keep the faith

How can Barack Obama appeal to rural voters, especially those in Appalachia? Matt Labash of The Weekly Standard tells how by spending some quality time with his fishing buddy, David "Mudcat" Saunders, who was the rural strategist for John Edwards' campaign.

"Mudcat says race is no more a factor here than anywhere else," Labash writes from Saunders' stomping grounds near Roanoke. It's just a matter of fulfilling the traditional rural expectation of being asked for your vote -- in person, or at least with visits to your area. Obama made one stop in Kentucky and concentrated on Oregon, which had its primary the same day. "You read in all the local papers that Obama ain't comin' out here and getting your vote, cause he don't think he can win it," Saunders tells Labash. "Are you gonna vote for the sonofabitch? Hell no!"

Labash writes that Obama needs to "give a version of the following," as iterated by Saunders: "I'm a black guy, and I promise you I didn't have a thing to do with it. If you're not going to vote for me since I'm black, then go to hell. I don't care. I don't want your vote. But what I'm going to do is this: My people are suffering. I've worked in south Chicago, and I've seen their problems. I've been out to rural America, and I've seen your problems, and they're a mirror image of each other." In other words, "The poor whites of Appalachia and inner-city blacks ... couldn't be more divorced culturally, [but] have many of the same problems, from crumbling infrastructure to poor schools to the need to leave home to find jobs," Labash writes.

And at least one other thing. "Obama should set about wedding the two by visiting here and sending active surrogates, says Mudcat, adding that he'd need 'good rural surrogates, right-thinking people -- people who have faith. If they don't have faith, I don't f---in' want 'em. Faith in the power that can pull us all together." Labash analyzes the attitude this way: "Saunders and his friends take their guns and God straight, and don't require any chaser of frustration."

Labash seems enamored of Saunders' strategy, enough to write more than 7,000 words in the nation's leading conservative magazine. "This is a way of laying the trackwork for a lasting coalition beyond this election between two largely forgotten tribes who've regarded each other with suspicion if they've regarded each other at all. But it also gives Obama, the community organizer from Chicago, a way to demystify himself," he writes. "To many politicians, rural Appalachian voters are the homeliest girls at the dance. But homely girls like to dance too, they just want to be asked." And how are they like catfish? Labash tells us. (Read more)

Coal firms find it hard to meet increased demand, especially in Appalachia; spot prices $140, $300

U.S. coal producers are struggling to meet increasing demand because of an extensive permitting process, insufficient investment and a scarcity of skilled miners, which results in tight supplies and high prices, reports The Wall Street Journal.

"The underlying industry-wide issues are compounded by severe floods in the Midwest, which have stranded barges full of coal and submerged railcars used to haul coal," Kris Maher writes. "It isn't clear what impact those interruptions will have on supplies and prices." Vic Svec, a senior vice president of St. Louis-based Peabody Energy Corp., said the floods will take several million tons of coal offline.

Industry authorities have predicted U.S. demand for coal to surpass supply by 15 million tons this year, primarily because of increased exports and government restrictions. "Despite the strong margins that coal companies are seeing, the supply response has so far been limited," said Paul Forward, a coal analyst with the brokerage Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. "I think it's probably a couple of years worth of time where these markets stay tight." David Khani, director of research at FBR Capital Markets in Arlington, Va., estimated that up to 40 million tons of production is being delayed by environmental permitting and new safety regulations. "While 40 million tons doesn't seem significant given that the U.S. produced 1.15 billion tons of coal last year, even small shifts in supply can have a big impact on price," because so much production is locked up in multi-year contracts, Maher writes. Another contributing factor keeping the industry from taking full advantage of the demand for coal is its reluctance to buy new machinery and develop new mines when prices were lower. "Until these higher prices, the industry has not been investing," said Dan Roling, chief executive of Knoxville-based National Coal Corp.

"The supply constraints are most acute in Central Appalachia, which accounts for 25 percent of the coal mined in the U.S. but has a greater impact on market conditions because coal from the region generates more heat per ton than coal from other areas," Maher writes. "The spot price of Central Appalachian coal sold to both utilities and steelmakers has tripled in the past year, with "steam coal" going to utilities rising to as much as $140 a ton from $44 a ton, and metallurgical coal for steelmakers to $300 a ton, from $100 a ton. Coal production in the region declined 2.3 percent through early June compared with the same period last year," according to an analysis by Forward of U.S. Energy Information Administration data.

"In general it's hard in the short run in our business to dramatically increase production," said Thoman Hoffman, a spokesman for Pittsburgh-based Consol Energy Inc., the nation's fifth-largest producer. "It's not like we have a bunch of idle production and we can just turn a key and out it flows like water through a pipe." Still, Consol expects a 10 percent increase in production this year, to 70 million tons, from its 16 mines in Appalachia and one in Utah.

Pigeon breeding company clipped by bankruptcy

"What once looked like a high-flying and profitable opportunity -- a business sold under the promise to save family farms -- has crashed to the ground. Arlan Galbraith filed for bankruptcy protection of his Pigeon King International pigeon breeding business June 17," writes Andrea Zippay of Farm and Dairy. (AP photo: Brad Doherty)

"In a letter dated June 17, Galbraith blamed fearmongers for the business's collapse and had this message for breeders who worked for him: 'Recently there has been more money going out of the bank than coming in, and there is nothing left. I have had to retain the services of a bankruptcy trustee to take over the affairs of the company. This means my hands are now ties and the trustee in responsible for everything.'"

The Rural Blog had an item about the supposed "Ponzi pigeons" on May 19. Washington, Iowa and Maryland issued a cease-and-desist orders to Pigeon King, which tagged itself as the world's second largest pigeon breeder. "Galbraith blamed those outsiders for '[eradicating] the confidence of everyone contemplating doing business with PKI and said widespread negativity in the media have prevented him from borrowing money or selling the business," Zippay writes. "Galbraith called his business 'dead in the water' and 'reduced to ashes by fear.'

To read Zippay's entire story, including Galbraith's letter to breeders, click here.

Schools mull four-day weeks to reduce fuel costs

An increasing number of school districts nationwide are contemplating or have already converted to four-day school weeks, in response to rinsing fuel and utility costs. This could become a major way for schools to save money, especially in rural districts where busing costs are high, but there are disadvantages.

