Co-ops wonder where electricity will come from

Rural electric cooperatives are meeting in Indianapolis to discuss a looming energy crisis. Due to rising demand for electricity in their territory, much, of it suburban, "The rural utilities are calling for government to help clear the way for new power-plant construction, alternative energy facilities like wind farms and new transmission lines to feed energy to cities where most of it is used," writes Jeff Swiatek of The Indianapolis Star. "Industry predictions show that if U.S. electric producers don't build new plants or encourage significant conservation, they will be unable to handle peak demand periods from electrical users by 2012."

In response to this crisis, "Duke Energy started construction this year of the first major power plant to be built in the state in 20 years. The $2 billion, 630-megawatt coal-fired plant [in Indiana] also would use new technology that aims to reduce air pollutants significantly over a conventional coal plant," writes Swiatek. Energy providers like Duke will be forced to raise rates by as much as 20 percent in coming years to pay for the construction of such plants.

Bruce Graham, chief executive of the Indiana Statewide Association of Rural Electric Cooperatives, was encouraged by Duke's move. But the construction of the plant and the support for it point to the continuing dependence of rural electric cooperatives on coal as their most significant producer of electricity, about 80 percent of it. A recent post here discussed the financial support given by rural electric cooperatives to the coal industry to help ensure the construction of new coal-fired plants.

There are many opponents of coal plants. The Citizens Action Coalition wants to block permits for the Duke plant on grounds that it would produce large amounts of greenhouse gases and stricter federal regulations on such power plants could dramatically increase building costs, which would be passed along to customers. "The consumer watchdog calls for heavy investments in energy-efficiency measures to reduce demand for power and keep it from outrunning power supplies" writes Swiatek. (Read more)

Rochester, N.Y., foundation makes its first grant for improving health in surrounding rural counties

In July, The Rural Blog highlighted a report on the growing divide between grant money given to urban and rural areas, so we're obliged to report examples of a charitable organizations targeting rural. One such example is a new initiative by a foundation focused on improving health in eight rural counties around Rochester, N.Y.

In the past, the Greater Rochester Health Foundation has mainly targeted urban health initiatives. The foundation has now set aside $1.5 million over the next three years to create free dental clinics, fight obesity, and monitor water safety in rural areas, in addition to its work in urban Rochester. The foundation's president, John Urban, told the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, "In talking with people in those counties, it was very clear that, while they had many of the same issues that Monroe County has, they're really accustomed to working on the issues in different fashion."

Andrea Haradon, coordinator of a network that includes health departments in three of the targeted counties, said the grant will help rural health departments, which are often critically understaffed. "This gives them the opportunity to really have a long-term positive effect on health and health costs," she said. (Read more)

Study says coverage of Congress brings dividends

At a time when many regional newspapers are cutting Washington coverage, a new study reminds us that a strong local press, including coverage of Congress, is needed to keep government accountable. It also tells us something that we haven't heard before: Such coverage can pay dividends back home.

The study, "Press Coverage and Political Accountability," shows a significant overlap between press coverage and the effectiveness of elected officials. When a paper's coverage area corresponds with congressional districts, increased reporting on representatives not only gives constituents more knowledge, it increases the amount of federal spending brought into the districts. It also encourages bipartisan efforts and increases representatives' likelihood of participating in congressional hearings and may prompt them to serve on more committees.

"Our findings support the idea that press coverage is important for electoral accountability," James M. Snyder, Jr., and David Strömberg write in the study, published by the National Bureau of Economic Research. "Voters need information to keep politicians accountable and the press delivers this information. This was the belief of the Framers, and, that information improves accountability is also a standard feature of political agency models." (Read full report)

Palin, used to small-town atmosphere at home and in state capital, faces increased media scrutiny

John McCain's surprise pick Friday of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as the Republican vice presidential candidate has had reporters scrambling to dig up whatever they can on the relative political unknown. A long weekend of revelations and speculation culminated in Palin's Monday disclosure that her 17-year-old daughter was pregnant, following rumors that Palin's five-month-old son was actually her daughter's child. It's a hard introduction to the national political media for Alaska's chief executive, who has been accustomed to a more small-town, rural environment.

Politico.com media reporter Michael Calderone contrasts the congenial relationship Palin held with Alaskan reporters with the intense scrutiny she has already faced from the national political press corp in the days since she joined McCain's presidential ticket. In Alaska, Calderone writes, "Relationships were like those in a small town, where the neighbors may know your dirty laundry, but the local paper would be unlikely to splash it on the front page."

Referring to the announcement of Palin's daughter's pregnancy, Pat Forgey, political reporter for the Juneau Empire in the state capital, population 31,000, said, “I heard that rumor a long time ago. ... I probably would not have wasted any time on it.” By contrast, after only four days in the national spotlight, Palin has already had to face questions about charges of ethical impropriety in firing her public safety commissioner, her husband's 1984 DUI arrest, $27 million in federal earmarks for her town of 8,500 as mayor, and her daughter's pregnancy. And she will be asked about her support of the canceled "Bridge to Nowhere" in Ketchikan, which came before she opposed it -- and touted the opposition in her initial speech as McCain's running mate. (Read more)

Pennsylvania veterinarians target vet shortage

With the average veterinary student graduating $120,000 in debt, the temptation to work in higher-paying fields after graduation is often irresistible, leaving certain lower-income regions and non-traditional veterinary fields critically understaffed. Also, many states are running short of large-animal vets. A new initiative in Pennsylvania seeks to address the shortage in critical areas of the Keystone State.

The Pennsylvania Veterinary Medical Association recently launched Project Pennsylvania, an initiative to increase the number of graduates with a targeted loan forgiveness program, which would eliminate a portion of the debt for every year served in one of the eligible areas. The initiative also focuses on actively recruiting students interested in these areas, and providing on-the-job mentoring.

"Pennsylvania has a shortage of large-animal veterinarians in certain geographic regions, as well as a shortage of practitioners in less traditional areas such as biomedical research, public health, regulatory medicine and academia," said Robert D. Fetterman, VMD, a large-animal practitioner and PVMA president, in an article written for PR Newswire. "Using loan forgiveness as an incentive to fill these voids is an investment in the state's agricultural industry, as well as in food safety and even national security." (Read more)

Rural child poverty is as high as in some cities

"New data indicate that more than 13 million children are living in poverty, 22 percent of rural children and 25 percent of children living in central cities," says the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire. "The report, based on U.S. Census Bureau data released today, finds that on average, rates of child poverty are persistently higher in rural parts of the country relative to suburban areas and share similar rates with many central cities."

Sarah Savage, a research assistant at Carsey, writes "Because poverty is closely linked to undesirable outcomes in areas such as health, education, emotional welfare, and delinquency, we take child poverty seriously as a measure of children's well-being."

The major finding of Savage's report: "In 17 states, particularly those in the South and Southwest, rural child poverty is higher than rates in both suburban and urban areas. In 2007, the rural child poverty rate in ranges from a low of just seven percent in Connecticut to a high of 35 percent in Mississippi."(Read full report)

Planting trees can cut odors from poultry houses

One solution to the chronic problem of odors from chicken houses is to plant trees around them, according to research by the University of Delaware. "Planting just three rows of trees around poultry farms can cut nuisance emissions of dust, ammonia, and odors from poultry houses and aid in reducing neighbor complaints," Science Daily reports, citing work by George W. Malone, an extension poultry specialist with the university.

Science Daily adds, "Malone's team suggested that planting vegetation could reduce ammonia and particulates that may degrade surrounding air and water quality. . . In a six-year study, Malone and his team found that a three-row plot of trees of various species and sizes reduced total dust by 56 percent, ammonia 53 percent, and odor 18 percent. The approach is being adopted around the Delmarva" Peninsula -- parts of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia.

