Oil industry chief says 15% ethanol-gas blend bad for cars; renewable fuel folks call that 'bad science'

DesMoinesRegister.com's Dan Piller writes that the American Petroleum Institute president and CEO Jack Gerard contended Wednesday that studies by the Coordinating Research Council have shown that gasoline with 15 percent ethanol could damage vehicle engines. This follows Gerard's criticism last year of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's decision to expand the blend limit of ethanol to unleaded gasoline for vehicle use from 10 percent to 15 percent. He called those decisions "premature and irresponsible.” The agency "approved E15 knowing ongoing vehicle testing had not been completed. Worse ... it approved the fuel even though government labs had raised red flags about the compatibility of E15 with much of the dispensing and storage infrastructure at our nation’s gas stations.”

 Monte Shaw of the Iowa Renewable Renewable Fuels Association said the study is “just bad science.” “What they did was use a very aggressive form of ethanol blend, about a 17 percent blend, and didn’t use the 10 percent blend as a baseline,” said Shaw. “So you don’t know how much of that engine damage might have happened anyway.” The EPA’s approval was for automobiles of the 2001 model year or later. The API, which represents the largest oil companies, opposed the expansion of the ethanol blend. About 10 percent of the gasoline used in the U.S. now is made up of the ethanol blend. (Read more.)

The Coordinated Research Council, known as the CRC, is a non-profit research and testing organization made up of the automobile and oil companies. Piller writes that Gerard spoke to the larger issue of the widening gulf between the petroleum industry and the biofuels industry. Federal law requires blending of increasing amounts of biofuels in gasoline, and most of the gasoline now sold in America has ethanol in it.

People with college degrees increasingly cluster, but not in rural areas; bad for rural economies

College-educated people in this country used to be more equally distributed in this country, reports the Daily Yonder. And while the percentage of people in the U.S. who have a college degree has increased dramatically in both rural and urban areas since 1970, those with college degrees are clustering in some counties and not others. This diversity is a demographic divide with serious economic consequences.

The map below shows the distribution of adults (those over 25 years of age) who had a four-year college degree in 2010, when 27.9 percent of U.S. adults had such degrees. The counties in blue had a higher percentage; those in red were at the national average or below.

The map below is for 1970, when 10.7 percent of U.S. adults had a college degree.

“Obviously education is important for the individual, but it’s also important for the community,” said Mark Partridge, a rural economist at Ohio State University. “The higher share of your population that has a bachelors degree, the higher the income of the population. It's good for raising employment growth and wages for everyone." There is a self-reinforcing pattern, write Bill Bishop of the Yonder and Roberto Gallardo of the Southern Rural Development Center. "Companies increasingly need college-educated workers and so they thrive in places where there are more people with college degrees. As these firms expand, they attract more college graduates into the community — and that in turn spurs development dependent on a highly-educated workforce." 

House votes to de-fund American Community Survey as tea-party forces raise privacy issue

Last week the U.S. House, with the votes of most Republicans and four Democrats, passed an amendment to cease funding the Census Bureau's American Community Survey. The survey is a continuous update of American's economic, demographic and housing data, as described by homeowners, and, explains The New York Times, "is widely considered a vital tool for business decision makers." In 2006, the Republican-led House touted the ACS program as good for business and communities, yet now sees it as "an unconstitutional breach of privacy." It's an example of the influence of the tea party, which sent dozens of Republicans to the House in 2010.

The Washington Post notes, "The decennial census paints a portrait of the country only in very broad strokes — and only every 10 years, at that. Information from the survey generates data that help determine how more than $400 billion in federal and state funds are distributed each year, according to the Census Bureau." UPDATE, May 22: "It is unclear what data the federal government would use to allocate billions in grant money, if the survey is discontinued," Christine Vestal of Stateline reports.

In rural counties, a 2009 Census Bureau report explained, a consortium of human services agencies use ACS data on age, poverty, disability and access to transportation to examine issues of health, aging and rural poverty. They use ACS data to compete for a variety of human services grants and loans. Local public health departments can use the data -- age, race/ethnicity, poverty, education level of parents and single parents) as key indicators of populations at risk for diabetes and asthma. They can help target education and intervention programs through community organizations and school systems. The data can also help evaluate the need and supply of affordable housing.

