U.S. wastes $162 billion worth of food every year

About 60 million metric tons of food worth about $162 billion is wasted each year in the U.S., says a report by Resources Action Program, an antiwaste organization in Britain, Ron Nixon reports for The New York Times. "About 32 million metric tons of it end up in municipal landfills, at a cost of about $1.5 billion a year to local governments."

That's particularly troubling, considering a report released in January by the Southern Education Foundation said that for the first time in at least 50 years, more than 50 percent of U.S. public school students are from low-income families, and some of the highest concentrations of poverty are located in states with large rural populations.

The U.S. isn't the only country wasting food. "The report estimates that a third of all the food produced in the world is never consumed, and the total cost of that food waste could be as high as $400 billion a year," Nixon writes. "Reducing food waste from 20 to 50 percent globally could save $120 billion to $300 billion a year by 2030, the report found." (Read more)

Largely rural states that didn't expand Medicaid have highest number of uninsured residents

Massachusetts has the lowest number of uninsured residents, while Arkansas and Kentucky—two states that expanded Medicaid under federal health reform—saw the biggest drops in the number of uninsured residents from 2013 to 2014, says a report by Gallup.

Arkansas, which expanded Medicaid under a Democratic governor—Republican incumbent Gov. Asa Hutchinson has said he wants to end it—ranked 49th in 2013 with 22.5 percent of residents uninsured, before moving up to 18th in 2013 with 11.4 percent uninsured, a national best drop of 11.1 percent. Kentucky, which has a Democratic governor but typically votes Republican in presidential elections, was ranked 40th in 2013 with 20.4 percent uninsured. In 2014 Kentucky was ranked 11th with 9.8 percent uninsured.

Massachusetts had a national low of 4.6 percent uninsured in 2014. Next was Hawaii and Connecticut, 6 percent; Vermont and Minnesota, 7.4 percent; Maryland, 7.8 percent; Iowa, 8.3 percent; Wisconsin, 8.4 percent; Rhode Island, 9.4 percent; and Delaware, 9.6 percent.

As expected, states with large rural populations that chose not to expand Medicaid had the highest number of uninsured in 2014. Texas led the way with 24.4 percent of residents uninsured, followed by Georgia, 19.1 percent; Mississippi, 18.7 percent; Oklahoma, 18.5 percent; Florida, 18.3 percent, Arizona, 17.5 percent, Louisiana, 17.2 percent; and Alaska, 16.2 percent. (Read more)

Media groups fight to overturn gag order in trial of Massey Energy coal executive

More than 30 media and free speech organizations "are fighting to overturn a gag order and sealing order entered in connection with the criminal trial of Donald Blankenship, former CEO of Massey Energy," Tom Isler reports for Reporters Committee For Freedom of the Press." The appeal is pending in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Blankenship was indicted in November 2014 on mine-safety charges stemming from the Upper Big Branch mine explosion in 2010 that killed 29 people.

The Wall Street Journal, The Associated Press, National Public Radio and Charleston Gazette are among media outlets that have "appealed the denial of their request to have the orders overturned," Isler writes. "The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, on behalf of 29 other media and free speech organizations, filed an amicus brief in support of the media petition."

After Blankenship was indicted, U.S. District Court Judge Irene Berger "issued a gag order preventing anyone connected with the case—the parties, attorneys, potential witnesses, family members of 'actual and alleged victims' and others—from making 'any statements of any nature, in any form, or release any documents to the media or any other entity regarding the facts or substance of this case,” Isler writes. "The judge also ordered that access to all filings in the case would be restricted to case participants and court personnel." Berger said media coverage "was sufficiently likely to prejudice Blankenship’s right to a fair trial." (Read more)

African American population growing faster than overall population in many rural areas

During a post-recession population slowdown, the African American population continued to grow, including in many rural areas, says a report by the Economic Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Tim Marema reports for the Daily Yonder. Researchers say this is the the result of African Americans having higher fertility rates and a younger average population.

The ERS study found that from 2010 to 2013, the total African American population grew by 3.2 percent, compared to the overall population growth of 2.2 percent. In rural areas adjacent to a metro area, the overall population dropped 0.1 percent, but the African American population grew by 0.8 percent. In rural areas not adjacent to a metro area, the overall population grew by 0.4 percent, with the African American population growing by 1.4 percent. In rural remote areas the African American population decreased by 0.5 percent, lower than the overall population drop of 0.7 percent. (ERS graphic)

CDC to recommend New Mexico's nurse call center as a national model for free health services

A free health service in New Mexico—a state with a large rural population—has become so successful in assisting uninsured and low-income residents, while also saving the state millions of dollars, that in April the Centers for Disease Control is expected to recommend the program as a national model for other states to emulate, Christine Vestal reports for Stateline. (NurseAdvice New Mexico photo)

"New Mexico is the only state with a 24/7 registered nurse call center that is free to all residents, whether insured or not," Vestal writes. "In operation since 2006, it has kept tens of thousands of New Mexicans out of emergency rooms and saved the state more than $68 million in health care expenses."

The state-run, locally-staffed hotline has served 1.5 million—or 75 percent—of the population, Vestal writes. In addition to providing a basic form of health care to thousands of uninsured people, "it also has relieved demand on doctors and hospitals in a sparsely populated state where all but a few counties have a severe shortage of health care providers" and "generated real-time public health data that has served as an early warning system during epidemics and natural disasters."

NurseAdvice New Mexico has become so successful that it "has a 98 percent customer approval rating and a compliance rate of 85 percent, meaning callers heed the nurses’ advice and either care for themselves at home, go to a doctor or go directly to a hospital based on the nurses’ orders," Vestal writes.

FCC expected to approve net neutrality rules Thursday; move could benefit rural areas

The Federal Communications Commission is expected on Thursday to approve net neutrality rules to "regulate Internet service like a public utility, prohibiting companies from paying for faster lanes on the Internet," Jonathan Weisman reports for The New York Times. "Republicans on Capitol Hill, who once criticized the plan as 'Obamacare for the Internet,' now say they are unlikely to pass a legislative response that would undo perhaps the biggest policy shift since the Internet became a reality."

Reclassifying the Internet as a utility could benefit the 14 million rural Americans who lack Internet service, making it a high priority to get them connected, Chris Thomas reports for Public News Service. Supporters of net neutrality say "that without closer FCC regulation, the big Internet providers will continue to push for a tiered system that allows them to charge more money for faster speeds, which could compromise online access for those who can't afford it."