While trees have often been used to increase the aesthetic appeal of chicken houses, Malone's research points out that the appropriately planted trees can not only improve air and water quality, but reduce energy costs for the farms by providing shade from the sun and a buffer from the cold. Malone said, "Planting trees demonstrates that the poultry grower is being proactive to address potential concerns of neighbors, gives the poultry farm a landscape appearance and increases property values. Adding the vegetative buffers also helps to reduce noise associated with farm operations."(Read more)

As goats become more popular, they may provide control for undesirable species such as kudzu

Demand for goat meat is growing in the U.S., making goat raising more popular. And as some wonder if goat farming could provide a valuable source of income for families in need, some Kentuckians are using the animals to control undesirable plants such as kudzu, an invasive species that grows throughout the South.

Goats seem to provide a cheap solution to combating the weed, which is hard to clear manually or with herbicides. While cattle will not feed on broadleaf plants, goats will, and get added benefits due to kudzu's high levels of protein. Ray Bowman, executive director of the Kentucky Sheep and Goat Development Office told Sean Bailey of The Times Tribune in Corbin, Ky., "They go out there, eat the stuff, process it, and turn it into meat. And all they leave behind is fertilizer." (Photo of a goat in kudzu by Bailey)

Barry Arnette, who raises goats on Sharpe Farm near Rockholds, Ky., is working with researchers from the University of Kentucky to determine how effective goats can be in controlling kudzu. "When the experiments are complete, Arnette and the UK team hope to come up with educational materials and 'hints' for farmers looking to get rid of kudzu," reports Bailey. Corbin is near the northern limit of kudzu's range, so Bailey writes, "If you don’t know what kudzu is, you’ve seen it and not even known it. ... It will grow just about anywhere — sometimes even engulfing dilapidated sheds, fences and even towering trees." (Read more)

Senator threatened to cut already meager funds for walking-horse exams; big show cracks down

The husband-and-wife team of John Cheves and Janet Patton at the Lexington Herald-Leader delivered a one-two punch today to Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, casting him as a leading protector of an industry that is cruel to horses but says it is cleaning up its act.

McConnell, who is running for his fifth term, "pressured the U.S. Department of Agriculture for years to back off its enforcement of the Horse Protection Act, even threatening to cut the agency's funding," thus supporting the Tennessee Walking Horse industry in its battle against USDA inspectors who look for evidence of soring, the illegal practice of deliberately injuring a horse's front feet to get it to step higher," Cheves reports, adding that people in the industry give to McConnell's campaigns.

On the same front page, Patton follows up on her recent reports about soring and the lack of USDA inspectors at horse shows with a story about a walking horse that died at the hands of a man who admitted in court "to practices that are banned by the federal Horse Protection Act," such as putting petroleum products mixed with sulfur and alum on horses' feet. (Read more)

Inside the paper, Patton reports from the Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration in Shelbyville, Tenn., which recently "announced a crackdown, with drug testing and other measures" including the hiring of a veterinarian who "served on an American Association of Equine Practitioners panel that put out a 'white paper' in August with suggestions for how to end the problem of soring. The USDA also stepped up its enforcement efforts, coming for the first time to the entire 11-day show, and trying new technology, including thermography to look 'inside' horses' feet for hot spots that indicate pain." Results of tests for illegal substances won't be available for at least a month, Patton reports. (Read more)

Editor John Philleo of the Times-Gazette in Shelbyville reported last week on the increased USDA presence. Lonnie Messick, executive vice president of the National Horse Show Commission, which sanctions the Celebration, told him that 96 percent of exhibitors were found to be in compliance. For Philleo's comprehensive 1,300-word story on the long-running controversy, click here.

Christina Sanchez of The Tennessean in Nashville reported on the changes Aug. 21, as the Celebration began. Organizers "want to rid themselves of the tarnished image that brought on the ouster of Chief Executive Officer Ron Thomas last fall," she wrote. "And they want to eliminate a repetition of last year, when a judge failed a polygraph test about the fairness of the event." (Read more)

Sen. John McCain has a rural running mate who was once a journalist: Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin began her political life as a member of the city council of Wasilla, Alaska (near center of Encarta map), in 1992. She was elected mayor in 1996. In 2000, the town had 5,469 people, but it was growing, and flush with sales-tax revenue that allowed Palin to cut property taxes. That, and her good looks and speaking skills, drew the attention of state Republican officials. As she moved up the state political ladder, she confounded the party establishment and earned marks for challenging the longstanding coziness of policymakers with the oil and gas industry, while not broadly opposing the industry.

Alaska's population is 34 percent rural, and even Anchorage has a rural tinge; moose are often seen in the city. But McCain's selection of Palin is much less about rural voters than about capturing the votes of women, who account for most of the undecided vote nationally -- especially moderates who wanted to see Sen. Hillary Clinton be the Democratic nominee. "It turns out the women of America aren't finished yet and we can shatter that glass ceiling once and for all," Palin said today.

The selection will please and motivate social conservatives, because Palin is a pro-lifer who not only talks the talk but walks the walk, this year bearing a child that she knew had Down Syndrome. Her oldest son is in the Army and ships to Iraq on Sept. 11, and she is a life member of the National Rifle Association. All those factors should have rural appeal. Additionally, her youth, her looks and curiosity about her should add some excitement and volunteers to the McCain campaign, both of which it badly needs. But will the selection meet the traditional test of "do no harm"? That probably depends largely on her performance in the debate with Sen. Joe Biden.

And we must add that Palin (Associated Press photo) was once a journalist. After graduation from the University of Idaho in 1987, she was a TV sports reporter. She has also been co-owner of a commercial fishing business and a dealer of watercraft, snow machines and all-terrain vehicles. Pretty rural.

Site of record immigration raid, Mississippi plant uses federal program to check workers' status

The Laurel, Miss. transformer plant that was the scene of the largest immigration raid in U.S. history uses "a federal system to check new hires' work documents, a program whose expansion the Bush administration has made a cornerstone of its fight against illegal immigration," The Washington Post reports.

While the E-Verify program "can determine whether a Social Security number presented by a worker is valid, it often cannot determine whether the number belongs to the applicant," write Post reporters Spencer S. Hsu, Alejandro Lazo and Darryl Fears.

"Major U.S. employers assailed the expanding crackdown, saying it creates a Catch-22. If businesses fail to enroll in E-Verify, they run the risk of a raid by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, business groups led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said. But if they sign up, they face added costs, labor disruptions and discrimination complaints -- as well as the risk that flaws in the program won't stop all illegal hiring or prevent government raids, they said. ... A spokeswoman for ICE noted the investigation began two years ago, before Howard joined E-Verify."

ICE said it was deporting 475 workers; "106 were released for humanitarian reasons to tend to a child or a medical condition pending court appearances; nine were juveniles transferred to a refugee resettlement agency, and eight face charges of criminal identity theft," the Post reports. (Read more)

Farm income forecast to set new records, but livestock producers get squeezed by grain prices

The Department of Agriculture predicted today that this year's net farm income will be a record $95.7 billion, 10 percent above last year's total of $86.8 billion. Most of that comes from crops; while livestock receipts are up, meat producers' costs are up, too.

USDA economist Larry Salathe told Bob Meyer of Brownfield Network that crop receipts are up $15 billion and livestock receipts are up $7 billion from February, thanks to “very strong exports, very strong domestic demand, of course supported by ethanol.” But the ethanol-driven increases in grain prices are the major squeeze on livestock producers.

Farm production costs "are also projected to be a record high, $300 billion," Meyer reports. "Salathe says that is a $40 billion increase over last year and comes on top of a $20 billion jump in 2007. Fertilizer expenses are up 58 percent, fuel expenses are 39 percent higher, and feed prices increased too. "Bottom line, increases in crop receipts are well ahead of the increase in expenses but livestock producers are being squeezed." (Read more)

USDA says, "The value of crop production ($188.8 billion) is forecast to exceed the 2007 record by $38 billion, a 25-percent increase. . . . Net cash income, at $101.3 billion, is forecast to be $13.9 billion (16 percent) above 2007, which was the previous record. Net cash income is projected to rise more than net farm income because of the carryover of 2007 crops being sold in 2008." For forecasts from USDA on individual commodities and states, click here.

