Illinois reauthorizes EPA program to provide $15M annually to assist rural water drinking systems

Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) last week announced a new law that "reauthorizes $15 million each year through 2020 for the Environmental Protection Agency’s technical assistance program for small, public water systems and requires EPA to target the training and technical assistance funds appropriated by Congress to programs most beneficial to small and rural communities," states a release from Shimkus.

Shimkus said: "A major source of financial stress for small and rural drinking water supply systems is compliance with EPA regulations. These communities need access to technical professionals to help find the most cost-effective way to identify repair and replacement options for their systems and to comply with EPA standards.”

Frank Dunmire, executive direct or of the Rural Water Association, which represents more than 800 small communities, water districts and co-ops throughout the state, said: “Almost all of the more than 3,500 community water supplies in Illinois are dependent on on-site technical assistance and training while they struggle with complying with the ever-growing list of EPA regulations. It is through this training and on-site assistance that many communities avoid violations and/or hefty fines.”

EPA states: "More than 97 percent of the nation’s 156,000 public water systems are small systems, meaning they serve 10,000 or fewer people. A public water system (PWS) is a system that provides water for human consumption to at least 25 people or 15 service connections."

High school, college graduation rates on the rise in rural America

More rural Americans are finishing high school and graduating from college, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's 2015 Rural America at a Glance report. From 2000 to 2014, the number of rural adults with a four-year college degree increased by 4 percent, while the number of rural residents without a high school diploma or GED decreased by 9 percent, Jackie Mader reports for Education Week.

The report found that "educational attainment levels are lower for rural minorities, including black, Hispanic and Native American residents," Mader writes. "In 2014, only 13 percent of white rural residents had less than a high school diploma, compared to 40 percent of rural Hispanic residents and 25 percent of rural black residents. These attainment levels directly correspond to unemployment rates, according to the report. Rural residents with more education are more likely to be employed, due to a demand for more highly-skilled labor in rural areas."

Researchers also found that rural child poverty rates are higher in areas that have lower educational attainment rates, Mader writes. "Overall, rural child poverty rose during the recession and has increased in post-recession years. In 2014, 25.2 percent of rural children lived in poverty compared to about 22 percent in 2007." (USDA graphic)

Rural towns seeking ways to turn shuttered prisons into economic opportunities

Many rural towns that have come to rely on a prison to support the local economy are struggling to stay relevant as more rural prisons are shuttered. New York—where 15 facilities have closed since 2011—is trying to turn closed prisons into new ventures that, if successful, could serve as a model to help other rural communities struggling with losing their biggest cash cow, Henry Gass reports for The Christian Science Monitor. (Gass photo: The former prison in Warwick, N.Y., is now a sports complex.)

"Thirty years ago, attracting a prison seemed like one of the soundest financial decisions that a rural community, in particular, could make," Gass writes. "Thanks to tough-on-crime policies, a prison-building boom was under way. Rural areas could offer large but secluded property in exchange for the kind of large, stable employer that such communities often struggle to attract. The number of state prison facilities rose from 600 in the mid-1970s to more than 1,000 by 2000, according to a 2004 report from the Urban Institute, a think tank in Washington. By the 1990s, 25 prisons were being built in rural areas every year, up from four a year during the '70s. As prisons rose up in small communities, they soon became the only game in town, akin to single-industry 'company towns.'

"But then, for a variety of reasons, including concerns about mass incarceration, the tough-on-crime approach began to lose some steam," Gass writes. "America's prison population has started to plateau. Between 1999 and 2013, the state and federal prison population decreased 2.4 percent, according to The Sentencing Project. Marc Mauer, executive director of The Sentencing Project, told Gass, "Prisons have become a major part of the local economies in these small towns. So if [a] state is going to close some institutions, it should be thinking of some transitional support for the towns."

The closing of New York's facilities has led to annual savings of about $162 million, which has been reinvested in an economic development program, Gass writes. While some areas have been successful—Warwick's prison was turned into a sports complex—"other rural areas have proved a tough sell. At least a third of the 15 shuttered facilities—including the four closed in 2014—have yet to be sold." Most of the success has occurred in urban areas, "where demand for the properties is often much higher." (Read more)

Few states run repeated checks on concealed-carry permit holders; Ky. leads nation in checks

How often does the Federal Bureau of Investigation conduct background checks on gun purchases in your state? The FBI conducts nearly twice as many checks in Kentucky than in any other state, Lauren Duncan reports for The Paducah Sun in Western Kentucky. According to the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Checks System (NICS), used by states to conduct checks on those who purchase firearms, Kentucky had 2.9 million NICS checks in 2015 through November, "which far surpassed California's 1.5 million and Texas's 1.3 million during that time period." Kentucky had 2.4 million checks in 2014, almost a million more than the next highest state, California, which had 1.47 million. Kentucky has about 4.4 million residents, compared to 38 million in California.

Kentucky firearm vendors are required "to do an NICS background check each time they sell a firearm, unless the buyer has a Kentucky concealed carry permit," Duncan writes. Local gun dealer Dwayne Wurth "said that high number likely is related to the state running monthly background checks on concealed carry holders." He told Duncan, "The state itself runs background checks on people who have concealed carry. They run those every month to make sure they are still law abiding citizens. That's what they're supposed to do to."

While Kentucky businesses that sell firearms do not have to pay for the NICS background checks, other states do charge fees, such as Tennessee, where Wurth said the cost ranges from $10 to $25, Duncan writes. Checks can usually be done online, with responses often coming back within minutes. Kentucky issued 31,504 Carrying Concealed Deadly Weapon permits in 2014, down from 59,530 in 2013. In 2014, 601 licenses were revoked, 739 were suspended and 560 were denied. The Paducah Sun is behind a paywall but can be accessed by clicking here. (FBI map)

Campaigns mounting in rural South to revive Confederate flag

While 2015 saw some areas in the South campaigning—often successfully—to have Confederate flags taken down from government and university buildings and removed from state flags, heritage supporters have been working to lobby legislators and prepare lawsuits "to restore or maintain Confederate monuments," Cameron McWhirter reports for The Wall Street Journal. (AP photo: Confederate flag removed from South Carolina Capitol on July 10, 2015)

"Confederate heritage groups say that membership and donations are up; and Confederate flags unfurled on trucks or waving in front of homes remain a common sight across much of the rural South," McWhirter writes. "Dewey Barber, owner of Confederate flag retailer Dixie Outfitters, in Odum, Ga., said sales have 'overwhelmed' his company last summer and fall. Many flags are out of stock as suppliers rush to fill orders, he said."