Rural teenage girls are more likely than boys to suffer from undiagnosed asthma and depression

Rural teenage girls are more likely than boys to have undiagnosed asthma, and asthma sufferers are at a higher risk to suffer from depression, says a study by researchers at Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Regents University. The study, which was conducted from 2010-13 using data from 2,523 Georgia adolescents, found that diagnosed and undiagnosed asthma was the same in rural and urban areas but that girls had a much higher rate than boys.

Lead author Dr. Jeana Bush theorized that boys might be more likely to have athletic physicals, which would increase the chances of catching asthma, while girls might be more likely to dismiss asthmatic symptoms as something else, like anxiety.

"Teens from rural areas face a number of problems that could complicate their asthma, including poor housing quality, air pollution, trouble getting to doctors, smaller, less-equipped hospitals and more exposure to tobacco," says a release from Georgia Regents University. "Previous studies have shown smoking is more prevalent in rural areas than inner-cities."

The rate of depression among asthmatic teens is also higher in rural areas, researchers said. For the study, researchers screened 332 asthmatic sufferers from rural Georgia for depression, finding that 26 percent suffered from depression. Of that 26 percent, 77 percent were girls. Bush said, "So much of asthma treatment is about self-management—figuring out your symptoms and preventing an attack when you recognize those symptoms. If you’re depressed, you are less likely to be aware of and have the ability to interpret those symptoms.”

Obama vetoes Keystone XL Pipeline bill; Republicans plan an override attempt by March 3

UPDATE: The Senate voted 62-37 on March 3 to override the veto, five votes short of the two-thirds required to override, negating the need for an override vote in the House.

As expected, President Obama vetoed the controversial Keystone XL Pipeline bill on Tuesday, and just as expected, the Republican-controlled Congress is planning an override attempt that will most likely fail, Elana Schor reports for Politco. "Obama has no binding deadline to make the final decision on the pipeline’s permit, but Secretary of State John Kerry could make his own recommendation on the issue as soon as this week."

"Even before Obama whipped out his veto pen, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell vowed to hold an override vote, which the Republican leader’s office said would occur no later than March 3," Schor writes. "That gives the GOP a small window to search for the Democratic votes they still need in order to push the bill past Obama. About 20 more Democratic votes in the House and four in the Senate are required to enact the bill, judging from the votes the Keystone bill got when Congress passed it last month." (Read more)

Indiana anti-meth bill passes House, heads to Senate; state had 1,416 meth lab busts in 2014

An anti-meth bill in Indiana that would make it more difficult for anyone with a drug conviction to purchase ephedrine or pseudoephedrine—ingredients used to make meth—easily passed the House on Tuesday by a 46 to 3 vote, Adam Lee reports for The Statehouse File.

The bill, which now goes before the Senate, would require those convicted of "drug-related felonies to obtain a prescription before purchasing or possessing pseudoephedrine or ephedrine," Lee writes. The bill's sponsor, Sen. Michael Young (R-Indianapolis), said the bill is similar to ones in Oklahoma and Alabama that have led those states to see a 70-percent reduction in meth labs. (Indiana Methamphetamine Investigation System graphic)

Some question need for Essential Air Service program, which provides flights to remote areas

The Essential Air Service program is an important government-funded resource that provides 113 separate commercial flights to rural and remote areas. Many of the flights are sparsely booked, so some planes travel with only a handful of passengers, a fact that has some questioning the usefulness of a costly program that serves only a small number of individuals. (Wikipedia map)

"The cost to taxpayers for subsidizing those journeys has quadrupled in the last decade to a whopping $261 million, which has some lawmakers convinced the program is anything but essential," Kris Van Cleave reports for CBS This Morning. For example, a 50-seat jet that leaves Denver twice per day for two remote North Dakota towns costs the U.S. Department of Transportation more than $6 million a year.

Passengers say the flights save them hours of travel time, and local officials say the flights attract businesses and help stimulate local economies, Van Cleave reports. Devils Lake, N.D., mayor Dick Johnson told Van Cleave, "It's key to our cities. I think small rural communities are a major part of our country, and to keep them viable, to keep them functional, to keep them a viable community, sometimes you need to have help from the big communities."

But others are not convinced, especially since government data shows that 44 of the routes flew at least two-thirds empty last year, Van Cleave writes. Steve Ellis, president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, told Van Cleave, "The Essential Air Service is really a relic of deregulation, airline deregulation, back in the 70s. We shouldn't be spending hundreds of millions just to make things a little easier for a few people to actually get to the airport." (Read more)

In need of rural doctors, Minnesota lawmakers look to expand loan forgiveness program

Facing a projected shortage of at least 800 rural doctors in the next decade, Minnesota lawmakers are considering tripling incentives for the state's loan forgiveness program, while also expanding the program to include other medical professionals, Jeremy Olson reports for the Star Tribune. "The deal is that doctors, dentists, nurses and others agree to practice for three to four years in sections of Minnesota designated as health care shortage areas and in exchange receive $5,000 to $30,000 per year to cut down their student loan debt."

The current program has been a success; 75 percent of the 192 doctors and more than 50 percent of dentists and nurses who have received loan forgiveness since 1991 are still working in rural areas, Olson writes. Rep. Deb Kiel (R-Crookston) has proposed increasing state funding from $740,000 per year to $3 million, which would fund an additional 50 loan forgiveness awards per year.

While nationally Republicans have gained control of Congress, in Minnesota, rural Republican lawmakers have a majority in the House. They hope that will lead to allocation of more funds to rural areas, Bill Salisbury reports for Pioneer Press. "The majority of Minnesotans who live in the Twin Cities area pay nearly two-thirds of the state's taxes and receive just over half of the state's spending. Meanwhile, non-metro taxpayers chip in slightly more than one-third of the revenue and get nearly half of the state aid."

"Rural issues moved to the Legislature's front burner this session after 10 Republicans defeated House DFL incumbents in outstate districts in the November election, giving the GOP the majority," Salisbury writes. "They campaigned on a theme that 'Greater Minnesota was left behind' under one-party DFL rule the previous two years." (Read more)

Rural and suburban inmates are the majority in Ohio prisons; rise in rural drug abuse to blame

A rise in drug abuse in rural and suburban Ohio has led to a dramatic shift in the state's incarceration rate, Nick Glunt reports for The Medina County Gazette. Since 2011, more than half of the state's new inmates have come from Ohio's 82 rural counties, compared to the 1990s when more than two-thirds of inmates were from the state's six urban counties. "And the shift isn’t limited to counties bordering urban counties: The Gazette’s analysis showed the increase in the number of people sent to prison was greater among counties that weren’t adjacent to urban centers." (The change in Ohio's prison population from 1993 to 2014)

Nearly 92 percent of all inmates in Ohio have a history of drug abuse, but the real story is how counties handle drug offenders, officials say, Glunt writes. Retired judge James L. Kimbler said "an urban judge might be less likely to send a drug offender to prison because he sees so many drug cases," while some rural areas lack a drug treatment center, making prison the only option, especially for repeat offenders. Ohio also has mandatory prison sentences "for having large amounts of drugs, repeatedly committing violent crimes, possessing or brandishing a weapon while committing a crime."