VA tries to improve care for veterans in rural areas

Veterans often face health challenges as they return from active duty, but rural veterans face the added obstacle of getting to Department of Veterans Affairs health centers, often far from their homes. The VA has started a pilot project to alleviate some of those challenges.

A VA press release Wednesday said the department is creating mobile health clinics that will bring primary care and mental-health services to rural areas far from VA hospitals or outpatient clinics. The Rural Mobile Health Care Clinics will begin in 2009 with four clinics dispatched to counties in Colorado, Nebraska, Wyoming, Maine, Washington, and West Virginia. The Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Dr. James B. Peake said, “Health care should be based upon the needs of patients, not their ability to travel to a clinic or medical center.”

This announcement was made only a few days after VA announced it would open three Veterans Rural Health Resource Centers on Oct. 1. These centers will try to "identify disparities in health care for rural veterans and formulate practices or programs to enhance the delivery of care."

Sen. Leahy tells convention about rural needs

When U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont took the stage at the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday, he used his brief time to accuse the Bush administration of ignoring issues facing rural Americans and claim that John McCain would to do the same. "We are struggling from eight years of the Bush-Cheney economy," said Leahy, adding "Rural communities face disproportionately high unemployment rates, violent crime is up, and no one is hurt by record high energy prices more than we are."

Leahy, who lives in a small Vermont town with a population of 1,8oo, spoke of the ways that Barack Obama would help struggling rural Americans. "He will lift our economy immediately by taking some of big oil's windfall profits and returning $1,000 to the pockets of working families. He will invest in what rural America needs most of all, good new jobs, with a clean energy initiative that will move us away from oil and put 5 million Americans to work." To read Leahy's remarks as prepared for delivery, click here.

Democrats organize to get rural votes for Obama

"If organization and effort is any indication, Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama could win more of the rural vote than many of his recent predecessors," Sara Wyant writes in her Agri-Pulse newsletter after attending meetings at the national convention and interviewing Todd Campbell, the campaign's rural vote director.

Wyant notes that Democratic pollster Anna Greenberg, who has done many rural surveys, told the My Rural America meeting that Obama needs to "reassure voters who have doubts about his experience and abilities; address the poor economy and the 'anger and frustration' of those left behind; and address the significant concerns that voters have about his positions on national security and his patriotism." Greenberg told Wyant that she wasn't referring to farmers, currently enjoying high incomes and land values, because farmers are "such a small percentage of the electorate." Wyant writes:

Perhaps that explains why some long-time Democratic activists are frustrated over what they view as Obama’s senior campaign staff’s failure to actively court the farm vote. “The real question is why Barack Obama is not up 10 to 20 points in farm country,” one leader told Agri-Pulse. “John McCain has given farmers and ranchers absolutely no reason to vote for him,” said another long-time Democrat. “There’s no reason every major farm group isn’t endorsing Obama---but this campaign doesn’t seem to get it.”

McCain opposes ethanol subsidies and said he would have voted against the new Farm Bill. Obama wasn't as enthusiuastic about the bill as Sen. Hillary Clinton but voted for it.

Campbell said the campaign's rural strategy is based on Obama's experience in community organizing in Chicago: “neighbor talking to neighbor, listening to people’s concerns and asking for their votes.” But our guess is that the effort will be concentrated in states the campaign thinks it can win, especially larger states like Ohio, Pennsylvania and Missouri.

Agri-Pulse is a subscription newsletter but offers a free trial.

Natural gas leasing boom is likely to spread

The recent boom in natural gas leasing and drilling is likely spread beyond some of the areas previously reported, such as the Haynesville Shale in the Ark-La-Tex area and the Marcellus Shale in the Appalachians, reports Clifford Krauss of The New York Times. (NYT map)
Prospectors have "identified at least two dozen shale beds in North America that could contain large amounts of gas," Krauss writes. "Real estate speculators are becoming overnight millionaires in Pennsylvania, Louisiana and Texas by buying up parcels of land and flipping them to companies that drill for natural gas. Wildcatters are ordering every rig they can get their hands on, and paying signing bonuses of $25,000 an acre to drill below houses, schools and churches. Pipeline companies are building as fast as they can to get the new gas to market."(Read more)

There is a concern among landowners that many companies looking to drill for natural gas are attempting to lease land for less than the leases are worth. Steven Christ of Wealth Daily reports that some individuals are leasing their land for as little as $100 and acre, while other individuals have negotiated "leases up to $2,500 an acre along with 15 to 18 percent royalties."(Read more) The normal oil and gas royalty is 12.5 percent, or one-eighth.

Democratic convention hears a rural voice

A surprise hit last night at the Democratic National Convention was Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer. "A cattle rancher who strode into office wearing cowboy boots," writes Paul Wallsten of the Los Angles Times, "Schweitzer has succeeded by connecting with the values of Western voters. Yet he also embraces key Democratic policies, supporting abortion rights, energy conservation and environmental regulation. ... He raised the roof at the Pepsi Center by exhorting thousands of party activists to 'get off your hind end' and cheer for the demise of GOP rule." (Photo from The Associated Press)

Schweitzer's speech focused on energy policy. "It was purely partisan red meat on a pocketbook issue -- exactly what some Democratic strategists have said was lacking from the convention when the sagging economy is at the forefront of voters' minds," Wallsten writes. "His appearance in a coveted time slot during network television coverage easily overshadowed a staid keynote address delivered earlier by former Virginia Gov. Mark R. Warner, a Senate candidate who was expected to play a starring role here.And it couldn't have come at a better time for the Democrats -- just when Barack Obama needs to start connecting with the kind of white, rural and working-class voters that might be inclined to listen to Schweitzer." (Read more)

Schweitzer became governor in 2004 while George W. Bush was carrying the state by 20 percentage points. Mark Sundeen of The New York Times writes, "Schweitzer’s 'Montana miracle,' in which Democrats took back the governor’s seat after 16 years and ended 12 years of Republican majorities in both state chambers, has been cited as evidence that the Republican bastions in the Western states are losing ground to a new, Democratic brand of libertarian-tinged prairie populism." (Read more)

Schweitzer said after the speech that it was the first he had ever given from a prepared text; he added much material to the text. For Mike Dennison's story from the Billings Gazette, with Schweitzer's prepared remarks, click here. UPDATE, Aug. 29: One Democrat called Schweitzer "our side's Huckabee," according to the Evans-Novak Political Report's convention wrapup.

Alaska voters choose mine over fish, defeating measure to protect salmon-rich streams

For months, Alaskans have been debating, in effect, what is their more valuable resource: the salmon that fuel a $300 million-a-year industry, or the copper and gold located in the watershed of salmon-rich Bristol Bay, metals that could be worth up to $300 billion. Yesterday, in a statewide referendum on a measure to put new limits on mining, that industry won, by a margin of 4 to 3.

The fishing industry worried that the proposed Pebble Mine could cause irreparable damage to the salmon population. Proponents argued that Measure 4 would create additional legal hurdles to jump through, while not changing the environmental standards already in place. (Los Angeles Times map)

The referendum was, as William Yardley writes in The New York Times, "an initiative intended to increase protections for streams where salmon live." The debate was among the most expensive in state history. Elizabeth Bluemink writes in the Anchorage Daily News that "fundraising by the two sides for TV, radio, print, mail and other advertising had hit at least $10.6 million." The issue appeared to become clouded by the substantial debate between the two groups. (Read more)

Yardley points out that "while the metals are a finite discovery, the fish have replenished themselves for millenniums" and many who voted no on Measure 4 felt that legislation designed to protect streams from mining pollution already existed and further legislation was unnecessary. (Read more)

UPDATE, Aug. 28: Bluemink reports that voters in the Bristol Bay area, downstream of the proposed minE, overwhelmingly voted in support of Measure 4. (read more)

Immigration raid nets hundreds, this time in Miss.

