Watchdog with ties to natural gas industry says EPA is monitoring methane with faulty equipment

A North Carolina watchdog group whose reports are mostly funded by the natural-gas industry says "the Environmental Protection Agency is letting untold levels of methane to waft into the air by allowing oil and gas companies to monitor emissions with a pricey device that’s faulty," Darryl Fears reports for The Washington Post. The group, NC Warn, "says in the complaint filed with the EPA Office of the Inspector General that the agency knows the $20,000, backpack-sized Bacharach Hi-Flow Sampler doesn’t work well because the man who invented the technology that inspired it told them that several times."

"The inventor, Touché Howard, also took his concerns to David Allen, the University of Texas researcher who used the device for a study of methane emissions for the Environmental Defense Fund," Fears writes. "In spite of Howard’s objections, the study found that methane emissions were lower than EPA estimated at completed wells and higher around valves and equipment used to control routine operations at sites. For that, NC Warn accused Allen of fraud."

Allen told Fears, "The instrument was used for only a subset of the measurements that were made.” He said "there are other ways to measure methane, and that the readings of the Bacharach device were double-checked," telling Fears, “All of these systems would have had to fail, simultaneously, and only at certain types of sites with the conditions that are claimed to produce the equipment failure, for our measurements to have been impacted.”

The watchdog group, which casually mentioned in its complaint that 90 percent of the $18 million that was paid for several EDF reports came from the gas industry, said the large majority of the reports had nothing to do with methane, Fears writes. "Howard’s views have weight because he designed the technology used in the monitoring device in the early 1990s. He sold it when he retired in 2003 and eventually Bacharach Inc. bought and modified it. During a test of methane emissions in 2013, Howard noticed that a sensor in the device failed to properly detect methane when other hydrocarbons were present. A cross check confirmed the failure, he said."

What are the rural policies of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton?

Now that Hillary Clinton has become the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, and remains the favorite to beat Republican Donald Trump, the question looms how her policies might affect rural America, where she did not run as well as in urban areas. Clinton, who states on her website that she has a "Plan for a Vibrant Rural America," said that "if elected president her administration would work to increase productivity and profitability on family farms," Chris Clayton reports for DTN The Progressive Farmer. "Demonstrating the contrast between the respective presumptive nominees, Clinton's website lists 31 different topics with policy proposals while Donald Trump's website lists seven topics with policy proposals or plans."

"Clinton's environmental proposals likely would not bring any regulatory relief to the next administration that many farmers have clamored for under the Obama administration," Clayton writes. "Instead, her policy positions on the environment could continue to lead to greater regulatory battles when it comes to issues such as pesticides and water quality. High in Clinton's policy position to 'Fight for Environmental and Climate Justice' on her website is mention of concerns over exposure to pesticides and other chemicals affecting minority communities, which her campaign states, 'Simply put, this is environmental racism.'"

"Clinton's campaign calls for tougher Clean Water Act standards and a push to hold companies accountable," Clayton writes. "Her environmental plan doesn’t touch on topics related to the Waters of the U.S. rule. In a list of programs and promises on her website, Clinton's campaign states it would continue to provide commodity payments, crop insurance and disaster programs for 'family farm operations that truly need them in challenging times, like when weather-related disasters devastate whole areas of the country.'"

Clinton has said she supports strengthening the Renewable Fuels Standard "so it focuses on advanced cellulosic fuels and higher ethanol blends," Clayton writes. She also says she supports the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program, "which is set at about $20 million annually," and she supports "doubling funds for the Farmers Market Promotion Program and the Local Food Promotion Program, both of which are funded at about $13 million currently."

She favors greater access to fresh fruits and vegetables for SNAP recipients, fully funding the Environmental Quality Incentives Program and more funding for the Regional Conservation Partnership Program, Clayton writes. "Clinton also adds she would support agriculture by continuing to push for comprehensive immigration reform. In infrastructure, Clinton states she would create a national infrastructure bank to improve rural transportation, water and broadband access. In a similar vein, Clinton's policy states her administration would streamline and expand USDA grant programs well. Clinton also states she would simplify regulations for community banks by reducing red tape for banks under $1 billion in assets."

Corps and Washington state deny permits for what would have been nation's largest coal port

The largest proposed coal export terminal in North America hit another snag on Monday, when an application for an aquatic land lease at the Cherry Point site north of Bellingham, Wash., was denied, Joel Connelly reports for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Last month the Army Corps of Engineers agreed with the Lummi Nation of Narive Americans that it could not grant a permit for a project that would infringe on the tribe’s treaty-protected fishing rights. The $700 million coal terminal was designed to export as much as 48 million tons of coal a year. There is still a battle brewing over one remaining coal export project, the Millennium Bulk Terminals in Longview, Wash.

"Because the Corps denied a permit, and the project must have 'all necessary federal permits,' the state Department of Natural Resources 'cannot approve the lease application,' State Land Commissioner Peter Goldmark wrote to project developers," Connelly writes. "The hard-pressed coal industry was anxious to export coal mined in Montana and Wyoming. The promise of jobs secured labor and business support. " But public opposition grew about over concern about mile-long coal trains. "Environmental activists grow concerned over climate impacts, that U.S. coal would keep polluting Chinese power plants in operation. China is the world's largest source of greenhouse-gas emissions." (Read more)

CDC study: Youth obesity rates up overall, but have declined among younger children in recent years

Obesity rates among children—a major concern in rural areas—continue to rise, although rates among younger children have declined in recent years, says a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The study, which used data of 40,780 children from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, found that among those ages 2 to 5, obese children increased from 7.2 percent from 1988-1994 to 9.4 percent in 2013-14. But that came after rates hit 13.9 percent in 2003-04. (CDC graphic)

Results for older youth were not as positive. Among those 6-11, obesity increased from 11.3 percent in 1988-94 to 17.4 percent in 2013-14. Among those 12-19, rates increased from 10.5 percent to 20.6 percent. Overall, researchers found that the prevalence of obesity in 2011-2014 was 17 percent and extreme obesity was 5.8 percent.

Researchers found that "compared to white children, the odds of obesity were 34 percent higher for black children and 48 percent higher for Latino children," Karen Kaplan reports for the Los Angeles Times. "Asian American children were 43 percent less likely than whites to be obese. Parents’ education also seems to play a role. Compared to kids living in homes headed by someone who attended or graduated from college, those whose parent or guardian had dropped out of high school were 41 percent more likely to be obese, and those whose parent or guardian had only a high school degree were 61 percent more likely to be obese."

