Southern Baptist Convention distances itself from the GOP

J.D. Greear, new president
of Southern Baptist Convention

Out of a mix of "pragmatism and principle," the Southern Baptist Convention is distancing itself from the Republican Party and making serious efforts to reach out to minorities and women. Without a fresh infusion of members, it fears that its future is in jeopardy:

"For more than a decade, the denomination has been experiencing precipitous decline by almost every metric. Baptisms are at a 70-year low, and Sunday attendance is at a 20-year low," Jonathan Merritt reports for The Atlantic. "Southern Baptist churches lost almost 80,000 members from 2016 to 2017 and they have hemorrhaged a whopping 1 million members since 2003. For years, Southern Baptists have criticized more liberal denominations for their declines, but their own trends are now running parallel. The next crop of leaders knows something must be done."

In the last 30 years, SBC leaders have purged moderate cultural and political viewpoints from the denomination and become a powerful ally to the Republican Party. But two leaders of that movement have been shunned because of recent scandals: several men accused Paul Pressler of sexually abusing them or soliciting them for sex, and Paige Patterson was dismissed as president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary after being accused of not properly reporting rape allegations (more than 3,000 Southern Baptist women signed a petition calling for his resignation). Patterson was also criticized for encouraging abused women to submit to their violent husbands, Merritt reports.

Patterson's ouster signaled a sea change in the SBC, as its membership continued shifting to younger Southern Baptists who think differently about culture and politics than older members. With the backing of such young members, 45-year-old megachurch pastor J.D. Greear of North Carolina won 69 percent of the vote in June to become the convention's new president. In a campaign video, Greear called for a "new culture and a new posture" in the SBC, and promised to listen to, honor, and include in top leadership roles women and minorities, Merritt reports.

The convention made some strides in that direction at this year's meeting. "This included resolutions that condemned the abuse of women, affirmed the importance of women’s contributions to churches, and offered a confession that Baptists have often “wronged women, abused women, silenced women, objectified women," Merritt reports. "The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, which is the denomination’s public-policy arm, hosted a packed #metoo panel discussion. And several leaders publicly suggested that women must be included in top levels of leadership. Multiple prominent leaders even insinuated that it may be time to elect a woman as SBC president, a notion that would have been considered unthinkable, if not heretical, even a decade ago.

The convention took steps to increase minorities' role as well: the SBC pastors' meeting was led by an African American, and half its speakers were people of color. That could be a step toward political change. "This predominately white denomination knows that it must reach out to Baptists of color, but if it takes Baptists of color’s concerns seriously, it is going to have to change in other ways, including politically," says Bill Leonard, a professor of Baptist studies and church history at Wake Forest University.

It's unclear how such a change would play out. Though many Southern Baptists believe endorsing President Trump puts their moral credibility at risk, most are still politically and culturally conservative. But, "this shift away from a more culturally strident and politically partisan stance is significant," Merritt reports. "In Trump’s America, where the religious right wields outsized influence, the shifts among Southern Baptists could be a harbinger of broader change among evangelicals."

Head of online publishers' group says his members 'fill the gaps' in local news coverage of California wildfires

Four photos of the Mendocino wildfire by Elizabeth Larson, editor and publisher of the Lake County News.

The historic wildfires in California have spawned online news outlets to deliver information that "fill the gaps" in local news coverage, Matt DeRienzo, executive director of Local Independent Online Publishers, writes for the Poynter Institute.

The Mendocino Voice "has been updating residents almost around the clock about shifting evacuation zones, services for the displaced and efforts to contain the fires since they broke out," DeRienzo reports. "A typical audience of about 15,000 people tuning in for news about local planning commission or school board meetings has swelled to more than 76,000 during the wildfire coverage."

In an adjoining county, Lake County News, Editor-Publisher Elizabeth Larson told DeRienzo,

"It's primarily my husband, John Jensen, and me. We're also evacuated from our home office in Lucerne, and are staying at a friend's home." To the southeast, Sierra News Online, near Yosemite National Park, "are providing crucial and exclusive wildfire coverage in their communities this week," DeRienzo writes. "Downstate, Berkeleyside and Santa Barbara’s Noozhawk provide journalistic and business model inspiration as longer-established online news sites that have achieved financial sustainability and added reporting resources over the years."

The Mendocino Voice was started two years ago by two former Willits News reporters, with support from a LION program "made possible with support from the Democracy Fund, that is helping local news sites figure out local advertising sales by pairing them with veteran local online news publishers who’ve been successful at it," DeRienzo reports.

DiRienzo writes hopefully, “There’s a framework in sight for replacing — and in some cases exceeding — the local journalism we’ve lost.”

Federal appeals court tells EPA to ban pesticide chlorpyrifos

A three-judge panel of the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 Thursday that the Environmental Protection Agency endangered public welfare by ignoring extensive evidence that a widely used pesticide is harmful to children, and ordered the agency to ban the sale of chlorpyrifos within 60 days.

"In March 2017, just a month after he was confirmed as the agency’s administrator, Scott Pruitt rejected a petition by the health and environmental groups to ban the pesticide," Eric Lipton reports for The New York Times. "He did so even though the agency’s own staff scientists had recommended that chlorpyrifos be removed from the market, based on health studies that had suggested it was harming children, particularly among farmworker families."

Chlorpyrifos is used in more than 50 crops, and its leading manufacturer DowDuPont, along with others, lobbied the EPA extensively to keep it legal. EPA spokesperson Michael Abboud said the agency will review the court's decision, mentioning that it had remaining questions about one of the studies cited to support the ban.

Rural telcos say Verizon lied about rural 4G LTE coverage

"Verizon 'grossly overstated' its 4G LTE coverage in government filings, potentially preventing smaller carriers from obtaining funding needed to expand coverage in underserved rural areas, according to the Rural Wireless Association, a trade group that represents rural carriers, Jon Brodkin reports for Ars Technica.

Last year the Federal Communications Commission required wireless carriers to file maps and data that showed their 4G LTE coverage, in order to help the FCC determine where to distribute up to $4.5 billion in funding over the next 10 years to rural areas that lack unsubsidized 4G service. In the RWA's filing with the FCC, the group claimed that, if Verizon said areas were covered that really weren't, its rural competitors wouldn't be able to get that funding, Brodkin reports.

Specifically, Verizon claims to cover almost all of the Oklahoma Panhandle, but the RWA says that's false. According to their investigation, not even half of Verizon's claimed LTE coverage area has 4G service. Verizon disputes RWA's methodology and says its map is accurate. The FCC has not yet said whether it will investigate RWA's claim.

