States' waivers will allow school accountability testing beyond math and science

Many states are seeking waivers for parts of the No Child Left Behind Act, and some may be allowed to consider more than math and reading test scores in accountability systems, on which some federal funding depends, reports Erik Robelen of Education Week. Seven of 11 states that won waivers in the first wave of requests, and about a dozen of those in the second wave have included such provisions in their waiver request. Schools intend to first ask for science to be added, then writing, then social studies.

Kelly Price of the Georgia Science Teachers Association said the group is excited about science being added because it has been neglected since NCLB was instated. Similar stories have been told in other states, including Kentucky, where teachers at one school reportedly didn't start teaching social studies until May, after the tests had been given. Kentucky is also one of several states, including Florida and South Carolina, that had separate state accountability testing which covered other subjects. Those states are asking to combine systems into a unified one.

These plans are coming to light as Arizona State University professor Eugene Judson completes a study revealing that states with science as part of their accountability calculations "see significantly higher achievement gains over time at the fourth grade in the subject than states that do not," Robelen reports. Judson also found that extra attention on science doesn't take away from math or reading. The waivers will be good through the end of the 2013-2014 school year. (Read more)

Survey shows high-school texts cast rural America in an unfavorable light

If image and perception can be reality, rural America has a problem. And it's one that Daily Yonder contributors Aimee Howley, Karen Eppley and Marged Howley have traced back to an insidious source: high school textbooks.

The authors surveyed six high-school history books widely used between 1956 and 2009, and found that rural America got a well-deserved nod in the direction of "individualism and community spirit, stability and adventurousness" 50 years ago, but the last 20 years of text haven't been so kind. They found that rural America is now depicted as lacking, with common references to ignorance, recklessness and despair. The life of rural Americans was, in turn, seen as "harsh and demoralizing" and "in need of regulation."

Such characterizations, the authors argue in their piece, which is a condensed chapter of a forthcoming book, present what students then come to think of as truth, reinforcing "dominant ideologies that sustain prevailing power relations." There is time, they write, to correct this, making for more honesty, and a more connected future, more in league with the natural world, with all its complexities.

Oklahoma couple who run a great weekly paper enter state's Journalism Hall of Fame today

John and Faith Wylie, publishers of one of the best weekly newspapers in America, the Oologah Lake Leader, are joining the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame today, "along with eight other outstanding journalists," the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors reports in its April newsletter. "The Wylies represent the best of quality journalism in Oklahoma," said Dr. Terry Clark, director of the hall and journalism professor at the University of Central Oklahoma.

John M. Wylie II, who studied at Grinnell College in Iowa, was part of the Kansas City Star team that won a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the Hyatt hotel disaster in 1982. He and his wife bought the weekly Leader in 1984. "His investigations for the Leader and national and international publications of McGraw-Hill have concentrated on energy regulation, attracting national attention," ISWNE reports. He has won hundreds of prizes and the leader has won eight first prizes from the National Newspaper Association. Faith Wylie has a degree in graphic design from the University of Kansas.

The Wylies have also been civic leaders and have received several local awards. John Wylie discussed their civil service and their approach to publishing in remarks prepared for the 2007 National Summit on Journalism in Rural America, titled "Independent Publishing Today: Thriving in a world of box stores and chain papers." He wrote, "Work for the economic prosperity of your community the right way. Don’t trust the economic gurus. Run, don’t walk, from the folks who tell you that this private prison or that hazardous waste dump is the key to the future. They aren’t. Build a real community based on real community values and a strong economic base, and your economic future will be secure."

As for publishing, he wrote, "Some publishers believe that the local newspaper should carry only good news and never offend anyone. We say a good local newspaper should carry all the news, and provide quality coverage of the good, the bad and everything in between. . . . You are the only newspaper in the world that gives a diddly about your town. Act like it. Your town includes the preacher and the pauper; the millionaire and the welfare mom; the teacher and the mentally handicapped child. Speak for all of them, meet their needs, help them realize their dreams and you will prosper." (Read more)

For information on the other winners, and more on the Wylies, see the ISWNE newsletter in PDF form here. UPDATE, June 20: For the Wylies' remarks, in the June ISWNE newsletter, go here.

U.S. beef industry optimistic about global sales despite a case of mad cow disease

The beef industry is optimistic about its prospects, despite the Tuesday discovery of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, in a California dairy cow at a rendering plant, Agri-Pulse reports.

"U.S. trade officials believe Washington has a narrow window of opportunity this year to negotiate additional beef market openings in key Asian countries this year worth approximately $3 billion annually to American producers," the Washington newsletter reports. Department of Agriculture Deputy Undersecretary Darci Vetter said expansion could happen in Japan, China and South Korea. The Koreans expressed the most wariness about the mad-cow discovery, details of which are here.

It was the first U.S. case of mad-cow disease since 2006, and the fourth ever in the country. The cow died at a dairy farm and was sent to a pet-food plant, where it was tested based on USDA guidelines: older than 30 months and a fresh corpse. A plant official said the cow showed no outward signs of the disease and testing was a random sample. Test results revealed the cow had atypical BSE, which means it was spontaneous and likely a genetic mutation, not an infection. Dead cows are never slaughtered for human consumption.

Agri-Pulse reports the finding "will not have any impact on the United States 'controlled risk' BSE classification through the World Organization for Animal Health and should not affect access for U.S. beef products in international markets, according to the U.S. Meat Export Federation." USMEF President Philip Seng said the organization is reaching out to global trade contacts to assure them "the most important message is that U.S. beef is safe."

Agri-Pulse is available by subscription only, but a four-week free trial can be obtained here.

UPDATE: Rita Gabbett of Meatingplace reports international government officials will still import U.S. beef, but more closely inspect it. Agriculture officials in South Korea are implementing emergency measures, including tightening quarantine checks on U.S. beef imports. U.S. Meat Export Federation spokesman Joe Schuele said Japan, which is America's second-largest market, plans to continue imports, as well as Mexico, the largest market for U.S. beef. A similar tone came from Canada, Taiwan and Europe.

Farm Bill delayed as Southern coalition splits

UPDATE: The Senate Agriculture Committee will meet at 10:30 a.m. today, Thursday, April 26, to officially amend and modify its version of the 2012 farm bill. This is the final step before the bill is sent to the Senate floor for a vote, which will send it on to the House.

The Senate Agriculture Committee postponed today's scheduled hearing on its new draft Farm Bill late Tuesday evening after more than 40 Southern commodity groups sent a letter to the committee asking for the delay, reports David Rogers of Politico. The draft proposes an end to direct entitlement payments to farmers, but promises cotton producers a $3 billion income protection program. That has upset peanut and rice producers, who have been allied with cotton growers in opposition to a proposed strong shift from direct payments to crop insurance.

Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., said in a statement the committee has made significant progress on the bill, which has much bipartisan Senate support. But Rogers reports Stabenow's change in signals "testifies to the power still of these commodity lobbies," and that she has a vested interest in "finding a solution." Stabenow would be in "much stronger position if she can first hold the farm coalition together" before the bill is brought to the Senate floor for a vote. (Read more)

Senators representing other commodity interests "made demands regarding the baseline impacts on their crops, adding even more fuel to the growing Southern revolt that was building at the 11th hour," Agri-Pulse reports. The Senate is likely trying to move on the Farm Bill to make the House, which usually takes the lead on the bill, take action on it. Agri-Pulse reports some sources say even if Stabenow continues bipartisan momentum for the bill, Majority Leader Harry Reid "has little motivation to move a Farm Bill on the Senate floor until after the House takes action." Agri-Pulse is available by subscription only, but a four-week free trial is here.