The South is one of the fastest growing regions in the U.S., McWhirter writes. The 11 states that made up the Confederacy—Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia—have increased in population from 84.2 million in 2000 to 102 million in 2014, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That's an increase of 21 percent, compared with a 13 percent overall U.S. growth rate. "Southern states’ ethnic and racial composition has evolved significantly, with black, Hispanic and Asian minorities growing." (Read more)

Confidence level of crop and livestock producers reaches all time low, according to DTN survey

The confidence level of crop and livestock producers has reached an all-time low, according to the DTN/The Progressive Farmer Agriculture Confidence Index (ACI), which dates back to 2010, states DTN. Producers' overall confidence was at 92.7, down from 99.4 in August and 103.4 one year ago. Concerns over their current situation dropped to 92.2, from 101.5 in August and 113.3 in December 2014. Farmers' expectations about the future was at 93.1, down from 98 in August. "The value of 100 is considered neutral. Values above 100 indicate optimism, whereas values below signify pessimism."

ACI, which surveyed 500 crop and livestock producers from Nov. 2 to Nov. 25, "measures the sentiments of crop and livestock producers on their overall agriculture sector impressions," states DTN. The survey is conducted three times per year, before planting, before harvest and after harvest. "Producers also rate current and long-term input prices and net farm income to gauge their attitudes toward the present situation and future expectations."

Overall, 53 percent of farmers described input prices as bad, up from 48 percent in August, the fifth consecutive survey in which numbers increased, states DTN. "Eighty-three percent of farmers surveyed believe input prices will stay the same or get worse over the next 12 months . . . 44 percent rated farm income as bad, and 42 percent said income was normal . . . For just the second time in the index's history, both crop and livestock producers have a pessimistic confidence score, with crop producers at 91.0 and livestock producers at 96.4."

"Crop producers' attitudes remain pessimistic on their current situation and future expectations," states DTN. "The index rating on their current situation fell from 92.0 in August to an all-time index low of 86.5, and future expectations also dropped into the pessimistic range from 101.8 before harvest to now 94.1."

"With the combination of low prices and the high concentration of corn and soybean acreage in the Midwest, producers in that region are the most pessimistic about their overall confidence (85.3), current situation (79.8) and future expectations (89.0)," states DTN. "The overall index scores were slightly higher in the Southeast (96.8) and Southwest (98.0). Expectations for the future remain solidly pessimistic for producers in the Southeast (87.2) and Southwest (95.3). Unlike Midwest producers, Southeast and Southwest producers still have optimistic ratings for their current situations at 111.1 and 102.1, respectively." (Read more)

Oklahoma had more earthquakes in 2015 than every state combined, excluding Alaska

Oklahoma—where seismic activity has been linked to the oil and gas industry—had more earthquakes in 2015 than the combined total of every state except Alaska, Brad Sowder reports for KOCO 5 in Oklahoma City. In 2015, Oklahoma had 857 earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 or higher, compared to 729 in the other 48 states. Last year's total also easily surpassed the state record of 585 earthquakes from 2014. Prior to the oil and gas boom of 2009, Oklahoma averaged two earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 or higher per year.

"State officials in April 2015 acknowledged that the increased shaking was related to oil and gas operations, ending years of waffling extended at times by interference from the politically powerful oil and gas industry," Mike Soraghan reports for Environment & Energy News. Last summer, Oklahoma Corporation Commission officials "started asking operators of wells in earthquake-prone areas to reduce injection volumes or cease operations. The agency's 'directives' are voluntary but backed by the threat of formal, mandatory action." (KOCO graphic)

Rural newspaper seeks 'reporter who reads'; owner says young reporters often not well-informed

A rural weekly in Idaho is trying a novel approach to hire a journalist who is well-informed about today's news. A job advertisement for the St. Maries Gazette Record stresses that the applicant must be a reader, Chris D'Angelo reports for The Huffington Post. Owner Dan Hammes said he "wants a journalist who is informed and curious—someone who is excited to learn about the world." Hammes told D'Angelo, "I'm old, and I'm grouchy. So many kids you hire these days don't read anything. Not to mention you can't write very well if you don't read." (Wikipedia map: St. Maries, Idaho)

D'Angelo writes, "While some might find Hammes' words harsh or pessimistic, he is anything but. There are talented, hungry reporters out there, he said, and the ad is his way of getting their attention so that he can offer one of them a good job." Hammes told D'Angelo, "I'm not going to hire the wrong person."

The ad states: "We have an opening for a reporter who reads. So . . . let's get the info about the community out of the way. Ours is a successful community newspaper in St. Maries, Idaho. This is a rural area. Think small town, rivers, lakes, mountains. Great outdoors recreation but no shopping centers, no crowds, no stoplights. If this appeals to you, you'll love it here. If you like shopping malls and Starbucks then you might want to move on to the next ad . . . It goes without saying the person we hire will be able to write, spell and edit. What also needs to be said is we prefer to hire reporters who read because we strongly believe that knowledgeable, informed people make superior reporters. We can excuse you if you have not read a book or two in a while, but the person we hire will be a newspaper reader. We are convinced that in order to be a respectable reporter, you must be informed."

Maine's once thriving paper mill industry struggling to stay afloat

Maine's once thriving paper mill industry "continued its downturn in 2015 in the face of closures, digitization, foreign competition and consolidation," Patrick Whittle reports for The Associated Press. "Remaining players in the industry, which has declined from 426 mills nationally in 2005 to 326 today, say adaptation to changing consumer trends is needed for survival."

Maine has less than half as many mills that it had in 1980, and the number of employees has dropped from 13,000 in the early 2000s to about 6,150 today, Whittle writes. "The paper industry is used to economic downturn, but 2015 was especially cruel to Maine papermaking, which was once a vital point of entry to middle-class life in the largely rural state. The bankrupt Lincoln Paper and Tissue mill was purchased after a November auction. Wisconsin-based Expera Specialty Solutions has also announced plans to shutter its Old Town facility. The closures affect Vermont, too, because many of the state's loggers had been selling their products in Maine."

While government regulations "and competition from places like China, Brazil, Germany and Finland, along with competition from iPhones and Androids," are blamed for the downturn, insiders say there "is still room in the marketplace for U.S.-made paper products like to-go coffee cups and the holiday packages used by online shippers," Whittle writes.