Moody’s says $12 billion aid package is unlikely to help farmers in long term, may hurt high-export states

President Trump's $12 billion aid package, meant to help farmers hurt by the trade war with China, won't help agriculture in the long term and will likely hurt most in top export states such as Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska and North Dakota, according to a report from Moody's Investors Service.

"These states are most vulnerable to trade disputes, due to their high volumes of farm exports and extreme economic dependence on agriculture, according to the report. The four states specialize in pork, soybeans, beef and wheat—among the top exports to China," Dave Nyczepir reports for Route Fifty. "All four states also have aging, slow-growing populations that limit labor force growth into other sectors, though their strong credit profiles could help them weather short-term economic uncertainty, the report said." Read more here.

Rural editor: Why do Americans care about Thai boys in cave but not undocumented kids separated from parents?

When 12 Thai boys were trapped in a cave a few weeks ago, the news captured the world's attention.

"Why did we care so deeply? We didn't know them. We didn't know their names or their families. We didn't speak their language. We didn't really understand why they had entered that cave, or ventured so far inside. Most of us had never been to Thailand. Many of us still probably couldn't point to it on a map. And yet, there we were, trapped in a dark cave along with them," Editor-Puiblisher Laurie Ezzell Brown writes for The Canadian Record in Canadian, Texas. "During the long ordeal, we prayed for those children, wept for them, eagerly followed every report of the effort to find them--and then, to rescue them before the monsoon rains could seal their fates. We cheered the rescuers' bravery and cunning, and mourned the death of one diver who sacrificed his life to save them. Heroes, all."

But America's public outpouring of love for those Thai boys contrasts sharply with the nation's attitude toward immigrant children separated from their parents back in the U.S., Ezzell writes.

"We don't know these immigrant families. We don't know their names or where they come from, Most of us do not speak the same language. We don't really understand why they came here illegally, or what sacrifices they made to do so. We may never have visited their native country, and probably, if asked, could not pinpoint the hometowns they left on a map," Ezzell writes. "But if we try, we might be able to imagine what could cause us to make such a desperate decision. We can imagine leaving our homes, our loved ones, and all that is familiar, to embark on a difficult and dangerous journey."

Rural/urban political divide visible in Tuesday's elections

It's impossible to know whether the turnout in Tuesday's special election in Ohio's 12th Congressional District has broader implications for the November midterm elections, but if so, Republicans could have reason to feel concerned.

The 12th comprises most of the northern Columbus suburbs in Franklin County, suburban/rural Delaware County and five rural counties. It has been deep red for more than 30 years and voted solidly for President Trump in 2016. But in Tuesday's election between Democrat Danny O'Connor and Republican Troy Balderson, suburban voters had a 42 percent turnout, while rural turnout ranged from 27 to 32 percent, Alexander Burns and Jonathan Martin write for The New York Times. The race is still too close to call but Balderson seems very likely to be declared the winner.

"This is an ominous sign for Republicans: The highest-income and best-educated elements of the electorate — those deeply uneasy with President Trump — are showing the most interest in voting," Burns and Martin write. "Defending a few dozen districts that are either more heavily urban or feature a similar demographic mix as Ohio’s 12th District, Republicans will need to find a way to win back suburbanites or better galvanize rural voters. If they do not, their House majority will slip away."

Ishaan Tharoor of The Washington Post digs a little deeper into the historic rural/urban political divide, writing that it's not a phenomenon limited to the modern age or the United States.

"Modern politics have been historically shaped by the tensions between the dynamism of cities and the relative stasis of the provinces, hidebound by feudalism and poverty. Town and country divisions — and the cultural enmities they foster — stretch back to antiquity," Tharoor writes. "But the inexorable urbanization of the world means that cities are, more than ever, the center of gravity in global politics, culture and the economy. In many democratic European societies that shift has bred marginalization and resentment."

Tharoor writes a detailed and fascinating historical analysis that's well worth your time. Read it here.

Most farmers, but fewer than before, say they back Trump on trade; map shows China’s trade impact by House district

According to a poll released Monday, one in seven farmers who voted for President Trump would not vote for him today, mostly because of the escalating trade war with China. Though 60 percent of farmers overall still support him, that's down from 75 percent in 2016. And 40 percent of the 924 respondents to the Farm Futures poll say Trump's trade actions have permanently damaged agriculture, Chuck Abbott reports for Successful Farming.

Nevertheless, a large majority of farmers said they were willing to give Trump more time to work out trade deals, and believe that he will benefit their farms in the long-term, even if they're suffering in the short term, Abbot reports. The poll was done from July 20 through Aug. 2; Trump announced $12 billion in aid for farmers on July 24.

One reason so many farmers support Trump's trade policies may be that the Republican Party's attitude on trade has been shifting toward a more protectionist, anti-China stance over the past two decades (75 percent of the poll's respondents self-identified as Republican). The shift was triggered by China's entry into the World Trade Organization in 2001, which hurt the U.S. manufacturing industry even though it benefitted the U.S. economy overall, John Kuk, Deborah Seligsohn, and Jiakun Zhang report for The Washington Post.

And Republican politicians in hard-hit districts were more likely to blame China, not overall trade policy, for local woes in their posts, speeches and other communications with constituents. "Scapegoating China for the negative externalities of trade was convenient and let Republican legislators respond to voter concerns while continuing to support their party’s position on free trade," the Post reports.

Negative impact of Chinese competition per worker by congressional district, 2000-07. A value of 3.89, for example, means the value of Chinese imports increased by $3,890 per worker over that period. (Washington Post map)

It's not clear how much the trade war is hurting farmers, though the Department of Agriculture estimated $59.5 billion in net farm income for 2018 earlier this year, lower than 2016 and 2017, and less than half of the farm-income high in 2013, David Widmar notes for Successful Farming.

But soybean growers may see some relief soon: German oilseeds analyst Oil World said this week that China may have to start buying some U.S. soybeans again because other countries can't supply enough to meet its needs, Reuters reports.

Rural Arkansas educators tell DOE commission that rural areas, too far from law enforcement, need armed teachers

"Proposals to arm teachers and school staff have stirred controversy since the February school shooting in Parkland, Fla., but such plans are sometimes the best options for rural schools far from first responders, state and school officials told the Federal School Safety Commission at a site visit in Arkansas on Wednesday," Elvie Blad reports for Education Week.

Lake Hamilton Schools Supt. Steve Anderson, who carries a gun at school, told the commission that sheriffs said they would be 20 to 30 minutes away during an active-shooter situation, and that the district needed someone closer to protect the students. Another superintendent told the panel of a time when, after hearing three gunshots on an elementary playground, she ran to respond as the gunman ran away. She said she felt relieved and empowered to know that she had a gun and could protect her students, Blad reports.

