Seasonal firefighters exempt from federal civilian hiring freeze, says Trump administration statement

Missoulian photo by Perry Backus

Seasonal firefighters are among the exemptions to President Trump's 90-day hiring freeze of civilian federal workers, Zach Urness reports for the Statesman Journal in Salem, Ore. The Office of Management and Budget released a statement Tuesday that said exemptions include "seasonal employees and short-term temporary employees necessary to meet traditionally recurring seasonal workloads." A second exemption "said the head of any agency can exempt any position deemed necessary to 'meet public safety responsibilities, including essential activities to the extent that they protect life and property.'"

Melissa Baumann, council president of the National Federation of Federal Employees, said the Forest Service "hired 11,000 seasonal workers in 2015, many of them to fight the Western wildfires that break out between June and September," Rob Chaney reports for The Missoulian. "At least 6,200 of those were firefighters or had firefighting-related duties. But many were for positions such as logging sale analysts, trail maintenance workers and forest rangers."

Election results lead colleges to put more focus on reaching 'hard-to-get-to' rural students

John Dunn of Rose Hill, N.C., is the first in his family to
finish high school. He is a freshman at North Carolina
State University. (New York Times photo: Jeremy Lange)

The strong rural showing during the November election has not been lost on colleges and universities, Laura Pappano reports for The New York Times. "Given election results that turned up the volume on the concerns of rural Americans, who voted their discontent over lost jobs and economic disparities, higher-education leaders are now talking about how to reach the hard-to-get-to." Rural public schools educate about 18 percent of the nation's student population.

"While students in rural high schools graduate at rates second only to suburban students (80 percent, compared with 81 percent), and perform at or above other students on the National Assessment for Educational Progress, they enroll in four-year degree programs and pursue advanced degrees at lower rates," Pappano reports. "Just 29 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds in rural areas are enrolled in college, compared with 47 percent of their urban peers. Research also shows that they 'under-match,' attending less competitive colleges than their school performance suggests, often favoring community colleges."

Pappano writes, "To college administrators, rural students, many of them the first in their families to attend college, have become the new underrepresented minority. In their aim to shape leaders and provide access to the disadvantaged, higher-education experts have been recognizing that these students bring valuable experiences and viewpoints to campuses that don’t typically attract agriculture majors."

Rural students often face greater challenges than urban students, Pappano reports. That includes limited access to Advanced Placement courses, transportation issues such as long distances from home to school or school to after-school activities, higher poverty rates, a lack of internet access and fewer opportunities for school visits from college recruiters. A Kentucky working group on rural access to higher education tackled some of those challenges by "extending the internet to isolated areas and offering Advanced Placement and college courses in high schools so that students realize they are capable of doing college work," Pappano writes.

Robert L. King, president of the state's Council on Postsecondary Education, told Pappano: “People who have grown up in our state, if they have grown up on a farm or a family connected to the coal mining industry, many of them believe erroneously that college may not be all that important . . . The natural concern that you may not be able to be competitive with kids who have grown up in suburban or larger communities.”

Pappano writes, "The belief that college is for other people, not country folk, is hard to break, said Sahar Mohammadzadeh, a high school junior and a leader of the Student Voice Team of the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence, a Kentucky education-advocacy group. Team members recently interviewed high school students around the state, including rural students who, she said, are 'being pushed down career pathways' even when they express academic interests."

Rather than enrolling them in college-prep math classes, Mohammadzadeh said, “They are putting kids who want to be accountants into welding classes. It is really powerful and heartbreaking to go around this state and see all this potential being thrown away.” Pappano has a sidebar with six stories of rural college students.

Maps show where immigrants from temporarily banned nations live; many are in rural areas

Immigrants from the seven countries—Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Yemen—targeted by President Trump's travel ban make up about 2 percent of the foreign-born population in the U.S., reports The New York Times, which did seven maps of where all the immigrants live. Most are naturalized citizens who are not directly affected by the temporary ban, but their relatives might be. (Times map: Where the 83,843 immigrants from Somalia live)

Immigrants from the seven nations who have "green cards" may still face uncertainty. "The status of tens of thousands of those with permanent-resident status is not as clear, as administration officials have said they may be subject to greater scrutiny if they travel abroad," the Times reports. "And visa holders may not be able to return to the U.S. if they go out of the country." (Map: 84,035 Syrian immigrants are located in many rural areas)

Of the more than 856,000 immigrants, visa holders and green-card holders originally from the countries affected by the ban, only three are known to have been involved in terrorist attacks against the U.S. since Sept. 11, 2001, reports the Times. Two involved driving a vehicle into a crowd, in North Carolina and Ohio, and the third stabbed 10 people outside a mall in Minnesota. (Map: 199,380 immigrants are from Iraq)

Heartland farmers becoming climate-change realists who avoid saying 'climate change'

Kansas wheat farmer is environmentally conscious,
but strays away from saying "climate change."
(NYT photo by Christopher Smith)

Farmers in the heartland—where climate change naysayer Donald Trump was largely popular—have become climate-change realists who shy away from using the term "climate change," Hiroko Tabuchi reports for The New York Times.

For example, fourth-generation Kansas wheat farmer Doug Palen "has embraced an environmentally conscious way of farming that guards against soil erosion and conserves precious water. He can talk for hours about carbon sequestration—the trapping of global-warming-causing gases in plant life and in the soil—or the science of the beneficial microbes that enrich his land." Palen, who didn't say who he voted for, only that it wasn't Hillary Clinton, told Tabuchi, “If politicians want to exhaust themselves debating the climate, that’s their choice. I have a farm to run.”

Tabuchi writes, "Here in north-central Kansas, America’s breadbasket and conservative heartland, the economic realities of agriculture make climate change a critical business issue. At the same time, politics and social pressure make frank discussion complicated. This is wheat country, and Donald J. Trump country, and though the weather is acting up, the conservative orthodoxy maintains that the science isn’t settled. So while climate change is part of daily conversation, it gets disguised as something else."

"Many people here in particular resent how, in the polarized political landscape of recent years, conservative Americans have been painted as hostile to the environment," Tabuchi writes, "The Trump campaign successfully seized on that schism, painting Democrats as overzealous environmentalists with little sympathy for the economic realities or social mores of rural America."

Trump told FarmFutures.com, “Many of our federal environmental laws are being used to oppress farmers instead of actually helping the environment. Farmers care more for the environment than the radical environmentalists.”

Miriam Horn, author of a recent book on conservative Americans and the environment, Rancher, Farmer, Fisherman, told Tabuchi, “It would be a huge mistake to think people voting for Trump were voting against the environment,” and if Trump aggressively follows an anti-environment agenda, “There will be a big backlash in the heartland.”