Another possibility for the rise in rural drug incarceration is migration, Glunt writes. For instance, "Medina County’s population rose 41 percent from 1990 to 2010. In that same period, the number of people sent to prison from the county rose by about 48 percent." In Cuyahoga County, where Cleveland is located, the population dropped more than a quarter from 1970 to 2010. (Read more)

Flood project along Mississippi River pitting small town farmers against deep-pocketed farm owners

An Army Corps of Engineers $165 million flood project is pitting big farmers against small farmers along the Mississippi River, Kristofor Husted reports for NPR. "On the western shore, farmers in southeast Missouri need the project to protect their valuable farmland. But small river towns on the eastern side of the river say the project protects those influential farmers at the cost of their small communities." (Husted photo: A truck drives on top of a levee that protects a soybean field in New Madrid County, Missouri, when the Mississippi River floods) 

The New Madrid Floodway Project is designed to protect the land around the Mississippi River, where farmers grow millions of dollars' worth of soybeans, corn, cotton and rice, Husted writes. "The Corps wants to effectively separate the farmland from the river by completing the levee system and building an earthen wall along a 1,500-foot gap. This final levee would essentially cordon off the lucrative farmland in the floodway, protecting the crops from most floods. That's good for farmers west of the river but maybe not so good for towns on the other side."

"The levee system protects the farms most of the time, but every 75 years or so, a major flood slams the area. Then, the New Madrid Floodway has to be opened up and used as, well, a floodway," Husted writes. "Now, the Army Corps wants to close off the last part of the levee system, and that's pitting some deep-pocketed farm owners against less wealthy towns like Cairo. Environmental groups, like the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, are also fighting the project. They say cutting off the floodway with a plug would be catastrophic for the 50,000 acres of wetland that fish and waterfowl call home." (Read more)

A record 292 million visited national parks in 2014

U.S. national parks had a record number of visitors in 2014, largely due to lower gas prices, an improving economy, warmer weather and an increase in foreign visitors whose numbers had dropped since the 2001 terrorist attacks, Corbin Hiar reports for Environment and Energy Publishing. Overall, national parks had 292,800,082 visitors last year, 5.6 million more than the previous record in 1987 and 19 million more than in 2013. (Great Outdoors San Diego photo: Joshua Tree National Park)

Joshua Tree, Rocky Mountain, Grand Teton and Glacier national parks all had a record number of visitors, Hiar writes. NPS Director Jonathan Jarvis said in a statement: "We should see something on the order of $15 billion in visitor spending, 250,000 or more jobs and a $28 billion effect on the U.S. economy when our annual economics of national parks report comes out in April." (Read more)

Walmart to raise minimum wages to at least $10 per hour by 2016

Walmart, one of the biggest businesses in rural America, announced last week that it will voluntarily raise minimum wages to at least $10 per hour by 2016, Byron Tau reports for The Wall Street Journal. "Walmart said the changes aim to reward employees with better pay as well as offer employees closer relationships with supervisors, better management of departments and improved scheduling of hours. It pegged the cost of the moves at $1 billion this fiscal year."

Some are not applauding the mega-corporation, which has been accused in the past of underpaying workers, Tau writes. Josh Orton, a spokesman with the liberal advocacy group Progressives United, told Tau, "What does it say that Walmart workers getting a raise is huge news? I think everyone would probably agree that Walmart is likely not doing this out of the goodness of their heart. There’s been a long prolonged campaign from low-wage workers nationally to push them in this direction.” Others cheered the news but called on the chain to raise wages to $15 per hour.

One opinion as to why Walmart is making the move is to avoid workers' organizing unions, Max Ehrenfreund reports for The Washington Post. "One unexpected winner from Walmart's decision: taxpayers, who chip in thousands of dollars a year in benefits for minimum-wage workers, according to a report from Democratic staff in the House of Representatives. For all the employees at a typical Wal-Mart Supercenter in Wisconsin, these costs likely total more than $900,000 annually."

Appalachian commission, at 50, has 'serious work to do,' co-chair says; especially in the central part!

The Appalachian Regional Commission "has helped county economies grow with nearly $4 billion in spending, but the region still lags in key measures of educational, economic and physical well-being," according to a study done for the commission's 50th anniversary, Jonathan Drew reports for The Associated Press. President Lyndon Johnson signed ARC into law on March 9, 1965 as part of his War on Poverty. (AP photo: Johnson visiting Eastern Kentucky in April 1964)

The ARC's mission is to bring Appalachia to socioeconomic parity with the rest of the nation. It has a long way to go. While poverty rates in the region have fallen by about half, "researchers noted that other problems persist, including disproportionately high mortality rates and dependency on government checks," Drew writes. "The commission’s leaders acknowledge that even after half a century, the need for aid is as great as ever, a sentiment echoed by heads of charities in the region." Earl Gohl, the commission’s federal co-chair, told Drew, “We have serious work to do.”

In 1969, Appalachia's per-capita income was 78.7 percent of the national average, with many Central Appalachian counties under 50 percent. (Click on map for larger version) In 2012, the regional percentage was 81.1 percent of the national, "but that’s at least partly because safety-net programs such as Social Security and unemployment make up about 24 percent of personal income in the region, compared to 17 percent nationally," Drew writes.

The report focuses no attention on the neediest part of the region, Central Appalachia, which has been hard-hit recently by job losses in the coal industry. The executive summary of the report doesn't even mention "Central Appalachia," and the subregion gets only three mentions in the 181-page technical report. Central Appalachia as defined by ARC is the counties in yellow on the map above.

Health remains a serious problem, and the region is "losing ground," the report says. Infant mortality rates in the region have dropped significantly, but overall mortality rates remained the same while mortality rates nationally have dropped. "The report cites higher rates of obesity and diabetes in Appalachia as possible contributors," Drew writes. (Click map for larger version)

"Researchers did find that county employment and income levels in the region grew faster than a control group of similar counties elsewhere in the country," Drew reports. "Over the 50-year period, counties that received ARC investment averaged 4.2 percent higher employment growth and 5.5 percent higher per capita income growth than the control group counties."

"The report’s authors estimate that more jobs were created by the ARC in its early years when it received higher funding from the government," Drew writes. The Reagan administration wanted to abolish the agency, but Congress refused. However, "The funding levels changed dramatically, and with that the commission changed dramatically as well," Gohl told Drew. "We moved from large appropriations funding big public works projects. And it’s now, I would say, a leaner commission that focuses on developing strategic partnerships.” (Read more) For the full report, click here.

