Since leaving office former West Virginia Gov. Bob Wise has become a vocal advocate for rural education as the president of the Alliance for Excellent Education, but his recent comments about potential solutions to the rural brain drain may strike some rural advocates as controversial. When asked what rural communities could do to ensure that students get the education they need without encouraging them to move away, if that education over-qualifies them for local jobs, "Wise answered that we have no other choice -- that educating kids to their potential is the right thing to do," reports Catlin Howley, senior manager for education and research in the Appalachian Regional Office of ICF International. "He cited the development of highways as an analogy; interstates bring people in, but people also use them to leave."
Writing in the Daily Yonder, Howley continued: "Essentially, Wise said, it’s a risk we have to take. That risk, plus broadband, he added, might save rural communities," Howley writes. That approach didn't satisfy Howley, nor did Wise's assertion that many rural students return home after college. "It wasn’t the full back-and-forth dialogue I wanted," Howley writes. "If it had been, I would have cited some data about how rare it is for formerly rural kids to return and inspire real economic development." Wise's comments came at a meeting sponsored by the Education Alliance, the nation’s only statewide public-education fund.
Howley points to promising research suggesting "place-based approaches, which pair local curriculums with community development efforts," or that "Regional partnerships and school-district cooperatives can be used to achieve economies of scale that allow rural communities and schools to develop and fund local solutions to the twinned issues of economic decline and outmigration." Not hearing such from Wise, she writes: "The lack of any policy suggestion was disheartening, especially from a local boy, someone who should know what the rural 'brain drain' is doing to his home state. My purpose here is certainly not to bash Governor Wise. I do, however, want to point up what our exchange suggests—that we rural education activists probably need to do more education and to be more active." (Read more)
Thursday, June 03, 2010
Annual 'Top 10' list of 'most endangered' rivers hits on hydraulic fracturing, mountaintop removal
Concerns about water pollution resulting from hydraulic fracturing have landed the Upper Delaware River in New York and Pennsylvania on the annual list of the most endangered U.S. rivers. the environmental group American Rivers releases a "Top 10" list each year with the goal of "focusing attention on environmental threats to waterways," Paul Quinlan of Environment & Energy Daily reports. The list isn't really a top 10, because there are few repeats from year to year; it's a public-relations device. Of the 10 rivers named this year, two are said to be threatened by "fracking," the natural gas drilling process that blasts millions of gallons of water, sand and chemicals far underground to free trapped natural gas.
"We need to study the questions of the risk to the drinking water of 17 million people before we wind up with a Gulf-like disaster," Andrew Fahlund, American Rivers' senior vice president of conservation, said in a comparison between fracking operations and the BP PLC oil blowout in the Gulf of Mexico. (Sounds like a stretch to us, but, hey, that's PR for you.) West Virginia, North Carolina, Iowa, Colorado, Oregon, Idaho and Alabama also had rivers listed as endangered. Three rivers were listed for threats from proposed dams. (Read more, subscription required)
Ongoing mountaintop removal in the Twentymile and Peters Creek watersheds was cited as a major threat to the Gauley River in West Virginia, Ken Ward Jr. of The Charleston Gazette reports. The Monongahela, which also runs through West Virginia, was listed as threatened by fracking by the report. "The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and cooperating agencies must stop the permitting of mine activity that harms the clean water and natural areas that are essential to the health and heritage of Appalachian communities," American Rivers said. (Read more)
"We need to study the questions of the risk to the drinking water of 17 million people before we wind up with a Gulf-like disaster," Andrew Fahlund, American Rivers' senior vice president of conservation, said in a comparison between fracking operations and the BP PLC oil blowout in the Gulf of Mexico. (Sounds like a stretch to us, but, hey, that's PR for you.) West Virginia, North Carolina, Iowa, Colorado, Oregon, Idaho and Alabama also had rivers listed as endangered. Three rivers were listed for threats from proposed dams. (Read more, subscription required)
Ongoing mountaintop removal in the Twentymile and Peters Creek watersheds was cited as a major threat to the Gauley River in West Virginia, Ken Ward Jr. of The Charleston Gazette reports. The Monongahela, which also runs through West Virginia, was listed as threatened by fracking by the report. "The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and cooperating agencies must stop the permitting of mine activity that harms the clean water and natural areas that are essential to the health and heritage of Appalachian communities," American Rivers said. (Read more)
Database reveals homicide-case closure rates, county by county and agency by agency
The problem is worst in big cities, but a spot check of rural counties shows some relatively low closure rates. For example, the sheriff's department in White County in Middle Tennessee has solved only 12 of 22 homicides from 1980 through 2008; the police department in the county seat of Sparta has solved five out of six. But overall, the data should please rural cops. Hargrove told Al Tompkins of The Poynter Institute, "Police in rural areas tend to be much more efficient in solving murders than authorities in major urban areas. That's because rural police often personally know the active criminals in their area and have fewer murders to solve, giving them more time to work a case."
Hargrove told Tompkins that the story can be (and probably should be) localized "anywhere in America. Reporters can see homicide clearance data for their communities at our site. Then they have to solve the mystery: Why is the homicide solution rate lower (or higher) than the national average? Why (generally) have murders become so much harder to solve in recent years than in the 1980s or 1990s?" In the interview and his story, Hargrove suggests ways closure rates can be improved. (Read more) To use the database, click here.
Wednesday, June 02, 2010
BP told feds it could handle a blowout; Lexington paper sees parallels between bayous and coalfield
BP Exploration and Production told the federal government that it had "proven equipment and technology" to deal with uncontrolled releases of oil like that from the blowout in the Gulf of Mexico, Mike Soraghan of Energy and Environment News reports. "It didn't. Still, the Minerals Management Service took the company's word for it."
Soraghan adds, "BP isn't the only company to offer such blithe, and some say false, assurances. Most of the three dozen or so companies that kept drilling in deep water in the Gulf after the Deepwater Horizon rig sank got their regulatory approvals based on documents stating they could easily mop up spills, even gushers many times the stated size of the BP spill. But there's no indication they have any better method than BP." (Read more; subscription required)
The Lexington Herald-Leader sees some sad similarities in the Gulf oil blowout (please stop calling it a spill; it's not!) and the coal industry in Appalachia:
Soraghan adds, "BP isn't the only company to offer such blithe, and some say false, assurances. Most of the three dozen or so companies that kept drilling in deep water in the Gulf after the Deepwater Horizon rig sank got their regulatory approvals based on documents stating they could easily mop up spills, even gushers many times the stated size of the BP spill. But there's no indication they have any better method than BP." (Read more; subscription required)
The Lexington Herald-Leader sees some sad similarities in the Gulf oil blowout (please stop calling it a spill; it's not!) and the coal industry in Appalachia:
"The people of the Appalachian Mountains and Louisiana bayous have a lot more in common than fiddle tunes and distinctive accents," the editorial continues. "More than most, they are called on to sacrifice to satisfy this nation's appetite for fossil fuels. And more than most, they are economically dependent on energy production.
- Corporate management that puts production above all.
- Cozy relationships between regulators and the regulated.
- Government agencies that behave more as servants of industry than enforcers of the law.
- Profound damage to the environment, people and culture of a region
"Something else that the regions have in common: The easily accessible reserves of oil and coal have been depleted. One reason the BP well has been so hard to plug is because it's a mile underwater and reaches five miles beneath the ocean's floor. Extracting what remains of this country's coal and oil will require ever greater risks to human life and the environment. Add that to all the other reasons for aggressively promoting conservation and renewable energy." (Read more)
Anhydrous ammonia theft for meth production poses risks; three arrests in one county in a week
Earlier this month we reported the rise of thefts of anhydrous ammonia for methamphetamine production, and recent arrests in one small Southern Kentucky county reflect that trend and the dangers that accompany it. "The arrests of three men in a week in Simpson County, accused of stealing anhydrous ammonia tanks to use for making methamphetamine, highlight the bold steps makers of the drug will take to secure its ingredients - and the dangers involved for law enforcement and suspects alike," Justin Story of the Bowling Green Daily News reports. Thefts often involve slipping a bicycle inner tube over the nozzle of a tank and transferring the ammonia from its tank to another container.
When farmers use tanks they don't realize have been tampered with, they face additional injury risk from the volatile gas. "It just seems like they just don’t care if somebody’s watching them or not," Jerry Smith, director of the South Central Kentucky Drug Task Force, said of people who attempt to steal the tanks from farms. The chemical can be dangerous when inhaled or handled improperly.
The Environmental Protection Agency reports "anhydrous ammonia stored in a makeshift container exposed to high temperatures can expand and cause an explosion," Story writes. In addition to farms, other retailers have been targeted for thefts of the chemical. "We’re in a pretty remote location in a rural setting, though we’re well-lit at night," Jay Graves, key account consultant for Schochoh Mills, a Logan County farm supply store, told Story. "When we start seeing a problem, I’ll let the sheriff know we’ve got thefts going on and they’ll patrol the area more and set up here on the property and try to catch them in the act." (Read more) BTW, that's pronounced "Shock-oh."
When farmers use tanks they don't realize have been tampered with, they face additional injury risk from the volatile gas. "It just seems like they just don’t care if somebody’s watching them or not," Jerry Smith, director of the South Central Kentucky Drug Task Force, said of people who attempt to steal the tanks from farms. The chemical can be dangerous when inhaled or handled improperly.
The Environmental Protection Agency reports "anhydrous ammonia stored in a makeshift container exposed to high temperatures can expand and cause an explosion," Story writes. In addition to farms, other retailers have been targeted for thefts of the chemical. "We’re in a pretty remote location in a rural setting, though we’re well-lit at night," Jay Graves, key account consultant for Schochoh Mills, a Logan County farm supply store, told Story. "When we start seeing a problem, I’ll let the sheriff know we’ve got thefts going on and they’ll patrol the area more and set up here on the property and try to catch them in the act." (Read more) BTW, that's pronounced "Shock-oh."
Mine disaster puts light, heat on inspection process
The April explosion at Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia that killed 29 coal miners has focused fresh attention on the tension between mine safety and production, and the conflicts miners can feel. Miner Randy Lester works at Massey's Tiller No. 1 mine in at Red Ash in Southwest Virginia, which some have described as less safe that Upper Big Branch. He told Kimberly Kindy of The Washington Post that inspectors, who chronicled more than 625 serious offenses at the mine over the past three years, were being "nitpicky," Kindy reports. Lester fears government regulation of the mine could eventually cost him his job.
The injury rate at Tiller is 40 percent higher than at the Upper Big Branch and twice the national average. "Any day now, a judge with the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission is expected to rule on whether some of Tiller's contested violations are warranted," Kindy writes. "If they are upheld, the mine will be slapped with a 'pattern of violations' status, giving inspectors new authority to demand that work be halted in the mine until dangerous conditions are corrected." Still "mine's owners and operators have devoted equal effort to fighting off the sanctions," Kindy reports.
"It's a death sentence for a mine," Dave Kramer, president of Knox Creek Coal, a Massey subsidiary that runs the Tiller mine, said of the pattern of violations ruling. "To prove that a mine qualifies for a POV status, the [Mine Safety and Health Administration] uses an elaborate scorecard to evaluate safety conditions in 10 categories," Kindy writes. "Using a mathematical formula, the agency determines whether a mine qualifies for the toughest sanctions, based largely on the accumulated number of 'significant and substantial' violations." Meanwhile a mine operator has numerous options, including fixing potential problems during a 90-day notice period or contesting violations if they fall under certain categories, to delay or avoid a POV ruling.
"With this model, they are telling the mines to not pay too much attention to the fines and citations because they can always put them off with appeals," former U.S. Rep. Ken Hechler of West Virginia, author of the first federal mine-safety law, told Kindy. "These laws will never make a difference if there isn't a will to enforce safety instead of creating programs that can be manipulated." But the West Virginia disaster may be changing that inaction, as regulators are "working on legislation to shore up enforcement tools and give the MSHA greater power to shut down hazardous mines and require safety overhauls before they can reopen," Kindy reports. (Read more)
The injury rate at Tiller is 40 percent higher than at the Upper Big Branch and twice the national average. "Any day now, a judge with the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission is expected to rule on whether some of Tiller's contested violations are warranted," Kindy writes. "If they are upheld, the mine will be slapped with a 'pattern of violations' status, giving inspectors new authority to demand that work be halted in the mine until dangerous conditions are corrected." Still "mine's owners and operators have devoted equal effort to fighting off the sanctions," Kindy reports.