Trump names former coal lobbyist to lead division that oversees environmental crimes

Jeffery H. Wood

President Trump last week named former coal lobbyist Jeffery H. Wood acting assistant attorney general in charge of the Department of Justice division that oversees environmental crimes, Lee Fang reports for The Intercept, an online publication launched by First Look Media. Wood, who was a lobbyist for Southern Co.—which generates 33 percent of its power from coal—was named a Trump adviser on energy policy in September, reports Politico. He also was a former aide for Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), Trump's nominee for attorney general.

"Trump has yet to nominate anyone to hold the assistant attorney general job on a permanent basis, but for the time being Wood will be overseeing the division that enforces civil and criminal environmental laws to reduce pollutants discharged into the air, water and land, and brings cases to enable the clean-up of contaminated waste sites," Fang writes. "The division has previously prosecuted coal firms and utilities, including a 2015 case against Duke Energy, which pled guilty for spilling coal ash into the Dan River in North Carolina. The division also led a major initiative against companies for illegally operating coal-fire power plants, winning settlements that have forced firms to install pollution controls to reduce emissions."

"Lobbying disclosures show that Wood, formerly a partner with the Alabama law and lobbying firm Balch & Bingham, worked to influence the licensing of nuclear power plants, the Clean Air Act and climate change issues on behalf of Southern Co.," Fang writes. "His de-registration forms were filed on Jan. 17, three days before taking the Justice Department position potentially overseeing his former client."

West Virginia official fears decline in coal will lead to permanent closure of Appalachian rail lines

Associated Press photo

One Appalachian official fears a continued decline in coal could lead to a permanent loss of rail lines to the region, Phil Kabler reports for the Charleston Gazette-Mail. The U.S. Energy Information Administration said coal production in 2016 declined to its lowest level since 1978, 739 million tons, down by 158 million tons from the prior year.

West Virginia Transportation Secretary Tom Smith, newly appointed, "said the concern is that the decline in coal traffic could lead railroads to downgrade or abandon rail lines in Appalachia," Kabler writes. He told Kabler, “I don’t need to tell you all if you lose these lines, they’re gone forever. The good news is there have not been a lot of loss of routes yet.”

Kabler writes, "Last February, Norfolk Southern suspended operations between Columbus, Ohio, and Point Pleasant, W.Va., because of a downturn in rail traffic. While the portion of the line that runs through West Virginia, including through Charleston, remained open, the lack of accessibility to Columbus caused traffic to plummet. In July, short-line operator Watco Cos. took over operations of 309 miles of rail line from Columbus into Wyoming County, West Virginia, operating as the Kanawha River Railroad."

Weeklies like Deer Creek Pilot thrive in Miss. by focusing on community, sticking to their guns

Weekly newspapers are booming in Mississippi, fueled by editors and writers who focus on the community and stick to their guns, Billy Watkins reports for The Clarion-Ledger, the state's largest daily, in Jackson. The state has 82 counties and 89 weeklies. Emma Crisler, editor and publisher of the Port Gibson Reveille in the southwestern part of the state, told Watkins, "We want people to know what’s going on and how it’s going to affect their lives. People will come by the paper and ask, ‘What’s happened this week?’ They’re still excited about what’s coming out in the paper.”

One paper getting it right is The Deer Creek Pilot in Rolling Fork, (Best Places map), Watkins writes. Ray Mosby, editor and publisher, has been at the paper 23 years. The newspaper has a circulation of 1,450 across Sharkey and Issaquena counties, "which have a combined population of approximately 6,400 and rank among the poorest counties in the state."

Mosby told Watkins, “But guess what? ESPN isn’t going to tell my readers the score of the high school girls basketball game. CNN is not going to tell them what happened at the board of supervisors meeting. To me, the smaller the community, the more vital the community newspaper is.”

Mosby also doesn't shy away from expressing his opinion in columns, telling Watkins, “I never want anyone to finish one of my (editorial) columns and not know where I stand on an issue." He said after one such column a man whose arms "were bigger than my waist" came into the office looking for him. The man told him, “There are a lot of folks out there who think you ain’t nothing but a son of a b----. But can’t a single one of them call you a liar.”

Mosby told Watkins, “I’d never seen him before, and I’ve never seen him since. That was about 1995, a couple of years after me and the bank bought the paper. I had come in here from the Clarksdale Press Register and applied the principles of a daily newspaper to the weekly. Every week I had a ‘real’ front page that consisted of news and a ‘real’ editorial page that offered opinion. Folks around here weren’t used to that and I was wondering if the paper was going to make it. For some reason, that man’s words assured me it would."

Nearly one-fourth of all veterans live in rural areas

While the 2010 census found that only 16 percent of Americans live in rural areas, 24 percent of all veterans do, says a report by the U.S. Census Bureau, using data from 2011-15. An even greater percentage of military members come from rural areas.

Of the veterans who live in rural areas, 45.9 percent live in the South, 26.4 percent in the Midwest, 14.1 percent in the West and 13.7 percent in the Northeast. Slicing the data another way, veterans are most likely to be rural if they live in the Midwest and least likely in the West. (Census graphic: Percentage of veterans by region)

More than 60 percent of veterans in Maine and Vermont, the two most rural states by population, live in rural areas. Following those states with the highest percentage of rural veterans are West Virginia, Mississippi, Arkansas, Montana, South Dakota, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Alabama, Kentucky, Iowa, Tennessee, Oklahoma and North Carolina.

Though the disability rate increases with age, compared with urban veterans, rural veterans have higher disability rates across all age ranges. Rural veterans are also slightly older. Their average age was 65 years, compared with 63 years for urban veterans. Among military eras, Vietnam Era veterans were the most rural (27.8 percent), followed by peacetime (25.2), Korean War (23.9), the first Gulf War (21.9), World War II (18.7) and the second Gulf War (17.7).

Many veterans have health problems. While the uninsured rates are comparable for rural and urban veterans 65 and older, the younger the veteran, the less likely he or she is to have health insurance. President Trump's repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act could leave more veterans without health insurance, which means the Department of Veteran Affairs may have to pick up the slack, says a report from NPR.

Among veterans 45 to 64, 8.6 percent of rural vets are uninsured, compared to 7.4 percent for urban veterans, for ages 26 to 44, 13 percent of rural veterans are uninsured, compared to 11 percent of urban veterans, and for ages 18 to 25, 21.6 percent of rural veterans are uninsured, compared to 15.5 percent of urban veterans.