Iowa State University students learning about sustainability by running an organic farm

Iowa State University students—many of whom are studying food or plant-related subjects—are getting a feel for how agriculture works through a student-run organic farm, Amy Mayer reports for NPR. Mary Wiedenhoeft, who serves as an academic adviser on the farm, told Mayer, "It's hands-on learning. And so that's why the student organic farm is really unique." (Mayer photo)

The farm was started in the late 1990s in response to a class about sustainable agriculture, Mayer writes. "As the farm grew, so did academic interest in sustainability. Now the university offers a graduate degree in sustainable agriculture. At a university where large-scale production of corn and soybeans are the primary interests for many students on campus, it's especially remarkable that the organic farm is wholly embraced, Wiedenhoeft says. For some agronomy students who plan to return to a family farm, a vegetable operation could be a new enterprise they bring back, she says."

This season "students will grow about 40 different fruits, vegetables and herbs," Mayer writes. "And they'll help cultivate interest in organic farming among the fresh batch of Iowa State students who sprout up in this fall." Students, who send out boxes of produce to the local community throughout the growing season, are learning how to grow food, manage a business and recruit others to get involved. They also get a discount on food for working three hours a week in the field.

The farm has been eye-opening for students like Heidi Engelhardt, a culinary science major who serves as the farm's outreach coordinator. Engelhardt, who said she has learned how to incorporate fresh herbs into her cooking. told Mayer, "People want to work in kitchens and they want to work in big cities. And that is important, but it's also important to have that farming aspect. And I think I'm very lucky to have discovered that." (Read more)

Proposed changes to dual-credit regulations would hurt rural Minnesota students, officials say

Proposed changes to dual-credit guidelines in Minnesota could negatively impact the number of rural high school students who can take college credits, Christopher Magan reports for the Duluth News Tribune. The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System "wants to raise the fees schools pay to offer dual-credit courses and update how educators prove they have the skills needed to teach at the college level." Fred Nolan, executive director of the Minnesota Rural Education Association, said "the credentialing update could drastically limit the number of outstate educators who can teach dual-credit classes."

State leaders say dual-credit classes are "one way to expand college access to more students and reduce student loan debt," Magan writes. "In 2014, the majority of Minnesota college graduates had loans to repay with an average debt of $31,579. Lawmakers included funding increases for dual-credit courses in the current two-year state budget, including money to help instructors meet updated requirements."

Dual credit courses "allow students to earn high school and college credits at the same time and are increasingly popular, with nearly 25,000 high school students taking them in 2014—a 23 percent increase over five years," Magan writes. "Dual-credit classes also are seen as an important tool to increase the number of Minnesotans who have the postsecondary credentials to meet the workforce needs of the future." Malik Bush, co-director of the education advocate the Center for School Change, "said the proposed changes would disproportionately hurt first-time college students and students of color who already struggle to earn degrees." (Read more)

Few smokers on Medicaid take advantage of smoking-cessation benefits, especially in South

Only 10 percent of adult smokers on Medicaid received tobacco cessation medications in 2013, and fewer than 5 percent did in Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Kansas, Mississippi, Rhode Island, Tennessee and Texas, says a study by George Washington University. The numbers were especially low in impoverished areas, especially the South, Denise-Marie Ordway reports for Journalist's Resource.

At least 40 percent of adult Medicaid patients in Alaska, Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee and West Virginia were smokers in 2013, compared to 30 percent nationally. Medicaid spent $103 million nationwide on medication to help smokers quit in 2013. About 26 percent of adults living below the federal poverty line smoke, compared to 17 percent of overall adults, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The researchers found that "the number of prescriptions for smoking cessation medications rose from almost 1.5 million in 2010 to almost 1.8 million in 2011 and then declined to less than 1.7 million in 2013," Ordway writes. "The authors note that promoting tobacco cessation should be an important policy objective for Medicaid, but medications prescribed to help people quit smoking are 'seriously underused' among Medicaid enrollees in most states." The authors wrote: "Most smokers want to quit but need help both to try and to succeed. The gains from even modest reductions in smoking or from moderate periods of abstinence can be substantial.” (GWU map: Medicaid tobacco cessation levels) 

VA program to speed up wait times for rural patients slows down process; docs not getting paid

The Veterans Choice program, which was created to speed up the process for patients seeking care, is having the opposite effect, forcing veterans—mainly from rural areas—to have even longer waits, Quil Lawrence reports for NPR. The program was intended to help veterans living 40 miles from a Department of Veterans Affairs clinic, or those waiting more than 30 days for an appointment, to receive private clinic outside the VA system. "Nearly two years in, there are more vets waiting than before," Lawrence reports. "Health-care providers are frustrated with the program, which makes it hard to keep them in the network. Without enough providers to see them, vets end up waiting anyway."

In some cases "vets get the care and the doctors don't get paid in a timely fashion, if at all," Lawrence says. North Carolina clinical psychiatrist Cher Morrow-Bradley, "has submitted her bills to a company called Health Net, which administers Veterans Choice across most of the eastern United States." She told Lawrence, "I just assumed I was being paid. I found out six months later I had five, six (thousand dollars) outstanding to Veterans Choice." Morrow-Bradley said it took her almost a year to get paid.

Dr. David Shulkin, head of the Veterans Health Administration, "acknowledges this problem has hindered the Choice program in getting providers big and small," Lawrence writes. Shulkin told Lawrence, "One thing I know is that when you perform a service, when you see a patient, you want to be paid. And these hospital systems don't have the cash flow to be waiting around for months and months to get paid."

Doctors have also had a hard time enrolling in the program, Lawrence writes. Renton, Wash., psychologist Diane Adams was asked to join the program in July 2015. She immediately starting the process of getting her credentials. By March she still hadn't heard anything back. She finally found out she'd be credentialed since January, but hadn't been notified. Now she faces a new hurdle, with some of her regular patients unable to get Veterans Choice to approve visits to see her, mostly because they have to go through hoops of phone calls, faxes and filling out forms. Adams told Lawrence, "I guess what I'm worried about is what happens to the veterans who can't handle it and they just don't have the internal resources to put up with it and so they throw up their hands and they give up." (Read more)

Trump's pledge to save coal and boost natural gas are contradictory statements, experts say

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's promise to bring back lost coal jobs and reduce regulations on hydraulic fracturing are contradictory statements, economists and industry experts told Elizabeth Shogren of High Country News. Trump "pledges to revive the coal industry, and at the same time boost the main culprit that has eviscerated coal, natural gas." While those in coal have blamed President Obama's environmental regulations for coal's downfall, experts say cheaper natural gas from horizontal hydraulic fracturing is actually the main factor.

When a reporter last week in North Dakota pressed Trump "about how he planned to bring back coal jobs, he stressed that he would do so by getting rid of regulations," Shogren writes. Trump said, “You know, all I can do is free up the coal, which I'm going to totally do. Get the companies back to work, market forces, that's something I don't want to get involved in. … To me, a market force is a beautiful force."

Economists and energy experts say "easing regulations would not be enough to reinvigorate coal, especially not if Trump removes regulatory impediments to natural gas at the same time," Shogren writes. "That’s because, so far, Obama-era regulations, such as the Mercury Air Toxics rule, have played a secondary role in coal’s precipitous downward trajectory." (High Country News graphic)

Even coal industry CEO Robert Murray—whose company Murray Energy Corp. owns mines in Utah, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky and West Virginia—says he explained this to Trump in a recent meeting with the candidate," Shogren writes. Murray told Shogren, "He wants to bring the mines back and I told him that was not possible. I don't think it will be a thriving industry ever again. … The coal mines cannot come back to where they were or anywhere near it."

