Illinois officials are out to get the Asian carp, and hunger, simultaneously

Asian carp keep swimming to the surface of the news, as people along the Great Lakes and the Illinois River try to decide how to deal with the invasive fish. To keep them out of the lakes, perhaps ruining their fisheries, officials have tried to use electric shock; now others are placing the fish on "invasivore" dinner menus. In Illinois, the state Department of Natural Resources hopes the fish can be removed from the Mississippi, Illinois and Ohio rivers and served in food banks and kitchens across the state.

Pamela King of Greenwire reports that the campaign, Target Hunger Now, builds off the 30-year-old Illinois Sportsmen Against Hunger program in which hunters donate a portion of their venison harvest to poor families through independent processors and distributors. Through Target Hunger Now, the state agency contracts anglers to catch Asian carp and handles processing and distribution.

Tracy Smith, director of a partner organization to Target Hunger Now, Feeding Illinois, told King the public has been receptive to the idea of eating Asian carp. The fish are rich in protein, a nutrient often overlooked by struggling families during hard times. However, a spokesman for the agency told King this solution is a short-term one; they are looking for a way to completely eradicate the fish.

CNN discovers that rural communities rely on themselves to help students achieve

Rural schools face issues and problems that their urban counterparts don't, pushing schools in rural areas to rely on community support to help students achieve, reports Sally Holland, education producer for CNN. (Photo: East Hickman School in Tennessee, from the Hickman County Times)

Though less than a fourth of Americans are now classified as rural, Department of Education data shows that over a third of U.S. public schools are in rural areas and they have about a fourth of the nation's students. But those numbers mean rural schools tend to have fewer students, and funding usually depends upon enrollment numbers. And low funding can mean low pay that complicates teacher recruitment and retention.

On the other hand, "One of the advantages of a rural area, is that everybody knows everybody and helps support everybody," Greg Ray, superintendent of the Mediapolis School District in southeast Iowa, told Holland. While the district has too few students to have a class in Chinese, Ray found a local Chinese native to teach an online course for it and other small districts.

Despite their challenges, Holland reports that rural high schools match the graduation rates of suburban high schools. Kris Amundson of Education Sector, a nonprofit that says it is working to change education policy to benefit students, told Holland that high graduation rates in rural areas are due largely to a "tremendous commitment" from the community to encourage students to get through high school. But that doesn't necessarily mean more rural kids are going to college, Amundson said. Only 17 percent of adults in rural areas have a college degree. Holland reports that students with college-educated parents are more likely to attend college themselves. (Read more)

Activists in college towns hope to make them 1st Ky. places with fairness laws outside major cities

There are two Kentuckys: rural, where very few gay and lesbian people live; and urban, where 2010 Census found more than 10 same-sex couples per 1,000 households, compared to the state average of 7, reports Jacalyn Carfagno of WEKU News in her two-part series about the state's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

LGBT people living in rural areas are obvious targets, Carfagno reports, citing an incident in Hazard in which two gay men were asked to leave a public pool, and one in Harlan where a lesbian couple reported being beaten by a group of men because of their sexual orientation. The latter incident caused the Kentucky Equality Federation, a non-profit promoting equality for LGBT people, to designate seven mountain counties in southeastern Kentucky a "special operating region" in which to "raise awareness about hate crimes based on sexual orientation and the group’s mission, intercede on behalf of victims of discrimination and hate crimes," Ralph Davis reports in the Hazard Herald.

Gays and lesbians in rural Kentucky lack protections of anti-discrimination "fairness" ordinances passed in urban centers of the state. In Berea, a college town of 13,000 where the state's Bluegrass region meets Appalachia, the city council has rebuffed activists' request to include LGBT people in a broader human-rights ordinance that is awaiting passage. Peter Smith of The Courier-Journal reports the activists have planned a rally today to urge the council to add sexual orientation to the list of protected minorities. If they prevail, Berea would be the only Kentucky city outside Northern Kentucky, Lexington and Louisville to have such an ordinance. (Read more) UPDATE, Sept. 21: The council voted last night for a human rights ordinance and commission to enforce it, but not to include sexual-orientation discrimination. Some council members said that would be considered later. For Smith's update, click here. For an on-the-scene report from Greg Kocher of the Lexington Herald-Leader, go here. (Herald-Leader photo of protesters by Mark Cornelison)

Berea is in Madison County; the county seat of Richmond, a larger town and home to Eastern Kentucky University, has declined to pass a fairness ordinance. This Friday 17 businesses on or near Main Street will "show support for local anti-discrimination protections in employment, housing, and public accommodations based on perceived sexual orientation and gender identity," Business Lexington reports.

Obama deficit plan would cut farm subsidies, let Postal Service end Saturday mail delivery

President Obama's deficit-reduction plan includes major cuts in agriculture programs, $33 billion over 10 years. It would eliminate direct payments to farmers and reduce subsidies to crop-insurance companies. It would also authorize the U.S. Postal Service to deliver mail only five days a week; USPS wants to eliminate Saturday delivery, an idea opposed by rural interests and newspapers.

While his overall proposal to the joint congressional committee formed to reduce the national debt is unlikely to pass, Obama's proposal sets markers for the negotiations and his re-election campaign. "The proposals provide a road map for cutting farm spending," writes Philip Brasher of the Gannett Washington Bureau. Obama said he "remains committed to a strong safety net for farmers, one that protects them from revenue losses that result from low yields or price declines, and strong crop insurance programs. But there are programs and places where funding is unnecessary or too generous."

On direct payments to grain and cotton farmers, recently been targeted by budget cutters, Obama said taxpayers continue to subsidize "farmers who are experiencing record yields and prices," and noted that "more than 50 percent of direct payments go to farmers with more than $100,000 in income." He added, "Economists have shown that direct payments have priced young Americans out of renting or owning the land needed to enter into farming."

Obama also proposes to cut conservation funding by $2 billion over 10 years, citing "the dramatic increase in funding (roughly 500 percent since enactment of the Farm Security and Rural Investments Act of 2002)," which he said has created redundancies and "difficulties in program administration." The agricultural cuts are on Pages 17 and 18 of the PDF proposal.

In addition to authorizing five-day mail delivery, on Page 23, Obama would address the USPS deficit by restructuring the funding of its its retiree health benefits, refund almost $7 billion it has paid into the system recently, allow the service "to offer non-postal products and increase collaboration with state and local governments" and allow it "to better align the costs of postage with the costs of mail delivery while still operating within the current price cap, and permit USPS to seek the modest one-time increase in postage rates it proposed a year ago." For opposing statements from Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and a mailers' lobby, click here. For a story from The Associated Press, click here.

