Rural Wisconsin, which surprisingly went for Trump, anxiously waits for an economic revival

President Donald Trump narrowly won Wisconsin—where Barack Obama won in 2008 and 2012—largely on the strength of several rural counties that turned from blue to red in 2016, Claire Galofaro reports for The Associated Press. "They voted for Trump for an array of reasons, and the list of grievances they hope he now corrects is long and exacting: stagnant wages, the cost of health care, a hard-to-define feeling that things are not getting better, at least not for people like them."

While Trump has talked of a U.S.-Mexico border wall and plans to ramp up immigration enforcement, those issues are of little concern in Crawford County (Wikipedia map), one of the oldest and poorest counties in Wisconsin, Galofaro writes. In Crawford, where Obama in 2012 beat Mitt Romney 52.8 to 46.1 percent, but in 2016 Trump easily beat Hillary Clinton 59.2 to 37.4, residents "are still watching and they are waiting, their hopes pinned on his promised economic renaissance."

"Jim Bowman, director of the county's Economic Development Corporation, says some of the economic anxiety here is based not on measurable decay, but rather a perception that life is decaying," Galofaro writes. "There are plenty of jobs, but it's hard to find one that pays more than $12 an hour. Ambitious young people move away. Rural schools are dwindling, and with them a sense of pride and purpose."

Mark Berns, who owns a small-engine repair shop that he can barely keep open, told Galofaro, "If you ask anybody here, we'll all tell you the same thing: We're tired of living like this. I just hope we get the jobs back and the economy on its feet, so everybody can get a decent job and make a decent living, and have that chance at the American dream that's gone away over the past eight or 10 years. I'm still optimistic. I hope I'm not wrong."

Like many others, Marlene Kramer, who voted twice for Obama, voted for Trump because of the hope that a change could be better, Galofaro writes. Kramer, 54, has worked for 40 years, all hard jobs, and now works at a sewing shop where the biggest benefit is getting to sit, instead of being on her feet all day. She said the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act hasn't helped her, with her and her husband "stunned to find premiums over $1,000 a month. They opted to pay the penalty of $2,000 until Trump, she hopes, keeps his promise to replace the law with something better."

Corps to green-light Dakota Access Pipeline

InsideClimate News graphic

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is expected, possibly as soon as this afternoon, to issue a final easement for the Dakota Access Pipeline, Caroline Grueskin reports for The Bismarck Tribune. "The decision comes two weeks after President Donald Trump asked federal agencies to speed up their review of the crude oil pipeline that tribal and environmental activists have protested for months."

Douglas Lamont, a senior official performing the duties of the assistant secretary of the army (Civil Works) said in a court filing that "he reviewed all the corps study of the pipeline and decided the easement was warranted," Grueskin writes. "Lamont said his analysis justified reversing an earlier decision made under the Obama administration to explore alternative routes and conduct a full environmental impact statement. A notice terminating the study will be published in the Federal Register, according to filings in the federal court case between the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the corps." The Standing Rock Sioux tribe said it would fight the decision in court.

The $3.8 billion, 1,150-mile pipeline is expected to carry as much as 570,000 barrels of Bakken Formation crude from North Dakota through South Dakota and Iowa to Illinois. Standing Rock Sioux have protested the pipeline around Cannon Ball, N.D., citing concern that a spill could contaminate the Missouri River, their main source of water.

The Corps also said it was waiving the two-week waiting period typically required following congressional notification before construction begins, Ellen M. Gilmer and Hannah Northey report for Greenwire. That means that Energy Transfer Partners, the Dallas-based company building the oil pipeline, would not not need any additional federal approvals to begin construction. 

Mixing opioids and alcohol greatly increases risk of fatal respiratory complications, says study

Mixing alcohol and opioids greatly increases the risks of ventilatory depression, a potentially fatal condition that results in a failure to provide enough oxygen to the body's cells and remove excess carbon dioxide from them, says a study by researchers at Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands, published in the journal Anesthesiology. The opioid epidemic a major concern in rural areas, especially in Appalachia.

Researchers gave one 20-mg oxycodone tablet to 12 people aged 21-28 and to 12 aged 66-77 who had not been chronically taking or who had never taken opioids, says a press release. During three visits they were also given alcohol intravenously, with amounts increasing each time, from a placebo on the first visit, rising to one drink for women and three for men, then to three for women and five for men. "Researchers studied resting respiratory variables, minute ventilation—the amount of air the volunteers breathed per minute—and the number of times volunteers temporarily stopped breathing were obtained at regular intervals during treatment."

One oxycodone tablet reduced ventilation by 28 percent and two by 47 percent, says the press release. "The combination of ethanol with oxycodone caused a significant increase in the number of times volunteers experienced a temporary cessation in breathing." This occurred more often in the older participants.

How did Appalachian county where Trump won 83% of the vote get labeled a sanctuary city?

Bedford County, Pennsylvania (Wikipedia map)

Residents in a rural Appalachian county in Pennsylvania who gave President Trump 83 percent of their votes have been shocked to find that they are listed as a "sanctuary city," Todd Frankel reports for The Washington Post. Bedford County is considered a sanctuary city by the Federation for American Immigration Reform and the Center for Immigration Studies, two conservative groups with strict immigration views, Frankel writes.

"Sanctuary city" means a protective refuge where local law enforcement officials refuse to cooperate with federal immigration authorities. "Shortly after entering the White House, Trump ordered the Department of Homeland Security to study how to cut off federal funding for places that do not help federal immigration officials."

Bedford County is 98 percent white and less than 1 percent of its population is foreign-born, "far below the national rate of 13.2 percent," Frankel writes. County Sheriff Charwin Reichelderfer said about the only other nationalities you see in the county are Asians at the local Chinese restaurant and some Hispanic migrant workers employed during harvest in the fruit orchards. County district attorney Bill Higgins said a local politician even suggesting Bedford County be a sanctuary city "would be a quick way to get voted out of office, like signing your political death warrant.”

Temple report

So, how did Beford County get on the list? A 2014 report from Temple University’s Beasley School of Law "examined whether Pennsylvania counties cooperated with Immigration and Customs Enforcement requests to detain suspects for up to 48 hours when their immigration status is in doubt," Frankel writes. "The extra time is to allow federal immigration agents time to pick up the suspect. Whether police honor these detainer requests is at the heart of many sanctuary city designations."

"The Temple report noted, correctly, that Bedford County’s jail policy was to not hold suspects for immigration authorities — because the county was worried about liability," Frankel writes. They do call federal agents when there is a suspected illegal immigrant. At a county commission meeting last week officials announced that "the county jail’s policy had been changed to emphasize that the jail would cooperate with federal immigration agents and detain suspects as needed." Officials are now working to be removed from sanctuary city lists.

