Election official turnover is nearly 40% in some states, new report shows. Workers quit to avoid 2024 conflicts.

Election official have left their jobs to avoid 2024
conspiracies. (Photo by Elliott Stallion, Unsplash)

Underpaid, overworked, and sometimes threatened or harassed, many election officials have left their jobs rather than face the 2024 election cycle. Some states face a dramatic shift of experienced workers leaving and taking their expertise with them. "In some battleground states, more than half of the local election administrators will be new since the last presidential race, according to a new report from the democracy-focused advocacy group Issue One," reports Miles Parks of NPR. 

Overall election official turnover is "notoriously hard to come by — but experts have been saying for years that they worried about a mass exodus driven by the polarized environment," Parks reports. The Issue One report focused on 11 western states and "found that the problem of voting official turnover is particularly acute in the region's swing states, where conspiracies have flourished. . . . More than 160 chief local election officials — nearly 40% of the region's officials — have left their positions. Experts say they expect to see a similar trend in other states as well, as recent polling and NPR's own reporting have indicated many people in these roles fear for their or their colleagues' safety."

Marine veteran Josh Daniels, a Republican who became an election official in Utah County, Utah, in 2019, "grew to love the complex minutiae that went into running an election. . . . But when the time came to decide whether to run for reelection in 2022, Daniels decided against it. Voting conspiracies had become too much to take." Daniels told Parks: "It was just exhausting. It really was like "The Twilight Zone" of government service. "Groundhog Day". . . every day you wake up, and it's the same thing over and over again. It doesn't matter how much information and data you share; it doesn't matter how many concerns you answer. There will just be a new group of critics to again dish out the new conspiracy of the day."

With so much knowledge walking out the door and inexperienced officials filling the gap, a new problem surfaces -- the number of human errors new employees make while learning their roles. "Issue One found that the officials who left took with them more than 1,800 years of experience. . . . New voting officials make more mistakes than seasoned ones. So the exodus brought on by election conspiracies may beget more conspiracies, as first-time honest mistakes are treated like evidence of malfeasance."

Much of America's prosperity depends on aquifers, which are failing from overuse, according to NYT report

Climate change contributes to aquifer failure.
(The New York Times illustration)

Part of America's beauty and bounty builds on the riches of its aquifers, which are now damaged and depleted, "revealing a crisis that threatens American prosperity," report Mira Rojanasakul, Christopher Flavelle, Blacki Migliozzi and Eli Murray of The New York Times. Their report is the first of a series on the country's disappearing water. "The Times analyzed water levels reported at tens of thousands of sites and found nearly half the sites have declined significantly over the past 40 years as more water has been pumped out than nature can replenish. . . . In the past decade, four of every 10 sites hit all-time lows. And last year was the worst yet."

Groundwater depletion is so extreme some sources may never return to their previous levels. "Many of the aquifers that supply 90% of the nation's water systems, and which have transformed vast stretches of America into some of the world's most bountiful farmland, are being severely depleted," the Times reports. The investigative team "conducted a months-long examination of groundwater depletion, interviewing more than 100 experts, traveling the country and creating a comprehensive database using millions of readings from monitoring sites. . . . . Huge industrial farms and sprawling cities are draining aquifers that could take centuries or millenniums to replenish themselves if they recover at all."

The crisis is broad and deep -- crisscrossing the nation in varying levels of water loss with no solution in sight. "Groundwater loss is hurting breadbasket states like Kansas, where the major aquifer beneath 2.6 million acres of land can no longer support industrial-scale agriculture. Corn yields have plummeted. If that decline were to spread, it could threaten America's status as a food superpower," the Times reports. "Fifteen hundred miles to the east, in New York State, overpumping is threatening drinking-water wells on Long Island, the birthplace of the modern American suburb and home to working-class towns as well as the Hamptons and their beachfront mansions."

"One of the biggest obstacles is that the depletion of this unseen yet essential natural resource is barely regulated," according to the report. To get at real groundwater data, investigators included "Readings from sophisticated satellites that can estimate groundwater changes from space by measuring subtle shifts in gravity. . . Recent data from those satellites, which are operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and funded by NASA, also show aquifers in decline. . . . Two major California and Arizona aquifers recently matched or exceeded their lowest levels since NASA began collecting data two decades ago."

Sandwiched between hotter temperatures caused by climate change and the crops needing more water to contend with the heat, "farmers and towns have an incentive to pump more groundwater to make up the difference," the Times reports. Warigia Bowman, a law professor and water expert at the University of Tulsa, told the Times: "From an objective standpoint, this is a crisis. . . .There will be parts of the U.S. that run out of drinking water."

Upset over unexpected wage cuts, some rural postal carriers want to decertify their union

Many rural carrier took an unexpected cut in pay.
(Photo by Victória Kubiaki, Unsplash)

Vexed with substantial pay decreases since May, many rural mail carriers are frustrated with their union, with some carriers pushing for de-unionization from the National Rural Letter Carriers' Association, reports Jarod Facundo of The American Prospect. "The U.S. Postal Service adopted a new payment system known as the Rural Route Evaluated Compensation System, reducing base pay for almost two-thirds of rural letter carriers. . . . Angered by what they view as the NRLCA's inability to protect their interests, a growing number of rural letter carriers inside the union are running a signature collection campaign to decertify the NRLCA's status. . . . They call themselves 'Decertify NRLCA.'"

Part of the frustration is what carriers were told the new system would mean versus what actually happened. Jamie King, a rural letter carrier from Florida, told Facundo, "I took a $15,000 pay cut overnight. King described how the NRLCA made initial predictions of. . . .route changes that downplayed the true total number of hours that would be cut for most rural letter carriers. . . ." and that "the implementation was worse than what they were led to believe."

The new pay system was negotiated through binding arbitration, which means decertification "faces legal challenges and unclear hopes about what would come next," Facundo reports. "But it is an expression of discontent with the union leadership's handling of the pay cuts, which has led some to question the value of the organization."