Arizona governor vetoes bill to take over federal land, calls it unconstitutional and costly

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer vetoed legislation Monday that would have allowed the try to state to take public land from the federal government, a fight that several Western states talked about but that only Utah, so far, has decided to wage. Robert Gehrke of The Salt Lake Tribune reports that Brewer, well-known as a feisty conservative, informed legislators that the bill appeared to be "not reconcilable" with the U.S. Constitution and Arizona’s Enabling Act and that it would create uncertainty for holders of leases on federal lands.

Gehrke writes that the governor also pointed out, "If Congress were to transfer control of the land to the state, Arizona would be on the hook for up to $23 million in costs to manage the land, and that it is premature to put fixed dates for action into statute until the state has met its other funding needs. "As a staunch advocate for state sovereignty, we still must be mindful and respectful of our federal system," Brewer wrote. "I understand and share Arizona’s frustration in trying to manage our natural resources with our various partners; however, this legislation is not the answer."

In short, Gehrke notes, "Brewer relied on the same arguments that opponents of similar legislation in Utah raised when the bill demanding Congress turn over nearly 30 million acres of federal land passed the Legislature and was signed by Gov. Gary Herbert." (Read more.)

College visits and test-prep workshops are the most help to rural students who want to attend college

College visits and workshops to prepare for exams like the American College Test seem to make the biggest difference in rural students' college enrollment rates, a new Mississippi State University study shows. The study was published in The Rural Educator, which is the official journal of the National Rural Education Association.

Researchers found campus visits and ACT workshops were overwhelmingly the factors with the most impact on college enrollment, reports Diette Courrege on Education Week's Rural Education blog. Rural students' average college-enrollment rate of 27 percent is far lower than the national average of 34 percent, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

Leaders of grant projects to increase college enrollment among rural students in rural Appalachian counties were asked to participate in the study. They listed several factors that didn't affect college-going of rural youth, but Courrege reports there's no common theme among them, which she wrote was surprising because other studies have found that financial aid, unpreparedness and low parental encouragement as barriers. (Read more)

High school yearbook story about gay teen creates controversy in Tennessee town

A Tennessee town has been wracked with controversy after an article about a gay high school student was published in the Lenoir City High School yearbook, reports Jeremy Styron of the local News-Herald. "It's O.K. To Be Gay," about student Zac Mitchell, left, and his experience of coming out in a small town, is part of a series of short stories about various aspects of student life.

Principal Steve Millsaps said most community response to the article has been negative, and deferred further comment to School Superintendent Wayne Miller, who wouldn't comment, Styron reported. Dueling Facebook groups were established in support of the article and against it. Lenoir City is in Loudon County, just southwest of Knoxville.

School board member Glenn McNish Sr. told Styron he didn't "think that that type of material has any place in a yearbook." Last week, the board "promised parents and residents that a full investigation will be conducted into the publication," Michael Patrick of the Knoxville News-Sentinel reports. Chair Rosemary Quillen said "All of us are working toward a permanent solution so that situations like this never happen again." Patrick reports, "Journalism teacher James Yoakley, who supervises the school newspaper and yearbook . . . has said that he believes in allowing the students to direct the production of the yearbook." For the News-Sentinel's first story on the issue, go here.

Styron's story included a comparison: "Conspicuously absent from the dialogue about the yearbook was another that appeared in the annual titled, 'Don't Stare,' in which another student recalls how her numerous piercings and tattoos enable her to more fully express herself." (Read more)

EPA will appeal ruling that upheld permits for largest mountaintop-removal mine

U.S. Department of Justice officials filed notice last week that the Environmental Protection Agency will challenge a judge's decision that overturned the agency's veto of permits for what would be the largest mountaintop removal coal mine, Ken Ward Jr. of The Charleston Gazette reports.

Judge Amy Berman Jackson ruled the EPA had no authority to withdraw the Clean Water Act "dredge and fill" permit that had been issued by the Army Corps of Engineers. Environmental and social justice groups have been trying to stop the Spruce Mine since 1998, when it was first proposed. The "dredge and fill" permit was approved by the Corps in 2007 in a "scaled-back" version that would fill more than seven miles of streams, Ward reports.