"The federal task force, chaired by U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, has held public comment hearings, convened panels of experts, and visited schools of various sizes to hear about how they prevent and respond to school violence since it was formed in the spring. DeVos was not present at Wednesday's meeting in Pearcy, Arkansas, which was led by U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions," Blad reports. "The commission heard testimony from local supporters of armed school staff, but it did not hear from any of the groups who have opposed such proposals."

Jay Barth, chair of the Arkansas Board of Education, told the commission that armed school staff shouldn't include teachers, since he said they need to concentrate on educating children, Blad reports. But hiring trained officers might not always be possible because the state already struggles to hire and retain enough officers, according to Jami Cook, director of the Arkansas Commission on Law Enforcement Standards and Training.

Manufacturers try to woo workers to rural areas

Rural manufacturers, desperate for employees, are facing a huge shortage of workers. "Shortages may seem counterintuitive, given the widespread fear that automation, robotics and offshoring have all reduced employment in manufacturing," Ellen Rosen reports for The New York Times. "While jobs in absolute numbers have declined from a decade ago, the sustained economic recovery, a lack of skilled workers and the retirement of many baby boomers have led to open positions. Even though the gyrating tariff environment is causing anxiety across industries, manufacturers are still hiring."

About a third of companies surveyed by the Manufacturing Institute said they had had to turn away new work because they didn't have enough workers. So companies and state and local governments are increasing recruiting efforts to lure workers to rural areas, offering higher wages, tax incentives for relocation, enhanced training, and even student-loan forgiveness. Long-term, some are partnering with local schools to try to grow and retain local talent. Some companies are offering incentives to keep older employees from retiring, or re-hiring them as consultants or part-time contractors, Rosen reports. And some companies are hiring skilled foreign laborers, though the work visas can be difficult to get and unpopular with local residents.

No results are yet available to show the efficacy of such efforts, but the shortage is likely to be a problem for years to come: up to 2 million skilled jobs could go unfilled by 2025, according to a 2015 report from the Manufacturing Institute.

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The briefing, which is only open to members of the news media, will feature Dr. Timothy Brown of the Desert Research Institute, Dr. Stephanie Herring of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and Dr. Marshall Shepherd of the University of Georgia, and will be moderated by SciLine director Rick Weiss.

Register here to attend.

SciLine is a philanthropically supported, editorially independent, free service for reporters who cover science, health, and the environment, and is based at the non-profit organization the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Lyme disease is now found in all states; meanwhile, a new tick species threatens U.S. livestock

Asian long-horned tick (CDC photo)

Lyme disease has now officially spread to the entire nation: Every state "has residents who have tested positive for Lyme, a bacterial infection that can cause a wide variety of symptoms, including joint aches, fatigue, facial palsy and neck stiffness," Linda Searing reports for The Washington Post.

The news comes from clinic laboratory Quest Diagnostics, which analyzed the results of 6 million diagnostic blood tests ordered by doctors. Pennsylvania had the most positive cases last year at 10,001; it, combined with the six states of New England, accounted for about 60 percent of all cases, Searing reports.

Between 2016 and 2017, positive results spiked in states traditionally linked to the disease — by 50 percent in New England and 50 percent in Pennsylvania — but also in states that aren't. "Florida, for instance, had 501 infections, up 77 percent since 2015. California had 483 people with positive test results — a 194.5 percent increase from 2015," Searing reports. A May report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that diseases spread by ticks and mosquitoes tripled in the U.S. between 2004 and 2016, aided by warm winters that keep pests alive longer.

The spread of ticks is especially concerning because, for the first time in 50 years, a voracious new tick species has been identified in the U.S. The Asian long-horned tick was first found last summer in western New Jersey, and is now rapidly spreading in the eastern U.S. Specimens have since then been reported or sighted in New York, Pennsylvania, Arkansas, North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia. Donald McNeil Jr. reports for The New York Times.

The tick hasn’t been found to carry any human diseases in the U.S., but does threaten livestock and other animals. "Known in Australia as bush ticks and in New Zealand as cattle ticks, long-horned ticks can multiply rapidly and suck so much blood from a young animal that it dies. The ticks bloat up like fat raisins until their tiny legs are barely able to support them," McNeil reports. "After a blood meal, females can lay hundreds of fertile eggs without mating."

Scientists say people should use the same precautions to protect against both domestic and long-horned ticks: wear long pants and sleeves, use repellent, and check for ticks after walking in the woods or tall grass.

Coal pile at Appalachian power plant shows power of gas, even as Central Appalachian output hits nearly 3-year high

UPDATE: The Mine Safety and Health Administration reports that coal production in Central Appalachia in the second quarter was the highest in nearly three years, 20.4 million tons. That was the highest since the third quarter of 2015, when it was 22.6 million tons. Platt's has details.

"A utility that serves Eastern Kentucky and burns coal to produce electricity has sold $17.6 million worth of coal it didn’t need, offering yet another example of how the relatively low cost of natural gas has undermined the region’s economy," Bill Estep reports for the Lexington Herald-Leader.

The coal was meant for the Mitchell Power Plant in West Virginia, which is co-owned by Kentucky Power and has 168,000 customers in Eastern Kentucky, but the plant couldn't generate electricity as cheaply as competitors that used natural gas. Because Mitchell's energy was more expensive, the regional power-grid manager, PJM Interconnection, didn't order electricity as often from the plant. But the plant had to keep buying coal, under a long-term contract. At one point in late January, "there was a 53-day stockpile of one type of coal at the plant, while the company's target level was a 15-day supply," Estep reports.

Kentucky Power applied for and received permission from the Kentucky Public Service Commission to sell extra coal. A Connecticut-based trading company has agreed to buy 400,000 tons of coal for $44 a ton by the end of the year, Estep reports.

The episode illustrates both the rising use of gas to make electricity, and the hardship faced in coal country. "By the end of 2017, coal’s share of national electricity generation had dropped to 30 percent and the share for natural gas had grown to 32 percent, while renewable sources such as wind energy had climbed to 17 percent," Estep reports. "As coal-fired power plants have closed in the face of greater use of natural gas, the number of coal jobs in Eastern Kentucky dropped from 14,000 at one point in 2011 to just 3,835 in the first three months of this year, according to the state Energy and Environment Cabinet."

Georgia nonprofit looks to market telehealth to rural America

The Georgia Partnership for Telehealth wanted to help more rural providers and patients access telehealth care, but was frustrated when potential software wasn’t up to snuff. That led to a radical decision for the 12-year-old non-profit: create a spinoff organization called the Global Partnership for Telehealth and create its own software. The spinoff “recently unveiled Pathways, a web-based videoconferencing platform designed primarily for small and resource-thin healthcare providers, as well as schools and other entities looking to launch a telehealth platform but hesitant to wade into the commercial market,” Eric Wicklund reports for Healthcare Initiative.