The Courier-Journal reports that multiple school districts in Kentucky are considering four-day weeks. Pike County schools have established a committee to investigate the possibility. Webster County schools and Jenkins Independent Schools in Letcher County moved to four-day weeks a few years ago and extended the length of school days to conform with the number of required instructional hours. The "switch has brought about nothing but improvements to their systems," reports. the Kentucky Post (which survives as a Scripps TV Web site though the company has closed the newspaper of that name).

"Just because the four-day system may work well in Jenkins and Webster, officials at the schools warn that they success may or may not translate to a large school system like Pike County," the state's largest in land area. Still, the four-day school week was discussed at great length this month during a State Board of Education meeting. "The board was very interested in the subject, and we decided that a future meeting, as soon as we can get them on the schedule, for districts to come up and talk to us" about four-day school weeks, Board Chairman Joe Brothers told Louisville's WLKY-TV. "It's an exciting idea that's time has come."

Kentucky is not the only state with districts considering a one-day reduction in school weeks. The Town Talk of Alexandria, La., reports that the Evangeline Parish School Board is considering a return to four-day weeks: "The board tried the four-day schedule at several schools in the parish, but the superintendent at the time felt the system was not saving sufficient funds to justify the change, and the district went back to a five-day schedule." Jessica Bauer writes for the Log Cabin Democrat in Arkansas that "with the rising cost of gasoline, and the rising cost of everything that goes with it, school districts across the state are looking at ways to buckle down on spending," including a four-day week.

Vince Illuzzi, a Vermont senator, wants to reduce the school and state government work weeks to four days, Keagan Harsha reports for WCAX. As previously reported here, a growing number of community colleges are switching to four-day a week schedules. In addition to changes to student schedules, many school districts have enacted temporary four-day work weeks for employees during the summer. Medford School District in Oregon did so in response to rising gas costs, writes Kathy Wing for KDRV. School districts and governments nationwide, including those in California, Arkansas, Alabama, New Mexico and North Carolina, are experimenting with four-day summer schedules but are slow to adopt it year round. "I'm not sure that there's not a limit to what a student can learn during the course of a school day based on how long that student is in school," Greg Murry, superintendent of Arkansas' Conway School District, told Bauer. "And I'm particularly concerned about kindergarteners, first- and second-graders having to sit there during an additional hour and a half," and about the effect on students' parents. (Read more)

The Neshoba Democrat wins Gish Award for courage, integrity and tenacity in rural journalism

For its 40 years of community leadership, especially on civil rights and reconciliation, The Neshoba Democrat, a weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Miss., is this year’s winner of the Tom and Pat Gish Award for courage, integrity and tenacity in rural journalism from the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues.

The Institute established the award to honor the couple who have published The Mountain Eagle in Whitesburg, Ky., for more than 51 years. The Gishes were the first recipients of the award. This year's will be presented to former Democrat publisher Stanley Dearman, right, and current publisher Jim Prince on Friday, June 27, at the Mississippi Press Association’s President's Banquet at the Beau Rivage Resort in Biloxi.

The centerpiece of the newspaper’s work in civil rights and community reconciliation was its effort to bring to justice all the killers of James Earl Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, civil-rights workers who were murdered in Neshoba County in July 1964. Though seven men allied with the Ku Klux Klan were convicted of federal conspiracy charges, none served more than six years, 11 others went free, and the case was never prosecuted by the State of Mississippi until Stanley Dearman, Jim Prince and others called and worked for action.

Dearman said he first began to believe that his readers would support a fresh attempt at justice in the case when they supported his efforts to rein in bootleggers who ran wide open, preyed on the local Choctaw Tribe and at one point tried to lure him into an ambush. “It had a direct effect,” he said, on his better-known crusade.

In 1988, the movie “Mississippi Burning” revived memories of the murders. On their 25th anniversary, in 1989, Dearman forced the issue by promoting a memorial service and publishing a lengthy interview with Carolyn Goodman, the mother of Andrew Goodman. It took up more than a full page of the newspaper.

Prince, left, who was born in Philadelphia three months before the murders and worked at the Democrat during high school, left his job at an Alabama newspaper and came to work for Stan Dearman that summer. He wrote later that the interview “did more to change perceptions in Neshoba County than almost anything else. For the first time ever a human face was put on the civil rights workers, and over time, people — myself included, as a young man — began to accept Dearman’s premise that murder is murder.”

Jerry Mitchell of The (Jackson) Clarion-Ledger, whose reporting also pressured officials to seek indictments for these and other killings in the civil-rights struggle, said of Dearman, “He called on his community to prosecute the very killers who shared the sidewalks he did in downtown Philadelphia. People in town told him to leave it alone. They told him to forget it, but the truth is, Stanley Dearman never forgot. He will never be forgotten in Mississippi history because Stanley Dearman never forgot.” Mitchell nominated the Democrat for the Gish Award.

David Goodman, the brother of Andrew Goodman, told Dearman in a letter, "You stood up to a lot of resistance to print the news even though it had economic consequences to your family's sole source of income and even through you putting yourself in physical harm's way. You are a brave man, amongst other special qualities, and a great patriot of our great society."

Mississippi officials began reviewing the case, but a key witness died and things moved slowly. In May 2000, three months before he sold the Democrat to Prince, Dearman wrote an editorial urging action. It concluded, “Come hell or high water, it’s time for an accounting.”

As the 40th anniversary of the killings approached without such an accounting, Prince and Dearman helped organize the Philadelphia Coalition, which scheduled an observance and adopted the motto “Recognition, resolution, redemption: Uniting for Justice.” Prince was co-chairman of the coalition. He said he felt obliged, as the Democrat’s owner, to follow the example Dearman had set. The coalition published a tour guide to the local sites that were linked to the murder and other locations tied to the civil rights movement.

Prince also pushed the issue in his newspaper. To mark the 40th anniversary of the murders, the Democrat republished some of its stories and pictures from 1964, which were often not friendly to civil-rights workers and their cause. The series was called “44 days in 1964,” the time between the killings and the discovery of the bodies. The series logo included pictures of the victims.

On June 21, 2005 — exactly 41 years to the day after the three were abducted, killed and buried — a local jury convicted former Klan leader Edgar Ray Killen of three counts of manslaughter. Dearman, who had predicted that a loc al jury would convict, cried as he heard the news.