"It's a death sentence for a mine," Dave Kramer, president of Knox Creek Coal, a Massey subsidiary that runs the Tiller mine, said of the pattern of violations ruling. "To prove that a mine qualifies for a POV status, the [Mine Safety and Health Administration] uses an elaborate scorecard to evaluate safety conditions in 10 categories," Kindy writes. "Using a mathematical formula, the agency determines whether a mine qualifies for the toughest sanctions, based largely on the accumulated number of 'significant and substantial' violations." Meanwhile a mine operator has numerous options, including fixing potential problems during a 90-day notice period or contesting violations if they fall under certain categories, to delay or avoid a POV ruling.
"With this model, they are telling the mines to not pay too much attention to the fines and citations because they can always put them off with appeals," former U.S. Rep. Ken Hechler of West Virginia, author of the first federal mine-safety law, told Kindy. "These laws will never make a difference if there isn't a will to enforce safety instead of creating programs that can be manipulated." But the West Virginia disaster may be changing that inaction, as regulators are "working on legislation to shore up enforcement tools and give the MSHA greater power to shut down hazardous mines and require safety overhauls before they can reopen," Kindy reports. (Read more)
Coal company looks to trap methane from mines before government regulation increases
Consol Energy Inc., once known as Consolidation Coal Co., is working on a project to trap and consume methane gas, a mining byproduct that can trigger underground explosions and add significantly to global warming. "Consol's project is one of only a handful around the world, but is expected to be replicated as mining companies seek to capture greenhouse gas in order to sell carbon-offset credits to utilities and others," Kris Maher of The Wall Street Journal reports. Similar projects have been launched in China and Australia, the world's No. 1 and No. 4 coal producers.
"What really triggered this project and moved it forward was the potential to sell carbon offsets," Steve Winburg, Consol's vice president for research and development, told Maher. Consol plans to sell carbon credits to a utility to cover the project's $5 million cost and expects to turn a profit on it as early as this year. The project, which is run with Consol development partner Verdeo Group Inc., is located at Consol's McElroy Mine south of Wheeling, W.Va. Each year it is expected to capture and consume methane with the greenhouse-gas potential of 230,000 tons of carbon dioxide.
"Coal mines have traditionally vented methane into the atmosphere, which raises environmental concerns, because it is 21 times more potent as a global warming gas than carbon dioxide," Maher writes. "Coal mine ventilation systems are the biggest source of methane emissions, accounting for 81 billion cubic feet, or 51 percent of coal-mine methane emissions in 2006, according to the Environmental Protection Agency." Luke Popovich, a spokesman for the National Mining Association, said some in the industry believe the relatively low priority the federal government has placed on regulating methane may "be about to change." (Read more)
"What really triggered this project and moved it forward was the potential to sell carbon offsets," Steve Winburg, Consol's vice president for research and development, told Maher. Consol plans to sell carbon credits to a utility to cover the project's $5 million cost and expects to turn a profit on it as early as this year. The project, which is run with Consol development partner Verdeo Group Inc., is located at Consol's McElroy Mine south of Wheeling, W.Va. Each year it is expected to capture and consume methane with the greenhouse-gas potential of 230,000 tons of carbon dioxide.
"Coal mines have traditionally vented methane into the atmosphere, which raises environmental concerns, because it is 21 times more potent as a global warming gas than carbon dioxide," Maher writes. "Coal mine ventilation systems are the biggest source of methane emissions, accounting for 81 billion cubic feet, or 51 percent of coal-mine methane emissions in 2006, according to the Environmental Protection Agency." Luke Popovich, a spokesman for the National Mining Association, said some in the industry believe the relatively low priority the federal government has placed on regulating methane may "be about to change." (Read more)
Western N.C. farmers bring back hops as a crop
Production of hops, an essential ingredient in beer, was driven out of the Eastern U.S. by mold in the 1920s, but a new North Carolina project is looking to see if farmers could once again make it a viable crop. "N.C. State University researchers in Raleigh and a handful of farmers in the mountains are growing experimental plots of hops, the cone-shaped flower clusters that brewers add to beer for bitterness, aroma and as a natural preservative," Jay Price of the Charlotte Observer reports. The researchers received a $28,000 from the Golden LEAF Foundation, which uses earnings from North Carolina's tobacco-settlement money to finance projects aimed at developing rural economies.
Most domestic hop production now comes from arid parts of the Pacific Northwest, Price reports, but several farmers in western North Carolina began planting the crop due to a rise in hops prices several years ago and are expecting to reap their first significant harvest this year. "We'd be interested in about as much as we could get our hands on," Brooks Hamaker of Durham brewery Fullsteam said. Fullsteam plans to emphasize locally grown ingredients such as sweet potatoes, scuppernong grapes and persimmons.
"It's unbelievable how much interest this has generated," said Black Mountain farmer Van Burnette, who has planted a plot of about a fifth of an acre. "I've had more than 100 people here on one tour alone, and I get calls all the time from people who are thinking about growing it." Burnette explained if the crop is successful there is a plentiful local market for farmers with nearly 150 breweries within 200 miles of his farm. (Read more)
Most domestic hop production now comes from arid parts of the Pacific Northwest, Price reports, but several farmers in western North Carolina began planting the crop due to a rise in hops prices several years ago and are expecting to reap their first significant harvest this year. "We'd be interested in about as much as we could get our hands on," Brooks Hamaker of Durham brewery Fullsteam said. Fullsteam plans to emphasize locally grown ingredients such as sweet potatoes, scuppernong grapes and persimmons.
"It's unbelievable how much interest this has generated," said Black Mountain farmer Van Burnette, who has planted a plot of about a fifth of an acre. "I've had more than 100 people here on one tour alone, and I get calls all the time from people who are thinking about growing it." Burnette explained if the crop is successful there is a plentiful local market for farmers with nearly 150 breweries within 200 miles of his farm. (Read more)
Lack of dentistry for kids really bad in rural Wisc.
In February we reported a study revealing that one in five U.S. children go without dental care every year, many because few or no local dentists accept patients covered by Medicaid, the federal-state medical program for the poor and disabled. The problem appears particularly bad in rural Wisconsin. "Nine of 10 dentists in the state accept few or no Medicaid patients, mostly because they say the state pays too little for the care," David Wahlberg of the Wisconsin State Journal reports. "Rural areas have only about half as many dentists per person as urban areas do, making the search for dental care even harder in small towns."
State health officials told the Madison newspaper that the shortage, "combined with low fluoride levels in many rural drinking water supplies, means more tooth loss and untreated decay for many rural residents." Greg Nycz, executive director of the Family Health Center of Marshfield, which serves much of rural Northern Wisconsin, told the paper, "Of all of the holes [in health care], dental care is the biggest and the deepest." A network of federally funded dental clinics designed to serve Medicaid patients and the uninsured has emerged in the state, but many clinics have been overwhelmed by demand, Wahlberg reports.
"Most of these patients are a year-long project," Dr. Bob Traul, one of three dentists at the clinic in Darlington, told Wahlberg. "It's going to take a while to get them all back." While the lack of dental care among Medicaid patients is predominately an urban problem in Wisconsin, it also has rural roots. "The 10 counties without any private dentist who provided a significant amount of Medicaid care last year are rural: Calumet, Clark, Florence, Forest, Jackson, Lincoln, Menominee, Pepin, Taylor and Vilas," Wahlberg writes. "When we see someone on Medicaid, we lose money," Dr. Kent Vandehaar, a dentist in Chippewa Falls who is president of the Wisconsin Dental Association, told Whalberg. "We can only afford to do that so much." (Read more)
State health officials told the Madison newspaper that the shortage, "combined with low fluoride levels in many rural drinking water supplies, means more tooth loss and untreated decay for many rural residents." Greg Nycz, executive director of the Family Health Center of Marshfield, which serves much of rural Northern Wisconsin, told the paper, "Of all of the holes [in health care], dental care is the biggest and the deepest." A network of federally funded dental clinics designed to serve Medicaid patients and the uninsured has emerged in the state, but many clinics have been overwhelmed by demand, Wahlberg reports.
"Most of these patients are a year-long project," Dr. Bob Traul, one of three dentists at the clinic in Darlington, told Wahlberg. "It's going to take a while to get them all back." While the lack of dental care among Medicaid patients is predominately an urban problem in Wisconsin, it also has rural roots. "The 10 counties without any private dentist who provided a significant amount of Medicaid care last year are rural: Calumet, Clark, Florence, Forest, Jackson, Lincoln, Menominee, Pepin, Taylor and Vilas," Wahlberg writes. "When we see someone on Medicaid, we lose money," Dr. Kent Vandehaar, a dentist in Chippewa Falls who is president of the Wisconsin Dental Association, told Whalberg. "We can only afford to do that so much." (Read more)
'1 For All' campaign to promote First Amendment; needs help from media outlets starting July 1
By Ken Paulson, PresidentNewseum and First Amendment Center
Every July 4, we celebrate the Founding Fathers who gave America the gift of liberty.
Except that they didn’t.
Actually, the operative word is “fathers.” These gentlemen did a fine job of building a nation founded on freedom – unless you happened to be a woman, a slave or poor.
For all the poetic flourish of the Declaration of Independence, the most powerful passage in America’s history can be found in the First Amendment to the Constitution. The five freedoms guaranteed there gave Americans the right to speak out against injustice, to report about inequality, to protest and petition, and to draw strength from freedom of faith.
In the centuries that followed this nation’s founding, the First Amendment was used to free the slaves, extend the vote to women and ensure equal protection under the laws.
Yet despite its pivotal role in making America what it is today, there are no fireworks celebrating the First Amendment. The anniversary of its ratification on Dec. 15 goes largely unnoticed.
More tellingly, most Americans have no idea what the First Amendment says. Surveys indicate that only one American in 25 can name the freedoms of the First Amendment and that a majority – when pressed – can come up with only one, typically freedom of speech. It’s Constitutional illiteracy of the highest order.
The truth is that we don’t do a very good job of standing up for the First Amendment. Its freedoms are truly the cornerstone of democracy and make America the special nation it is.
It’s time we said that. Publicly. Passionately. Over and over again.
That’s the core concept behind 1 For All, a nationwide campaign to remind the public that there’s one amendment that we all use daily. And it’s the one that truly guarantees freedom for all.
1 For All is the collaborative effort of educators, artists, journalists, lawyers, librarians and many more who believe that the American public would benefit from a greater understanding of the First Amendment and the need to protect all voices, views and faiths.
With the help of the Weber Shandwick agency, we’ve crafted ads that celebrate freedom in America and the ways we exercise those freedoms in our daily lives. The First Amendment gives us freedom of speech, but it also provides freedom to tweet. It protects political speeches, but it also guarantees our right to sing, dance and perform.
In fact, the First Amendment enriches our lives on a daily basis. That’s the essence of 1 For All. The campaign – which will launch on July 1 – is defined by these guiding principles:
* 1 For All is non-partisan: At a time of deep political polarization, we choose not to take sides. In fact, a shared commitment to freedom of speech, press and faith should unify this nation. Organizations of all political stripes are welcome to support 1 For All but the campaign will steer clear of partisan content.
* It’s all about education: America’s teachers would like to do a better job of teaching about the First Amendment, but they often lack the resources they need. 1 For All will provide educational materials, course content and study guides for teachers of grades 1-12. In addition, 1 For All and its Liberty Tree Initiative will sponsor campus festivals celebrating and exploring First Amendment freedoms.
* 1 For All is interactive: There’s no point in celebrating free expression without encouraging some of it. Students and others will be encouraged to submit photos, videos, songs and stories that reflect the value of freedom in America.
* The focus is on all five freedoms: America’s news media are quick to defend freedom of the press and churches embrace freedom of faith, but these freedoms are interdependent and deserve the full support of all Americans. We can’t pick and choose the freedoms we like.