Community newspapers can boost budgets by creating in-house digital marketing agencies

The Rural Blog rarely deals with the business side of newspapers, but when an innovative idea, supported by research and real-world experience, offers the opportunity to produce revenue to support newsgathering, we take note.

Small daily newspapers (and perhaps larger weeklies) can create new revenue through digital marketing, says a study by a professor at the University of North Carolina School of Media and Journalism. "Despite an increased array of marketing options and a desire by small business owners to invest in new advertising tactics, about 38 percent of these businesses have not invested in any form of digital or online marketing for their businesses."

The News Reporter, a twice-weekly, Pulitzer-Prize-winning newspaper in Whiteville, N.C., with a print circulation of 10,000, "was an early pioneer in the digital space, establishing a robust website and social media presence that connects with thousands of loyal users on a daily basis," reports UNC. But the paper, which serves one of the poorest counties in North Carolina, "struggled to increase digital advertising revenue to compensate for the loss of print advertising revenue."

JoAnn Sciarrino, Knight Chair in Digital Advertising and Marketing at UNC-Chapel Hill, said community newspapers, even weeklies, can easily and cost effectively take a page from metro papers by "establishing in-house digital advertising agencies that provide a range of services—such as website design and search engine optimization—to its local advertisers," UNC reports.

Sciarrino helped set up a digital-marketing agency at The News Reporter, which has a four-person advertising staff. The paper's strategy is based on five areas: Adopt a digital-first mindset; delete print-only rates from published rate cards and align commission structure; create an 'everyone sells digital' culture; offer influential prospective customers limited pro-bono services; and develop sales reps into sales consultants.

Rural experts say big factors won't change, so rural areas need to boost schools, health, diversity

Rural experts say the long-term trends hurting small towns—urbanization, globalization and mechanization—won't change much under President Trump, Brian Mann reports for NPR. Trump won by big margins in many rural areas, largely because of his promise to revitalize them.

Experts say "taking a tougher line with China or Mexico likely won't cause a surge of new manufacturing in small towns," Mann writes. Chuck Fluharty, who heads the Rural Policy Research Institute, told Mann, "About 65 to 80 percent of the manufacturing losses in our country are directly related to automation and technology," and those kinds of job cuts "can't be reversed by tariffs or trade deals." Mann writes, "What rural America needs is an investment in what he describes as human capital, health care and education. He also says small towns need to open their doors to immigrants." He told Mann, "The rural regions that will thrive in the future are the ones where that diversity is strongly expressed."

Mann writes, "But efforts to create any kind of path to citizenship for undocumented families living in rural America seem unlikely to move forward. Rural economists say the new administration could boost some regions in the short term with big investments in infrastructure, roads and bridges. Parts of the country could also see a boom from increased oil or gas production."

One problem is migration, with large numbers of young people leaving rural areas for metros, Mann writes. Dave Swenson, a rural policy expert who studies rural counties for the state of Iowa—where two-thirds of counties have seen population declines—said the people left behind feel angry and humiliated. He told Mann, "What's left out in many of these places are the people that were unable to migrate, people who were unable to find new occupations or re-educate themselves into new trades."

15,000 doctors from travel-ban countries practice in U.S., many in rural and under-served areas

Getty Images

There are about 15,000 doctors in the U.S. from the seven countries—Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Yemen—targeted by President Trump's travel ban, Donald G. McNeil Jr. reports for The New York Times. Many of them work in rural and under-served areas.

Nearly half—42 percent—of all rural doctor visits are to a foreign-born physician, McNeil reports. "Foreign-born physicians have become crucial to the delivery of medical care in the U.S. They work in small towns where there are no other doctors, in poor urban neighborhoods and in Veterans Affairs hospitals." Dr. Patricia F. Walker, the associate director of the University of Minnesota’s Global Health Pathway, which helps refugee doctors practice in the U.S., said of foreign-born doctors, “They go to the places where graduates of Harvard Medical School don’t want to go."

Each year there are 22 percent more residencies available "than there are American graduates to take them," McNeil writes. "Graduates of foreign medical schools now fill that gap; the largest number come from India, followed by Pakistan, China, the Philippines, Iran and Israel. Many foreign graduates have J-1 visas, which give them about three years to complete their residencies. Foreign-born graduates must return home when their visas expire, but they can get extensions if they agree to work in an area that the Department of Health and Human Services considers 'medically under-served,' which is roughly defined as having less than one primary care doctor for every 3,000 people. Those who practice in an under-served area for several years can apply for green cards."

Andrea Clement, a spokeswoman for The Medicus Firm, which recruits doctors for hard-to-fill jobs, "said that 76 percent of the foreign doctors it placed last year had gone to areas with fewer than 25,000 people or to small to medium-size cities of 25,000 to 500,000," McNeil writes. It placed the most doctors in Wisconsin, followed by California, Texas, Maryland, Oregon, Missouri, Tennessee, Ohio and Arizona.

In Iowa, for example, 172 doctors are from the seven countries subject to the travel ban and 23 percent of the state’s 13,000 practicing doctors were born outside the U.S., Tony Leys reports for The Des Moines Register. Alabama, which has 600 foreign-born doctors, has a program that since 1992 has supplied 27 Syrian doctors to rural and low-income areas, Amy Yurkanin reports for Alabama Media Group.

Labor shortage from increased immigration enforcement has farmers turning to technology

Lettuce thinning machine (Blue River Technology photo)

While President Trump's plan to build a border wall and ramp up immigration enforcement could hurt agriculture as a whole, some fruit and vegetable farmers are dealing with labor shortages by switching to automation, Elizabeth Weise reports for USA Today. "The immigrant workforce that has long picked and packed the nation's fruits and vegetables move to better jobs as soon as they can, replaced by new immigrants." Those new immigrants are becoming scarce, largely do to increased border security and a strong Mexican economy that has created more jobs for workers back home.

"Robotic, sensor and other companies are striving to fill that hole," Weise writes. "The technology, from a Lettuce Bot to crop drones to robotic strawberry pickers, is still in its infancy. But agricultural-tech companies say any policies that further keep out immigrants is likely to increase demand."

California, the nation's top agriculture state, has 333,000 farm workers, an estimated 80 percent of which are undocumented, said Manuel Cunha, president of the Fresno-based Nisei Farmers League. He said more stringent immigration rules will have workers fleeing the country, especially "a requirement in an early version of the proposed immigration executive order that would expand E-Verify, an internet-based system for businesses to verify worker eligibility. Between that and what he sees as onerous regulation, he says farm labor costs could become unsustainable."

California-based Taylor Farms, one of the nation’s largest fresh-cut fruit and vegetable suppliers, is already experimenting with dozens of types of technology, Weise writes. Bruce Taylor, CEO, said "Trump’s immigration policies 'are going to force us to solve our labor problems faster.'"