The NRLCA's leadership has "seized upon the legal ambiguity of whether decertification is feasible. In a late-August Facebook post, the NRLCA told its membership: … We take any and all attacks against this union seriously, and we will not sit idly by to see what happens,'" Facundo reports. "The NRLCA's countereffort has appeared to quell the Decertify movement's momentum. According to King, the most frustrating aspect has been how the NRLCA has responded to decertification threats." He told Facundo: "Instead of addressing our concerns and offering empathy and a solution, [the NRLCA is] only telling members what they will lose if they decertify the union. They have offered no solutions and instead lie and downplay the matter."

A first-of-its-kind energy storage system is coming to Wisconsin; it could serve as a model for others

This is a demonstration facility in Italy. Wisconsin's dome will
be a larger version. (Alliant Energy courtesy photo via WPR)

Storing carbon dioxide to use later as energy is environmentally responsible, but can it be done on a larger scale? It can. Columbia County, Wisconsin, will house a first-of-its-kind energy storage system that "could serve as a blueprint for wide-scale deployment across the country," reports Joe Schulz of Wisconsin Public Radio. "Alliant Energy announced it received a $30 million federal grant for a 200-megawatt-hour storage system. . . . According to the Department of Energy, the project would be the first to demonstrate the carbon dioxide-based energy storage system at a commercial scale."

Schultz explains, "The Columbia Energy Storage Project will offer 10 hours of energy storage capacity by compressing carbon dioxide, or CO2, gas into a liquid, Alliant said. When energy is needed, the system converts the liquid into gas to power a turbine that generates electricity. The gas will be stored in what utility officials call an 'energy dome.'"

Columbia County, Wisconsin
(Wikipedia map)

The energy dome does not rely on wind or sun to provide power. Mark Anderson, director of the Thermal-Hydraulics Laboratory at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said, "Energy storage systems will continue to be needed as clean energy sources become more widely used," Schultz reports. 

The project is expected to be fully operational by 2026, when the current coal-fired Alliant Columbia Energy plant is scheduled for retirement. "Mike Bremel, director of engineering and customer solutions for Alliant, said the retirement of the coal facility is one of the reasons the utility chose Columbia County to host the storage facility." Bremel told Schultz: "[We are] optimizing the use of that location and the access to the transmission grid for storage of the renewable energy, so it's consistent with our transition from coal to renewable energy."

The return of gray wolves to national forests requires strategies that can benefit humans and animals

Gray wolves are tracked with radio collars to help understand
 their habits. (California Fish and Wildlife photo via AP)

More than a century has passed since gray wolves have hunted and howled in the Giant Sequoia National Monument, but a pack recently returned, and a plan for humans and grays to live together means research and understanding. "Yet the sudden appearance of the so-called Tulare Pack is already generating friction among Central Valley livestock owners and the managers of ambitious fuel reduction projects underway in and around areas of Sequoia National Forest and Giant Sequoia National Monument scorched by recent wildfires," reports Louis Sahagun of the Los Angels Times. "In a recent letter, a group of environmentalists urged the Forest Service to suspend post-fire logging operations in the region until it can 'determine whether any activities associated with those and other projects could adversely affect the wolves.'"

Environmentalists emphasize that the return of wolves will help the forest's ecosystem. "Their presence is vital to restoring the rhythms of life among countless other animal and plant species that evolved with them," Sahagun writes. "The trouble is, wolves also kill livestock, raising concerns among ranchers." Kirk Wilbur, vice president of government affairs at the California Cattlemen's Association, told Sahagun: "We believe it will be important for state wildlife officials to put a radio collar on one or more wolves in that pack to better understand how they are behaving. . . . We fully realize how risky and difficult that will be, but we need wolf data to help protect livestock and wolves." Sahagun adds, "So far, there have been no confirmed livestock kills in the region."

The return of the gray wolf to Giant Sequoia brings to mind a larger discussion of predators such as wolves, bears and mountain lions coexisting with humans for the betterment of both. "For conservation scientists like me, it also underscored that Americans have a fraught relationship with large carnivores," writes Neil Carter for The Conversation, a journalistic platform for academics. "My colleagues and I have proposed a federal policy that, when combined with other initiatives, could allow for sustainable coexistence between people and carnivores."

"Major state and federal government efforts are underway to reintroduce grizzly bears to the Northern Cascades and gray wolves to Colorado. These are places where stable populations of these animals have not roamed for many decades," Carter explains. "To manage these risks, people too often default to the widespread killing of carnivores. In 2021 alone, the Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services euthanized nearly 70,000 bears, wolves, mountain lions, bobcats, coyotes and foxes.

Foxes eat disease-spreading rodents.
(Photo by Tim Dalling, Unsplash)

Coexistence with carnivores is possible and "can benefit both carnivores and people," Carter adds. "For example, the presence of wolves and mountain lions lowers the frequency of vehicle collisions with deer, saving money and human lives. Foxes, likewise, reduce an abundance of small mammals that carry ticks, likely reducing cases of Lyme disease in humans. Sea otters maintain healthy kelp forests that support tourism and fisheries and capture carbon."

"A federal policy like the one my colleagues and I propose that sets goals for sharing spaces with carnivores could allow for coexistence between people and carnivores while also recognizing local priorities," Carter reports. "A federal policy could allow states and communities to try out high-risk, high-reward initiatives, like Pay for Presence programs. . . . A federal coexistence policy could also support community outreach and education programs. Teaching communities about carnivore behavior can help them to avoid potentially risky situations, like jogging with a dog or leaving children unattended in mountain lion territory. . . . By reducing negative encounters, these programs can enhance the adoption of nonlethal coexistence strategies, foster more positive attitudes toward carnivores and share the benefits carnivores offer humans."