Repealing Obamacare would have biggest impact on rural areas, medical-school professors write

Repealing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act would have the biggest impact on rural areas, which typically have higher rates of chronic illness, obesity, drug overdose, alcoholism, mental illness and suicide, opine Margaret Greenwood-Erickson and Mahshid Abir for Bridge, published by The Center for Michigan. Greenwood-Erickson is national clinician scholar and clinical lecturer, and Abir is a professor, at the University of Michigan medical school.

"Taken as a whole, Medicaid expansion through the ACA has resulted in critical gains toward improving rural population health by expanding insurance coverage and stabilizing rural hospitals," Greenwood-Erickson and Abir write. "The repeal of Medicaid expansion and collapse of the individual insurance market, which could occur as part of repeal of the ACA, could threaten strides the country has made in advancing the health of rural America." (Kaiser Family Foundation map: Medicaid expansion states)

"One option forward would be to encourage states to apply for special waivers, or 1115 waivers, which allow states a more flexible implementation of Medicaid expansion," Greenwood-Erickson and Abir write. "For some states, this allows them to expand coverage under Medicaid in a way that is more attuned to each state’s unique demographics and values. For example, alterations range from healthy behavior incentives that reduce premiums in Iowa to permitting higher cost-sharing than is otherwise allowed under federal rules for non-emergency use of emergency rooms in Indiana."

"We do not yet know how the debate over ACA repeal and replace will play out," Greenwood-Erickson and Abir write. "Yet, we do know that some of the proposed alternatives could result in real harm to rural states, the most obvious being a repeal of Medicaid expansion. Further, block grants have been discussed as a method to control Medicaid costs. These are grant programs from the federal government that give states annual fixed amounts to spend on a specific program, but they can result in neglect of rural populations. As block grants limit the amount of money states have to spend on vulnerable populations, they may overlook national objectives, such as caring for rural and poor communities."

Prosecutor shuts down access to records related to fire in Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Wildfire along US 441 near Gatlinburg on Nov. 28
(Knoxville News-Sentinel photo by Jessica Tezak)

Tennessee officials are refusing to honor open-records requests about last year's devastating fire at Gatlinburg, claiming it could harm the case against two juveniles charged with arson, Don Jacobs reports for the Knoxville News-Sentinel. Fourth Judicial District Attorney General Jimmy Dunn sent a letter to media outlets Dec. 15 asking them to use that reason "to explain why nothing more would be forthcoming as he investigated the aggravated arson charges filed Dec. 7 against the boys, ages 15 and 17," Jacobs writes.

"Consequently, otherwise public records in any way connected to the investigation of the fires that started in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and five days later swept into Gatlinburg were deemed off limits. When public agencies refused to release information or records, each would cite Dunn's request, which is not a court order," Jacobs reports.

"Dunn apparently has the authority to issue the blanket gag order because of a state Supreme Court decision issued in 2015 in the Vanderbilt University rape case, according to Richard L. Hollow, general counsel for the Tennessee Press Association," Jacobs writes. "Any challenge to a denial of information, Hollow said, would have to go before a judge. Dunn is under no obligation to explain why he doesn't want some records, such as after-action reports on a fire department's performance, kept from public disclosure. Such an explanation, Hollow said, could provide insight into Dunn's strategy for prosecuting the cases."

The fire burned 17,000 acres, killed 14 people, injured nearly 150 others and destroyed 2,174 structures and affected almost 300 more.

EMS bicycle units on the rise, even in rural areas

Paramedic Ryan Winchell is part of a bike unit
in rural Cody, Wyo. (Associated Press photo)

Emergency medical bicycle units are beginning to crop up in the U.S., Jenni Bergal reports for Stateline. The units, which can "deliver quick emergency care by darting in and out of heavy traffic, maneuvering through large crowds or cutting across park land more nimbly than a crew in an ambulance," are largely in metropolitan areas, but have been increasingly forming in rural places, such as Cody, Wyo., 50 miles from Yellowstone National Park.

Ryan Winchell, a paramedic at West Park Hospital’s EMS department in Cody, said it costs less than $3,000 to set up the department with three bikes, uniforms and saddlebags, compared to as much as $280,000 for buying and equipping an ambulance, Bergal writes. The 16-member bike unit "frequently is called into action at parades and Fourth of July festivities as well as 5K and 10K trail runs."

Winchell "said he and his colleagues have a different mindset cycling to the scene than they do when they’re riding in an ambulance," Bergal writes. He told her, “You don’t have your same comfort zone of having a few minutes to think about where you’re going and what you’re going to do. It’s definitely a different kind of game.”

Water utility can't sue Iowa counties for nitrate runoff; suit to invoke federal law remains alive

Raccoon River watershed, part of Des Moines R. watershed

The Iowa Supreme Court ruled Friday that the Des Moines Water Works can't sue the rural northwest counties of Sac, Calhoun and Buena Vista to pay for cleanup costs for nitrate runoff that is blamed for contaminating the Raccoon River, which provides drinking water for 500,000 central Iowa residents served by the utility, Christina Grijalva reports for KCAU-TV in Sioux City, where a related federal case is set for trial June 28. The rural-urban battle has been going on for about two years.

Des Moines Water had "hoped to reverse nearly a century of legal precedent that's given the districts immunity from being sued for damages," Grant Rodgers and Donnelle Eller report for The Des Moines Register. "The utility argues the protection relieves the drainage districts of responsibility to limit farm runoff into streams and rivers. It also wants to force drainage districts to seek permits under the federal Clean Water Act. It's a move that would increase regulation for about 3,000 districts statewide, and indirectly farmers across the state and, possibly, the nation." That demand is in the federal lawsuit.

The state court's decision "was a relief to northern Iowa counties, potentially on the hook for the capital’s water-quality problems, and to Iowa farmers and ag groups, who are encouraged that the utility’s remaining claims could be dismissed," reports the Register. "Paying damages would have been 'an enormous burden that I don’t know we could have financially survived,' said Colin McCullough, a drainage district attorney for Sac County."

Experts and environmentalists say the suit could have national implications over who is responsible for water pollution that originates from cropland that is often hundreds of miles away.

Rural Georgia gets state legislators' attention

Rural residents, who made their voices heard loud and clear during the November elections, have gotten the attention of state lawmakers in Georgia, Maggie Lee reports for The Telegraph in Macon: "There’s a phrase that more and more people are using at the state Capitol, and not everybody says it with a country twang. Rural Georgia. Lawmakers are talking about the problems that plague some of Georgia’s smaller communities. Main Street businesses that have closed. Financially struggling hospitals. Poor internet connections. Schools that don’t offer all the classes that will help students get into the University of Georgia or Georgia Tech. Young people moving to cities and never coming back."