Weise writes, "The labor shortage is especially acute in California, which grows one-third of the nation's vegetables and two-thirds of its fruits and nuts, according to the state's Department of Food and Agriculture. In a state that produces $47 billion in agricultural products a year, farmers say labor is the No. 1 challenge." (Read more)

Rural Mo. publisher shares his experience with U.S. visas; good example of localizing national story

Jon Rust

President Trump's travel ban of seven countries—Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Yemen—is more than about scoring political points; it's about real people with real lives at stake, opines Jon K. Rust, publisher of the Southeast Missourian in Cape Girardeau, Mo. Rust has firsthand experience, having gone through the arduous process of welcoming an 11-year-old Russian orphan into his home.

"In the case of Russia, after filling out highly detailed forms with much personal information, hundreds of people line up every day outside the U.S. embassy to enter at their appointed time for interviews," he writes. "Embassy staff who already have reviewed countless documents for a candidate and conducted investigations, if necessary, make life-altering decisions with little time to sugarcoat their rejections. Anya, this little girl struggling with so much, felt each of her four rejections in her heart. She would burst into tears, her whole body sobbing."

"Part of her response was because she was just exhausted," he writes. "To get to the interview involved someone taking time off work, traveling with her on a bus for several hours and then taking an 8-hour overnight train, public transportation, and then waiting in line sometimes in the rain and cold for her interview, which on more than one occasion lasted for only a couple of minutes. There wasn't much to confirm or question in the main part of her documents—she was poor with a troubled family—and thus, supporting materials weren't of interest. Part of the other reason she sobbed is that she just wanted to be loved and embraced—to succeed at something—when so often in her life she was beaten down."

Rust writes that he is telling the story "because I can't imagine what it would have felt like—other than fury and despair—for Anya to have received her visa after more than a year of effort, to travel here and then be rejected at the airport because while she was in the air, a presidential order banned everyone from her country from entering the U.S.," he writes. "The way the ban was implemented was cruel, haphazard and short-sighted. Innocent people were treated in deplorable ways."

"If the Trump administration planned the surprise implementation to gain maximum exposure, it succeeded," he writes. "But the rollout was heartless, and for those who argue that it had to be sprung instead of announced and calmly implemented, they don't understand the in-depth process that those travelers had already faced (more than two years of scrutiny in some cases). Since the weekend, several aspects of the presidential order have been clarified or walked back, including not barring those with green cards. Those changes are good. But they should have been clear in the original implementation."

Scientists discover link between syndrome in newborn horses and human autism

Researchers at University of California, Davis have discovered a link between a syndrome seen in some newborn horses and childhood autism, Pat Balley reports for UC Davis. Neonatal maladjustment syndrome, or "dummy foal" syndrome, occurs in 3 to 5 percent of live horse births. It can cause newborns to seem detached, stumble around and show no interest in nursing.

The syndrome has for years "been attributed to hypoxia—insufficient oxygen during the birthing process," Balley writes. Typically, when a foal’s brain is deprived of oxygen, the resulting effects include mental deficits, abnormal behavior, blindness and even seizures. Oddly, however, most foals with neonatal maladjustment syndrome survive the ordeal and have no lingering health problems. This raised the question of whether hypoxia was the culprit in the syndrome." (UC Davis photo: Effects of the syndrome are reduced by using a harness to mimic the pressure normally experienced in the birth canal.)

"Immediately after birth, the infant horse must make an equally important transition to consciousness," Balley writes. "In nature, a baby horse would be easy prey for many natural enemies, so the foal must be ready to run just a few hours after it is born. In short, somewhere between the time a foal enters the birth canal and the moment it emerges from the womb, a biochemical 'on switch' must be flicked that enables the foal to recognize the mare, nurse, and become mobile." Researchers say this theory is supported by the fact that the syndrome "appears more frequently in horses that were delivered via cesarean section or experienced unusually rapid births."

Researchers have found a similar disruption in the transition of fetal consciousness between horses and children, Balley writes. "With continuous treatment, including around-the-clock bottle or tube feeding plus intensive care in a veterinary clinic, 80 percent of the foals recover." Researchers note that "some children with autism do outgrow autistic behaviors by the time they reach their teen years," which suggests a possible parallel to the recovery of foals with maladjustment syndrome.

"Researchers are exploring whether abnormal regulation of neurosteroids during the time around childbirth could be one of many factors that might contribute to autism and related neurodevelopmental disorders," Balley writes. "A recent study has reported elevated levels of neurosteroids in children with autism spectrum disorder."

'Skype seat' allows remote reporters to ask questions during daily White House press briefing

Four remote reporters attended Wednesday's
White House press briefing (AP photo)

Last Wednesday four remote journalists and talk show hosts participated via Skype during a White House press briefing by White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer. "Spicer’s virtual addition to the daily press briefing, also known as the 'Skype Seat,' allows for additional reporters from around the country, who are not able to attend the briefings in person, to ask Spicer a question or two remotely," John Bat reports for CBS News. "Principal Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said reporters and viewers can expect Spicer to host about four Skype questions twice a week." She told reporters, “You get opinions people might not ask from just in Washington.”

Cody Derespina of Fox News reports, "The White House hasn’t released a detailed description of how the panelists are chosen, except that anyone applying must live at least 50 miles from Washington, D.C. The panelists were shown on a pair of televisions located behind and on either side of Spicer and were only on screen while asking a question. Otherwise the TV screen showed a White House logo."

The first four panelists selected were: Kimberly Kalunian of WPRI Rhode Island; Natalie Herbick from FOX8 in Cleveland; Portland, Ore.-based conservative radio talk show host Lars Larson; and stoutly conservative Jeff Jobe, who has run for office as a Republican and publishes six weekly newspapers in Southern Kentucky. He said Trump acting on campaign promises "gives hope to my state and particularly the region in which I grew up, Appalachia. . . . So my question is, how soon or when will the rules restricting coal mining, coal burning and coal exports be reversed?" Spicer said, "Once we have the secretary of energy confirmed ... we can continue to take steps to move forward with."

Asked if he thought the Skype journalists threw Spicer "softball" questions, CBS reporter Major Garrett told Bat it didn't matter: “I don’t have a problem with it at all. … I cannot complain about more reporters asking questions. If the Skype questions are softballs, everyone will see it. And if a White House gains a reputation for taking softball questions and avoiding tough questions, that will become obvious to the country.”

Other reporters say they "fear the Trump administration is using the initiative to dilute critical questions from veteran journalists with softballs from supportive outsiders," Dylan Byers reports for CNN Money. Jobe, the only rural participant, told Byers he is a Trump supporter, but "stressed that his only intention is to serve his readers," Byers writes.