* We need a little help from our friends: Marketing is expensive and an organization determined not to engage in political advocacy or take a partisan position faces an uphill battle in raising the funds needed to spread the word. So we’re not going to try. Instead, we’re going to provide the ad campaign to news media, First Amendment groups, educational organizations, performing arts groups and anyone else who believes in this cause. We ask that these 1 For All partners use one of the ads on the July 1 launch date and then publish additional ads whenever space allows. 1 For All is not asking for money; we’re asking for media.
There’s extraordinary power in repeatedly marketing a message to the American people. “Got Milk” proved that. And every generation understands that “Only you can prevent forest fires.”
1 For All is an opportunity for those who believe in the importance of free expression to share one overriding message with the American people: It’s not a coincidence that the strongest, most dynamic, most creative and most ambitious nation in the history of the planet is also the most free.
One amendment. Freedom for all.
For more information about “1 for All,” and how your to join the campaign, visit http://1forall.us.
Tuesday, June 01, 2010
'Justified' renewed for second season; writers tell Kentucky paper they want to visit the state
Season one of FX's Kentucky crime drama Justified still has two episodes remaining, but the show has already been picked up for a second season. The show is supposedly set in Kentucky, mostly in Lexington and Harlan, but the creators didn't have time to visit the state before filming season one. The writers are planning a trip to Harlan later this summer, Jason Edwards of The Harlan Daily Enterprise reports. "We will see if FX and Sony will give us any money to go," executive producer Graham Yost told Edwards.If the trip is approved, writers would spend a few days with the U.S. marshal's office in Lexington, where the show's protagonist Raylan Givens (played by Timothy Olyphant, above) works, then visit Harlan. "You know, giving this sort of newer era where a lot of people have got TiVO and stuff like that, we feel pretty good about our opening (season), and I think our numbers (ratings) have been creeping back up," Yost said. "The best part is we got a second season. So, we get to tell more stories."
Author Elmore Leonard, who created Givens, is also working on a new short story set in Kentucky, Edwards reports. You can read the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues' review of the show here on the "Rural Representations and Reviews" page. (Read more)
Will feds' support of 'buy local' hurt big farmers?
What began as a search for local produce may be turning into a political statement about the future of agriculture. Buying local could become in its own tiny way "part of a growing debate between food producers large and small over what the American food system should look like and how government might reshape it," Roger Buddenberg of the Omaha World-Herald reports. As Congress prepares to shape the 2012 farm bill, the emphasis on local food will be a major issue.
"Traditional, large-scale farmers fret that they will be slighted in favor of the 'locavore' growers who are the mainstay of upscale grocers and urban farmers markets," Buddenberg writes. "One focus of big-farmer fears is 'Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food,' a new grant program aimed at 'better connecting consumers with local producers,' according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture." Meanwhile, USDA and the Justice Department are launching investigations into claims that large agriculture companies have too much control over the industry.
While praising Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food's goal of teaching consumers about where their food comes from, Republican Sens. John McCain of Arizona, Saxby Chambliss of Georgia and Pat Roberts of Kansas complained it was "stinting conventional farmers, who grow the most food, in order to aid 'small, hobbyist and organic producers whose customers generally consist of affluent patrons at urban farmers markets,'" Buddenberg writes.
Buying local has taken different meanings for different people. "It can mean food grown or processed within, say, 50 miles of the consumer," Buddenberg writes. "Or it can mean food raised in a certain way — without pesticides, for instance — or by a certain kind of grower, such as a family farmer." Still to others, buying local just means "I'd rather buy my tomatoes from the nice guy," Brad Lubben, an assistant professor of agricultural economics at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, said. While local food may continue to grow in popularity, Lubben cautions that the future of agriculture will likely consist of some mixture of large and small producers. (Read more)
"Traditional, large-scale farmers fret that they will be slighted in favor of the 'locavore' growers who are the mainstay of upscale grocers and urban farmers markets," Buddenberg writes. "One focus of big-farmer fears is 'Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food,' a new grant program aimed at 'better connecting consumers with local producers,' according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture." Meanwhile, USDA and the Justice Department are launching investigations into claims that large agriculture companies have too much control over the industry.
While praising Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food's goal of teaching consumers about where their food comes from, Republican Sens. John McCain of Arizona, Saxby Chambliss of Georgia and Pat Roberts of Kansas complained it was "stinting conventional farmers, who grow the most food, in order to aid 'small, hobbyist and organic producers whose customers generally consist of affluent patrons at urban farmers markets,'" Buddenberg writes.
Buying local has taken different meanings for different people. "It can mean food grown or processed within, say, 50 miles of the consumer," Buddenberg writes. "Or it can mean food raised in a certain way — without pesticides, for instance — or by a certain kind of grower, such as a family farmer." Still to others, buying local just means "I'd rather buy my tomatoes from the nice guy," Brad Lubben, an assistant professor of agricultural economics at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, said. While local food may continue to grow in popularity, Lubben cautions that the future of agriculture will likely consist of some mixture of large and small producers. (Read more)
FDA eyes controls on ethanol makers' antibiotics
Concerns about antibiotic use in agriculture have reached the ethanol industry. "Ethanol producers have long used antibiotics to control bacteria that can contaminate the fermentation process," Phillip Brasher of the Des Moines Register reports. "But now, the Food and Drug Administration is developing a policy to regulate the use of the drugs and is conducting tests in Iowa and nationwide to determine the extent to which the antibiotics are getting into livestock feed produced by the plants."
Some ethanol producers are switching or testing alternative antimicrobial products in anticipation of possible FDA regulation. "The FDA's concern is with the potential human health hazards from using antibiotics such as penicillin and viriginiamycin that many plants use to prevent bacteria from contaminating the fermentation tanks," Brasher writes. Overuse of antibiotics has been linked to the rise of drug-resistant bacteria. An FDA spokesman said testing would continue through the end of the year.
The FDA is trying to "to determine the extent and level of antibiotic residues" in distiller's grains, the lucrative byproduct of the industry and a major source of feed for beef cattle and dairy farms, Brasher reports. Jeff Lautt, Poet LLC's executive vice president for corporate operations, said in a statement that the company is "testing antimicrobial techniques that do not involve the use of antibiotics" in case the FDA further restricts the use of those drugs. (Read more)
Some ethanol producers are switching or testing alternative antimicrobial products in anticipation of possible FDA regulation. "The FDA's concern is with the potential human health hazards from using antibiotics such as penicillin and viriginiamycin that many plants use to prevent bacteria from contaminating the fermentation tanks," Brasher writes. Overuse of antibiotics has been linked to the rise of drug-resistant bacteria. An FDA spokesman said testing would continue through the end of the year.
The FDA is trying to "to determine the extent and level of antibiotic residues" in distiller's grains, the lucrative byproduct of the industry and a major source of feed for beef cattle and dairy farms, Brasher reports. Jeff Lautt, Poet LLC's executive vice president for corporate operations, said in a statement that the company is "testing antimicrobial techniques that do not involve the use of antibiotics" in case the FDA further restricts the use of those drugs. (Read more)
Alabama loosens regulations to hunt wild hogs
In February we reported the proliferation of wild swine had reached all but six states. Now one has loosened hunting regulations to deal with it. Alabama regulators allow property owners to "get permits to hunt the pigs at night using sniper sites," Jim Cook of The Dothan Eagle reports. "Property owners with permits also can use bait to attract hogs." Licensed hunters can shoot the pigs year-round with no limit.The U.S. Department of Agriculture reports feral hogs did almost $90 million in damage to farms in Alabama alone and $1.5 billion in damage to farms nationwide last year, Cook writes. Despite the new hunting regulations, Chris Jaworowski, an Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources wildlife biologist, cautions that hunting and killing the hogs isn't the best population control method. "A more time and cost-effective method of reducing the population is trapping the hogs, as it is less time consuming," Cook writes. (Read more)
Ga. papers form alliance for political reporting
With the shrinkage in coverage and circulation of metropolitan newspapers, and the cutbacks in state-capital reporters, it's up to smaller newspapers to fill the vacuum, and a group of Georgia newspapers will be doing that with a historic partnership. Georgia’s largest dailies and Tennessee's Chattanooga Times Free Press have formed the Georgia Newspaper Partnership to "provide deep reporting found nowhere else in the Southeast," the group says.
“This partnership helps put an end to the idea that there are two Georgias,” said Bert Roughton Jr., managing editor of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which has drastically reduced its circulation area in the last three years, leaving many rural areas without a metro daily. “The work that these partner newspapers do will go a long way toward providing the state’s voters a more unified voice.”
In addition to reporting projects, the parrtnership will support three statewide polls by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research. So far, this is "the only large-scale, non-partisan political polling in Georgia for 2010," the group says, announcing that the first statewide polling will appear exclusively in the partner newspapers starting on July 11. (We wouldn't have indicated when we were polling, but that's just us.)
Besides Atlanta and Chattanooga, the papers in the group include the Athens Banner-Herald, The Augusta Chronicle, the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer, The Times of Gainesville, the Georgia Times-Union (an edition of The Florida Times-Union, Jacksonville), The Telegraph of Macon, the Rome News-Tribune, the Savannah Morning News, the Statesboro Herald and the Valdosta Daily Times. Sunday readership of the group alone exceeds 2.2 million.
“As a small newspaper in southeast Georgia with very limited resources, the Georgia Newspaper Partnership will allow us to give our readers much more in-depth coverage of the governor’s race and every statewide race than we could possibly have produced on our own,” said Jim Healy, executive editor of the Statesboro Herald. “Also, it will hold candidates much more accountable than in the past.”
“This partnership helps put an end to the idea that there are two Georgias,” said Bert Roughton Jr., managing editor of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which has drastically reduced its circulation area in the last three years, leaving many rural areas without a metro daily. “The work that these partner newspapers do will go a long way toward providing the state’s voters a more unified voice.”
In addition to reporting projects, the parrtnership will support three statewide polls by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research. So far, this is "the only large-scale, non-partisan political polling in Georgia for 2010," the group says, announcing that the first statewide polling will appear exclusively in the partner newspapers starting on July 11. (We wouldn't have indicated when we were polling, but that's just us.)
Besides Atlanta and Chattanooga, the papers in the group include the Athens Banner-Herald, The Augusta Chronicle, the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer, The Times of Gainesville, the Georgia Times-Union (an edition of The Florida Times-Union, Jacksonville), The Telegraph of Macon, the Rome News-Tribune, the Savannah Morning News, the Statesboro Herald and the Valdosta Daily Times. Sunday readership of the group alone exceeds 2.2 million.
“As a small newspaper in southeast Georgia with very limited resources, the Georgia Newspaper Partnership will allow us to give our readers much more in-depth coverage of the governor’s race and every statewide race than we could possibly have produced on our own,” said Jim Healy, executive editor of the Statesboro Herald. “Also, it will hold candidates much more accountable than in the past.”
Monday, May 31, 2010
'Fish out of water' publisher sells the Point Reyes Light in rural Marin County, California
A Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper purchased by the self-annointed "Che Guevara of literary revolutionary journalism," has been sold. The Point Reyes Light in rural Marin County, Calif., has been sold to a group of journalists, educators and community leaders by former Monterey County prosecutor Robert Plotkin, reports Peter Fimrite of the San Francisco Chronicle. Plotkin, who purchased the newspaper in 2005, sold the paper for considerably less than the $500,000 he paid for it, according to several sources involved in the negotiations. Fimrite reports that the sale was financed by $350,000 in donations from 75 people, including San Francisco media financier Warren Hellman and descendents of the family that once owned The San Francisco Chronicle.
The Rural Blog reported on the newspaper during Plotkin's tenure to illustrate how important community journalism can be and how it can go wrong. Plotkin had several public disagreements with David Mitchell, who owned the paper from 1975 to 2005. Early in Plotkin's ownership, he decided to stop running all the letters submitted to the editor, unlike Mitchell. In Plotkin's parting comments, he said of his potential readership, "They wanted a newspaper that would record their births, celebrate their accomplishments and habitually congratulate them on living here."
The current ownership is a "low-profit limited liability company," known as an L3C. It will be operated like a business, with much of the revenue coming from advertising, but the profits will be invested in what Mark Dowie, chairman of the editorial advisory committee for the ownership group, Marin Media Institute, called "village journalism." (Read more)
The Rural Blog reported on the newspaper during Plotkin's tenure to illustrate how important community journalism can be and how it can go wrong. Plotkin had several public disagreements with David Mitchell, who owned the paper from 1975 to 2005. Early in Plotkin's ownership, he decided to stop running all the letters submitted to the editor, unlike Mitchell. In Plotkin's parting comments, he said of his potential readership, "They wanted a newspaper that would record their births, celebrate their accomplishments and habitually congratulate them on living here."