Pooling laws that allow gas drilling even if landowner objects draw fire in gas-boom states

As the natural gas boom and its heavy reliance on hydraulic fracturing moves closer to more populated areas, there is debate about laws that give drillers the ability to drill on a landowners' property over their objections if enough neighbors agree to the drilling.

Marc Levy of The Associated Press reports the laws are drawing criticism in the heavily drilled areas of the Northeast, including Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York. Many of those states have been revisiting drilling laws to better handle the gas boom.

Mandatory pooling laws were created to assure that profits from drilling were shared among both unwilling and willing property owners, said John Keller, a lawyer representing Ohio drillers. "The arrangement prevents neighbors from allowing drillers to suck resources from under another's land without compensation, while allowing interested landowners to exercise their mineral rights," Levy reports. Pooling laws have long been mandatory in Texas and other major oil states. After the Northeast gas boom started in 2008, pooling laws were the top priority of gas-industry lobbyists in Pennsylvania. No legislation has been introduced, though, and Republican Gov. Tom Corbett, who is an industry supporter, opposes the law, saying it's "tantamount to private eminent domain."

Citizens have a hard time fighting the laws, Levy reports. The Technical Advisory Council is the regulatory body that makes decisions about pooling laws in Ohio, but an AP investigation revealed the council has sided with the industry 43 out of 56 times since 2009 in cases where private landowners opposed drilling on their land. The council recommended only three industry mandatory pooling requests. Six of eight members represent oil and gas producers, and all members are appointed by the governor. (Read more)

Obama's foes continue to confuse the facts in the debate over child labor on family farms

ANALYSIS By Amy Wilson
Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues

It's bad enough that politicians want to make you think the government is trying to stop your kids from hauling hay to your own barn, but now some journalists are adding fuel to this non-existent fire.

In mid-March, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney said President Obama's overzealous Labor Department is trying to prevent farmers' own children from doing chores on their farms. A quick fact check showed that was not true; in fact, the department was trying to formalize a policy the Bush administration had put in place around 2002, limiting the exemption to farms "wholly owned" by the child's parents. After criticism, the department withdrew the rule and said a revised version would take into account the various business structures farmers use among families and generations.

The well-regarded conservative blog, The Daily Caller, this week seemed not to care about those facts. A story reported criticism that the administration is getting from some rural members of Congress, and from children. The story (read here) quotes a college student saying she fears losing her 4-H and FFA projects because she would be prohibited from handling livestock at her home. That is not true.
Here is paragraph three of the proposed change in the Fair Labor Standards Act: "The proposed agricultural revisions would impact only hired workers and in no way compromise the statutory child labor parent exemption involving children working on farms owned or operated by their parents."

Another aspiring farmer bemoaned the loss of the work ethic and love of agriculture because of what he perceived to be Obama's desire to have children stop working on the farm. That was clearly a misreading of the situation, and the Daily Caller did nothing to clear up the confusion. This, even after Tennessee's senior Senator Lamar Alexander, who co-sponsored the bill to stop the revisions, a bill called "Preserving America's Family Farm Act," was called up short by PolitiFact Tennessee in The Tennessean.
 Much of the debate about the regulations has centered on the wide range of ownership options for farms. What constitutes a family farm anymore? Does it include grandparents, uncles, aunts, nieces and nephews? These are legitimate issues for discussion, and even partisan or ideological news sources should keep their facts straight and avoid misrepresentations.

Job loss puts Appalachian men more at risk for suicide, and their culture inhibits help-seeking

The suicide risk among middle-aged men in Appalachia has increased recently because of the downturn in the economy, according to the dean of the Zanesville and Eastern campuses of Ohio University, reports Jennifer Manfrin of The Zanesville Times Recorder.

Dean Richard Greenlee, who has provided training to Appalachian mental health agencies, said several factors contribute to the high suicide rates: "Independence, self-reliance, a strong work ethic and pride in accomplishments are common characteristics of men in the Appalachian culture." Suicide rates are high in rural areas where there is little access to mental health facilities and where the people tend to believe in being independent and not asking for help.

Many Applachian men have recently lost jobs they've had for 20 or more years, Greenlee said, which often leads to legal, financial and relationship issues, causing individuals to turn to alcohol or drugs to cope. He said tragedies occur when individuals facing these losses do not seek help: "One of the things that Appalachian men have problems with is breaking through their toughness and emotional strength. What they often do not realize is that the problems they are facing after job losses are too much for anyone to handle without seeking help." (Read more)

Another newspaper with rural interests closes its news bureau in the nation's capital

The trend of fewer reporters in Washington covering news for mainstream news outlets, especially those with rural interests, continues.

Agri-Pulse reports, "Marc Heller, who has been setting the pace for coverage of dairy legislation daily , who has been setting the pace for coverage of dairy legislation for daily newspapers over the last 15 years, closed the Washington bureau of New York’s Watertown Daily Times at the end of last month. Alan Emory opened the bureau in 1950. Heller covers agricultural issues for BNA publications." That's the Bureau of National Affairs, which provides specialized, detailed reporting on issues and has hired many journalists who have seen their jobs at mainstream media outlets disappear.

Senate backs 1-year ban on closing rural post offices; pro- and anti-Sat. mail measures both lose

UPDATE, April 26: The bill passed, with "$11 billion to offer buyouts and early retirement incentives to hundreds of thousands of postal workers and to pay off its debts," Ed O'Keefe reports for The Washington Post's Ed O'Keefe reports. "The measure also would permit the end of Saturday mail deliveries in two years and only after USPS determines it is financially necessary." A rival bill by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., would let the postal service "quickly close unprofitable post offices and processing centers," O'Keefe notes. Issa’s measure would allow Saturday mail delivery to end. The National Newspaper Association supports the Senate bill; USPS grumbled about it.

The Senate voted tonight to prohibit the U.S. Postal Service from closing rural post offices for a year unless no one from the community objects. The measure, an amendment to an omnibus bill designed to shore up the debt-burdened service, would affect post offices outside metropolitan areas.

"After one year, the mail agency would have to take rural issues into special consideration, including economic impact, the quality of Internet broadband service and location, " The Associated Press reports. "Post offices would generally be shielded from closing if the next closest mail facility was more than 10 miles away."

The amendment, approved on a voice vote, was sponsored by Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., who said, “Protecting our rural post offices is about more than just maintaining brick and mortar — our post offices are the lifeblood for towns across our state and a source of good-paying jobs in areas hard-hit by the economic downturn.”

Senators defeated amendments that would have eliminated or guaranteed Saturday mail delivery. A final vote on the bill could come Wednesday.

Discovery of link between beehive collapse and pesticides falls on 50th anniversary of Silent Spring

Recently, scientists have linked colony collapse disorder in honey bees to use of neonicotinoid pesticides. It's the first time pesticide use has been linked to the disorder, which disorients bees so they can't find their way back to their hive, and subsequently kills them. Elizabeth Kolbert of The New Yorker provides a round-up of the recent pesticide studies, and reminds us that the latest discovery falls on the eve of the 50th anniversary of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, which first alerted the world to the harmful effects of another pesticide: DDT. (New Yorker photo)

Three studies, one British, one French and one American, have all found that bees given doses of neonicotinoids were significantly less likely to return to their hives, and most died. Pennsylvania beekeeper Dave Hackenberg was one of the first to draw attention to CCD, and one of the first to suggest a link between the disorder and pesticides. Kolbert asked him what he thought about the recent study findings. "This more or less proves what we thought all along," Hackenberg said. "I think we've got a toxic mess."