UPDATE, Aug. 27: The number of detainees is now 595, making it the largest immigration raid ever in the U.S., and it could go even higher. The Laurel Leader Call quotes ICE Communications Director Barbara Gonzalez as saying: "This is probably the largest single site target for law enforcement."

For the second time in three months, a major immigration raid has led to the holding of 350 or more suspected illegal immigrants. This latest raid, which follows the May detention of a record 389 workers at a food processing plant in Postville, Iowa, took place at a transformer plant in Laurel, Miss., a town of 18,000. Warrants were also served at the company's local headquarters. "The Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed 350 people suspected as being illegal immigrants working at Howard Industries were found during a raid Monday," reports Jason Niblett of the Laurel Leader Call.

The paper notes that on Friday, the Mississippi Immigrants Rights Alliance warned of an impending raid in the area: “A series of preparations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on the Gulf Coast has local advocates on edge about the possibility of yet another worksite raid .. " Bill Chandler, the executive director of the alliance, said the group is now "responding with humanitarian aid to the family members of the arrested.” (Read more)

Adam Nossiter of The New York Times notes that the Iowa raid "was a significant escalation of the Bush administration’s enforcement practices because those detained were not simply deported, as in previous raids, but were imprisoned for months on criminal charges of using false documents."

Appalachian income is up, but more are in poverty

Median income in Appalachia increased last year, but remained less than four-fifths the national median, and more people in the region were in poverty, according to a Census Bureau survey released today.

"Median incomes were up in all the 13 states that make up Appalachia except Kentucky, where the median income was $39,678," The Associated Press reports. "However, with the exception of Maryland and Virginia, those incomes across Appalachia still were below the national median of $50,233."

The number of Appalachians with household incomes below the federal poverty line grew 114,000 to 13.3 million, reports AP's P.J. Dickerscheid. That and the income data suggest that income inequality is growing in Appalachia; the national Census report said "Income inequality decreased between 2006 and 2007."

More from the national report: "Real median household income in the United States climbed 1.3 percent between 2006 and 2007, reaching $50,233, ... Meanwhile, the nation’s official poverty rate in 2007 was 12.5 percent, not statistically different from 2006."

The numbers come from the bureau's American Community Survey, a large-scale poll. "In the 2007 ACS, among states and the District of Columbia, poverty rates ranged from 7.1 percent for New Hampshire to 20.6 percent for Mississippi," the bureau said in a news release. (Read more)

Income inequality has been growing nationally for decades, Steven Pearlstein writes for The Washington Post. To read his analysis, click here.

Convention Obama's last shot to make broad rural appeal? Strategic calls loom as time runs short

With a compressed calendar facing the candidates, this week's Democratic National Convention may be Sen. Barack Obama's "last shot at building rural support," Robert T. Garrett writes in the Dallas Morning News. Garrett says Obama "will stress pocketbook issues this week to woo voters in the wide open spaces," but still has to resolve a key strategic question: whether he will pursue or abandon "his campaign’s springtime swagger that it would 'expand the map,' challenging John McCain in reliably red states where rural voters may be key."

For months, Democrats have been telling Obama that he can attract rural voters if he will spend time with them, but with only two months left until the election, more disinterested experts say he should limit such efforts to key battleground states. His rural strategy could depend on what Republicans do in the coming week to 10 days, former former Texas House Speaker Pete Laney, a Panhandle cotton farmer, told Garrett. "Some of it is going to depend on who McCain picks; it’s going to depend on what kind of rural program that Obama’s going to have and what kind of rural program that McCain’s going to have," Laney said.

Yesterday, at a meeting of the Rural Caucus at the Democratic convention, "Obama surrogates talked jobs, health care and rural highways," Garrett reports. "Outdoors TV show host Tony Dean, a lifelong Republican, said he’s switching parties to head a Sportsmen for Obama group. Mr. Dean said he’s '99 percent sure a President Obama isn’t going to infringe on gun rights.' Austin author and rural online newsletter editor Bill Bishop, though, said Mr. Obama won’t make much headway on issues alone." In his recent, well-reviewed book The Big Sort, Bishop "argues 'lifestyles' have crowded out philosophy as the key factor in voters’ decisions." (Read more)

In his own publication, the Daily Yonder, Bishop notes that Sen. Hillary Clinton "ran strongest in rural communities" and "One worry among Democrats is that Obama has failed to consolidate support among Democratic voters." He cites this comment to The Washington Post's Alec MacGillis and Paul Kane:

"Jim Beasley, the commissioner of Ohio's Department of Transportation, did not have high hopes for Obama in his area of southern Ohio. "Ahhh, well. Rural Ohio will be difficult," he said. "Rural areas are difficult for him.'"

MacGillis and Kane talked to swing-state delegates at the Rural Caucus and other gatherings and found that some "do not share Obama's confidence that he can overcome the resistance many voters may have to electing a black president with an unusual background and name." From their story, here's another example from Ohio:

Sarah Hamilton, a Clinton supporter who works for the Ohio Federation of Teachers, linked Obama's challenges in the state to the resistance that other Democratic presidential candidates have faced in trying to trump social issues with economic ones. "I really think it still has to do with 'Gods, guns and gays.' You bring in his race, and the Muslim rumor, all these things are factors that are easy to play out in the rural areas," she said.

Iowa governor blasts packer hit by nation's largest immigration raid; state alleges safety violations

Iowa's governor is winning kudos for an op-ed piece sharply criticizing the operators of the kosher meatpacking plant that was the site of the largest immigration raid in U.S. history. "Several business and political experts said the governor's words were justified," reports Tony Leys of The Des Moines Register, which published Gov. Chet Culver's article Sunday.

The Democratic governor, elected in 2006, went so far as to compare the Agriprocessors Inc. facility in Postville (Encarta map) to the plants exposed 100 years ago by novelist Upton Sinclair in The Jungle. "There will be no industrial 'jungles' in Iowa on my watch," he wrote. To read his column, click here. Today, the company invited Culver to the plant, Leys reports.

Culver took Agriprocessors off state job-listing services, saying the company "has chosen to take advantage of a failed federal immigration system. ... Before the federal raid, Agriprocessors already had a history of sanctions by Iowa's state regulatory agencies for water pollution, as well as health and safety law violations. ... This company's owners have deliberately chosen to take the low road in its business practices." The state has proposed a $101,000 fine for 31 safety violations at the plant. For the Register's story on that, click here.

Meanwhile, Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Julie Myers "said the agency and industry need to partner to ensure compliance with the related laws," Tom Johnston of MeatingPlace.com reports from a directors' meeting of the National Meat Association. "Though she acknowledged that effective immigration law is lacking in the United States, Myers said companies are best to approach ICE and demonstrate the intent to cooperate and legalize their labor forces." (Read more)

Big Maine papers eliminate bureaus in capitals, but rural papers have own statehouse reporter

The Blethen Maine Newspapers, which are for sale, are some of the latest to cut back on their capital bureaus, in Washington and the state capital of Augusta. That means the state's largest paper, the Portland Press Herald, has no reporter in the statehouse, an hour away. But a couple of small dailies and five weeklies in Maine do. And some of those weeklies are feeding stories to the Press Herald!

When the Portland paper closed its bureaus in the capitals, as well as those in Bath and Biddeford, as part of cutting 12 of its 100 jobs in news, Editor Jeannine Guttman told readers that it would "get reporting help from our sister newspaper in Augusta," assign a Portland reporter to cover the state's "part-time legislature" and cover the state's four-person Washington delegation from Portland.

Jonathan Kaplan, who lost his Washington job after having it for only seven months, wrote in The Washington Post this week that the demise of regional reporters in Washington amounts to an incumbent-protection program, because readers won't know Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe and the two House members are doing. "They'll probably never learn that, at a press conference in May, just minutes before a vote on a massive farm bill, Collins praised a provision in the measure to close the so-called Enron loophole. She then headed straight to the Senate floor and voted against the bill. We regional reporters put readers in rooms like that and give them a voice. But we're disappearing fast, and it's not clear who can pick up the slack."