Interactive map shows county-by-county data of percentage of working-age women with jobs

Women between the ages of 25 and 54 living in Appalachia, Northern Michigan, the Deep South and the interior Southwest are less likely to have jobs than those living in other parts of the U.S., Gregor Aisch, Josh Katz and David Leonhardt report for The New York Times. (NYT map: Only 48 percent of women ages 25 to 54 in Jackson County, Kentucky, work—compared to the national average of 70 percent. To view an interactive version, click here) 

Overall, 70 percent of women ages 25 to 54 work, compared to 74 percent in 1999, reports the Times. But in some rural areas those numbers drop considerably. "The places with the highest rates of non-work include parts of Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Kentucky, West Virginia, Arkansas and Michigan. These same areas have also had a sharp increase in health coverage in the last year, in part because more people without jobs can now obtain health insurance." (Read more)

Rural Vermont schools struggling to retain staff; region has high percentage of first-year teachers

Remote rural Vermont schools with high poverty rates are forced to employ less experienced teachers, says a report by the U.S. Department of Education, Amy Ash Nixon reports for VTDigger, an independent investigative news organization covering the state. The state's poor rural schools have more first-year teachers than any other part of the state, though the high minority schools have a lower rate of first-year teachers than the national trend.

Remote, isolated towns “are having a hard time holding onto their educators, teachers, principals and superintendents,” said Amy Fowler, deputy secretary of the Vermont Agency of Education, Nixon writes. Fowler said geographic isolation plays a larger part than poverty in the inability to retain teachers.

In response to the report, the Vermont Agency of Education is holding meetings around the state in March and April to address why some poor, remote communities do not have the same access to high quality teachers as schools in wealthier communities, reports The Associated Press.

Neurotoxin that grows everywhere in the U.S. is threatening bald eagles, other waterfowl

Bald eagles, which were taken off the endangered species list seven years ago, are being threatened by a deadly bacterium—Aetokthonos hydrillicola, Greek for “eagle killer"—that hides on the underside of an aquatic leaf and grows nearly everywhere in the U.S., Darryl Fears reports for The Washington Post. (Post graphic)

"Across the South, near reservoirs full of invasive plants from Asia called hydrilla, eagles have been stricken by this bacterium, which goes straight to their brains," Fears writes. "Eagles prey on American coots, which dine almost exclusively on the plant and are being hit even harder. In Arkansas, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina and North Carolina, coots, shorebirds, ducks and eagles are dying by the dozens from the incurable lesions."

Saving the animals means spending millions "to eradicate a plant that was introduced to the United States in Florida about 60 years ago," Fears writes. "It now grows in virtually every body of fresh water from the southeast to California and Washington. It grows prolifically in the the Chesapeake Bay region, which is also full of bald eagles and visiting coots, a dark, plump, duck-like bird with a bright orange dot for an eye." (Read more)

Gray wolves returned to protected status in Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced on Friday that gray wolves in Michigan and Wisconsin have been granted "endangered" status and wolves in Minnesota have been listed as "threatened," reports The Associated Press. "The rule complies with a federal judge's order in December that overruled the agency's earlier decision to revoke wolves' protected status and hand management authority to the states. It means sport hunting and trapping of Great Lakes wolves is no longer permissible." (AP photo by Gary Kramer)

In September a judge ordered federal protection for gray wolves in Wyoming, Kevin Murphy reports for Reuters. The Humane Society of the United States had argued in a federal lawsuit that Fish and Wildlife's 2012 decision "to allow states to regulate gray wolves could lead to excessive hunting and trapping and put their populations at risk." Fish and Wildlife spokesman Gavin Shire said on Friday that the agency is still deciding whether or not to appeal the decision.

Study: Humid Southern cities spawn thunderstorms

Photo by David Selby, Wikimedia Commons

"Hot-and-humid metros in the Southeast can birth more summer thunderstorms than rural areas," Becky Oskin reports for LiveScience. "Researchers marked the location of every thunderstorm born in northern Georgia and northeastern Alabama during a 17-year period. There were nearly 26,000 thunderstorms detected between 1997 and 2013. . . . The was a 5 percent greater chance that thunderstorms would pop up over Atlanta compared with the city's surrounding rural areas, the researchers found."

"Per year, that amounts to two or three more thunderstorms of the pop-up variety," which are harder to forecast, said Northern Illinois University graduate student Alex Haberlie, lead author of the study report. A co-author, NIU meteorology professor Walker Ashley, said "This study presents the first evidence that urban areas birth or initiate thunderstorms more often than the surrounding rural areas on a climatological timescale."

LiveScience reports, "The storm risk was greatest for urban and suburban Atlanta in the late afternoon and early evening during July and August, according to the study, published Jan. 7 in the Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society. "The findings would likely hold up in similar hot-and-humid Southern cities, such as Nashville, Tennessee, and Birmingham, Alabama, Haberlie said.

"Thunderstorm births were significantly higher on weekdays than on weekend days," Oskin writes. "This suggests higher pollution levels within the city may play a role. . . . The concrete jungle produces heat, often making cities 2 to 5 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than the surrounding countryside. This extra heat means low pressure can form atop urban areas, with higher pressure in rural areas, sparking convection that can trigger thunderstorms." Also, "Tall buildings may enhance the upward convection that leads to thunderstorms."

Buyer of Delta Queen says he will spend $7 million on upgrades; needs a boon from Congress

The Republican takeover of the Senate appears to have boosted chances that the historic Delta Queen steamboat will resume cruises on the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, making many rural stops.

An investment group led by Louisiana businessman Cornel Martin agreed Tuesday to buy the paddlewheeler for an undisclosed sum, and Martin said he plans to spent $7 million on "extensive mechanical and hotel renovations on the vessel and return it to service in 2016," writes Bowdeya Tweh of The Cincinnati Enquirer.

Last year, two Democratic senators blocked a bipartisan move to exempt the boat from "a 1966 safety law that bars wooden vessels such as the 88-room Delta Queen from carrying 50 or more passengers on overnight journeys," Tweh reports. "Critics call the boat a potential fire trap that could put passengers at risk and tarnish the entire paddle-wheel cruise industry."

But now that the Senate is in Republican hands, and led by Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell of Louisville, chances would seem to be better, as Martin appears to have concluded.

Falling crop and energy prices push rural Midwest economy into decline, bankers' survey says

"Weak prices for energy and farm produce, sagging exports, declining farm equipment sales and lower prices for farmland combined to push the rural Midwestern economy into decline this month, according to a Creighton University survey," taken among bankers in 10 states, Steve Jordon reports for the Omaha World-Herald.