Neonicotinoids were introduced in the 1990s, and are a neurotoxin to insects. Kolbert writes they are known as systemic pesticides because seeds are treated with the chemical that is later taken through the plants vascular system. The Pesticide Action Network says at least 140 million acres, or an area larger than California and Florida combined, of crops were planted with neonicotinoids in 2010. (Read more)

Wendell Berry, in national lecture, calls for affection to community to counter pillage by 'industrialism'

Wendell Berry is a farmer, author, essayist and poet, and seems comfortable with those labels, but not so much with "philosopher." In last night's Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., he sounded very much like a philosopher, yet still grounded firmly in the hills along the Kentucky River in the Outer Bluegrass.

The National Endowment for the Humanities couldn't have picked a better speaker this year, reports Scott Carlson of the Chronicle of Higher Education, because Berry is the perfect person to be an eloquent, yet scathing, critic of the world's current industrial economy after the recent global economic crisis, unrest in society, and deterioration in the world's ecosystems. Berry said in his lecture that industrial society has taken "its toll on humanity."

"The two great aims of industrialism -- replacement of people by technology and concentration of wealth into the hands of a small plutocracy -- seem close to fulfillment," Berry said. "At the same time the failures of industrialism have become too great and too dangerous to deny. Corporate industrialism itself has exposed the falsehood that it ever was inevitable or that it ever has given precedence to the common good."

Berry also spoke of place and community during the lecture, saying that "affection and its power bind people to community." Carlson writes that Berry's speech was "a meditation on place and those who 'stick' to it as caretakers and curators." Berry said "we find the possibility of a neighborly, kind, and conserving economy" in affection. He called the opposite of a "sticker" a "boomer," or someone who comes into a community to profit and then leave. But he said it's not just the boomers who are responsible for the state of our economy: "We all are implicated."

The cure for our diminishing relationship to the land and to community is affection, connection and a broader definition of education, Berry said. He said we should appreciate "economy" for the original meaning of the word: household management, and that education should be broadened to include study and appreciation for practical skills, including land use, life support, healing, housekeeping and homemaking. "I am nominating economy for an equal standing among the arts and humanities," he said. "The making of the human household upon the earth: the arts of adapting kindly the many human households to the earth's many ecosystems and human neighborhoods. This is the economy that the most public and influential economists never talk about, the economy that is the primary vocation and responsibility of every one of us."

UPDATE, April 25: For Brad Bowman's story on the speech in the Henry County Local, Berry's hometown paper, click here. Mark Bittman reports on a visit to Berry's place, on the Opinionator blog of The New York Times:

"There is something about his attachment to nature — it’s not just the land but everything on the land — that is so profound that his observations and his judgments (Wendell is a kind but very judgmental man) can be jaw-dropping. If you read or listen to Wendell and aren’t filled with admiration and respect, it’s hard to believe that you might admire and respect the land or nature, or even humanity. . . . I doubt there is a more quotable man in the United States."

Bittman asked the big questions: “How are we going to change this?” and “What can city people do?”

Berry said change will come from “people at the bottom,” city and country, doing things differently. “[N]o great feat is going to happen to change all this; you’re going to have to humble yourself to be willing to do it one little bit at a time. You can’t make people do this. What you have to do is notice that they’re already doing it. . . . The main thing is to realize that country people can’t invent a better agriculture by ourselves. Industrial agriculture wasn’t invented by us, and we can’t uninvent it. We’ll need some help with that.” (Read more)

What is the life expectancy in your county, and how does it compare? New study tells you

The average life expectancy in some U.S. counties is the same as in some of the healthiest countries in the world, but in others -- mostly rural counties in the deep South, Central Appalachia and Western Native American reservations -- average life expectancy is lower than in some of the world's poorest countries, according to a new study by the University of Washington Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. An interactive map of county life expectancy data can be found here; a static image appears below.

Life expectancy, 2009; dark green counties had the highest, red the lowest

The researchers used death records from 1989 to 2009 to track life expectancy by age, gender and race, when possible. They found huge disparities, even within single states, reports Kristi Nelson of the Knoxville News Sentinel. Researcher Ali Mokdad said data show that counties where people have less money and less education have lower life expectancies. He said the study is "a wake-up call for everyone in the U.S." because more than 16 percent of the gross domestic product is spent on health care, more than in other countries with longer life expectancies. He said the biggest reasons for disparities among counties are "preventable causes of death," including tobacco and alcohol abuse, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and obesity.

The study revealed some notable trends. African Americans are living longer than before, but mainly  in urban areas, and are still living shorter lives than white people in most places. In 661 counties, women's life expectancies have stayed the same or decreased since 1989, but that is true for men in only 166 counties. (Read more)

Crime boom follows oil, gas boom in Northern Plains

"Booming oil production across a wide expanse of the Northern Plains is forcing law enforcement from the U.S. and Canada to gird for a spike in crimes ranging from drug trafficking and gun offenses to prostitution," Matthew Brown of Bloomberg Businessweek reports. Officials are preparing for an estimated 30,000 new workers to come to the Bakken Shale oil field (right) in Montana, North Dakota and Saskatchewan in the next few years. The region is emerging as one of the top oil producing areas in North America.

In the wake of the murder of Sidney, Mont., teacher Sherry Arnold, federal prosecutors are hosting a retreat Monday and Tuesday for law enforcement to create a strategy to deal with rising crime in the region. Assaults, traffic offenses and other crimes are rising with the increase in drilling in rural communities like Sidney and Williston, N.D., Brown reports. The situation is exacerbated by a housing shortage which made "man-camps" necessary to house hundreds of migrant workers from other states.

Industry representatives say they try to hire workers who "won't cause any trouble." North Dakota Petroleum Council spokeswoman Kari Cutting said drug tests and background checks are standard at most companies, adding that lack of housing can "deter would-be workers who show up without a position already secured." (Read more)

Let's be clear: Fracking has not been shown to cause significant earthquakes

U.S. Geological Survey scientists have confirmed that small earthquakes can be caused when wastewater from hydraulic fracturing is injected deep into the earth. But Mike Soraghan of Energy and Environment News reports the news media and foes of fracking have confused the public into thinking it's fracking itself that causes the quakes. That is frustrating, said Senior USGS geophysicist Bill Ellsworth, who is leading research about wastewater injection wells and earthquakes. He said terms are being misused by the media, which adds to the public's confusion.

"Ellsworth has stumbled upon a key fault line in the nation's debate about its onshore oil and gas boom," Soraghan writes. Industry use the term "fracking" to describe just one part of the whole extraction process, but critics use the term "fracking" to describe all aspects of drilling into deep shales, while critics "apply the 'fracking' moniker to all aspects of shale drilling -- from the first truck that shows up at the well pad all the way through to waste disposal and plugging." In the middle, Soraghan writes, are the media, which have only "a passing interest" in the matter.