And despite the downturn, "American paper is still a huge business—the paper association said the industry's economic output was more than $217 billion in 2014, and it generates more than $50 billion in payroll annually," Whittle writes. "Maine ranked eighth in the nation in 2014 for paper and paperboard capacity." (Read more)

Stories about the problems of rural hospitals led The Rural Blog's readership list in 2015

Stories about the problems of rural hospitals led the list of most-read topics on The Rural Blog in 2015. Of the 60 blog posts that were viewed at least 250 times by TRB readers, eight excerpted stories about rural hospitals, and some related items also had high readership.

The most-read item on the topic was one on Aug. 4 about the struggles of rural hospitals in Alabama, Oklahoma and Nebraska, perhaps appealing because it dealt with three states. Close behind was one published the day before, about a community's reopening of a southwest Virginia hospital that a chain had closed. Next in line was a Feb. 19 report on how the Syracuse Journal in Kansas had held the local hospital accountable in the face of claims by its fired administrator about "negative press."

We said in that item, "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."

Other well-read reports on rural hospitals included a March 18 item about hospitals facing federal reimbursement cuts for high readmission rates; one the day before reporting that 48 rural hospitals had closed since 2010 and 283 more were in trouble; an April 17 item noting that four of the 10 closures in Texas were due to a fraud case; and a July 24 item quoting an expert advising rural hospitals to strengthen their connections to their communities.

Some related reports also had high readership, such as a Jan. 16 item about the shortage of doctors in rural areas and one on June 9 about a national survey of rural stakeholders, which found that their top concern was access to health care, being limited partly by the closing of rural hospitals.

Renewable energy market shifts from biomass to solar, pinching Calif. farmers and biomass plants

Biomass waste is deposited at a waste-to-
energy plant. (Photo by Geoffrey Mohan)

As California almond growers bulldoze orchards due to drought, plants that make electricity from waste biomass "are folding in rapid succession, unable to compete with heavily subsidized solar farms, many of which have sprouted up amid the fields and orchards of the San Joaquin Valley," reports Geoffrey Mohan of the Los Angeles Times.

Almond processor and grower Paul Parreira "is running out of dirt roads where he can spread ground-up almond shells, even as he expands a one-megawatt solar array on six acres of his family's property in Los Banos," Mohan writes. "The waste-to-energy facilities where Parreira used to send about 50,000 tons of shells per year are vanishing. Six have closed in just two years, the latest in Delano, which shut down Thursday, after San Diego Gas & Electric ended its power-purchase agreement."

California had about 60 biomass plants in the 1980s, but hit the skids with deregulation of the state's energy grid, cheaper natural gas and expiration of long-term contracts and a state subsidy. The industry is now down to 25 plants, and seeking help from lawmakers in Sacramento.

The vanishing market for biomass waste may mean more open burning of it in the valley, which is allowed "if farmers do not have an economically feasible alternative," Executive Director Seyed Sadredin told the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District board last month. (Read more)

As S.D. publisher gives up his title, he tells the story of his family and their weekly newspaper

Tim Waltner

An outstanding weekly newspaper publisher is giving up the title, but not his connection with the newspaper, which his son and daughter-in-law will take over. Tim Waltner's column about the changes at the Freeman, S.D., Courier is a biography of himself, his family and the newspaper, and an exemplary piece of rural journalism, to be expected from a leader and award winner in the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors.

After recounting the twists and turns that took him to Freeman, then away, then back again, Waltner writes, "I could not be happier — for myself, for Jeremy and Stacey, for the Courier and the Freeman community. And I’m pleased I’ll be able to be part of that in these transitional years.

Sperlimg's Best Places map 

"I have no illusions about my time at the Courier; I know some people still bristle at my politics, reputation as a rebel and willingness to challenge authority. The role of a community journalist — if you’re doing your job — includes sometimes ruffling some feathers. I’m happy to play that role and am fully aware that some people, as there were 46 years ago, will be happy to see me start to step away.

"But I’ve been humbled and gratified by the support and respect shown me over my 40 years with the Freeman Courier. I’m thrilled to give Jeremy and Stacey the same opportunity Glenn Gering gave me four decades ago. My deepest hope is that community residents and leaders will give them — and the Courier — the support and respect they deserve." (Read more)

Cargill fires Muslim employees who walked out in dispute over prayers at Colorado packing plant

A Somali worker at the Cargill plant (Denver Post photo)

"About 190 workers, most of them immigrants from Somalia, have been fired from a meat packing and distribution plant on Colorado's Eastern Plains for walking off the job to protest a workplace prayer dispute," reports Kieran Nicholson of The Denver Post.

Cargill Inc. had allowed the workers at its Fort Morgan plant to use break time for Muslim prayers (observant Muslims pray five times daily), even providing a prayer room, but recently changed the practice, Nicholson reports.

Workers at the plant are represented by the Teamsters union but Cargill is negotiating the prayer issue with the Council on Islamic-American Relations. "They feel losing their prayer is worse than losing their job," CAIR Executive Director Jaylani Hussein told Nicholson. "It's like losing a blessing from God."

Coal seam that produced 'Sixteen Tons' still has potential, new investment, and fresh focus

Merle Travis, and then Tennessee Ernie Ford and many others, sang about a miner's daily production goal of "sixteen tons of Number 9 coal." That's the name of a coal seam in Travis's native Western Kentucky. It's still producing, and is the target of some new mines in a small county that has been known less for coal than for agriculture and the Green River.

Australia's Paringa Resources plans at least one new mine in McLean County (Wikipedia map), where Lexington-based Rhino Resources opened a mine recently as it shut down others in Appalachia, reports Austin Ramsey of the Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer: "The Western Kentucky No. 9 Coal Seam, where both county mines operate, could soon become the nation's second largest producer of coal, said Tomasz S. Wiltowski of Southern Illinois University's Advanced Coal and Energy Research Center."

Ramsey reports, "Wiltowski said he believes the Illinois Coal Basin (in blue on map) is preparing to play a center-stage role in an international showdown over energy production and environmental policy. The federal moratorium on construction of coal-fired power plants has hurt the industry nationwide, but the potential in western Kentucky makes for an attractive investor shift back toward nonrenewable energy, he said. Only time will tell what the final results will yield."

Many rural areas could benefit from drone boom

Drones are used to check health of strawberry fields in Florida.
(Photo by Jay Conner, Tampa Tribune, via New York Times)

Many rural areas could benefit economically from the boom in drones, not just North Dakota, the focus of a New York Times story and Rural Blog item earlier this week. "It is just one of several rural areas where there is concerted activity in commercial drones," or "unmanned aircraft systems," the name federal officials use, writes Times reporter Quentin Hardy, who did the North Dakota story.