Republican House Speaker David Ralston "is calling it the rural-development initiative," Lee writes. His spokesman, Kaleb McMichen, said it "could take the form of a study group or a working group or a commission. But the speaker wants to put a focus on creating the right environment in rural Georgia for private industry to create jobs."

When the Legislature is in session, dozens of lawmakers from both sides of the aisle attend weekly Rural Caucus meetings, Lee reports. "Some of the folks are more root than trunk when it comes to rural Georgia—they grew up in a rural place but moved to the city, or they watched their home district become a suburb. They hear a different presentation every week about agriculture, rural hospitals or some other topic."

Republican state Rep. Sam Watson, the group's chairman, told Lee, “We’ve got a lot of conversation about rural Georgia and the problems that are in rural Georgia. We’ve just got to get everybody dialed in, I think, and focused. Because I think the momentum’s there, the concern is there. And a lot of (the issues) are linked together. You get the broadband, you get the health care and you’ll get the economic development.”

"The Georgia Chamber of Commerce recently announced its own rural development plans and said it would open an office in Tifton," Lee writes.

Wednesday is deadline to enter editorial writing contest for weekly papers; convention trip offered

The International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors is accepting entries for the 57th annual Golden Quill editorial writing contest. Entries must be postmarked by Wednesday, Feb. 1.

Newspapers published fewer than five days per week are eligible for the contest. Entries must have been published in 2016. Each newspaper is allowed up to four entries; two is the maximum per person. The entry fee is $25 per person; checks should be made payable to ISWNE.

To enter, complete the PDF form at iswne.org (under Contests) and send a tearsheet with the Golden Quill entry clearly marked. Send two copies of each entry to Chad Stebbins, Missouri Southern State University, 3950 E. Newman Road, Joplin MO 64801-1595.

Entries should reflect the purpose of ISWNE: Encouraging the writing of editorials or staff-written opinion pieces that identify local issues that are or should be of concern to the community, offer an opinion, and support a course of action.

The Golden Quill winner will receive a scholarship and travel expenses up to $500 to attend ISWNE's annual conference June 28-July 2 at College Park, Md. Runners-up (called the Golden Dozen) will receive conference scholarships if they have not previously attended an ISWNE conference. Grassroots Editor, ISWNE's quarterly journal, will reprint the Golden Quill and Golden Dozen editorials in the Summer 2017 issue. For questions, email Stebbins.

Ten $10K Food and Farming Journalism Fellowships available at Berkeley; application deadline Mar. 15

Ten $10,000 postgraduate Food and Farming Journalism Fellowships are available from the University of California Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism "to report ambitious long-form stories on the full range of subjects under the rubric of food systems: agricultural and nutritional policy, the food industry, food science, technology and culture, rural and urban farming, agriculture and the environment (including climate change), global trade and supply chains, consolidation and securitization of the food system and public health as it relates to food and farming," the school says.

The fellowship, a project of the Knight Center in Science and Environmental Journalism, is supported by a grant from The 11th Hour Project, a program of The Schmidt Family Foundation. Fellowships are open to print and audio journalists. Reporting and writing will take place from June to November, with two required workshops at UC Berkeley, from May 29 to June 2, then again in December.

The application deadline is March 15. Applications "should include a one-page pitch with a clearly defined story idea, not just a subject," the school says. "The pitch should reflect some preliminary research, providing a clear sense of place, characters, narrative and reporting strategy. The application also requires a curriculum vitae, two letters of recommendation and published clips." For more information or to apply, click here.

Nearly two-thirds of children drink at least one sugary drink per day, CDC study finds

Nearly two-thirds of children ages 2-19 consume at least one sugary drink per day, says a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics. "Studies have suggested a link between the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and dental caries, weight gain, type 2 diabetes, dyslipidemia, and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in children." Obesity is more prevalent among rural children.

The CDC study, which used data from 2011-14 from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, found that 62.9 percent of youth consumed at least one sugar-sweetened beverage on a given day. Among boys, 32.7 percent consumed one sugary drink, 20.2 percent two and 11.5 percent at least three. For girls, 33.7 percent had one, 18.1 percent two and 9.5 percent three. (CDC graphic: Percentage of youth who consumed sugary beverages from 2011-14)

Despite efforts to decrease sugar intake, CDC found that children "are consuming roughly the same number of calories from soda, sports drinks and other sugary beverages now as they did in 2009-2010, the last time the CDC published comparable data," Caitlin Dewey reports for The Washington Post. Rachel Johnson, a professor of nutrition at the University of Vermont and a spokeswoman for the American Heart Association, told her, “The amount of sugar that children in particular consume is still astounding. We recommend that children drink soda once a week or less."

Asher Rosinger, epidemic intelligence service officer at the CDC and lead author of the study, said "on average, drinking two or more sugar-sweetened beverages a day provided more than 10 percent of the total daily calories among the children," Jacqueline Howard reports for CNN. "2015–2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend reducing added sugars consumption to less than 10 percent of calories per day and, specifically, to choose beverages with no added sugars."

Trump immigration plan could cause U.S. farm labor shortage; dairy farmers have special problem

The federal government estimates that about half of the nation's farm workers are in the U.S. illegally, with numbers in some states believed to be much higher, David Sommerstein reports for NPR. A reliance on immigrants for farm labor has led to concern that President Trump's plan to build a border wall and ramp up immigration enforcement could hurt agriculture.

"Dairy farmers don't control the price of their milk. The federal government does that," Sommerstein writes. Cornell University's Thomas Maloney says at the minimum wage they can afford to pay, farmers are resigned to hiring foreign workers to do this dirty, physically demanding work." He told Sommerstein that farmers "are convinced most Americans do not want to do the kinds of jobs that they have available on their farms." (425 Business chart using Pew Research Center data; click on iot for a larger version)

The problem is that "there is no legal agricultural visa for the year-round work of dairy farms," like the seasonal visas for crops, Sommerstein writes. Steve Ammerman, spokesman for the New York Farm Bureau, told Sommerstein, "If it's strictly an enforcement-only, build the wall and deport all of our farm workers, then we're going to have serious problems when it comes to growing food and providing enough food to feed ourselves in this country."

Trump has said, "People are going to come through on worker permits to work the fields. We're going to have people, a lot of people are going to come through, but it's going to be done through a legal process," Sommerstein notes, "But so far, he's offered no details, leaving farmers and farm workers to square that Trump with the one issuing executive orders this week. One of them makes it a priority to deport non-citizens who have defrauded a government agency."

NPR series looks at how town's shape people's identities, starting with Independence, Kan.