Ellsworth says he and other seismologists have a responsibility to "set the record straight" on fracking, deep wastewater injection and earthquakes. "As scientists we have an obligation to try to give people the benefit of scientific understanding," Ellsworth said. "The public has legitimate concerns for which it needs good information." (Read more)

Rural radio reporter digs into details, arguments of proposed new rules on child farm labor

Young people working on farms suffer much higher rates of injury and death than those working in any other industry, and when faced with those statistics, the U.S. Department of Labor attempted to change child farm labor laws to limit the types of farm work youth are allowed to do. The agency faced push-back from farm lobbies, who said the department was taking away the ability of children to complete chores on family farms. Brian Mann of North Country Public Radio provides a good round-up of the issue. (New York State Dept. of Health photo)

Many farmers and some members of Congress say the regulations should be scaled back or eliminated, arguing they are vague and could restrict such activities as washing trucks, if interpreted to be hazardous. The debate has entered the presidential race.

Mann reports the biggest concern is "these rules could affect family farms, restricting the ability of a young person to work for their parents or relatives without government meddling. The New York Farm Bureau’s website accuses federal officials of trying to 'tell us how to raise our kids.'"

At issue is the definition of farm ownership. The Labor Department has backed off its original proposal, which would have exempted children only when working on farms wholly owned by their parents, but "Farm worker advocates like Virginia Ruiz, with a group called Farmworker Justice, say the agriculture industry has used the family-farm issue to try to block common-sense protections for kids, protections that other industries have had in place for decades."

It's more complicated than that, Kelly Young of the state Farm Bureau said: "We're getting to really specific [questions of] who is that business and who is the owner of that farm and it's not a person anymore. Times have changed and farms are organized in LLCs and S-corps and C-corps," types of businesses defined by federal tax law. "That's not covered by the exemption."

Mann notes, "researchers say roughly two dozen teenagers die while working on farms every year. Of those, roughly 40 percent are paid employees who would be covered by these regulations as currently written. The other 60 percent are family-members who will likely be exempt." (Read more)

Payments to timber counties could continue if Congress keeps them in bill to extend road funding

Federal subsidies paid to timber-producing counties could be extended if the Senate's version of a proposed transportation bill is combined with the House's temporary extension of transportation funding, reports Jeff Barnard of The Seattle Times. Counties with national-forest land have received subsidies since 2000 to recover their share of federal timber revenues that dropped when logging in the forests was cut more than 80 percent. The subsidies have now run out.

Oregon is being hit hard by the end of subsidies. Josephine County, which has long depended on timber payments, is struggling with a $12 million budget shortfall. Officials are considering quadrupling property taxes, and say they will have to lay off 125 people if the funding extension doesn't happen. The general fund is falling by 25 percent in Lane County, which receives the highest amount of timber payments.

The Senate proposal would distribute $346 million to 700 counties in 41 states, which would be a 5 percent drop from 2011 payments. Congress isn't likely to vote on the proposals before May 15. Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden said if no one in the House actively opposes the timber payment extension, the measure could be in the final bill. (Read more)

China buying more U.S. breeding hogs, but critics fear long-term decline of pork export market

In order to keep up with increasing demand for a protein-rich diet, China is buying millions of hogs raised in the U.S. as breeding stock and capitalizing on decades of U.S. agricultural research, P.J. Huffstutter and Niu Shuping of Reuters report. Americans are eating the least meat in 20 years, but the Chinese are eating almost 10 percent more than five years ago and pork is a staple of their diet. U.S. experts say China's purchases will shift its small-scale, backyard farm culture to large, consolidated operations to keep up with demand.

The U.S. exported $644 million worth of breeding livestock and genetic material in 2011, an 82 percent jump in two years, but concerns are being raised. While U.S. consumption falls, the price of producing protein is rising, which shrinks producers' profit margins.

Some critics say the short-term gains of exporting breeding stock will mean long-term loss of a key export market for producers because China has a history of importing technologies, apply them cheaper and emerge as "an aggressive competitor in the global market," report Huffstutter and Shuping.

China isn't the only country taking advantage of breeding exports. Russia and Turkey bought the most U.S. breeding exports last year. But, China was the biggest buyer by volume, with about 14 percent of all U.S. live animals were sent there. Huffstutter and Shuping report the impact of the market in China would have a great global impact. (Read more)

Senate committee releases draft of new Farm Bill

The Senate Agriculture Committee released its draft of a new Farm Bill on Friday. As expected, it calls for spending cuts of $23 billion over 10 years, repeal of direct-payment subsidies to farmers, which are paid regardless of need, and a new "insurance-like program to compensate grain and soybean growers when crop revenue is 11 to 21 percent below the five-year average with a maximum payment of $50,000," Charles Abbott of Reuters reports.

Under the new program, Agriculture Risk Coverage, farmers would be required to practice land, water and wildlife stewardship to qualify for payments, and revenue protection would respond to low prices and poor yields. The previous program only responded to low prices, Abbott reports. The Senate draft would also cut conservation by 10 percent and crop subsidy outlays by 19 percent. Nutrition programs, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly food stamps, would be cut by $4 billion. Farmers making more than $900,000 wouldn't be eligible for subsidies. The previous earnings limit is $1.25 million.

The full Senate committee will vote this week on whether or not to pass the draft on to the House. But Jim Abrams of The Associated Press reports Senators have to satisfy many different groups first, including Northern corn growers, Southern cotton farmers, insurance companies, banks, nutrition groups and environmentalists. The most difficult hurdle to pass, though, will be "narrowing the gap between the Democratic Senate and House Republicans taking aim at the food-stamp program that comprises some 80 percent of the bill’s spending." House Republicans have vowed to cut the program by $13 billion a year, and some Democrats have said that plan is likely to keep a new Farm Bill from passing this year. (Read more)

Wendell Berry, author, farmer and intellectual, to give prestigious Jefferson Lecture tonight; online

Poet, essayist, novelist, farmer and conservationist Wendell Berry will deliver the 2012 Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities tonight at 7:30 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. The National Endowment for the Humanities will be video-streaming the lecture live. The annual lecture is the most prestigious honor the federal government bestows for intellectual achievement in the humanities. (Photo by Pam Spaulding)

Berry, of Port Royal, Ky., has been described as a "21st century Henry David Thoreau" and has "spent his career meditating on our relationship and responsibility to the land and community," according to the NEH website. He has written more than 40 books of poems, essays, short stories and novels. His Jefferson Lecture, "It All Turns on Affection," inspired by a passage from E.M. Forester's Howard's End, will focus on our ties to place and the environment as expressed through literature and history. Berry is delivering the 41st lecture.

For more information about Berry and the lecture, click here. The live-stream will be available here.

Summary story on fracking includes a nice graphic

Agence France-Presse, an international news service based in Paris, has distributed a story about hydraulic fracturing in natural-gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale region of New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The story by Veronique DuPont will add little to regular Rural Blog readers' knowledge of the subject, but is a good summary of concerns about the phenomenon and includes a good graphic diagram of it. Click on it for a larger version.

After battle between doctors and cops, Ky. passes bill to crack down on prescription drug abuse

A man gets arrested at a pain clinic in Lexington.
(By Charles Bertram, Lexington Herald-Leader)

The Kentucky legislature passed a bill today to crack down on prescription drug abuse, a national epidemic that began in Central Appalachia. There was national attention to the battle in the General Assembly between law enforcement officials and doctors who said they were trying to protect patient privacy.

"Kentucky is ground zero of the effort to move prescription-drug monitoring programs out of the health-care arena into law enforcement," said Even Jenkins, executive director of the West Virginia State Medical Association, a physicians' trade group and a Democratic state senator, told Timothy Martin of The Wall Street Journal.