Mitchell wrote, “Attorney General Jim Hood credited his September 2004 meeting with the coalition, where he talked with Goodman’s mother and brother as helping convince him the case should go forward. … I have no doubt in my mind this case would have never wound up in court if not for Prince, Dearman, the coalition and so many others, including the families of those slain, who never gave up believing justice would be done one day. What happened in Philadelphia in the summer of 2005 continues to serve as an example for this state and this nation as we continue to move toward redemption.”

“For the example it set, and its other strong journalism, such as taking on local bootleggers and hospital administrators, The Neshoba Democrat is a most deserving recipient of the Gish Award,” said Al Cross, director of the Institute. “It is testimony to the great good that a courageous newspaper can do.” Photo: Tom and Pat Gish

Program gets schools local fruits and vegetables

The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services is following the lead of some other states and launching a program to provide school cafeterias with locally grown fruits and vegetables. Farm-to-School "is a statewide program designed to use fresh Virginia Grown products in school cafeterias. This program supports local farms and offers fresh, more nutritious foods for school meals," the VDACS Web site says. According to a press release, the Farm-to-School program Web site "serves as a matchmaker for farmers and school food service directors. It brings them together in a common goal to attach the problem of childhood obesity and provide better nutrition through consumption of fresh produce."

"The Farm-to-School program is about creating connections between growers, distributors and educational institutions," VDACS Commissioner Todd Haymore said. "Through these connections, we also can reach children and their parents. Farm-to-School also can play a constructive role in helping address the problem of childhood obesity, as few things are more helpful in that regard than adding more fresh fruits and vegetables to children's and families' diets. An added benefit is that using local produce in school menus supports the ag economy. This is a win-win situation for Virginia's children and for Virginia's farmers."

What's the buzz? Cicadas! Fried by a newspaper!

Journalism is usually serious business, but journalists can occasionally have fun on the job and entertain their readers. This was the approach taken recently by staff members at The Winchester Sun in Central Kentucky to report on this summer's 17-year cicada invasion of the region, including an editor who literally bit into her assignment.

"For the Sun's Monday Webcast, reporters Mike Wynn and Katheran Wasson invited some people downtown for lunch," writes Acquanetta Donnell Jr. for the Sun. "While other staff members shot video, Wynn rolled a few bugs in a light brown, seasoned batter fried them in oil at 235 degrees, waited for them to cool off, then served them to visitors." Attorney Wiliam Elkins, a participating cicada taster, said "It was just an irresistible temptation when (Wynn) invited me to join him in the sampling of this local delicacy... I think it sort of has a hushpuppy consistency. " (Elkins, right, joins Wynn for battered, fried cicadas in a photo by the Sun's James Mann)

The front page of the June 17 Sun featured three photos above the fold of Community Editor Rachel Parsons' reactions to her first taste of the insect. Parsons, who had a disgusted look on her face, said the cicadas were crunchy, but "did not have much of a taste. I don't think I need to eat them again." Parsons wrote in a column, "When I decided to pursue a career in journalism, I envisioned myself doing lots of exciting things. I'd be fearless and track down the story, no matter what it took. Let me be the first to say, however, that not a single one of those visions involved me eating a bug, much less one that was battered and deep-fried. Turns out journalism is full of the unexpected." Parsons' column isn't online, but the Sun home page has a slide show of the cicada taste test.

Programs focus on creating more rural doctors

The University of Kentucky College of Medicine will introduce a program this fall designed to train medical students to work in rural communities. Similar programs are growing in popularity across the country.

"Students in the Rural Physician Leadership Track will spend two years at the medical college in Lexington and two years at Morehead State University in Eastern Kentucky. In addition to the medical school curriculum, the students will learn other skills, like the business of setting up a rural practice," Sarah Vos writes for the Lexington Herald-Leader. The program will recruit up to 10 students in 2008 and 2009, reports bizjournals.com. It will increase class size at UK to around 113 this fall. UK hopes to open a second program at Murray State University in 2012 if funding becomes available.

Dr. Jay Perman, the dean, told The Daily Independent of Ashland, "If we give (students) a rich clinical experience in the opportunities they'll have in a rural practice, they'll be more likely to return there." Mike James writes for the Independent that "Teachers and mentors will come largely from the rural medicine environment and will serve as role models."

"Kentucky has fewer doctors per capita than the national average, according to an October report by the Kentucky Institute of Medicine," Vos writes. The state averages 213.5 doctors per 100,000 residents compared to the U.S. average of 267.9 per 100,000. Perman said the ratio is even worse in rural areas. About 43 percent of Kentucky residents are rural, but less than a quarter of the state's doctors practice in rural areas, Perman estimates.

Kentucky's program is one of several designed to funnel doctors to rural areas. Fifteen third-year medical students from Touro University College of Osteopathic Medicine in Vallejo, Calif., "will spend a year in North Coast clinics, shadowing physicians and learning about the medical needs of rural communities," with hopes that students will return to service rural residents, writes Michelle Ma of The Daily Triplicate. Touro University, which is located in the Bay Area, focuses on rural health for its students. This year's clinical rotations are new for the university and will provide students opportunities to work at rural clinics. "If you can get a physician training up here [in a rural area], there's a good chance they'll stay in a rural area," public health officer for Del Norte County, Tom Martinelli, said.

In 2005, the University of Colorado-Denver School of Medicine began a rural track that had 90 applicants this year and provides "hands-on training earlier than other medical students, and they spend a month each semester helping doctors in rural communities," reports Denver's 9News. Mark Deutchman, the program's director and an M.D., said only 10 percent of physicians practice in rural areas though 20 percent of Americans are rural. "A lot of time, through the four years spent at an academic health center, (the) interest in rural medicine kind of goes away, and we're trying to keep that spark alive," he told 9News. Jack Berry, a program volunteer who had a rural practice for many years, said, "If you can help people understand that really rural medicine is the place that's the most fun, even now, they're gonna stay with it."

Other universities are providing financial support to medical students who may serve rural communities. Oklahoma State University recently established a new group, Medical Cowboys, to provide undergraduate medical students financial assistance. Dr. Barry Pollard, the creator of and group leader for OSU Medical Cowboys' board, said the program should have a positive influence on the state's rural population. "I also feel a long-range goal [of Medical Cowboys] is to provide medical care to rural Oklahoma," he told The Enid News and Eagle. "It is a reality that physicians that go back to rural Oklahoma originally are from rural Oklahoma. We hope to provide health care back in their smaller communities. I really think that the program will help rural Oklahoma health care."