"Far from Silicon Valley, entrepreneurs are working on drone applications for agriculture, energy, rail and other industries largely in less populated parts of the country," Hardy reports. "It makes sense: There is more need for drones in rural areas, and there are fewer costly things that a drone might crash into. The military operations involved with many of these endeavors are also in rural areas."

Anthony Albanese, president of Gryphon Sensors LLC, which makes drone sensing gear, told Hardy, “We envision building out in rural environments where you can build a safety case” for air-traffic control of unmanned vehicles. “Eventually it will be urban – you can envison delivery centers on top of buildings in cities.” But the proving ground will be rural.

"One thing all the rural experimentation sites share seems to be contacts from the likes of Amazon, Google and Facebook, all of which have big drone programs," Hardy reports. "Away from the government facilities, there is lots more experimentation in rural areas, from flying firefighting robots in Reno, Nev., to teams of drone pilots for work and play in Iowa, and a British company called BioCarbon Engineering that hopes to plant 1 billion trees a year in deforested areas by using drones."  (Read more)

Flooding disrupts Mississippi River system transportation; barge tows limited, bridges closed

U.S. Geological Survey map via DTN; click it for larger version

"Massive flooding, which usually occurs in spring, is plaguing the entire U.S. river system this winter," especially the Mississippi and its tributaries, Mary Kennedy reports for DTN/The Progressive Farmer. "That heavy precipitation has pushed the nation's main river system above flood stage, creating a mess for shippers. As of Dec. 30, the St. Louis harbor was closed."

Tom Russell of New Orleans-based Russell Marine Group told Kennedy, "Lower Mississippi River from Cairo to New Orleans is open but either at or will soon be at flood levels as water flushes through. Expect continued slow going logistics throughout the system. Fleets in St. Louis and Cairo are at max capacity. Tow sizes will be restricted to equivalent of 280 horsepower-per-barge-to-tow ratio. This is the first time I have seen such hp restriction."

Kennedy's report includes a rundown of most the major tributaries of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. To read it, click here. The flooding has also prompted the closing of bridges, some major, such as US 51 over the Ohio between Cairo, Ill., and Wickliffe, Ky.

"Flooding on the middle and lower portion of the Mississippi River and some of its tributaries may reach levels not seen during the winter months since records began during the middle 1800s," says AccuWeather senior meterologist Alex Sosnowski.

In Iowa, which set an ethanol-making record in 2015, Cruz leads but opposes renewable-fuel law

Cruz speaks from hay bale at Iowa State Fair.
(Associated Press photo by Paul Sancya)

As Iowa reports record production of ethanol for 2015, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, an opponent of federal support for the industry, is leading in polls for the state's first-in-the nation presidential vote in party caucuses on Feb. 1. But an attack by a leading Cruz supporter on the issue could backfire, writes Trip Gabriel of The New York Times.

Gabriel reports that former Virginia attorney general Ken Cuccinelli, "emailed subscribers to a personal list with an attack on Gov. Terry Branstad of Iowa, a popular Republican governor, and his son, Eric Branstad," who runs a super PAC that is airing TV and radio ads attacking Cruz for his stand against the Renewable Fuels Standard, which requires a certain amount of ethanol to be blended into gasoline.

"Every Republican caucus winner in the last quarter-century has been a strong ethanol supporter," Gabriel notes in the Times' "First Draft" blog. "But Mr. Cruz’s polling lead suggests the industry’s popular and political clout may be ebbing. Mr. Cruz has never tried to play down his call to end the fuel standard, unlike some rivals. Still, it may not be to his advantage to have supporters like Mr. Cuccinelli waving a red cape at an iconic Iowa industry."

"Iowa produced just over 4 billion gallons of ethanol in 2015, a record for the country’s largest producer of the renewable fuel," Chris Doering reports for The Des Moines Register. "The Iowa Renewable Fuel Association said the increase at the state’s 43 ethanol plants this year was the result of efficiency gains at existing facilities and production from cellulosic feedstocks such as corn stover. Iowa accounts for 27 percent of U.S. ethanol output."

We couldn't resist this one in a look back at 2015: A orphan kangaroo and his teddy bear

Photo by Gillian Abbott

The Huffington Post's collection of 12 feel-good stories during 2015 had a couple of rural-oriented items, including a story from Australia about an orphan kangaroo and his teddy bear.

Gillian Abbot, a licensed wildlife carer and member of the New South Wales rescue organization WIRES, has been caring for the kangaroo named Doodlebug, found abandoned a little over a year ago and too young to take care of himself. Now 15 months old, he is gradually being released to the wild, says Abbott's son, Timothy Beshara, who put on Twitter the photo his mother took of Doodlebug hugging his teddy. ""He lies next to it, practices his kicking against it and cuddles it," Beshara told Huffington Post.

The other item with rural resonance included a British weatherman's skillful pronunciation of the 54-letter name of a Welsh village, Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. 

Please consider a gift to The Rural Blog's publisher

Dear readers of The Rural Blog:

We're in our usual low gear for the holidays, but are still trying to take care of business, and asking for your help. As you write those year-end checks to worthy causes, we hope you will consider a donation to our publisher, the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, based at the University of Kentucky. The institute is a national program that helps rural journalists define the public agenda in their communities through strong reporting and commentary, especially on broader issues that have local impact but few good local sources.

The university pays the institute's director and some of his expenses. The institute has an endowment that covers other expenses, including a half-time staff assistant. We need full-time help, and that takes money. Donors can give to the endowment, which returns 3.5 percent per year and guarantees the sustainability of the institute, or to the institute's operating account, which is used for current activities. To learn more about the institute, go to www.RuralJournalism.org.

To donate to the institute, click here. To give to the endowment, go to the gift-designation box and select "Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues Endowed Fund for Excellence." To give to our operating account, choose "Other" and type in "IRJCI operating." Or, you can write a check to the University of Kentucky with "Rural Journalism endowment" or "IRJCI operating" on the memo line and send it to IRJCI, 122 Grehan Journalism Bldg., UK, Lexington KY 40506-0042. Any type of donation is tax-deductible and will be much appreciated!