The doctors won in West Virginia, and they largely won in Kentucky, because the final version of the bill did not move the state's prescription-monitoring system to the attorney general's office from the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services and the doctor-controlled Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure. But it will require doctors who prescribe painkillers to use the system; only 25 percent do now. For more details on the bill, from Tara Kaprowy of Kentucky Health News, go here.

"The struggle over the Kentucky bill highlights the complicated path policy makers and law enforcement are traversing nationwide in their attempts to fight abuse of prescription painkillers," Martin reports. "Unlike importers and dealers of illicit drugs such as cocaine, the supply chain for prescription drugs is made up largely of legitimate businesses and professionals."

Legislative pushes in Ohio, West Virginia, Florida and other states have been met with fierce opposition from physician and pharmacy lobbies, Martin writes. About 48 states have legislation requiring prescription drug-monitoring programs. That's up by 16 from 10 years ago, but restrictions for who can access the data varies by state, Martin reports. Kentucky law enforcement officials have complained they cannot access the data in time to single out problem prescribers. (Read more)

Coal industry looks to exports to shore up its future

After the Environmental Protection Agency announced stricter regulation of greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired power plants, officials in coal-producing states and industry representatives said the agency was ending the coal industry. Environmentalists hailed the proposal as the end of coal, or at least as we have known it. But experts are saying "coal may not be in quite as much trouble as its supporters sometimes claim, or as its enemies might wish," Jim Malewitz of Stateline reports. (Stateline photo)

Coal's share of markets is shrinking and will continue to dwindle over the next few decades, but many coal-fired power plants decades of life left in them, and Malewitz reports U.S. coal companies are expanding their markets overseas. While the oldest coal plants are closing and new ones aren't likely to be built without carbon-capture technology that is not yet economical, this trend was underway before the EPA guidelines were announced. Cheap natural gas is making coal less attractive in comparison.

Utilities' shift from coal to gas will be a slow process, experts say. Some utilities can't afford to make the switch yet, Malewitz reports. And even though U.S. coal use is declining, exports are surging, particularly to Asia. Exports have doubled since 2006, increasing by 20 percent from 2010 to 2011. (Read more)

Report: Rising sea level threatens coastal utilities

Sea levels are rising as a result of global warming and will double the risk of coastal flooding at locations 4 feet or more above sea level by 2030, according to a new Climate Central report. Rising ocean levels will threaten 287 coastal utilities in 22 states, report authors Ben Strauss and Remik Ziemlinski write. The report says many more facilities at higher elevations will become more at risk as sea levels continue to rise.

More than half the facilities are in Louisiana, and most of them involve natural gas. Florida, California, New York, Texas and New Jersey each have 10 to 30 at-risk facilities. Overall, 130 natural gas, 96 electric and 56 oil and gas facilities are at risk. Other states with at-risk sites are Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Maine, maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Virginia and Washington. (Read more)

VA is recruiting clergy to help rural veterans

In response to the increasing number of veterans with mental health issues, the Veterans Health Administration has started a program to enlist clergy members to connect with rural veterans and help them find VHA resources, reports Andy Matarrese of the Marine Corps Times. About 30 to 40 percent of new veterans return to rural areas, and they often suffer more health problems because many Department of Veterans Affairs facilities are in urban centers, far from their homes. When rural veterans seek help, they often turn to ministers, Matarrese reports.

The VHA wants to take advantage of that trend. It is hosting five workshops in Southern states in the next few months to train clergy to better understand mental health needs of veterans and the resources offered by VHA. Response from ministers about the workshops has been "overwhelming," said VA psychologist James Goalder. He said since the release about the program was sent, he's received calls from 23 states, four congressional offices, and people in Guam and Uganda. (Read more)

Use of SNAP (food stamps) rose 70% in 4 years

Use of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, originally known as food stamps, increased by 70 percent in 2011, and the number of Americans using the program would continue growing until 2014, according to a Congressional Budget Office report. Many rural residents rely on SNAP to help them buy groceries every month.

Damian Paletta of The Wall Street Journal reports spending on SNAP rose to $72 billion last year, up from $30 billion in 2007. The CBO said one in seven people received SNAP benefits last year, and two-thirds of the increase in spending was directly related to increased enrollment in the program. Another 20 percent of the increase was attributed to the 2009 economic stimulus.

The agency estimated the number of people using SNAP will decrease in 2014 because the economy will improve, but enrollments are forecast to remain high. In 2022, CBO estimates, 34 million people will be using SNAP, and spending on it will be the nation's most expensive support program for low-income people that is not related to health care. (Read more)

Atlas of Small Town and Rural America is online

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has released the Atlas of Small Town and Rural America through its Economic Research Service. According to the atlas website, the ERS "promotes the well-being of rural America through research and analysis to better understand the economic, demographic, environmental, and social forces affecting rural regions and communities."

Screenshot of Atlas population map

The agency says the objectives of the atlas are to provide spatial interpretation of economic and social conditions in terms of people, jobs, agriculture and county classification; to highlight the importance of data provided by the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey; and, to allow use of socioeconomic indicators with county types to "better understand the diverse opportunities and challenges facing rural regions and communities." The atlas allows users to view county-level maps for more than 60 socioeconomic indicators and download a spreadsheet containing all the data for a selected county.

To access the atlas, click here.

Report: Rural high school students in Florida more likely to earn college credit than urban ones

Sarah Gonzalez of State Impact reports an interesting story in Florida that could be a topic in many states: performance of rural students versus urban students in college-level classes. High-school teachers in rural Florida counties say they can't afford to offer as many college-level classes to their students as urban schools, but rural students are more likely to earn college credit for the courses they do take.

Florida schools are partly graded by the state education department based on a formula that gives points to schools for participation and performance in college-level classes, which includes advanced placement, international baccalaureate or dual enrollment classes. Out of 1,600 possible total points, the state gave 175 points for participation and 125 for performance, which is measured by whether students actually earn college credit for the courses they take, based upon a test at the end of the year.

State Impact picked out schools that were graded A through F in urban and rural counties to compare. Gonzalez reports urban schools have higher participation but students are less likely to earn college credits. Reasons for this are unclear, but Gonzalez offers two: rural students only take one to two college-level classes at one time and the class sizes are smaller.

EPA releases emissions standards for gas drilling

In the first federal effort to cap emissions at natural-gas drilling sites, the Environmental Protection Agency issued new air quality standards this week. John Broder of The New York Times reports the rule is an effort to limit "serious air pollution associated with ... hydraulic fracturing," which releases into the air toxic and cancer-causing chemicals, including benzene and methane. The rule will be fully effective in January 2015.

Industry groups say the standards "would cost hundreds of millions of dollars and slow the boom in domestic natural gas production," Broder reports. The rule allows two years for compliance. Gina McCarthy, head of the EPA Office of Air and Radiation, said the rule would reduce emissions of volatile organic compounds by 190,000 tons a year, and other air pollution by 12,000 tons a year. The agency speculates the industry could recoup $11 to $19 million a year because it will be able to capture methane that's typically burned off.

Anti-pollution standards were proposed last summer after environmental and citizens groups complained that gases escaping from wells were affecting human health and causing widespread pollution. (Read more)

Ash borer found east of Hudson River for first time

Emerald ash borers, the invasive beetles that have destroyed tens of millions of ash trees over the past decade, have been discovered east of the Hudson River for the first time, George Walsh of The Associated Press reports. However, discovery of the beetle in Dutchess County, New York, could mean a victory in the battle to stop the beetle's spread into New England, Walsh reports. Foresters believe the colony was found less than a year after it was established, suggesting there is time to stem the eastward spread.