Luke Popovich, a spokesman for the National Mining Association, told Shogren, “I certainly would like to hear some details on what exactly a new president might do to undo regulations that are impacting coal, let alone what he might do in the marketplace to restore employment. I don’t think anyone is satisfied that he has a plan to achieve what he promises.” (Read more)

Appalachian taxpayers could get stuck with $1B cleanup costs for bankrupt coal companies

Partially reclaimed West Virginia mine (Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition photo)

Taxpayers in Appalachia could end up footing a $1 billion bill to clean up mountains and rivers polluted by bankrupt coal companies, Michael Corkery reports for The New York Times, in the latest story on the topic.

"Regulators worry that coal companies will use the bankruptcy courts to pay off their debts to banks and hedge funds, while leaving behind some of their environmental cleanup obligations. The industry asserts that its cleanup plans—which include turning defunct mines back into countryside—are comprehensive and well funded. But some officials say those plans could prove unrealistic and falter as demand for coal remains weak."

"West Virginia faces perhaps the greatest fallout from the flood of coal bankruptcies that have hit the courts in the last year because many of its mines are scheduled to close and will require extensive cleanup," Corkery writes. The state hired a New York bankruptcy lawyer to represent its Department of Environmental Protection in a case with Alpha Natural Resources. Kevin W. Barrett, who was named a special assistant attorney general for West Virginia and is taking the lead on the Alpha case, told Corkery, “The goal is to make sure the coal companies clean up the mess when they leave."

Alpha, which insists it will make good on all its environmental obligations, has a plan on the table that "would commit at least $209 million for reclamations and water treatment in five states: Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia," Corkery writes. Barrett said he "worries that the cash is insufficient and that any additional contributions depend on future coal sales, which show little sign of recovery." Barrett told Corkery, “There are a lot of questions whether that will even cover the costs."

Several coal companies have emerged from bankruptcy in recent months and continued to operate, but "state officials have expressed concerns that those companies could soon end up back in bankruptcy if the coal market does not improve," Corkery writes. "If that happens, they say, the companies will probably have to liquidate, leaving little money to fund reclamations and clean up polluted water. That concern is behind the urgent pleadings of environmentalists and even insurers that the coal companies be required to set aside more cash for environmental issues before they are allowed to emerge from bankruptcy." (Read more)

Drone sightings down, proving that operators being more responsible, says aviation group

One of the biggest concerns facing the Federal Aviation Administration in creating drone regulations has been a fear of the skies turning into a new Wild West, with out-of-control drone operators ignoring laws. That might not be as big a concern as previously thought. According to a report by the Academy of Model Aeronautics, drone operators have been acting more responsibly in recent months, Matt McFarland reports for The Washington Post.

While drone sales have surged—450,000 units were sold in 2014, 1.14 million in 2015 and 2.8 million sales are projected in 2016—drone sightings by airplane pilots have declined, McFarland writes. After peaking in August 2015, with about 180 sightings, numbers have been steadily dropping, down to about 90 in January of this year. Rich Hanson, AMA’s government and regulatory affairs representative, told McFarland, “It looks like we’re getting the message out there. We’re pretty confident that education is one of primary factors if not the primary factor. We don’t want to minimize the risk by saying it doesn’t exist. The risk does exist. In our experience we don’t believe the risk is truly as significant as it’s been made to be.” (AMA graphic)

European Union threatens to stop selling U.S. weed killers; fear safety of Roundup, other products

European Union nations on Monday refused to back a limited extension of the herbicide glyphosate, "threatening withdrawal of Monsanto's Roundup and other weed-killers from shelves if no decision is reached by the end of the month," Alissa de Carbonnel reports for Reuters. "Contradictory findings on carcinogenic risks have thrust the chemical into the center of a dispute among EU and U.S. politicians, regulators and researchers. Citizen and environmental groups have urged governments to exercise caution."

"EU executive had offered a 12- to 18-month extension to allow time for further scientific study by the European Chemicals Agency in hopes of allaying health concerns," de Carbonnel writes. "Its earlier proposal to renew the glyphosate license for up to 15 years had failed to win support in two meetings this year."

On Monday Monsanto "defended the safety of its widely used herbicide, and said glyphosate's license should be renewed for the full 15 years" de Carbonnel writes. "Monsanto has not ruled out a legal appeal if approval lapses after June 30, requiring a six-month phase-out of glyphosate-containing products. The industry lobby has criticized the regulatory uncertainty. The controversy hangs over German chemicals group Bayer's $62 billion offer in May to buy" Monsanto. (Read more)

EPA report says widely used herbicide atrazine is dangerous to animals; ag groups call report flawed

The widely used herbicide atrazine is dangerous to animals and fish, the Environmental Protection Agency said in a draft report released Thursday. Atrazine is primarily used on corn, sorghum and sugarcane to fight weeds and increase yields in the Midwest. "The agency's assessment of atrazine could lead to tighter regulatory limits on the product, manufactured by Swiss-based Syngenta AG. That could ultimately prevent farmers from being able to use it to control weeds, according to agricultural groups that blasted the report as flawed," Tom Polansek reports for Reuters.

EPA "said atrazine's effects exceeded its 'levels of concern' for chronic risk by 198 times for mammals and 62 times for fish," Polansek writes. "The agency will accept comments on the preliminary findings and consider whether to require label changes after it publishes a final risk assessment. EPA republished the findings after it said it inadvertently posted the same report, along with other related documents, online this spring in an error that has sparked criticism from U.S. lawmakers."

"Syngenta, which is set to be acquired by Chinese state-owned ChemChina, said atrazine is safe and that the EPA report 'contains numerous data and methodological errors and needs to be corrected,'" Polansek writes. The Iowa Corn Growers Association said if the report is finalized "it could cause label restrictions so severe that they would 'effectively ban the product from most uses.'" Gary Marshall, executive director of the Missouri Corn Growers Association, told reporters, "EPA's flawed atrazine report is stomping science into the dirt and setting farmers up for significant economic hardship."

Mississippi State University starts center to help rural communities bridge digital divide

The Mississippi State University Extension Service has created a program to help nine rural communities "transition to, plan for, and prosper in the digital age through research and outreach," Robert Nathan Gregory reports for MSU. (MSU Service photo by Kevin Hudson: Christy King, Clarke County Extension agent, and Roberto Gallardo display items made with a 3-D printer at the Quitman Public Library)

“There is not a lot of research on the impact of broadband in rural areas,” Roberto Gallardo, associate extension professor in the Center for Technology Outreach, told Gregory. “You see a lot of it on cities, but there is little attention to rural settings. We are trying to generate that research by working with communities that want to participate.” 