CEO Rena Brewer said GPT never intended to get into software development, but that they needed to meet the needs of their more than 600 partners who were moving from server-based telehealth to web-based tech and didn’t have a lot of money to spend. Pathways helps with that, since “the original intent of telemedicine is that it was geared toward the underserved,” Brewer told Wicklund.

How to keep rural young people from fleeing to the city?

Young adults in record numbers are fleeing their rural hometowns and heading for the city. “This economic and demographic hollowing out is changing our nation,” Gracy Olmstead writes for The Week. “The people who stay feel left behind. One could argue the most visible repercussions of this shift can be found in our politics: President Trump's win in 2016 was largely tied to discontent and frustration throughout rural America, in places that felt stagnated, overlooked, and unheard, which only exacerbates our urban-rural divide.”

Olmstead, herself a rural transplant to Washington, D.C., from a town of 3,000, questions how to reverse this trend. One major part would be fixing the problems that drive many to leave: lack of affordable housing and decent jobs. But another part is changing the way rural areas raise and train youth: “These communities need to foster opportunities for youths across a spectrum of backgrounds — seeking to proffer mentorships, apprenticeships, and job opportunities that will make hometowns attractive and economically sound places to settle.” Read more here. 

Judges say new pipeline can't cross Blue Ridge Parkway

"A federal appeals court on Monday revoked the right-of-way that the National Park Service had granted the Atlantic Coast Pipeline to cross underneath the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia," Craig Jarvis reports for The Herald Sun in Durham, N.C. "The decision by the three-judge panel will cause some delay for the project, which has already begun construction in North Carolina and West Virginia but not Virginia."

The plaintiffs, The Sierra Club and the Virginia Wilderness Committee, argued that the NPS didn't have the right to grant the right-of-way for the natural gas pipeline because it violated the agency's mandate to conserve the environment. "It remains to be seen how much of a delay the ruling will cause," Jarvis writes.

"Chief Judge Roger Gregory, in a footnote to his written opinion, scolded the park service, calling its issuance of a permit 'arbitrary and capricious' for invoking laws that weren’t applicable, and for not explaining how approval was consistent with its mission," Jarvis reports. Gregory wrote in the opinion that Duke Energy and its partners must have a valid permit from the park service to continue construction, and to do so without it would violate previous authorization from the Federal Regulatory Energy Commission.

The ruling comes days after the same three judges of the Fourth Circuit Court rescinded permits for the Mountain Valley Pipeline, saying that the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management hadn't fully vetted the project for its environmental impact.

Bluegrass legend Dean Webb, influence on many, dies at 81

Dean Webb, on "The Andy Griffith Show," left, and playing his mandolin.

Bluegrass mandolin legend Dean Webb died on June 30 at the age of 81. He first began playing bluegrass and country music in honky-tonk bars across the rural Midwest, but in the early 1960s began playing with The Dillards. After the group got a recording contract in 1962, they released several albums and began to gain some notoriety. But their big break came from their appearances on The Andy Griffith Show, in which they played bluegrass as members of the fictitious Darling family. Besides that, "The Dillards have had television exposure on Nashville Now, The Johnny Cash Show, Hollywood a Go-Go and Hootenanny, among other programmes," Richard Thompson reports for Bluegrass Today. They also opened for Elton John on his first tour of the U.S. in 1972.

The Dillards' musical influence ranges far beyond what one might expect: Webb's mandolin playing helped influence Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones to pick up the instrument, and his harmony arranging skills helped The Byrds figure out the complicated harmonies on "Mr. Tambourine Man," Thompson reports.

"What an enormous influence he had on musicians out here," longtime bluegrass DJ Wayne Rice told Thompson. "I don’t think I ever heard anyone play the mandolin quite like he did. He held it like a machine gun and just blew us all away."

Ronnie Ellis, Kentucky statehouse correspondent for Community Newspaper Holdings Inc., remembers Webb on a more personal level. He writes in the Richmond Register that Webb was his best friend and an uncommonly loving, patient and methodical man. "Dean loved deeply those he loved at all. He loved as well to share his friends, impatient to introduce one to another. Because he was that way, I met an extraordinary number of exceptionally interesting people, a couple of whom also became life-long friends," Ellis writes. "I've often told my children I am the richest person I know. Not for what I possess but because of the people I'd been given to love and enjoy. Dean enriched my life more than I can describe. His was one long adventure and he kindly took me along for the ride."

Award-winning rural editor Les Zaitz will bring an online-only news site to Oregon’s capital city

Les Zaitz

Les Zaitz, the editor and publisher of the Malheur Enterprise in Vale, Ore., is creating an online news organization for Salem. He wasn't open to the idea at first, but decided to go for it after repeated urging from Salem investor Larry Tokarski. "On Sept. 17, the Salem Reporter will go live with Zaitz as CEO and editor and three full-time reporters who will cover 'local government, schools, business, nonprofits and state government,' according to a press release," Kristen Hare reports for the Poynter Institute.

It's not surprising that Tokarski pursued Zaitz so doggedly: Zaitz brings 45 years of reporting to the table along with a slew of awards for his work at The Oregonian and the Enterprise, including the 2018 Tom and Pat Gish Award and a 2017 Investigative Reporters & Editors Award. He will remain publisher of the Enterprise.

Zaitz says the Reporter will have a paywall and, along with an investment of an undisclosed amount from Tokarski, will be funded by subscriptions. A subscription is $10 per month and $100 per year, and though the Reporter will accept advertising, he doesn't think ads will bring in much revenue. About 400,000 people live in the publication's market, and Zaitz is hoping enough will subscribe to make it sustainable, Hare reports.

Zaitz says he intends to focus on credibility and quality content, instead of clicks. Though the area already has other media, including Gannett Co.’s daily Statesman Journal, the Salem Weekly, and the Salem Business Journal, Zaitz said he's not going to base coverage on holes left by other news outlets. "I'm pretending there's no other media there, let's put it that way," he told Hare. "Otherwise, you handcuff yourself."

Kentucky media forum tackles fake news

(L-R) Al Cross, Jennifer Brown, Richard Nelson, Mike Alexieff, and Ron Sanders (Messenger photo by Laura Harvey)

"In today's digital age, it can often be challenging for consumers to determine what information is truly reliable. But whether it goes by the name of 'propaganda,' 'hype' or 'spin,' it is possible for news readers to identify 'fake news' and avoid it entirely," Laura Harvey reports for The Messenger in Madisonville, Ky., in her story about a panel last week at Madisonville Community College, giving attendees tips on how to tell fact from fiction. 