EPA revoked the permits to Arch Coal Inc. for the mine in Logan County, saying they did not fully consider how mining would damage streams. The agency's appeal goes to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. (Read more)

Meat industry needs better communication skills, especially social media, expert says

A corporate communications coach has said the meat processing industry needs to better communicate its actions to the public in times of recalls or media crises, reports Tom Johnston of Meatingplace. Gene Grabowski, president of Levic Strategic Communications, said the industry "has a lot to learn about communicating its issues."

He told Johnston the industry was tested this year after the lean finely textured beef controversy was largely created by intense media coverage calling the product "pink slime." That debacle taught the industry "a harsh lesson about the need for meat processors to more quickly communicate their message," Johnston reports. Grabowski said it's "crucial" for processors to participate in social media because customers prefer that method over traditional forms of communication. (Read more)

On Silas House's radio show, Ashley Judd discusses her response to media treatment of her 'puffy face'

Photo by Richard Drew

When the media sent discussions of Ashley Judd's "puffy face" into a viral tailwind earlier this year, the actress responded with an opinion piece defending herself and chastising the media for over-sexualization of women and girls. That piece was quickly swept up into the viral frenzy and received much media attention in its own right. 

The self-proclaimed feminist, activist, humanitarian and Eastern Kentucky native spoke about the episode with Appalachian Kentucky author Silas House on his "Hillbilly Solid" radio show, which aired on WUKY-FM in Lexington last night. She said the piece was a "deeply personal" and private writing she never meant to publicly share. She had "abstained" from media coverage about herself for 10 years, but after her husband, Indy-car driver Dario Fanchitti, encouraged her to read the coverage and demand an apology from the media, she read it, and started writing. 

"I spent a lot of time under a redbud tree, as one should, and wrote it in 20 to 30 minutes," Judd said. She sent the piece to Maureen Dowd of The New York Times, who declined to print it. The Daily Beast picked up the piece and soon it was making the rounds on social networking websites. 

"A lot of people were astonished by the essay because they didn't expect those ideas to come from me," Judd said, adding that she's thought those ideas since her undergraduate career at the University of Kentucky. She said she can't help but notice the "very gendered nature" in which products and movies are advertised and that the over-sexualization and objectification of girls and women "absolutely appalls and disgusts" her. 

The response to the essay was overwhelmingly positive. "I've never been a part of anything like it," Judd said. She insisted the treatment she received from the media is not just something public figures go through, but is something all girls and women experience. "The patriarchy is a system in which we all participate, either willingly or unwillingly," she said, adding that everyone should make themselves more aware of how women and girls are treated in our human society. 

Monsanto gets a lot of attention in one bundle today, including gift for agricultural communications chair

The Society of Environmental Journalists gathered a few stories about the multinational biotechnology firm Monsanto Corp. in its headline digest today. In the roundup, the journalism group highlighted current reportage from international and domestic sources. The topics range from the St. Louis-based company saying it has new herbicides for "superweeds," to its funding of a University of Illinois agricultural communications chair, to revealing details about how much the company spends lobbying Washington to approve genetically modified seeds and other decisions that help it.

Monsanto and the university say the goal of the endowed chair "is to help graduates better convey the challenges and technologies of modern farming -- which, the agriculture business believes, aren't reaching the American public," the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. "The university's new position comes as the agriculture industry is going on the offensive, waging a public relations campaign to win the hearts of American consumers who are increasingly distrustful of large-scale agriculture and concerned about the lack of transparency in the food system."

The university said the company won't influence who is hired and what is taught, but Ken Cook of the Environmental Working Group, who spoke at the univresity's first agricultural communications symposium last year, told the Post-Dispatch, "If you're concerned about presenting a view from a corporate standpoint, the demise of journalism is great news. My fear is that this is another way for Monsanto and big companies to begin to influence, quote, 'ag communications.' I didn't speak to any student while I was at that conference who was interested in becoming a journalist."