The current ownership is a "low-profit limited liability company," known as an L3C. It will be operated like a business, with much of the revenue coming from advertising, but the profits will be invested in what Mark Dowie, chairman of the editorial advisory committee for the ownership group, Marin Media Institute, called "village journalism." (Read more)
FCC broadband move draws bipartisan ire in Congress, probably driven by telecom lobbies
More than half of the House of Representatives has objected to the Obama administration's move to redefine broadband without the approval of Congress. "This week a total of 248 members on both sides of the aisle raised concerns about the Federal Communications Commission’s plan to reshape the regulatory framework for broadband services in order to adopt net neutrality rules," Kim Hart of Politico reports. Republicans claim the decision will reduce investment in broadband networks and kill jobs, while some Democrats feel FCC should wait for further direction from Congress.
"FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski does not need Congressional approval to adopt net neutrality, the controversial rules that would require Internet service providers to treat all Web traffic equally," Hart writes. "Genachowski, who has the support of President Barack Obama in pursuing net neutrality, has received political cover from senior Democrats, including Sen. Jay Rockefeller (W.Va.) and Rep. Henry Waxman (Calif.) to move forward." The largest Internet service providers, like AT&T, Comcast and Verizon, have been vocal in their opposition of net neutrality and said FCC action would be challenged in court.
The objections came in a flurry of letters from legislators to Genachowski. "Consumer advocates who support net neutrality say this week’s flood of letters is 'is nothing more than a demonstration of the unparalleled political and lobbying muscle of the telecommunications industry,' according to Gigi Sohn, president of Public Knowledge, a public interest group," Hart writes. Liz Rose of the public-interest group Free Press, added, "The members of Congress who signed the industry letters are attempting to drastically undercut the FCC’s ability to make a fast, affordable and open Internet available to everyone in America — and are actually taking a position against the interest of rural and low-income communities." (Read more)
"FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski does not need Congressional approval to adopt net neutrality, the controversial rules that would require Internet service providers to treat all Web traffic equally," Hart writes. "Genachowski, who has the support of President Barack Obama in pursuing net neutrality, has received political cover from senior Democrats, including Sen. Jay Rockefeller (W.Va.) and Rep. Henry Waxman (Calif.) to move forward." The largest Internet service providers, like AT&T, Comcast and Verizon, have been vocal in their opposition of net neutrality and said FCC action would be challenged in court.
The objections came in a flurry of letters from legislators to Genachowski. "Consumer advocates who support net neutrality say this week’s flood of letters is 'is nothing more than a demonstration of the unparalleled political and lobbying muscle of the telecommunications industry,' according to Gigi Sohn, president of Public Knowledge, a public interest group," Hart writes. Liz Rose of the public-interest group Free Press, added, "The members of Congress who signed the industry letters are attempting to drastically undercut the FCC’s ability to make a fast, affordable and open Internet available to everyone in America — and are actually taking a position against the interest of rural and low-income communities." (Read more)
Obama administration releases more details of National Rural Summit, to be held Thursday
Earlier this month we reported the Obama administration had finally followed through on a campaign promise to host a National Rural Summit. Now the administration has released additional details about the event, to be held at Jefferson College about 45 minutes south of St. Louis on Thursday. "Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan, and the full [U.S. Department of Agriculture] sub-cabinet will be there to continue the conversation about ways to rebuild and revitalize rural America with agricultural leaders, farmers, ranchers and community leaders who attend the day-long event," Southwest Farm Press reports.
The morning session will be "'A Dialogue on Rural America,' with panelists that include: Jefferson Keel, president of the National Congress of American Indians; James Young, mayor of Philadelphia, Miss.; Darrin Ihnen, president of the National Corn Growers Association; Steve Flick, president of Show Me Energy; John Reading, past president of the National Association of Conservation Districts; and Aneesh Chopra, chief technology officer and assistant to President Obama." The afternoon events will feature breakout sessions on building critical infrastructure for a 21st Century rural economy, expanding opportunities for rural businesses, renewable energy and biofuels, farm competiveness and productivity, forest restoration, rural recreation and private land conservation and regional food systems and nutrition. (Read more)
The selection of Missouri as the location, and the presence of at least one Missourian on the main panel, should be no surprise. Missouri is one of the best bellwether states in presidential elections. More information about the summit is available at http://www.usda.gov/ruralsummit.
The morning session will be "'A Dialogue on Rural America,' with panelists that include: Jefferson Keel, president of the National Congress of American Indians; James Young, mayor of Philadelphia, Miss.; Darrin Ihnen, president of the National Corn Growers Association; Steve Flick, president of Show Me Energy; John Reading, past president of the National Association of Conservation Districts; and Aneesh Chopra, chief technology officer and assistant to President Obama." The afternoon events will feature breakout sessions on building critical infrastructure for a 21st Century rural economy, expanding opportunities for rural businesses, renewable energy and biofuels, farm competiveness and productivity, forest restoration, rural recreation and private land conservation and regional food systems and nutrition. (Read more)
The selection of Missouri as the location, and the presence of at least one Missourian on the main panel, should be no surprise. Missouri is one of the best bellwether states in presidential elections. More information about the summit is available at http://www.usda.gov/ruralsummit.
State parks, hurt by recessionary budget cuts, look for new sources of money to stay open
"In Colorado, some parks are down to one lone ranger," Yardley writes. "In Massachusetts, a few swimming ponds are closed for lack of lifeguards. Washington has started asking motorists to donate to state parks when they register their cars; Michigan will do so this fall. Georgia is considering corporate sponsorships for its parks. In Idaho, a motorcycle group offered to mow the grass at a state park on the Snake River where it holds an annual reunion."
"Right now, we’re hanging on." Virginia Painter, a spokeswoman for Washington State Parks, which has seen revenue from the new vehicle registration donations fail to meet projections, told Yardley. Still some see a silver lining in the public outcry that has risen to protect parks as reports of volunteerism are up across the country. (Read more)
Carolina Chocolate Drops push rural black music
"Three African American multi-instrumentalists and singers who met at the Black Banjo Gathering in Boone, N.C., in 2005 formed the Carolina Chocolate Drops in tribute to old-time sound, with education as part of their goal," Amorosi writes. Chocolate Drops' concerts include in-depth stories of who wrote these often uncredited "traditional" songs and how they came into existence. In a review of the group's concert in Philidelphia last week, Amorosi concluded "The Drops proved the connection between new jack swing and old-time string band sounds and made each as vital as the other." (Read more)
For more information about the Chocolate Drops you can read our item from 2008.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Recessions caused the South, the most rural region, to lose the near-parity it had gained
Thanks in large measure to two recessions in less than 10 years, America's region with the highest percentage of rural population "ended the decade with three discernable patterns of distress: rural counties with persistent poverty, metropolitan areas with a growing population of poor or near-poor people, and manufacturing locales burdened with massive job losses." So says the first chapter of The State of the South 2010, a project a project of MDC Inc., a nonprofit based in Chapel Hill, N.C., that focuses on removing the barriers that separate people from education, jobs and opportunity, particularly in the South.
"The gap between the metro South and the rural South continues to widen. The South added 20.2 million jobs between 1987 and 2007, and nearly nine out of 10 jobs gained were located in metropolitan areas," the report says, citing Daily Yonder research showing that "Unemployment rates in rural counties have generally exceeded rates in urban and exurban counties (outer-ring suburbs) in the South."
The recession "knocked the South off an upward trajectory that had broadened the middle class and nearly closed the poverty gaps that perennially separated it from the rest of the country," MDC said in a news release, "Getting back on track will not be easy. The report points out that the millions of low-skill, low-wage jobs lost in manufacturing probably have disappeared for good, so the South will have to put itself on a new track, creating jobs that pay a middle-class wage or better." The report says the track should be guided by "ideas that emerge from civic discussions and purposeful, organized thinking that looks beyond current difficulties and addresses the inequities and disparities that will hold people back even when the current low economic tide rises again.” Future chapters of the report will examine five possible transformative strategies for a comeback.
The report is mainly about economics, but also has a dose of politics, as might be expected from our friend Ferrel Guillory, a former North Carolina political writer who teaches at the University of North Carolina and as the senior fellow at MDC is chief author of the report. It says 2008 "provided evidence of a South going in different directions. Eight years ago, Republican George W. Bush of Texas won the electoral votes from every Southern state defeating his Democratic opponent, Al Gore of Tennessee. Then, in 2008, Democrat Barack Obama won three Southern states; in becoming the nation’s first black president, he won the electoral votes of North Carolina, Virginia, and Florida, which had once seceded from the union in an effort to sustain slavery. County-level results show that the Democratic president won in the region’s major metropolitan areas, as well as communities with large black populations in the Mississippi Delta and the Black Belt. Meanwhile, Republican John McCain received a stronger vote than Bush had four years earlier in smaller cities and rural counties of West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Louisiana."
To read or download a PDF of the report's 27-page first chapter, click here.
"The gap between the metro South and the rural South continues to widen. The South added 20.2 million jobs between 1987 and 2007, and nearly nine out of 10 jobs gained were located in metropolitan areas," the report says, citing Daily Yonder research showing that "Unemployment rates in rural counties have generally exceeded rates in urban and exurban counties (outer-ring suburbs) in the South."
The recession "knocked the South off an upward trajectory that had broadened the middle class and nearly closed the poverty gaps that perennially separated it from the rest of the country," MDC said in a news release, "Getting back on track will not be easy. The report points out that the millions of low-skill, low-wage jobs lost in manufacturing probably have disappeared for good, so the South will have to put itself on a new track, creating jobs that pay a middle-class wage or better." The report says the track should be guided by "ideas that emerge from civic discussions and purposeful, organized thinking that looks beyond current difficulties and addresses the inequities and disparities that will hold people back even when the current low economic tide rises again.” Future chapters of the report will examine five possible transformative strategies for a comeback.
The report is mainly about economics, but also has a dose of politics, as might be expected from our friend Ferrel Guillory, a former North Carolina political writer who teaches at the University of North Carolina and as the senior fellow at MDC is chief author of the report. It says 2008 "provided evidence of a South going in different directions. Eight years ago, Republican George W. Bush of Texas won the electoral votes from every Southern state defeating his Democratic opponent, Al Gore of Tennessee. Then, in 2008, Democrat Barack Obama won three Southern states; in becoming the nation’s first black president, he won the electoral votes of North Carolina, Virginia, and Florida, which had once seceded from the union in an effort to sustain slavery. County-level results show that the Democratic president won in the region’s major metropolitan areas, as well as communities with large black populations in the Mississippi Delta and the Black Belt. Meanwhile, Republican John McCain received a stronger vote than Bush had four years earlier in smaller cities and rural counties of West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Louisiana."
To read or download a PDF of the report's 27-page first chapter, click here.
Friday, May 28, 2010
EPA settles lawsuit with enviros over factory farms and vows to step up water-pollution enforcement
The Environmental Protection Agency has announced it will take tougher action to regulate factory farms. "The EPA has agreed to propose a rule that will require concentrated animal feeding operations to report detailed data to the agency every five years, including information on type and capacity of manure storage facilities, quantity of manure generated, available land acreage to apply manure and how excess manure is disposed of." Sindya N. Bhanoo of The New York Times reports on the Green blog. This week EPA reached a settlement with environmental groups who filed a lawsuit last year arguing that the agency needs to pay closer attention to the effects of the livestock industry on waterways.