The MSU Extension Intelligent Community Institute "identifies the unique digital challenges each community faces and provides local extension agents and other local champions with the tools necessary to address those needs over an 18- to 24-month, four-step process," Gregory writes. "The steps are increasing awareness; identifying assets and needs; implementing a strategy to address those weaknesses and leverage existing assets; and nominating themselves for consideration from ICF as one of 21 Intelligent Community yearly designations in the world."

For example, in the town of Quitman, Miss., "Gallardo worked with the town’s public library to purchase a three-dimensional printer for the facility," Gregory reports. "He said the library’s new tool addresses two indicators of Intelligent Communities: knowledge workforce and digital equality. Broadband connectivity, innovation, marketing, and sustainability are the other four indicators." Gallardo told Gregory, “If the kids there are reading a book with an emphasis on the Empire State Building, they can print a 3-D model of the building and develop a better understanding of the book. More than likely, they would not have seen that elsewhere. Exposing kids to STEM-related concepts at an early age can have a significant impact on their lives later on as they choose career paths.” (Read more)

Study: Most food and beverage products endorsed by popular musicians lead to childhood obesity

Most food and beverages pitched by your children's favorite musicians are contributing to childhood obesity, says a study by NYU Langone Medical Center published today in the journal Pediatrics. "Soda and other sugary drinks, fast food, and sweets are among the most common food and beverage products endorsed by famous music personalities. Equally alarming, none of the music stars identified in the study endorsed fruits, vegetables, or whole grains. Only one endorsed a natural food deemed health—pistachios."

Researchers, who identified the 163 most popular musicians, based on Billboard magazine's top songs—based on sales and radio play—Teen Choice Award winners and YouTube video views, found that 65 of those musicians promoted 57 food and beverage products from 2000 to 2014. Advertisements were played on television, radio, magazines, and included tour sponsors and official commercials and endorsements on YouTube and media sources. (Click on image for larger version)

Researchers found that 18 percent of ads were for food and non-alcoholic beverages, second only to consumer goods, at 26 percent. Of the 26 endorsed food products, 21 were deemed "nutrient poor.” Of the 69 endorsed beverages, 49 were sugar-sweetened. "Investigators determined a beverage’s healthfulness by looking at calories from added sugar. Full-calorie soft drinks were the most commonly endorsed in the category. In contrast, water-related endorsements appeared only three times."

"Food and beverage companies spend $2 billion a year on youth-targeted ads, with American children seeing approximately 4,700 ads each year and teens viewing 5,900 ads per year, according to Institute of Medicine research," says the study. "There were about 313 million views of the YouTube video versions for food and beverage endorsements associated with celebrities in this study’s sample, although unique views could not be counted. Celebrity food endorsements promote higher product preference, and exposure to any kind of food advertising is linked to 'excessive consumption,' according to research." (Read more)

Va. county says neighbor ignored it in consideration of proposed wind farm near county line

Residents in a rural Virginia county are concerned about a proposed wind farm just over the county line that they say will be a noisy eyesore that will negatively affect their economy and environment, Laurence Hammack reports for The Roanoke Times. John Higgins, chairman of the Rockbridge County Board of Supervisors, said in a letter to state regulators that Botetourt County proposed the 550-foot tall turbines that “essentially sits on the county line" without providing Rockbridge citizens the benefit of public notices and meetings that were made available in Botetourt. (Wind Energy in Virginia map)

"The May 31 letter was submitted as part of a public comment session required by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, which is considering an application by Apex Clean Energy to build up to 25 giant turbines on top of North Mountain," Hammock writes. "After taking written comments through Monday, Apex will forward them to DEQ. The Charlottesville company has already submitted reports detailing the wind farm’s effect on natural resources to DEQ, which will have 90 days to decide whether to grant the state permit. Having won local approval from Botetourt, Apex still needs to satisfy the state’s concerns about environmental issues and the federal government’s oversight of aviation traffic before it can start construction on what could be the first commercial wind farm in Virginia."

Higgins, who said the wind farm would hurt Rockbridge County's tourism industry, said in the ltter that "constructing the turbines will entail blasting and logging that could clog surrounding streams with sediment, and their spinning blades could strike down golden eagles from the sky. Another fear is that noise from the wind farm will be not just annoying but potentially damaging to the health of nearby residents." Apex, which is expected to begin construction in 2017, "said that electricity generated by its wind farm could power up to 20,000 homes, a projection that opponents say overstates the project’s actual output." (Read more)

South's rising Latino population could steer election, though half of them are ineligible to vote

An increasing population of eligible Latino voters in Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina could swing the presidential election this November, says a study by the Center for Latin American, Caribbean and Latino Studies. The study found that the Latino population in those three states increased from 1.2 percent in 1990 to 8.8 percent in 2014, consisting of 2.2 million Latinos, up from 205,000 in 1990. Latinos only accounted for 3.7 percent of eligible voters in those three states in 2014, mainly because two-thirds were foreign born and half were not legal citizens. A large Latino population supported President Obama in 2008 and 2012, and Latinos are expected to favor Democrat Hillary Clinton this year, especially since Republican Donald Trump has been outspoken against immigration.

"The percentage of the Latino electorate that has voted in presidential elections nationally between 1992 and 2012 was the lowest among the major race/ethnic groups in the nation at approximately 48 percent, with no change whatsoever in each presidential race," says the report. "This compared with about two-thirds of all non-Hispanic whites and blacks who voted in the same election cycles. This low voter participation rate was linked to low voter registration rates which also remained stagnant between 1992 and 2012 at about 58 percent."

Latinos' biggest influence could be in North Carolina, says the study. In 2014 in North Carolina 68 percent of eligible Latinos were registered to vote, above the national average of 58 percent. Registration numbers are projected to be 76 percent for this year's election. Latinos are projected to make up about 2.9 percent of the state's voters this fall, up from 2.1 percent in 2012. That could be a significant number, considering Republican Mitt Romney won the state by 2 percentage points in 2012. (Read more)

UMWA endorses Ohio Republican running against Democrat with ties to Hillary Clinton

The United Mine Workers of America's endorsement of an Ohio Republican over a Democrat with ties to Hillary Clinton is another example of how far the presidential candidate has fallen in the coalfields, an area where her husband performed well during his presidential runs. The UMWA "has endorsed Republican U.S. Sen. Rob Portman for re-election over former Gov. Ted Strickland, making southeastern Ohio even more of a battleground in the upcoming U.S. Senate election," Tom Troy reports for The Blade in Toledo. "The dispute over the future of coal-mining jobs will be a major issue in southeastern Ohio and will potentially cut into support for Strickland, who is from the area and who represented the area in Congress."