"The survey results have hovered near the no-gain, no-loss level of 50, on a 100-point scale, in recent months, slipping to 46.4 for the latest Rural Mainstreet Index, with an outlook index for the coming six months of 41.5," Jordon writes. Farmland prices declined for the 15th month in a row, at a rate of 6 percent to 8 percent a year.

Creighton takes the survey in Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming.

Ky. schools chief writes about problems caused by losses of population and jobs in rural areas

Terry Holliday

The urbanization of America and the loss of population in rural areas is causing problems for schools in those areas, some of which are caught up in a downward spiral due to job losses, Kentucky Education Commissioner Terry Holliday says on his blog.

"The loss of student population means the loss of federal, state and local revenue for our schools," Holliday writes. "The loss of revenue means fewer teachers and fewer course offerings for students. The loss of revenue means less funding for teacher pay increases which means the gap between teacher availability in rural settings and urban settings will grow. This is especially evident when rural settings try to hire math, science, and special education teachers. The loss of revenue means less funding to build and maintain school facilities.

"Our normal solution in the past has been to push for more education. However, this creates a conundrum. If we educate more students to higher levels, then those with more education will seek better paying jobs and when no jobs are available, the talent will leave for areas that have jobs."

In Holliday's adopted state, most of the rural population losses are in Eastern Kentucky. He says a possible solution to that is the Saving Our Appalachian Region initiative. "The key question is, how do we build the infrastructure in Kentucky to recruit business and industry to locate in rural areas so that talented and educated individuals can remain in their rural communities and build the future? Hopefully, SOAR will be successful so our local schools and districts can be successful. The alternatives are not very desirable for those communities."

Holliday, a native of North Carolina, doesn't use the word "consolidation," but refers to conflicts between Kentucky's county and independent city school systems, and says it's better for local communities to resolve those issues without state involvement. Recently, the Monticello district was absorbed by Wayne County, after the state found that its financial future was poor.

W.Va. may join Ky. in creating broadband network

West Virginia may join Kentucky in investing tens of millions of dollars to deliver high-speed Internet access to Central Appalachia, visible as a patch of blue on the new national map that shows in yellow areas that have true broadband, with download speed of at least 25 megabits per second. (Click on image for larger version)

A West Virginia Senate committee approved a bill that "would authorize the construction of a state-owned 2,600-mile fiber network that Internet providers could tap into," Eric Eyre reports for The Charleston Gazette. "The companies would still have to build their own fiber lines to customer homes. The new network would cost about $78 million and provide faster Internet speeds and new service to rural parts of the state."

West Virginia’s largest Internet provider, Frontier Communications, opposes the bill, Eyre reports: "A Frontier executive told senators Wednesday the project could jeopardize the state’s bond rating and leave taxpayers on the hook. Under the bill, the state Water Development Authority would issue bonds to pay for the 'middle-mile' fiber network that would link rural communities."

Frontier said the network would duplicate its own and that of other providers, but Jim Martin, CEO of City Net, an Internet service provider, said Frontier won't let competitors use its network, Eyre reports.

Ohio Supreme Court: Localities can't block fracking

UPDATE, Feb. 24: The Ohio oil-and-gas industry gave about $8,000 in campaign funds "to the justice who wrote the pro-industry ruling and $7,200 for another who concurred," the Dispatch reports.

Local governments in Ohio can't ban horizontal hydraulic fracturing because the state has "exclusive authority" over oil and gas production, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled 4-3 this week. However, the court left open the question of whether localities can control the location of wells.

"As fracking has expanded and encountered spills and fires, several Ohio communities have enacted laws to control drilling. Bans have been passed in Athens, Broadview Heights, Oberlin, Yellow Springs and Mansfield," Randy Ludlow wrotes for The Columbus Dispatch.

Athens City Council President Christine Knisely told Ludlow, “I thought we had reasonable grounds. We’re disappointed with the decision because we had taken a stand. We’re very much concerned about protecting our water supply.” (Read more)

Athens voters passed the ordinance by referendum in November, with 79 percent supporting it. "At this time it doesn't seem likely that oil and gas companies will seek to conduct drilling activities within the city of Athens," David DeWitt writes for The Athens News, but another DeWitt story reports that surrounding Athens County already gets more out-of-state fracking waste than any other Ohio county, and that a third waste-injection well could make it tops, period.

Study confirms rural residents have fewer choices, higher prices under Obamacare than urban ones

An academic study has confirmed what was reported a year ago, that rural people have fewer choices and higher prices when buying private insurance under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

"Small and rural regions appear to attract fewer entrants. Insurers also charge higher premiums to rural residents," wrote Michael J. Dickstein, an assistant professor of economics at Stanford University, in a brief for the school's Institute for Economic Policy Research.

The study looked at the 33 states that use the federal health-care exchange amd did not include those with state-based exchanges, such as the Pacific Coast states, Colorado, Minnesota, Kentucky, New York and Massachusetts.

Part of the problem is that many states, in creating regions for insurance companies to set rates, segregated rural areas. "Bundling rural counties with larger, urban areas appears to increase the supply of plans available to rural residents," a Stanford news release says.

As rural hospitals struggle, they need careful news-media attention; here's an example from Kansas

With many rural hospitals in financial trouble, rural news media need to cover their activities. Some handle hospitals with kid gloves, because they are such important local institutions, often run by well-regarded local people. But in many cases the accountability for these institutions is fuzzy, and rural news media are in a position to increase accountability.

One newspaper doing that, and sometimes extending the benefit of the doubt, is The Syracuse Journal in western Kansas, where the latest story is about the administrator of Hamilton County Hospital being relieved of his duties pending an investigation. Administrator Bryan Coffey had blamed "negative" press for his inability to recruit doctors and other health-care providers.

In response to that, Journal Editor-Publisher Marcus Ashlock published a front-page editorial headlined, "The truth is a difficult pill to swallow." He wrote that in 2014, 16 of the 26 stories about the hospital were positive, not counting "several positive opinion columns written in support of the hospital and its future," and showed how Coffey had "falsified" claims that the newspaper had misrepresented the presence of security guards at a town meeting about the hospital last summer.

"The real issue at hand is his inability to control himself or his emotional outbursts," Ashlock wrote. "Once made, he tries to rewrite history through false accusations against the newspaper in an attempt to shoot the messenger. He seems angered by the truth and at the newspaper for exposing his perceived shortcomings." In fact, Ashlock continued, he didn't publish some of Coffey's comments because "the community was starting to heal from the explosion this past summer. . . . From now on, The Syracuse Journal will print everything, and at the end of 2015, the community will know the whole truth." For a PDF of the Journal's front page, click here.