At the Interior Department, money would be gained with a fee on non-producing oil and gas leases, reform hardrock-mining leases and other measures, listed on Pages 31-32. For the White House summary sheet of the entire plan, click here.

Drug-induced deaths, fueled by prescription-drug abuse, exceeded traffic fatalities in 2009

For the first time since such data were compiled, drug-induced deaths outnumbered traffic fatalities in the United States in 2009, largely due to the increase in prescription-drug abuse, the Los Angeles Times reports today.

Using Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data, reporters Lisa Girion, Scott Glover and Doug Smith found that drug deaths totaled 37,485 in 2009, the last year for which the data are available. They calculated that deaths from pain and anxiety drugs have increased 284 and 256 percent, respectively, since 2000.

Prescriptions can help those who need the medicine, but can also fuel a black market of drug trafficking. The Times reports that the most commonly prescribed medication in the nation is hydrocodone, or Vicodin, which has been prescribed more than top cholesterol drugs and antibiotics.  The other most commonly abused prescription drugs are OxyContin, Xanax, Soma and a newcomer to the list, Fentanyl, 100 times more powerful than morphine.

The reporters write that these drugs are now causing more deaths than heroin and cocaine combined, and their analysis found the types of people dying from overdoses constitutes a wide range: from teenagers to working men and women who become addicted after taking the medication for job-related injuries. Public health officials are using this report to call attention to the growing prescription drug abuse problem, which those officials label an epidemic. To view an interactive map illustrating the rise in drug deaths by state, click here. New Mexico topped the list, followed closely by West Virginia. (Read more)

Scientists say water systems probably can't filter fracking chemicals; pattern of illness found

A group of scientists has determined that municipal water systems cannot filter chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing of natural-gas wells, or "fracking." In a letter to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the scientists said "It will be practically impossible" for drinking-water systems to protect against the chemicals, which include benzene, toxic metals, radioactive materials and surfactants and organic biocides.

Brian Nearing of the Albany Times Union reports that 59 experts from 18 states and seven other countries signed the letter. The state has proposed to ban fracking near watersheds that provide drinking water to New York City and Syracuse, but other watersheds would not have such protection. Cornell University ecology professor and letter signer Robert Howarth told Nearing that if the risk for watersheds providing water to New York City was too high, so was the risk for any watershed in the state. The NYC watershed, in the Catskill Mountains, is especially pristine.

In the wake of the letter's release, Abraham Lustgarten and Nicholas Kusnetz of ProPublica completed a review of government environmental reports, private lawsuits and interviews with many residents, physicians and toxicologists in four big gas-drilling states and found that cases of respiratory infections, headaches, neurological impairment, nausea and skin rashes, all believed to be caused by some aspect of fracking, have been occuring for the last decade in Colorado and Wyoming. Similar cases are just beginning to pop up in Pennsylvania, where drilling of the Marcellus Shale has recently increased. However, Lustgarten and Kusnetz write that the extent and cause of the problems is unknown, as neither states nor the federal government have tracked reports of such illnesses or investigated how drilling can affect human health. They also looked at Texas. (Read more)

Miner takes on coal company to protect the safety of himself and his fellow miners

Charles Scott Howard is an underground coal miner who earned the reputation of "whistleblower" in Letcher County, Kentucky, for his refusal to allow any activity that might endanger himself and his fellow miners while underground to go unchecked. For this conviction, the 30-year mining veteran has been disciplined, fired and "branded a troublemaker" for going above his superior's heads to report safety violations.

Perhaps his most famous safety violation report came four years ago when he testified to the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration, reports Dave Jamieson of the Huffington Post. This particular hearing concerned mine seals which were intended to avoid explosions. Howard showed the panel of MSHA officials a video of mine seals from the mine in which he was working at the time, owned by Cumberland River Coal Co. The video showed mine seals that were cracked to the point where water was coming through them. MSHA immediately sent inspectors to the mine. (Photo by Jamieson)

Jamieson reports that Howard abides by his personal code of "safety first" at great personal risk. He has filed five whistleblower-discrimination complaints against his company in five years. He's lost his job twice allegedly because of his safety complaints and had to be reinstated to work by a federal judge both times. However, he never loses his lawsuits, Jamieson writes; he either wins or settles, and only the latter reluctantly. (Read more)

Removing dams benefits environment and spawning fish; also creates tourism jobs

More deteriorating dams are being removed from streams in most of teh nation, Juliet Eilperin of The Washington Post reports. The main reaosns are aging infrastructure and declining fish stocks, and most see the rivers as more economically viable without the dams are gone, hoping tourism will increase.

Eilperin writes that 241 dams were removed between 2006 and 2010, a 40 percent increase over the previous five years. Most were in the East and Midwest, and had been major power sources in communities supported by textile and paper mills. Many state and local governments are trying to decide what to do with old dams. Most of America's 80,000 dams were built more than 50 years ago. It's often cheaper for local governments to remove dams than restore them.

Some detractors say taxpayers shouldn't have to pay for removing dams they do not own, but removal can bring benefits for both wildlife and humans, Eilperin reports. Not only can spawning fish better navigate their way upstream, but in some cases, like in Clarksburg, Mass., dam removal saved the town from flooding during Hurricane Irene. Previously, the Briggsville Dam had raised a river's level to the overflow point during heavy rains.  and others - mostly in the Pacific Northwest - who consider dams viable hydroelectric energy producers. (Read more)

Down economy hits small, rural libraries; conference teaches them how to garner money

Small, rural libraries have an advantage over larger libraries and it has everything to do with their size. They enjoy strong connections to the people, including local government officials, of the communities in which they operate, and are oftentimes the center of these communities. This was the overarching theme at the Association for Rural and Small Libraries annual conference this month.

The conference emphasized the importance of rural libraries to their respective communities, and focused on the economic concerns many small libraries across the country are currently facing. Advocacy and funding have become central concerns, reported Miguel Figueroa of American Libraries Magazine. As a result, some programs at the conference included grant writing, endowment building and working with boards of trustees.

The conference also made technology a focus, introducing a program called "Pushing the Limits," which the National Science Foundation is trying to bring to 100 small libraries across the country. Attendees of the conference were also encouraged to make their libraries community-centered by building partnerships with local organizations, schools and workforce commissions.

White House Rural Council report a campaign document, Nonprofit Quarterly writer says

In June, President Obama created the White House Rural Council, saying it would help his administration better address issues in rural America. Last month, the council released a report, "Jobs and Economic Security for Rural America," essentially a talking paper for a wide range of administration initatives. Most rural advocates might be disappointed in the report, which is "basically a campaign document, not a blueprint for laying out problems and calling people to action," writes Rick Cohen, national correspondent for the Nonprofit Quarterly.