Panel moderator Al Cross, who is the director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues at the University of Kentucky, publisher of The Rural Blog, said the concept of fake news was nothing new, and that America's first newspaper was shut down in 1690 for printing falsehoods. But though society began to demand more truthful journalism in the 1700s, most American newspapers during the Revolutionary War were partisan and spurred a rise in sensationalist news. Public backlash helped create the idea of journalism schools, which, along with the Associated Press, helped codify standards of ethics for journalists, Cross explained.

But with the rise of the internet and social media, it has become easier for anyone to publish "news" and more difficult for readers to identify fake news. "Fake news reports have caused damage to reputations and diminished trust, Cross said. The effect on the 2016 election is still being studied. Local news media scores better on trust than national news media, according to national studies," Doreen Dennis reports for SurfKY News in Madisonville, Ky. "BuzzFeed reported the top 20 fake stories received more engagement than 19 major media outlets in 2016, and the jury is still out on whether unverified news articles affected the election. Russia’s alleged involvement would be hard to prove at this point, he added."

Jennifer P. Brown, programming chair of the rural-journalism institute and former editor of the Kentucky New Era in Hopkinsville, said readers could check any of the following sources to help verify whether a news story is truthful:

• http://www.opensecrets.org
• https://www.factcheck.org
• https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker
• https://www.politifact.com
• https://www.snopes.com

Richard Nelson, the director of the socially conservative Commonwealth Policy Center, said the presence of click-bait stories in publications have driven people to seek other news sources, and advised journalists not to identify themselves as Republicans or Democrats to reduce even the appearance of bias, Harvey reports.

Messenger Editor Mike Alexieff said he wants readers to know that local newspapers don't have a political agenda, and only aim to offer fair, accurate local news. Ron Sanders, owner of SurfKY News, said he believes some newspapers do have a political bias, and defended coal, long a major industry in the region, from reports that he said were biased, Dennis reports.

Commerce Dept. lowers and limits newsprint tariffs

The Commerce Department ruled yesterday that it will proceed with tariffs on Canadian newsprint, though at a lower rate than it had initially imposed and on a smaller scale. "The agency said it would cap the tariffs at 16.88 percent, down from 22 percent, and apply them to just one Canadian manufacturer, Catalyst Paper Co,," Catie Edmondson reports for The New York Times. But the department "said it would also impose tariffs of up to 9.81 percent on several Canadian paper companies to counter subsidies that those manufacturers receive from the government."

Though the tariffs will be lower, the damage has been done to the American newspaper industry. After the initial tariffs went into effect in January, many papers reduced their print offerings and some have blamed the tariffs for layoffs, Edmondson reports.

And small-town newspapers are perhaps even less financially prepared to cope with the extra expense. The Robesonian in Lumberton, N.C., announced last week it was dropping its eight-page color Sunday comics section due to the tariffs. So did The Advocate-Messenger in Danville, Ky.

Donnie Douglas, executive editor of The Robesonian, told Jonathan Drew of The Associated Press that it was better to cut the comics than risk having to lay off staff or freelancers who cover local news and serve as watchdogs for local government. "All newspapers our size are operating on really thin margins," he said. "When you have this thing imposed on you, you can’t say let’s cut over here, or let’s cut a position, let’s cut the stringer budget . . . There’s really nowhere to go."

David Thompson, executive director of the Kentucky Press Association, was blunt: "Although this is a step in the right direction, the reduced rates only lessen the pace at which the tariffs are harming the industry. We hope that the International Trade Commission will entirely reverse these misguided tariffs at the end of the month."

Editorial: Rural America needs a Theordore Roosevelt

Today's country has a lot in common with the United States of 110 years ago, according to a thought-provoking editorial from The Roanoke Times. Back then, our New York-born president saw that rural America was lagging behind the prosperous urban parts of the country.

But our president in 1908, Theodore Roosevelt, saw himself as a man of action and decided to try to close that gap. The U.S. could use that kind of effort again, the editors write. Read more here.

Report: rural customers paying more for worse internet

Broadband customers in rural areas pay about the same prices for slower Digital Subscriber Line internet service as urban customers pay for high-speed fiber services, according to a new report from the National Digital Inclusion Alliance, which advocates for more equitable broadband deployment.

"In places where AT&T and Verizon don't offer their high-speed fiber-based broadband, they continue to sell customers slower-speed DSL service," Marguerite Reardon reports for c|net. "But recently, the companies have been eliminating lower-tier plans, which has resulted in higher prices for the base cost of service. But in areas where the networks haven't been upgraded, like rural regions of the country or low-income urban markets, this means customers are paying more for slower service."

AT&T called the report misleading. It says it hasn't eliminated speed tiers, but has instead "simplified" its pricing with an "entry level price point that's remained relatively constant while the speed offered has increased," Reardon reports. But NDIA argues that providers like AT&T and Verizon haven't upgraded their DSL networks or increased the speed of those services.

AT&T also noted in its statement that DSL is generally more expensive to maintain, and that the cost per customer is higher in rural areas, Reardon reports.

Study shows urban, rural access to illegal drugs the same; researcher says more studies needed in rural areas

Habecker

Though popular media often depicts illegal drug use as an urban problem, a new University of Nebraska-Lincoln study shows it's just as easy to get drugs in rural areas. The study was published in July in the Journal of Drug Issues.

Sociologist Patrick Habecker, who led the study, found that more than one-third of both urban and rural residents could get marijuana through someone they know. "The study also found that 18 percent of Nebraskans surveyed in the Nebraska Annual Social Indicators Survey reported access to prescription pills, including opioids. Nine percent reported access to methamphetamine and 5 percent said they knew at least one person from whom they could obtain heroin," Deann Gayman reports for the university's press shop.

Habecker said the study only examined social access, so the actual accessibility of illegal drugs in Nebraska is probably much higher. It didn't account for other sources such as internet delivery.

While social access was about the same for both rural and urban residents, other factors did make a difference in people's ability to access marijuana: older people and regular churchgoers were less likely to know a marijuana source. Regular church attendance also reduced the odds of knowing a prescription-pill source in rural areas. And lesser-educated people were more likely to know a prescription-pill source, Gayman reports.

Habecker and colleauges have been tracking rural drug-use trends and say this study could help authorities understand more about how to fight it. "There has not been a lot of focus on rural substance use in general," Habecker told Gayman. "It’s largely been city-focused, and it’s clear that should probably change."

Big South American lizards infesting Florida, could spread

A black and white tegu in the Florida Everglades
(U.S. Geological Survey photo)

A huge -- and hungry -- kind of South American lizard has gained a foothold in Florida and may
spread across the southern U.S., Jon Herskovitz reports for Reuters.