Thanks,

Al Cross
Director, IRJCI, and associate extension professor, School of Journalism and Media, University of Kentucky

Goodbye to a barn cat: 'It was a strange but very fulfilling relationship'

Donald Gregg with Shadow (undated photo)

Barn cats have long been a staple of rural life, but are less a part of daily life than house cats, because they have their own territory and are usually wary of humans, even those whose property they share. But that doesn't keep them and their human neighbors from forming attachments, perhaps at arm's length but with a certain connection. Such a cat, named Shadow, was the frequent companion of Donald Gregg, the father of John Gregg, news editor of the Valley News in Lebanon, N.H., and White River Junction, Vt. When Shadow died recently, Donald Gregg emailed his family and friends a remembrance, and his son turned it into a Christmas Eve column for the newspaper. Here are exceprts:

Shadow, our feral cat, passed away earlier this month, very peacefully. She had been shutting down for a couple of weeks, eating less and less, and moving with a bit of stiffness. My wife, Meg, and I found her about noon, when we returned from yoga class, lying very gracefully, as though asleep.

The ground was soft, so I was able to dig her grave easily, near a favorite tree she used to scamper up, close to the old play house. . . . A few hours before Shadow died, for some strange reason I remember what we would say as children when on a swing, and we stopped pumping: “Let the old cat die.”

Well, die she did, and the first time I ever picked her up was to lay her in her shroud to be buried.

Shadow, true to her name, has slipped away. It was a strange but very fulfilling relationship. We shall miss her.

Donald Gregg, 88, lives in Westchester County, New York. He was a CIA official, national security adviser and ambassador to South Korea.

Small, rural hospitals doing more orthopedic work, perhaps putting patients at greater risk

Critical-access hospitals, a linchpin of health care in rural areas, are performing many more orthopedic surgeries. But the Medicare patients who get the five most common orthopedic procedures at such hospitals are one-third more likely to die within 30 days than those who get them at larger, general hospitals.

That's what The Wall Street Journal found by reviewing Medicare billing data from 2008 to 2013, which showed a 43 percent increase in surgeries at critical-access hospitals, "far outpacing the growth of those services at general hospitals" and raising "troubling implications for patient safety," says the Christmas Day story by Christopher Weaver, Anna Wilde Mathews and Tom McGinty. From 2010 to 2013, the death rate at such hospitals was 34 percent higher than at the larger facilities.

“Patients are getting bad outcomes, probably because they are getting procedures at hospitals without the experience to do it well,” Ashish Jha, a Harvard University public-health professor who has studied critical-access hospitals, told the Journal. He and his colleagues reviewed the Journal's data and concluded that "the 30-day mortality rate for inpatient joint replacements was about 9 per 1,000 at critical-access hospitals in 2013, compared with around 5 in 1,000 at general hospitals," the newspaper reports.

"Many studies suggest that patients generally get better results when their procedures are done at hospitals that perform them frequently," the Journal reports. "The average critical-access hospital performing inpatient joint replacements in 2013 did about 26 that year, compared to about 132 at general hospitals. Hospitals doing more than 100 procedures a year have the lowest risks, said Nelson SooHoo, an orthopedic surgeon at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine who has studied the issue."

In general, critical-access hospitals must have no more than 25 beds and keep patients no more than 72 hours. In return, the federal government gives them a small bonus on their Medicare and Medicaid payments, part of a policy Congress enacted to maintain the viability of hospitals in rural areas.

"Financial incentives can make doing more surgeries appealing to critical-access hospitals, thanks to their special status with Medicare, especially as the rural hospitals merge with larger rivals," the newspaper notes. "The Journal’s analysis shows that the fastest-growing procedures at critical-access hospitals are often-elective orthopedic surgeries that could otherwise be scheduled at facilities with more experience. Experts say that as the hospitals’ experience grows, patients’ outcomes should improve. But so far, mortality rates have held fast, according to the analyses by the Journal and Harvard researchers."

Major banks become more skeptical of coal lending

First Energy's Mansfield plant in Shippingport, Pa.
(Photo by Andrew Rush, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

Demand for coal "has been dropping as competing fuels become less expensive. And in the past few weeks, coal companies have seen major banks turning their backs on the industry in public," Anya Litvak reports for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "News that Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and Bank of America had all released coal-lending policies that pledge to decrease credit availability to the sector met with much fanfare a few week ago around the time of the Paris Climate Conference, where world leaders met to hammer out an agreement on keeping global temperature at manageable levels."

The banks have not completely abandoned the industry. Wells Fargo "was a leading underwriter of $700 million in bonds for Consol Energy Inc. and Cloud Peak Energy this year," Litvak notes. "The unifying theme in all these coal policies is added scrutiny in risk assessment and senior level approval of loans to the industry, although some banks have made specific pledges. Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, for example, said they won’t fund mountaintop-removal mining and won’t give money to companies that do a lot of it. They also won’t finance new coal power plants in the U.S. and other developed nations, although those aren’t being built anyway because of tightening environmental regulations and competition from cheap natural gas."

Citigroup, "the leading bank providing financing for Alpha Natural Resources’ bankruptcy reorganization . . . said it would continue to decrease its coal financing activity, but didn’t rule anything out," Litvak reports. "Funding for projects would require senior approval, the bank said, and would be based on 'due diligence' and the coal company’s environmental, safety, and corporate governance performance, as well as human rights."

North Dakota wants to be Silicon Valley of drones

NYT photo by Michael Ciaglo

The drone boom could be a boon to North Dakota, "where there is plenty of open space and — unlike in other sparsely populated states — lots of expertise already in place" to improve the technology of unmanned aerial vehicles, Quentin Hardy reports for The New York Times.

"Private-sector drones are where personal computers were in the 1970s: a hobbyist technology waiting to become mainstream. The technology research firm Gartner says that, barring regulatory hurdles, the United States drone business could be worth $7 billion in a decade," Hardy writes. "North Dakota has spent about $34 million fostering the state’s unmanned aerial vehicle business, most notably with a civilian industrial park for drones near Grand Forks Air Force Base. The base, a former Cold War installation, now flies nothing but robot aircraft for the United States military and Customs and Border Protection . . .  to patrol from Seattle to the Great Lakes" and sometimes along the Rio Grande.

“The potential up here is tremendous,” Gov. Jack Dalrymple told Hardy. “It’s not about supporting a company or two; it’s creating the leading edge of an industry.”

Hardy reports, "Rural states with farming, oil and rail lines see many practical reasons to put robots in the sky. Infrared imaging can judge crop health. Cameras can spot leaks and cracks in pipelines. Smaller copters can inspect windmill blades. Livestock can be located easily. . . . If the occasional experimental craft crashes, it is unlikely to hit much beyond dirt. And with money, expertise and need here, people will keep trying."