The report doesn't mention non-profits or foundations, and Obama didn't mention them or public-private partnerships in a speech in Peosta, Iowa, at what was billed as the White House Rural Economic Forum. Cohen writes that the speech was more of a hackneyed attempt to garner votes than an effort to enlighten people about rural America's problems and how to fix them. (2009 photo)

"A forum plus 'commitments' that involve no new laws and no new resources, just repositioned or retargeted dollars, as he said in his speech, don’t do much, and the words feel like American exceptionalism cheerleading, not a solid response to the poverty of rural America," Cohen writes. He adds that of America's 200 poorest counties, 192 are rural. (Read more)

Proposed broadband connectivity plan has states concerned; rural phone rates may rise

Many states' regulators and the Federal Communications Commission are at odds over the Broadband Connectivity Plan proposed by six of the biggest phone companies serving rural areas. The proposal by AT&T, Verizon, CenturyLink, Frontier Communications, Windstream and FairPoint Communications, addresses intercarrier compensation and the Universal Service Fund, which the FCC wants to reform in hopes of expanding broadband networks to rural areas, Kim Hart of Politico reports. (Associated Press photo)

Some state regulators say "the proposed plan pre-empts their role in regulating how phone companies operate in their territories," in violation of the 1996 Telecommunications Act, Hart reports. State commissioners plan to plead their case to the FCC and lawmakers in Washington next week.

Historically, states have taken the lead in determining intrastate rates, the fees local carriers pay to connect to long-distance carriers, while the FCC has managed interstate rates. The new proposal would set the default rate at $0.0007 per minute for all calls, regardless of distance, doing away with "a fundamental piece of state regulators' authority" and significantly cutting revenues "rural companies rely on to serve remote regions," Hart reports. As a result, rural customers may see price increases. (Read more)

Bad weather spurs farmers' desire for better crop insurance, but none dare call it climate change

A recent string of crop-destroying weather has helped spur farmers to ask for more federal crop insurance, making disaster relief a top priority in the 2012 Farm Bill, perhaps at the expense of direct subsidies. However, as they ask for more insurance, farmers and their lobbies don't acknowledge climate change as a possible cause for the troublesome weather and aren't attempting to adapt to it, Jean Chemnick of Greenwire reports in The New York Times.

Kansas corn growers have had to deal with both drought and flood this year, and the executive director of the Kansas Corn Commission, Jere White, told Chemnick that climate change is not discussed when his group talks policy. He said the increased interest in crop insurance has more to do with the fundamentals of farming than climate change. Richard Krause, senior director for congressional relations for the American Farm Bureau Federation, told Chemnick that increasing crop insurance would be a way to "fill the gap" if Congress stops direct subsidy payments to farmers through spending cuts.

However, Brian Murray, director of economic analysis at the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions at Duke University, told Chemnick that federal insurance programs protect against disaster with no guarantee of payment, while subsidies do guarantee a minimum return on investment. He suggested that farmers are using crop insurance as a way to adapt to increasingly extreme weather without discussing climate change, even though adapting to weather and climate is part of being a farmer.

Jim French, an agriculture advocate for Oxfam America, told Chemnick that farmers could better prepare for extreme weather if they would be willing to acknowledge climate change, adding that a cap-and-trade bill would help fund these adaptation efforts by paying farmers for agricultural practicies that keep carbon from entering the atmosphere. The only farm lobby that has accepted climate change as the reason for extreme weather patterns is the liberally oriented National Farmers Union, which backed legislation during the last Congress to cap industrial greenhouse-gas emissions. (Read more)

'Bob-white!' Call of the quail heard less often; farmers, hunters, conservationists try to help

The familiar call of the bobwhite quail might have become a thing of the past in the Eastern U.S. had farmers, bird watchers, hunters and conservationists not come together to save the ground-dwelling fowl. Still, its numbers have plummeted since the 1960s, by 75 percent in Tennessee alone, reports Anne Paine of The Tennessean. That's a drop of about 3 percent a year.

Initiatives have been started in Tennessee that many hope will rejuvenate the state's bobwhite population. Paine reports that farmers are starting to allow tall, native grasses, the natural bobwhite quail habitat, to grow along their fences; state officials have shortened the quail hunting season from 14 to 11 weeks; and Tennessee is now one of 25 states participating in the National Bobwhite Conservation Initiative.

Though some believe wild turkeys, raccoons and skunks are to blame for the lack of quail, the loss of tall, native grasses is the main reason for the bobwhite's decline, Paine writes. Replacing such habitat can attract other birds, such as prairie warblers and loggerhead shrikes, and pollinators such as bees and butterflies that thrive among the same grasses. Paine reports that there are programs, like the federal Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program, which pays much of the cost of such measures. (Read more)

Facing Sept. 30 deadline, Congress works to keep money flowing to national-forest counties

Congress has started work on legislation to "reauthorize or replace the Secure Rural Schools program, which pays millions of dollars annually to counties with large portions of nontaxable federal lands to help fund schools, roads, emergency services and forest restoration. The program expires at the end of the month," reports Phil Taylor of Environment & Energy News.

The House Natural Resources Committee has a draft proposal that would "boost logging, mining and other uses on national forests to help Western counties fund schools and create new jobs," Taylor writes. The plan "seeks to revive logging as a principal means of funding county programs." The program was started to replace revenues from Western logging that was curtailed mainly for environmental reasons.

In the Senate, a spokeswoman for the Energy and Natural Resources Committee told Taylor that senators of both parties are working on the issue as well as extending payments in lieu of taxes, which play a similar role in national-forest counties in the East. (Read more, subscription required)

Senators file bill to ban farm-dust regulation, ask EPA to back its statements by endorsing it

Federal officials say they have no plans to regulate dust from farms, but some of their statements and actions appear to have created much skepticism, if not disbelief. Some Republican senators have introduced a bill to prohibit such regulation by the Environmental Protection Agency, which is proposing to tighten general standards for dust.

Sens. Mike Johanns of Nebraska and Charles Grassley of Iowa wrote EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson asking her to endorse their bill, "given your previous statements, which appear to be completely consistent with this legislation." The bill would prohibit regulation of farm dust unless there was scientific proof that it causes harm, reports Elise Viebeck of The Hill.

The uncertainty may stem from EPA's attempts to reduce dust in Maricopa County, Arizona, which includes Phoenix. In February, the agency found that the county had failed to limit dust to currently allowable levels. "EPA is proposing 53 measures in the Maricopa area to reduce dust. Many of these measures impact agriculture," lawyer-farmer Gary Baise of Illinois wrote for Farm Futures.

EPA has been regulating farm dust in the desert county since 1996. Here is a report about it. In June, EPA complimented the county for its new dust-abatement handbook. Recently the county suffered huge dust storms.

