Ky. clerk not sued for withholding marriage licenses now gives them only to opposite-sex couples

One of the Kentucky county clerks who stopped issuing marriage licenses after the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage but didn't get sued has resumed issuing licenses, but only to opposite-sex couples.

Casey County Clerk Casey Davis told Larry Rowell of the Casey County News that he issued a marriage license to an opposite sex couple on Sept. 30.

"A Separate Baptist preacher, Davis said publicly numerous times after the ruling that based on his religious convictions that marriage is between a man and a woman, it precluded him from issuing a license to a same sex couple," writes Rowell, himself a Baptist minister. "And Davis said he still will not issue a license to a same sex couple. As to why he changed his position, Davis said he wants to serve opposite-sex couples."

“There’s a lot of hard decisions that come with being that (an elected official) and one of them is I wasn’t doing other people right by not issuing them licenses and when the governor and attorney general both came out and said a blank license is fine, give them the paper, it’s all right,” Davis told Rowell.

However, a spokesman for the attorney general's office told Rowell that the licenses issued from Davis’s office have not been altered.

Davis is no relation to Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis, who was jailed by a federal judge for refusing in a lawsuit to issue marriage licenses. Casey Davis and the other Kentucky clerk refusing to do issue licenses, Whitley County Clerk Kay Schwarz, have not been sued.

Casey "Davis also said that since Kim Davis had been sued by opposite-sex couples seeking licenses in Rowan County, he hoped to avoid that fate by reversing his position on opposite-sex couples," Rowell reports. He said a group of county clerks are “putting together a form hoping to satisfy both sides and one that the legislature will pass a bill that accommodates for both.”

Oil and gas emissions down, greenhouse gas emissions on the rise, EPA reports says

Oil and gas industry greenhouse gas emissions are on the rise, but methane leakage continues to fall, according to an Environmental Protection Agency report released on Tuesday, Pamela King reports for EnergyWire. "Petroleum and natural gas systems emitted 236 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent into the atmosphere in 2014, up from 228 million metric tons CO2e in 2013. Methane emissions ticked down from 77 million metric tons CO2e in 2013 to 73 million metric tons CO2e last year, marking the third consecutive year that measurement has declined."

"Reductions in methane emissions appear to be the result of existing regulation, and further cuts will be made possible only by additional rulemakings, said Matt Watson, associate vice president of the Environmental Defense Fund's climate and energy program," King writes. "A table toward the bottom of EPA's energy industry profile indicates that the bulk of emissions reductions between 2011 and 2014 came from gas well completions and workovers, a regulated source, he said." (EPA graphic)

Watson said in a statement, "This data shows that regulations work and promises of voluntary action don't. The largest methane reductions come from a practice that is subject to national standards, while the biggest increases come from sources that remain largely unregulated." (Read more)

Earlier bedtimes can decrease obesity in adolescents, study says

Earlier bedtimes can decrease the rate of obesity during adolescence and during the transition to adulthood, says a study by researchers published in the journal Sleep. Researchers concluded, "Later average bedtime during the workweek, in hours, from adolescence to adulthood was associated with an increase in body mass index (BMI) over time." The 12th Annual State of Obesity report, released last month, found that the largely rural South is the most obese region in the country.

For the study "researchers followed 3,342 adolescents from 1996 to 2009 and interviewed them three times during the study period about their bedtimes, food consumption, exercise and television watching," Ariana Eunjung Cha reports for The Washington Post. "They also measured the volunteers' heights and took their weights to calculate their BMI during each of the check-ins. They found that the later the average bedtime during the schoolweek, the higher the BMI over time. More precisely, they found that for every minute of later bedtime there was an increase in BMI of 0.035 kg/m2. Or for every additional hour later a 2.1 increase in BMI."

Lauren Asarnow, a doctoral candidate at the University of California at Berkeley and co-author of the study, said in a statement, "The results are important because they highlight adolescent bedtimes, not just total sleep time, as a potential target for weight management concurrently and in the transition to adulthood." (Read more)

Most rural county clerks quietly issuing same-sex marriage licenses regardless of personal views

While Kim Davis, County Clerk in Rowan County, Kentucky, has grabbed national headlines and been ridiculed on Saturday Night Live for refusing to issue marriage licenses based on religious objections, most of the nation's 3,100 clerks have quietly followed the law with little fanfare, Tim Marema reports for the Daily Yonder. (Andy Brusseau photo: Evonne Hoback, county clerk of McMinn County, Tennessee)

Evonne Hoback, clerk of Tennessee’s McMinn County, a rural county that lies between Knoxville and Chattanooga in the southeast portion of the state, told Marema, “Within 30 minutes of the Supreme Court ruling, we had a phone call from someone in the LGBT community asking what we were going to do about same-sex marriage licenses. I assured them that all systems were go as soon as another agency was ready to roll with the computer system.”