Larson asked a more opinionated question than Jobe: "The federal government is the biggest landlord in America. It owns two-thirds of a billion acres of America. I don’t think the Founders ever envisioned it that way. Does President Trump want to start returning the people's land to the people? And in the meantime, for a second question—since that's in fashion these days—can he tell the Forest Service to start logging our forests aggressively again to provide jobs for Americans, wealth for the Treasury, and not spend $3.5 billion a year fighting forest fires?"

Cattle prices keep falling, but grocery store beef prices not declining at same pace

Beef2Live graphics

Cattle raisers are getting less money at the stockyard, but consumers are not reaping the rewards at the grocery store, Jere Downs reports for The Courier-Journal in Louisville. Farmers in Kentucky who a few years ago got $1,600 for an 800-pound calf are now getting $800 to $900. In South Dakota, calves bought for $1,200 to $1,500 to replace losses from the devastating 2013 blizzard have sold for $600 to $750, Jeff Holland reports for the Rapid City Journal. Another brutal South Dakota winter this year is raising costs to raise a calf by $200.

Falling prices shouldn't change any time soon, Andrew Griffith, a livestock economist from the University of Tennessee said at the Beef Cattle Health Conference in Blacksburg, Va., Beverly Amsler reports for Lancaster Farming. Griffith said cattle prices were high five years ago, leading ranchers to expand their herds. But drought led to higher corn prices, sending cattle prices in decline. He said cattle prices are expected to keep dropping this year.

Silvia Christen, executive director of the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association, "said a number of factors have led to the severe downturn," Holland writes. "The 2015 repeal of country-of-origin labeling for beef and pork products meant U.S. retailers could seek cheaper imports of beef products. Christen said her organization was also concerned with beef buyers' consolidating, leading to a reduction in the number of packers and a less competitive market."

In Kentucky, the top Eastern cattle state, beef once generated $1 billion in annual sales, but cattle farmers now "are barely breaking even or losing money for the 1 million young cows, steer or calves sold each year to fatten in feedlots out west," Downs writes. "While cattle farmers lose about half of their income, supermarket beef prices have barely budged, edging downward about 10 percent, according to Cattle Fax, a beef industry analyst firm." Beef cost an average $5.74 in 2016, down from $6 per pound in 2015, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

"Industry experts also say cattle trading on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange has been volatile beyond rational trends," Downs writes. "The National Cattlemen's Beef Association asserts that automatic, high-frequency trading by computers has skewed the market south."

"Fairer cattle trading practices are the promise of new federal rules finalized in the waning days of the Obama administration at USDA," Downs writes. "But that reform of the federal Grain Inspection, Packers & Stockyards Administration has been put on hold for 60 days by President Trump. For a farmer who has received $1,000 per calf this year instead of $2,000 a few years ago, the new GIPSA rule that was to be final in February would enable him to file a federal complaint and wield other means to challenge anti-trust practices and unfair competition," said Paul Wolfe, senior policy analyst at the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, the Washington, D.C., lobby representing 100 grassroots groups working for a healthier agriculture economy.

Pa. town whose Hispanic population has grown 800% waits on Trump's immigration orders

As the Hispanic population—and the number of Hispanic business owners—grows in rural Hazleton, Pa. (Best Places map), so does the divide among residents over immigration policies, Vaughn Hillyard reports for NBC News. Hazleton, a town where officials once tried to pass an ordinance to make it "the toughest place on illegal immigrants in America" now relies on immigrants, some of them undocumented, to survive. The Hispanic population has grown 800 percent in the past 15 years, with about half of the town's 25,000 residents Hispanic.

Some worry about the effect of President Trump's immigration policies, including his executive order that "declared that the federal government would begin working to re-implement the 287(g) program, which could authorize local law enforcement agencies to enforce federal immigration law," Hillyard reports.

"Over a decade ago, Hazleton generated national headlines over controversial immigration proposals," Hillyard writes. "With the City Council, Hazleton's then-mayor and now-congressman, Lou Barletta, authored multiple city ordinances in 2006" that "would have barred landlords from renting to undocumented immigrants and employers from hiring them. One ordinance also declared English as the city's official language. Ultimately, a federal appeals court rejected the city's efforts, saying immigration enforcement was the job of the federal government. The Supreme Court refused to consider Hazleton's appeal, so Hazleton had to drop its effort."

Mayor Jeff Cusat, a Trump supporter, wouldn't say whether he believed all undocumented immigrants should be removed from the city, Hillyard writes. Cusat told NBC, "Everybody has an identity and should be able to prove [it] if need be. If we can't prove who you are, how do we know what your intentions are?"

Some members of Hazleton's Latino community believe the rise of Trump has propelled discrimination—albeit often implicit—by some in Hazleton," Hillyard writes. Amanda Lara, assistant education director at the Hazleton Integration Project and the daughter of a Mexican immigrant, told NBC, "There are the undertones of what people don't want to label as discrimination or racism or don't want to call it that—but it's there." (Read more)

Repealing ACA could hinder treatment for opioid addiction, epidemic in Appalachia, rural areas

President Trump's pledge to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act could have dire effects on drug-treatment programs, especially in Appalachia and other rural areas plagued by the opioid epidemic, Christine Vestal reports for Stateline. An estimated 1.6 million previously uninsured addicts in the 31 states that expanded Medicaid gained coverage since 2014.

More than 33,000 people died in 2015 from opioid overdoses, a 16 percent increase over 2014, while prescription overdose deaths have quadrupled since 1999, says a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2014 Ohio had the most opioid overdoses and West Virginia the highest rate, says a separate study by CDC. Both expanded Medicaid.

ACA "offered states the ability for the first time to provide Medicaid coverage to adults without children, with the federal government paying most of the bill," Vestal writes. "That change, and the law’s mandate that all insurers cover addiction treatment at the same level as medical and surgical procedures, has allowed states to ensure that low-income people can get the care they need, said Linda Rosenberg, CEO of the National Council for Behavioral Health, which represents nonprofit addiction treatment organizations." (Stateline map: Six of the 10 states with the highest opioid death rates voted for President Trump)

"Although a plan for replacing the federal health law has yet to be announced, House Republicans and Trump have proposed shifting Medicaid to a block grant, in which a capped amount of money would be allocated to each state to provide low-income health care services," Vestal writes. "By putting more of the cost burden on states, the shift is projected to save the federal government $1 trillion over 10 years. But most states would be unable to come up with the extra money and would have to scale back efforts to get more people into treatment, said Lisa Clemans-Cope, a researcher with the Urban Institute, which analyzes health care policy."