"Too often, 'agricultural communications' does not mean journalism, but public relations for agribusiness, sometimes masquerading as journalism," said Al Cross, director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, publisher of The Rural Blog. The institute is based at the University of Kentucky, one of many schools with a major in ag communications. It's in the UK College of Agriculture, not the School of Journalism and Telecommunications, where Cross works. At Illinois, the chair "will run a recently formalized degree program between the university's College of Media and College of Agriculture, Consumer and Environmental Sciences," the Post-Dispatch reports.

Here's another Monsanto link: our story reporting that Derry Brownfield, who founded and sold a radio network for Midwest agricultural and rural news, was taken off the network and sister networks because of repeated rants against Monsanto's restrictive seed-corn patents and fears by the network's owners that the company would reduce its advertising. "He thought they were bad for farmers, too big for their britches and generally bad for America," said Clyde Lear, who co-founded the network with Brownfield and fired him. Brownfield's obituary is here.

Census: Military veterans disproportionately live in rural settings; lowest percentage in N.Y., D.C., L.A.

The Daily Yonder reports that military veterans disproportionately live in rural communities or exurbia (in towns that lie outside of urban areas but beyond suburbia, in rural settings). And, according to U.S. Census Bureau data, those veterans who do live in cities are much more likely to live in smaller urban areas.

New York, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles have among the lowest percentage of veterans in the population of any of the nation’s counties.

Rural and exurban counties make up 30.6 percent of the nation’s 22.6 million veterans. But these same counties represent just 25.9 percent of all residents over 18 years of age. Military veterans are 11.7 percent of the adult populations in rural and exurban counties. In urban counties, however, vets are 9.3 percent of those over 18.

Noted farm journalist Stewart Doan dies at 52

Stewart Doan, senior editor at Agri-Pulse Communications Inc., died unexpectedly Thursday, May 10. He was 52. He is survived by his wife, Leslie, and daughters, Lauren, 19, and Sara, 15.

Agri-Pulse Editor and Publisher Sara Wyant noted Doan's "incredible work ethic and dedication," indicating that he had called her from the ambulance on Friday to let her know he would not be able to finish his assignments for the day. "He always thought of others first," she wrote.

Doan was born in Cynthiana, Ky., and for more than 30 years he covered agricultural news for a variety of media, beginning with radio. He was considered the premier cotton and rice journalist in the nation, Wyant writes. Based in Arkansas, he was no stranger to Washington. He was president of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting in 1998 and was recognized by the National Cotton Council, the USA Rice Federation and the Arkansas Farm Bureau for his reporting on a wide range of agricultural policy issues.

House Agriculture Committee Chair Frank Lucas spoke Friday of Doan's passing: "Beyond being a talented journalist and broadcaster, Stewart was a quality person. His passing is a tremendous loss to all of us who appreciated and respected his fair storytelling and analysis. His brand of reporting on farm policy and his role in our community will be missed. My thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends and colleagues." 

Agri-Pulse has established a fund to help for the college education of Doan's children. To contribute, checks should be made out to Stewart Doan's Children's College Fund and mailed to Peoples Bank, 20409 Arch Street, Little Rock, AR 72206. Or you can contribute online at this link. 

Here is a link for a list of proposed hourly changes for specific rural post offices under new plan

A list of each post office affected in the recently announced United States Postal Service plan to reduce hours at 13,000 rural post offices announced May 9, 2012 is now available.

An explanation of the plan, provided by Save the Post Office is available here. To see a history of the plan, scroll the Save the Post Office website for more coverage.

Small Vermont town wrestling over the introduction of a Dollar General to the town common

Vermonters have put up a long and mostly successful fight against any kind of development that they've interpreted as encroaching or threatening the region's unique and historic charm. The New York Times notes that big-box store Target has yet to succeed in getting a story open in the state. Wal-Mart has only four. But Dollar General, Dollar Tree and Family Dollar now have more than two dozen. And that seems to be enough for some in the small town of Chester, Vt., to take a stand against the Dollar General proposed to open in the small town common. (Photo of Chester,

The Dollar General store in question will be a 9,100-square-foot store on South Main Street. So far, the Chester Development Review Board narrowly voted to let it go forward as long as the store agrees to 35 conditions, including, reports Abby Goodnough, "that is use wood clapboard siding and keep its shopping carts inside."