If readers of The Rural Blog have other examples, good or bad, of local coverage of rural hospitals' troubles, please send it our way.

Truck driver is not the most common job in the U.S., Market Watch writer says

Planet Money’s story about truck drivers being the most common job in the U.S. was way off base, Rex Nutting writes in an op-ed piece for Market Watch. “It’s one of those examples where a statistic can be absolutely correct and utterly wrong at the same time. Although the story does reflect the data accurately, it doesn’t reflect the real world.”

"In reality, the American workplace is now largely one that sells things, or fixes meals, or shuffles information, or provides personal services to people,” Nutting writes. “We’re a services economy, not a ‘thing’ economy.”

Around 2.8 million American workers drive trucks, Nutting writes. But more than 21 million work in office and administrative support, more than 14 million work in sales, more than 11 million work in food service and nine million work in transportation or material-moving occupations.

The problem is that the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics breaks down each group into sub-groups, such as placing the seven million teachers into 80 different occupations, Nutting writes. At the same time, other occupations, such as retail, are all lumped into the same category, regardless of what they sell.

“The sorting was inconsistent, so the comparison isn’t a legitimate one, and it makes us think that truck driving is the most common occupation in many states,” Nutting writes. "Even if we put all 2.8 million truck drivers into a single category, there are still more office clerks, retail salespersons, cashiers and fast-food workers. There are nearly as many nurses, customer-service reps, cooks, waitresses, secretaries, janitors and material handlers.” (Read more)

Ohio Supreme Court rules that cities and counties cannot ban or regulate fracking

The Ohio Supreme Court ruled by 4 to 3 vote on Tuesday that "cities and counties can neither ban nor regulate fracking through zoning laws or other restrictions," Lindsay Abrams reports for Salon. "The controversial 4-3 decision centered around the case of Munroe Falls, a suburb of Akron, which in 2011 attempted to use its home rule powers to block a state-granted drilling permit. Other cities, including Athens, Oberlin and Mansfield, passed similar ordinances, now rendered ineffective by the court’s decision."

The justices ruled that Ohio "has 'exclusive authority' and that cities and counties can neither ban nor regulate fracking through zoning laws or other restrictions," Randy Ludlow reports for The Columbus Dispatch. "Justice Terrence O’Donnell wrote that the court still has not resolved whether local zoning laws can control where wells are drilled as long as there is not a separate permitting process."

The ruling states that "state law prohibits local government from exercising powers 'in a manner that discriminates against, unfairly impedes or obstructs oil and gas activities and operations regulated under' Chapter 1509 of the Ohio Revised Code, according to the ruling," reports Crain's Cleveland Business.

Washington doctor runs house-calls-only practice

Dr. Chris Jenkins runs a house-calls-only practice in Walla Walla, Wash. He has "joined a growing number of physicians across the country who are rejecting some aspects of traditional medical groups," Sheila Hager writes for the Union-Bulletin. His "office" is a 2007 Dodge Sprinter van, and his patients pay a monthly subscription fee—$70 per adult and $140 per family.

Dr. Chris Jenkins talks with patient Mark Sampson.
(photo by Greg Lehman)

Jenkins will drive over whenever his patients call, so they don't need to wait or take time off of work or school. Although he doesn't accept insurance, he does tell his patients they should get health insurance or a cost-sharing program in case of emergencies.

Many of his clients receive coverage through their employers, but they choose the plan they don't have to pay for that has high deductibles and employ Jenkins as their primary care physician. Patient Mark Sampson said, "I used to work for Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital, so I heard all the complaints from the providers about the time they had to devote to paperwork to get paid for the simplest things," he said. Sampson said he likes the house-calls-only model of care. He said it is very accessible and that he isn't a huge fan of the Affordable Care Act.

Jenkins plans to stop acquiring more patients when he reaches 400, which is "about a fifth of the normal family practice load," he said. "The average in the U.S. is 2,200 to 2,400 patients. I want to limit that and take better care of the patients I have." Jenkins decided to go into medicine so he could help people who needed it, but he found out he could only help people with good insurance. He wanted to "get back to more personal relationships." (Read more)

Rural California agricultural community forms Farm Watch to combat rise in crime

An increase in agricultural crime is leading another rural farming region to adopt a Farm Watch group to encourage residents to report suspicious behavior. Last year residents in Central Iowa formed a program. Now, residents in rural areas surrounding Lodi, Calif., (Best Places map) say understaffed local law enforcement is forcing them to form their own Farm Watch group, Wes Bowers reports for the Lodi News-Sentinel.

Rural resident Christy Newport "said the increase in crime in Lodi’s rural area began with home invasions," Bowers writes. "In recent months, crimes such as mail thefts from roadside communal boxes, farmworkers being robbed at gunpoint and their vehicles burglarized have increased, she said." She told Bowers, “It’s gotten to a point where you can walk out of your home at night and find someone near your farm equipment. Or all of a sudden you come outside to find people stealing copper."

In addition to posting signs, "ranchers, growers and residents have started a Lodi Farmer Crime Prevention page on Facebook, where members can post information on suspicious activity or crimes to let others know what’s going on," Bowers writes. "Some farmers have posted photos of a man in a pickup truck seen approaching workers on the side of the road or photos of a man in a sedan taking mail out of postal boxes." (Read more) (News-Sentinel photo by Bea Ahbeck Casson)

Oil trains that derailed on Sunday and Monday were hauling newer model tank cars

The oil train derailment on Monday in West Virginia, and one Sunday in Canada, were "hauling newer model tank cars, not the older versions widely criticized as prone to puncture," Edward Mcallister reports for Reuters. In July the Department of Transportation proposed a two-year phase-out of older cars, which had been blamed for more oil spilled in 2013 than in the previous 37 years combined and a derailment in Quebec that resulted in 47 deaths. (Associated Press photo by Marcus Constantino: The derailment Monday in )

The 109-car train, which was carrying North Dakota crude oil to a depot in Yorktown, Va., consisted entirely of CPC 1232 models, CSX said late Monday, Mcallister writes. "The CPC 1232 is the newer, supposedly tougher version of the DOT-111 car manufactured before 2011."

Earlier this month DOT "sent a package of new rules to the White House Office of Management and Budget for review, but it will be three months before the rules take effect and even longer before the sturdier tank cars will be built," Curtis Tate reports for McClatchy Newspapers. "If there are no other delays, it will be October at the earliest before the newer cars will go into production. And depending on how much time the department gives the industry, it could be several years before the existing tank car fleet is retired or updated to meet the new requirements."