Hoback said the only holdup was that "the state needed to change labels on the standardized electronic form to accommodate same-sex couples—for example, using 'surname' instead of 'maiden name,'" Marema writes. "The state and McMinn County were ready to take applications the same day as the court ruling on June 26, Hoback said." She told Marema, “We just did it without pomp and circumstance. It’s the law, and our office takes the law very seriously . . . We are here to serve people. We are here to help people. This is a public-service office . . . My responsibilities are to keep our tax dollars safe, do a good job and stay within my budget. It’s not my job to judge the world.”

While clerks other than Davis have refused to issue marriage licenses, most have complied with the law, Marema writes. "Other clerks like Wayne Nabors in Putnam County, Tennessee, have issued same-sex licenses, even though they disagree on religious grounds with the Supreme Court ruling. He told reporters, 'I have a statutory authority and a job to do.'" (Read more)

Cattle market continues historic slide; consumers should begin to see lower prices in grocery stores

The historic slide of the cattle market should continue into next year, reports Agri-Pulse. After a record-setting 2014, over the past six months "the live cattle contract has lost over $25 per hundredweight," and the feeder cattle contract has lost $33.75 per hundredweight. "Longer-term figures look even grimmer, as the live cattle contract has lost over $35 since its 12-month high in November and the feeder cattle contract is down $52.75 since reaching its peak in the last year in early December."

Duane Lenz, general manager of the beef industry research firm CattleFax, said the current downward swing ranks in the top three all time, reports Agri-Pulse. He said, “Next year will probably average lower than this year, so other than short-term price bounces . . . the next rally is probably not going to occur here for a while.” He said "there was 'no way to forecast' the current drop, which he said really caught the industry off guard." (Agri-Pulse graphic)

For consumers, the slide should lead to lower prices in grocery stores, reports Agri-Pulse. Lenz told Agri-Pulse, “It’ll take longer than you think just because retailers don’t know if this is a temporary or a long-term situation. We are starting to see retail prices drop, but it’s very small. I would say that before we see a big change in the supermarket, you’re probably looking at five, maybe six months.” He said it is unlikely that cattle prices will return to 2014 numbers. Agri-Pulse is subscription-only but offers a four-week free trial.

Midwestern farms could learn from Washington, where strict enforcement of rules is saving lives

Mandating and enforcing workplace safety rules has saved lives on Washington farms, while lives continue to be unnecessarily lost in Midwestern states where rules are less strict, Jeffrey Meitrodt reports for the Minneapolis Star Tribune as part of its series "Tragic Harvest." "Farmers in Washington have embraced the nation’s most comprehensive agricultural safety program, an initiative that contrasts sharply with the hands-off approach that prevails in much of the Midwest."

"Unlike most farm belt states, where agricultural deaths are rarely investigated, Washington regulators are usually at the scene after an agricultural worker gets killed," Meitrodt writes. "Washington is one of three states that enforce safety rules on farms with fewer than 11 workers. Washington also provides consulting services to small farms that wouldn’t qualify for such help in other states."

"The results are stunning," Meitrodt writes. "Despite having a larger farm workforce than any state in the Midwest, Washington has reported a total of 63 farm deaths since 2003. By comparison, Minnesota, Iowa and six other Midwestern states each have had more than 200 work-related farm fatalities during that time. Of the 47 states that reported at least one farm death in the past decade, Washington has the nation’s lowest fatality rate. In some years, the state has gone without a single death linked to a tractor rollover, a common cause of fatalities elsewhere."

"Last year, Washington consultants visited 294 agricultural operations, including dozens of farms in the Yakima Valley, the state’s agricultural heart. By comparison, Minnesota has provided free consulting to 10 farms since 2010," Meitrodt writes. "If all states followed the Washington model, the lives of about 1,000 farmworkers could be saved in five years, according to a study in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine. Farming remains one of the nation’s most dangerous occupations, generating an average of more than 400 work-related deaths each year." (Read more)

Undocumented workers in some rural agricultural communities have high rates of STDs

In rural agricultural towns like Mendota, Calif., (Best Places map) where there is not much to do when the work days ends, the sex industry thrives, and sexually transmitted diseases, especially among undocumented workers, are a cause for concern, Diana Aguilera reports for Valley Public Radio. Fresno County has one of the highest rates of STD’s in the state.