The Portman campaign was quick to point out that Strickland "has refused to denounce Clinton’s comments that, if elected, 'We’re going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business'," Troy writes. "The Portman campaign also cited a statement by the coal industry association that Strickland has gotten behind 'radical anti-coal policies that could kill 53,000 Ohio jobs, lower access to affordable energy, and threaten grid reliability'." In March 2015, after Strickland resigned as president of the Center for American Progress, the organization "strongly endorsed the Obama administration’s plan to establish carbon-pollution standards for power plants that would likely further reduce demand for coal."

Strickland countered that as a senator Portman "cut funding for mine safety and repeal legislation expanding access to black-lung benefits for miners and their families," Troy writes. He also said Portman  "took a $1,000 donation from Don Blankenship, former chief executive officer of Massey Energy, who was convicted of conspiring to violate federal mine safety standards, and $2,400 from Richard Whiting, CEO Of Patriot Coal, 'who fought to protect millions in bonuses to mining executives while cutting pensions for mine workers.'”

Small, rural county works to improve its children's health and thus change local health culture

Public officials and local leaders in a small, rural county in Southern Kentucky that ranks near the bottom of the state's County Health Rankings have formed a coalition to improve the health of its community, with a focus on its children.

Clinton County (Wikipedia map) ranked 102nd out of 120 Kentucky counties in the 2016 County Health Rankings. “We recognize that, we saw that in our kids,” Lora Brewington, chief compliance officer of Cumberland Family Medical Center Inc., told Kentucky Educational Television in a special about the coalition.“And if we don’t change something now, we’re going to be going to the funeral home for kids a lot younger.”

So, with the help of the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky they formed the Clinton County Healthy Hometown Coalition to implement a multi-faceted public health program for the community's citizens, that focuses on its children. The coalition recognized that most of the county's health issues stemmed from obesity.

"So we feel like if we can start young and start with our children and teach them healthy habits and healthy lifestyles that when they grow up they won't be faced with obesity and all of those chronic diseases that go with it," Paula Little, assistant superintendent of the Clinton County School District said.

Many of the coalition’s activities are school-based. Teachers have incorporated physical activity into the school day as well as during their morning routines and after-school day care programs; schools have improved their menus to include fruits and vegetables with every meal; schools now offer supper to its students during the school year; and the community now offers breakfast and lunch to low-income children in the summer on a retrofitted school bus called the Bus Stop Café.

The Healthy Hometown Coalition also implemented school-based health clinics, which provides a full range of healthcare services for children while they are at school. The clinics also provide body mass index (BMI) assessments and provide nutrition and obesity counseling.

In addition, Clinton County schools implemented a comprehensive smoke-free policy that will go into effect July 2016.

A full-time coordinator, April Speck, manages the various coalition programs and writes a weekly health column in the local news paper. The coalition sponsors community events, and has built a new playground.

“What makes me feel good about it is that I know there’s a real need here,” Speck said.“There’s a lot of kids who have childhood obesity... And just seeing them start to make changes in what they are doing, how much they are eating, their water intake, I know that we’re making an improvement.”

Grants available for projects, studies to prevent child disease and injury in farming

The National Children’s Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety is seeking proposals for grants of up to $20,000 for "small-scale projects and pilot studies that address prevention of childhood agricultural disease and injury." The application deadline is Aug. 17.
The center plans to award three grants. Since 2002, 52 projects have been funded though the center. It says priority will be given this year to projects that:

• Identify and/or address emerging trends in agriculture that may pose risks to children, such as drones, robotics, community-based agriculture, urban agriculture and agri-tourism.
• Address issues pertaining to barriers, motivators and interventions for keeping young children out of farm worksites.
• Address vulnerable populations, such as immigrant workers’ children, Anabaptists, African Americans and Native Americans.

For information on eligibility, how to improve your chances of being funded, submitting a proposal and other frequently asked questions, go here, or call or email Marsha Salzwedel at 715-389-5226 or 1-800-662-6900, option 8.

Harlan County, U.S.A., looks toward life after coal

Harlan County, Kentucky, "where miners’ fierce battles against deadly working conditions remain a symbol of union grit and militance . . . has occupied an outsized place in the American consciousness," Jeff Kelly Lowenstein writes for In These Times, noting the 1976 documentary Harlan County, U.S.A. But now, "Harlan is also an emblem of the hard times that have fallen on coal country."

Chester Napier: "The

coal will never be back."

Eastern Kentucky has lost more than half its coal jobs in the last five years, and that "presents young people with a hard choice. Many end up leaving families behind to seek factory work in cities or mining jobs in southern Illinois or Alabama," Lowenstein writes.

Some laid-off miners "are placing their hopes in a Donald Trump presidency to revive the moribund coal industry," Lowenstein reports. "Others, like Bobby Simpson, draw on religious faith and a ceaseless work ethic to keep going." Simpson, who is blind, runs the Cranks Creek Survival Center, "a nonprofit that provided food, clothing and home repairs to area residents for decades" but now as no money. "All agree on the region’s bleak present and dim future."

“It’s not good,” Chester Napier, 75, a former mine truck driver. “Some of the politicians say they’ll bring the coal back, but the coal will never be back.” Lowenstein's story is illustrated with stark, black-and-white photographs by Jon Lowenstein.

Off-farm income grows more important to farmers, but small-town job creation may be at risk

The importance of farmers' off-farm income is illustrated by a forecast from the U.S. Department of Agriculture: Income from farming is expected to fall 3 percent this year, but farm household income is forecast to rise 5 percent.

Urban Lehner

"For some farmers, off-farm income is literally a life-support system," writes Urban Lehner, editor emeritus of DTN The Progressive Farmer. "Their revenue from farming may cover farm expenses, but it isn't enough to feed, clothe and educate their families. For that, they or their spouses or both work in town."

But what if work in town gets scarce, as may happen "because new business-formation in lightly populated areas is cratering." Lehner notes, citing a recent report in The Washington Post. "New businesses have traditionally been an outsized source of new jobs. It's not surprising, then, that with nearly two-thirds of the rural counties having fewer businesses in 2014 than in 2010, job-creation rates have fallen, as well. These counties accounted for less than a 10th of the nation's new jobs from 2010-2014. In the 1990s, they had accounted for as much as a quarter of the new jobs."

Lehner writes, "What I wondered reading this story was how off-farm income has managed to continue rising in the face of these depressing trends. Not just rising: rising faster than household income nationally. The best theory I could come up with is that farmers these days tend to be well-educated people with strong work ethics, the kind employers like. What jobs there are, farmers have been more likely to get. But even if my theory explains the past, what about the future? Will off-farm income continue strong if rural new-business formation continues to plummet?"