USPS says it wants to close most sorting centers

"Snail mail is about to get even slower." That's how Patrick Rizzo of MSNBC summed up today's announcement by the U.S. Postal Service that it would move to close more than half of its regional mail-sorting facilities. "The moves will mean first-class mail will no longer reach most customers the day after it was dropped in the mailbox," Rizzo wrote.

Ed O'Keefe of The Washington Post notes, "Lawmakers are considering four competing legislative proposals that would generally grant USPS the flexibility to end Saturday mail deliveries, close post offices based on market conditions and recalculate how much it pays annually into federal retirement, health-care and workers compensation accounts."

The Postal Regulatory Commission recommended in March, after testimony from the National Newspaper Association and the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, that the postal service conduct more research on the impact of five-day delivery on rural areas.

New report finds rural roads in dismal shape; state groups seek ways to fund work

The nation's rural roads have been neglected and are in dire need of repair, according to a recently released transportation study conducted by The Road Information Program. TRIP is a Washington-based non-profit charged with studying the condition of the nation's highways.

The report outlines the importance of sound transportation systems in rural areas and details the state of rural roads in each state. Key findings of the report include numbers of rural non-interstate traffic deaths, the percentage of major rural roads in poor condition and the highest share of rural bridges rated structurally deficient.

According to the report, Pennsylvania has the most rural bridges rated structurally deficient. Out of its more than 4,000 bridges, 28 percent were deficient. Seventeen percent of its rural roads were rated as being in poor condition. Jonathan Silver of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazaette reported that these issues have added significance considering the state has the third largest rural population, 2.8 million.

West Virgina ranks as the third worst in the nation in rural road fatalities, almost double the rate of other types of roads, The Associated Press reports. The report notes 27 percent of the state's rural roads are in poor condition, meaning they are damaged with rutting, cracks and potholes that call for replacement of roads that can't be resurfaced.

In Missouri, groups such as the Missouri Transportation Alliance are looking for ways to fund rural road improvement, like state gas tax or sales tax increases. However, Josh Nelson of The News Leader in Springfield reports that MTA spokesperson Bill McKenna said federal highway spending is a likely target of the 12-member congressional deficit "super committee." Silver writes that Pennsylvania state highway officials have urged Congress to create a six-year funding plan that would focus on rural infrastructure. So far, though, Congress has not passed any such measure. To see the TRIP report, entitled "Rural Connections: Challenges and Opportunities in America's Heartland," in its entirety, click here.

W.Va. jail overcrowding leads to increase in violence against local corrections staff

Following a trend in overcrowding of jails across the country, West Virginia's rate of inmate assaults on regional jail staff and inmate-on-inmate assaults has increased exponentially over the past year. Inmate-on-inmate assaults in the state's 10 regional jails rose 40 percent, from 496 to 695, while inmate on worker assaults increased 87 percent, leaving 58 correctional officers injured.

West Virginia's Regional Jail Authority executive director, Larry Parsons, told Phil Kabler of the Charleston Gazette that jails are now housing almost 2,000 more inmates than they were designed to hold, and that understaffing has become a problem; 92 correctional officer positions are open.

Corrections Commissioner Jim Rubenstein told Kabler that a backlog of Division of Corrections inmates are housed in local jails. Rubenstein noted that prisons have not seen a rise in inmate violence. He also said the high rate of inmate-on-staff violence could be attributed to the incidents of verbal abuse and inmates throwing objects at workers that they are required to report. (Read more)

Harlan County, Ky., opens a mountain zipline

The construction of outdoor attractions has been on the rise in rural regions of the country eager to reap economic benefits of tourism. In Eastern Kentucky, one community hopes to draw visitors by capitalizing on the mountains that surround the town with a zip line called "Black Mountain Thunder." (Harlan Daily Enterprise photo by Anders Eld)

Anders Eld of the Harlan Daily Enterprise reports the zip line, located at the Evarts trailhead in Baileys Creek, was opened by the Harlan County Outdoor Recreation Board today, in what officials are calling a "soft opening." The grand opening will happen in October. It was designed and built by professional zip-line designer Robert Nickell. (Read more) For coverage following opening day, click here.

Report lists benefits, pitfalls of Marcellus fracking

A report done for New York state officials says natural-gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale region that uses hydraulic fracturing, in which high volumes of water, sand and unknown chemicals are forced into deep, dense shales to release gas, could create 37,000 jobs and generate $31 to $185 million a year in state income taxes for New York. (Click on map for larger version)

The report for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation also outlines some pitfalls of drilling in the largely rural south-central and southwestern areas of the state, which the report says are likely to become the "epicenter of the expected hydrofracking activity over the next 30 years," Mireya Navarro of the New York Times writes. The  downsides include large-scale industrial activity, heavy truck traffic, more spending on police and fire protection, and higher housing prices, responding to demand.

The report has become part of a broader draft document that environmental regulators will use to identify risks and propose rules to allow fracking with horizontal drilling for the first time in the state, writes Navarro. The state still plans to ban fracking in most watersheds supplying drinking water, but Navarro reports that areas on the Marcellus Shale could have tens of thousands of wells. (Read more)

Senate bill would resume federal inspections of horse slaughterhouses; ban originated in House

The chairman of the Senate Finance Committee says the Appropriations Committee is moving a bill that would allow the U.S. Department of Agriculture to inspect horse slaughterhouses, in an effort to restore the bottom to the horse market and reduce abuse, neglect and abandonment of horses.

Congress denied USDA funds for such inspections in 2007, ending the American industry that supplied horsemeat for human consumption to Japan and Europe. Montana Sen. Max Baucus cited the Government Accountabilty Office study that found the ban at least partly responsible for a decline in horse sales and prices and an increase in abandonment and neglect.

"Many animal welfare organizations have opposed any move to resume horse slaughter, saying it often results in inhumane shipment and painful deaths and is not the only alternative to preventing neglect," the Los Angeles Times reports. "The Humane Society of the United States said in a report that 92 percent of horses slaughtered are in good condition. The Times adds, "The ban resulted in a more than 600 percent increase in the number of horses being shipped to Mexico, where animal welfare groups say facilities are often horrific."

The ban arose in the House, which voted this year to keep it in place, but after a relatively close vote on its Appropriations Committee.

Rural development spending draws critics, then the story about them draws another

"The Obama administration is investing billions of dollars to promote economic development in rural areas by bringing broadband service and small-business financing to regions with chronic poverty and high unemployment," Ron Nixon reports for The New York Times. "But critics say the administration has little to show for its efforts, which highlight the difficulties of creating jobs in remote areas. They say the money has gone to areas where it is not needed, to promote broadband where it already exists and for industrial parks designed to attract business and jobs that may never materialize."