"Lack of access to health care, six-day work weeks and tough living conditions makes it hard for many farmworkers to visit a doctor," Aguilera writes. City councilmember Joseph Riofrio told Aguilera, “There’s a lot of unsafe sex because of people, you know, drinking, getting drunk, feeling lonely, far away from home. There’s people that come from Fresno or Merced. They’re looking for customers either at the motel across the street or the motel right here, and they’ll rent the room throughout the night.”

One problem is a lack of data on STD rates among migrant workers, Aguilera writes. George Lemp, who took part in a 2005 study by researchers from University of California-Berkeley and experts in Mexico, told Aguilera, “We found that there was a significant increase in risk behaviors after migration to the United States. Their risk of engaging in sex with sex workers went up about two and a half fold.” He said "farmworkers were also more likely to have sex while under the influence of drugs and alcohol after coming to the states. In addition, they were six times more likely to perform sex work for pay and 13 times more likely to have sex with men."

While local campaigns have sought to educate people and provide free condoms, undocumented worker Francisco told Aguilera, “If anyone has anything they don’t say it because they’re embarrassed. We’re very shy; we don’t talk about sex. I think its part of our culture, and that’s the reality.” (Read more)

Older farmers more likely to die in accidents; average age of farmers keeps increasing

Safety risks for farmers increase as they get older, a cause for concern considering the average age of farmers keeps increasing, Jeffrey Meitrodt reports for the Minneapolis Star Tribune as part of its series "Tragic Harvest." A review of more than 200 farm death investigations in Minnesota showed that nearly half involved people 65 or older.

"Unlike the rest of the working world, where retirement at age 65 is typical and sometimes mandatory, most farmers keep working," Meitrodt writes. "Many die on the job because they gamble with their aging bodies once too often. Serious accidents are a concern for farmers of any age, but the risk only increases as they get older. Physical tasks become tougher than they used to be, and often it’s not easy—or even possible—to slow down." (Tribune graphic)

A 2009 study in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine found that "older farmers are more than twice as likely to die in an accident as younger workers, Meitrodt writes. "More than 1,800 farmers age 65 and older have died in work-related accidents in the past decade—or 38 percent of the U.S. total. And the farming community is aging with the rest of the population, suggesting that safety will become an even bigger issue. Nationally, the typical farmer was 58.3 years old in 2012, up from 50.5 in 1982. In Minnesota, where a quarter of principal farm operators are now 65 or older, the average age is 56.6."

"Researchers say older farmers often die in accidents that younger workers can survive," Meitrodt writes. "Older farmers are more likely to crack down on safety violations by others, especially their children, than to follow those rules themselves, according to a Star Tribune review of accident reports and interviews with surviving family members. But almost nothing is being done to raise awareness of the problem. Most safety campaigns focus on accidents involving children, who account for a tiny portion of farm deaths in the U.S." (Read more)

Rural mortgage loans decreased 28% from 2013 to 2014; loans for home purchases up 7%

The number of rural mortgage loans decreased 28 percent from 2013 to 2014, from more than 1.2 million to just over 900,000, Keith Wiley, senior research associate at the Housing Assistance Council, reports for the Daily Yonder. "Refinancing accounted for 99 percent of the decline both nationally and in rural areas. There were fewer than half as many rural refinance loans in 2014 compared to 2013 levels. The drop is partly attributable to recent interest rate increases, according to a Federal Reserve Bulletin. The decline in refinance loans also represents the first time since 2006 that home purchase originations represented a majority of loans (rural and nationally)."

"The number of loans for home purchases, in contrast, increased both nationally and in rural communities," he writes. Loan applications for home purchases grew by nearly 7 percent in 2014, "higher than the national increase in home purchases at 4 percent. Rural home purchase loan volume (440,489) still remains less than half of what it was before the Great Recession in 2006 (926,156)." (Housing Assistance Council map: Every state experienced declines in rural mortgage activity in 2014. The darker the blue the higher the decline. To view an interactive version, click here)

"Approximately 15 percent of rural home purchase loans were classified as high cost in 2014, up from 11 percent for calendar year 2013," he writes. "The rate of rural high cost lending is approximately four and three percentage points higher than the rate for suburban and urban loans respectively. High cost loans are particularly prevalent in manufactured home lending, a market segment important to rural communities. In 2014, nearly two-thirds of rural manufactured home purchase loans were classified as high cost loans—six times the high cost rate for single family home loans. Approximately half of all manufactured home loans occurred in rural communities which elevates the overall high cost lending levels in rural areas." (Read more)

Death of baby attended by unlicensed midwife exposes lack of qualified midwives in rural areas

The tragedy of the death of a baby whose delivery was being assisted by an unlicensed midwife in June in Washington highlights the risk of using midwives and the region's lack of such professionals, Sheila Hagar reports for the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin. Walla Walla (Wikipedia map) has no licensed midwives, despite a population of more than 31,000 and a robust medical community.