What are critical access hospitals? Where are they? Where are those that have closed? Maps show

Critical access hospitals are critical to rural health care, but some of them are in critical condition. As many as one-third are in danger of closing. Twelve have closed this year, bringing the total to 74 since 2010, They are by definition small, with limited services, but we reported May 18 that a study had shown four common surgeries are cheaper and safer at such hospitals. North Carolina Health News reported on the study May 27 and linked to a map showing the 1,284 CAHs:

The Daily Yonder picked up the story this week and added another useful map, an interactive one from the Sheps Center for Health Services Research at the University of North Carolina, showing the CAHs that have closed since 2010:

Congress developed the CAH designation to help sustain rural hospitals, with additional Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements. In return, the hospitals can have no more than 25 acute-care inpatient beds, must have a full-time emergency room, must be more than 35 miles from another hospital (or 15 miles from another hospital in mountainous terrain or areas with only secondary roads), and have an annual average length of stay of no more than 96 hours for acute-care patients. For more on CAHs, from the Rural Health Information Hub, click here.

21 of the 25 U.S. counties with oldest populations are rural; so are one-fourth of senior Americans

Mitchell, in Wheeler County (Atlantic photo by Alana Semuels)

"As young people increasingly move to cities, what happens to the people and places they leave behind?" The Atlantic magazine asks, in a story titled "The Graying of Rural America" and reported by Alana Semuels in a long story from Fossil, Oregon.

"Fossil is the seat of Wheeler County, where the median age is 56, which is the highest of any county in Oregon," Semuels notes. "By contrast, the median age of Multnomah County, where Portland is located, is 36.1. From 2000 to 2013, the median age in Wheeler County rose from 48 to 56." The county is Oregon's smallest in population (1,300). The town once had "four gas stations, three grocery stores, three car dealers, and a lumber mill. Now, there’s just one restaurant in town open at night. The nearest hospital is more than an hour away, the nearest city, Bend, is two and a half."

"Over the past two decades, as cities have become job centers that attract diverse young people, rural America has become older, whiter, and less populated," semuels writes. "Between 2010 and 2014, rural areas lost an average of 33,000 people a year. . . . Roughly one-quarter of seniors live in rural communities, and 21 of the 25 oldest counties in the United States are rural. Population decline in rural America is especially concentrated in the West," where "technical developments have replaced a lot of the jobs,” Don Albrecht, the director of the Western Rural Development Center at Utah State University, told Semuels.

Storm chasers make rural roads more dangerous

Storm chasers in "Tornado Alley" are getting so numerous and reckless that they are making rural roads more dangerous, meteorologist Eric Holthaus reports for Slate.

"Weather fanatics call this traffic phenomenon 'chaser convergence,' and it’s increasingly making rural roads unsafe at the worst possible moments," Holthaus writes. "Chaser convergence has been around for years but likely never on this scale (each red dot represents a storm chaser reporting his or her location):"

Holthaus offers other maps, and photographs, as evidence of road congestion caused by storm chasers. "And those are just from two days in late May," he writes. Earlier in the month, "A storm chasing team that calls themselves 'Basehunters'—a well-known group with more than 50,000 Facebook fans—flirted with the outer edges of a tornado in Oklahoma, all the while rolling film and calling chasers that were even closer 'ballers.' At one point, their vehicle backs up at a high rate of speed on a highway as telephone poles are falling around them. At another point, one of the chasers says, “I don’t think we’re going to get a ticket, not with the tornado right there.” Thankfully, that video wasn’t widely shared (and I won’t embed it in this post in hopes that remains the case)."

Holthaus writes, "I have no problem with storm chasers (many of whom are meteorology students) who keep a safe distance from tornadoes and are out there to learn about, and witness, some of the most beautiful and powerful storms on the planet. But I don’t have many kind words for the people trying to get as close as possible, cameras rolling with dollar signs in their eyes, as bystanders’ livelihoods are destroyed. . . . I can’t think of another activity in which enthusiasm is so juxtaposed with actual suffering."

Cash-strapped farmers getting so many federal loans that money may run out this summer

"Farmers and ag lenders relying on Farm Service Agency direct loans or guarantees could see those loans delayed this summer as demand is quickly draining available funds," Chris Clatyon reports for DTN The Progressive Farmer. "Several ag groups are sending a letter Thursday to members of the House and Senate appropriations committees highlighting the escalating demand for these loan programs and pointing out the USDA's Farm Service is expected run out of funds later this month for direct operating loans and guaranteed operating loans. Roughly $650 million in potential farmer loans could be delayed."

More farmers are turning to FSA for financial aid, maonly because the commodities they produce are bringing lower prices, Mark Scanlan, senior vice president for agriculture and rural policy at the Independent Community Bankers Association, told Clayton, who notes: "While loan guarantees and direct loans were often considered reserved for beginning farmers or smaller producers, more ag lenders are seeking guarantees on loans with commercial farmers. Other farmers are increasingly turning to FSA for direct operating loans as well. The main problem is that more farmers are struggling to cash-flow their operations."

Citing Doug Stark, president and CEO of Farm Credit Services of America, Clayton reports, "One of the biggest challenges facing farmers in the current market cycle isn't as much an issue of debt-to-equity, but working capital." Stark told him, "Leverage and interest rates aren't the issue in this cycle, it's cash flow with the cost of production and the price of commodities."

Clayton gives the nuts and bolts: "FSA was budgeted $2 billion for guaranteed farm ownership (real estate) loans, and has funded $1.67 billion thus far. Loan availability may differ from state to state. FSA grants each state an allocation so one state may use its loan authority quicker than other states and run out. USDA does have an emergency funding lever to pull, with authority to add up to 25 percent for FSA loan programs if demand outstrips appropriations. USDA has used that authority the past two years, but not for the full amount possible. If that authority is used again this summer, it's likely nearly all of it will be used as credit. If loan demand reaches the point USDA is forced to stop or delay funding loans, farmers could wait until the new funding year begins Oct. 1. The delay could go longer depending on complications with congressional appropriation bills."

W.Va. coal baron and gubernatorial nominee runs behind on reclaiming Kentucky strip mines

Justice owns The Greenbrier.

UPDATE JUNE 8: "Kentucky environmental regulators spent the weekend and Monday investigating a mudslide at a Pike County surface mine owned by West Virginia coal baron Jim Justice that they say contributed to local, damaging flooding last week," James Bruggers reports for the Louisville Courier Journal. "State officials Monday confirmed their investigation was centered on Justice's Bent Mountain mining operations, which had significant reclamation deadlines last year and are the subject of ongoing enforcement activities."

"U.S. Office of Surface Mining and Reclamation spokesman Chris Holmes said the company contacted the federal agency Monday – in Tennessee, not Kentucky, and not to let it know about the problem but to say the company was moving people out of Tennessee to help people in Kentucky with a flooding problem," Bruggers writes. "The Justice-owned company, Kentucky Fuel Corp., was cited by state regulators for having an overflowing diversion ditch that sent mud and water down a hill, damaging six homes, officials said. Citations included alleged violations involving sediment control, off-permit disturbance, failure to notify, failure to pass water quality and a diversion ditch failure. Multiple other homes had mud and debris on their property, and a county road was also muddied."

West Virginia coal and hotel operator Jim Justice, the state's Democratic nominee for governor, is asking a Kentucky judge for more time to reclaim strip mines in eight Eastern Kentucky counties.