For a "Field Guide to Civilian Drones," by Nick Wingfield of the Times, click here.

National Inventory of Dams is the place to go for journalists looking for data on local dams

The National Inventory of Dams (NID) is a great resource for journalists writing about any of the more than 85,000 dams in the U.S., Liz Lucas and Andrew Kreighbaum report for the Society of Environmental Journalists in the Winter 2015/16 edition of SEJournal. "With the 1972 National Dam Inspection Act, Congress required the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to inspect every dam in the U.S. But because of a lack of funding and other issues, the requirement was never fulfilled. Instead, the act led to creation of the NID, which is based on information from inspections completed by both federal and state regulatory agencies."

NID should contain information on: High hazard classification (loss of human life is likely if the dam fails); significant hazard classification (possible loss of human life and likely significant property or environmental destruction if the dam fails); equal or exceed 25 feet in height and exceed 15 acre-feet in storage; and equal or exceed 50 acre-feet storage and exceed six feet in height. The database has been a resource for many stories, including this report from KVUE-TV in Austin:

"There are about 70 fields in NID, including key pieces of information, such as owner name and owner type (private or state-owned), inspection date, height and storage levels, river or stream on which the dam is built, longitude and latitude and year of construction," Lucas and Kreighbaum write. "A list of detailed field definitions is included in the files provided in the NID database. Because the data includes many technical terms, reporters should probably consult and engineer at some point in their reporting to provide perspective."

Also included are the number of dams in each state and what percent of those dams are high hazard, Lucas and Kreighbaum write. "If you want to zero in on individual dams, the NID is a good starting place, but you'll have to seek additional documentation on individual dam hazards and the results of inspections. But the NID can help you figure out which dams to start investigating." The current issue of SEJ is by subscription only. Past issues can be read by clicking here. (Wikipedia map: U.S. dams)

County-level map shows decline of bees in major ag areas; 39% of croplands rely on pollinators

Researchers at the University of Vermont’s Gund Institute for Ecological Economics have created a county-level map showing that bees are "disappearing in many of the country’s most important farmlands—including California’s Central Valley, the Midwest’s Corn Belt and the Mississippi River Valley," Joshua Brown reports for the university.

The map is part of a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, which found that bee populations declined by 23 percent from 2008 to 2013, and 39 percent of U.S. croplands that depend on pollinators "face a threatening mismatch between rising demand for pollination and a falling supply of wild bees," Brown writes. The study "indicates that farmers will face increasing costs—and that the problem may even destabilize the nation’s crop production." (University of Vermont map)

While recent studies have indicated that pesticides, climate change, and diseases have been largely responsible for a decline in bee populations, the Vermont study "also shows that their decline may be caused by the conversion of bee habitat into cropland," Brown writes. "In 11 key states where the new study shows bees in decline, the amount of land tilled to grow corn spiked by 200 percent in five years—replacing grasslands and pastures that once supported bee populations." 

The study "identifies 139 counties in key agricultural regions of California, the Pacific Northwest, the upper Midwest and Great Plains, west Texas, and the southern Mississippi River valley that have the most worrisome mismatch between falling wild bee supply and rising crop pollination demand," Brown writes. "These counties tend to be places that grow specialty crops—like almonds, blueberries and apples—that are highly dependent on pollinators. Or they are counties that grow less dependent crops—like soybeans, canola and cotton—in very large quantities."

Kentucky, Montana, Wyoming petition EPA to reconsider Clean Power Plan rules

Officials from Kentucky, Montana and Wyoming this week filed separate petitions asking the Environmental Protection Agency to reconsider its Clean Power Plan rules. Under the rules Kentucky would need to reduce carbon emission rates by 18.3 percent by 2030, Montana by 21.1 percent and Wyoming by 19 percent, according to an interactive map by Environment & Energy News.

Montana Attorney General Tim Fox wrote in his petition that he took exception with EPA changing the proposed rules after the public comment period, Jay Kohn reports for Q2 News in Billings. Fox told Kohn, "It was disingenuous for the EPA to propose one rule then adopt something far different, especially since the final rule is much more burdensome to the people of Montana. The bottom line is that Montana did not have a fair opportunity to evaluate and comment on the provisions of the final rule. In light of our concerns, the EPA should reconsider its action and put the final rule on hold during the reconsideration process."

Wyoming and Kentucky, the No. 1 and No. 3 coal-producing states, have similar complaints. In Kentucky, Energy and Environment Cabinet Secretary Charles Snavely, a former Arch Coal executive who was just appointed by recently elected Republican Gov. Matt Bevin, said, "EPA changed so much of the Clean Power Plan between its initial proposal and final rules that Kentucky was unable to effectively participate in the federal agency's public comment period," James Bruggers reports for The Courier-Journal in Louisville.

"Specifically, the challenge states, the public was not able to object to provisions included in the final plan that were not part of the initial proposal," Bruggers writes. Snavely wrote: "The EPA should convene a proceeding for reconsideration of the rule ... so that the public has the opportunity to make meaningful comment on these issues."

At the direction of Republican Gov. Matt Mead, Wyoming Attorney General Peter Michael also filed a petition, Kohn reports. Mead told Kohn, "This rulemaking process has been flawed from the very beginning. The final rule is the result of an unfair process, it has both procedural and substantive deficiencies."

Millennials are under-represented in legislatures, reflecting their lack of interest in voting

Millennials—people born after 1980—account for 31 percent of the U.S. voting age population, but only hold 5 percent of state legislative seats, Rebecca Beitsch reports for Stateline. The average age of lawmakers is 56, but is higher in some states, such as New Hampshire (66), Idaho (63), New Mexico (62), Vermont (61), Utah and Indiana (60) and North Carolina, North Dakota and Wyoming (59). Michigan has the lowest average age, 50, which is still higher than the average age of the U.S. voting population, 47. Nebraska has the highest share of millennials in its legislature, 16 percent.

"The problem, some political scientists say, is that when younger legislators are left out, so are their viewpoints," Beitsch writes. "Older legislators—who also tend to be wealthier—may be less likely to focus on issues such as school spending and student loan debt. Too much gray hair in a legislative body also leaves some younger voters feeling disconnected from the political process."

The dearth of millennials in legislatures reflects their low voting rate. Census data show that only 23 percent of millennials went to the polls in 2014, while 59 percent of people 65 and older did, Beitsch writes. Michael McDonald, an associate professor of political science at the University of Florida, told Beitsch, "If state legislators don’t perceive young people to be engaged, they’re not going to be standard-bearers for the issues young people care about."