As part of a series called "Our Land," NPR reporters are visiting U.S. communities to find out how people's identities are shaped by where they live. Reporter Melissa Block recently was in Independence, Kan. (Best Places map), a town whose population has gone from 12,782 in 1930, to 10,030 in 1990, to less than 9,000 today. Independence has lost many businesses, including the shuttering of its only hospital in 2015. Despite having an uncertain future Block found that residents "remain proud of their town and its history."

She reports, "If you're from Independence, you wear that name with pride. People here are especially proud of their annual Neewollah Festival* held every October, the oldest and largest festival in the state. They're proud to be the hometown of playwright and novelist William Inge, who wrote 'Bus Stop' and 'Picnic.' Their hometown author is celebrated in the annual William Inge Theater Festival. It's attracted marquee names as honorees, Stephen Sondheim, Neil Simon, big city folks plunked down in rural Kansas." (*Halloween spelled backwards)

Independence is the type of town where most everything is "just a couple of blocks away," Block writes. The town has a community college and a local newspaper, the Montgomery County Chronicle. Editor Andy Taylor, who writes, edits, takes photos and even delivers papers, told Block, "We used to have a J.C. Penney department store over here. That's now gone. We had a furniture store, it's gone, a Hallmark store, it's gone. We had a clothing store, department store. It's gone." In October 2015 the town lost its hospital.

"The hospital and the oil pipeline company that shut down here in the '90s, these were pillars supporting the community. Philanthropy flowed through them," Block reports. "They sponsored events, pumped money into schools and churches. And the jobs - they were high-paying, professional positions."

Taylor told Block that no new businesses have come into town to replace lost jobs: "Once all that old money dies off and leaves town, then that's, that really hurts. Again, there's that old theory that when Grandma and Grandpa die, the funeral's at 2 o'clock; the family's at the bank at 3 o'clock, and they're out of town with that money at 4 o'clock. And I've seen that happen many times."

N.J. Gov. Christie renews attempt to remove paid public notices from newspapers

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is continuing his attack against newspapers and their local-government revenue sources. The Republican on Tuesday urged lawmakers to consider proposed legislation, dubbed the "newspaper revenge bill," that "would allow municipalities to post legal notices on websites instead of newspapers. All legal notices are posted and archived online through the New Jersey Press Association," Dustin Racioppi and Bob Jordan report for The Record and the Asbury Park Press.

"Multiple sources have said that Christie's intent on getting it passed is to punish newspapers for their critical coverage of him. He hasn't taken questions from state reporters in 140 days," Racioppi and Jordan write. The legislation lacked support last year,

"Christie contends that the bill is about taxpayer relief," Racioppi and Jordan write. "He contends that the bill's passage would save taxpayers 'tens of millions' annually, but his analysis to this point falls far below the $80 million he claims newspapers statewide make on the ads. Christie said his office analyzed legal notices in The Star-Ledger, the state's largest newspaper, and determined that it was paid $16.6 million for legal ads last year. The New Jersey Press Association has said the cost of legal notices in all state newspapers is about $20 million, with less than half of that being borne by taxpayers."

Tom Donovan, regional president of the Gannett East Group and publisher of The Record, said in a statement: “With all due respect to the governor, he doesn’t get to make up the facts when it comes to what the legal ad revenues are throughout the state of New Jersey."

Racioppi and Jordan write, "The proposed law change has been dubbed by a lawmaker as a 'revenge bill' because it came after coverage of the Christie administration’s Bridgegate scandal, which resulted in three convictions or guilty pleas from Christie allies from the 2013 George Washington Bridge lane-closure caper."

Nation's largest offshore wind farm approved between Long Island and Martha’s Vineyard

Parcels identified for wind-power development
along the Eastern seaboard. Deepwater Wind
is in the large red area. (NYT graphic)

The nation's largest offshore wind farm received approval Wednesday, Diane Cardwell reports for The New York Times. The farm, approved by the Long Island Power Authority, would be placed on "the waters between the eastern tip of Long Island and Martha’s Vineyard."

"The farm, with as many as 15 turbines capable of powering 50,000 average homes over all, is the first of several planned by the developer, Deepwater Wind," Cardwell writes. "It will be in a 256-square-mile parcel, with room for as many as 200 turbines, that the company is leasing from the federal government." The project is expected to cost $740 million.

"The turbines, each roughly 600 feet tall, would be connected to a substation in East Hampton by a 50-mile undersea cable," Cardwell writes. Deepwater officials said unlike other proposed projects it will have little to no effect on ocean views, which has been a concern for many residents. They expect the farm is to begin transmitting power by the end of 2022, meaning construction would need to begin by 2020.

The wind farm falls in line with New York Democratic Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's goal of drawing 50 percent of the state’s power from renewable sources by 2030, Cardwell writes. "That goal includes 2.4 gigawatts of offshore wind, enough to power 1.25 million homes," the largest commitment to offshore wind in the U.S.

State laws that block local laws are on the rise, exposing rural-urban divide in some states

The phenomenon of state lawmakers, largely from rural areas, blocking laws by cities is on the rise, widening the rural/urban divide between cities and states, Sophie Quinton reports for Stateline. "While legislators say they’re trying to ensure consistency in state policy, so-called state pre-emption laws often expose political differences between state leaders—many of whom hail from rural districts—and city leaders." Some cities have fought back, challenging preemptive laws in court. More lawsuits are expected, as are more battles between state lawmakers and cities.

"States vary in the amount of power they give their cities and counties. Ultimately, however, states have the power to decide what localities can or can’t do," Quinton writes. "Pre-emption has become more common partly because cities have grown bigger and more powerful over time, and more likely to experiment with policy." (Stateline graphic)

"Political and philosophical differences also play a role in pre-emption fights," Quinton writes. "Republicans now control both chambers of the legislature and the governor’s office in 24 states. Mayors who ran as Democrats or who are affiliated with the Democratic Party control 78 percent of the nation’s 40 largest cities."

"About 32 states now prohibit localities from regulating ride-hailing companies such as Uber, 23 ban raising the local minimum wage, 15 ban cities from requiring companies to offer sick days, and three ban anti-discrimination ordinances that protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender residents, according to the tally kept by the Partnership for Working Families, a network of left-leaning advocacy groups," Quinton writes. "Many states also have stopped cities and counties from creating municipal broadband networks, imposing bans on fracking, and charging customers a fee for using plastic carryout bags. In Arizona and Florida, laws penalize cities that defy pre-emption laws."

Medicaid expansion greatly increased coverage, especially in rural areas, study finds

Medicaid expansion under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act greatly increased access to health care for Americans, especially in rural areas, says a study by researchers at Indiana University, published in The Journal of Rural Health. Researchers, who used data from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey from 2011-15, found that expansion "increased the probability of Medicaid coverage for targeted populations in rural and urban areas, with a significantly greater increase in rural areas, but some of these gains were offset by reductions in individual purchased insurance among rural populations." 