Tegu lizards, which can grow up to four feet long, have established two large colonies in the Florida wilds after being brought to the country as pets, though there are no current estimates of the population of wild tegus in the U.S. A study published in July in the journal Nature said that tegus could expand from Central Texas to the Carolinas. 

"They are voracious, omnivorous predatory lizards that can live in a variety of habitats, but we can’t know what is going to happen or how intense this invasion is going to become until the effects are upon us," said study co-author Lee Fitzgerald, a Texas A&M professor and curator of its Biodiversity Research and Teaching Collections. He also told Herskovitz that it could take years for the lizards to spread, but new hot spots pop up as more of them escape or are released in the wild by owners. 

Tegus eat the eggs of alligators and grround-nesting birds, as well as insects, fruit and birds. Their potential as an invasive species depends on what resources are threatened in the areas where tegus might live, according to other study co-author Robert Reed, chief of the Invasive Species Science Branch at the U.S Geological Survey. 

The lizards have strong jaws and tails that they use to thump enemies. Tegu owners describe them as calm and indiscriminate eaters but sometimes ornery and tough to handle. "On private lands, Florida hunters without a license are allowed to kill tegu lizards if it is done humanely. On public lands, the state is trying to get rid of the lizards through traps," Herskovitz reports.

Beech leaf disease spreading in northeastern U.S.

Diseased beech leaves
(Plain Dealer photo)

In recent years a baffling disease has been spreading among beech trees in northeastern Ohio, western Pennsylvania, New York and Ontario. It causes beech leaves to curl and fall off prematurely, and eventually kills affected trees. Ohio naturalist John Pogacnik first discovered it in 2012 in Lake County, Ohio, near Cleveland, James McCarty reports for The Plain Dealer in Cleveland.

"I've sent samples to the U.S. Forestry Service and Ohio State, and contacted botanists in Europe and Asia, and no one has ever heard of it. So where did it come from?" Pogacnik told McCarty. "The worst part is that until someone figures out what is causing it, you can't begin to stop it."

Scientists are studying samples to try and identify the cause of the disease. At Ohio State University, tree and plant pathology professor Enrico Bonello has obtained a grant to study the disease and has already assembled a research team. And U.S. Forest Service plant pathologist James Jacobs has organized a two-day working group conference at Cleveland Metroparks next May for researchers to discuss possible solutions to the disease, McCarty reports.

Wildfire smoke creates health concerns across the West

Smoke hangs in the air in Idaho (Photo by Idaho Department of Health and Welfare)

The wildfires that are ravaging the western U.S. are not just endangering property, but people's health because of the smoke hanging in the air sometimes hundreds of miles away from fires.

"In addition to toxins like carbon monoxide, cyanide and harmful byproducts from homes burning such as plastic and other building materials, it is the microscopic nature of the particles in the smoke itself that are the biggest threat," Barry Kaye reports for Mt. Shasta News in California. Construction dust masks that one might buy from the hardware store don't filter out smoke, which contains particulate matter 2.5 microns across or smaller.

Chris Smith of the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare recommends that parents keep young children indoors, since their still-developing respiratory systems are more susceptible to smoke inhalation damage. "The elderly, people with heart or lung conditions, and pregnant women should also avoid breathing in the smoke. If you don’t have air conditioning, Smith recommends spending time at libraries or movie theaters that do," Amanda Peacher reports for Boise State Public Radio.

Dr. Norman Edelman of the American Lung Association recommends using an N95 respirator, since it can filter out most of the particulate matter in smoke, Kaye reports.

A few more recommendations from Kaye: "Drink plenty of water to stay hydrated. While driving use the air conditioner and the recirculate function rather than drawing in air from the outside. Stay indoors and close all doors and windows. Use an air conditioner if you have one and also check the filter."

International journalism professors and professionals learn about Amish country

Journalism scholars learned how The Budget is put together. (The Budget photo by Bevery Keller)

Journalism professors and professionals from all over the world learned about Amish culture and community journalism in July as part of a Study of the U.S. Institute program hosted by Ohio University. The scholars toured the Sugarcreek, Ohio, office where The Budget is produced, the national newspaper for the Amish and Mennonite communities. They also listened to The Budget's Publisher Milo Miller and National Editor Fannie Erb-Miller, and also heard from Lester and Mary Beachy about the reality of growing up Amish, Beverly Keller reports for The Budget.

The group also learned more about Amish and Mennonite culture and history by touring the Amish Mennonite Heritage Center, then met with members of the Sugarcreek Rotary and Garaway Lions and wrapped up the day with dinner and fellowship. Rotarian Susan Miller summed up the trip by noting that "We are all a little different, but we are also all the same," Keller reports.

Zhao Zin of China said the trip was "an incredible opportunity," Keller reports. "I have learned so much just today, and we are just getting started."

Writers flew to 'flyover country' for 4 years and wrote a book; will discuss experiences in Daily Yonder webinar Aug. 30

Deborah and James Fallows

The Daily Yonder is sponsoring a free webinar Aug. 30 with James and Deborah Fallows, authors of Our Towns: A 100,000-Mile Journey Into the Heart of America.

Wall Street Journal photo

Traveling by air in their small plane, the couple visited often overlooked cities and towns across America, including in the country’s midsection, sometimes called “fly-over country.” The perspective they gained was often surprising as they uncovered off-the-beaten-path communities rising from the ashes of industrialism and re-imagining themselves in creative ways. The writers for The Atlantic magazine chronicled their four-year odyssey in the recently published book. "They share with us their optimistic take on the people and places they discovered, and what’s making communities thrive today," the Yonder says.

The webinar will be held Thursday, Aug. 30, from 1 to 2 p.m. EDT Register here. If you can’t join it live, register anyway and the Yonder will send you a recording of the call. For a review of the book, by Kelsey Thomas in The Wall Street Journal, click here.

Gulf of Mexico 'dead zone' caused by Midwest fertilizer runoff is 4th smallest since 1985 (but it's not all good news)

The 2018 Gulf of Mexico dead zone (Louisiana State University map)

The annual low-oxygen 'dead zone' along the coast of Louisiana is only 2,720 square miles this year, much smaller than in recent years, according to researchers at Louisiana State University, the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Mark Schleifstein reports for The Times-Picayune in New Orleans. That's only one-third the size of last year's record-breaking 8,776-square-mile dead zone and significantly smaller than the 5,770-square-mile average since 2014.

But it's hard to draw conclusions from the smaller area of this year's dead zone. Marine scientist Nancy Rabalais told Schleifstein that strong winds in the weeks before the July 24-28 monitoring cruise likely pushed the largest concentrations of low-oxygen water further out. This year's zone is sized like others that occurred in years with the same weather patterns, such as 2014.