Beetle larvae tunnel under ash trees' bark, slowly killing the them. Walsh reports entire stands of trees have been "ravaged" in the Midwest, mid-Atlantic and Northeast since the Chinese beetle was first discovered in Detroit in 2002. The main population of borers has spread at about two to three miles a year, but "satellite colonies leapfrog ahead, mostly by hitchhiking in loads of logs or firewood," Walsh reports.

Forester Jeff Rider said plans are being made to quarantine moving ash-tree material in Dutchess County, limited to particular towns. He said the infestation likely involved borers crossing the river last summer. Meanwhile, foresters in the rest of New England are preparing for an infestation. "They're gearing up, knowing they're eventually going to have it," Rider said. "We're just trying to buy them some time." (Read more)

Bill on Senate floor would make USPS consult on post-office closings, keep Sat. delivery for 2 years

The U.S. Senate is debating a bill that would reshape the U.S. Postal Service as the moratorium on closing processing centers and post offices, mostly in rural areas, nears its end. The agency has been struggling with finding ways to recoup billions of dollars worth of debt, from the closings to delaying first class mail and ending Saturday delivery. (Getty Images photo by Justin Sullivan)

The Senate bill would delay by two years the end of Saturday delivery, allow mailing of alcohol, leave overnight first-class delivery in place and require the agency to downsize processing centers rather than close them, reports Ed O'Keefe of The Washington Post. It would also require USPS to work with communities before closing post offices to determine what postal services best meet local needs, giving communities a range of options, from leaving the office open or opening a postal kiosk in a store. Affected communities would still be allowed to appeal any closure to the Postal Regulatory Commission.

Senators supporting the bill say it's a balanced approach to solving the agency's problems for the long term, but a Government Accountability Office report released last week said delaying an end to Saturday mail delivery "could make it difficult" for the USPS to save $22.5 billion by 2016 as planned. To compensate for that and help the agency meet that deadline, the bill would give USPS money to buy out as many as 100,000 eligible workers. (Read more)

The National Newspaper Association, the main lobby for papers that use the mail, sent out an urgent plea this afternoon for members to contact their senators in support of the bill, saying "It gives USPS financial tools for survival." NNA said the bill would keep postage rates for periodicals under inflation-based limits. "USPS argues that Periodicals postage does not cover costs," NNA said. "NNA argues that the costs themselves are out of control and cost measurement is not accurate for newspaper mail."

Small weekly's special section has original reporting on farm industries in county and state

The Todd County Standard, a small weekly newspaper in Elkton, Ky., went beyond the usual canned copy in its annual farm section this month and published original stories about the beef, dairy and tobacco industries in the county and the state. It shared those stories with members of the news service operated by the Kentucky Press Association. (Wikipedia map)

The number of beef farmers is shrinking statewide, Tonya Grace reported. Farmers are selling their cows and growing more grains because of their high prices. Beef prices are also good because of the declining number of cows, allowing those who sell cattle to turn a big profit. Grace told the story of Daysville farmer Tony Berry, whose cattle are among the 19,300 in the county, which has only 12,460 people at the 2010 census. Grace reported the state has lost more than 200,000 beef cows since 2007, when there were 1.2 million.

Grace also reported about the state of small, family-owned dairies in the state. There are 863 dairies in Kentucky, 48 of which are in Todd County. University of Kentucky agricultural extension agent Jeffrey Bewley told her the dairy industry in the state is experiencing growth because of young farmers who intend to stay in the business a while. But many farmers, like Alvin Frogue, are worried small farms will be pushed out of business by corporate dairies. The Standard does not have a website, but the stories can be read here.

More evidence coal's energy dominance is slipping

Utilities are using less coal to produce electricity, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Shipments of coal by train, the typical delivery mechanism for power plants, during the first quarter fell 18 percent to 1.55 million carloads, the smallest since 1994.

Coal remains the largest single fuel for electricity production, but its percentage of the total power supply mix has been slipping; we previously reported that its share dropped below 40 percent at the end of 2011 for the first time since 1978. EIA cites mild weather that made people use less energy and competition from natural gas as reasons for the decline. Natural gas is selling cheaply, trading at 10-year lows on the New York Mercantile Exchange. There's also a domestic abundance of it because of hydraulic fracturing. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission this week approved conversion of terminals at ports to export natural gas.

Coal is shipped mostly from Central Appalachia and the Powder River Basin in Wyoming. Thomas Content of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports Wisconsin relies more heavily on coal than any other state. (Read more)

Greenpeace says Apple, other Internet firms moving east to use cheaper coal-fired energy

Internet companies are moving eastward in a mass migration from Silicon Valley, and one environmental group claims they want to take advantage of cheaper energy prices provided by reliance on coal and nuclear power, reports James Glanz of The New York Times. According to the Greenpeace report, "How Clean is your Cloud?" Internet companies that "cloak themselves in an image of environmental awareness" want to take advantage of "dirty energy," Greenpeace's trem for nonrenewable types.

The report singles out Apple as leading the migration to cheaper energy, but the company disputed that, saying it plans to build two renewable-energy projects at its recently opened data center in Maiden, N.C. The project would offset the center's coal-fired and nuclear use, the company said. According to Duke Energy data, coal-fired energy supplies about half the power at Apple's data center. The company said the center consumes about 20 million watts at full capacity; Greenpeace claims it uses uses 100 million watts. Duke spokesman Tom Williams said the report failed to acknowledge the company's recent environmental improvements required by federal regulations. He said the company's emissions have reduced "substantially" over the last decade.

Greenpeace says other companies, including Google and Facebook, have shown more commitment to using renewables, creating a contrast that Glanz writes is "sure to generate debate in the hypercompetitive marketplace of the Internet." (Read more)

Mojave Desert foxes facing distemper epidemic; virus spread from solar plant construction site

Wildlife biologists say an outbreak of canine distemper has spread beyond its origins and could take a heavy toll on kit foxes in the Mojave Desert, reports Louis Sahagun of the Los Angeles Times. The virus was first discovered in October during construction of the Genesis Solar Energy Project about 25 miles west of Blythe, Calif. in the Mojave Desert. (Times photo)

Since then, distemper has been found in kit foxes 11 miles south of the project, and though California Department of Fish and Game biologist Deana Clifford says that isn't far in the Mojave, it's enough to show efforts to stop the spread didn't work. There's a large population of desert foxes in the region, and experts fear a worst-case scenario would be an epidemic similar to one that almost wiped out the island fox population on Santa Catalina Island in 1999. Clifford said she's hopeful some foxes will develop an immunity.

Tracking the disease isn't easy. Radio collars have been put on nine foxes that indicate whether or not the fox has moved in six hours, signaling death. Twenty-nine foxes have been given a vaccine for canine distemper. But Sahagun reports California doesn't have the resources to track the whole desert. Biologists know the virus spread from the Genesis Project, but aren't yet certain of the host animal. State veterinarians think kit foxes close to the project were more susceptible to the virus because of hazing techniques used to force them from the construction site. (Read more)

Small banks switching regulators to avoid new rules; new outfit helps them compete for big loans

A growing number of U.S. community banks are changing regulators because owners say they want regulators who understand them, Jessica Silver-Greenburg of The New York Times reports. The Dodd-Frank financial reform law closed their old regulator, the Office of Thrift Supervision, and moved them to a new one: the Comptroller of the Currency, which many community bankers say only knows how to deal with "behemoth banks."