"I am OK with what they are proposing," state Natural Resources Commissioner Allen Luttrell told Franklin Circuit Court Judge Thomas Wingate yesterday. But he said Justice's mines "have been out of time for months, and months, and months," and steady progress is needed. Another hearing will be held July 13.

Wingate told Justice representative Billy Shelton that the court needs progress reports every two weeks on their progress. "Shelton balked," reports James Bruggers of The Courier-Journal. "He had suggested monthly reports, according to state officials, who said past reports by the company were misleading: One company would start a bulldozer and let it idle in place, not doing any work, and they'd report that as reclamation activity." Wingate told Shelton, "All you have to do is take a picture. I could do that with my iPhone."

One of the highwalls that need reclaiming

State lawyer Anna Girard Fletcher told Wingate that the Justice companies "have quite a bit of work to do to come into compliance." Bruggers writes, "Justice has proposed a new compliance plan, but Fletcher declined to make that immediately available. The Courier-Journal reported on Monday that of the nine miles of surface-mining highwall  that were supposed to be reclaimed by Sept. 1, barely over a half-mile has been completed. State officials have called the matter one of their largest mining enforcement actions in more than 15 years. The companies are accused in court documents of falling behind restoration goals that were agreed upon in August 2014."

Did leaking gas well cause fire that disabled Texan and burned his family? Probe leaves questions

A well near the Murray home (Texas RRC)

Texas officials didn't fully investigate whether leaking natural gas caused a fire that disabled a Texas man and also burned members of his family, Mike Soraghan reports for Energy Wire.

Cody Murray of Perrin "suffered second- and third-degree burns over nearly a quarter of his body. His father and 4-year-old daughter were also burned in the August 2014 flash fire," Soraghan reports. "The nerves in his arms were burned off to above his elbows. . . . The injuries cost him his job as a field operations foreman for a Fort Worth oil company."

For two years, the Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates oil and gas, has been investigating whether "oil and gas wells scattered around Murray's neighborhood could have leaked methane into his water," Soraghan writes. "RRC officials say they still don't know whether oil and gas wells played a role in the explosion. Although they've traced the gas to the deep layers from which natural gas is produced, they've left the source of the contamination as 'inconclusive'. But thousands of pages of RRC records and emails, obtained by EnergyWire under Texas open-records law, show significant gaps in the investigation and suggest at least one potential source wasn't fully examined. A damaged and possibly leaking gas well nearby wasn't tested to see whether it matched the gas in Murray's water. Before the explosion, agency officials dismissed warning signs of stray gas in a neighbor's water well. And RRC officials found possible errors in their safeguards for keeping stray gas out of groundwater."

Murray has filed suit against nearby well operators but not the RRC. Before Muray was injured, neighbors reported apparent leakage of hydrocarbons into their water wells, and frustration with RRC investigators, though the agency ordered a leaking well to be shut. "A well, a narrow hole drilled deep into the earth, doesn't necessarily stop producing gas when a valve is turned at the surface," Soraghan notes. "The gas can keep coming. It just doesn't always come out the hole it was supposed to."

Vt. to vote next week on massive school merger

"In Vermont, voters will decide next week whether to okay the largest public school reorganization in 125 years," PBS NewsHour reports. "A new ballot measure would merge smaller schools and do away with perks that let parents use tax dollars to send their kids to private schools, even in Canada. Opposition is fierce, but advocates say it’ll cut costs and strengthen public schools." John Tulenko of Education Week reported the story in cooperation with PBS.

"Vermont is a collection of small towns, many with just one or two schools, and where people feel they have a say in their children's education," Tulenko reports. But the schools are among the smallest in the country, so many offer few special classes or programs. A new state law would cut the number of districts by half. Towns approving merger on June 7would get state tax incentives, and those rejecting it would lose part of their state funding.

House Speaker Shap Smith told Tulenko that part of his motive for pushing the law was relief from high property taxes, which support one of the lowest student-teacher ratios in the nation. Jay Nicholas, superintendent of five districts (the Franklin Northeast Supervisory Union) in northern Vermont, said "We have too many adults for the number of kids we have. That's why we have the most expensive education system in the United States."

Early antiwar activist dies in obscurity, and the national paper of record runs an obit 7 years later

Don Duncan made this liberal magazine's cover.

The obituary in The Madison Courier in Southern Indiana about a 79-year-old man who had died in a local nursing home was nothing special, other than noting his sister (actually a stepsister) was Mitzi Gaynor, not otherwise identified. It also did not mention that he had returned from a tour as a Green Beret sergeant in Vietnam and quit the Army to become "one of the war's fiercest critics, well before the antiwar movement had gathered steam," reports William McDonald of The New York Times.

McDonald is the Times obituary editor. His story ran last week. The obituary of Donald W. Duncan had appeared in 2009, unbeknownst to the Times, which a few years later started to prepare an obit on him because he "made an appreciable impact on the national discussion of the war," McDonald wrote.

When the Times discovered that Duncan's death had been reported, it had a decision to make. "If another news organization, particularly one with national reach, had run an obituary in 2009, we would have stood down, acknowledging that we had been napping back then and that it was way too late now to make up for the lapse," McDonald wrote. "A competitive daily newspaper isn’t keen on reporting something that happened seven years ago. Unless, of course, virtually no one else had reported it. We decided to pursue the obituary, the seven years notwithstanding. The thinking was, we would have written about Mr. Duncan immediately after he died had we known, so we should apply the same standard now. His death, in a sense, was still news, and his story still deserved to be told. What’s more, in an odd way, the very obscurity of his death added an unexpected, even poignant, element."

The Times obit by Robert McFadden said Duncan "died in the obscurity of a small Midwestern town seven years ago, an all-but-forgotten soldier. He was 79. In an age of seeming information ubiquity, the news media will generally recall the lives of noteworthy people when they die. But Mr. Duncan’s death went largely unnoticed outside of Madison, Ind., the Ohio River town where he lived."

Senators say they lack name recognition because fewer home-state newspapers cover Congress

Morning Consult poll; click image for larger version

The fragmentation of the news media, leaving Congress less covered by regional newspapers, has caused a name-recognition problem for senators who were first elected recently and are seeking their first or second re-election this year, Paul Kane reports for The Washington Post.

"Partisans largely receive their news from ideologically driven cable news and social media," Kane writes. "Middle-of-the-road voters, reliant on their local news, are often left in the dark." While more reporters than ever are covering Congress, "They increasingly write for inside Washington publications whose readers are lawmakers, lobbyists and Wall Street investors," Kane reports. "A Pew Research Center study released earlier this year found that at least 21 states do not have a single dedicated reporter covering Congress."

North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr, who was first elected in 2004 but remains largely unknown by more than a fourth of his constituents, told Kane, “We go six years with no coverage. So it’s like you weren’t here for six years. Your name ID drops into the 40s.” The solution, he said, is to air $5 million worth of TV ads: “It pops right back up to the 80s.”