Goodnough writes that chief opponent Shawn Cunningham is concerned about the town's tourism-based economy, its historic character and that Chester (pop: 3,000) will lose its Vermontiness." Most of the people in Chester now are people who have come from someplace else," Cunningham said. "It's like a lot of Vermont. Why come to a place like this only to have it turn into the kind of place you were trying to leave?"

Cunningham's group could cite state laws to appeal the board's appeal on environmental, aesthetic and other criteria. Dollar General, which has its roots in a tiny store founded in 1939 in Scottsville, Ky., has faced opposition before in other states. In Vermont, though, "the state's preservation trust has been tracking the spread of dollar stores since 2010," the Times reports, "and it provides grant money to citizens groups to oppose them, including Mr. Cunningham's."

Institute director, longtime political writer, to give June 22 webinar on covering presidential election

Why should rural news media leave a monumental election for president to the big newspapers and networks when all politics is local? "If dailies rely on The Associated Press, the coverage won’t be localized. If weeklies just stick to local news, they will ignore a major topic of discussion among their readers – who, in the dozen or so swing states, can provide the margin of victory or defeat. And covering the race can help a newspaper’s maintain and build its brand as the most authoritative local source of news and information."

So says Al Cross, right, director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, who will present a no-holds-barred webinar on Friday, June 22, to help smaller newspapers cover the 2012 presidential election. The webinar will come from Online Media Campus, sponsored by the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association and the Iowa Newspaper Foundation.

During the hour-long event, Cross will explain why AP, as great at it is, can never provide what the local paper can: the meat and potatoes behind the a major topic of discussion on the lips of its readers. Even in non-contested states, there will be much talk about the race, and efforts to associate nominees with candidates in their parties, favorably or unfavorably.

Cross will outline:

• How to identify federal issues that affect your community and where to get reliable information and candidates' positions.
• How to localize the race with reporting on campaign contributions and political activity
• How to keep misleading ads from controlling the conversation
• How to exercise leadership on your editorial page.

Cross came to the Institute in 2004 after a long and distinguished career as a political reporter for The Courier-Journal. He still writes a political column twice a month for the Louisville newspaper and is a commentator on election programming on Kentucky public television and radio. His awards include a share of the 1989 Pulitzer Prize to The Courier-Journal staff for its coverage of the nation's deadliest bus and drunk-driving crash.

The webinar will be held from 2 to 3 p.m. Eastern Time. The cost is $35 and group discounts are available. For more information visit www.OnlineMediaCampus.com, or go here.

Another study finds rural kids less likely to have allergies, asthma; more diverse exposure credited

Earlier this week, we took note of a study that Amish farm children in Indiana and their Swiss farm peers had significantly fewer allergies and less incidence of asthma. Now comes a study from Finland that also suggests rural kids are less likely to develop allergies. (Photo; A biodiverse Finnish forest)

The authors of the Finnish study, reporting their findings in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, say declining biodiversity may be a contributing factor to the chronic rise of allergies and other chronic inflammatory diseases among urban populations worldwide. They add that it is likely that reduced contact with the natural environment is resulting in a poorer immune system.

Susan Perry of The Minnesota Post reports that the study notes children raised in rural areas are exposed to a broader array of friendly microbes, "which may protect their bodies against allergies, asthma and other inflammatory diseases." The researchers proposed that children interact early with the natural environment -- be it in city parks or in rural settings and forests -- for this could be essential for the development of their immune system.

FCC sets $300 million fund to get broadband into rural areas within two years

Let there be broadband. This week, the Federal Communications Commission set up a $300 million Universal Service Mobility Fund. Its sole purpose is to speed up the process by which experienced private sector wireless companies get into rural communities to begin offering wireless service.

Nicole Payola Wood reports for the Daily Yonder that the FCC is going to run "reverse auctions," in which the low-bidder in certain communities will receive government funds for setting up service, thus defraying some of the extra expense of serving remote communities. The bidding period opens next month. Wood writes that winning bidders will have to get service up and running within two years for installing 3G service and three years for the more advanced 4G services that wireless companies offer in most urban areas.