But in the state capital, Maine readers have a full-time watchdog in the person of Victoria Wallack's Statehouse News Service, funded by the daily Brunswick Times Record and the Journal-Tribune of Bitteford, both owned by Pemnnsylvania-based Sample Newspapers, and six weeklies -- including the venerable Ellsworth American and Mount Desert Islander, whose publisher, Alan Baker, organized the group. Baker told us in an interview that when he was growing up, "Daily newspapers covered the statehouse like a blanket. When I moved back here was amazed at how bad the coverage was."

But Baker and his buddies are interested in public service beyond their own readership. Some of them send stories to the Press Herald, which publishes them in "Maine Reports" on Sundays, with byline credits and links to their Web sites. Seems like such rural-metro cooperation could do a lot of good in other states. Go for it!

UPDATE, Sept. 12: Not all the regional coverage news is bad. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette recently added a part-time reporter, Jane Fullerton, to its Washington bureau.

As Obama looks for rural votes in swing states, Southwest Virginia is a key area, and a tough one

(Map from NationalAtlas.gov) As Democrats begin their convention, they wonder if Barack Obama can make any inroads among rural voters -- particularly in Appalachian areas of the big swing states of Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Almost all of Appalachian Virginia lies in the 9th Congressional District, and with Gov. Tim Kaine not on the ticket, the state's 13 electoral votes could be decided by John McCain's margin there, Laurence Hammack writes in The Roanoke Times.

"Democrat Rick Boucher, the district's longtime representative in Congress, believes Obama must capture at least 45 percent of his district's vote if he is to become the first Democratic presidential candidate to win Virginia since 1964," Hammack writes. Obama has four campaign offices in the district, but that could be a tall order; Obama lost the 9th to Hillary Clinton by 32 percentage points. (It was the only district she won; Boucher supported Obama.)

Hammack's 2,740-word story starts with the typical examples of people in the district blaming race for Obama's poor showing and poor prospects, and those who say they believe he is a Muslim. But he asks a good question: "When residents of such a predominantly white area say they can't vote for a Muslim, could that be another way, perhaps a more acceptable way, of saying they can't vote for a black?"

"As much as I wish that I could not say this, the realistic part of me agrees that yes, [Muslim] is to some degree a code word" for race, said Stephen Mooney of the Appalachian Studies Program at Virginia Tech. He grew up in Dickenson County, on the Kentucky border, which gave only 12 perecent of its votes to Obama. But he said it's more about culture than race. In Appalachia, he said, "There is a very ironic fear of the 'other,' the different, which is ironic because mountain people have long been perceived nationally as one of the great American 'others.' So you would think that mountain people would be very careful not to 'other' other people [including Obama, he said]. But at a very deep-set level, there is culturally a fear ... to venture into the unknown."

When Doug Wilder was elected Virginia's first black governor in 1989, he won 48 percent of the vote in the 9th District, but he was able to spend much more time campaigning there than Obama can. They key, Democrats say, is bridging the cultural divide with economic empathy. "Appalachia, ideologically, is at war with itself," Mooney told Hammack. "You have a deep-set conservatism and a deep-set liberalism. Co-existing simultaneously you have a region that has rebelled against American political and economic ideologies and a region that has probably the most deeply felt sense of patriotism than any other place in the nation." (Read more)

Amish booming; have communities in 28 states

"America’s Amish population has nearly doubled and spread out in the past 16 years due to large families ... marriages within the community and longer lifespans," the Reuters wire service reports. (Photo by Jason Reed)

Donald Kraybill of Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania, an expert on the Amish, found that their population is booming because they insist on marrying within their religious communities, have an average of five or six children and retain more youth than other groups -- perhaps because 90 percent have Amish-only schools available to them. Kraybill said his study included all Amish groups that use only horse and buggy transportation and claim the name Amish, but excluded Mennonites, who broke from the Amish in 1693.

"Amish numbers more than doubled in 10 states, and there was an 82 percent increase in the number of Amish communities throughout the United States," Jon Hurdle writes for Reuters. "There are now Amish communities in 28 U.S. states. In Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana, the three states that together have most of the Amish population, their share of the total Amish population fell to 62 percent this year from 69 percent in 1992. They have been drawn to other states by fertile farmland at reasonable prices, work in specialized occupations such as cabinet-making or construction, and rural isolation that allows them to maintain their lifestyle, according to the study."

The next five states in Amish population are Wisconsin, Michigan, New York, Missouri and Kentucky. For a state-by-state count from Elizabethtown's Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies, click here. Kraybill is senior fellow at the center, an excellent source of information about the Amish and related groups.

Oregon Rural Congress meets during rough patch

UPDATE, Sept. 8: "Rural Oregonians were feeling tramped on, abused and ignored. But instead of just complaining, they decided to get together," reports Bill Bishop in the Daily Yonder, citing an interview with the chief organizer, an editorial from the Baker City Herald and a story by Ethan Schowalter-Hay in The Observer of La Grande. (Original post follows.)

The Oregon Rural Congress met for what was "largely an airing of perceived obstacles to rural prosperity," reports Matthew Preusch of The Oregonian of Portland. Nearly 200 people showed up for what Preusch says was "an effort to pioneer a common agenda" for a report to state and federal officials.

"The congress comes during a rough year for rural Oregon," Preusch notes. "Budget cuts closed the state Office of Rural Policy, the Oregon congressional delegation has been unable to win renewal of a county payment program crucial to many budgets, and a new state ethics law led to widespread resignations on local boards and commissions." There was a widespread view in the congress, which meets annually, that state government is an urban entity that largely dismisses the needs of state's rural population. (Read more)

The Oregonian said in an editorial the day the congress ended, "Too many urban decisions ignite wildfires of unintended consequence that ravage rural communities. ... As they drive home, they might do well to remember just how much of this state's wealth, plywood to pinot noir, remains tied up in rural lands." Ultimately both rural and urban Oregonians need to understand, the editorial said, "that Oregonians are in this together, and there's no future in deepening the political divide in this state." To read the editorial click here.

Shift from confined animal feeding operations would raise meat prices but cut other costs

"Even meat companies agree that change is unavoidable" in the system of industrial-scale feeding operations that produce most of America's meat, Paul Roberts, author of The End of Food, writes in the Los Angeles Times. For consumers, that "likely means an end to 50 years of falling meat prices;" for farmers and rural communities, it means "operations that give animals more space and use different methods of feeding, sewage disposal and medical treatment," and perhaps less income as production slows.

Roberts' opinion piece is based in large measure on a report this spring from a study commission funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts. He reminds us of some fundamentals that most rural residents may have forgotten or never knew because they don't live on farms: Confined cattle fatten faster because they don't burn calories, and corn has more calories than grass; and "small, steady doses of antibiotics kill the low-grade infections that normally plague livestock, dosed animals spend fewer calories fighting infection. ... When fed antibiotics, livestock can grow 25 percent faster on the same intake of feed."

Bu the antibiotics, used to combat "crowded, unsanitary conditions," have spawned resistant disease strains, and confined animal feeding operations can be major sources of water pollution. "Taxpayers spend $4.1 billion cleaning up livestock sewage leaks and $2.5 billion treating salmonella," Roberts writes. "According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, CAFOs may be costing taxpayers $38 billion a year -- costs that aren't reflected in the retail price of meat." (Read more)

For state and county statistics on CAFOs, broken down by type and number of animals, from Food and Water Watch, click here.

Curing persistent poverty requires more social capital, not more federal grants, study suggests

"What does it take for a rural place to be economically vibrant?" the Daily Yonder asks, and answers: "Bowling centers help. Federal grants don't." Well, at least not the grants issued in 1990 to counties that were persistently poor in 1999. Those are among the mountain of data that two researchers used to find the causes of persistent poverty in the United States.