"Because addiction is a chronic, lifelong disease, a cut in Medicaid funding would stymy states’ efforts to reduce the number of people who are addicted to heroin and other opioids and at risk for drug overdoses," Vestal writes. "Not only would low-income adults already in treatment be in jeopardy of losing coverage for their continuing care, but budget-strapped states likely would be unable to help others get out of homeless shelters and jails and into treatment."

USDA takes some animal-welfare information offline, citing privacy laws

The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Friday announced it was removing from its website Animal Welfare Act (AWA) and Horse Protection Act inspection reports—which includes information on soring, the use of chemicals and physical abuse to induce high steps in show horses—regulatory correspondence, research facility annual reports and enforcement records that have not received final adjudication.

The agency also said it would "review and redact, as necessary, the lists of licensees and registrants under the AWA, as well as lists of designated qualified persons licensed by USDA-certified horse industry organizations."

Records will now only be available through Freedom of Information Act requests, "which can take years to be approved," Karin Brulliard writes for The Washington Post. USDA "cited court rulings and privacy laws for the decision, which it said was the result of a 'comprehensive review' that took place over the past year." A USDA statement said: “We remain equally committed to being transparent and responsive to our stakeholders’ informational needs, and maintaining the privacy rights of individuals with whom we come in contact."

USDA officials refused to say if the removal was temporary of permanent and it was unclear if the change was a direct result of newly hired Trump administration officials, Brulliard writes.

Renewable energy outpacing coal for jobs; industry says wind, solar can boost rural communities

Renewable-energy advocates say wind and solar energy, not coal, can revive rural communities, Chris Martin reports for Bloomberg. Wind-farm developers employed more than 100,000 workers and the solar industry more than 200,000 at the end of 2016, compared to 65,971 coal mining jobs at the beginning of 2016, says U.S. Energy Department data.

"Leaders of the solar and wind industries say the rural areas that missed out on economic growth under President Obama are benefiting from the expansion of clean energy," Martin writes. "And that growth isn’t driving the collapse of coal mining, according to Abigail Hopper, the recently hired chief executive officer of the Solar Energy Industries Association." Hopper told Martin, “These are good paying, local jobs that the solar industry is creating everywhere.”

One problem is that the top 10 congressional districts for wind energy are all in Republican-dominated red states, Martin writes. Trump's victory, and his pledge to revive the coal industry, hasn't helped. "The Bloomberg Global Large Solar Energy index has dropped almost 13 percent since Trump was elected, compared with a 6.7 percent gain in the broader S&P 500 index."

"While Trump criticized wind turbines as bird killers during the campaign, his pick for Energy Secretary, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, helped his state become the largest producer of wind power," Martin writes. "Wind developers expect to attract $60 billion in private investment under existing tax credits over the next few years as installations ramp up, and will double the power sent to the grid to about 10 percent, from about 5 percent today. That, and the built-in sunset provisions that came with the tax-credit extensions, may help preserve the policies as Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress consider changes to the tax system."

Bipartisan group of senators from 20 states urge FCC chair to make rural broadband a priority

A bipartisan group of 30 senators from 20 states sent a letter on Thursday to new Federal Communications Commission Chair Ajit Pai "asking him to prioritize mobile broadband deployment in rural and under-served areas," Republican Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi said in a press release. "Specifically, the senators are calling on the agency to move forward with Phase II of the Universal Service Fund’s Mobility Fund, which is aimed at providing broadband service to these areas."

Wicker, chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, Innovation, and the Internet, said in a statement: “We need to continue moving the needle on broadband deployment in hard-to-reach areas, such as rural Mississippi. Providing this access promotes business innovation and job creation. This is especially important for small businesses, which support tens of thousands of Mississippi families.”

Senators signing the letter are from Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

Pai, in a post Thursday on Medium, wrote of the Mobility Fund: "Right now, the federal government spends about $25 million of taxpayer money each month to subsidize wireless carriers in areas where private capital has been spent building out networks. This is perhaps a textbook definition of waste: public funds being spent to do what the private sector has already done. Three weeks from now, we will vote on redirecting that spending to something far more useful: bringing 4G LTE service to rural Americans who don’t have it today. I am proposing to couple our detailed coverage data with a robust challenge process to identify the areas most in need of service. And I propose using a competitive 'reverse auction' to allocate this support to preserve and extend 4G LTE coverage throughout our nation."

He wrote: "The commission will also vote to finalize the rules for allocating nearly $2 billion from the Connect America Fund, which aims to advance broadband service across the country. Here again, we will direct financial support to deploy fixed broadband in unserved rural areas using a competitive reverse auction. My aim is to get the best deal for the American people with the universal service dollars we have available."

Congress blocks Stream Protection Rule for surface mines; Trump expected to sign bill

During President Obama's final week in office, the federal Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, which spent nearly the entire eight years of his presidency working on the Stream Protection Rule, on Dec. 19 issued a final version with new limits on coal mining near waterways.

On Thursday, the Republican-controlled Senate voted 54-45 to kill the rule, Devin Henry reports for The Hill. The House on Wednesday passed its bill 229-194. Republicans say President Trump supports the legislation, meaning the rule will come off the books as soon as he signs it into law.

"The coal industry and its congressional allies have looked for ways to kill the rule since Obama regulators began crafting it early in his term," Henry writes. "They argued the regulation would be such a financial hindrance for the coal industry that it would kill jobs in economically distressed areas of Appalachia already struggling due to the sector’s market-driven downturn."

When the rule was announced in December the U.S. Department of the Interior "said that it would protect 6,000 miles of streams and 52,000 acres of forests, preventing coal mining debris from being dumped into nearby waters," Kevin Freking and Matthew Daly report for The Associated Press. The Senate and House votes are "the first in a series of actions Republicans are expected to take in coming weeks to reverse years of what they call excessive regulation during Obama’s tenure."

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who hails from the nation's No. 4 coal-producing state, called the stream rule "an attack against coal miners and their families," and that it threatened coal jobs and would cause major damage to coal-reliant communities. He told reporters, "The legislation we passed today will help stop this disastrous rule and bring relief to coal miners and their families."

N.C. farm experimenting with ways to raise antibiotic-free hogs and decrease farm runoff

Straw is used to soak up urine and feces
(North Carolina Health News photo by Gave Rivin)

Researchers at an experimental farm in Goldsboro, N.C., hope to "show how hogs can be raised without antibiotics in a way that grants them enough space to roam—and that keeps their waste out of open-air lagoons," Gabe Rivin reports for North Carolina Health News. The 142-animal operation is part-research facility, part-demonstration for the Center for Environmental Farming Systems, and a research center run by North Carolina State University, North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University and the state's Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

North Carolina, second only to Iowa in pork production, has 8.8 million pigs, mostly in the eastern part of the state, Rivin writes. "To raise such a large number of pigs, many farms rely on concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs. These facilities raise animals efficiently and economically. Yet with such large numbers of animals, they can also produce an abundant amount of feces and urine. Many large-scale farms store this waste in open-air lagoons or in pits and then spray the treated waste on nearby fields. But this practice has raised researchers’ and residents’ concerns."