Some banks want to become credit unions. Nationally, 35 have applied to switch from national to state charters since July 2011. Some experts, though, say the banks are "regulator shopping." Former regulator James Gilkerson told the Times that the Office of Thrift Supervision was "a notoriously easy supervisor," and that switching to state and credit union regulators is "the next best thing." He said community banks are following a pattern: after financial crisis, lawmakers close a weak regulator and consolidate under a stronger one, then many banks try to find lenient alternatives.

Jennifer Kelly of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency told the newspaper the agency is "dealing with a false perception that the OCC doesn’t understand community banks." She said the agency is committed to local regulation. Community bankers denied they are "regulator shopping." They say they want regulators that are "more in touch with the issues faced by the nation’s smaller banks, which are different from the ones faced by their larger national counterparts," the Times reports.

In an effort to help community banks, a former top adviser to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Lee Sachs, established BancAlliance last year. The firm helps small, community banks compete for large, high-quality loans outside real estate. Deborah Solomon of The Wall Street Journal reported last January that bank lending fell during the financial crisis, and the problem was particularly bad for small banks, which relied on real estate lending to make money. BancAlliance's goal is to "help firms with assets between $200 million and $10 billion move beyond real estate by pooling the resources of about 100 banks so they can compete for larger loans traditionally financed by big banks," including Citigroup and J.P. Morgan Chase. (Read more)

Dark-meat sales soar, revive chicken industry

"Demand for dark chicken meat, legs and thighs, is climbing as diners tire of white meat and TV cooking shows tout dark meat's richer flavor and softer texture," reports Marshall Eckblad of The Wall Street Journal. He also writes that growing exports to countries where meat on the bone is popular is helping dark-meat sales. Poultry companies, who have spent decades breeding chickens for white meat, are now trying to switch focus. But rising prices of once "cut-rate" meat is helping pull the business out of a slump that lost the industry millions and forced some small producers to close, Eckblad reports.

Whole Foods Market is experiencing shortages of dark meat, and poultry producer Bell & Evans Holding LLC says its dark meat sales to some grocery stores have surpassed white meat sales for the first time in decades. The company says it deals with dark meat shortages every day. Industry innovation has also helped spur the surge in dark meat popularity, Eckblad reports. Customers prefer boneless meat, and because of new de-boning machines and methods, dark meat can now boneless. (Read more)

College farms profit by suiting 'high-end tastes'

Some farms operated by institutions of higher education are shifting away from producing traditional products so students can develop "product lines for high-end tastes, and hone not just basic husbandry skills but also marketing savvy in the interest of turning their acreage into profit centers," reports Kyle Spencer of The New York Times.

Sean Clark, farm manager at Berea College in Kentucky, said programs are trying to teach student how to make money on small acreage because most small farms lose money. (NYT photo by Christian Hansen: Berea student Samantha Kindred tends a hog lot)

College and university farms are often surrounded by customers who want locally grown products. At Warren Wilson College in North Carolina, foodies in Asheville, about eight miles away, are very interested in the college's grass-fed cattle and free-roaming pigs. Most farms funnel profits back into their agricultural schools, or use them to repair or update equipment. Jenn Halpin, farm manager at Pennsylvania's Dickinson College, puts the movement in perspective: “This isn’t just about being economically viable. It’s also about finding ways to connect with your community.” At Berea, students learned how to make their hog herd profitable by selling hams, bacon and homemade sausage.

Most such colleges are private, but The Farm Store at California State Polytechnic University now sells hydroponically grown bok choi, kai choi, variegated lemons, and fresh juices made from student-grown valencia oranges. It's expected to make $64,000 this year, a 23 percent increase from last year. Warren Wilson College students turned All-Heal, their all-natural version of Neosporin, into a moneymaker by consulting herbalists and through keen marketing. Salad dressing and hot sauce are raising profits at Dickinson College's farm. (Read more)

Oil-state geologists disagree with USGS colleagues who tied quakes to gas drilling waste injection

Top geologists from Oklahoma and Colorado say scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey were "too quick to conclude that disposal of oil and gas waste is linked to a rise in the number of earthquakes in the middle of the country," reports Mike Soraghan of EnergyWire (a subscription-only outlet). Both states experienced earthquakes last year and were prominent in the USGS findings.

The USGS report didn't link hydraulic fracturing to the earthquakes, but did link them to use of deep injection wells to dispose of fracking waste water, notes Susan Phillips of State Impact. In these wells, waste water is shot deep into the earth under high pressure.

Soraghan reports the state geologiests didn't argue that waste-injection wells couldn't cause earthquakes, just that the data USGS used is not sufficient proof. “It is unlikely that all of the earthquakes can be attributed to human activities,” said Oklahoma Geological Survey Director Randy Keller. “We consider a rush to judgment about earthquakes being triggered to be harmful to state, public and industry interests.”

KC Fed report: High commodity prices helped rural economy in some ways, hurt in others

Rural economies languished in the midst of a commodity boom in 2011, which was buttressed by increased global demand, Jason Henderson and Maria Akers report for The Main Street Economist, a publication of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. Rising oil prices sparked domestic drilling and increasing global food demand led to record highs for U.S. agriculture exports, creating pockets of "robust growth" in mining and agriculture communities. However, areas of weakness, including rising energy prices, a weak housing market and tight government budgets, hindered rural growth, they report.

Despite those challenges, Henderson and Akers write rural America is expected to see more gains this year because commodity prices are "expected to provide a foundation for rural prosperity." However, the areas of weakness continue to cast uncertainty. Henderson and Akers conclude that rural economic growth depends on U.S. economic growth. They write that "robust energy activity" could bolster rural economy this year, citing Energy Information Administration data that oil prices will rise 6 percent, and Bureau of Land Management data showing 20 percent more land auctioned for oil and gas leases last year than in 2010.

For more on the health of rural economy and projections about its future, read the report here.

Sara Ganim and Harrisburg daily's staff beat out a Maine weekly for Pulitzer Prize in local reporting

As widely expected, young reporter Sara Ganim and other staff members of The Patriot-News in Harrisburg, Pa., today won the Pulitzer Prize for local reporting "for courageously revealing and adeptly covering the explosive Penn State sex scandal involving former football coach Jerry Sandusky," the Pulitzer board announced today. (Image from "Reliable Sources," CNN)

While Ganim's work has been widely recognized, little has been heard of another finalist in the category: Editor A.M. Sheehan of the weekly Advertiser Democrat of Norway, Me., and former Assistant Editor Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling, "for their tenacious exposure of disgraceful conditions in federally supported housing in a small rural community that, within hours, triggered a state investigation." For the paper's story about itself, click here. The other finalist was California Watch, founded by the Center for Investigative Reporting, "for its rigorous probe of deficient earthquake protection in the construction of public schools across the state."

For the other Pulitzer Prizes, click here.

Young, rural journalists make Editor & Publisher's list of '25 under 35' with promise in newspaper business

Editor & Publisher magazine has named its 2012 edition of "25 under 35," a collection of promising newspaper professionals.

The most rural journalists in the group are Kristen Swing, 31, executive editor of the Jonesborough Herald & Tribune in upper East Tennessee, and Derek Sawvell, 29, managing editor of the Wilton-Durant Advocate News of Wilton, Iowa, which has a Facebook page but no website. It serves rural communities in northern Muscatine and southern Cedar counties between Davenport and Iowa City.