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2015/02/17/3994397_west-virginia-canada-derailments.html?rh=1#storylink=cpy

Officials in McAllen, Texas, get creative, turn abandoned Walmart into massive library

Walmart is a staple of many rural areas, but so are abandoned stores, when the corporation closes down one store to build a bigger one or decides the current one is not profitable enough. Because of the size of the stores—measuring nearly three football fields in length—it is difficult to find anyone interested in using the enormous space. (Weburbanist photo)

Officials in McAllen, Texas, found a unique way to make use of its abandoned Walmart, transforming the store "into the largest single-floor public library in America," reports The Yardener. The library has 16 public meeting spaces, 14 public study rooms, 64 computer labs, 10 children’s computer labs, two genealogy computer labs, a cafe, used book store, auditorium and self check-out stations. The site also hosts a farmer's market. (Read more)

Monsanto's new (temporarilty) herbicide-proof crops got through regulatory 'loophole,' critic says

Resistance to weed killers forces farmers to hire weed
cutters. (Photo by Brad Luttrell, Commercial Appeal)

"To counter a 'super weed' epidemic plaguing farmers, agribusiness giant Monsanto is steadily moving forward on the introduction of its next major wave of genetically engineered crops," Robert Holly reports for the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting. Critics concerned about the environmental and sustainability "argue that step forward is actually a substantial leap back."

"Propelled by recent U.S. Department of Agriculture deregulation," Monsanto is preparing to market soybean and cotton seeds that will produce plants immune to dicamba, "an infrequently used herbicide that weeds have not caught up with yet" in developing resistance to herbicides, Holly writes.

USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service "determined in its impact statement that the deregulation of new genetically engineered crops would likely result in an increased development of weeds resistant to dicamba," Holly reports. "The agency found that the soybean and cotton do not pose a direct plant pest risk alone, but that their overuse would repeat the same problem that happened with glyphosate and the early Roundup Ready crops," which led to the development of weeds resistant to Roundup, Monsanto's brand name for glyphosate. "But since it is tasked with identifying direct plant pests and not indirect consequences, the agency settled on deregulation."

That shows a "loophole" in regulation, said Doug Gurian-Sherman of the Center for Food Safety, "a national nonprofit advocacy group that supports organic and sustainable agriculture," Holly reports. Opponents' last hope appears to be the Environmental Protection Agency, which has yet to give its O.K.,

Almost half of rural districts have no students in Advanced Placement courses, study finds

Almost half of rural school districts have no high-school students in Advanced Placement courses that prepare students for college and can even earn them college credit, says a study by the Carsey School of Public Policy at the University of New Hampshire.

Researchers Douglas Gagnon and Marybeth Mattingly found that 47.2 percent of rural districts have no students in AP courses, far above the percentages in town (20), suburban (5.4) and urban (2.6) districts. They also found less access to AP courses in smaller districts and those "farther from urbanized areas," their study brief says. In some cases, students in a district without AP courses will take one or more in another district; their districts were counted as having access to the courses.

"These findings have worrisome implications regarding equal access to educational opportunity, as some studies have documented the academic benefits of simply engaging in such rigorous coursework," the researchers write. Among students who do take AP courses, those in suburban and affluent districts have a higher rate of success, which was defined by passing at least one year-end AP exam. (Read more)

Oil train derails in W.Va., two days after one in Ontario; stricter car-safety rules pending

A train carrying crude oil from North Dakota to a Virginia refinery derailed in West Virginia on Monday, creating a spectacular fire and sending at least one car into the Kanawha River. "Last year, a train taking the same route derailed, causing an explosion in Lynchburg, Va," notes Rusty Marks of The Charleston Gazette. "On Saturday, at least seven rail cars caught fire in northern Ontario after a crude oil train on its way from Alberta to eastern Canada derailed."

Twenty-five of the CSX Corp. train's 109 cars, each carrying 33,000 gallons of crude, left the tracks in Mount Carbon (Bing map). Some exploded, 14 were reported burning, and the heat was felt half a mile away. One slammed into a house and incinerated it. "No one was reported killed, but CSX reported that one person was treated for an inhalation injury," Marks reports. Downstream communities closed their water intakes, and Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin declared a state of emergency. CSX said it was investigating the cause.

Even before the incident, Curtis Tate of McClatchy Newspapers wrote that the Ontario derailment could put "pressure on the White House to accelerate its review of new regulations intended to improve the safety of hazardous rail shipments throughout North America."

Tate concluded, "Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Transportation sent a package of new oil train safety rules to the White House Office of Management and Budget for review. According to the department’s February report on significant rulemakings, it will be another three months before the rule is published. The regulation is expected to call for stronger tank cars to transport the oil, as well as operational changes that could include train speeds and braking systems. But it would be October at the earliest before railcar manufacturers would begin building tank cars to the new standard, and at least two years beyond that before the least protected cars would be phased out of transporting the most hazardous materials."

'Choice card' for vets distant from VA facility or with delayed appointments has problems

Last summer, the Department of Veterans Affairs said it would offer a "choice card" allowing "veterans who have been waiting more than 30 days for appointments or who live more than 40 miles from a VA facility the chance to see a private doctor," Emily Wax-Thibodeaux writes for The Washington Post. "Some veterans say that when they attempted to use their card, the VA told them they had to live more than 40 'miles in a straight line, or as the crow flies,' from their VA rather than Google maps miles, which makes the card harder to use."

Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Kan., has filed a bill to use actual driving distances and apply "directly to the type of care requested by the veteran – which means having a Community-Based Outpatient Clinic in the area would no longer prevent a veteran from choosing care at a local hospital if the local CBOC can’t provide the necessary service," the Post reports.

Also, the newspaper reports, "Several VA doctors e-mailed The Washington Post saying they themselves don’t understand how to use the program." One wrote, “As far as I can tell, the choice card has created more confusion and aggravation than improving access to clinical care, though it did gain political points.”

"Another problem that veterans pointed to is that all veterans, whether eligible or not, get the card," the Post reports. "Some are showing up in private emergency rooms and try to use the card only to find out it’s not valid." One reader told the Post that VA sent a card to her stepfather, who died in 2009, "a symbol of an agency still seemingly in disarray."

USDA improves conservation program, does poor job telling story, writer says; signups due Feb. 27

Department of Agriculture officials have improved the federal Conservation Stewardship Program, which offers $100 million to landowners who take steps to conserve soil and other natural resources, but is doing a poor job of telling farmers about it, with a Feb. 27 signup deadline approaching, Bruce Knight writes for Agri-Pulse.

USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service "highlighted some pilot CSP initiatives that focus on providing habitat for at-risk species, such as the sage grouse and the lesser prairie chicken, or focus on conserving water and improving water quality in the Ogalala Aquifer.  There is also a longleaf pine conservation effort in Southern states," Knight reports. "Those are the ones the agency is talking about because of its political priorities. But what excites me are the enhancements that embrace modern precision agriculture technology, soil health, cover crops and fertilizer management, which are much improved."