The dead zone is driven mainly by fertilizer run-off from Midwestern farms that flows down the Mississippi River and feeds algae in the Gulf of Mexico. When the algae die and sink to the bottom, microorganisms break them down, using up the oxygen in the water. "This year's smaller dead zone also comes as a surprise because the amount of nutrients carried by the river in May was at near-record levels,"Schleifstein reports. "LSU oceanographer Gene Turner had predicted then that, based on the river's nutrient levels, the dead zone would be 6,570 square miles."

Looking for solutions to sewage problems in Alabama's Black Belt -- and perhaps other rural areas with the issue

Lowndes County, Alabama
(Wikipedia map)

Thousands of low-income rural Alabama residents have had to live with inefficient or failing wastewater treatment systems for decades, sickening them and lowering their property values. Activists, researchers and journalists have pushed the crisis into the public eye, making officials pay more attention, reports Melissa Brown of the Montgomery Advertiser.

A United Nations team that investigates extreme poverty around the world toured the U.S. last year and reported that people in Alabama's Black Belt are "suffering the most dire sewage disposal crisis of any place [inspector Philip Alston] has visited in a developed country," Connor Sheets reported at the time for Alabama.com. Alston noted that residents in rural Butler and Lowndes counties often fall ill with infections from E. coli bacteria and hookworm because of the sewage -- ailments that he said were "very uncommon in the First World."

Lowndes County is one of the poorest counties in the state, with a median income below $28,000. So residents and towns can't afford to put in better waste-disposal systems -- which are more expensive there anyway. Civil engineer Kevin White told Brown that "Normally, it might cost $2,000 to put in a septic tank and a drain field in Mobile or Tuscaloosa . . . But in the Black Belt, with the poor soils, the system has to be so large or so complicated that we’re talking $8,000 to $10,000 or even more." White has been working on creating more innovative and affordable Black Belt wastewater solutions for decades; he led a study for the University of South Carolina more than 10 years ago that found that half of rural households in Bibb County had raw sewage pooling on the ground. He's currently studying similar conditions in Wilcox and Hale counties.

White says these rural areas need creative solutions, such as compost toilets or outhouses, or more efficient (but more expensive) toilet systems that use air and a small amount of liquid to flush. Brown notes, "Plumbing manufacturer American Standard sent a team of engineers to Lowndes County last year and is in the initial stages of developing potential product solutions for rural septic issues."

Catherine Flowers, a Lowndes County native and rural development manager for the Equal Justice Initiative, has been working with researchers at Duke University to explore policy changes, funding mechanisms and septic system engineering solutions to the problem. Flowers told Brown she hopes their work can help other rural communities across the U.S. struggling with similar issues.

"It’s not just a Black Belt problem. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution to this," Flowers told Brown. "I think what we’re putting together is a template for how these different entities can and should work together to find solutions. We’re working on a life-giving and life-sustaining solution."

Rural businesses need more investment capital, says founder of Rural Opportunity Initiative at Georgetown Univ.

Matthew McKenna

Though many think of agriculture when they think of rural communities, that only makes up 6 percent of today's rural economy. Small businesses are critical to rural economies, but they need more venture capital to succeed, according to an op-ed in The Hill by Matthew McKenna, the founder and executive in residence of the Rural Opportunity Initiative at the business school at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

"One way of addressing the issue of scale that is often a limiting factor for rural investment is the development of funds that target mid-tier investments. The recent wave of Rural Business Investment Companies (RBICs) is a good example," McKenna writes. "Their charters limit their investments to rural-based businesses and their typical investment slice has been in the $1-5-million range. Another tool is a fund of funds approach, where many small funds are brought together by institutions as way of allowing their customers to obtain the diversity and scale that is denied them in more targeted funds."

The federal government can also help by removing some obstacles to rural small business investments and contribute funds for RBICs. The Opportunity Zones program in last year's tax bills could also help; it's designed to bring investment and development to blighted areas, and about 23 percent of such state-designated Opportunity Zones are in rural America. The Senate version of the Farm Bill and the bipartisan Rural Jobs and Investment Act of 2018 also have provisions that expand opportunities for RBICs and Rural Innovation Centers, McKenna writes.

But though federal support is important, McKenna believes the primary source of investment for rural businesses will come from the private sector. "We know those dollars are available — $57 Billion in the first half of 2018 alone — but the challenge is how to change the direction of those investments toward sectors of the economy and geographies where venture capital has not been well represented," McKenna writes. "That is ultimately a challenge of building awareness of those investment opportunities and connecting those opportunities with investors ready and willing to make investments as they become available."

If rural small businesses don't have more access to capital in the future, McKenna warns, rural America will continue to lag behind the rest of the nation's prosperity.

Appeals court cancels permits for Mountain Valley Pipeline

A three-judge panel of the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals unanimously rescinded permits for the Mountain Valley Pipeline last week, saying the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management had not fully vetted the project for its environmental impact and had simply accepted assurances from the builders. The natural-gas pipeline is now under construction and would pass through West Virginia and Virginia, including a 3.6-mile stretch of the Jefferson National Forest.

Gregory Schneider reports for The Washington Post, "Pittsburgh-based EQT Midstream Partners, which is leading the coalition of companies building the pipeline, said it was 'evaluating the court’s decision.' Spokeswoman Natalie Cox noted that the ruling left the door open for the federal agencies to redo their permits. The judges ordered the agencies to reconsider the permits using proper procedure."

The pipeline has been challenged with multiple lawsuits and other protests from environmentalists and some landowners. "Opponents said Friday they hope the federal court decision will cause a more robust state review of water quality issues raised by pipeline construction," Schneider reports.

Could digital media startups fill the vacuum left by community newspapers?

A growing number of digital media startups are taking the place of traditional community news organizations, but it's unclear whether they can be economically solvent enough to fill the news vacuum left when traditional community newspapers close down.

The news gap is a growing problem: "Nearly 1,800 local newspapers have closed their doors since 2004, according to a 2017 study conducted by the University of North Carolina’s Center for Innovation and Sustainability in Local Media . . . And small-town newspapers with circulations of fewer than 20,000 are the markets taking the biggest hits," Phil McCausland reports for NBC. Meanwhile, "U.S. daily newspaper circulation — print and digital combined — fell an estimated 11 percent in one year to 31 million in 2017. That’s half of the readership that newspapers enjoyed in the late 1980s and early 1990s."

Al Cross, director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, publisher of The Rural Blog, told McCausland that community journalists play a vital role in holding local governments accountable. "What happens when people aren’t being watched?" Cross said. "As they say, when the cat’s away, the mice will play."