"Gabriel Marin III was delivered stillborn June 15 at 4:15 a.m. at full term at Walla Walla General Hospital after complications arose during a home labor attended" by Oregon midwife Sherry Dress, according to the death certificate, Hagar writes. Walla Walla County Coroner Richard Greenwood "said he and others believe the infant would have lived if Dress had acted differently as she guided the labor."

"The cause of baby Gabriel’s death is listed as prolonged labor with fetal hypoxia, or inadequate oxygen," Hagar writes. "Other complications included the baby’s failure to descend through the mother’s pelvis during labor, plus too much carbon dioxide in his blood. Greenwood said the end came long after the beginning. Under Dress’ direction for most of the time, Magill labored about 55 hours at home before going to Walla Walla General Hospital for an emergency cesarean section. When the couple and Dress arrived at General Hospital, the unborn infant still had heart tones. The move to the hospital came at the insistence of Magill’s family." Greenwood told Hagar, "I think a normal midwife would have sent (Magill) to the hospital." Dress has yet to be charged with any crimes but is under investigation.

One of the problems is a lack of education about midwives, Hagar writes. When Sarah Magill and Gabe Marin hired Dress they did not know she had been barred from practicing in Washington two years earlier. "Magill said she wishes she knew before hiring Dress what she knows now about midwives and what to watch for, including if a midwife is in compliance with the law and is guided by health-care standards."

"In the U.S., two types of midwives are generally recognized under most state laws," Hagar writes. "Certified nurse midwives are trained in nursing, often at advanced practice levels, and in midwifery. They typically work in a hospital setting. Licensed direct-entry midwives, sometimes called lay midwives, train through a midwifery school, apprenticeship or self-study. They work in homes or independent birth centers." (Read more)

Photography series captures the decline of rural post offices

When the U.S. Postal Service announced in 2011 plans to close 3,653 rural post offices, "photographer Rachel Boillot initially saw parallels between the closures and what was happening in her own career," Diana Budds reports for Fast Company. "Just as the larger force of digitization has all but decimated the film industry, modern technology has slowly chipped away at the post office's relevance. For most of us, communication happens by phone or email, but for others it still happens the old-fashioned way, with a physical letter that travels many miles." (Boillot photo: Closed post office in Goodman, Miss.)

Boillot set out to capture rural post offices for her series, Post Script, Budds writes. Boillot told her, "The communities I visited were by and large elderly, remote and impoverished. I quickly learned it’s much more complicated when you consider the politics behind [the closures]. For example, why close rural post offices first if that's where the people need and value them most? The post office serves as town center in rural communities, often acting as a town’s sole address. That’s why zip codes are lost when a rural P.O. closes, and that became a crucial frame for the project."

Urbanite who relocated to rural Midwest says racism has shattered his ideal of small-town life

Christoper Cross moved from Oakland, Calif., to Fond du lac, Wisc., (Wikipedia map) in search of the ideal small-town Midwestern rural life he envisioned from television shows like "Smallville." Instead, Cross, of Scottish and African American descent, has been surprised with the high levels of racism and ignorance he has encountered in the town of 43,000, of which 2.5 percent is black, Sharon Roznik reports for the Fond du lac Reporter. There are no black business owners in the county, and black residents make up 1.5 percent of the county's 101,798 residents and only 398 of 7,475 students in the school district are black.

"Statues of a jet-black man and boy sit on a bench on the front lawn of a home on South Main Street," Roznik writes. "The man wears a wide-brimmed hat, with big eyes and thick lips in white paint. A nearby sign reads 'Welcome.' While Fond du Lac may not be Ferguson, Mo., racism is showing up in subtle, and sometimes not-so-subtle forms, Cross said." He told her, "For the most part, I've had a positive experience in Fond du Lac, but then some behavior happens that is so offensive . . . People may be insensitive to something like a statue or say they have grown up with it. Sometimes actions are overt, but mostly I've found the person conducting the [offensive] behavior doesn't even realize it is offensive."