"Contrary to expectation, higher federal grant funding per capita tends to exacerbate rather than ameliorate poverty rates in a locality," the researchers write in the Journal of Socio-Economics. In a footnote, they say, "This suggests the possibility of reverse causality – that federal grants are directed more to poorer places." But statistical regression analysis, using the change in poverty rates between 1989 and 1999, "yields the same result, even when we control for initial poverty rates." Very intriguing and, as researchers often say, worth studying more.

The researchers are Stephan Goetz of Penn State and its Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development and Anil Rupasingha of the American University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. They developed an index of social capital based on a county's number of bowling centers, public golf courses, membership clubs for sports and recreation, fitness centers, civic, business and social associations, religious, labor, professional and political organizations and tax-exempt, non-profit groups, as well as the percentage of eligible voters who voted in presidential elections and the county's response rate to the census.

"They found that rural places with more of these meeting places and organizations had lower levels of family poverty. Social capital seemed to reduce poverty in rural America. This wasn't true in the cities, where social capital had little effect on family poverty rates," Bishop writes. We still conder about cause and effect; the authors don't say whether they did a regression analysis to see if being poor discourages the development of social capital. But we do think persistently poor places need to think more about developing their social capital.

The study has many other facets; one is the effect of big-box stores. "The more big box retailers like Wal-Mart there are in a community, the higher the family poverty rate. Many rural communities try to attract big-box retailers. The two researchers conclude this strategy may be self-defeating," Bishop writes. The researchers note, "Jobs created by big box retailers are mostly low-paying jobs that may not help families escape from poverty, and these establishments tend also not to reinvest locally their profits earned."

The study report, titled "Social and political forces as determinants of poverty," was published last year in the Journal of Socio-Economics (Number 36, 2007, pages 650-671). For access, click here.

For 50 years at the same station, Don Neagle has kept up the public-service traditions of rural radio

Radio news has been in decline for 20 years or more, but in some rural communities, dedicated owners, managers and announcers keep up the tradition of the locally owned radio station as a crucial source of local news and a public forum. We don't know a better example than Don Neagle of WRUS (610 AM) in Russellville, Ky., where on Labor Day, Sept. 1, he and Logan County will celebrate his 50 years at the station. (Photo by Tim Webb for Kentucky Living magazine)

"As the Internet continues to unsettle the economics of the news business, the long career of my old friend is a witness to the traditional values of rural and community journalism," Al Smith writes on RuralJournalism.org. "He still does it the old-fashioned way, getting up before dawn with the farmers and factory workers to tell them what the weather will be like, what happened in their county yesterday, and what might happen today. For many Logan countians, he is someone they began listening to as their parents got them out of bed to catch the school bus. ... But it is doubtful that any Kentucky-based radio host mixes the conversations – literary, down home, and politically savvy – that are so uniquely appealing in Neagle’s daily talk show, “Feedback.”

"Guests might be an author on the line from Louisville or New York about a new novel, or a Vanderbilt University Divinity School professor discussing Pentecostalism in South America, or, as on an especially memorable morning, one of Western Kentucky University’s aging Hilltoppers helping Don spin their music that went gold in the Fifties. ... An avid book reader, a longtime library trustee, and married to a former teacher, Don’s passion for reading compensated for whatever he missed as a college dropout. But his learning rests easily in the folksy, good-humored chatter of a man who can talk to anybody."

Smith, the co-founder of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, concludes, "Don has managed to exploit new technology to keep his little media business profitable, but much of his success is still so very personal — the dependable service that long ago forged a bond between a rural American community and its self-taught but experienced news guy. He feels the pressures of his business interests compromise his time to do quality news. After he leaves, he is not sure what will happen, or who will care as much." (Read more)

UPDATE, Aug. 29: Columnists Tom Eblen of the Lexington Herald-Leader, here, and Byron Crawford of The Courier-Journal, here, commemorate Neagle's achievement.

Illinois papers closing, cutting statehouse bureaus

Financial pressures on the newspaper industry continue to shrink statehouse news bureaus that have long brought localized and occasionally groundbreaking coverage to their readers, many of them rural.

The latest example is the Rockford Register Star, which closed its Springfield bureau on Monday, "dumping bureau chief Aaron Chambers, who is generally considered one of the best reporters under the dome," Rich Miller writes on The Capitol Fax Blog.

“Frankly, I made a choice between the bureau in Springfield and local news in the Rock River Valley,” the paper's home base, Executive Editor Linda Grist Cunningham said. “It’s a loss, but losing another local reporter would have been worse.” The paper, which at last report had a circulation of 56,000, was bought by now-troubled GateHouse Media from Gannett Co. Inc. in April 2007. GateHouse also owns the State Journal-Register in Springfield, but the Rockford paper's story made no mention of using its sister paper for statehouse stories.

Miller adds on the blog, "The Champaign News-Gazette closed its bureau earlier this year, putting Kate Clements Cohorst out of a job. The [Chicago] Tribune eliminated one of its Statehouse positions on Friday, laying off the incredibly hard-working Jeff Meitrodt, who was recruited from New Orleans not long ago. And, as of yet, the AP has not filled the vacancy created when Ryan Keith was hired by the State Journal-Register. So, that’s two bureaus and four reporting slots gone from the Statehouse this year alone, and it’s only August." Miller's post had 59 comments as of this posting. (Read more)

Journalists invited to take part in wilderness medicine training class in upstate New York

Journalists, including photographers, are invited to observe and to participate in the 2008 Adirondack Wilderness Medicine class of Cornell University Outdoor Education and Weill Cornell Medical College Oct. 12-17. The base camp will be at Camp Dudley, between Lake Champlain and the Adirondack Mountains, near Westport, N.Y. Space for this unique medical training, which teaches Weill Cornell third- and fourth-year medical students about wilderness and disaster preparedness skills, is limited to six reporters and photographers. We think it could also be useful to rural journalists covering stories in the wilderness.

The class will feature day hikes and peak scrambles and a multi-day canoe expedition. It will involve different scenarios in which “patients” will simulate being lost, ill and injured – ranging from a simple twisted ankle to complex multi-patient accidents involving trauma and major environmental threats. This photogenic opportunity, timed to coincide with peak fall foliage colors, will include “injured” students made up in fake blood and props. Their fellow students will need to find, assess, treat and transport them.

Participants must be prepared to handle rough terrain and inclement weather. To be considered, contact Blaine Friedlander, Cornell University Press Relations Office, at 607-254-8093 or bpf2@cornell.edu as soon as possible.

Va. mountain county requires residents to pay for sewer service if a line runs past their home

One of the more controversial things a rural government can do is force residents to pay for a service even if they don't use it. But in the case of sewer service, that step is often necessary to prevent water pollution and keep the government eligible for federal and state aid for sewers. And after a failed attempt to pass a mandatory sewer ordinance two years ago, Wise County, Virginia, put one on the books this week.

The county commissioners acted in the face of continued opposition. "James Neeley of Powell Valley told supervisors Thursday night that his septic tank works just fine, and that it’s unfair to ask people on a fixed income to pay fees for something they’re not using," reports Jodi Deal of The Coalfield Progress in Norton. For her story, click here. (Subscription may be required)

In Great Plains, boom continues, but residents remember that what goes up must come down

"Interest rate cuts and stimulus checks are helping ease the pain" in Sun Belt states and others hit hard by foreclosures, "but in the area stretching from the oilfields of Texas north to the Dakotas, where the economy is holding up fairly well, those government actions may prove unnecessary -- and even contribute to new bubbles," reports Neil Irwin of The Washington Post.

In the Great Plains, "The housing market is holding up just fine, the banks are making plenty of loans, and employers keep adding jobs," Irwin reports. "Retail spending in the middle of the country was strong even before the $600 tax rebates this spring, and low interest rates and a tax provision in the economic stimulus bill are helping to goose already booming sales of farm equipment and pickup trucks. The price of farmland in Nebraska has doubled in the past three years, primarily reflecting the boom in commodity prices. The increase also reflects the impact of rate cuts by the Federal Reserve that enabled buyers to bid up land with borrowed money. But if crop prices drop toward historical norms, it could mean sharp decreases in land prices that would devastate some farmers."