Millennials tend to be single and "have higher levels of student loan debt, poverty and unemployment, and lower levels of wealth and personal income than their predecessor generations had at the same age," Beitsch writes. "Politically, they expect to get less from government programs such as Social Security. Those with young children are more interested in funding public education than older people whose children are grown, and who may be reluctant to pay higher taxes to support schools. Millennials also are more racially diverse than older generations, and more socially liberal." (Stateline map: To see an interactive version click here)

Fairbanks Daily News-Miner is purchased by foundation created by paper's former owner

The nonprofit Helen E. Snedden Foundation has purchased the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Rod Boyce reports for the newspaper. The foundation was created by the late wife of the paper’s former publisher, Charles W. Snedden, whose family owned the paper from 1950 to 1992. Helen Snedden created and fully endowed the C. W. Snedden Chair in Journalism at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks in 2003. (Best places map)

While no major changes are planned, non-profit status means the "newspaper cannot endorse candidates for public office and that greater balance must be shown on the editorial pages," said Virginia Farmier, trustee of the foundation. Farmier told Boyce, “The Helen E. Snedden Foundation’s mission is to enhance the quality of life in Alaska. By owning the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and the Kodiak Daily Mirror, the foundation will further that mission, allowing the newspapers to continue to communicate, educate and inform the citizens of these communities with excellent local news coverage.” (Read more)

States boosting economies by teaching immigrants English; youngest immigrants in Great Plains, South

States are investing millions of dollars to help "new immigrants learn English and acclimate to American culture, hopeful that it will pay off with economic activity," Tim Henderson reports for Stateline. The youngest immigrants are in North and South Dakota, and those states have a median immigrant age of 34. Kentucky is next, at 36, followed by Nebraska, Oklahoma and Iowa (37) and Wyoming, Kansas, Minnesota, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee and Indiana (38). The average oldest immigrants are in Hawaii (48) and Florida (47).

"Immigrants fill many of the country’s labor gaps: from low-skilled work in agriculture to high-skilled work in science and technology," Henderson writes. "Having an immigrant population that is younger often means the newcomers are contributing to a state’s workforce, which can increase the tax base. But it also can mean young families that have children. And that can burden public schools, which are obligated to teach students who don’t speak English."

"Having an immigrant population that skews older can mean a state has a greater percentage of immigrants who have aged out of the workforce and may need help with health care, housing and retirement—though not always," Henderson. But the states with the oldest immigrants, Hawaii and Florida, "have settled in enclaves where many speak the same language or share the same culture," while immigrants in Hawaii—mostly from Asia—tend to be more affluent. (Stateline map: For an interactive version, click here)

Be safe: Rural roads get more dangerous on Christmas and during winter months

Christmas is one of the most dangerous times of year to drive, especially as ice and snow accumulate on rural roads. The National Center for Rural Road Safety offers tips for winter driving. To view the tips, click here. (Hudson Star-Observer photo by Mike Longaecke: Winter weather caused a multi-vehicle crash in St. Croix County, Wisconsin.)

In Wisconsin in 2013—the most recent year records were available—the state had 18,000 crashes related to snow and slush, leading to 42 deaths and 3.329 injuries, Ricky Campbell reports for the River Falls Journal. "Icy roads were blamed for 6,072 crashes, killing 13 and injuring an estimated 1,282." St. Croix County, with a population of 85,000, has had 66 vehicular deaths in the past five years, with 11 of those fatalities occurring between November to February.

Based on news media reports, there were at least 477 deaths due to icy roads in the U.S. during the 2008-2009 winter season and at least 458 during the 2009-2010 winter season, states Ice Road Safety. Pennsylvania had the most reported fatalities in 2009-10 with 26. That was followed by Nebraska and Missouri (23), Iowa (20), Texas (19), Michigan (18) and Minnesota, Ohio and Oregon (17). The deadliest period in 2009-10 was from Dec. 22-27, when 35 fatalities were reported in 10 states.

The Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over campaign is encouraging towns and cities to have local campaigns from Dec. 18-31. In December 2014 more than 700 drivers were involved in drunk driving crashes, states the campaign. Of all the fatal drunk driving crashes, 30 percent were ages 21 to 24, and 75 percent occurred between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. Eight of 10 drunk drivers were male. (Ice Road Safety map)

Scripps Howard Awards entry deadline is Feb. 10, 2016; includes a Community Journalism category

For the last several years, the annual Scripps Howard Awards have included a category called Community Journalism, partly to recognize strong journalistic efforts by smaller media outlets that deserve recognition but might not be competitive with larger ones in national competitions.

The deadline to submit entries to the contest is Feb. 10, 2016. The awards are open to journalists and news organizations whose work was distributed by U.S.-based media outlets. There is a $50 entry fee (with the exception of First Amendment and Administrator/Teacher of the Year). Winners will be announced in March 2016, share $180,000 in cash prizes and be recognized at an April 28 dinner in Phoenix.

Besides Community Journalism, categories include: Top Story of the Year; Opinion; Breaking News; Business/Economics Reporting; Digital Innovation; Environmental Reporting; First Amendment; Human Interest Storytelling; Investigative Reporting; Photojournalism; Public Service Reporting; Radio/Audio In-Depth Reporting; TV/Cable Local Coverage; TV/Cable National/International Coverage; Journalism School Administrator of the Year; and Journalism Teacher of the Year. (Read more)

The first winner of the Community Journalism prize was Daniel Gilbert, then of the Bristol Herald Courier and now of The Seattle Times, whose same work went on to win the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. He donated his $10,000 cash prize from the Scripps contest to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues (publisher of the Rural Blog) to create a fellowship program for rural journalists to gain the same sort of computer-assisted reporting skills that enabled him to expose mismanagement of coalfield energy royalties in southwest Virginia. The fellowships send rural journalists to the computer-assisted reporting boot camp of Investigative Reporters and Editors.

Rural health clinic in impoverished Tennessee that served all, even if they couldn't pay, to close

A health clinic that serves 1,000 patients in impoverished rural Tennessee will close its doors on Jan. 1, 2016, Ken Steadman reports for the Crossville Chronicle. The clinic's only doctor is retiring because of poor health, and no other doctor has stepped forward to take over the practice. Dr. Harold Lowe, medical director, and his wife Diana, executive director, started the Rural Health Clinic in August 2006 with 43 patients, most of them uninsured or underinsured adults. The clinic provides low-cost office visits, patient education, labs, X-rays, prescription assistance and more, with no one turned away, even if they are unable to pay. Most of the residents are from Crossville, (Best Places map) where 24.6 percent of residents had income below the 2013 poverty level, compared to 13.5 percent statewide, according to City-Data.