"The changes NRCS has made are definitely a step in the right direction, and I'd like to be sure that everyone knows about them," Knight writes. "It's almost like NRCS is trying to keep this signup and all its improvements a secret.  As a farmer, if you have looked at CSP in the past and found it inflexible or a poor match for your needs, this may be the time to give it a new look.  With tough grain prices on the horizon, CSP payments could be what it takes to keep cover crops and other conservation innovations in your rotation."

FAA drafts limits on weight, speed, altitude, time and operator parameters for drone aircraft

Illustration from Forbes magazine, which broke the news

Drone aircraft could weigh no more than 55 pounds, fly no faster than 100 mph and go no higher than 500 feet above the ground, under draft rules issued by the Federal Aviation Administration. The FAA rules would also ban the use of drones near airports and and night, and require their operators to have a special certification and keep the drone "in line of sight" at all times, NPR reports.

The White House press office called drones "a potentially transformative technology in diverse fields such as agriculture, law enforcement, coastal security, military training, search and rescue, first responder medical support, critical infrastructure inspection, and many others." Presudent Obama issued "a presidential directive that will require federal agencies for the first time to publicly disclose where they fly drones in the United States and what they do with the torrents of data collected from aerial surveillance," Craig Whitlock of The Washington Post reports.

Neema Singh Guliani of the American Civil Liberties Union said the regulation is "an important step in restricting how the government uses this powerful surveillance technology" but "falls short of fully protecting the privacy of Americans" because it "allows the use of data gathered by domestic drones for any 'authorized purpose,' which is not defined, leaving the door open to inappropriate drone use by federal agencies."

"The unexpected release followed the inadvertent posting on the FAA’s website of a document analyzing the draft rules, which the agency failed to take down before drone enthusiasts found it and circulated it," Larry Downes of Georgetown University writes for the Post.

"The final rules still could be two or three years away," Fox News reports, because the draft must be approved by the White House and undergo "a public comment period, and tens of thousands of comments are anticipated. . . . The FAA currently bans all commercial drone flights except for those by a small number of companies that have been granted waivers. Congress has been leaning on the agency to move faster on regulations that would allow a wide variety of companies to employ drones. Under a law passed in 2012, the FAA was to issue final regulations by September 2015, but that appears unlikely."

FBI director says police must do better on race, and that's a message for both urban and rural areas

By Al Cross
Director, Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues

In our opinion, one of the most important speeches given by a public official in the law few years was the address last week by FBI Director James Comey, acknowledging that U.S. law enforcement has a history of being "often brutally unfair to disfavored groups," especially racial and ethnic minorities.

Comey speaks at Georgetown University

“Many people in our white-majority culture have unconscious racial biases and react differently to a white face than a black face,” Comey said, in a rare case of power speaking truth to power. This is a matter of concern not just in urban areas, where minority populations are relatively larger, but in rural areas, where the percentage of "disfavored groups" can vary widely and the policing is often not as sophisticated as that in urban areas.

Perhaps the latest example of that is the rough treatment a man from India who couldn't speak English received from police in Madison, Ala., last week. They threw him to the ground and he was partially paralyzed, reported Challen Stephens of The Huntsville Times. His prognosis is optimistic, NBC News reports. Anna Claire Vollers of the Times reports that more than $170,000 has been raised through crowdfunding to help pay his medical expenses. Her story includes a video of the incident. The assaulting officer has been fired and arrested, Edward Bowser of the Times reports.

Given such incidents as this, and the choking death of Staten Island resident Eric Garner at the hands of New York police last year, it was important that the nation's top cop make a speech about police and race. As Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne wrote, if President Obama or Attorney General Eric Holder, who is also African American, "had given the same speech (and they’ve said many of these things), the response would have been political and in some cases nasty. This only underscores why it was essential for the words to come from a white director of the FBI."

Oil and gas 'drilling frenzy' in U.S. is over, but oil production continues to grow

"The U.S. drilling frenzy is over. What’s not is the boom in oil production," Asjylyn Loder reports for Bloomberg News. "While companies have idled 151 rigs in five shale formations since reaching a peak of 1,157 in October, they’ll need to park another 200 for growth to stall, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration."

"The industry has become better at blasting crude out of deep underground layers of rock, according to productivity data tracked by the EIA in the major shale prospects including the Bakken, Eagle Ford, Niobrara, Permian and Utica," Loder reports. "The improvements have helped overcome the natural depletion of existing wells. Shale wells decline sharply at first and then trail off at a slower rate until they run dry."

Loder explains: "As drillers cut costs, the less efficient equipment is idled first while the best machinery is dispatched to the most promising acreage, which boosts the amount of crude produced for every rig in the field. At the same time, the existing pool of wells grows older," so the rate of decline in production shows down.

As EPA prepares to veto mine, choosing salmon over gold, Republicans say it's overreaching

New York Times map; mine site lies in two watersheds

"Just north of Iliamna Lake in southwestern Alaska is an empty expanse of marsh and shrub that conceals one of the world’s great buried fortunes: A mile-thick layer of virgin ore said to contain at least 6.7 million pounds — or $120 billion worth — of gold. As fate would have it, a second treasure sits precisely atop the first: the spawning ground for the planet’s biggest runs of sockeye salmon, the lifeline of a fishery that generates $500 million a year," writes Joby Warrick of The Washington Post.

"Between the two is the Obama administration, which has all but decided that only one of the treasures can be brought to market. How the White House came to side with fish over gold is a complex tale that involves millionaire activists, Alaska Natives, lawsuits and one politically explosive question: Can the federal government say no to a property owner before he has a chance to explain what he wants to do?"

Warrick explains: "As early as this spring, the Environmental Protection Agency is expected to invoke a rarely used legal authority to bar a Canadian company, Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd., from beginning work on its proposed Pebble Mine, citing risks to salmon and to Alaska’s pristine Bristol Bay, 150 miles downstream. The EPA’s position is supported by a broad coalition of conservationists, fishermen and tribal groups — and, most opinion polls show, by a majority of Alaskans.

"National environmental groups, Hollywood celebrities and wealthy activists have made the defeat of the mine a top priority, raising millions of dollars to campaign against it. But the more consequential fight may be over how the mine is being blocked. By employing a rare preemptive 'veto' — a tactic used only once in this manner in 40 years — the EPA has made itself the target of congressional Republicans who say the agency has stepped far outside the boundaries lawmakers envisioned with the adoption of the Clean Water Act in the 1970s." (Read more)