Writers suggest heart of Central Appalachia as site of first post-primary joint event for Obama, Clinton

(See update below.) When Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton make their first post-primary joint appearance this Friday, at a site that has yet to be disclosed, they might be well advised to come to the heart of Central Appalachia, Charles Mahtesian and Amie Parnes write on Politico.com.
The writers suggest Mingo County, W.Va., (in Encarta map) among five good places to go. The others are Maricopa County, Ariz.; Youngstown, Ohio; Broward County, Fla.; or San Antonio. We're betting that the former foes will meet up in a place less like Mingo than one of the others, but Mahtesian and Parnes make a decent argument for an Appalachian trip:

"Appearing with Clinton in the heart of the anti-Obama belt — the section of Appalachia where Clinton racked up 70, 80 and in more than a few instances, 90 percent of the vote against Obama — would be a bold statement about his intention to address the vulnerabilities the primary season exposed in his candidacy," they write.

"Mingo, like many of its neighboring counties across the border in Kentucky and nearby in Virginia, didn’t simply reject Obama. It had a visceral loathing of his candidacy — delivering just 8 percent of its vote to him, compared to Clinton’s 88 percent. Race clearly played a role in that result, so bringing the Obama-Clinton roadshow to Appalachia would be an important step toward bridging that racial gap, not to mention a sign that he is not writing off Kentucky and West Virginia just yet. The media coverage of such a politically daring and conciliatory stunt would be almost unimaginably fawning, though the out-of-the-way location would likely diminish the size of the media pack."

The writers could have (and probably should have) noted that in April, John McCain visited Martin County, Ky., which borders Mingo County and is the home of Republican National Chairman Mike Duncan. For their arguments for the other locations, click here. For former Appalachian reporter Judy Jones Owens' take in the Daily Yonder on some of the political reporting by outsiders visiting the region, which is that they were, er, taken, click here.

UPDATE, June 23: Obama and Clinton announced today that their first joint post-primary event will be in the battleground state of New Hampshire and the town of Unity, population 1,500, where each of them received 107 votes in the January primary. Very cute. The news has already prompted dozens of comments on John DiStaso's story in The Union Leader.

Is your state in the dirty dozen of gerrymandering?

In a republic, voters choose their representatives. But often, it's more a matter of representatives choosing their voters, by creating districts that favor one party or the other. That can result in some crazily shaped districts, or gerrymanders, that lump together voters who may favor one party but have disparate interests, such as urban, suburban and rural. The process is also driven by requirements to create districts where minorities constitute majorities, as in North Carolina, especially its 12th District. (NationalAtlas.gov map)Gerryamdering also reduces voter turnout because races are less competitive, argues Marc Dunkelman, vice president for strategy and communications at the Democratic Leadership Council, a group that is generally more moderate than the party as a whole.
Dunkelman looked at 2002 and 2006, the last two years in which the House was elected and there was no presidential race on the ballot to drive up turnout. He estimated that in both years, 11 million more voters would have turned out if districts were drawn to be compact and competitive, rather than gerrymandered by parties for political advantage. He also estimated what the percentage increase in voter turnout would have been in each state. The state with the highest projected increase was Louisiana, with 59 percent. The rest of the report's "Dirty Dozen" were New York, 49 percent; West Virginia, 45; Virginia, 43; California, 38; North Carolina, 36; Alabama, 31.5; New Jersey, 30; Mississippi, 29.5; Georgia, 28; Hawaii, 27; and New Mexico, 25. His report cautions, "States vary in the method that use to draw district lines, and placement on this list should not be confused with a ranking of which states maintain systems most prone to creating non-competitive districts."
Dunkelman notes that in 2002, 91 percent of House members won their seat by 10 percent of the vote or more. In 2006, Democrats took over Congress but the 10-plus number was still 86 percent. "On average, 214,000 voters cast ballots in each of the 60 most competitive House races run in 2006," he writes. "In 60 of the least competitive elections, only 153,000 voters came out." That's 28 percent fewer.
"Gerrymandering has put a wedge between the will of the people and their voices in Washington," Dunkelman writes. "The result has been a drop-off in the number of Americans who choose to participate in their democracy. It need not be that way." He notes that Iowa and Washington use legislative staff and a bipartisan commission, respectively, to draw legislative and congressional districts.
"In only 12 states is the legislature denied ultimate power over its own redistricting," George Skelton of the Los Angeles Times writes in his state political column. "Just six states give congressional redistricting to another entity." This fall, California voters will have on their ballots an initiative from "nonpartisan good-government groups that got fed up waiting for the Legislature to reform redistricting," he notes.
The law would put legislative redistricting in the hands of a citizens' commission. The legislature would still draw congressional districts, because the advocates don't want opposition from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Skelton reports. But the state Democratic Party, which dominates the legislature, is against the proposal. "Gerrymandering is good for Democratic leaders, bad for democracy," Skelton writes. (Read more)

States loosen rules on hunting for feral swine

The hunt is on for hogs -- feral swine, that is, which can stand three feet high, weigh hundreds of pounds, and damage property with their hooves, tusks and snouts as they root for grubs and other food in the earth. (Michigan Farm Bureau photo)

"Across the country, game wardens, wildlife biologists and livestock commissioners have started enlisting hunters to control the population," Michael Brick reports for The New York Times. "North Dakota began an eradication program in January. Kansas has hunted hogs from helicopters. Last month, the Pennsylvania Game Commission ordered unlimited culling by licensed hunters. And new regulations in Mississippi this year allowed wild hogs to be “hunted, taken, killed, chased or pursued on private lands at any time” with any sort of weapon.

Brick writes, "They run pickup trucks off the road. They prey on young livestock and woodland creatures. They carry disease. They gestate in four months and deliver litters of a half dozen. But a landowner’s menace can be a sportsman’s delight. Even to old hands, wild hogs have proved hard to kill and harder to catch. They recognize traps. They move at night. They run quickly over short distances. They evade hunters in the thick brush. When pursued, they lead dogs into the water to drown. Failing that, they back up against a rock or a tree to fight." Brick's story also gives details of a Texas hog hunt.