Weed scientists gather in D.C. to address 'plague of super weeds' threatening U.S. crop yields

Weed experts are calling it a "plague of super weeds" that has already spread to more than 12 million acres of U.S. farmland, beginning in the Southeast, and now moving to the corn and soybean regions of the Midwest. Reuters' Carey Gilliam reports that weed scientists met in the nation's capital this week to discuss the problem, which they say will threaten food production by limiting crop yields if not addressed.

"This is a complex problem," weed scientist David Shaw told the national summit of experts, who were set to come up with a plan to battle the problem. The Monsanto herbicide Roundup has been extremely effective for decades but some weeds have developed a strong resistance to the glyphosate-based product. Experts say farmers have been too dependent on chemicals, and a back-to-basics approach is called for.

Many W.Va. Democrats prefer inmate to president; next rural tests for Obama in Arkansas and Kentucky

"The same rural, low-income white voters who fiercely resisted Obama in 2008 are just as adamant now," Steve Kornacki writes for Salon, looking at some recent primary-election results: Federal prison inmate Keith Judd won 41 percent of the statewide vote against President Obama in West Virginia’s primary last week, and "an antiabortion fanatic" outpolled him in 15 Oklahoma counties in March, "and nearly walked away with a convention delegate."

The next primaries are May 22 in Kentucky and Arkansas. In Kentucky, Obama's only opposition is "Uncommitted," but in Arkansas, he faces Chattanooga lawyer John Wolfe Jr., who "fits the basic profile of a fringe presidential candidate – zero name recognition, no obvious base of support, a total lack of money, organization and media attention, multiple quixotic bids for local and federal office – but in the wake of the West Virginia verdict, I’m guessing he’s feeling good about his chances," Kornacki writes.

Wolfe, left, has lost three elections and one primary for the U.S. House elections, a Chattanooga mayoral race and a 2007 Democratic primary for the a seat in the Tennessee Senate. "The results have never been close, either, and the ’07 race ended with state election officials levying a $10,000 fine against him for failing to file a campaign finance report," Kornacki reports. "Five years later, he still hasn’t paid it, and so he’s currently banned from seeking municipal or state office in Tennessee."

But after getting all of 245 votes in the New Hampshire presidential primary, Wolfe "fared better in Missouri, then seemed to strike gold in Louisiana’s March primary, clearing 15 percent in three congressional districts – enough to qualify for delegates. But party leaders quickly found a way to rule him ineligible, pointing to his failure to submit a diversity plan for his convention delegation." (Read more)

The West Virginia result was "disgusting," The Charleston Gazette said in an editorial. "most didn't know they were choosing a criminal. They simply picked "anyone but Obama." The inmate outpolled the president in nine counties. Further, about 25,000 other West Virginia Democratic voters skipped the presidential race entirely. Although Obama easily won, it's nonetheless a blemish on the state that Keith Judd -- confined to a federal cell -- took 41 percent of West Virginia Democratic votes, almost the same number garnered by Republican Mitt Romney."

Farmers markets are now a $1 billion business

No one doubts that farmers' markets are becoming more popular with consumers, but who knew how commercially successful they have become for the farmers? Robert Strauss of Bloomberg BusinessWeek reports that more than 7,175 farms are now clamoring for the $1 billion in business that the anti-big, open-air, bring-your-own-basket markets now bring in. The number of markets alone has doubled just since the mid-2000s, Strauss writes, and because of the increased desire for local food. (Photo by Tom Wilkinson)

However, says Larry Lev, a professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economies at Oregon State University, it's also a byproduct of competition from foreign and domestic agribusiness, encouraging more independent farmers to try direct retailing.

Those farmers who try the direct route sometimes find they must branch out to many different towns -- all in the same week -- and include a wide array of fruits and vegetables, because that's what consumers are looking for. Nicky Uy, a senior associate at a Philadelphia nonprofit that supports local agriculture, says small farmers are finding success bodes well for their future of small farms, especially those near big cities. (Read more)