Many of the patients suffer from chronic conditions "such as diabetes, high blood pressure and respiratory conditions requiring long-term medications and other medical supplies," Steadman writes. The clinic has been able to stay in business because of state grants and donations from local businesses, community organizations, churches, state grants, corporations and individuals, as well as a finance program from the United Fund of Cumberland County. Also, "the clinic's healthcare providers and patient advocates were able to obtain medications directly from pharmaceutical companies at no cost to the patient." (Read more)

Oregonian reporter details for SEJ how he wrote award-winning expose on oil train safety

Rob Davis

Rob Davis of The Oregonian won first place this year in the small market division of the Society of Environmental Journalists' 14th Annual Awards for Outstanding In-depth Reporting for his series, "Oil Trains in Oregon," which detailed safety flaws of trains carrying crude oil through the Pacific Northwest. Davis was interviewed about the series by SEJ for its Winter 2015/16 issue that came out this week. He explains how he got the idea for the story and the process it took to get the idea on the page.

"When a train hauling crude oil through Quebec exploded and killed 47 people in July 2013, backers of a proposed oil train terminal near Portland characterized it as isolated incident," Davis told SEJ. "Couldn't happen here, they said. Then another train exploded, then a third. That got my attention. Initial reader response was overwhelming—thousands live along rail lines here. I used their curiosity to help my guide my run-and-gun investigation."

When asked what was the hardest part of the story, Davis said: "It was challenging just to find out where oil was moving by rail and in what volume. Railroads and state safety regulators knew but refused to say. I successfully petitioned Oregon's attorney general to force the reports' disclosure. Regulators said they would stop collecting data because I made it public. They reversed themselves as soon as we printed that news."

Davis said one of the keys to successful investigative reporting is reliable sources, states SEJ. Davis said, "I connected with a former state rail safety inspector who was exceedingly generous with his time and counsel. He helped me figure out what to ask for—and let me know I was being lied to when bureaucrats told me it didn't exist."

Davis offers advice to other investigative journalists, saying "One, get beyond 'he said, she said.' If an environmental advocate claims something bad is happening, do the research and get the documents to authoritatively prove it yourself. Two, dive deeper on stories where you're going to be able to prove harm is occurring and there's someone who can be held accountable. Three, when you find harm, humanize it." The current issue of SEJ is by subscription only. The past issue can be read by clicking here.

Links to the train series:
Volatile issue, volatile cargo
ODOT to keep public in dark
ODOT will get oil train info
Oregon has no plans for river spills by oil trains
Railroads skirt the truth

WTO deal to scrap agricultural export subsidies; critics say it benefits India, China

On Saturday in Nairobi the World Trade Organization agreed "to eliminate some $15 billion of subsidies on exported produce from milk to sugar and rice," a decision that "could level the playing field for farmers who don’t currently benefit from much government help, while raising the stakes for producers elsewhere who do," Lucy Craymer reports for The Wall Street Journal. "The agreement requires developed countries to eliminate subsidies starting Jan. 1, with the exception of some dairy, pork and processed products. Developing countries have until the end of 2018." (WSJ graphic)

"Export subsidies include any form of financial aid or support given by a government to a firm involved in exporting agricultural products," Craymer writes. "Opponents of subsidies say farmers in countries without them trade at a disadvantage in the global marketplace. The issue had been on the WTO’s list of unfinished business: An agreement in 2005 to end all agricultural export subsidies by 2013 never came to fruition."

Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas), the House Agriculture Committee Chairman, expressed concern Monday over the decision, "saying it provides a big exception for developing countries like China and India," Jenny Hopkinson reports for Politico. Conaway "said he was worried 'that the agreement allows developing countries to continue to use export subsidies for transportation and marketing for another 8 years even though the U.S. has held the position that the authority of countries to offer these sorts of subsidies expired back in 2004.'"

American Farm Bureau Federation President Bob Stallman said that the WTO deal "will 'strengthen U.S. agriculture’s ability to pursue market opportunities in international trade.'" He said,  “The measures adopted on food aid also will support U.S. programs that continue to provide food assistance around the world."

The old job of plowing snow and treating roads has gone high-tech in some states

Many states are turning to technology this winter to battle blizzards and ice storms, "using tools such as road sensors, tracking gear on snowplows and onboard cameras that upload photos of current conditions," Jenni Bergal reports for Stateline. Rich Roman, maintenance and operations director for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, told Bergal, "Technology has changed winter services across the board. Look inside a plow truck—it almost looks like the cockpit of an airplane, with knobs and controls and radio communication.” (Associated Press photo)

Transportation officials say that in states susceptible to cold weather, "clearing snow and removing ice quickly and efficiently is one of their biggest challenges," Bergal writes. An American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials survey of 23 states "found they spent about $1.13 billion between October 2014 and April 2015 treating and plowing roads." New Hampshire spent 55 percent of its road budget treating and plowing roads, Maryland 33 percent and Massachusetts, which was hit hard by storms last year, spent more than $153 million to treat and plow roads.

About half of the Iowa Department of Transportation’s 900 snowplows "are equipped with forward-facing iPhones, which are mounted inside the trucks and take photos of the road every five to 10 minutes," Bergal writes. "The photos are posted on an in-house website so supervisors can see the actual conditions, along with the truck’s GPS coordinates." Residents can also look at Track-A-Plow to view statewide photos taken from the snowplows, "along with icons showing where the plows are located, which direction they’re traveling, and whether they’re applying salt or chemicals."

"In Minnesota, about two-thirds of the state’s 850 plow trucks are equipped to compile data on atmospheric conditions, up-to-the-minute weather information, and air and road surface temperatures," Bergal writes. "The technology takes the data and uses algorithms to come up with recommendations on which chemicals to spread, how much to apply, and how frequently to plow. The driver has that information at his fingertips—on a computer screen, in the cab."

Pilot programs in  Pennsylvania and Michigan are using tracking gear to better access how much salt is being used on roads, Bergal writes. The Pennsylvania program is expected to save $700,000 this year, while the Michigan one will cut 5 to 10 percent per year off salt costs. In an attempt to be more environmentally friendly, in Nevada "remote weather stations give officials a better understanding of actual road temperatures. If it’s warm on the pavement, even if it’s snowing, plow operators don’t put salt down." (Read more)