Bloomberg says he plans to spend another $500 million to 'finish the job on coal' by going after power plants

Photo by Albert Hyseni, Unsplash

In a bid to hasten the end of the U.S. coal mining, former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg said he will pump $500 million into "the next phase of his energy transition campaign, aiming to shut down 'every last' coal plant in the United States and slash gas-fired capacity in half by 2030," reports Valerie Volcovici of Reuters. The money is intended to bolster Bloomberg's Beyond Carbon initiative and "aims to 'finish the job on coal' by working with state and local organizations to force the closure of the roughly 150 coal plants that have not yet retired, slash current gas generation in half and block the construction of new gas-fired plants."

Bloomberg's decade-long investment into ending coal energy has already topped $500 million through the "Sierra Club's Beyond Coal campaign, which originally aimed to retire 30% of the U.S. coal fleet by 2020," Volcovici writes. "The campaign ended up accelerating the retirement of over 60% of coal plants by that year and putting $85 million toward a similar mission to fight the expansion of petrochemical plants in the U.S."

Bloomberg, who is the U.N. Special Envoy on Climate Ambition and Solutions, told Reuters: "By working with our partners across the country, we hope to transform the way we power America by moving beyond fossil fuels and replacing them with renewable energy." Volcovici reports, "The money would support litigation brought against utilities and power companies by grassroots groups, state and local policy advocacy and financing to assist local communities with coal plant closures, Bloomberg Philanthropies said."

Severe weather can disproportionately put rural energy needs at risk; study aims for improvements

New study aims to make rural grid more resilient.
(Photo by Matthew Henry, Unsplash)

Extreme weather can cause a strain on rural electrical grids. If the grid can't meet demands, thousands of lives can be at risk. To build a more weather-resilient grid, researchers "from universities in South Dakota, Puerto Rico, Maine and Alaska are working together for the next four years to investigate severe weather events and electrical grids," reports Kristi Eaton of The Daily Yonder. "The project is titled 'STORM: Data-Driven Approaches for Secure Electric Grids in Communities Disproportionately Impacted by Climate Change.'"

Tim Hansen, associate professor at South Dakota State University and co-principal investigator on the project, told Eaton, "The basic idea is to go to a few specific communities, and through community engagement, figure out what are the challenges that they are facing with regard to the impact of extreme weather on the power grid, and then solve some of those issues in terms of community outreach and engagement, designing new methods to make the grid more resilient." Eaton reports, "Hansen said the research project is based in strategic locations in which different weather events occur. Alaska, for example, deals with extreme cold, while Puerto Rico deals with storms and flooding."

The researchers will work within rural communities and help them develop severe weather responses. Study investigator Daisy Huang is an associate professor at the Univesity of Alaska Fairbanks and a mechanical engineer. "She conducts research at the Alaska Center for Energy and Power, which looks at optimizing power, mostly in rural communities around Alaska," Eaton writes. "She said the rural communities are mostly not connected to the state grid." Huang told Eaton: "So they're all on their own diesel-fired power plants. And so we look at ways to integrate renewables [and] optimize their diesel for maximum efficiency."

Huang uses the study's outreach to build up science, technology, engineering, and mathematics projects within rural communities. She told Eaton: "The idea is looking from a community perspective – what their energy needs are, and how we can translate that – in parallel – developing educational programs around kids learning about energy systems." The study itself is full of young researchers. Hansen told Eaton: "It's a very good opportunity for the [National Science Foundation] to really build up the mentorship, and really build a lot of people's long-term careers off of the back of this." Eaton adds, "Hansen noted there will also be a virtual reality lab for remote power and energy research studies between all the participating institutions."

New study shows what news Oklahoma residents trust and where they want to read it

Local news sources by type (OMC chart)

An academic study analyzing Oklahomans' media habits reveals that readers rely on social media for much of their news and information, and that they trust local news stories more when local residents are in charge of the news reporting.  

The study was recently released by the Oklahoma Media Center. It was "designed to fuel data-driven training from the nationally known Trusting News nonprofit to help collaborating newsrooms execute experiments aimed to increase trust and support of local news," reports OMC. 

"It's the first qualitative observational study of both news deserts and underserved metro communities statewide in Oklahoma," reports OMC. The  study was completed by Rosemary Avance, assistant professor at the School of Media and Strategic Communications at Oklahoma State University, and Allyson Shortle, associate professor of political science and co-founder of the University of Oklahoma's Community Engagement and Experiments Lab.

Some condensed study highlights:
State residents mainly rely on social media and community word of mouth for local news. "Most participants also use word of mouth to find out about local events, stay involved in community happenings, and engage with community processes," Avance and Shortle wrote. "This includes information exchanged through social media, text message, email, telephone, and in-person, face-to-face communication with people the participant actually knows."

According to the study, small-town residents express more trust in local news when a local person is in charge of it. "Respondents value free, accessible news and want to access it via social media," Avance and Shortle wrote. "For the most part, they will not pay for access, especially in the form of a subscription. As one participant explained, 'I don't want to pay for something I can get for free from the internet.'"

Based on study analysis, Avance and Shortle made five preliminary recommendations for news organizations to increase engagement with local news.

Commit to ongoing investments in local communities: Distrust of outsiders and news organizations' failure to understand a community's priorities and contextual dynamics can cause even well-funded news media ventures to fail, especially in tight-knit rural communities. News media organizations cannot simply report on a community from afar, nor can they rely on past knowledge of community dynamics.

Identify ways to continually communicate the importance of civic engagement, local politics and journalistic reporting to populations at risk of disengagement from local news: In many areas with low access to reliable news, participants reported that they did not need or want it. However, after conversing about the types of news and information that the community may be unable to access, most ultimately came to the idea that more news would benefit their communities.

Shift news communication models to prioritize social media: While it is apparent that general interest in print publications has declined, we also found that people are less enthusiastic about visiting websites to access information. Instead of clicking through a post on social media, they prefer to gather information from their social media feed itself.

Partner with area individuals and organizations: Each area we visited had one or more individuals or organizations who were considered reliable sources of information. These influencers already have social capital and can serve as vital entry points for community engagement.

Experiment with community-engaged journalism solutions: Many respondents talked about former town newspapers run by a trusted local citizen who cared enough and was embedded enough in the community to offer a reliable source of information. . . .The concept of a community paper is still relevant. Partner with local high schools, colleges, and universities to develop and deploy customized community journalism models.