One way researchers have cut down on waste is through straw beds, Rivin writes. "The straw is used to soak up the pigs’ urine and feces. It’s how the farmers manage the animals’ waste, and it serves as an alternative to a lagoon system. Eventually, it can also be used as a fertilizer for crops." One drawback to the farm is that raising antibiotic, cage-free animals requires paying closer attention to the animals, which means increased time and labor for workers.

Webinar Feb. 22 on youth safety to focus on grain bins; Grain Bin Safety Week Feb. 19-25

The National Children’s Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety will hold a webinar on Feb. 22 at 4 p.m. ET on grain-bin safety. Entrapment in grain bins can cause death or injury, and small farms account for a third of grain-bin deaths and two-thirds of entrapments.

The webinar, which incorporates a Grain Handling Safety Coalition video with survivors of a fatal grain accident, coincides with Nationwide Insurance’s Grain Bin Safety Week, from Feb 19-25.

“We will explain how the video, along with a discussion sheet, can be used as a training tool, both for high school agricultural teachers and for community training,” said webinar host Marsha Salzwedel, a youth agricultural safety specialist with the National Children’s Center. “These video materials complement the coalition’s Stand TALL curriculum, which can be used to expand on the concepts and safety strategies introduced in the video.”

The webinar is free but registration is required. To register click here.

Don't let the Super Bowl turn sour; avoid foodborne illnesses through safe food handling practices

The Super Bowl, which is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, is one of the most watched events in the U.S., with an estimated 100 million television viewers. The Super Bowl also is a prime time for foodborne illnesses, with viewers expected to eat approximately 1.3 billion chicken wings, says the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Each year 48 million Americans get sick from foodborne illnesses, largely because of unsafe food handling practices.

USDA offers some tips for your Super Bowl party, including keeping foods out of the "danger zone," which is the temperature range between 40 degrees Fahrenheit and 140 degrees. In the danger zone "bacteria can multiply rapidly, causing a single bacterium to multiply to 17 million in 12 hours. Avoid serving Super Bowl favorites, such as pizza and chicken wings, at room temperature for the entire game."

When serving food or ordering takeout food, USDA suggests:

• If warm takeout foods are to be served immediately, keep them at 140 degrees or above by placing in chafing dishes, preheated warming trays or slow cookers. 
• If take-out foods will not be served immediately, either keep them warm in a preheated oven, or divide the food into smaller portions or pieces, place in shallow containers, and refrigerate. At serving time, reheat to 165 degrees. 
• Cold foods that are served should be kept at 40 degrees or below, which can be done by nesting serving dishes in bowls of ice. Avoid storing food outside, where the sun can quickly warm foods in plastic storage containers and animals can get into. 
• Start a game-day tradition by using a food thermometer to ensure foods being served to guests are not in the "Danger Zone." 

To ensure home-prepared chicken wings are safe, follow these tips:

• Do not wash raw chicken wings. Sixty-seven percent of respondents in a 2016 FDA food safety survey indicated they washed raw chicken parts; however, washing will not destroy pathogens and may increase the risk of contaminating other foods and surfaces. 
• Ensure chicken wings are safe to eat by verifying they have reached an internal temperature of 165 degrees. Take the temperature of multiple wings in the thickest part of the wing, being careful to avoid the bone.

Trump's travel ban could lead to increased doctor shortages in rural areas, says study and AMA

President Trump's temporary travel ban and promised "extreme vetting" of immigrants from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, and perhaps other majority-Muslim nations, could hurt medical education in the U.S., leading to increased doctor shortages in rural areas and inner cities, says a study by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh, published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

Data from 2015 by the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) shows that 24 percent of all practicing physicians in the U.S. are from other countries. The 2016 Main Residency Match found that 7,460 international medical graduates—21 percent—were not U.S. citizens.

While there are no published numbers available on the country of origin of U.S. doctors, a 2014 report by ECFMG and the National Resident Matching Program found that in 2013, "753 applicants whose country of citizenship at birth was Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan, or Syria; 299 of these (40 percent) were matched into a U.S.-based residency program." (Map: Health professional shortage areas)

"If the ordered ban expands to include other countries with a Muslim majority population, the number of potentially affected applicants will increase significantly," researchers said. "In 2013, there were 2,101 applicants from 11 different countries with Muslim majority, of which 40 percent were matched into a U.S.-based residency program."

International medical graduates "who train on a J-1 visa (a non-immigrant visa sponsored through the ECFMG Exchange Visitor Sponsorship Program) are required to return to their home country for two years or obtain a J-1 waiver clinical job in order to stay in the U.S.," the study says. J-1 waivers are usually granted through a program that "can extend a physician's stay in the U.S. if they commit to serving in rural areas and inner-cities. "In 2014–2015 there were 9,206 sponsored J-1 physicians from 130 countries, and 6 of the top 10 countries of origin—accounting for a total of 1,879 J-1 physicians—have Muslim majority populations."

Parija Kavilanz reports for CNN, "The American Medical Association, which represents medical doctors across the country, sent a letter Wednesday to the Department of Homeland Security asking for clarity on the visa ban." The letter said: "While we understand the importance of a reliable system for vetting people from entering the United States, it is vitally important that this process not impact patient access to timely medical treatment or restrict physicians and international medical graduates (IMGs) who have been granted visas to train, practice in the United States."

The AMA said the ban would worsen access to health care in rural areas, noting that foreign medical graduates are more likely to serve in poor, under-served communities, Kavilanz writes.

Matthew Shick, director of government relations and regulatory counsel with the American Association of Medical Colleges, told Kavilanz, "There could very well be a patient in a rural area who had an appointment with their doctor this week and the doctor was not allowed back into the country . . . at a time when the United States is facing a serious shortage of physicians, international medical students are helping to fill an essential need."

Media downplayed disdain for Clinton in heartland to avoid appearing sexist, says NBC's Chuck Todd

Chuck Todd's podcast is named for
the year "Meet The Press" began

Mainstream media downplayed how unpopular Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was in the heartland to avoid appearing sexist, NBC's Chuck Todd told former President George W. Bush White House press secretary Ari Fleischer on Todd's 1947 podcast, Ken Shepherd reports for The Washington Times.

Todd said: “Where I think political correctness got in the way of what we all knew as reporters and didn’t fully deliver was how hated the Clintons were in the heartland. And I think it was a fear of, ‘Oh, is it going to look like it’s sexist, anti-woman if we say that?’ I think we underplayed it a little bit out of political-correctness fears. No member of the press corps wants to look like they’re singling out a group and making a group feel bad, right, whatever that (group) is."