"Medicaid expansion increased the probability of having 'any insurance' for the pooled urban and rural low-income populations, and it specifically increased Medicaid coverage more in rural versus urban populations," says the study. "There was some evidence that the expansion was accompanied by some shifting from individual purchased insurance to Medicaid in rural areas, and there is a need for future work to understand the implications of this shift on expenditures, access to care and utilization." 

Results suggested "that rural childless adults, compared to urban childless adults, experienced a 1.9-percentage-point larger increase in the probability of having Medicaid as a result of the expansion," says the study. "Rural childless adults experienced a 1.5 percentage point larger decline in the probability of having individual purchased insurance. (IU graphic)

Aging populations, declining migration are leading to an older workforce in some rural areas

Susan Fullen, 64, is in her first year of teaching business
classes at Jerome High School. She said she expects to keep
working well beyond 65. (Times-News photo by Drew Nash)

With fewer people moving to rural areas and the average age of rural populations rising, many rural areas are relying on an older workforce, Heather Kennison reports for The Times News in Twin Falls, Idaho. The Idaho Department of Labor and the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates project the state's 65-and-older population "is expected to climb rapidly by 2025, outpacing the national average."

About 33 percent of Idahoans aged 65-69 work, and nearly 10 percent of those over 80 do, Kennison writes. "Nearly 20 percent of Blaine County’s utilities workers, for example, are 65 and older. And seniors account for more than 10 percent among Jerome County employees in agriculture, utilities, transportation and warehousing, real estate and leasing, and arts and recreation."

One problem is an unequal distribution of population growth, Kennison writes. The Idaho Department of Labor projects that from 2015-25 the state's rural population will grow by 40,384 people, compared to 214,067 for urban areas. "While the fastest-growing age group in both rural and urban counties is 65 and older, rural counties will have far less growth in other age groups. The 65-and-older cohort is projected to increase 24 percent in rural counties, while the 15-to-24 cohort will shrink 1.1 percent. The 23-39 cohort will grow 8.4 percent in rural counties, versus 15.8 percent in urban counties."

Another problem is that Idaho has a low unemployment rate, with 64 percent—the national average is 62.8 percent—of all working-age people holding jobs, Kennison writes.That’s a higher participation rate than the national average of 62.8 percent, said Sam Wolkenhauer, a Department of Labor regional economist and population forecaster.  Unemployment rates in rural areas, such as Jerome County, are especially low, at 3.2 percent.

Trump team 'scrubbing up' EPA climate-change site, restricting USDA and Interior communications

Screen grab from today of EPA site

While the Trump administration on Wednesday backed off its plan to remove climate-change information from the Environmental Protection Agency’s website, tighter restrictions are being placed on what can be published, Timothy Cama reports for The Hill. Trump spokesperson Doug Ericksen "said officials are reviewing all of the 'editorial' parts of the EPA’s website for possible changes." He told reporters, “We’re looking at scrubbing it up a bit, putting a little freshener on it, and getting it back up to the public. We’re taking a look at everything on there."

Ericksen said "scientific findings likely will need to have their work reviewed on a 'case by case basis'," Nathan Rott reports for NPR. "Any review would directly contradict the agency's current scientific integrity policy, which was published in 2012. It prohibits 'all EPA employees, including scientists, managers and other Agency leadership from suppressing, altering, or otherwise impeding the timely release of scientific findings or conclusions'."

"It also would likely have a chilling effect on the agency's ability to conduct research on the environmental issues it is charged with regulating," Rott writes. "Ericksen did not say whether such a review process would become a permanent feature of Trump's EPA."

Trump recently ordered federal agencies "to clamp down on public communications, prohibiting agency officials from most external communications, including with reporters and through social media," Cama writes. "Agency leaders have also frozen most grant and contract payments, though some communication and payment restrictions are likely to be lifted in the coming days."

The EPA isn't the only agency to be muzzled, James Hohman reports for The Washington Post. Officials from the Agriculture Department received a memo instructing them "to clear any media communications with the secretary's office," Hohman writes. After the National Park Service Twitter account retweeted two items viewed as "unsympathetic" to President Trump, the Interior Department abruptly shutdown their official Twitter account. One of the Park Service retweets "referred to the size of the inauguration crowd on the Mall, while another addressed policies that were excised from the White House website after Trump’s swearing-in." The Interior Department has since reactivated its account.  

Republicans in Minn., Va. want electoral vote by district; would've reflected Trump's rural support

Republicans in Minnesota and Virginia want to split "up their electoral votes by congressional districts instead of awarding them statewide," David Weigel reports for The Washington Post. That would have reflected the rural support Trump had in both states.

"In Minnesota, Speaker of the House Kurt Daudt has introduced a bill that would assign one electoral vote to each of the state's districts, and two to the winner of the statewide popular vote," Weigel writes. "In Virginia, Rep. Mark Cole (R-Fredericksburg) has introduced identical legislation, and passed it through the Elections Subcommittee on a party-line vote." Nebraska and Maine are the only states that allocated their votes this way.

"If active in 2016, the bills would have handed a total of 11 electoral votes from Hillary Clinton to Trump, in states won by Clinton," Weigel writes. "Trump won six of Virginia's 11 districts, and five of Minnesota's eight districts. In Minnesota, that would have meant a 5-5 electoral vote tie for Trump despite a statewide loss; nationwide, it would have bumped his electoral vote total to 317."

Trump signs directive for border wall; critics say migrants will cross at more dangerous areas

President Trump on Wednesday signed executive actions "to build a border wall with Mexico and cut off funds to cities that do not report undocumented immigrants to federal authorities," David Nakamura reports for The Washington Post. The presidential directives "aim to create more detention centers, add thousands of Border Patrol agents and withhold federal funds from what are known as sanctuary cities, which do not comply with federal immigration laws. One order calls for the 'immediate construction of a physical wall.'” There are an estimated 11 million immigrants living illegally in the U.S.

Trump promised that construction of the border wall would begin within months, Nakurmura writes. "Federal funds would have to be appropriated by Congress, and construction industry analysts have said the total costs of a barrier along the southern U.S. border with Mexico could approach $20 billion.Trump’s directives also call for an additional 5,000 Border Patrol agents and 10,000 immigration officials. Administration officials have said they are discussing funding options with GOP lawmakers." (Post map: U.S./Mexico border)

Building a wall has many on both sides worried about safety, especially in rural areas, Nigel Duara reports for the Los Angeles Times. In 2008 fencing was constructed between El Paso and Juarez, Mexico—part of President George W. Bush's $2.8 billion plan for a 650-mile barrier. While El Paso became one the nation's safest cities, a record number of migrants from Mexico and Central America died from 2010-14 while trying to cross through the Sonoran Desert into Arizona, Duara writes.