Cross was skeptical of the sustainability of digital startups to cover issues in small towns. Another problem is finances: some startups are non-profit and some are for-profit, but many are having trouble creating coherent financial strategies to achieve solvency, according to the Local Media Association's February survey of almost 200 media leaders in charge of small digital operations. Fewer than a quarter of the operations surveyed said they had enough staff to meet revenue goals.

Non-profit ventures like Report for America could help with staffing though; the program places journalists in local newsrooms. "In the past five or 10 years, there’s been a lot about how technology is going to save journalism, and a lot of that is partly true," Steve Waldman, the nonprofit's co-founder, told McCausland. "But we’ve now discovered that none of that matters if there’s not enough reporters. At the end of the day you’re not going to improve local journalism without local journalists."

Trade-war package for farmers won't make them whole

The Trump administration's $12 billion aid package for farmers hurt by the trade war will have $7 to $8 billion in direct payments, less than the $11 billion hit farmers are expected to take in lower crop prices, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said Saturday.

"Obviously this is not going to make farmers whole," Perdue told Hugh Bronstein of Reuters. He added that it will be a one-time thing: "It's for the 2018 crop. We do not expect to do this over a period of time."

The USDA's Commodity Credit Corp. will use existing legal authority to borrow the money from the Treasury and use it three ways: Direct cash payments to farmers of soybeans, sorghum, corn, wheat, cotton, dairy and hogs; government purchases of fruits, nuts, rice, legumes, beef, pork and milk for distribution to food banks and nutrition programs; and $200 million for a trade promotion program to develop new markets for American agricultural products.

Applications for the cash payments are expected to begin in Septemner, and "We expect the checks to go out in late September or October, as soon as they prove their yields," Perdue told Reuters. "They will be based on actual production, not historical averages." Read more here.

Proposed changes in tele-health services could help rural seniors get help when they need it, and more of it

Falls are a big risk for seniors, possibly leading to hospital stays, surgeries and rehabilitation. They are even more risky for rural seniors, who may be far away from help, or family who might check in on them. But proposed changes to rural broadband and tele-health could help seniors deal with falls better, allowing them to stay in their homes longer, Craig Settles writes for The Daily Yonder.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently proposed to pay doctors more for tele-health appointments, which would make such services more readily available to rural seniors who need them for general medical services, mental health services, and home health care.

Tele-health can significantly reduce the amount of mental-health medication that seniors need, says Nancy Hamilton, executive director of Hearthstone senior living buildings in Pella, Iowa: "In 2015 our anti-psychotropic medications use was at 15.5 percent and now it’s at 6.8 percent even though our acuity of patients with behaviors has increased. Encounter Telehealth [a vendor] brings constant touch points with psychiatric professionals that we need."

Also, tele-health services help hospitals better monitor recently discharged seniors to ensure they don't need to be readmitted for complications. Readmission within 30 days of discharge carries financial penalties for hospitals.

All that said, improved tele-health hinges on seniors having access to good, affordable internet service. Low-income seniors are likely to have a smartphone but not likely to have wi-fi at home without a data cap, according to Angela Siefer, director of the National Digital Inclusion Alliance. To that end, the Federal Communications Commission announced recently that it might commit $100 million for telehealth from the Universal Service Fund.

Catholic hospitals play bigger role in rural health care

Some hospitals on the 2011 map don't appear on the 2016 map either because they're no longer associated with a
Catholic institution or because they're no longer classified as the sole community hospital. (FiveThirtyEight map)

More and more, rural residents' access to some health care services may be determined by the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church.

"In a growing number of communities around the country, especially in rural areas, patients and physicians have access to just one hospital. And in more and more places, that hospital is Catholic," Anna Maria Barry-Jester and Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux report for FiveThirtyEight. "That sounds innocuous — a hospital is a hospital, after all. But Catholic hospitals are bound by a range of restrictions on care that are determined by religious authorities, with very little input from medical staff. Increasingly, where a patient lives can determine whether Catholic doctrine, and how the local bishop interprets that doctrine, will decide what kind of care she can get."

Commonly affected services include abortion, birth control, some end-of-life care, and gender-affirmation procedures. Some doctors who had worked at Catholic hospitals told the reporters that they had been unable to give what they felt was the most effective treatment to some patients because of religious restrictions. Some low-income women are not able to go elsewhere for services not provided by Catholic hospitals, due to financial and transportation challenges.

Catholic hospitals have had some latitude to deny certain treatment options for decades, but that power has been expanded under recent moves by the Trump administration. President Trump signed an executive order saying his administration would protect religious freedom, then the Department of Health and Human Services ruled that large employers don't have to cover birth control for employees. HHS also created a Conscience and Religious Freedom Division to focus on protecting employers' rights.

Nationwide, "best estimates suggest that one in six hospital beds and many of the nation’s largest nonprofit health systems are Catholic-owned or -affiliated," Barry-Jester and Thomson-DeVeaux report. "From 2001 to 2016, the number of Catholic-affiliated hospitals in the U.S. grew by 22 percent, even as the total number of hospitals in the U.S. shrunk, according to research by MergerWatch and the American Civil Liberties Union. And the changes vary by region. In Washington state, more than 40 percent of hospital beds are in Catholic institutions. In several Midwestern states, more than 30 percent of beds are in Catholic hospitals.

This is partly because Catholic hospitals may be able to weather financial hardship better because of their nonprofit status, efficiency, and access to Catholic church funding.

Proposal for what would be largest U.S. wind farm, already under construction, is dealt a potentially fatal blow

The Texas Public Utility Commission last week unanimously rejected a proposal for American Electric Power Co. to supply its customers with energy from what would be the nation's largest wind farm, saying it doesn't offer enough benefits for utility customers as currently structured, Jim Efstathiou Jr. and Chris Martin report for Bloomberg News.

The Wind Catcher facility is already under construction in the Oklahoma panhandle and is scheduled to be completed in late 2020. AEP invested $4.5 billion transmission lines from Wind Catcher to customers in Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana. The company, which plans to eventually buy the wind farm outright, planned to pay for the lines with a strategy often used by coal, nuclear, and natural gas power plants: by passing on costs and some profit onto customers' bills.

But the Texas commission argued that the project might not be as profitable as AEP is projecting. DeAnn Walker, chairman of the Texas commission, said last week at the hearing that "The costs are known, but the benefits are based on a lot of assumptions that are questionable."

Meanwhile, "Oklahoma’s attorney general and a state administrative law judge concluded in February the company failed to prove there was an economic need for the project and that it left customers shouldering too much of the risk," Efstathiou and Martin report.