Nixon notes that the rural poverty rate is higher than the national average, but the Daily Yonder notes that Nixon names only two critics: "One is from the conservative Cato Institute, which is philosophically opposed to most government spending and one isn't so much a critic as an analyst," on the topic of broadband. The Yonder also notes that Nixon "mentions one project," a Mississippi industrial park. "We would agree that industrial parks are probably not the best way to spend development money in either rural or urban settings." (Read more)

Nine Amish men jailed for refusal to use slow-moving-vehicle signs and pay fines and costs

Nine Amish men are now being sent to jail for not paying fines and court costs levied against them after they refused to display orange triangle signs on the back of their horse-drawn buggies in Graves County in far Western Kentucky, reports Peter Smith of The Courier-Journal in Louisville. (Photo by Smith)

The men appealed their 2008 misdemeanor convictions in June, but the state Court of Appeals said religious practices can't supersede the rights and safety of the public at large. Smith reports that Graves District Judge Deborah Hawkins Crooks sentenced the men to between three and 10 days in jail for refusing to pay fines ranging between $148 to more than $600. The length of their sentences depended on their respective fines.

The men belong to a strict Amish sect, Old Order Swartzentruber, that forbids wearing bright colors or trusting man-made symbols in their safety. The men agree that complying with the law and paying the fines would be a violation of their beliefs. One of the men, Levi Zook, told Smith, "I don’t think it’s right to put somebody in jail for practicing their religious beliefs ... but that’s what we’ll do if that’s what it takes to abide by the biblical laws."

The men have appealed to the Kentucky Supreme Court, but the court has not decided whether or not to hear their cases. Meanwhile, Crooks told Smith that trial dates have been set in the coming months for several other Amish men, who have other pending charges, including some of those now serving sentences. (Read more)

UPDATE, Oct. 10: Two more members of the sect were convicted, Smith reports.

Obama proposes billions to repair schools, with rural emphasis; Republicans skeptical at best

President Obama has included a provision in his proposed American Jobs Act that would pour billions into public schools across the country, with a special emphasis on rural schools. According to a White House fact sheet, his proposal would amount to a $25 billion investment in infrastructure for 35,000 public schools. An additional $5 billion would be provided to community colleges.

The fact sheet cites a backlog of school maintenance and repair projects totaling between $270 to $500 billion, and says overstretched districts in the nation's poorest areas have to defer repairs, forcing students and teachers into overcrowded classrooms with little or outdated technology in buildings that average 40 years old.

The money would allow districts to upgrade facilities, make renovations and emergency repairs, upgrade "greening" and energy efficiency, complete asbestos abatement and removal, participate in modernization efforts to build new science and computer labs, upgrade technology infrastructure in our schools, and make upgrades to continue shared spaces as adult vocational and job development centers.

Almost 40 percent of the money would go to the 100 largest high-need schools, or those with the most students living in poverty. The remaining 60 percent of funds would be given to states to disperse. The amount each state gets will be determined by its share of funding from Title I, the main federal program for school in poor areas. They would have to distribute the funds by September 30, 2012 and give priority to rural districts.

Some Republican leaders have denounced Obama's overall proposal, saying he should roll back regulations that they say "kill American jobs" if he wants to keep people working. Andy Sullivan of Reuters reports that House Republican Leader Eric Cantor said he wouldn't support the proposal because it's "akin to the stimulus bill," and he didn't think the American people would want it.

To read the fact sheet, and see a chart outlining the amount of money to which each state is entitled, the number of jobs these projects are likely to create and the amount community colleges in each state could receive, click here.

U.S. poverty rate increases to 15%; some of the more rural states have the highest rates

The percentage of Americans living in poverty is now the largest since 1959, when the Census Bureau first started tracking the poverty rate. There are now 46 million people living in poverty, bringing the rate up to 15.1.

Mississippi has the highest poverty rate at 22.7 percent, followed closely by Louisiana, the District of Columbia, Georgia, New Mexico and Arizona. Hope Yen of The Associated Press reported that the recession, which left millions of Americans grappling with long-term unemployment, is to blame. The poverty rate rose faster from 2007 to 2010 than in any previous three-year period since the early 1980s.

Poverty rose among all racial and ethnic groups except Asians. Hispanics went from 25.3 to 26.6 percent, blacks from 25.8 to 27.4 percent and whites from 9.4 to 9.9 percent. The percentage of children in poverty rose from 20.7 to 22. (Read more)

Gas-drilling foes in Pa. trying local referenda, believed to be the first such votes in nation

"Challengers to natural gas drilling are taking a new approach in Pennsylvania, putting the rights of energy companies to drill in the massive Marcellus Shale basin on the ballot in what are believed to be the nation's first voter initiatives seeking to ban such activity," The Wall Street Journal reports. (WSJ map)

The referenda will be in Peters Township and State College, and maybe Warren. Gas companies argue that state law pre-empts such local legislation. "Such complete bans on drilling have yet to be ruled on by a court in Pennsylvania, but legal experts are doubtful they would survive," Kris Maher writes. A judge threw out a ban in Morgantown, W. Va. Opposition to drilling centers on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in which water, chemicals and sand at high pressure are used to release gas from the deep, dense shale.

Investors see promise in America's farms; some bankers see a possible bubble

Money continues to pour into America's farmland, but not by those who actually till the dirt and plant the crops. The continually rising price of food worldwide and the lack of arable land on which to plant is driving the cost of corn, soybeans, wheat and other crops up, something rich investors who have never planted a seed say makes buying this land a sound investment. (Photo by Joe Raymond, The Associated Press)

In Iowa, the value of farmland has almost doubled in six years, while values of farms in Nebraska and Kansas are up more than 50 percent, reports AP's Bernard Condon. The price of corn in Iowa was at $4 a bushel one year ago. Now, it's at $7. Condon also writes that investors can collect money on farms while they own them, unlike owning other things like gold, art and oil, making land ownership more appealing.

Out-of-state investors are becoming commonplace at farmland auctions, especially in Iowa, where they make up 25 percent of buyers, double the figure from 20 years ago, Condon reports. Marisa Dallman, owner of Kansas Land Brokers, writes for landthink.com that this is the first time she's seen an entire article devoted to farmland, which is usually left out of real-estate industry news, in the National Association of Realtors magazine. She reports that most farmland never sees the open market because it's passed from neighbor to neighbor and down through generations. She also says one sector of investors are buying small tracts of land for possible use in future development opportunities.