Jonathan Bernstein cites Kane's report in writing for Bloomberg News, "In the old days, a senator might hope to receive positive media coverage when he or she introduced the bill; when a committee held hearings; when the bill passed the Senate; when it cleared the final congressional hurdle; when it was signed into law; when the new program was funded (in a separate appropriations bill); when the hospital won a grant; at a ground-breaking ceremony; and at the ribbon-cutting when the construction was completed. Maybe a few more times, too. But now most of those steps are becoming invisible to most people in the district."

The poll numbers Kane cites are based on a national survey by Morning Consult, which is "not a perfect snapshot of the Senate races," he writes. "It uses online, opt-in surveys which are less reliable than the traditional methodology of calling a random sample of the population. Live interview surveys in some of the states produced varying levels of approval for these senators, but the similar thread in both forms of polling was a large bloc of voters not having an opinion of the senator’s job performance."

St. Catharine College in Ky. says it will close, blames dispute with U.S. Department of Education

When the only women's college in Kentucky announced last month that it would admit men as resident students for the first time, the president of Midway University indicated it was a move for survival in "challenging times for private higher education." His point was illustrated in another small Kentucky town today, as Saint Catharine College near Springfield announced that it would close next month.

The school went four-year in 2003.

In a press release, the chair of the Roman Catholic college's board blamed "the decline in overall enrollment, caused recently by the federal Department of Education's admitted wrongful withholding of student aid on several key academic programs," as well as the debt the college took on in building facilities such as "residence halls, a health-sciences building, and most recently a state-of-the-art library." Enrollment had declined to 475 from 600.

The Education Department acknowledged wrongfully withholding $42,671, but more than $1.1 million was at issue. "St. Catharine estimates it has spent roughly $660,000 of its own money on aid payments it argues the federal agency should have covered," Marcus Green reported for Louisville's WDRB-TV in March. In mediation, the agency refused to pay damages for harming the school's enrollment and reputation, the press release said.

The main issue was "whether the college needed to obtain federal approval to disburse financial aid to students enrolled in undergraduate degree programs that were added from 2011 to 2014. St. Catharine didn’t seek the approval, according to the lawsuit, because it did not believe those programs amounted to a substantial change in the college’s offerings," Green reported in February.

"Administrators are working to find colleges willing to take the programs and students," Stephan Johnson reports for WDRB. Those include Midway University and nearby Campbellsville University.

The college is home to a sustainable-farming program founded by author-farmer-poet Wendell Berry and his daughter Mary, who told Linda Blackford of the Lexington Herald-Leader that she wasn't ready to say where it will go.

"Michael Lewis, founder and director of the Growing Warriors Project in Livingston, which provides farming education to veterans and others, graduated in May with the Berry program’s first class," Blackford reports. "Lewis said he learned much about farm policy, philosophy and community development, and said he found it ironic that St. Catharine, a community anchor in a largely agrarian area, would close."

“It’s the economic anchor of this community,” he told Blackford. “I think it speaks to the ways our communities and cultures are controlled from afar. It’s really going to affect a lot of people, and it’s something that didn’t have to happen.”

Trump energy plan doesn't add up, experts say

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump wants to relax the rules on oil and gas drilling, otherwise encourage energy development and cancel the recent multinational agreement to fight climate change.

Speaking in North Dakota last week, Trump also promised to revive the Keystone XL pipeline and restore lost jobs in coal mining, but his claims on that and other points "essentially defy free-market forces," Coral Davenport reports for The New York Times.

In a follow-up story citing several energy experts, Davenport notes that encouraging more gas production would lower prices and further depress demand for coal. She also says Trump's vow to increase oil and gas production runs into some inconvenient facts: U.S. gas production is at a historic high, and oil production "is already higher than it has been in 40 years. . . . At a certain point, production of oil and gas will push prices too low to justify even more production."

Trump also said more oil and gas production from federal lands would substantially reduce the $19 trillion federal debt, but energy economists dismissed that idea, too. Such royalties now net the government less than $10 billion a year in a budget of $3.8 trillion, and "experts say it is difficult to predict a new revenue stream at the scale envisioned by Mr. Trump."

Fewer counties are economically dependent on farming; a growing lot are dependent on oil and gas

The number of counties that the Department of Agriculture considers "farming dependent" has dropped to 444 from 511 a decade ago, a drop of 13 percent, while the count of mining-dependent counties grew 60 percent, from 130 to 219, thanks mainly to horizontal hydraulic fracturing for oil and gas, according to Amber Waves, a publication of USDA's Economic Research Service. The ones that dropped off the farm-dependent list are shown in brown on this map; those where farming became more important are in blue, and the other farming-dependent counties are in green.

"Farm consolidation, increasing productivity, and labor-saving technology has led to a significant decline in farm employment," ERS's Timothy Parker wrote. "Nationally, the number of farm jobs fell by 14.1 percent between 2001 and 2013. During the same period, total farm earnings increased 63.4 percent (in real terms), according to data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Farming dependence has become more concentrated in Midwestern counties, while farm dependence has dropped more sharply elsewhere.

The recent drop in oil prices may have reduced the number of counties dependent on mining. This map shows in colors the counties that were judged to be dependent on farming, mining, recreation, manufacturing and government in 2012. Click on either map for a larger version of each image; for more detail, save the image and enlarge it.

Rural areas may need collaboration to create places for residents to get exercise

"Many rural mothers, who rely on outdoor activities to promote health and well-being for themselves and their families, face obstacles in accessing publicly available outdoor recreation resources." So says a study at the University of Illinois, Carleen Wild reports for HealthZette, an online publication.

Research professor Ramona Oswald told Wild, “The moms in this study know about health and what to do to be healthy. It’s not a lack of education. It has to do with barriers and access to resources. Especially in rural communities, you struggle with distance between people and resources. . . . You could walk down a county road or a highway, but unless there was community investment in a park or a playground, a walking trail, or some kind of a facility at a local school, moms didn’t have access to nature, even though they were surrounded by it.”

Many rural residents are like Heidi Baltezore, who lives in a rural area about 30 miles north of Sioux Falls, S.D. She told Wild, “My biggest struggle is finding ‘safe’ places to run or walk. I can go up and down my driveway, but I get bored with that,” and “The road that runs by my house has no shoulder — in fact, years ago my neighbor was biking and was hit and killed, so there is a worry about distracted drivers, plus normal driving hazards. The hills and the setting or rising sun also make it not an option unless I’m absolutely desperate to run on the road. And for sure, it’s never an option with the little ones or our pets.”

In Marshall, Minn., the city, a neighboring town, the county and the state parks and transportation agencies collaborated to "create an extensive bike trail system, a new ice arena, gym access to local health care providers, and more," Wild reports. Doug Goodmund, the city's assistant community services director, told her, "It's really getting used — from pedestrians, to moms with strollers, to bicyclers, young and old. It's a win-win all around and we're just getting started."