"If we sort of were straight-up honest and blunt about, 'Hey, do we understand the level of hatred that’s out there?' and you know, all the 'Hillary for Prison' signs that are out there, we certainly would have at least made the viewer know, hey, you know, she’s not well-liked in some places in this country in ways that’s times 10 when it comes to Trump,” he said.

Soccer players who regularly head the ball are 3 times more likely to suffer a concussion, says study

Players who regularly head the ball in soccer, a growing sport in urban and rural areas, are three times more likely than players who rarely head the ball to suffer a concussion, says a study published in the American Academy of Neurology. "Players whose heads were hit in a collision two or more times in a two-week period were six times more likely to have concussion symptoms than players who did not have any unintentional head trauma, such as a ball hitting the back of the head or a head colliding with another player’s knee."

The study of 222 adult amateur soccer players who played at least six months of the year on leagues or clubs in the New York city area, found that "of those with head impacts, 20 percent had moderate to severe symptoms. Seven people had very severe symptoms. Of those, six people had two or more unintentional head impacts during the two weeks; four were in the group that headed the ball the most and three were in the group with the second-most headers."

The risk of concussions and injuries is even greater for youth players. A 2016 study by researchers from the Center for Injury Research and Policy of The Research, found that youth soccer emergency room cases rose 78 percent from 1990 to 2014 and concussions went up almost 1,600 percent. Reports have found that youth are more at risk of head injuries. In 2015 a rural Kentucky paper ran a series looking at concussions on high school athletes. University of Kentucky researchers in 2014 looked at the impact of concussions on youth.

Twice-weekly paper in Texas runs in-depth series on events surrounding local murder case

George Malone (above)
and Deborah Malone Wilson (left)
on the day of the attack in 2009

The Hood County Times, a twice-weekly in Granbury, Texas, has been running an in-depth series on a local murder case, in which an adult brother and sister were sentenced to 99 years in prison for killing their father, who had been accused of being a lifelong sexual and physical abuser, raising the possibility that the children may have been acting in self-defense.

But a case that appeared bungled, and state laws preventing certain types of testimony, have left many wondering who was the true victim.

During Deborah Malone Wilson's 2010 murder trial of her 82-year-old father George Malone, any time a witness veered toward talking about abuse "the state objected and that was the end of that," Kathy Cruz writes. "At that time—September 2010—Section 38.371 had not been added to the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure. The statute is intended to give juries context that might help explain a single event, since single events often don’t tell the full story in family violence cases."

Every effort was made to avoid victim-blaming of George, who "was portrayed as 'a poor old man' who had been viciously attacked by two of his ungrateful adult children," said Paul Hyde, a juror on Deborah's trial, and also of her brother David, in a separate case, Cruz writes. Hyde said he "believes that, had more testimony been allowed about Malone, the jury might have reached a different verdict."

Kelsey McKay, a former prosecutor in Travis County, home to Austin, said Section 38.371, "which can be used by both the state and the defense, might have helped Wilson had it been in effect at the time she was taken to trial," Cruz writes. "For instance, the judge might have allowed the defense to put on the stand a woman who had filed a harassment claim against Malone two years before the incident." Wilson claims that the woman, who was allowing George to pick up her daughter from school, took the action after she warned her that Malone was a pedophile. "Wilson said that her father’s behavior toward her escalated after that, and that she feels the protective order he sought against her shortly before his death was retaliation."

Granbury, Texas (Best Places map)

Other stories in the series:

A specialist says there were obvious signs of self-defense by the convicted murderers, yet no experts were called to the stand. No experts in the fields of domestic and sexual violence were called to the stand. A look at how the county fails to help victims of abuse. A look at events the day of the attack. What neighbors thought of George Malone. An interview with the district attorney, who believes the children were willing participants in the murder. Also, Deborah Malone Wilson's pleas to have her lawyer replaced went unheeded and Danny Malone, brother of the convicted murderers, said he was abused by his father and "it could have been me that killed him."

Minnesota, North Dakota lawmakers aim to end 'blue laws' that limit business activity on Sundays

Pioneer Press photo by Scott Takushi

The North Dakota House voted this week to allow all businesses to open before noon on Sunday, and business interests think the Senate will agree. Meanwhile, legislators in adjoining Minnesota are pushing to allow Sunday liquor sales.

"North Dakota became the last state to allow Sunday shopping in 1991, and last session lawmakers permitted restaurants to start selling alcohol at 11 a.m. instead of noon," John Hagerman reports for the Grand Forks Herald. The current Sunday closing law "makes it a Class B misdemeanor to operate a business that’s open to the public before noon Sunday, although exceptions exist for restaurants, hotels, hospitals and other businesses."

The House voted 48-46 Tuesday to repeal the law, one day after rejecting a repeal, Hagerman writes. Opponents of the decision cite religious beliefs and the need for time off with families. Business owners argue that they should be able to set their own hours. "Andy Peterson, president and CEO of the Greater North Dakota Chamber, said he was 'cautiously optimistic' the Senate would support the repeal. In committee testimony last week, he called it a matter of 'economic freedom.'”

Minnesota House Speaker Kurt Daudt has promised that the House this year will pass a law ending the ban on Sunday liquor sales, Rachel Stassen-Berger reports for the Pioneer Press in St. Paul. "The Republican-controlled House started to make good on that promise Tuesday," with a committee voting 15-4 to repeal the ban.

"Blue laws" banning Sunday liquor sales still exist in 12 states—Alabama, Indiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia, according to ProhibitionRepeal.com. Indiana is the only state that bans beer, wine and liquor on Sundays.

Polls show most residents support ending the Minnesota ban, Stassen-Berger writes. Backers say allowing sales "would reflect the busy shopping day that Sunday has become." Opponents say "lifting the ban could harm municipal liquor stores, which provide funds to local communities, and small businesses, which would feel competitive pressure to operate seven days a week, like the bigger stores do or face closure."

Dix Communications sells 5 dailies and 18 weeklies in Ohio to growing GateHouse Media

Dix Communications, which owned five daily newspapers and 18 weeklies in northeast and east-central Ohio, has sold all its newspapers and related websites to the burgeoning chain GateHouse Media, Gatehouse announced today. "In addition to the print publications, the acquisition includes a number of niche publications, websites and a commercial printing operation. Jim Hopson, who recently served as the interim publisher in Columbus, Ohio, has been appointed interim group publisher of GateHouse North-Central Ohio and will oversee the new division."

Dix Communications, founded in 1893, has been owned by five generations of Dix family members, reports Editor & Publisher. "Dix operations include a printing facility in Wooster and more than 30 daily and weekly newspapers, online-only publications and specialty publications. The largest newspapers are the Record-Courier in Kent, The Daily Record in Wooster, The Ashland Times-Gazette, The Alliance Review and The Daily Jeffersonian in Cambridge." Last year the family sold its only Kentucky paper, The State Journal in Frankfort, to Boone Newspapers.