Hard-hit Iowa towns wonder whether to rebuild

Record floods in Iowa, in some places preceded by damaging weather, may have struck fatal blows to some of the state's small towns, P.J. Huffstutter writes for the Los Angeles Times.

"State emergency officials are still trying to determine how many of these tiny towns have been damaged by the floods," he writes. "But given that 83 of the state's 99 counties were declared disaster areas by Gov. Chet Culver, and 31 towns and rural areas evacuated residents in recent days, officials said Thursday that the number could be significant."

Huffstutter, the chief of the Times bureau in Chicago, writes from New Hartford (Encarta map), which was hit first by a tornado, then a flood. He updates a Des Moines Register story by Jessie Halladay, which said "All that damage has left many wondering if the town can even survive."

"Several of the businesses in the town of about 650 have decided not to reopen, and even the post office might close," says the Times cutline on the photo above, by Matthew Putney. The businesses include a gas station, a convenience store, and a hardware store that opened in 1931 and "survived the floods of 1947 and the floods of 1993," an owner said. "It's too much. Everything's leaving. People keep wondering if the town's going to die." (Read more)

Tele-seminar on gas prices Tuesday, June 24

What is fueling the gasoline price crisis, and what comes next? To help journalists report the story, the Foundation for American Communications and the Society of Professional Journalists will present a "tele-seminar" with Boston University Professor Robert K. Kaufmann, an expert on gas prices and world oil supply. "Pain at the Pump: What Comes Next in the Gas Price Crisis” is scheduled for Tuesday, June 24, at 2 p.m. Eastern time.

This seminar is aimed at journalists who cover business, energy and consumer issues. Among the issues this program will explore: What’s really driving the current price spikes, and what’s next? Is the world running out of oil? Can the United States insulate itself from world oil shocks? Is there a reasonable policy response to oil prices? What are the economic consequences of high gas prices? Are environmental regulations responsible for refinery shortages? Would a change in environmental policy help solve the problem? We can't think of a more urgent set of questions.

Kaufmann has participated in almost a dozen FACS seminars on energy and climate change. "Hhis presentations consistently draw high marks from attendees for their clarity, timeliness and accessibility," FACS said in a news release. FACS is an independent, nonprofit educational institution providing seminars for journalists on complex issues.

The seminar is free for working journalists, but advance registration is required. For further details or to register, go to www.FACSnet.org. To register on FACSnet, click on “Seminars,” and then select “Registration” on the dropdown menu. Registrants will receive an e-mail with more information and instructions.

Your rural area may be affected by California's same-sex marriage law, with no residency rule

California's legalization of gay marriages could soon create controversy in other states, including rural areas, where gays and lesbians tend to have a lower profiles than in cities but can be a significant slice of the population.

“Unlike Massachusetts, which legalized gay marriage in 2004, California does not impose a residency requirement,” Karen Breslau writes for Newsweek. “While attention for now is focused on jubilant couples, the validity of the California marriages in other states ... is far from assured. Scores of homosexual couples who marry in California may request spousal benefits upon returning to their home states.”

The issue could be more problematic for homosexual couples in rural areas. As "cities nationwide host pride festivals and pride weeks throughout the summer, advocates say there's still room for improvement in rural areas, where gay populations remain small," L.A. Johnson writes for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Gary Gates, a senior research fellow at the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law, estimated that approximately 20 percent of Pennsylvania same-sex couples live in rural areas. That could be higher than the national rate, which has been calculated only recently and is in flux.

Nearly a million gays and lesbians identified themselves as members of same-sex couples in the 2000 census, the first in which the Census Bureau collected data on "unmarried partner" households. Of the 594,745 same-sex partner households identified by the 2000 census, 14.7 percent were not in a metropolitan area, the Census Bureau reported. The Williams Institute reports that by 2005, the number of same-sex couples had risen more than 20 percent to 776,943 and an estimated 8.8 million gays, lesbians and bisexuals lived in the U.S.

Persad Center Inc. "operates Community SafeZone programs to promote acceptance of the (gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender/transsexual) community in underserved, outlying and rural areas, such as Washington County," Pa., Johnson writes. "The programs gather community members to discuss 'what it means to be safe at home, at work, at school, with one's doctor and in one's faith,' said Betty J. Hill, Persad Center's executive director." In years past gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender/transsexual (GLBT) people from Washington County and other rural areas were forced to relocate to large cities to, such as New York or San Francisco, to find gay communities, but this is no longer the case. "You can live in Washington, Pa., have a huge community of friends on the Internet and not be isolated and get the support that you need," Patrick Cameron to the Post-Gazette. "It's just really a phenomenal thing."

What is the climate for GLBT people and same-sex couples in your rural community?

Record flooding partly an act of man, experts say

Some experts believe the record floods in the upper Mississippi River valley are partly the result of the region's farming practices, Joel Achenbach reports in The Washington Post. But it's hard to say just how much, because several factors are in play.

Achanbach's story starts with Kamyar Enshayan, a Cedar Falls city councilman and director of an environmental center at the University of Northern Iowa, who "suspects that this natural disaster wasn't really all that natural. He points out that the heavy rains fell on a landscape radically reengineered by humans. Plowed fields have replaced tallgrass prairies. Fields have been meticulously drained with underground pipes. Streams and creeks have been straightened. Most of the wetlands are gone. Flood plains have been filled and developed."

Jerry DeWitt, director of the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University, told Achenbach, "I sense that the flooding is not the result of a 500-year event," the designation of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. "We're farming closer to creeks, farming closer to rivers. Without adequate buffer strips, the water moves rapidly from the field directly to the surface water."

Also, rivers are filling up with sediment and don't have as much carrying capacity, said Lyle Asell, a special assistant for agriculture and environment with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. And he reported that in the last year, Iowa farmers withdrew 106,000 acres from the federal Conservation Reserve Program, which had paid them not to cultivate the marginal land. Much of the new plowing was for corn, prices for which are setting records in part because of the demand for ethanol.