Opinion: Keeping meat plants running can hurt small towns' failing water systems; residents end up paying unfair share

Art Cullen

Meat processing plants use tremendous amounts of water, and in rural towns where water systems need an overhaul, that's a problem. When the Federal Emergency Management Agency doesn't have the funding to intervene, residents have to cover an unfair share of the water bill, Iowa editor Art Cullen writes in his Storm Lake Times Pilot opinion, "Storm Lake gets sucked dry so the world gets cheap meat."

"For the second time in two years, the city's application to the FEMA to rescue our failing water system was rejected," Cullen writes. "That means Storm Lakers are likely to pay a disproportionate share of more than $80 million in improvements — including a $15 million water line that runs to Tyson Foods' pork plant.

"Tyson just signed a water service agreement with Storm Lake under which it will pay for a new water tower. Other capital improvements, like that water main, will be shared by everyone. Residential users already pay a higher rate than industrial consumers. The city is hiking rates 7% on all classes, but the compounding effect is greater on the higher rate payers — the folks who take a shower after work.

"Storm Lake has huge water needs for a town its size. That's because it's a protein center for the world. The pork plant is one of the Top 10 in America. The turkey plant draws from three states. Our little town is expected to float the boat so the world gets cheap pork and abundant deli meat. . . . This summer, when RAGBRAI (Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa) rolled through with 40,000 thirsty bikers, two of our wells failed.

"FEMA says it's out of cash from mounting climate casualties. Storm Lake is out in the cold. That's what it boils down to. FEMA is strapped — Maui is expensive. So is Florida. We get that. You would think that one of the helpful folks at the regional office in Kansas City could hook us up with someone friendly at the Department of Agriculture, where there might be some of that climate-smart ag money that could be routed through Tyson. We already are routing millions of climate-smart ag funds through Tyson so it can address the water needs of the beef industry. How about Storm Lake gets a little piece of that pie?

"All the money flows out of Storm Lake while we local yokels are expected to pull ourselves up by the bootstraps and not drink so much water. We will pay higher and higher rates . . . to feed the agri-industry. Could we get a thank-you, at least?"

Farm safety quick hits: Create a rescue plan; manure pit accidents; women in ag; ATV safety; mental health first aid

Farming comes with a distinct set of dangers and demands. Sound planning, accident prevention and know-how can improve measures to keep farm workers safe, reports Lisa Foust Prater of Successful Farming. Prater also looks at the medical needs of women in agriculture and mental health for everyone who works the land.

Have a rescue plan before entering a silo, grain bin, manure pit or other confined space. The Department of Agriculture recommends identifying confined spaces on your farm and taking steps to prevent accidental entry. "Workers who do enter must receive specific training and have a permit to enter."

Dirty and deadly, take extra care around manure pits.
(Photo via Successful Farming)

Manure pits are dangerous. "Working in a manure pit is one of the dirtiest jobs on the farm, and it's also one of the deadliest. The majority of people who are overcome by the gases in a storage pit or lagoon do not live to tell the tale. . . . The most common task leading up to these injuries or fatalities in 2022 was performing maintenance tasks in or around manure storage structures, including pump repairs. This is true with all cases documented since 1975."

Whether you're delivering cookies to the back forty or hauling feed, ATVs are speedy, farm-friendly vehicles. Curt Porterfield, health and safety training coordinator at Virginia Tech, offers these tips to keep ATV riding safe: Recognize that ATVs can be deadly, the common hazards associated with their use, and your skill levels. Evaluate your equipment, terrain, environment, and load. Control and maintain your ATV properly. . . .and control your ride by driving safely.

Almost a third of all American farmers are women.
(Photo via Successful Farming)

The number of women in agriculture has increased, but information studies have yet to keep pace with the change. "Despite the fact that 31% of all American farmers are women, health and safety education for the agricultural population is most often aimed at men. . . . Women on the farm fill more roles than ever before – or are at least being publicly recognized for filling these roles – including primary operator, mother, wife, ag implement salesperson, and large animal veterinarian, to name a few. Specific areas of risk include heart disease, diabetes, breast cancer, broken bones and chronic pain."

Farming offers many benefits, but mental health often takes a back seat to getting the work done, which can ultimately cause a breakdown. "Becoming trained in mental health first aid allows you to stand in the gap of a crisis until professional help arrives. . . . If the emergency is someone having an anxiety attack, dealing with an opioid addiction, or contemplating suicide, having someone available who knows what to do can mean the difference between life and death."

Book-banning zeal almost closed this library; it would have been the first in the nation

The Dayton Library will remain open after initiative
was barred. (Photo by Dean Rutz, The Seattle Times)

Many public libraries are facing increasing pressure to remove targeted books from shelves or even more extreme measures, such as asking voters to close the library, which almost happened to Dayton Library in Columbia County, Washington. "The library —  which was on the verge of becoming the first library in the country to shutter over disputes about what books it offers — will remain open," reports David Gutman of The Seattle Times, "after a Columbia County court Wednesday barred an initiative to close the library from appearing on the November ballot."

The Dayton Library is the only library in Columbia County, pop. 4,000, and the town of Dayton, where the conflict has wrangled residents for over a year, is "a one-stoplight farming town where wheat prices are displayed on Main Street," Gutman writes. "The library's opponents, led by Jessica Ruffcorn, a mother of two and the leader of the movement to shut the library. . . objected to the placement of books concerning gender, sexuality and race in the kids and young adult sections of the library. Initially, the complaints centered on one book, What's the T?: The Guide to All Things Trans and/or Nonbinary, but they quickly spread to a dozen others and now well over 100 books. . . . All the contested books are found in 'hundreds if not thousands of libraries across the country,' according to the Washington Libraries Association."