"Believe or not – the EPA and the public don’t have this basic information for thousands of factory farms because historically many have been able to avoid pollution control requirements," John Devine, an attorney for the National Resources Defense Council, one of the groups that filed the lawsuit, told Bhanoo. The groups say animal waste, bacteria and parasites from chickens, pigs and cows drain into streams and rivers, posing a threat to human health. "EPA has committed to proposing the rule by May 25, 2011, and finalizing it by May 25, 2012" Bhanoo writes. (Read more)
"Believe or not – the EPA and the public don’t have this basic information for thousands of factory farms because historically many have been able to avoid pollution control requirements," John Devine, an attorney for the National Resources Defense Council, one of the groups that filed the lawsuit, told Bhanoo. The groups say animal waste, bacteria and parasites from chickens, pigs and cows drain into streams and rivers, posing a threat to human health. "EPA has committed to proposing the rule by May 25, 2011, and finalizing it by May 25, 2012" Bhanoo writes. (Read more)
EPA objects to rural co-op's proposed coal-fired plant; state regulators say they followed the law
The Environmental Protection Agency has objected to the way Kentucky state regulators addressed particulate pollution in the air-quality permit for a proposed coal-fired power plant. "In a letter dated May 24 to state environmental regulators, EPA officials said the state didn't require an adequate assessment of soot and other dangerous particles that the plant was expected to emit" in considering the permit for East Kentucky Power Cooperative's proposed J.K. Smith power plant in Clark County, The Courier-Journal reports.
Karen Wilson, spokeswoman for the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet, told the Louisville newspaper that state officials had based their permit on actual regulations, and EPA was now asking them to follow more stringent "guidance" that hasn't been formalized. Wilson said state regulators plan to " discuss the EPA objection with cooperative officials," the newspaper reports. Andrew Melnykovych, a state Public Service Commission spokesman, told the paper the cooperative had planned to start construction later this year but last month, it filed with the state PSC to withdraw a request for approval of up to $900 million in private financing. (Read more)
Karen Wilson, spokeswoman for the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet, told the Louisville newspaper that state officials had based their permit on actual regulations, and EPA was now asking them to follow more stringent "guidance" that hasn't been formalized. Wilson said state regulators plan to " discuss the EPA objection with cooperative officials," the newspaper reports. Andrew Melnykovych, a state Public Service Commission spokesman, told the paper the cooperative had planned to start construction later this year but last month, it filed with the state PSC to withdraw a request for approval of up to $900 million in private financing. (Read more)
School-based rural health clinics in southeast Tenn. provide example for rest of the nation
A network of school-based health clinics in rural Monroe County, Tennessee, says its program has made medical care available to thousands of children and their families and could be duplicated across the country. Barbara Levin, chief executive officer of Chota Community Health Services, the non-profit agency that runs the school clinics, detailed her program at a hearing held by the U.S. Senate's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Michael Collins of Scripps Howard Newspapers reports for the Knoxville News Sentinel.
"To change the status of America's health, we must focus on our children," Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., told the committee. "What is at stake here is actually the future of our country." The Monroe County program began 10 years ago with the help of a federal grant and now includes eight clinics serving students and staff. "The clinics are funded through the Monroe County Department of Education, various grants and patient care revenues," Collins writes. "The school-based services provide daily health supervision for 5,600 students, as well as acute and chronic care. Last year, six licensed social workers provided mental health services to more than 300 children."
The eight clinics reported 46,000 visits last year. "The impact on the physical health of the children has been great," Levin said. "This is a homegrown project that works." The hearing was one in a series that lawmakers have been holding as they prepare to rework the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which authorizes federally funded education programs that are administered by the states. (Read more)
"To change the status of America's health, we must focus on our children," Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., told the committee. "What is at stake here is actually the future of our country." The Monroe County program began 10 years ago with the help of a federal grant and now includes eight clinics serving students and staff. "The clinics are funded through the Monroe County Department of Education, various grants and patient care revenues," Collins writes. "The school-based services provide daily health supervision for 5,600 students, as well as acute and chronic care. Last year, six licensed social workers provided mental health services to more than 300 children."
The eight clinics reported 46,000 visits last year. "The impact on the physical health of the children has been great," Levin said. "This is a homegrown project that works." The hearing was one in a series that lawmakers have been holding as they prepare to rework the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which authorizes federally funded education programs that are administered by the states. (Read more)
Tennessee study finds too few rural veterinarians; city kids can be large animal vets, too
We've been following the shortage of large-animal veterinarians in rural areas, most recently here. A new study from the University of Tennessee illustrates the gravity of the shortage. Of the 65 students who graduated from UT's vet school this spring just 29 percent indicated they were interested in a mixed large-animal practice that would include horses, cattle or other livestock, Morgan Simmons of the Knoxville News Sentinel reports. "Tennessee's animal-based agriculture accounts for half of the state's $2 billion agricultural economy," Simmons writes. The heavy reliance on livestock led the state legislature to commission the study from UT's Institute of Agriculture.
"While rural vet services appeared to be adequate in areas of the state with large cattle operations, 27 Tennessee counties were found to have two, or fewer, veterinarians," Simmons writes. "The study noted that smaller producers across the state -- those with 20 to 22 cows -- were likely to treat their animals themselves rather than cut into their narrow profit margin by hiring a vet." Sevier County farmer Jack McMahan explained: "Good rural vets are getting scarce," he said. "Nowadays, it seems like everybody wants to doctor dogs and cats."
Part of the shortage may be due to a misconception that only students who grew up on farms are qualified to deal with large animals. "There's a belief that we need more farm kids, that only kids who that grew up on farms are qualified to be food animal vets," Brian Whitlock, assistant professor in the UT vet school's Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, told Simmons. "That's a misconception. Less than 1 percent of the population is from a farm background. If that's the only pool we draw from, we're going to see a severe shortage of rural vets." The study revealed just 12 percent of UT vet school's Class of 2011 comes from small towns with populations less than 1,000. (Read more)
"While rural vet services appeared to be adequate in areas of the state with large cattle operations, 27 Tennessee counties were found to have two, or fewer, veterinarians," Simmons writes. "The study noted that smaller producers across the state -- those with 20 to 22 cows -- were likely to treat their animals themselves rather than cut into their narrow profit margin by hiring a vet." Sevier County farmer Jack McMahan explained: "Good rural vets are getting scarce," he said. "Nowadays, it seems like everybody wants to doctor dogs and cats."
Part of the shortage may be due to a misconception that only students who grew up on farms are qualified to deal with large animals. "There's a belief that we need more farm kids, that only kids who that grew up on farms are qualified to be food animal vets," Brian Whitlock, assistant professor in the UT vet school's Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, told Simmons. "That's a misconception. Less than 1 percent of the population is from a farm background. If that's the only pool we draw from, we're going to see a severe shortage of rural vets." The study revealed just 12 percent of UT vet school's Class of 2011 comes from small towns with populations less than 1,000. (Read more)
Corn growers will launch ad campaign to counter environmental and nutritional complaints
Corn growers are fighting back against some of the negative publicity they have received in recent years with a new advertising campaign highlighting the economic, environmental and family-oriented aspects of the industry. "The ad campaign echoes the "Know Your Farmer" initiative being run by the U.S. Agriculture Department," Philip Brasher of the Des Moines Register writes on the Green Fields blog. "The corn growers aren’t trying to promote local foods, but are instead trying to make the case that their industry is dominated by family farms that are taking care of the environment and benefiting the economy."
The ads will target federal lawmakers and "will be running during June and July in the Washington Metro system, in Capitol Hill publications, on radio, at Reagan National Airport and in the programs for Washington Nationals baseball games," Brasher reports. In recent years corn growers have been hurt by "criticism in the best-selling books of Michael Pollan and in several films, including the Oscar-nominated Food Inc. that link corn and corn-containing foods to obesity and environmental problems," Brasher writes. "At the same time, some food and beverage companies are replacing high-fructose corn syrup in their products with sugar." (Read more)
The ads will target federal lawmakers and "will be running during June and July in the Washington Metro system, in Capitol Hill publications, on radio, at Reagan National Airport and in the programs for Washington Nationals baseball games," Brasher reports. In recent years corn growers have been hurt by "criticism in the best-selling books of Michael Pollan and in several films, including the Oscar-nominated Food Inc. that link corn and corn-containing foods to obesity and environmental problems," Brasher writes. "At the same time, some food and beverage companies are replacing high-fructose corn syrup in their products with sugar." (Read more)
Half of Massey miners scheduled for interviews about April disaster have missed appointments
U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration investigators are examining the April explosion that killed 29 West Virginia coal miners at the Upper Big Branch mine of Massey Energy. Half of those scheduled for interviews have not shown up. "Interviews of employees of Massey and its operating subsidiary, Performance Coal Co., began last week at MSHA's National Mine Health and Safety Academy near Beckley," Ken Ward Jr. of The Charleston Gazette reports. Ron Wooten, director of the state mine safety agency, said that "through Tuesday, seven of the 14 Massey or Performance employees who had been asked did not appear at their scheduled interviews," Ward writes.
"Under federal law, MSHA does not have authority to use subpoenas to force witnesses to appear for the closed-door interviews," Ward writes. "MSHA has subpoena power only if it is trying to force witnesses to appear at public hearings or interview sessions." West Virginia law "gives Wooten's action authority to subpoena witnesses for the private interviews, but so far the [Gov. Joe] Manchin administration has not exercised that authority," Ward writes. Wooten told Ward that if he needed to subpoena witnesses he would. (Read more)
"Under federal law, MSHA does not have authority to use subpoenas to force witnesses to appear for the closed-door interviews," Ward writes. "MSHA has subpoena power only if it is trying to force witnesses to appear at public hearings or interview sessions." West Virginia law "gives Wooten's action authority to subpoena witnesses for the private interviews, but so far the [Gov. Joe] Manchin administration has not exercised that authority," Ward writes. Wooten told Ward that if he needed to subpoena witnesses he would. (Read more)
Use wood and other biomass for energy? 'It could go either way,' enviro group's top scientist says
Last week we reported about financial concerns holding back the burning of wood and other biomass to generate electricity. Environmental groups are also rallying against the idea, saying it's not as "green" as other alternative energy sources. Advocates say using biomass will help reduce greenhouse gases, but some say the rush to use wood to qualify for government incentives may reduce the benefit, Martin Kaste of National Public Radio reports. "I think it could go either way," Steve Hamburg, a forest ecologist and chief scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund, told Kaste.
"Hamburg has done the 'carbon math' for biomass energy, and he says these plants may reduce greenhouse gases—but only if the fuel really is waste wood, harvested in a sustainable way," Kaste writes. Hamburg argues that if too many new biomass plants start competing for waste wood, they may end up burning wood that would otherwise be used for construction or paper, which would definitely result in a net increase in greenhouse gas emissions.
Even if the biomass is harvested responsibly, Hamburg says the climate benefit would be delayed because it would take years for new trees to grow and absorb the greenhouse gases emitted by biomass facilities. "I am confident that these kinds of plants over the next 200 years will create a net reduction [in greenhouse gases]," Hamburg told Kaste. "But we really care about what happens in the next 20 years and certainly in the next 50 years." (Read more)
"Hamburg has done the 'carbon math' for biomass energy, and he says these plants may reduce greenhouse gases—but only if the fuel really is waste wood, harvested in a sustainable way," Kaste writes. Hamburg argues that if too many new biomass plants start competing for waste wood, they may end up burning wood that would otherwise be used for construction or paper, which would definitely result in a net increase in greenhouse gas emissions.
Even if the biomass is harvested responsibly, Hamburg says the climate benefit would be delayed because it would take years for new trees to grow and absorb the greenhouse gases emitted by biomass facilities. "I am confident that these kinds of plants over the next 200 years will create a net reduction [in greenhouse gases]," Hamburg told Kaste. "But we really care about what happens in the next 20 years and certainly in the next 50 years." (Read more)
Group tries to stop Colorado school district from teaching about global warming
A national group claiming that the idea of global warming is "junk science" has targeted Mesa County, Colorado, for its first campaign against teaching climate change in schools. Rose Pugliese, an unsuccessful school-board candidate, presented a petition with 600 signatures to the Mesa County School Board asking science teachers to stop giving lessons on global warming, Nancy Lofhol of The Denver Post reports.