Iowa State meterologist Elwynn Taylor "attributes the flooding in recent years to cyclical climate change: The entire Midwest, he says, has been in a wet cycle for the past 30 years," Achenbach writes. "There has also been speculation that global warming could be a factor." Climate change is one reason that "500-year floods" can occur twice in 15 years. "Hydrologists use the term to indicate a flooding event that they believe has a 0.2 percent chance -- 1 in 500 -- of happening in any given year in a specific location. A 100-year flood has a 1 in 100 chance of happening, and so on. Such estimates are based on many years of data collection, in some cases going back a century or more. But the database can be spotty. Robert Holmes, national flood coordinator with the U.S. Geological Survey, said a lack of funding since 1999 has forced his agency to discontinue hundreds of stream gauges across the country." (Read more) For our recent post about stream gauges and real-time from them, click here.

Achenbach is a leading explanatory journalist. He is the author of the 1991 book Why Things Are and the 1996 book Why Things Are and Why Things Aren't, which explain such things as why the Oval Office is oval. He also writes Achenblog.

Assembly ends with wish list, calls for diversity

The second National Rural Assembly ended today in Washington, D.C., with calls from the audience for a broader constituency for the effort, which is aimed at developing The Rural Compact, a comprehensive public-policy platform for rural interests to advocate collectively.

The assembly was an invitation-only event, dominated by nonprofit groups and sponsored chiefly by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, whose historic focus has been on food systems and rural development. Yesterday, breakout groups focused on health, education, natural resources and development worked up messages to the presidential candidates and wish lists of ideas for action by the new president and Congress.

After the lists were presented to the entire group today without dissent, Gail Bellamy, the rural health director at Florida State University, said she had heard another attendee say "We seem to be too much in agreement," and she said that may be true. Noting that her main interest group, the National Rural Health Association, has many disagreements because it encompasses a broad range of health providers, Bellamy said, "Maybe we need to look a little harder to find those people . . . who would not agree with what we're saying here."

Phil Anderson of the Indiana Rural Development Council noted the absence of agricultural commodity groups he once worked with, such as the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, which he said was a block away from the J.W. Marriott Hotel, the assembly's main meeting place. "Those are not corporate folks, those are my family," he said, adding that such groups need to be part of discussions about programs that affect them because they are powerful lobbies. Other speakers called for more ethnic diversity.

Organizers of the assembly offered no public reaction to the comments, but Catherine Pearson Criss of the Center for Rural Strategies, who moderated the session, endorsed an idea offered by NRHA lobbyist Tim Fry, who spoke before Bellamy. Noting that the final point of the compact now says "We are accountable to ourselves," Fry said it should say that the assembly is accountable to the 60 million residents of rural America. "I think we should be accountable to more than ourselves," he said. Criss replied, "Good suggestion."

Details of the compact are to be finalized by a committee. Criss said a final report on the assembly will be issued within six weeks. The compact is likely to focus on "why rural is important," said John Molinaro of the Community Strategies Group of the Aspen Institute, who facilitated a breakout meeting of national groups while regional groups had their own breakouts.

Dee Davis, right, president of the Center for Rural Strategies, told the assembly that it was an effort to "create agency" in an unusual way -- less by membership in a group than "by the power of the ideas we have." Davis said he has often been frustrated by rural advocates' propensity to "retreat to our neck of the woods," not just geographically, but by interest sector. He said the assembly prompted "rooting" by disparate interests across regions and sectors, "and also about the country as a whole. In that, we should all take some comfort that we are creating some conversation to move this country forward." The closing speaker, U.S. Sen. Blanche Lambert Lincoln, D-Ark., said, "When we work together, we find solutions."

The Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues was invited to the assembly, and attended, but played no role in development of the wish list. The Institute has endorsed the general compact but generally does not advocate -- except for coverage of issues important to rural communities. For Davis's op-ed piece about the compact, click here.

McCain probably considering one-term pledge, Sen. Sam Brownback tells National Rural Assembly

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain is probably thinking about announcing that he would serve only one term if elected, as a way to signal that he aims to resolve big issues without regard to re-election concerns, U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas told the National Rural Assembly and Stand Up for Rural America yesterday. (Photo by Shawn Poynter)

"He's probably even considering announcing that he would serve only one term, as a way of pushing the agenda on a bipartisan basis," said Brownback, who appeared before the rural advocates as a representative of the McCain campaign. Afterward, Brownback told reporters that he had heard the Arizona senator mention the one-term possibility, then said he had not.

Asked what basis he had for his statement to the assembly, Brownback said, "I heard him say that months ago." Asked if McCain had mentioned the possibility only to him, or if the conversation involved more than just the two of them, Brownback said McCain had not made such a statement. "This was just something that was rumored months ago," he said.

As he headed out of the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, Brownback was asked if he thought a one-term pledge would be a good idea. He suggested that it might be, but not at this juncture: "It might be a time, but I don't know if it's the point for him to do now."

Both Brownback and former Sen. Tom Daschle of South Dakota, a close adviser to the presumptive Democratic nominee, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, said their candidates could forge bipartisan consensus. Brownback suggested the dialogue between the candidates could begin the process. "We've got a presidential race where there's a chance to highlight rural issues and ... come together around some common causes and elevate them," he said, adding that McCain has a record "of getting things, big things, done in this town."

Daschle, a former Senate majority leader, said Obama "could be one of the most transformational political figures of my lifetime," like the Kennedys in the 1960s. "We've got to create more opportunities for meaningful bipartisanship so we can address the issues of the day."

Daschle was more specific on issues, contrasting the positions of Obama and McCain on congressional earmarks and health care. He said Obama wants to make health care accessible to all Americans by the end of his first term, and the familiar line that the U.S. has the world's best health-care system is a myth, since the nation ranks 29th in infant mortality, 31st in life expectancy and 35th in the world in overall health outcomes.

McCain has vowed to veto any bills with earmarks, or specific appropriations inserted by senators or House members. Daschle said the power has been abused, and "God knows there's need for reform," but he said eliminating earmarks entirely would be just as bad for rural America. He said they are "an ability for Congress to weigh in on what the priorities ought to be."

Brownback, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, did not mention the issue in his remarks but was questioned about it by an audience member who said earmarks funnel $10 billion to rural areas. "These have clearly gotten out of hand," Brownback said, undermining Americans' confidence in their government. He said the solution he prefers is requiring earmarks to be approved not just by the appropriations committees but by the authorizing committees, those that create and continue programs to which earmarks are added.