Columbia County, Washington

(Wikipedia)

In response, two Columbia County residents and Neighbors United for Progress filed a lawsuit against Jessica Ruffcorn to prevent the issue from appearing on the ballot. Gutman reports the filing said: "The initiative seeks to punish every single person in Columbia County by shuttering the Library in its entirety and depriving the community of its many vital resources. The loss of the Library would result in a loss of access to information, the loss of history, a decline in public resources, and the loss of one of the most beautiful buildings in the County."

If the initiative passed, "all of the library's books and materials would have been moved to the state library near Olympia, and the library's building and other property would return to the city of Dayton, which, prior to the formation of the rural library district, had been unable to fund the library," Gutman notes. "Columbia County Superior Court Commissioner Julie Karl ruled for the library's supporters, barring the county from placing the initiative on the November ballot. The initiative, Karl said from the bench. . .was unconstitutional, procedurally invalid and the signature gathering was marred by 'potential criminal acts.'"

Suicide isn't just a cause of death for teenagers and adults; younger children also commit suicide

Children ages 5-11 also commit suicide.
(Photo by Lukas Metz, Unsplash)

As children enter their new classrooms and routines this fall, it's an excellent time to remember to monitor their mental health. And while many people might not realize it, young children are also at risk to commit suicide. "Suicide ranks as either the seventh- or eighth-leading cause of death among children ages 5 to 11, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and recent studies," reports Cheryl Platzman Weinstock of CBS News. "And numbers show the rates among younger kids appear to have increased in the past decade, especially among Black boys."

Paul Lipkin, a pediatrician at the Kennedy Krieger Institute, told Weinstock, "Historically, we thought that suicide is a problem of teens and adults, but younger children are expressing similar thoughts that may have been ignored before." Weinstock reports, "This has many experts calling for lowering the screening age for suicide ideation in children and moving to develop more effective early suicide risk detection and targeted prevention strategies. The broad approach includes pediatricians, teachers, and parents working with children at a young age to build their resilience and identify and manage their stress."

Weinstock writes, "Studies have found that young children gain an understanding about death and killing oneself from TV or other media, discussions with other children, or exposure to death from a family or community loss. . . . It is quite likely the 136 reported suicides from 2001 to 2021 among 5- to 9-year-olds were an undercount." Margaret Warner, a CDC epidemiologist, told Weinstock: "If we are missing deaths or don't have all the information leading to them, we can't properly develop programs to prevent future deaths." Weinstock adds, "That's why there's also an ongoing national effort by coroners and medical examiners to improve the quality and consistency of pediatric death investigations."

What parents can do now is be aware and observant. Lisa Horowitz, a pediatric psychologist and staff scientist at the National Institute of Mental Health, told Weinstock: "It's never too early to start a conversation with kids about recognizing mental health distress and doing what we can do to help them have better coping strategies and foster resilience. . . . I don't want people to panic but just want them to be vigilant about their children."

Will lab-grown chicken ever be able to compete? A perilous, steep climb faces the industry.

Upside Foods cell cultivators (Photo by Carolyn Fong,
The Washington Post)

Plant-based meat had hype and money and then fizzled. Now, lab-grown chicken offers a different method for a more humane, environmentally conscious meat; however, the industry faces a steep climb to feed millions, reports Tim Carman of The Washington Post. "Proponents say cell-cultivated chicken, beef and the like could dramatically cut back the amount of land and water that goes into producing the meat that will feed a growing population along with its growing appetite for animal proteins. . . . Cultivated meat could eliminate the inhumane treatment of animals raised for food. . . They could even reduce the 7.1 gigatons of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere every year by the livestock industry, representing 14.5 percent of all human-related greenhouse gas emissions."

What's the catch? "To date, the two companies approved in the United States to sell cultivated meat can grow only hundreds of thousands of pounds per year, a microscopic fraction of the hundreds of millions of metric tons of meat produced annually around the world," Carman reports. "In the near future, dozens of other tech companies hope to join Good Meat and Upside, but even if they do, critics and industry executives say it's no sure bet that cell-cultured meat can ever scale up and compete, in quantity or price, with traditional animal agriculture."

Industry obstacles include a financial and scientific balancing act, persuading the public to eat vat-grown meat and building a "never been done before" market to a competitive scale. Josh Tetrick, co-founder and chief executive of Eat Just, which includes the cell-cultivated division Good Meat, told Carman, "My want is sometime, hopefully before I die, where the majority of meat that is produced in a given day is cultivated, not slaughtered. I think that is a massive challenge. I think it's highly uncertain. I think that it requires tens of millions of dollars in capital. It will require innovative new approaches to production that we and other companies haven't thought of yet."

For now, there is precious little cell-cultured chicken available to purchase. "At Bar Crenn in San Francisco, once a month, chef Dominique Crenn features an approximately one-ounce portion of Upside chicken as part of her six-course, $150 tasting menu," Carman writes. "The Upside bird at Bar Crenn is composed of 99 percent chicken cells: It's a dense, meaty nugget. . . . The resulting chicken is undeniable: It tastes like the kind of bird that once was common in America before the poultry industry sacrificed flavor for rapid growth. It may be the most chicken-y chicken I've tasted in a long time."

Feeding the country is a big challenge no matter who "grows" the meat. "Whether Upside, Good Meat and other companies can fix the problems of industrial animal agriculture is an open question. For years, the cultivated-meat industry has been an object of great hope — and substantial doubt," Carman writes. "It's a tension that has played out between company executives who promise that the era of guilt-free meat is just around the corner and critics who say that the industry will never compete with large-scale animal agriculture."

Delving into rural homelessness, an anthropologist's new book takes an in-depth look at this often-hidden issue

Families on the Edge was published August 15.
(Photo from MIT Press via The Daily Yonder)

Homelessness looks different depending on where you live. In the case of rural homelessness, it's often hidden, complex and surprisingly prevalent. Author and researcher Elizabeth Carpenter-Song is a medical and psychological anthropologist who has studied homelessness for more than a decade. Her new book Families on the Edge: Experiences of Homelessness and Care in Rural New England is an "ethnographic study of housing insecurity in an under-studied region," reports Olivia Weeks of The Daily Yonder. A condensed version of Weeks' question-and-answer interview with Carpenter-Song is shared below.