"Pugliese's efforts have made her the poster girl for the group Balanced Education for Everyone and have pinpointed Mesa County as a national test case for keeping the teaching of humans' influence on global warming out of science classes," Lofhol writes. Laura Kindregan, head of the Colorado branch of Balanced Education attended the meeting to promote the group's cause. "A survey showed two out of three kids were coming home thinking their world is going to melt away and all the polar bears are going to die," Kindregan told the school board. The school board took no action on the petition, and the meeting was attended by several scientists arguing against Balanced Education's position. (Read more)
The petition has already gained one vocal critic in the local newspaper, The Daily Sentinel in Grand Junction, circulation just over 29,000. "Perhaps if Rose Pugliese and a few hundred other folks in School District 51 have their way, we’ll witness the spectacle of local science teachers recanting their belief in the notion of man-made global warming," The Sentinel writes in an editorial. "But we hope not. We hope the District 51 School Board has already dismissed the idea of taking action on Pugliese’s petition to stop teaching global warming in the district." The Sentinel agrees that local teachers shouldn't expound their political beliefs in the classroom, but concludes, "It is equally noxious to have one group of citizens attempt to dictate what may be taught in science classes in the district, based on what they think is politically appropriate." (Read more)
"Pugliese's efforts have made her the poster girl for the group Balanced Education for Everyone and have pinpointed Mesa County as a national test case for keeping the teaching of humans' influence on global warming out of science classes," Lofhol writes. Laura Kindregan, head of the Colorado branch of Balanced Education attended the meeting to promote the group's cause. "A survey showed two out of three kids were coming home thinking their world is going to melt away and all the polar bears are going to die," Kindregan told the school board. The school board took no action on the petition, and the meeting was attended by several scientists arguing against Balanced Education's position. (Read more)
The petition has already gained one vocal critic in the local newspaper, The Daily Sentinel in Grand Junction, circulation just over 29,000. "Perhaps if Rose Pugliese and a few hundred other folks in School District 51 have their way, we’ll witness the spectacle of local science teachers recanting their belief in the notion of man-made global warming," The Sentinel writes in an editorial. "But we hope not. We hope the District 51 School Board has already dismissed the idea of taking action on Pugliese’s petition to stop teaching global warming in the district." The Sentinel agrees that local teachers shouldn't expound their political beliefs in the classroom, but concludes, "It is equally noxious to have one group of citizens attempt to dictate what may be taught in science classes in the district, based on what they think is politically appropriate." (Read more)
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Kentucky governor signs bill creating endowment fund for community foundations
UPDATE, May 30: The Kentucky state budget, finally passed in a special session over the weekend, includes up to $1 million in tax credits for contributions to permanent endowments in community foundations. Supporters hope to build the support for more credits in better times.
In March we reported the Kentucky legislature had passed Senate Bill 227, establishing the "Endow Kentucky" program that would create an endowment fund for community foundations. On Monday, Gov. Steve Beshear held a ceremonial signing of the bill. "Community-based philanthropy is a critical piece of community and economic development," Beshear said. "Under the current economic conditions, government has a decreasing ability to meet the demand for all services required by the people of Kentucky. We need communities to find ways to be more responsive to Kentucky families for the greater good of the Commonwealth."
"Over the next 10 years, Kentuckians will experience huge wealth transfers from one generation to the next," said Gerry Roll, executive director of the Community Foundation of Hazard and Perry County. "This legislation creates a way to capture that wealth before it leaves the communities in which it was generated." Mike Hammons, executive director of the Kentucky Philanthropy Initiative, noted, "Most large foundation funds go to urban areas. By encouraging the establishment and capacity of local endowments, this is an important measure for the future of rural Kentucky and the vitality of communities across the state." (Read more)
Al Cross, director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues and publisher of The Rural Blog, testified in favor of the bill during its progress through the legislature.
In March we reported the Kentucky legislature had passed Senate Bill 227, establishing the "Endow Kentucky" program that would create an endowment fund for community foundations. On Monday, Gov. Steve Beshear held a ceremonial signing of the bill. "Community-based philanthropy is a critical piece of community and economic development," Beshear said. "Under the current economic conditions, government has a decreasing ability to meet the demand for all services required by the people of Kentucky. We need communities to find ways to be more responsive to Kentucky families for the greater good of the Commonwealth."
"Over the next 10 years, Kentuckians will experience huge wealth transfers from one generation to the next," said Gerry Roll, executive director of the Community Foundation of Hazard and Perry County. "This legislation creates a way to capture that wealth before it leaves the communities in which it was generated." Mike Hammons, executive director of the Kentucky Philanthropy Initiative, noted, "Most large foundation funds go to urban areas. By encouraging the establishment and capacity of local endowments, this is an important measure for the future of rural Kentucky and the vitality of communities across the state." (Read more)
Al Cross, director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues and publisher of The Rural Blog, testified in favor of the bill during its progress through the legislature.
USDA scientists say they may have found cause of bee colony-collapse disorder
Scientists from the U.S. Department of Agriculture say they may have found the cause for the mysterious Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) affecting bee populations across the country. In the study, presented at the meeting of the American Society for Microbiology, researchers point to the presence of a fungus and family of viruses as a possible cause, Katia Moskvitch of the BBC reports. Jay Evans, one of the study's researchers with the USDA Agricultural Research Service, said when these two very different pathogens show up together, "there is a significant correlation with colony decline."
Some beekeepers affected by CCD "have been reporting average losses of 30-35% of hives," Moskvitch writes. After collecting samples from sick bees in Florida and California, where most of the U.S. commercial pollination takes place, researchers discovered a higher presence of the fungus Nosema cerenae in infected colonies. "But it was only recently that they were able to determine that it's when bees are infected both with Nosema and with a group of RNA viruses that it is likely to lead to a collapse of a colony," Moskvitch writes.
Still some aren't completely buying the fungus and virus as the cause. "David Mendes, the president of the American Beekeeping Federation, says that biological pathogens are certainly involved - but that there might be something that affects the bees' immune system in the first place that then allows these pathogens to infect them more easily," Moskvitch writes. "It's a bit of a chicken-and-egg question: are the fungi and viruses a problem or are they a symptom?" Mendes said. "Do they come in only when the health of the bees is in some jeopardy? I think the bees get sick because of a combination of factors." (Read more)
Some beekeepers affected by CCD "have been reporting average losses of 30-35% of hives," Moskvitch writes. After collecting samples from sick bees in Florida and California, where most of the U.S. commercial pollination takes place, researchers discovered a higher presence of the fungus Nosema cerenae in infected colonies. "But it was only recently that they were able to determine that it's when bees are infected both with Nosema and with a group of RNA viruses that it is likely to lead to a collapse of a colony," Moskvitch writes.
Still some aren't completely buying the fungus and virus as the cause. "David Mendes, the president of the American Beekeeping Federation, says that biological pathogens are certainly involved - but that there might be something that affects the bees' immune system in the first place that then allows these pathogens to infect them more easily," Moskvitch writes. "It's a bit of a chicken-and-egg question: are the fungi and viruses a problem or are they a symptom?" Mendes said. "Do they come in only when the health of the bees is in some jeopardy? I think the bees get sick because of a combination of factors." (Read more)
Small slaughterhouses say they cannot afford new food safety rules
Proposed rules from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to address growing food safety concerns are facing opposition from small producers, who say the rules will put them out of business. "At issue are proposed new rules for slaughterhouses that call for intensive testing of all meats," Dave Thier of AOLNews reports. "Small operators say they don't have the resources to comply."
"Perhaps a large plant slaughtering 5,000 animals per day can afford its own lab and microbiology staff, and can pass the cost along to the consumer, but most small plants can't," Joe Cloud, co-owner of True and Essential Meats in Harrisonburg, Va., recently wrote on The Atlantic website. "In my opinion, the USDA needs to recognize that 'one size fits all' inspection no longer fits current industry practice and consumer demand." Small producers say they take more care than large producers to ensure sanitation at their facilities, and that's part of the reason consumers come to them in the first place, Thier writes
"If you help the same people every weekend at the farmers' market, you look them in the eye and you hand them the food, you're going to do a much better job making sure the same food is clean and safe than if you're distributing to all 50 states and you're just one worker being mistreated by a corporation," Slow Food USA President Josh Viertel said. Still others say no matter the size of the producer, stricter rules are needed. "Just because it's a small operation doesn't mean it couldn't make somebody sick," Donna Rosenbaum, executive director of Safe Tables Our Priority, a group representing victims of food contamination, told the San Francisco Chronicle. "We don't find out about them as often, because obviously the scale isn't as big. But there's an awful lot of people out there who never find out what they got sick from." (Read more)
"Perhaps a large plant slaughtering 5,000 animals per day can afford its own lab and microbiology staff, and can pass the cost along to the consumer, but most small plants can't," Joe Cloud, co-owner of True and Essential Meats in Harrisonburg, Va., recently wrote on The Atlantic website. "In my opinion, the USDA needs to recognize that 'one size fits all' inspection no longer fits current industry practice and consumer demand." Small producers say they take more care than large producers to ensure sanitation at their facilities, and that's part of the reason consumers come to them in the first place, Thier writes
"If you help the same people every weekend at the farmers' market, you look them in the eye and you hand them the food, you're going to do a much better job making sure the same food is clean and safe than if you're distributing to all 50 states and you're just one worker being mistreated by a corporation," Slow Food USA President Josh Viertel said. Still others say no matter the size of the producer, stricter rules are needed. "Just because it's a small operation doesn't mean it couldn't make somebody sick," Donna Rosenbaum, executive director of Safe Tables Our Priority, a group representing victims of food contamination, told the San Francisco Chronicle. "We don't find out about them as often, because obviously the scale isn't as big. But there's an awful lot of people out there who never find out what they got sick from." (Read more)
Advocate argues for regional collaboration to help slow rural outmigration
Despite some backlash from the agriculture industry, the federal government's increased emphasis on regional collaborations and other rural economic development strategies is a positive step, writes one Illinois rural affairs advocate. "Washington’s recommitment to rural development is good," Timothy Collins, the assistant director of the Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs at Western Illinois University, writes for The Daily Yonder. "And continued hollowing out of rural areas is wasteful, a depletion of valuable national assets. Effective and continued targeting of federal and state assistance could create opportunities to mitigate geographic discrimination."
Collins points to the 2009 Rural Tour from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, President Obama's numerous stops in rural America and the four regional rural development "convenings," hosted by Partners for Rural America with funding from USDA as examples of the renewed focus on rural development. Each of the meetings hosted by PRA "had the goal of stimulating regional partnerships to plan and implement rural development strategies," Collins writes. "Each planning committee used different methods to accomplish the planning and, one would hope, to implement the ideas that emerged from the sessions. The process itself was refreshing, given the distressing record of top-down national uniformity in federal programming."
USDA Sec. Tom Vilsack has faced criticism from Congressional Republicans for his emphasis on local food and rural development to the detriment of traditional farm programs. The "American Farm Bureau Federation agrees with Vilsack about some rural needs, such as high-speed Internet service, but asserts that rural development should not come at the expense of farm programs," Collins writes. Despite those criticisms, Collins argues outmigration is the biggest challenge to rural development. "Now rural developers face twin challenges: how to develop regional partnerships that build economic opportunities and how to make rural communities better, more attractive places to live," he writes. "Outmigration has created the need for regional rural development networks and, if left unchecked, it will threaten all these efforts." (Read more)
Collins points to the 2009 Rural Tour from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, President Obama's numerous stops in rural America and the four regional rural development "convenings," hosted by Partners for Rural America with funding from USDA as examples of the renewed focus on rural development. Each of the meetings hosted by PRA "had the goal of stimulating regional partnerships to plan and implement rural development strategies," Collins writes. "Each planning committee used different methods to accomplish the planning and, one would hope, to implement the ideas that emerged from the sessions. The process itself was refreshing, given the distressing record of top-down national uniformity in federal programming."
USDA Sec. Tom Vilsack has faced criticism from Congressional Republicans for his emphasis on local food and rural development to the detriment of traditional farm programs. The "American Farm Bureau Federation agrees with Vilsack about some rural needs, such as high-speed Internet service, but asserts that rural development should not come at the expense of farm programs," Collins writes. Despite those criticisms, Collins argues outmigration is the biggest challenge to rural development. "Now rural developers face twin challenges: how to develop regional partnerships that build economic opportunities and how to make rural communities better, more attractive places to live," he writes. "Outmigration has created the need for regional rural development networks and, if left unchecked, it will threaten all these efforts." (Read more)
Payments from settlement for black farmers coming too late for some
We've been following the Obama administration's decision to award money to black farmers as part of the so-called Pigford case alleging discrimination by the Department of Agriculture, most recently here, but those payments may come too late for many of the affected farmers. "Wrangling over the federal budget in Washington has delayed payouts from the $1.25 billion settlement," Ashley Southall reports for The New York Times.