"Although Advocate News publisher Bill Tubbs has mentored many journalists who went on to distinguished careers (including a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner), he said none have held a candle at their young ages to what Sawvell has accomplished in his two years at the Advocate News," Kristina Ackermann and Nu Yang write.

“He is, by every measurement, the complete package as an editor, a news reporter, a columnist, a photographer, a business manager, and an ambassador for his community and employer,” Tubbs told the magazine. “He stands out from his peers in every way and represents the future of community
journalism.”

Herald & Tribune Publisher Lynn Richardson said of Swing, “It is rare to see such excellence at a small weekly newspaper.” E & P says Swing has redesigned the paper, changed its content and focus, and won several state press awards. She told the magazine, “Don’t ever assume the size of your publication is in direct proportion to the impact it can have. If you make sure every story you write, every page you design connects with people, it is amazing how far-reaching you become.”

Tim Schmidt, 32, editor of the Warren County Record of Warrenton, Mo., a St. Louis suburb, also made the list. He started out as sports editor, and since he became editor, "circulation has grown from 2,600 to 5,448," E & P reports. Circulation is a top concern of Jason Cross, 33, group publisher for News Media Corp. in Watsonville, Calif. He runs the Register-Pajaronian, a thrice-weekly paper; the Paso Robles Press and the Atascadero News, twice-weeklies, and four weeklies as well as some specialty publications.

The 25 were picked "as much for their resumes as for their extracurriculars," the magazine says. "While multimedia skills are now a requirement in the newsroom, these young leaders stand out as role models, leaders, volunteers, philanthropists, and passionate human beings. Their contributions to their companies and communities have won awards, sparked policy change, increased revenue and pageviews, and reinforced the role of the newspaper as a watchdog and community ambassador."

Other rural newspapers represented in the list were the Steamboat Pilot and Today of Steamboat Springs, Colo. (Advertising Director Meg Boyer, 30); the Sun Journal in Lewiston, Me. (Sun Media Group Media Director Anthony Ronzio, 32) and the Hoosier Times of Bloomington, Ind. (Marketing Manager Brooke McCluskey, 34). (Read more)

Researcher discusses correlations between mining and health problems, not proven causes

Do people in the Central Appalachian coalfield have more health problems and shorter lives because of mountaintop-removal mining? That hasn't been proven, but a West Virginia University researcher says he has found several correlations that suggest cause and effect. Michael Hendryx discussed and defended his work in a lecture last week at Morehead State University in Kentucky, near the coalfield's western edge.

"Hendryx said factors that have the most impact on public health are really basic things, including education, income and poverty. In Central Appalachia, which includes Eastern Kentucky, upper East Tennessee, the southern half of West Virginia and southwest Virginia, those factors are all lowest in places where the heaviest mining occurs," reports Ivy Brashear of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues.

"His initial analysis found that mortality rates in the coal-mining region of Central Appalachia are 97 percent higher than in the rest of the region. Among the obvious causes are high rates of poverty, smoking, diabetes and obesity, but Hendryx said he  and his research team found that 'There’s something left over that’s unique to mining environment' after controlling data for those other factors. High rates of chronic heart, lung and kidney disease, and some types of cancer, 'are concentrated most in those areas where mining takes place, especially mountaintop mining,' Hendryx said. The same patterns are seen with birth defects."

Kentucky Coal Association President Bill Bissett said in an email, “Dr. Michael Hendryx is an anti-coal ideologue who is masquerading again as an ‘objective researcher’.” (Read more)

Rural unemployment decreases slowly, and shifts

Unemployment is declining very slowly in rural America. Though unemployment is still higher in rural areas, at 9 percent, than in urban, 8.7 percent, the rate is almost one full percentage point lower this year than last, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Bill Bishop of the Daily Yonder says the most interesting thing about this data is the changes in location of rural workers.

There are more than 200,000 new workers in rural areas this year, and that gain was evenly spread across the country. However, some counties experienced great losses, like Mohave, Yavapai and Coconino counties in Arizona, which lost a combined 19,000 workers. Oil and natural-gas boom areas, such as Williams County, North Dakota, show great increases in workers.

North Dakota has the lowest rural jobless rate, 3.9 percent. Nebraska has the second lowest rate at 4.3 percent.The highest rates are in California (13.7) and Massachusetts (13.1). The largest gap between rural and urban unemployment was in Massachusetts, where the urban figure is 7.5. North and South Carolina continue to have one of the highest rates, both at 11.8 percent.

The 10 states with the highest rural unemployment rates are California, Massachusetts, North Carolina, South Carolina, Oregon, Arizona, Nevada, Washington, Michigan and Georgia. For a table and Bishop's article, click here.

Website that lets companies reveal fracking chemicals is praised by all sides of debate

The natural-gas boom has caused a secondary boom in debate about the practice of hydraulic fracturing, the method that has greatly expanded U.S. gas reserves. Fracking has stirred much media attention and disagreement, but one non-profit disclosure website may be one thing on which everyone can agree, Talia Buford of Politico reports. (Politico photo)

FracFocus, affiliated with state governments, has been praised by federal lawmakers, industry groups and environmentalists "as a model for states taking the lead in disclosing the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing operations," Buford reports. The site lets visitors see lists of chemicals used by participating companies. It collects data from wells in 20 states. Some state legislators have named the site in their fracking regulations and the Interior Department is considering using it to help develop its rules for wells on federal lands.

The site was created by the Ground Water Protection Council, a nonprofit made up of state regulatory agencies and the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission, which advocates state regulation of the industry. Creators said they wanted companies to participate voluntarily. Last month, 212 companies were signed up and data for 13,000 wells from up to 150 companies was available on the site. (Read more)

Senators, representatives urge FCC to not endanger rural broadband expansion

Bipartisan groups of U.S. representatives and senators have sent letters to Federal Communication Commission chairman Julius Genachowski asking the agency to avoid proposed rule changes that they said would endanger broadband expansion in rural areas, reports Andrew Feinberg of The Hill. Forty-four representatives and 21 senators signed the letter, and all are from mostly rural districts.

The House letter reminded Genachowski that broadband expansion is "a major source of jobs" in rural places, and that the proposed October 2011 rule that could harm rural infrasturcture investment. The Senate version said "unintended consequences to all carriers serving rural areas can and should be alleviated by a clarification that the order will not be implemented in a manner that perpetuates unintended consequences." Both letters ask the FCC to respond "to ensure all rural consumers are able to fully participate in the universal communications network Congress has envisioned." (Read more)

New online program aimed at helping rural doctors provide mental-health care

More than half of all U.S. mental health care takes place at the primary-care level, and that percentage is even higher in rural areas, where mental-health doctors are often hundreds of miles away, reports Newswise, a research-reporting service. A new online training program could help rural primary-care doctors better treat patients with mental health issues.

The Behavioral Health Education Center of Nebraska, a part of the University of Nebraska Medical Center, designed the program. Educational Director Howard Liu said primary care doctors are overwhelmed by the amount of mental health care they must provide. Newswise reports "the goal is to help primary care providers get more comfortable as they prescribe medications and refer patients to psychiatrists and therapists." The adolescent version of the program was released last fall and is being used by doctors worldwide. The adult and geriatric version will be released this spring.

Primary care doctor Angie Brennan estimates 35 percent of all visits to her practice have been mental health related. She said there are specific rural challenges to treatment, including "reluctance to see a counselor and a lack of mental health insurance coverage – combined with an intensified fear that someone in the community will find out a patient has mental health issues." (Read more)