What are the most important differences in experiences of rural and urban homelessness?
Homelessness in urban areas of the U.S. is much more visible. In many American cities, it is common to see and interact with people who may be unhoused. . . . In our rural towns and villages in New England, there are encampments of unhoused people, but these tend to be out of sight. People experiencing homelessness in rural areas . . . may camp in the woods, sleep in cars, or double-up with friends or family for periods of time.

In the context of families, which was the focus of my research, parents go to great lengths to avoid literal homelessness with their kids and, as a result, move frequently between different settings to access shelter. In rural areas, challenges related to housing are compounded by transportation challenges when people move to more remote towns to gain access to more affordable housing. But, this places people at risk of being isolated from support networks and creates challenges for finding employment and meeting basic needs within small rural towns.

Are there any commonalities that might seem surprising to an outsider?
The main commonality between experiences of homelessness in rural and urban areas is that homelessness is a housing problem. As a society, we are now experiencing the consequences of decades of underinvestment in affordable housing. Runaway real estate valuations and high costs of living, coupled with a lack of adequate housing stock, have created a common scenario across the U.S. in which safe and affordable housing is out of reach for more and more people.

You outline this problem in the book in which, as housing gets cheaper in your subject area, it inevitably gets further from crucial services and opportunities. Are there any good models for reversing that trend? Do you know of any small towns that have become more walkable or developed more reliable public transportation networks?
This is one of the big challenges we face in rural areas. In the book, I advocate for increasing housing density closer to town centers to mitigate transportation challenges and create more opportunities for accessing services and being integrated in the community. In the region I write about, the towns of Lebanon, New Hampshire and White River Junction, Vermont, are good examples of efforts to have mixed-use residential and commercial space, greater housing density, walkable downtown areas, and access to the local free bus service.

It is important to note that these two towns are relatively larger than many of the small villages in rural New England and are proximate to the major centers of employment in the region. Yet, I think these two settings can still serve as useful examples of how to create vibrant and accessible town centers in a rural region.

A new proposal suggests better ways to choose state birds -- beyond the usual cardinals and meadowlarks

Northern Cardinal is the state bird for seven states from Illinois to North
Carolina. (Photo by Brian Stahls, Macaulay Library via Cornell Lab)

U.S. abounds with birds -- cranes, cardinals, chickadees, wrens, woodpeckers, eagles,  hummingbirds. There are so many native birds species (more than 700) one wonders if Mother Nature didn't know when to stop. And yet, with all that variety, many states have chosen the same birds to represent their regions. "We love cardinals, mockingbirds, and meadowlarks, too — but do these three species have to represent 18 separate states? Matt Smith and Marc Devokaitis ask in their "Modest Proposal" for Cornell Lab. "We turned to eBird to find alternative state birds with data to back them up.

Every single scrub-jay in the world lives in Florida.
(Photo by Tyler Ficker, Macaulay Library via Cornell Lab)

"As it happens, the eBird Status and Trends project provides a great, scientifically grounded basis for finding unique connections between states and the birds that live there," Smith and Devokaitis write. "This data can help pinpoint a well-suited bird for each state or province by showing which regions host globally significant populations of certain species. The best candidates for these new, scientifically informed suggestions are species with rock-solid claims. For example, Florida hosts 100% of the global population of the endemic Florida scrub jay—isn't that a good reason to nominate it as the state bird?"

Red knots visit Delaware in the spring. (Joe Austin
Photos, Alamy, via The New York Times)

The analysis also considered breeding season statistics "such as the proportion of a bird’s global population that’s found in a state or its population density," Smith and Devokaitis add. "In cases where no species had an especially strong claim during the breeding season, migratory and overwintering populations were considered. Delaware, with its famous springtime concentrations of Red Knots, is an excellent example.

The Black Rosy-Finch might be a better fit for Wyoming.
(Photo by Christopher Gilbert, Macaulay Library via Cornell Lab)

The Western Meadowlark is a colorful member of the blackbird family living across western and central North America. "Its cheerful song rings out across its territory," Smith and Devokaitis write. "Six states share the Western Meadowlark as their state bird, but eBird suggests these other species are also worth a moment of consideration: Lesser Prairie-Chicken for Kansas; the tiny, thick-billed Longspur for Montana (60% of the global population breeds there); Greater Prairie-Chicken for Nebraska; Marsh Wren for North Dakota; Hermit Warbler for Oregon; the delicately pink-tinged Black Rosy-Finch is an incredibly hardy, high-elevation species. It’s a great candidate to represent Wyoming, where 63% of the global population breeds."

Are you curious to see which bird could be better suited for your state? Click here to see all the picks and consider a few of your favorites.

With fewer rural hospitals providing obstetric care, freestanding midwife-led birth centers offer one solution

Without rural maternity care, giving birth is more dangerous.
(Photo by Carlo Navarro, Unsplash)

The number of rural hospitals with labor and delivery care has shrunk as financially strapped hospitals shed services, leaving women to find alternative care closer to home. "One solution gaining ground across the U.S. is freestanding midwife-led birth centers, but those also often rely on nearby hospitals when serious complications arise," reports Claire Rush and Laura Ungar of The Associated Press. "The closures have worsened so-called 'maternity care deserts'—counties with no hospitals or birth centers that offer obstetric care and no OB providers. More than two million women of childbearing age live in such areas, the majority of which are rural."

Less maternity care means having children is more dangerous. "One study showed rural residents have a 9% greater probability of facing life-threatening complications or even death from pregnancy and birth compared to those in urban areas — and having less access to care plays a part," AP reports. "The American Hospital Association says at least 89 obstetric units closed in rural hospitals between 2015 and 2019. More have shuttered since." The main reasons for ending obstetric services include medical labor shortages, lower birth rates, low reimbursements and poor profit margins.