Carlos Marentes, who in 1995 founded the Border Farm Workers Center in El Paso, "worries that plans for a larger wall will push the migrant workers who use his center farther from the relative safety of the cities and into the wild desert of west Texas," Duara writes. Carlos Valdiviezo told Duara, "People are going to find a way to cross; you cannot stop that. But the wall will change much about life on the border. People will find a way to cross, but it will be more dangerous now."

Cancer death rates on the rise in parts of the South and Appalachia, despite overall decline, study finds

In poor counties with high rates of obesity and smoking cancer death rates rose by about 50 percent from 1980-2014, says a study by researchers at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington published in the Journal of the American Medical Associaiton. While cancer mortality rates declined 20.1 percent during the study period, death rates remain high in some rural areas, including large clusters of the South, especially in Eastern Kentucky and southwestern West Virginia, areas hit hard by the loss of coal jobs. (UW map: Mortality rate for cancer and other neoplasms in 2014; click on map for larger image)

Researchers used data from the National Center for Health Statistics and, the Census Bureau and the Human Mortality Database from 1980 to 2014 for 29 cancers. During that time there were 19.5 million cancer deaths in the U.S. In 1980 the cancer mortality rate was 240.2 per 100,000, but declined to 192 per 100,000 in 2014.

Change in mortality rates for neoplasms, 1980-2014

"In counties with the highest 2014 cancer death rates, six of the top 10 were in Eastern Kentucky," Lindsey Tanner reports for The Associated Press. "Six of the 10 lowest rates were in the Colorado Rockies. For lung cancer deaths, four of the five counties with the highest 2014 rates were in Eastern Kentucky, with rates up to 80 percent higher than in 1980."

"Three of the five counties with the lowest 2014 rates were in the Colorado Rockies, where rates dropped by up to 60 percent," Tanner writes. "Death rates for breast and colorectal cancers increased in Madison County, Mississippi and in 2014 were at least five times higher there than in Summit County, Colorado, where the rates fell."

Researchers found that "for many cancers, there were distinct clusters of counties with especially high mortality. Clusters of breast cancer were present in the southern belt and along the Mississippi River, while liver cancer was high along the Texas-Mexico border, and clusters of kidney cancer were observed in North and South Dakota and counties in West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas, Alaska and Illinois."

Rule to ban horse soring is on hold after Trump orders withdrawal of all unpublished rules

An award winning high-stepper

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's final rule intended to ban soring, the use of chemicals and physical abuse to induce high steps in show horses, is on hold, Michael Collins reports for USA Today. To become effective, the rule, which was announced on Jan. 13, "must be published in the Federal Register. The new rule was supposed to be published Tuesday. But on President Donald Trump’s first day in office last Friday, the White House issued a memorandum for all unpublished rules to be withdrawn and sent back to the relevant agency for review."

"The horse-soring ban is one of dozens of proposed rules that have been frozen," Collins writes. "The delay doesn’t necessarily mean the ban is dead. The Trump administration could review it and decide to move ahead, 'which is what we’re hoping the administration will do,'" said Ketih Dane, senior adviser for equine protection for the Humane Society of the United States. Dane told Collins, “It’s certainly possible the administration could decide to take no action."

The rule states: "Beginning 30 days after the publication of the final rule, all action devices, except for certain boots, are prohibited on any Tennessee Walking Horse or racking horse at any horse show, exhibition, sale, or auction. All pads and wedges are prohibited on any Tennessee Walking Horse or racking horse at any horse show, exhibition, sale, or auction on or after Jan. 1, 2018, unless such horse has been prescribed and is receiving therapeutic, veterinary treatment using pads or wedges. This delayed implementation allows ample time to both gradually reduce the size of pads to minimize any potential physiological stress to the horses and prepare horses to compete in other classes."

Former Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack named president and CEO of U.S. Dairy Export Council

Tom Vilsack

Former Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has been named president and CEO of the U.S. Dairy Export Council, effective Feb. 1, Jessie Scott reports for Successful Farming. "USDEC is a non-profit, independent organization that works to enhance the global demand for U.S. dairy products and ingredients." Vilsack succeeds Tom Suber, who retired at the end of 2016. Suber had been president since the organization was founded in 1995.

Vilsack's role will be to "provide strategic leadership and oversight of USDEC’s global promotional and research activities, regulatory affairs, and trade policy initiatives," Scott writes. "This includes working with industry leaders to develop a long-term vision for building sales and consumer trust in U.S. dairy."

Vilsack told reporters “Growing the global market for U.S. dairy products is essential to the future of the dairy industry and America’s dairy farmers. I’ve spent my career in public service as a tireless advocate for farmers and American agriculture and can think of no better way to continue this service than by leading the U.S. Dairy Export Council. I look forward to partnering with the dynamic team at USDEC as well as agriculture, food industry, and key stakeholders at home and abroad to advance the council’s mission and strengthen trust in American dairy.”

New administration needs to understand multitude of challenges facing rural America, writes ag lawyer

Jennifer Zwagerman

Rural America, which was largely responsible for electing Donald Trump president, expects the new president to deliver on his promise to "Make America Great Again," Jennifer Zwagerman, associate director of the Agricultural Law Center and director of Career Development at Drake University Law School, writes for The Conversation. "The administration’s first challenge lies with figuring out what rural areas need. That’s a difficult task because there’s not just one 'rural voice,' unified on all issues."

"Rural communities relying on recreation tourism may support increased environmental regulations while those relying on farming or manufacturing may be opposed," she writes. "Farmers may support international trade agreements that open markets to crops, while those in manufacturing fear the loss of jobs. The concerns of rural West Virginia will not be the same as those of rural Wyoming."

A good start in giving rural areas a national voice was Trump picking former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue to head the U.S. Department of Agriculture, she writes. "Many Americans may feel like this particular Cabinet nomination doesn’t impact their everyday lives, but that is a misconception. USDA is responsible for areas beyond agriculture, including food, nutrition and rural development. Rural America is important to all Americans because it is a primary source for inexpensive and safe food, affordable energy, clean drinking water and accessible outdoor recreation."

"In nominating Perdue to head the USDA, the key agency charged with supporting rural America, Trump has picked someone with strong agricultural and rural roots," she writes. "Perdue has years of experience in the agriculture and trade sectors. As governor of Georgia, he oversaw a state in which 108 of 159 counties are designated rural because they have populations under 35,000."