There is also a danger that farm prices may be inflated, warns Thomas Hoenig, head of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. He told Condon that current prices may be in an "unsustainable bubble." Others don't see it that way. Perry Vieth, a veteran bond trader and owner of Ceres Partners, a private investment fund, told Condon he is buying for 71 investors. His company owns 65 farms and he has returned 15 percent annually to his investors. (Read more)

Citizens unaware of records they can get, newspaper says in reporting local officials' pay

Most people in rural areas are not aware they can file open-records requests to obtain information they are entitled to see, such as salaries of public employees, reports Dave Boucher of the Kentucky New Era in Hopkinsville, Ky.

In a recent weekend issue of the paper (Aug. 27-28), Boucher reported that he filed 20 records requests to acquire information on city and county employee salaries. Al Cross, director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, told Boucher that public officials in rural places "can feel like a request to know their salary is an invasion of privacy," a feeling that stems from rural community culture in which a public office can be regarded as a private possession.

People simply don't understand what types of information they are entitled to see, Cross told Boucher. According to the Kentucky Open Records Act, any agency that receives at least 25 percent of its funding from public sources is subject to a request, Boucher writes. There are some exemptions, including "unwarranted invasion of personal privacy" and classified information, but salaries are not on that list. (Read more)

Asian carp are still moving toward Great Lakes; canal barrier's voltage to be increased

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will increase the voltage on an electric fence designed to keep Asian carp from traveling into the Great Lakes from the Mississippi River system. Preliminary tests of the fence's power showed the voltage was not high enough to deter the invasive fish from entering the lakes.

Paul Quinlan of Enviropnment & Energy News reports that the three-part barrier will be placed in a Chicago shipping canal to keep the fish from entering Lake Michigan, where a carp was spotted last year. Lawmakers and environmentalist are worried the fish could "wreak havoc on the bottom of the food chain and ultimately destroy the $7 billion sport fishery" in the Great Lakes.

Maj. Gen. John Peabody, commander of the Corps' Great Lakes and Ohio River Division, told Quinlan the voltage will be raised this fall, but will not harm people. The Corps also reported that monitoring has shown small Asian carp are not swimming close to the barrier. (Read more)

Pipeline safety regulators focus on population centers, leaving rural areas more vulnerable

After two recent oil spills, one in Montana and one in Michigan, that released over 885,000 gallons of crude into nearby rivers, much attention has been paid to lack of oversight of the 167,000 miles of hazardous-liquid pipelines that cross the nation's rural areas.

Dan Frosch and Janet Roberts of The New York Times discovered through investigation of federal reports and safety documents that the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, charged with oversight of safety and regulation of the pipeline system, only has 118 inspectors, 17 fewer than federal law authorizes, and does not have the resources to hire more. This is increasingly leaving oversight in the hands of pipeline operators.

Though the pipeline industry reported 25 percent fewer spill incidents from 2001 to 2010 than in the prior decade, there are still more than 100 significant spills every year, Frosch and Roberts write. The agency only requires inspectors to focus on 44 percent of land-based pipelines close to population centers and delicate environmental areas, leaving thousands of miles of pipelines in rural areas to be "loosely regulated and operating essentially on the honor system."

These concerns come close to the State Department's recent approval of the controversial Keystone XL, a proposed 1,661-mile pipeline from Canada to Texas. Paired with a report recently released by the National Transportation Safety Board about a natural-gas pipeline explosion in California that claimed eight lives, the safety of the proposed line and the 40- to 60-year-old nationwide pipeline infrastructure has been brought into question. (Read more)

To see a Times map showing where these spills most frequently occur, along with data about the main causes of these spills, click here.

New rules in Canada would block building of coal-fired power plants without carbon capture

The Canadain government is considering new regulations for coal-fired power plants that will require plants "to emit roughly the same greenhouse gases as natural gas generators," Christa Marshall of ClimateWire reports. The 2020 goal is to have emission rates 17 percent below the 2005 levels, Environment Minister Peter Kent said in a ceremony in Saskatchewan. Coal fuels about 17 percent of Canada's electricity and is responsible for about 13 percent of the country's greenhouse gases.

The new rules, which should take effect in 2015, will require companies constructing new plants to invest in new carbon-capture technologies or avoid coal altogether. Emissions will be limited to 375 metric tons of carbon dioxide per gigawatt of electricity. Analysts say the only way to achieve that level is "with yet-to-be commercialized technology," Marshall writes.

Most of the nation's coal plants would remain in operation past 2020, which has many environmentalists upset. "About two-thirds of current plants would not have to meet the standard until after 2020, and nine would operate past 2030 without constraint", Pembina Institute, an environmental think tank reports. This "would do little initially for climate change," Tim Weis, an analyst at Pembina told Marshall. (Read more; subscription may be required)

The 60-day public comment period will close late next month, but Kent told Rebecca Penty of the Calgary Herald, he does not expect the any substantial changes. (Read more)

End of family's careers on rural routes prompts a look back at one county's history of R.F.D.

The problems of the U.S. Postal Service, reflected by its listing of more than 3,700 post offices for possible closure, has prompted rural newspapers to publish stories about the post offices and rural residents' relationship with the mail, which is a larger part of the infrastructure in rural America, this writer told the Postal Regulatory Commission almost a year ago in opposing the end of Saturday delivery.

That relationship can be personal, as this writer's brother illustrated in this week's edition of the Clinton County News in Albany, Ky.: "An era in Clinton County that began 70 years ago when Leonard Little started carrying the mail on Rural Route Two ended on Wednesday, August 31, 2011, when Harold Little [in photo] pulled into the Albany Post Office lot for the last time in his official capacity of rural mail carrier. No more does a Little carry the mail in Clinton County."

The story not only recounts the history of the Littles and the mail, but many of the other rural carriers in the county. going back to 1924, when it first got Rural Free Delivery and "the county was dotted with post offices every few miles," David Cross writes. "The RFD system was created by Congress for the convenience of the rural people and it was the major contributing factor to the demise of the rural post offices."

This is a story that is surely replicated elsewhere, and now's a good time to tell it. To read my brother's article, click here.

Ky. school districts pass up free lunches for all kids, citing worries about future costs

Many Kentucky school districts are reportedly opting out of a new federal pilot program that provides free breakfast and lunch to all students attending schools where poverty rates are high. They say budget constraints, fear of losing other federal benefits, and the possiblity of having to raise taxes to maintain the program are keeping them from participating. Kentucky, Tennessee and Illinois were the three states chosen to implement the program first.

When the U. S. Department of Agriculture announced the Community Eligibility Program in March, officials called it a way to eliminate red tape for school districts and "make it easier for low-income students to receive meals in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast program." Districts would provide free meals to all students for four years, then claim reimbursement for them, as they do for students who already receive free or reduced meals, reports Heather Webb of the Salyersville Independent.