"A lack of money was the major reason why Henry County Medical Center in Paris, Tennessee, closed its OB unit," Rush and Ungar explain. "CEO John Tucker told AP that it was a necessary financial step to save the hospital, which has been struggling for a decade. The percentage of births there covered by Medicaid — 70% — far exceeded the national average of 42%. Tennessee’s Medicaid program paid the hospital about $1,700 per delivery for each mom, a fraction of what the hospital needed, Tucker said. . . . Private insurance pays hospitals more — the median topped $16,000 for cesarean sections in Oregon in 2021. State data shows that’s more than five times what Medicaid doles out."

In Summertown, Tennessee, pop. 900, a new freestanding birthing center is a solution: At The Farm Midwifery Center led by midwife Corina Fitch, where women receive group and individual prenatal care. AP reports, "Some states and communities are taking steps to create more freestanding birth centers. Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont recently signed legislation that will license such centers and allow them to operate as an alternative for low-risk pregnancies. . . . Alecia McGregor, who studies health policy and politics at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, called midwife-led birth centers 'a major sort of contender among the possible solutions' to the maternity care crisis."

As rural communities lose physicians, a creative "patchwork" of care can emerge

An OnMed health kiosk uses high tech, remote care.
(Photo by Arielle Zionts, KFF Health News)

Rural patients are more likely to face medical provider shortages, and these communities have to find new ways to provide care. In LaFayette, Alabama, "Terry Vester and her husband, Al, are the only primary care doctors in the town of 2,700 residents, surrounded by farms and other small communities," reports Arielle Zionts of KFF Health News. "The Vesters are in their late 60s and would like to retire soon. Terry Vester wants to spend more time with her grandson and aging parents. But she can't imagine abandoning her patients, some of whom she has cared for since they were born."

Attracting new physicians is challenging for LaFayette, which is not a wealthy town with the amenities many doctors seek. Residents have a median income of $39,077, compared to the state's $59,910. "Black residents — who make up 70% of the population — are much more likely to live in poverty than white residents," Zionts writes. "The Vesters have worked in LaFayette since the early 1980s and saw the local hospital close in 1988. The nearest emergency room is now in another town 20 minutes away along a rolling road. So are the nearest urgent care clinic and pediatrician's office."

With those barriers in mind, town residents who need medical advice have turned to "the city fire department, staffed with full-time firefighters and emergency medics," Zionts reports. "People from LaFayette regularly walk or drive themselves to the fire station to ask for help, said Fire Chief Jim Doody. He added that the station has a makeshift exam area within its small entryway, containing a bench, defibrillator machine, and cabinet filled with medical supplies. . . .This de facto walk-in clinic option isn't available in most other rural areas, where emergency medical services are often run by volunteers who aren't posted at a station all day, Doody said. But he's noticed fewer LaFayette residents relying on the fire department since a new telehealth service arrived in town."

OnMed telehealth kiosk service opened in LaFayette to meet basic medical needs. Patients can head into a computerized booth, press a button and see "a nurse practitioner appear on a large vertical video screen positioned at eye level," Zionts explains. "OnMed patients use an automated blood pressure cuff and other devices to collect their vital signs, and the data is sent to the provider treating them from a distance. Patients can also hold a stethoscope to their chest to transmit the sounds of their heart and lungs. A special camera captures internal temperatures, which can be used to diagnose infections. A hand-held camera lets providers examine problems such as rashes, irritated eyes, and swollen throats. In some states, the stations can dispense medications."

While Vester spoke positively about OnMed services, she feels "It's still important to have doctors in town," Zionts reports. "Vester plans to reach out to Alabama medical schools to let them know she's looking for doctors to take over for her and her husband."

Prices for farmland have risen in recent years, but the market is 'cooling down'

Farmland values are expected to plateau.
(Photo by Micheile Henderson, Unsplash)

Farmland prices are predicted to flatten in the future after a period of strong growth. "Headlines boasting record-breaking farmland sales and surging values gave voice to the excitement in the market last year while land prices climbed. As 2023 marches on, the experts say some of that excitement may be waning and to expect strong, but flatter prices going forward," reports Cassidy Walter of Successful Farming. Tim Koch, executive vice president of business development for Farm Credit Services of America told her: "We'll probably see some high reports of really high-quality farms that are well-located…and we might see some lower-quality farms start to back up a little bit in prices as we head toward the end of the year. But as a whole, I would anticipate that we'll see a flattening of prices throughout the remainder of the year."

Data available seems to agree with Koch's outlook. Farmers National Co.’s latest Regional Land Values Report looked at farmland sales data for high-quality farmland across 18 states. "All saw the average sale price per acre increase between June 2021 and June 2022 and from June 2022 to June 2023. However, the rate of growth between 2021 and 2022 was higher for most states than in the past year," Walter explains. Increases varied by state, with Iowa farmland gaining roughly $3,000 per acre during June 2022 to June 2023, as compared to Arkansas, which gleaned only $300 more per acre during the same time period.

Overall, experts predict a competitive, solid market for high-quality land sales. "David Whitaker, president of Realtors Land Institute, says when looking at the numbers from the past several surveys, a good way to describe the most recent one is 'steady.' He also expects steadiness over the next six months," Walters reports. He told Walters: “I think there’s enough money out there that we will hold steady. I think farmland is the asset that everybody wants and wants to keep and is willing to pay for.”

Walters adds, "While there appears to be agreement that the market is staying strong but cooling down, there is a non-negotiable caveat that several variables could send land values in an unexpected direction. . . . Experts say there is a strong connection between commodity prices and farm revenue and farmland values. Higher prices equate to farmers having more cash on hand and more interest in investing in their operations. With lower prices, expect the inverse. . . . Steve Bruere, president of Peoples Co., says rising inflation will drive land values up and it is too soon to tell if this current period of high inflation is truly over."

Emulating nature, gardeners enjoy blooms throughout winter months; it's not that hard to do

N. romieuxii, a miniature Narcissus, is an early favorite.
(Page Dickey courtesy photo via The New York Times)

As fall turns to winter, many people will long for fresh air, warm breezes and the blooming flowers of spring long before Old Man Winter releases his grasp. One solution to winter's fog is learning to force some bulbs to bloom out of season, reports Margaret Roach of The New York Times.