"I thought that the elderly farmers would get their money and get to live a few happy days of their lives," John W. Boyd Jr., the president of the National Black Farmers Association, who is not a plaintiff in the settlement, told Southall. "They deserve the money before they leave God’s earth." Younger relatives have often filed claims for affected farmers who are dead or ill. A lawyer at one of the firms handling the claims said many of the plaintiffs are over 65 and in poor health. The lawyer, who is nameless because her firm was not authorized to speak explained, "We have a lot of death certificates."
"Congress missed a March 31 deadline set by the administration to provide financing, which would have allowed payments to start by the summer of 2011," Southall writes. "The farmers agreed to give the government an extension through May 31. The House is expected to vote Wednesday on a bill that includes the settlement." The settlement has bipartisan support, but some lawmakers have voiced concerns that the bill's costs are not offset by corresponding spending cuts. (Read more)
"I thought that the elderly farmers would get their money and get to live a few happy days of their lives," John W. Boyd Jr., the president of the National Black Farmers Association, who is not a plaintiff in the settlement, told Southall. "They deserve the money before they leave God’s earth." Younger relatives have often filed claims for affected farmers who are dead or ill. A lawyer at one of the firms handling the claims said many of the plaintiffs are over 65 and in poor health. The lawyer, who is nameless because her firm was not authorized to speak explained, "We have a lot of death certificates."
"Congress missed a March 31 deadline set by the administration to provide financing, which would have allowed payments to start by the summer of 2011," Southall writes. "The farmers agreed to give the government an extension through May 31. The House is expected to vote Wednesday on a bill that includes the settlement." The settlement has bipartisan support, but some lawmakers have voiced concerns that the bill's costs are not offset by corresponding spending cuts. (Read more)
Obama education plan faces bipartisan criticism; lawmakers say it's not a good fit for rural schools
As Congress prepares to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the Obama administration's proposals for turning around underperforming schools are drawing the ire of lawmakers who say the ideas don'ty fit rural schools. "Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle say the four models for intervening in perennially foundering schools spelled out in the U.S. Department of Education’s regulations for the $3.5 billion School Improvement Grant program are inflexible, particularly for schools in isolated, rural areas, and don’t put enough emphasis on factors such as the need for community and parental involvement," Alyson Klein of Education Week reports.
"A fresh start doesn’t mean firing all the teachers and only hiring back an arbitrary number," California Democratic Rep. George Miller, chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, told Klein. "You can find some of the best teachers in the worst-performing schools, but they are stuck in a system that isn’t supporting them." Wyoming Republican Sen. Michael B. Enzi voiced concern for the plans' application to rural schools at a hearing earlier this spring: "I am very concerned that requiring school districts to use one of the four school turnaround models for schools identified for school improvement will adversely impact rural and frontier schools," he said. "Some flexibility needs to be given to rural and frontier schools that simply cannot meet these strict federal requirements."
"Miller’s critique of the administration’s turnaround strategy is especially significant because it is difficult for critics to accuse him of pandering to the teachers’ unions, who also have concerns about the models, particularly the emphasis on removing staff," Klein writes. "The education committee chairman has bucked the unions on a range of issues, including merit pay and the need to link student data with teacher effectiveness." (Read more)
"A fresh start doesn’t mean firing all the teachers and only hiring back an arbitrary number," California Democratic Rep. George Miller, chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, told Klein. "You can find some of the best teachers in the worst-performing schools, but they are stuck in a system that isn’t supporting them." Wyoming Republican Sen. Michael B. Enzi voiced concern for the plans' application to rural schools at a hearing earlier this spring: "I am very concerned that requiring school districts to use one of the four school turnaround models for schools identified for school improvement will adversely impact rural and frontier schools," he said. "Some flexibility needs to be given to rural and frontier schools that simply cannot meet these strict federal requirements."
"Miller’s critique of the administration’s turnaround strategy is especially significant because it is difficult for critics to accuse him of pandering to the teachers’ unions, who also have concerns about the models, particularly the emphasis on removing staff," Klein writes. "The education committee chairman has bucked the unions on a range of issues, including merit pay and the need to link student data with teacher effectiveness." (Read more)
Coal foes, global-warming skeptics defeat carbon-sequestration experiment in rural Ohio
As Washington, D. C., lawmakers debate whether carbon sequestration technology can be used to support coal in the context of a national climate bill, a battle in rural Ohio may offer important lessons about the future of the technology. Residents of Centerville, Ohio, "had never heard of 'carbon sequestration,'" Sarah Gardner of Marketplace reports. "But in 2008, scientists from Battelle, a major research and development firm, came to call. They wanted to demonstrate that you could capture and bury CO2 emissions miles beneath the earth. The government is looking to apply the technology widely to burning coal."
"A lot of people did not even believe in global warming," Christine Chalmers, an editor with the local newspaper, The Daily Advocate, told Gardner. "So they just thought it was a bunch of garbage." By 2009 "a couple of Internet-savvy grandmothers had started Citizens Against CO2 Sequestration," Gardner writes. "This is our home. We live here. Those people don't live here," co-founder Jan Teaford wrote the group's blog. "They're never going to live here, and we felt we had a right to protect it and we should have a say in what goes on here."
The group wrote letters to the editor, knocked on doors, held a prayer rally and peppered the town with hundreds of lawn signs reading "No CO2 Waste in Darke County," Gardner reports. On August 19, 2009, Battelle scrapped the project, citing "business considerations." Battelle says it will move the project elsewhere, but Greenville campaign represented a union between strange bedfellows. Kerwin Olson, who Gardner describes as a "dyed-in-the wool liberal activist," was among those helping the locals, not because he shared their fears relating to potential earthquakes or water contamination, but because he feels investment in carbon sequestration is "nothing more than propping up dirty coal."
Still other environmental groups, like the Ohio Environmental Council, support the technology. "We feel as though the science is dire and we are focused on getting massive reductions on a very fast timetable," the council's Nolan Moser told Gardner. "And to do that you've got to deal with major emission producers." Olson, explained the Greenville campaign offers an important lesson for future protests: "The main thing I told them was that all politics are local," he said. "And that you have a much better shot at killing this thing dealing with your local officials." Read Gardner's three-part series here: part one, part two, part three.
"A lot of people did not even believe in global warming," Christine Chalmers, an editor with the local newspaper, The Daily Advocate, told Gardner. "So they just thought it was a bunch of garbage." By 2009 "a couple of Internet-savvy grandmothers had started Citizens Against CO2 Sequestration," Gardner writes. "This is our home. We live here. Those people don't live here," co-founder Jan Teaford wrote the group's blog. "They're never going to live here, and we felt we had a right to protect it and we should have a say in what goes on here."
The group wrote letters to the editor, knocked on doors, held a prayer rally and peppered the town with hundreds of lawn signs reading "No CO2 Waste in Darke County," Gardner reports. On August 19, 2009, Battelle scrapped the project, citing "business considerations." Battelle says it will move the project elsewhere, but Greenville campaign represented a union between strange bedfellows. Kerwin Olson, who Gardner describes as a "dyed-in-the wool liberal activist," was among those helping the locals, not because he shared their fears relating to potential earthquakes or water contamination, but because he feels investment in carbon sequestration is "nothing more than propping up dirty coal."
Still other environmental groups, like the Ohio Environmental Council, support the technology. "We feel as though the science is dire and we are focused on getting massive reductions on a very fast timetable," the council's Nolan Moser told Gardner. "And to do that you've got to deal with major emission producers." Olson, explained the Greenville campaign offers an important lesson for future protests: "The main thing I told them was that all politics are local," he said. "And that you have a much better shot at killing this thing dealing with your local officials." Read Gardner's three-part series here: part one, part two, part three.
Wyoming judge orders newspaper not to print story about community college president
UPDATE 5/27: On Tuesday, Arnold dissolved the restraining order against the Tribune and dismissed the college's argument that it could lose federal funding if the story was published, the Associated Press reports. (Read more)
A Laramie County, Wyoming judge has issued a 10-day restraining order against the Wyoming Tribune Eagle, preventing the newspaper from publishing a report thought to be critical of the president of Laramie County Community College. "The report is about a school-sponsored trip to Costa Rica in 2008 and the performance of President Darrel Hammon, who was a chaperone, according to testimony at a recent public hearing," The Associated Press reports. "Judge Peter Arnold imposed the order May 21 at the request of LCCC officials who argue that publishing the report could violate federal student privacy laws."
The newspaper learned of the report during a recent employee hearing, but LCCC refused to provide the Tribune Eagle with a copy when asked. The paper instead obtained it through an anonymous source, AP reports. Tribune Eagle attorney Bruce Moats said, "What is happening is a form of censorship and could be unconstitutional," and "The newspaper legally obtained the report and it shouldn't be barred from publishing what's in it." Moats has suggested the report could be published after removing any student names to alleviate privacy concerns. A court hearing is expected later this week. (Read more)
The Society of Professional Journalists condemned the judge's ruling an an unconstitutional prior restraint on freedom of the press. "The college was concerned the report, if published, would violate the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, or FERPA, which protects the privacy of students and parents by keeping education records confidential," SPJ says. "Educational institutions are threatened with losing federal funding for FERPA violations. However, the papers guaranteed their news accounts would not reveal student information and would rather focus on the actions of President Hammon, whose information is not private or protected by FERPA." (Read more)
A Laramie County, Wyoming judge has issued a 10-day restraining order against the Wyoming Tribune Eagle, preventing the newspaper from publishing a report thought to be critical of the president of Laramie County Community College. "The report is about a school-sponsored trip to Costa Rica in 2008 and the performance of President Darrel Hammon, who was a chaperone, according to testimony at a recent public hearing," The Associated Press reports. "Judge Peter Arnold imposed the order May 21 at the request of LCCC officials who argue that publishing the report could violate federal student privacy laws."
The newspaper learned of the report during a recent employee hearing, but LCCC refused to provide the Tribune Eagle with a copy when asked. The paper instead obtained it through an anonymous source, AP reports. Tribune Eagle attorney Bruce Moats said, "What is happening is a form of censorship and could be unconstitutional," and "The newspaper legally obtained the report and it shouldn't be barred from publishing what's in it." Moats has suggested the report could be published after removing any student names to alleviate privacy concerns. A court hearing is expected later this week. (Read more)
The Society of Professional Journalists condemned the judge's ruling an an unconstitutional prior restraint on freedom of the press. "The college was concerned the report, if published, would violate the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, or FERPA, which protects the privacy of students and parents by keeping education records confidential," SPJ says. "Educational institutions are threatened with losing federal funding for FERPA violations. However, the papers guaranteed their news accounts would not reveal student information and would rather focus on the actions of President Hammon, whose information is not private or protected by FERPA." (Read more)
Hearing witnesses say Massey emphasized production over safety at Big Branch Mine
At a congressional hearing Monday, examining the Upper Big Branch mine explosion that killed 29 West Virginia miners in April, workers and families of those killed in the explosion described an environment where workers feared to express concerns about safety violations because they might lose their jobs. Testimony "described a culture that put production ahead of safety and where violations were corrected only after company guards warned that inspectors were on their way underground," Ken Ward Jr. of The Charleston Gazette reports. Upper Big Branch is owned by Massey Energy.
"When MSHA is not present, there is no thought of doing anything other than producing coal," Gary Quarles, a coal miner who lost his son, Gary Wayne Quarles, in the disaster, said. The testimony came during "a field hearing held by the House Education and Labor Committee to hear from those most directly affected by the worst U.S. coal-mining disaster in 40 years," Ward writes. Steve Morgan, whose 21-year-old son Adam died at Upper Big Branch, said his son "told him at least weekly of dangerous levels of methane underground and that ventilation curtains meant to feed fresh air to the longwall mining machine's workers were regularly removed," Ward writes.