Webb reports that officials of the Magoffin County Schools said they are not participating because they want "see how the program works in the districts that do participate." The reimbursement rate outlined in the program is less than normal rates, and in the county, it would cause the current rate of 86 percent to drop to 47 percent.

Of Kentucky's 174 school districts, 102 are eligible for the program. However, only 18 of those eligible districts were participating when most started classes in early August, The Licking Valley Courier (which is not online) reported in its Aug. 11 edition. It said the Morgan County Schools declined to take part because they would have to pay 25 percent of the cost and feared they might have to raise taxes to cover that.

Bailey Richards of the Hazard Herald reported that schools who do not have more than 60 percent of their students receiving free or reduced lunch can still participate in the program, but the respective school boards will have to pay the difference to cover all students. Perry County Schools Food Service Coordinator Linda Campbell told Richards her district could not afford to pay that difference, which would amount to about $300,000 a year out of its general fund. Hazard Independent Schools Supt. Sandra Johnson told the Herald that she feared her district would lose funding from other government programs, like federal Title I and state Family Resource Centers, which depend on the exact number of students receiving free meals, if they could no longer keep track of those numbers.

Rural employers wonder about Obama jobs plan

Thursday President Obama presented a new jobs plan to a joint session of Congress and the nation. While there was little mention of rural America, several of the proposals could have a rural impact. Or not.

Obama's plan designates $100 billion to infrastructure projects and "get unemployed construction workers back to work," Karen Massie of News 10/KXTV of Sacramento reports. This has Doug Veerkamp, owner of Veerkamp General Engineering, one of El Dorado County's largest employers, hopeful but skeptical that rural areas will see much of the money. "It always seems the bigger contractors in larger cities and counties get the money," he said. "They need to designate a certain amount of dollars for rural counties . . . and not just give it to the most populated counties." (Read more)

Obama's plan could save an estimated 280,000 education jobs, Alyson Klein of Education Week reports. K-12 schools could get almost $25 billion for facility renovations. From that "the largest 100 districts would get direct grants and states would have until Sept. 30, 2012 to decide how to distribute the remaining money. "Half of the construction money would be competitive, with special priority for rural schools, and the rest would go out by formula," Klein writes.

Another horse rescue faces charges as two groups aim to educate rescuers and donors

A New York equine rescue is the latest to face charges for "allegedly defrauding financial contributors and for allegedly maltreating several horses," Pat Raia of The Horse.com reports. This comes as the number of unwanted horses keeps rising. (Kentucky Horse Council photo)

For those interested in horse adoption or horse rescue, the federal Bureau of Land Management is hosting a free online chat with two veterinarians on this topic. The event will be Wednesday, Sept. 21 from 8 to 9 p.m. EST. After registering, participants can submit questions in advance, or they can ask questions during the live event. (Read more)

For those interested in donating, the Kentucky Horse Council has issued some considerations donors should ponder before donating to a rescue. (Read more)

Spike in violence follows increase in pot farming

Violence has become the norm in the forested mountains of California, where illegal marijuana crops have infiltrated isolated stands of Douglas firs and redwoods often only visited by scientists, foresters and hikers. The violence became pronounced after the recent shooting death of retired forester and Fort Bragg City Councilman Jere Melo by a known pot grower, reported Sam Quinones of the Los Angeles Times.

Quinones writes that growing accelerated after Georgia-Pacific Corp. closed the town's paper mill in 2002, taking hundreds of jobs with it. After California's medical marijuana law passed, a "Green Rush" was sparked, as growers were enticed from as far away as Mexico to move into the area's forests, which had already been a major pot-producing area because of its "isolation, good weather and laissez-faire culture," the Times reports.

Mendocino County Sheriff's Capt. Kurt Smallcomb told Quinones that the "Green Rush" brought with it an increase in home invasion robberies and killings. This, Smallcomb said, started an "arms race as farmers bought weapons for protection against armed robbers." Quinones writes, "It feels at times as if war has broken out." (Read more)

Kentucky joins ranks of states losing money needed to fill extension office positions

Add Kentucky to the list of states, like South Dakota and Oregon, suffering budget cuts to their cooperative extension services. Funding for the service in Kentucky has decreased about 9 percent, from $13.5 million in 2008 to $12.3 million in 2011.

The shortfall has left 31 vacancies among 411 county agent jobs. Two years ago, there were 20 vacancies, Jimmy Henning told Bruce Schreiner of The Associated Press. Henning is the associate dean for extension in the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture. The peak number of vacancies, 60, came in 1994, Henning said.

Some vacancies may not be filled for two years, causing counties to chose whether or not to leave positions empty or temporarily pick up the state's share of the payroll. So far, 14 counties have taken the latter route, expediting hiring of 15 agents. Those counties, whick previously contributed $5.5 million to these salaries, will be contributing $7.3 million in 2011. (Read more)

Leadership training offered to rural communities

The Center for Rural Affairs and Leadership Consulting Associates, a new organization that focuses on developing rural leaders, are partnering to offer leadership training to rural community leaders. Seven leadership experts will provide training on leadership styles, short and long-range planning, generational communication, adaptive leadership, understanding conflict, vision and mission creation, initiating change, and ethical decision making to rural communities nationwide.

This partnership responds to a University of Kentucky study that identifies leadership as the key to viability in small communities, the Center for Rural Affairs Newsletter reports. Researcher Kristina Ricketts identified effective communication, development of social capital, community engagement and collaboration-across and within communities as essential skills for community leaders. (Read more)

Top coated-paper company files for bankruptcy, says rural paper mills to stay open for now

NewPage Holdings Corp., North America's largest manufacturer of coated paper, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, a move that could affect employment in Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, Maine, Maryland and Kentucky, home of its southernmosst plant, on the Mississippi River near Wickliffe.

According to bankruptcy filings, the Ohio-based company currently owes $4.2 billion in debt against $3.4 billion in assets, and its annual losses have deepened from $22 million in 2007 to $674 million last year, Rick Romell, of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. (Journal Sentinel map)

The company has entered into talks with J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co. to obtain a $600 million loan to remain open during their Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, reports Mike Spector of The Wall Street Journal.

The jobs of those currently working at paper mills owned by NewPage are at stake, and with them, the fate of local economies where these mills operate. Romell writes Wisconsin has a lot to lose because paper making is a key industry in the state. However, in a statement the company released, NewPage vows to keep open their U.S. operations through the company's bankruptcy restructuring process.

The stink spreads as bugs march south

The march of the stink bug continues, spreading its destruction of crops and trees into North Carolina. The brown marmorated variety of the bug was spotted in the mid-Atlantic region in April, creating problems for the region's farmers.