Page Dickey, a garden writer and designer alongside Francis Bosco Schell, a retired book editor and lifelong gardener, provides Roach with their ways of enjoying blooms. First, some bulbs are more easily convinced to bloom out of season than others. Dickey perused bulb catalogs "carefully noting any varieties whose descriptions hint at their adaptability to forcing — or being coaxed into extra-early bloom."

Bulbs also need a chill period before planting and in cooler regions that is more easily created. The cooler temperatures "trick" bulbs into thinking it's winter. White Flower Farm's website advises, "Pot the bulbs in any well-draining potting mix, water them, and set them aside in a cool dark spot for the required minimum time." Roach reports, "The goal is to put the pots in a protected place where they won't freeze, but will stay very cold — above 32 degrees, but below 50. Somewhere from 40 to 45 degrees is probably ideal."

"Dickey has learned some of what she knows by researching, but most of it by trial and error, she said, and she finds that most varieties want about 12 to 14 weeks' chill," Roach reports. "The earliest in-ground bloomers will need fewer weeks of cold when forced, before they are ready to start flowering — meaning, a crocus blooms faster than a daffodil. And because the bulbs would normally be underground, where no light reaches them, we chill our pots in darkness."

Cold frames are key to coaxing early blooms.
(Page Dickey courtesy photo via The New York Times)

The best ally for off-seasonal blooms is the "cold frame. . . . Generally, a prefabricated model will be about 18 inches tall on the highest side, its lid slanting downward to a foot or lower," Roach adds. They can be built relatively easily. "Whatever the dimensions of your cold frame, there's one caveat: Never leave the lid all the way open when pots are inside, or a storm could soak them. Also, position the frames where they can get good sun. Ideally, the low end should face south or west." Dickey goes through a process of "emulating" Mother Nature's dormant period for bulbs within the cold frames.

Once October comes, the bulbs are planted, and throughout winter, Dickey pulls pots out to warm them and beckons their blooms to come forth. Although it's a step-by-step process, none of it is hard. "Crocus and Iris reticulata will be the first pots she pulls out, in late January or so, transitioning them gradually to increasingly warmer spots indoors," Roach writes. "A few weeks later, they’ll be the first to bloom. Eventually, the latest-blooming forced pots will overlap with the start of the main bulb displays out in the garden."

Rural highways and byways can offer spectacular views in the fall -- take time to soak in the sights at these four stops

'Tis the season for troves of colored trees, exploring harvest bounty and letting crisper air fill your lungs. Wherever you roam this fall, may it be filled with the beauty only rural road trips can offer. "Traveling byways is a great way to sample local flavor and have authentic place-based experiences," reports Kim Kobersmith of The Daily Yonder. "The four trips below all lean into unique ecosystems, habitats, history, and culture, making for particularly lovely autumn destinations."

Pine Barrens National Scenic Byway: "Pine barrens are unique ecosystems with nutrient-poor sandy soil, acidic water, and fire-adapted plants, according to the Pinelands Preservation Alliance. The byway traverses the Pinelands, the 1.1 million acres of pine barrens in New Jersey, the largest forested area on the eastern seaboard between the Everglades and Maine. This special place is an International Biosphere Reserve, and in 1978, Congress designated it the nation's first National Reserve to protect its unique natural and cultural resources. . . . Pine barrens is home to pygmy trees and Warren Grove Recreation Area, where one can take "a surreal walk amongst the lilliputian trees. . . eerily quiet, except for the occasional bird song and the steady susurration of the wind in the pines."

Raking cranberries at a century-old bed (Wisconsin Rapids
Area Convention photo via The Daily Yonder )

Cranberry Highway: Located in central Wisconsin, the highway is the "largest cranberry-producing region in the United States. Along with a taste of the harvest in fall, from late September through October, the century-old cranberry beds and surrounding trees are alight with seasonal color.

The drive is a self-guided agri-tour. Local stores sell everything cranberry, from sausage to hand cream, and farm-to-table restaurants incorporate the fruit in bread, cocktails, and salads."

Cherokee Foothills National Scenic Byway: This history byway sits at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains and offers "leaf looking," nature exploration and rich history. "Several stops have mountainous overlooks. A fall raptor migration can be seen from the heights of Caesar's Head State Park, and the granite view at Table Rock State Park is iconic. Several waterfalls can be accessed from the drive; Wildcat Branch Falls can be viewed from a paved turnout, and a short roadside hike leads to Issaqueena Falls.

A boat trip on crystal clear Lake Jocassee leads to several streams that drop into the water. . . .The route also winds past Cowpens National Battlefield and Kings Mountain National Park, where visitor centers interpret the importance of these pivotal revolutionary-era battles. The only remaining covered bridge in South Carolina, Campbell's, is right off Route 11."

Ducks in the Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge (Fish and Wildlife Service, Mary Hyde via The Daily Yonder)

The Klamath Basin: The basin is a "crucial migratory stop on the Pacific Flyway, hosting nearly 80% of migratory birds that pass through the region. This outdoorsy-focused trail leads to hikes, kayak-friendly lakes and wildlife drives throughout rugged southern Oregon and northern California. The 300-mile route has 47 stops, including six National Wildlife Refuges and three National Park Service sites. More than 350 species of birds have been identified in the mix of mountains, marshlands, grasslands, old-growth forests and shallow lakes that converge here.

"In northern California, large Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge is a migratory hotspot for snow geese and sandhill cranes. It has a visitor center, hiking and canoeing trails, and a 20-mile gravel drive open to the public for wildlife viewing. Nearby Lower Klamath Lake was the first wildlife refuge in the U.S., established in 1908."

To find a national or state scenic byway near you, search nsbfoundation.com/travel-byways.
To explore other National Wildlife Refuges this season, read fws.gov/story/fall-wonders.