G. Charles Dix II, who served as president and CEO of Dix Communications, told reporters, “We feel GateHouse has the regional and national scale necessary to advance the publishing industry and care for our communities with local news and advertising."

Coal production down sharply in 2016; Wyoming still No. 1; Kentucky drops from 3rd to 4th

The national decline in coal production and employment continues, but with differing effects among the states. Wyoming was still the biggest coal producer in 2016, and West Virginia remained No. 2, but Illinois supplanted Kentucky at No. 3.

Like other leading states, Wyoming faced incredible lows in 2016. Coal production in the Powder River Basin in 2016 reached its lowest levels in 20 years, reports The Associated Press. Production from the basin, which lies mainly in Wyoming, was 283 million tons, almost all the state's production of 293 million tons, Heather Richards reports for the Casper Star Tribune.

Encyclopaedia Britannica map of coal regions, with principal state names added

This marked the first time since 1998 the region failed to surpass 300 million tons, AP reports. Last year's total was down 78.1 million tons from 2015, the largest single-year drop ever.

"Since 2013, competition with natural gas, the retirement of coal-fired power plants and environmental regulations have led to slowing production of coal, leading to 30-year price lows and the mass Wyoming layoffs of last spring," Richards reports. "Production generally averages around 100 million tons per quarter in Wyoming, but that figure dipped to 86 million tons in the second quarter of 2015 before the bankruptcy run.. . . Forecasts for the future of the coal industry have been varied, but most show an eventual decline as natural gas competition and utility demand changes the landscape for U.S. electricity generation."

Despite the reduced levels, Wyoming remained the biggest coal producer, followed by West Virginia, then Illinois. Kentucky, which had been No. 3 since 1994, was fourth.

"Kentucky led the national coal production from 1971-1978," Bill Estep writes for the Lexington Herald Leader. But according to a report published Tuesday by the state Energy and Environment Cabinet, "Kentucky’s mines turned out 42.5 million tons of coal in 2016, a drop of 30.7 percent from 2015," Estep writes.

"Jobs were equally anemic" in the Kentucky coalfields, Estep writes. As of Dec. 31, Kentucky's estimated employment in the coal industry, "was 6,371, down 24.2 percent compared to the last quarter of 2015." The losses were mainly in the eastern coalfield, which is part of the Appalachian Basin; the western coalfield is in the Illinois Basin. For the latest coal-production data from the Energy Information Administration, click here.

Forest-based rural subsidy expires; timber states' Forest Service payments to be cut up to 91%

Secure Rural Schools, a U.S. Forest Service program "that pumped millions of dollars into rural communities has expired," meaning "sharply reduced revenue sharing timber-harvest payments for more than 700 counties and 4,000 school districts," Bartholomew Sullivan reports for the Statesman Journal in Salem, Ore. In Oregon, payments would be cut by 91.9 percent from $86.4 million in 2015 to $7 million. (Daily Yonder graphic: Secure Rural Schools funding in 2013. For an interactive version click here)

Secure Rural Schools, enacted in 2000, "was aimed at shoring up the financial wherewithal of communities and school districts in 41 states where timber harvests were in decline," Sullivan writes. "Historically, those communities had relied on an early 20th century law guaranteeing 25 percent of timber revenues dedicated to local governments. But as federal environmental policies dramatically reduced logging in the 1990s, those local budgets were strained."

Funds "went to rural schools, roads and emergency response programs in 720 forested counties and also permitted improvements within Forest Service lands," Sullivan writes. "Counties could be reimbursed for search and rescue costs on federal lands and funds could be used to establish wildfire plans. The law had provided gradually reduced payments since 2012 and was authorized a final time at $285 million in April 2015 and expired six months later. Payments to counties at the previous 25 percent level will start to be sent out in February, said Babete R. Anderson, the national press officer for the Forest Service." (Secure Rural Schools funding in Lane County, Oregon: KVAL graphic)

Anderson said in a prepared statement: “Without congressional re-authorization of the Secure Rural Schools Act, the Forest Service must revert to making payments to states under the 1908 act, commonly called ‘the 25 percent payments,’ for the 2017 payment year. We are working through the steps required to process the 25 percent fund payments expeditiously and anticipate making those payments by the middle of February.”

Native American youth finding hope in fight against Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipelines

Proposed Keystone XL Pipeline (Canadian Press graphic)

Native American youth have found a calling in the fight against the Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipelines, Saul Elbein reports for The New York Times. Like many Native American reservations, among the 1,300 Lakota people of the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota, there are high rates of youth suicide, drug and alcohol abuse and violence.

Lakota youth formed a group called One Mind Youth Movement – which was originally created to suppress the suicide wave – and joined the fight against the proposed pipelines, which have the support of President Trump, Elbein writes. They campaigned against the Keystone XL pipeline, "whose route would cut under the Cheyenne River just upstream from the reservation that bears its name. After the Obama State Department denied the Keystone XL permission to cross the U.S.-Canadian border in November 2015, they moved their focus to the neighboring Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, to join the fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline," which would "move half a million barrels of oil a day beneath the Missouri River, the main source of drinking water for the Standing Rock Sioux, which is one of the cousin bands to Cheyenne River."

"The youth came to believe that the Dakota pipeline was not only a threat to their drinking water but also a harbinger of the larger environmental crisis their generation was set to inherit," Elbein writes. The youth group leaders say, "as important as the idea of the safe space was the idea that activism would teach children the skills to survive more immediate threats, like bullying and drug abuse. They hoped to pass on skills at the camp that they themselves had been taught by Keystone activists in their community."

Dakota Access Pipeline
(InsideClimate News graphic)

One Mind also organized a 500-mile relay run "from the Sacred Stone Camp to President Omaha to deliver a letter to the Army Corps of Engineers, asking it to deny the Dakota Access Pipeline permission to cross the Missouri River," Elbein writes. Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN) "began a social-media campaign announcing the run and organized a blitz of calls and letters from tribal members on various reservations."

IEN also paid for One Mind members to be trained as organizers, exposing the teenagers and young adults "to ideas and training that linked the pipeline fight to larger struggles in their society," Elbein writes. "Every direct-action training against the Keystone XL, for example, referenced the prophecy of the black snake, a figure out of Lakota myth that in recent times has been identified with pipelines. But it has a more general meaning." IEN organizer Dallas Goldtooth told Elbein, "It symbolizes a darkness, a sickness, whose only intention is to sow dysfunction and loss of life in our communities," Elbein writes, "The message was clear: The struggle against the pipeline was part of the same struggle against alcoholism, suicide and abuse."