"[Mine Safety and Health Administration] inspections at Massey did little to protect miners," Quarles said. "We absolutely looked to MSHA for leadership, particularly on safety issues, but MSHA has let us down many times." Despite those fears, no one felt safe complaining to management, continuous miner operator Stanley Stewart said. "No one felt they could go to management and express their fears or the lack of air on our sections," Stewart said. "We knew that we'd be marked men and the management would look for ways to fire us." (Read more)
"When MSHA is not present, there is no thought of doing anything other than producing coal," Gary Quarles, a coal miner who lost his son, Gary Wayne Quarles, in the disaster, said. The testimony came during "a field hearing held by the House Education and Labor Committee to hear from those most directly affected by the worst U.S. coal-mining disaster in 40 years," Ward writes. Steve Morgan, whose 21-year-old son Adam died at Upper Big Branch, said his son "told him at least weekly of dangerous levels of methane underground and that ventilation curtains meant to feed fresh air to the longwall mining machine's workers were regularly removed," Ward writes.
"[Mine Safety and Health Administration] inspections at Massey did little to protect miners," Quarles said. "We absolutely looked to MSHA for leadership, particularly on safety issues, but MSHA has let us down many times." Despite those fears, no one felt safe complaining to management, continuous miner operator Stanley Stewart said. "No one felt they could go to management and express their fears or the lack of air on our sections," Stewart said. "We knew that we'd be marked men and the management would look for ways to fire us." (Read more)
Environmental groups challenge Eastern Kentucky strip mine proposed near whitewater stream
Two environmental groups have launched a challenge against a proposed 792-acre surface mine near Elkhorn City in far Eastern Kentucky. "The Sierra Club and Kentuckians for the Commonwealth argue that the state didn't properly assess the mining operation's potential impact on nearby streams," including the Russell Fork of the Big Sandy River, a whitewater stream, before issuing the permit to Cambrian Coal Corporation last month, Bill Estep of the Lexington Herald-Leader reports. The group also alleges Cambrian "also didn't design the mining and reclamation plan to properly limit the impact of valley fills," and runoff from the mine "would cause water-quality violations in several watersheds, or worsen problems that already exist," Estep writes. (Read more)
The groups are being represented by the Appalachian Citizens' Law Center, which has posted a copy of the petition on its website.
The groups are being represented by the Appalachian Citizens' Law Center, which has posted a copy of the petition on its website.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Death rate from guns same for children in the most populous urban counties and the most rural
Urban areas have a reputation for gun deaths, but children in the most rural U.S. counties are as likely to die from gunfire as those in the largest cities, says a new study published today in the journal Pediatrics. "Murders involving firearms are more common among city youth," Carla K. Johnson of The Associated Press reports. "But gun suicides and accidental fatal shootings level the score: They are more common among rural kids." The researchers analyzed data from 24,000 gun-related deaths among people under 20 from 1999 through 2006.
"This debunks the myth that firearm death is a big-city problem," the study's lead author, Dr. Michael Nance of Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, told AP. "This is everybody's problem." Researchers sorted the data by county and compared rates in the most urban counties, those with populations of 1 million or more, and the most rural, those with towns of fewer than 2,500 people, and found essentially the same rate, around four deaths per 100,000 children. Previous analysis found similar rural-urban gun death patterns among adults, AP reports. (Read more)
"This debunks the myth that firearm death is a big-city problem," the study's lead author, Dr. Michael Nance of Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, told AP. "This is everybody's problem." Researchers sorted the data by county and compared rates in the most urban counties, those with populations of 1 million or more, and the most rural, those with towns of fewer than 2,500 people, and found essentially the same rate, around four deaths per 100,000 children. Previous analysis found similar rural-urban gun death patterns among adults, AP reports. (Read more)
Rebound in meth use brings fresh warnings to farmers to protect anhydrous ammonia from theft
As methamphetamine use continues to rebound, the farming community is becoming more concerned about thefts of anhydrous ammonia, which is used as a catalyst in the making of the illegal drug. "There probably should not be a lot of empty tanks or even full tanks sitting around in unsecured areas," Bill Field, farm safety specialist at Purdue University, told Dave Russell of Brownfield. "If a tank is empty it’s time to get it back to the co-op where at least they’re a little bit more secure." Supposedly empty tanks often contain enough ammonia to make meth, and are easier to haul than full ones.
Field recommends nurse tanks "be kept in a location where they can be watched, and he says if you do find signs of tampering be sure to contact the authorities," Russell writes. "The things farmers should be on the lookout for are thermoses, jugs, white gas, paint thinners or drug boxes. Usually it will just look like a pile of garbage," Field said. "I think the only way we’re going to solve this problem is for farmers to report when they find these residuals." (Read more)
Field recommends nurse tanks "be kept in a location where they can be watched, and he says if you do find signs of tampering be sure to contact the authorities," Russell writes. "The things farmers should be on the lookout for are thermoses, jugs, white gas, paint thinners or drug boxes. Usually it will just look like a pile of garbage," Field said. "I think the only way we’re going to solve this problem is for farmers to report when they find these residuals." (Read more)
Wisconsin governor vetoes raw-milk bill, dashing advocates' hopes for a big opening
Earlier this month we reported that advocated of raw milk hoped a bill passed by the legislature in Wisconsin, the leading dairy state, would lead the way in expanding raw-milk sales across the country. Those hopes appear to have been dashed as Gov. Jim Doyle did an about-face and vetoed the bill last week, Rick Barrett of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports. Doyle had told the newspaper he was likely to sign the bill, but in the end he "sided with public health and dairy industry officials who said the bill raised multiple safety issues, because unpasteurized milk may carry pathogens that cause food-borne illnesses," Barrett writes.
"I don't think this was an absolute easy question one way or the other, but I think in the end it was one I had to make a decision on," Doyle told Barrett. "As it came through, what came to me from the public-health community and the dairy industry was overwhelming on this. I listened to people on both sides. But when the public-health community is almost entirely unanimous on this issue, it seems to me a pretty risky proposition to move forward with it." An aide to Democratic Majority Leader Russ Decker told Barrett the Senate would not attempt to override the veto.
"I think [Doyle's decision] was a combination of the agribusiness industry who, whatever they say, were afraid of losing a little market share, and the public-health establishment that is instinctively afraid of freedom of any sort," Republican Sen. Glenn Grothman told Barrett. "I have a tremendous amount of sympathy for all the people with stomach ailments, autism and other ailments who are going to have to try to obtain a product illegally because their government doesn't believe in freedom." Some raw milk advocates argue it "can cure ailments, including tuberculosis, heart failure, high blood pressure and many others," Barrett writes. (Read more)
"I don't think this was an absolute easy question one way or the other, but I think in the end it was one I had to make a decision on," Doyle told Barrett. "As it came through, what came to me from the public-health community and the dairy industry was overwhelming on this. I listened to people on both sides. But when the public-health community is almost entirely unanimous on this issue, it seems to me a pretty risky proposition to move forward with it." An aide to Democratic Majority Leader Russ Decker told Barrett the Senate would not attempt to override the veto.
"I think [Doyle's decision] was a combination of the agribusiness industry who, whatever they say, were afraid of losing a little market share, and the public-health establishment that is instinctively afraid of freedom of any sort," Republican Sen. Glenn Grothman told Barrett. "I have a tremendous amount of sympathy for all the people with stomach ailments, autism and other ailments who are going to have to try to obtain a product illegally because their government doesn't believe in freedom." Some raw milk advocates argue it "can cure ailments, including tuberculosis, heart failure, high blood pressure and many others," Barrett writes. (Read more)
Kansas summit seeks to save fast-disappearing groceries in the state's smallest towns
Since 2007, 82 of the 213 Kansas grocery stores in communities of fewer than 2,500 people have closed. A summit June 14-15 at Kansas State University will highlight research and project-based presentations exploring ways to counter the decline. The event, "Rural Grocery Summit II: Saving Our Critical Infrastructure," sponsored by KSU's Center for Engagement and Community Development, will examine how to bring more local foods to market in a a community, building community support for local groceries, identifying sources of funding for them, addressing labor issues, recognizing that food is a critical piece of rural culture and other topics, the Topeka Capital-Journal reports. The issue is of particular interest to rural newspapers, since grocery stores are often if not usually their largest advertisers.
"Fifty-one percent of the 675 Kansas cities and towns do not have a grocery store," David Procter, director of the CECD, told the Capital-Journal. Registration is free to rural grocery store owners and $100 for everyone else. You can read more information about the event here. "Rural grocery stores provide an important source of jobs and taxes," Procter added. "They provide a source of healthy food, and they are a symbol of community vitality. Unfortunately, these business cornerstones are disappearing at an alarming rate, along with their rural community homes." (Read more)
"Fifty-one percent of the 675 Kansas cities and towns do not have a grocery store," David Procter, director of the CECD, told the Capital-Journal. Registration is free to rural grocery store owners and $100 for everyone else. You can read more information about the event here. "Rural grocery stores provide an important source of jobs and taxes," Procter added. "They provide a source of healthy food, and they are a symbol of community vitality. Unfortunately, these business cornerstones are disappearing at an alarming rate, along with their rural community homes." (Read more)
Verizon could bring 4G service to rural America
Faster wireless broadband service could be on its way to rural America, as Verizon Wireless is in talks with a number of rural telephone carriers to license its wireless spectrum. Verizon Chief Executive Lowell McAdam "said the move—unusual because carriers typically guard spectrum, which is expensive and scarce—will help it more quickly expand the reach of its new fourth-generation network, which it plans to launch in 25 to 30 cities by the end of the year," Niraj Sheth of The Wall Street Journal reports. "The move could also pay political dividends at a time when U.S. regulators are proposing to bring broadband networks under some of the same regulations that tightly govern telephone lines."
"Under the proposed arrangements, Verizon would license spectrum for a small fee to local carriers, which would sell the service," Sheth writes. "Either Verizon or the carrier could handle the job of installing the equipment. Verizon is also striking data roaming agreements with the rural carriers to let their customers use the rest of Verizon's network when they're traveling."
"This is not something we're looking to make a lot of money from," McAdam told Sheth, citing the small size of the rural carriers. Verizon's 4G network runs on Long Term Evolution technology. "All rural carriers need to figure out how they're going to get into LTE, period," Pat Riordan, CEO of Cellcom, a 250,000-customer carrier based in Green Bay, Wis., that has been in talks with Verizon but has yet to sign a deal, told Sheth. A Federal Communications Commission spokeswoman told Sheth the commission looks "look forward to reviewing the details of Verizon's proposal." (Read more)
"Under the proposed arrangements, Verizon would license spectrum for a small fee to local carriers, which would sell the service," Sheth writes. "Either Verizon or the carrier could handle the job of installing the equipment. Verizon is also striking data roaming agreements with the rural carriers to let their customers use the rest of Verizon's network when they're traveling."
"This is not something we're looking to make a lot of money from," McAdam told Sheth, citing the small size of the rural carriers. Verizon's 4G network runs on Long Term Evolution technology. "All rural carriers need to figure out how they're going to get into LTE, period," Pat Riordan, CEO of Cellcom, a 250,000-customer carrier based in Green Bay, Wis., that has been in talks with Verizon but has yet to sign a deal, told Sheth. A Federal Communications Commission spokeswoman told Sheth the commission looks "look forward to reviewing the details of Verizon's proposal." (Read more)
Sunday, May 23, 2010
County pays tribute to editor who died too young
I didn't know Rick Anderkin well, but I see his weekly newspaper from time to time and thought highly of his work. He did a good job of holding up a mirror to his community, covering the issues and helping set the public agenda for the county of 17,000. "He was accessible to everyone and available 24/7 to cover stories," writes our friend Elmer Whitler, a county resident who complies and analyzes rural-health data for the University of Kentucky. "I often complimented Rick on the improvements he brought to the Signal since I first started reading it in the mid-1970s. He would simply say, in his humble way, “We try.” I came to appreciate through Rick the hard work and courage it takes to produce a rural newspaper in which the truth of local happenings are reported. Everyone, myself included, reads the Signal from cover-to-cover, including the reports on the county judge and fiscal court, letters to the editor, stories about anniversaries, ball games, car wrecks, and even the obituary section."
"I will smile when I think about the pride he held when he found out I would get the prime opportunity to come back and help change Rockcastle County for the better, just like he worked to do for years and years," Anderkin said. "As the editor of the Signal, Dad had the opportunity to interact with a lot of people from a number of circles and different backgrounds. He was a man who had this unexplainable way of leaving footprints on the hearts of most everyone he encountered. His business was all about people, and his life was all about people. And I believe those footprints came from his ability to connect with those people, to let them know he really cared about them." (Read more)
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