Irwin writes from Blair, Neb., where the mayor is Jim Realph, who worked in the farm credit system in the 1980s. "The biggest risk is the interest rates. If they swing up higher, it makes it much harder for a farmer to keep paying the debt," he said. "Things just don't go up forever. I don't know when this will end, or whether it will be bad when it does, but this will go the other way." (Read more)

Deputy poses as big-time reporter, gets small-town scribe to give number of source, who is arrested

"A sheriff's deputy in North Carolina posed as a Newsweek reporter to coax an anonymous source out of a local newspaper journalist. And it worked," reports Kathleen Cullinan of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.

Thinking he was simply helping a fellow reporter from a larger news organization, a common favor performed by rural journalists, reporter Lindell Kay of The Daily News in Jacksonville gave the deputy the source's telephone number. Before doing that, Kay "called a source and told him about the request," the newspaper reported. "With the source's permission, Kay provided a phone number to the man he thought was a Newsweek reporter." Daily News Publisher Elliott Potter said Kay did not provide the source's name or any other identifying information.

The "favor" led to the arrest of Robert Sharpe, an intern for the district attorney's office, who is charged with embezzlement and larceny, "accused of offering to sell the undercover deputy confidential records from a 6,000-page file he'd been told to photocopy in the case of Cpl. Cesar Laurean. Laurean was tracked down to Mexico earlier this year and is charged with killing a pregnant Marine whose burned remains were found in North Carolina," Cullinan writes. "Sharpe has now identified himself to the media as a confidential source for The Daily News." (Read more)

Sharpe told Laura Vesco of WNCT, “I’m very disappointed with the Jacksonville Daily News. I’m supposed to be a confidential source. They screwed me over and offered no help or assistance afterwards. I put my trust in this organization.” The Onslow County Sheriff's Department "later asked Kay to reveal information about his sources, and he refused, citing North Carolina's 'shield law,' which gives news reporters the right to refuse to testify about news sources," Jennifer Hlad writes for The Daily News. The 19,700-circulation paper is one of six North Carolina dailies owned by Freedom Communications.

Why some of us stick to print: the feel and smell

"I think part of the reason we are saddened by the end of the physical newspaper has to do with the senses. There's the sound of pages turning, the feel of the paper, the smell of the ink," Jan Worth-Nelson, a lecturer in writing at the University of Michigan-Flint, writes for The Christian Science Monitor.

I think the newspaper will survive in printed form, but Worth-Nelson makes a valid argument, and with recollections from the days of hot type in Keokuk, Iowa, that parallel my own in Kentucky, so here are some more:

"In the pressroom, language was machinery with exciting physicality. Words were three-dimensional and muscular. To me, the typesetters were heroes – men who loved the shape of words, the literal style of a line, the fonts, the spaces, the ens and ems. The newspaper of the pressroom was visceral, noisy, oily, and thrilling. I remember seeing typesetters pick up the first paper off the press, snap it open, still warm, and read it like a lover. You've never seen a reader as avid as a hot-type pressman. Sometimes they'd tell a reporter they liked some story or other. Getting praise from a typesetter was among the highest compliments." (Read more)

I was a pest to typesetter Phillip Allen, who ran the Linotype at the Clinton County News in Albany, Ky., because I wanted him to do box scores for the all-star games of the local Little League and Babe Ruth League, for which I was official scorer and correspondent. Why he gave in to a 12-year-old, I don't know. The smell and feel I remember most is taking the slug of hot type from Phillip, running an ink roller over it, laying down a strip of paper and using a heavy roller to pull a galley proof. There's nothing like helping produce your own story with ink, metal and paper, and that experience is part of the reason I will buy printed newspapers as long as they're produced – which I expect to be for the rest of my life. I'm 54.

In Des Moines, Gannett cuts lead to departure of veteran farm writer and one of two D.C. reporters

The 3 percent staff cuts in Gannett Co. Inc. are costing The Des Moines Register its longtime farm writer and one of its two reporters in Washington, other Iowa news sources are reporting today.

The Business Record of Des Moines reports that Farm Editor Jerry Perkins asked for and received a buyout, according to a newsroom memo, and "Sources also say that Jane Norman, a reporter at the Register's Washington bureau since 1988, has been laid off, with a severance package." We have confirmed that.

Remaining in the Washington bureau is Philip Brasher, who specializes in agriculture and trade coverage. Norman did most of the coverage of Iowa's congressional delegation. The paper is also losing veteran reporter Ken Fuson, who asked for and took a buyout, according to the memo from Editor Carolyn Washburn and Managing Editor Randy Brubaker.

"Perkins started with the Des Moines Tribune in 1978 and has been the Register's farm editor since 1993," the Record reports. "Fuson has been with the Register for 25 years and has won several awards, including the Register's top writing award and Gannett Co. Inc.'s 25th anniversary Outstanding Achievement Award for Writing." For the Register's newsroom memo, via Jim Romenesko, click here.

Jason Hancock of The Iowa Independent reports that Perkins and Fuson are "the first of what will be 15 jobs to be eliminated today from within the paper’s newsroom." The Register announced last week that it would cut 23 full-time positions, 11 by not filling them. At this posting, the Register's site is silent on the subject, and so is Gannett Blog, but the latter has been busy tracking Gannett's stock price, which rallied when the cuts were revealed but has now dropped to pre-layoff levels.

Carbon sequestration, the key to 'clean coal,' might produce more pollutants, study says

Carbon capture and storage, or sequestration, is touted as the way to make coal "clean," or at least eliminate or greatly reduce the climate-changing carbon dioxide that is emitted when it burns. "But trying to capture it and lock it away could allow other repeat offenders to go free," reports Patrick Barry of Science News.

Barry writes, "Power plant emissions that cause acid rain, water pollution and destruction of the ozone layer may actually be made worse by capturing the CO2 and pumping it deep underground, a new study reported online and in an upcoming International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control suggests. This increase of other emissions is largely because collecting and burying CO2 ... requires additional energy, new equipment and new chemical reactions at the plants. And using current technology, meeting all of these requirements releases extra pollutants." (Emphasis added.)

The author of the study, environmental scientist Joris Koornneef of Utrecht University in the Netherlands, said it is the first “trying to quantify the trade-offs” of carbon sequestration, which takes considerable energy to compress, transported and pumped into underground geological formations. And if that energy comes from coal, the burning of it will generate more sulfur dioxide (SO2) and oxides of nitrogen (NOx).

“The decision to substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions is going to be intertwined with decisions about how to deal with these other emissions,” said Jim Dooley, an expert in carbon sequestration at the Joint Global Change Research Institute in College Park, Md. (Read more)

Wind-power projects can lead to small-town graft

There's a boom in wind power in upstate New York, but the developers have brought not only controversy, but "an epidemic of corruption and intimidation, as they rush to acquire enough land to make the wind farms a reality," Nicholas Confessore reports for The New York Times, pegging his story to the gripes of Janet and Ken Tacy:

"Two Town Board members had signed private leases even as they negotiated with the companies to establish a zoning law to permit the towers. A third board member, the Tacys said, bragged about the commissions he would earn by selling concrete to build tower bases. And, the Tacys said, when they showed up at a Town Board meeting to complain, they were told to get lost." There are several other examples elsewhere. Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has taken over an investigation begun by a local prosecutor, who told Confessore, "It really is renewable energy gone wrong. ... It's a modern-day gold rush."

"Cuomo is investigating whether wind companies improperly influenced local officials to get permission to build wind towers, as well as whether different companies colluded to divide up territory and avoid bidding against one another for the same land," Confessore reports, describing apparent attempts at bribery.