Rural advocates gather to develop policy platform

Scores of rural advocates gathered in Washington today for the second National Rural Assembly, a three-day meeting aimed at developing "The Rural Compact," a policy platform for rural America.

"Rural America today is not a political force," Ali Webb, deputy director of programming for the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, chief sponsor of the event, said at the opening session. She said the compact is intended to be "an inclusive policy agenda that can make rural America a force to be reckoned with."

The compact already exists in general form, and has a long list of endorsers, including the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues. It needs to be short on specifics in order to build the broadest possible consensus, cautioned Bill Greener, a Republican pollster who studies rural voters. He advocated "an approach that can create and maintain bipartisan, non-ideological support." He pushed one specific idea, universal high-speed Internet service, or broadband.

That and other specific policy ideas were raised at the final afternoon session, "Speaking Rural American Truth to Power," featuring 10 rural advocates. Connie Stewart, a California legislative aide, called for a national broadband policy of bringing fiber-optic lines to every home and not relying partly on wireless, which has some promise for rural areas but, Stewart said, lacks the bandwidth needed for economic growth. Edyael Casaperalta of the Center for Rural Strategies, which is staffing the assembly, said education should not be promoted as "a ticket out" of rural communities, but an opportunity to bring knoweldge and skills to them.

Advancing broader approaches, Jeff Yost of the Nebraska Community Foundation promoted the idea of tapping the huge transfer of wealth in coming years as Baby Boomers die and leave their rural estates to heirs, many of whom do not live in rural areas. Sharon Walden of Stop Abusive Family Environments talked about her group's work in McDowell County, W.Va., and got a big hand by saying "Non-profits are front-line change-makers in rural America."

Tonight, the focus was on politics, with Greener, Democratic pollster Anna Greenberg and a "pundit panel" moderated by Bob Edwards of XM Radio. Laurie Ezzell Brown, left, editor of The Canadian Record, a weekly newspaper in Canadian, Tex., said she endorsed Barack Obama in the Texas primary after visits from two elderly Democrats who asked her, "What are we gonna do about that n-----?" Brown said she hadn't heard that word in Canadian since the 1960s, and said the two men were "a symbol of the dying old guard of the Democratic Party" in the Panhandle. "There's a change occurring," she said, adding, "George W. Bush was our guy. We came out in force for him, and people don't like to talk about him anymore."

The assembly continues Tuesday, first as a joint meeting with Stand Up for Rural America, including remarks by representatives of the presidential candidates, followed by small-group sessions focused on education, health, natural resources and community investment. It concludes Wednesday with regional sessions to develop advocacy ideas, reports from the breakout sessions and a lunch focused on activating the compact.

Congress going wild over preserving wild areas

This year the House and Senate could place "as much as 2 million acres of unspoiled land under federal control, a total that rivals the wilderness acreage set aside by Congress over the previous five years," reports Juliet Eilperin in The Washington Post.

"A confluence of factors is driving this wilderness renaissance: the shift in Congress from Republican to Democratic control; environmentalists' decision to take a more pragmatic approach in which they enlist local support for their proposals by making concessions to opposing interests; and some communities' recognition that intact ecosystems can often offer a greater economic payoff than extractive industries."

While the Bush Administration is known for opening much federal land to mineral exploration, it is also interested in expanding wilderness areas, Eilperin writes, because the idea is supported by "local faith, business and hunting groups as well as GOP officeholders. And as Bush approaches the end of his second term, he is eyeing opportunities to leave his mark on the nation's landscape." (Read more)

W. Va. Democrats reject resolution calling for freeze on mountaintop-removal coal mine permits

The majority political party in the state where mountaintop-removal mining for coal is most prevalent is deeply divided over the issue, or at least on what to say about it. At yesterday's convention of the West Virginia Democratic Party, delegates voted 215-190 against a resolution for a freeze on new permits for mountaintop mines.

The vote ran counter to a public-opinion poll taken in 2004, which found that "more than 56 percent of West Virginians are opposed to mountaintop removal, compared to just 29 percent who support it," Veronica Nett notes in The Charleston Gazette. The Democratic polling firm of Lake, Snell, Perry and Associates took the survey for the Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment, a group at the forefront of opposition to mountaintop mining.

Nick Busch, a delegate from Wirt County, which has coal but no mountaintop mines, "said the vote doesn't reflect delegates' true feelings about the issue," Nett writes, quoting him: "You won't find a person here that supports mountaintop removal." Busch said he and other delegates voted against the resolution, Nett reports, "because delegates were concerned it would cost the party the presidential election. He said the Republican Party would say Democrats were trying to take jobs out of the state. state Chairman Nick Casey said the issues brought up by the resolution are better addressed by the courts than by the party." President Bush carried West Virginia twice, in large measure because of his coal-friendly stance.

Daniel Chiotos, environmental caucus delegate for West Virginia Young Democrats, told Nett that the resolution would not have become part of the party's official platform, but "would have sent a clear signal to politicians in the state," Nett writes. (Read more)

Tim Russert: A role model for journalism's fundamental function, making democracy work

“This is a blow to America,” Peggy Noonan said today about the devastating death of Tim Russert. How many journalists, having died suddenly in the prime of life, would prompt a former speechwriter for a Republican president to say something like that? Very few, if any. I am sure many Americans feel they have lost, if not a friend, an ally – someone who served their interests – because they knew Tim was interested in getting the facts they needed to participate effectively in self-government, perhaps most prominently as an interviewer who asked those who seek our votes the right questions, and in the right way. “He always asked the question we hoped he wouldn’t,” Sen. Mitch McConnell said. (Associated Press photo)

The end of anyone’s life should teach lessons. Tim Russert taught men how to be sons and fathers, and he was a father figure to his younger NBC colleagues, as they have testified today. For journalists, he was a role model for the fundamental function of our business: making democracy work. May we all try to remember that example, and follow it.

Ark.-based newspaper chain wants its classified ads taken off Wal-Mart's Web site

The biggest newspaper company in Arkansas, WEHCO Media, owned by the Walter E. Hussman family, has asked Arkansas-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc. not to put classified advertising from the company's 11 daily newspapers on Wal-Mart's Web site. The nation's largest retail chain has complied.