Over half of the crops in Virginia, eastern West Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and south central Pennsylvania were lost in 2010 due to the stink bug's appetite for various fruit and vegetables according to farmers in those states, reports Alicia Roberts of the Charlotte Observer.

"It's where a small amount of damage has a pretty big economic impact," Jim Walgenbach told Roberts. He is a researcher at North Carolina State University's Mountain Horticultural Crops Research & Extension Center.

Three Ky. schools, Appalachian agency start program to improve dentistry in mountains

With money from the Appalachian Regional Commission and some of their own, three very different Kentucky universities will collaborate "to enhance sustainable, collaborative dental health education and care" in the state's eastern coalfield, where both are sorely lacking, they announced in a press release.

Morehead State University, the private University of Pikeville, and the University of Kentucky's College of Dentistry will design the Appalachian Rural Dental Educational Partnership Plan "to train more dentists to practice in rural areas and give them the tools necessary to set up thriving dental practices in Eastern Kentucky," the release said. The funding is $400,000 from ARC, $127,293 from UK, $82,035 from UPike and $47,873 from Morehead State.

“The majority of Eastern Kentuckians have struggled to sustain quality dental health, and one of the barriers to maintaining good dental health is poor access of quality dental care,” state Department for Local Government Commissioner Tony Wilder said. His agency handles ARC matters in Kentucky.

Said new UK President Eli Capilouto, a dentist by trade, “We know that if we can break a cycle of poor health, we can begin to break cycles of poverty. Cycles of despair can become legacies of hope. We also, increasingly, know that partnerships and greater collaboration are the best – and, perhaps, only – way to address major challenges.” He called the project a unique partnership among a federal agency, a governor and “the state’s flagship institution, Kentucky’s public institution dedicated to serving the people of Eastern Kentucky, and a critically important college with deep roots in Eastern Kentucky.” (Read more)

Number of adult smokers keeps declining

Fewer U.S. adults are smoking and daily smokers are smoking fewer cigarettes, according to a new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The report shows the number of smokers declined from 20.9 percent in 2005 to 19.3 percent in 2010. To see your state's percentage, click on the map below. County-by-county percentages will be available later.

The percentage of U.S. adults smoking nine or fewer cigarettes per day increased to 21.8 percent in 2010 from 16.4 percent in 2005 and the number smoking 30 or more cigarettes per day fell to 8.3 percent in 2010 from 12.7 percent in 2005.

USPS must change, but not chase newspapers away or abandon rural places, small papers' lobby says

The U.S. Postal Service must change, but the solution to its financial problems "cannot be to push mail out of the system," or to "abandon small-town America," National Newspaper Association Chief Executive Officer Tonda F. Rush told the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs today.

Rush said the lobbying group agrees that the service needs relief from "the way payments into benefits systems have been structured," and that it has "excess capacity," but she said closure of mail sorting facilities is "already affecting delivery of community newspapers that depend upon the mail, citing examples of subscribers lost because mail is being trucked into distant cities for processing," NNA said in a press release. "It makes no sense to transport newspaper bundles from a small town into an urban flats sorting center just to bring them back again unsorted," Rush said.

NNA, comprising mainly papers that rely on the mail, does not oppose closing small post offices, but Rush said the service may not be counting revenue from newspapers when deciding which offices produce too little revenue to keep open. And she reiterated the group's opposition to Saturday mail delivery. "We have made it clear that if the Postal Service will not deliver our newspapers on Saturdays, we need the help of Congress to make sure we can do it ourselves," by allowing newspaper carriers to use mailboxes, she said.

"The Postal Service must not abandon small town America," Rush said. "We urge Congress not to let the Postal Service abandon those who need it most." (Read more)

Postal Service's declining finances increase pressure to eliminate Saturday mail delivery

The U.S. Postal Service's plan to close more than 3,500 post offices made its problems more of a concern for rural Americans, and the concern may increase as the service nears what would amount to bankruptcy and renews its efforts to persuade Congress to eliminate Saturday mail delivery.

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, "like many lawmakers from rural states, vigorously opposes ending Saturday delivery, which would trim only 2 percent from the agency’s budget," reports Steven Greenhouse of The New York Times. "Collins, the ranking Republican on the committee overseeing the postal service, said the cutback would be tough on people in small towns who receive prescriptions and newspapers by mail."

Collins told Greenhouse, “The postmaster general has focused on several approaches that I believe will be counterproductive. They risk producing a death spiral where the postal service reduces service and drives away more customers.” She and Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., chairman of the committee, favor "recovering around $60 billion that some actuaries say the agency has overpaid into two pension funds. Although the Obama administration is working closely with the senators to find a solution, it has signaled discomfort with the pension proposals, questioning whether the postal service really overpaid. Meanwhile, Rep. Darrell Issa, the California Republican who is chairman of the House Oversight Committee, says the pension proposals would amount to an unjustifiable bailout that would not solve the agency’s underlying problems. He is pushing a bill that would create an emergency oversight board that could order huge cost-cutting and void the postal service’s contracts — a proposal that not just the unions, but Senators Carper and Collins oppose."

But some action will be necessary soon. Greenhouse writes, "The agency is so low on cash that it will not be able to make a $5.5 billion payment due this month and may have to shut down entirely this winter unless Congress takes emergency action to stabilize its finances." (Read more)

Agriculture-policy writer gives a clear, succinct picture of debate over changes in crop subsidies

The prospect that farm programs will be significantly changed as part of the deficit-reduction process has been reported here several times, but as usual, Philip Brasher, left, of Gannett Co.'s Washington bureau (which hired him after the Des Moines Register, a Gannett newspaper, laid him off and closed its bureau) best puts the jam on the bottom shelf where the little folks can get to it:

"Farmers and landowners have long counted on getting a government check every year regardless of how profitable they might be or whether they even planted a crop. But those checks may soon be a lot smaller -- or disappear altogether. A congressional super committee that is charged with writing a plan this fall for slashing the federal budget deficit is widely expected to target those payments," known as "direct payments."

Brasher continues, "Farm lobbyists and their allies in Congress are scrambling to come up with a new and cheaper way to subsidize growers, one that would provide payments when crops are poor or market prices collapse. The threat to the payments is so dire that even the cotton industry, which has long resisted cutting them, is now looking at alternatives. The ideas being tossed about include taking money that now goes to the annual payments and using it to sweeten the federal crop insurance program."

There, in the story's initial paragraphs, are the main cards in play. Deeper down is an underlying reason for change, which Brasher dregded up from a hearing last year: "The goal of income parity of farm people versus urban people has been achieved," Purdue University agricultural economist Otto Doering said at a hearing on farm policy. "Our chief concern now should be volatility." There are 19 more paragraphs, all worth reading if you care about agriculture or have readers, viewers and listeners who do. Go here.