Legalities aside, "Families and friendships have been riven by feuds over the lease options, which can be worth tens of thousands of dollars a year in towns where the median household income may hover around $30,000. Rumors circulate about neighbors who can suddenly afford new tractors or trucks. Opponents of the wind towers even say they have received threats; one local activist said that on two occasions, she had found her windshield bashed in." (Read more)

UPDATE, Aug. 19: Similiar tales are recounted by Helen O'Neill for The Associated Press, in a story cited by Bill Bishop of the Daily Yonder, who writes, "In the past week there have been a number of stories that have found the dark side of wind." He also cites a story from Richard Cockle of Newhouse News Service saying that living near a wind farm "can cause a variety of physical ailments."

U.S. export boom helps farms, not factories

Farm products are part of a boom in U.S. exports, "the bright spot this year in an otherwise bleak economy," writes Louis Uchitelle of The New York Times. But that has been caused partly by rising prices and by the decline in the dollar's value. "Both trends, however, have recently reversed, suggesting that the rise in commodity sales will not be sustained, and that exports might shrink, weakening the economy another notch."

Also, "While the surge in commodities is a welcome relief, it is an unreliable prop for an industrial power," Uchitelle writes. "Manufacturing jobs are continuing to disappear by the tens of thousands and factories are closing."

Uchitelle writes from Indianapolis about corn farmers John and David Hardin, a father and son who are "counting on exports to absorb their harvest. ... The Hardins have every acre of their mostly rented land planted with corn, soybeans and wheat — devoting more acreage to corn in anticipation of huge demand. The nation’s corn exports, measured in tons, have risen nearly 20 percent this year, outstripping the gains of nearly every other commodity." (Read more)

Tests for rural journalism, from a thoughtful editor

When Ben Ezzell, editor and publisher of The Canadian Record in Canadian, Tex., died in 1993, his daughter and successor, Laurie Ezzell Brown, left, kept up the paper's hard-nosed attitude and quickly had a run-in with the local school superintendent, who responded to her editorial criticism by saying “Your daddy wouldn’t have done it that way.”

Brown recalled this month, “After a long, deep breath, I said, ‘Maybe not, but he would have been the first to defend my doing it that way.’ And there is the sweet kernel of truth. There is no one way, one absolute dead certain way, to do it. But there are tests of whether and how the job of community journalism must be done.”

Brown outlined her tests during a panel discussion, "Case Studies of Courage in Community Journalism," at this month's convention of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications in Chicago. It was one of the more inspiring commentaries on rural journalism we have ever heard. Here is part of it, starting with her tests:

"Is it true and factual? Have I asked the right questions? Have I given the truth every chance to tell itself? Have I listened?

"Is it honest? — which, strangely, is different from truth, in that it demands a gut check, a moment of naked reckoning with oneself. Can I live with the consequences? Am I willing to accept the costs? When I am accosted in the produce section of the grocery store, bleary-eyed from lack of sleep and longing for the comfort of a home-cooked meal, can I defend it?

"Is it fair? Did I choose a truth and then find the facts I needed to support it? Or did the truth find me? When the young woman sits weeping at my desk for an hour begging me not to report the story that will change her life, can I justify what I am about to do? And when she flings rocks through my window the following night, can I walk away from anger?

"The hardest part of community journalism is also the most rewarding part. We live within what we write about. Either we know what we report, or we are called on the carpet within hours, if not minutes, to account for our mistakes. We look our stories in the face every day. We meet them eye to eye. And if we deny their humanity, if we feel no compassion, then we have failed to grasp the story’s essence, and will fail the story’s telling." For Brown’s full remarks, click here.

In introducing the panel, as director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, I said, "It is more difficult to practice ethical, hard-nosed journalism in smaller communities than it is in big cities. We all know the reasons: personal connections, organizational obligations, business pressures and so on. But if community journalism is to be more than the red-headed stepchild of our craft, if it is to fulfill the promise of the First Amendment for its readers, viewers and listeners, courage is essential. And one thing the Institute tries to do is lift up and exalt those community journalists who show courage – in order to inspire other community journalists and to remind the journalism community at large about the special challenges that face journalists who try to make the First Amendment a living document at the local level."

The panel began with a video about Tom and Pat Gish, publishers of The Mountain Eagle in Whitesburg, Ky. For more on the Gishes, click here. They inspired the meteoric career of Homer Marcum, who was editor and publisher of The Martin Countian in Inez, Ky., in the 1970s and 1980s and spoke about them on the panel. Speaking after Brown was Bernard “Buddy” Stein, right, until recently the editor and co-publisher of The Riverdale Press in The Bronx, N.Y. For details of the panel discussion, click here.

McCain scores most points in faith-oriented forum, but Obama probably helped himself too

As Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama prepared for their back-to-back interviews by pastor Rick Warren at his Saddleback Church in Orange County, Calif., NBC News Political Director Chuck Todd wrote in his "First Read" column: "This is a HUGE opportunity for Obama. Time and again, he has been more open to talking about his relationship with God, while McCain has been more reticent on the topic." And on CNN before the first interview, Tony Perkins of the socially conservative Family Research Council said "Obama has the most to gain," and McCain "needs to shore up his support among evangelicals." (Photo by Monica Almeida, The New York Times)

But the interviews were not so much inquiries about faith as they were conversations on big issues like war, taxes and education. And while Obama was more of a conversationalist with Warren, McCain directed his remarks at the audience, and scored repeatedly with plain, direct statements. Obama was more about nuance. For example, when asked if evil exists and of so how it should be dealt with, McCain chose the option, "Defeat it" and Obama said evil can't be eliminated. "That is God’s task," he said, "but we can be soldiers in the process."

That was one of many times the candidates dropped in religious references. McCain had twice as many applause lines as Obama, and not because the church crowd was out of sync with Obama on social issues; three of his dozen or so applause lines came during his discussion of marriage. (Obama was interviewed first; McCain was in a room where he could not hear the conversation, but they shook hands between interviews, making this their first joint appearance.)

While McCain got better reviews and likely gained the most, by solidifying his conservative evangelical base, Obama also helped himself. For many viewers, this was their best chance yet to take the measure of a man many of them are not quite sure about. And because many evangelicals are moderate, Obama's mix of faith and issue positions probably helped him with such voters.

That is more likely outside the South, where the Southern Baptist Convention (once a doctinare supporter of the separation of church and state) and many of its churches have become powerful messengers of social conservatism and activist politics. (Counties where Southern Baptists dominate are shown in red on map from the Glenmary Center.) CNN's Dana Bash said before the interviews that Obama's main targets are evangelicals in small-town Ohio and Pennsylvania. Those are big, Northern states where he did not do well in primaries, and Pennsylvania was on his mind when he made the famous comment about bitter small-town voters.

Bash displayed her lack of understanding of the candidates' religion when she said McCain "belongs to a Baptist church, but has not been baptized yet." That's a Southern Baptist church in Phoenix she was talking about, and you don't join one of those churches without being baptized -- or transferring your membership from a church that baptized you.

UPDATE, Aug. 18: Obama made misleading claims about ethics and abortion, and McCain exaggerated his tax-cut proposals, says Annenberg Political Fact Check.

New law designed to help rural higher education

The new federal higher-education law, which President Bush signed Thursday, includes "provisions supported by a rural coalition of college presidents," reports the Madison Daily Leader of South Dakota, citing a letter from the state Board of Regents.

The new measures "are intended to support rural education by increasing enrollment and graduation rates at rural-serving institutions," the Leader reports in a non-bylined story. "Rural colleges and universities may use the funds to provide counseling and outreach to students in rural high schools, increase enrollment of non-traditional students from rural areas, and strengthen their academic programs."

"For the first time, the federal government has specifically recognized the unique challenges faced by rural-serving institutions of higher education," South Dakota State University President Douglas Knowlton said. He said nearly 30 percent of all public, four-year colleges are in rural or geographically remote communities, and enrollment rates there are generally lower than in cities and suburbs. (Read more)