"But rural America is about more than farming," she writes. "Rural communities are also the home of many of the country’s energy production resources, such as coal mining, renewable fuels like ethanol and biodiesel, wind and solar energy, and gas and oil production. Approximately 20 percent of the manufacturing industry is located in rural America.What rural America demanded with this election is a seat at the table. Getting one may be a challenge considering approximately 80 percent of elected officials do not represent rural areas. What they and the new president need to understand is that strong rural communities benefit us all."

Community newspaper revives monthly S.D. high school paper that was the victim of budget cuts

A community newspaper in South Dakota has revived the local high school's paper, which had been the victim of budget cuts, Sean Stroh reports for Editor & Publisher. Mitchell High School's newspaper is The Kernel because Mitchell is home of the Corn Palace, a building made of corn. It was not only the source for school news, but also provided a course for school credit for aspiring journalists.

When the school paper folded, The Daily Republic, also based in Mitchell, was right there to lend a hand, Stroh writes. Luke Hagen, managing editor of the Republic, told Stroh, “We decided to help because we need future journalists. Editors all over the country will agree with that, but it’s awesome to have an opportunity to actually make a difference, so I didn’t want us to lose out on that chance.”

Stroh writes, "Instead of being offered as a regular class for credit, The Kernel now bears the unique distinction of operating as an after-school club newspaper led by the Republic." The first edition of the monthly paper, about 1,000 are printed by the Republic, was published in October. Each edition "is eight pages and consists of a news, features, sports and opinion section. Typically, students cover on-campus topics, with the opinion pages also featuring a movie column as well."

Best Places map

"Every week, Hagen meets with the staff of The Kernel for about an hour (four students with about five part-timers who write one or two stories/columns for each edition)," Stroh writes. "While Hagen has been the primary leader of the program, the entire Republic staff has been receptive to helping the students if needed." Sara Bertsch, lifestyles and education reporter, assists in the editing and design process of the school paper. She told Stroh, “They are still learning how the newspaper business works and it’s exciting to see them fall in love with it the same way I did in high school. This is where it starts.”

Ag groups not happy with Trump's decision to pull U.S. out of Trans-Pacific Partnership

President Trump's decision to pull the U.S. out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership is not sitting well with some agricultural groups, Bill Tomson reports for Agri-Pulse. TPP is "a 12-nation trade pact that the Obama administration spent years orchestrating in order to give the U.S. a new leadership role among Pacific Rim countries."  Many of the other nations—Japan, Mexico, Canada, Australia, Vietnam, Brunei, Chile, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Malaysia—will likely join a competing 16-member trade deal with China called the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.

Brad Haire, of Western Farm Press, writes, "TPP represents 40 percent of the world's gross domestic product, and according to the Peterson Institute, would have increased overall U.S. exports by $357 billion by 2030. Additionally, TPP was the first regional trade agreement to address the need to coordinate international policy on trade in the products of agricultural biotechnology, a benefit the ASA says it will push to see in any future agreements with TPP partner nations."

Trump called the move "a great thing for the American worker," Chris Clayton reports for DTN The Progressive Farmer. White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters "that TPP basically put the U.S. 'on par' with several smaller countries that got great access to the U.S. without great benefit to U.S. companies." Spicer said, "That's not putting the U.S. interests first." He said "the president's trade team would immediately start negotiating bilateral trade deals that would give the U.S. more leverage and flexibility."

American Soybean Association President Ron Moore said in a statement: "Trade is something soybean farmers take very seriously. We export more than half the soy we grow here in the United States, and still more in the form of meat and other products that are produced with our meal and oil. The TPP held great promise for us, and has been a key priority for several years now. We're very disappointed to see the withdrawal today."

American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall said in a statement: "We viewed TPP as a positive agreement for agriculture—one that would have added $4.4 billion annually to our struggling agriculture economy. With this decision, it is critical that the new administration begin work immediately to do all it can to develop new markets for U.S. agricultural goods and to protect and advance U.S. agricultural interests in the critical Asia-Pacific region.”

Trump today expected to use executive orders to advance Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines

Canadian Press graphic

President Trump today is expected "to sign executive orders to advance the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines, according to sources familiar with the planned announcement," Hannah Northey reports for Greenwire. "TransCanada Corp., the company behind Keystone XL, has made clear its intention to revive the project under the Trump administration. The pipeline, slated to stretch from western Canada in Alberta to refineries in Illinois and Texas and a distribution center in Oklahoma, was rejected by President Obama."

"Energy Transfer Partners LP's $3.78 billion Dakota Access project stalled after failing to secure a critical approval for construction to advance across Lake Oahe in North Dakota," Northey writes. "Plans to build the 1,172-mile oil pipeline sparked nationwide protests after the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe voiced concerns about the potential for spills and leaks." (Dakota Access Pipeline)

ARC awards $26M to 28 projects for job training in coal-impacted communities in five states

The Appalachian Region Commission last week announced 28 awards of nearly $26 million in coal-impacted communities in five states. ARC said funds will "train more than 7,300 workers and students impacted by the changing coal economy in certificate, credentialing, and other workforce development programs. They will also create or retain more than 2,500 jobs, leverage an additional $31 million from public and private investors and create a more vibrant economic future for Appalachia’s coal-impacted communities."

The biggest award, $3.5 million, goes to Big Sandy Community and Technical College in Prestonsburg, Ky. Funds will "will enable three Eastern-Kentucky education institutions—Big Sandy, Hazard Community and Technical College and Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College—to launch a comprehensive, employer-driven workforce development program focused on building the digital economy and strengthening digital innovation and entrepreneurship across a 16-county region in Eastern Kentucky."

ARC awarded $1.92 million to Bevill State Community College in Jasper, Ala. for the Bevill State Community College POWER 2016 Initiative. "The project will create a new Rapid Training Center at Bevill State’s Jasper campus that will serve as a regional workforce training and job placement hub in northwest Alabama—an area that has been adversely affected by the recent retirement of coal-fired power generation facilities and the closure of multiple coal mines."

Other awards:

• $1.5 million to West Alabama Works for job training services for growing automotive and advanced manufacturing industries in Western Alabama.
• $1.5 million to Hazard Community and Technical College in Hazard, Ky. to construct a job training facility focused on: information technology, telemedicine and health sciences, mechatronics and eco-tourism/small business development.
• $1.5 million to Marshall University Research Corporation in Huntington, W.Va. to assist businesses "return to profitability through the adoption and deployment of emerging advanced manufacturing —primarily 3D printing and additive manufacturing."

For a complete list of awards click here.