Wal-Mart put a "classifieds" link on the site in the last week of May "in what has been described by the Bentonville-based retailer as a test program," Stacey Roberts of WEHCO's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported. "It takes visitors to lists of advertisements that can be searched according to location, product or service offered." The newspaper said its management was surprised. (Read more) For Roberts' latest update, via the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association Bulletin, click here.

"Wal-Mart noted that WEHCO's ads would be exposed to a larger audience, and it was possible to direct a inquiry back to the newspaper's Web site," the Bulletin reported earlier. "WEHCO noted that users could review the content of these ads on the Wal-Mart site without being directed back to the newspaper's Web site. It also noted that, unlike some classified sites which concentrate on bigger cities, or certain categories of classifieds, the ads on the Wal-Mart.com site are listed for virtually all towns in the U.S., regardless of size, and all categories, from employment, real estate and autos to merchandise for sale."

Classified sites such as Craigslist and Career Builder, which is owned by major newspaper companies, have concentrated on larger markets. WEHCO is concerned that the move by Wal-Mart, which has most of its stores in rural areas, "could be a significant threat to smaller market newspapers and their classified ads," the Bulletin reports. "While WEHCO realizes it must compete for classified ads and audience, the company says it does not see the advantage in helping classified competitors, especially since classified content is a major reason for reading a newspaper or its Web site, and classified revenues are a major source of funding news gathering, reporting and journalism." (Read more)

Rural Misses: Not as healthy as Mizzes, they say

Unmarried women living in rural areas rate their health status lower their married counterparts, and also report more instances of depression, according to a Mayo Clinic study published in the Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice. "They suggest that primary care physicians should take a proactive role in addressing health concerns of single women," says Newswise, a research-reporting service.

“Being single may be associated with a greater degree of separation from usual health care, as many women gain insurance through a spouse or a former spouse. Lack of social support also may contribute to poor health among some single women,” said James Rohrer, Ph.D., of the Mayo Clinic’s Department of Family Medicine and lead author of the study.

Rohrer said current economic difficulties may cause additional stress that can affect health. “Statistically, rural, unmarried women are more often economically depressed than their married counterparts,” he said. “If the economy worsens, we will see a significant impact on visits to primary care physicians and nurses. Medical providers are trained to focus on the biological and psychological. But economic causes of poor health? I don’t think that receives a lot of air time in medical school.” (Read more)

TV viewers say they can't find digital converter boxes before federal vouchers expire

Here's a story that every rural news outlet in the United States should be covering. To ease the nation's transition to digital television, only 250 days away, Congress authorized $40 vouchers for people without cable or satellite TV to buy converter boxes. But the boxes are in short supply and the vouchers are expiring before people can find the boxes, House members said at a hearing this week.

"If you can't get a box within the 90 days, what good is this?" Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., said as he held up one of the vouchers, which "resemble plastic gift cards," The Associated Press reported. Each household is entitled to two coupons; a converter box is needed for each TV set.

"About 8.5 million households have requested 16 million coupons since the program started earlier this year, according to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which is overseeing the coupon program. Nearly 3 million coupons have been redeemed so far," AP reports. " Of the roughly 840,000 coupons that recently expired, 42 percent were redeemed, the agency said. Under current government rules, consumers with expired coupons cannot reapply for new ones." NTIA spokesman Todd Sedmak said the agency is considering changing the rules to allow reapplication. The agency's Web site has detailed information.

Flooding threatens economy of the Midwest

"Drenching rain and widespread floods in the Midwest are taking momentum out of a regional economy that has been among the brightest spots in the U.S. economy recently," Ilan Brat and Lauren Etter report in The Wall Street Journal. They say the floods are already being compared to those in the region in 1993, which caused $20 billion in losses. (Wisconsin State Journal photo by Steve Apps shows Viola, a town of 667 on the Kickapoo River.)

"Meat processor Tyson Foods Inc. is temporarily suspending work at two Iowa hog-slaughtering plants, while farm-equipment maker Deere & Co. was forced by rising rivers to evacuate a foundry in that state. A St. Louis-based riverboat casino on the Mississippi River closed, and a lake at a popular resort in Wisconsin emptied after an embankment burst. Towns across the region are confronting collapsed bridges and overflowing sewers. Further heavy rain may burst or overtop already stressed dams and levees in Wisconsin and Iowa." Southwest Indiana is also hard-hit, after 10 inches of rain.

Development of rural areas could be worsening the floods. "Large swaths of farm and forest land that had been soaking up excess water are now covered with concrete and asphalt for neighborhoods, shopping centers and parking lots, increasing water runoff into waterways," the Journal reports. "And local governments hungry for property-tax revenue have continued to allow construction in floodplains, according to a federally sponsored evaluation of the National Flood Insurance Program published in 2006." (Read more; subscription may be required)

Gas prices pinching rural community colleges

Rising gas prices are hurting community colleges in rural America. "Sensitive to their enrollment numbers and the plight of their fuel-cost-fatigued students, administrators at rural community colleges are looking for ways to help students stay on track with their studies even as their monthly transportation bills rise, in some cases approaching the several-hundred-dollar range," Libby Sander writes for The Chronicle of Higher Education.

"In large swaths of rural America, where a journey of 50 to 100 miles to reach a destination is the norm, some community-college officials say students are being forced to make tough decisions about what they can afford, given the added expense of fuel," Sander reports. "Some are dropping out. Others are turning to online classes for relief from the pump."

A growing number of community colleges are helping students by altering schedules and dropping one day of classes, which saves students a trip to campus each week, Mary Beth Marklein writes for USA Today. "The push to drop a day, usually Fridays, is rippling primarily through two-year colleges serving rural areas, where many students drive long distances and public transportation is harder to come by." Such policies have recently been announced at Eastern Kentucky University and LeTourneat University. Also, "Some universities are switching to a four-day work week this summer to allow employees to save gas costs, , insidehighered.com reports.

More and more students are are opting for online classes, which eliminates commutes to and from community colleges while reducing fuel costs. State colleges and universities in Tennessee have experienced a 29 percent increase in online registration this summer compared to last summer and face a 20 percent increase for the fall, Colby Sledge reports for The Tennessean of Nashville. Robbie Melton, associate vice chancellor for the state Board of Regents, identified a consistency among students signing up for online classes. "When they call, they keep saying, 'The gas prices, it's just unbelievable,'" he said. (Read more)