Married for seven years and employed as a nurse—he left two nursing jobs because of the way he was treated—"he said he has experienced incidents that have forced him to speak out," Roznik writes. "Once—while he was walking his dog—a driver from a car passing by shouted: 'Nigger, go back where you came from.' Another time, at a car dealership, someone commented on his 'nice tan.' And he's heard the words 'colored' and 'wetbacks,' used by people in professional settings." (Reporter photo by Doug Rafik: Statues of black caricatures in front of a home in Fond du lac)

"Blacks are more than twice as likely to be arrested in Fond du Lac than in Milwaukee or Madison, according to a USA Today database," Roznik writes. "The statistics show the arrest rate for blacks by the Fond du Lac Police Department in 2012 (per thousand residents) was 757.3 compared to 109.7 white arrests. The rate for the Madison Police Department was 593.1 blacks compared to 61.9 whites, and the Milwaukee Police Department was 312.6 blacks compared to 64.6 for whites."

"Fond du Lac County Supervisor Judy Goldsmith, a member of United for Diversity, points to another study done by 24/7 Wall Street that lists Wisconsin as the worst state for black Americans to live," Roznik writes. "Black home ownerships was at 28 percent, and the black incarceration rate was the third highest in the nation. Black children in Wisconsin had worse educational outcomes than their white classmates and their black peers in other states." (Read more)

Protesters target McDonald's for use of potatoes treated with pesticides

Minnesota-based Toxic Taters Coalition is leading a protest today at McDonald's restaurants against the use of potatoes treated with pesticides, Don Davis reports for The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead. The group, which will hand out organic potatoes at restaurants in seven states and Canada, planned the protest for today to coincide with the move by McDonald's to begin offering all-day breakfast. (MPR News photo by Don Gunderson: An irrigation rig watered potato plants near Park Rapids, Minn., last summer)

"Toxic Taters is made up of a group of people who live near potato fields that they feel are treated too heavily with pest-killing chemicals," Davis writes. "Also participating is the Pesticide Action Network North America. The groups will tell McDonald's customers interested in the subject that people who live near fields where potatoes are grown for McDonald's French fries and hash browns are exposed to pesticides that drift from fields. The pesticides, the organizations say, hurt people's health."

The protest is mainly focused on Fargo, N.D.-based producer R.D. Offutt Co.—the world's largest potato producer, John Enger reports for MPR News. "Offutt supplies some of McDonald's fries and hash brown patties through several processing companies." Horan said Offutt sprays too many pesticides on its crops, especially in central Minnesota where chemicals often blow over residential areas.

Offutt President Keith McGovern "said his company already tries to use the smallest amount of fertilizer, insecticide and fungicide in the most responsible ways," Enger writes. "The company uses drones, infrared cameras and a crew of scientists to improve efficiency. He said the company couldn't cut chemical use any faster, even if McDonald's executives asked. He told Enger, "We couldn't grow enough potatoes to feed a reasonable number of people without using crop protectants." (Read more)

Oil and gas industry getting hidden subsidies, study says; industry official says data misinterpreted

A study by the environmental group Friends of the Earth that focused on the oil and gas industry in North Dakota found that the "royalty-free flaring of natural gas from wells on public and tribal lands amounts to a hidden federal subsidy worth tens of millions of dollars," Phil McKenna reports for InsideClimate News. "But one of the biggest producers of oil in the state, Continental Resources, Inc., challenged the findings, suggesting that the research overstated the volumes of hydrocarbons being burned at wells." Jeff Hume, vice chairman of strategic growth initiatives, told McKenna, "They have obtained flare volume reports which are accurate, [but] what they don’t realize is the majority of gas that is reported as flared is inert gas, not hydrocarbons."

The study found that "over a six-year period, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management subsidized the burning of $524 million of natural gas by oil and gas companies operating on public and tribal lands in North Dakota," McKenna writes. "Federal regulations allow oil companies to flare gas without paying royalties if it is the only way they can economically extract oil from a well, Ross said. The companies in the North Dakota study flared 107 billion cubic feet of natural gas from 2007 to 2013, the study found. The carbon dioxide emissions from this were equal to the annual output of more than 1.3 million cars, according to the report. This royalty-free flaring resulted in a $66 million subsidy over the six years of the study for oil and gas companies in North Dakota, the report found."

Oklahoma City-based Continental Resources officials countered that "the study overstated the company’s share of flared methane or other hydrocarbons," McKenna writes. Of the 55 billion cubic feet of gas that Friends of the Earth reported as hydrocarbons flared by Continental Resources in North Dakota, Hume said "more than 53.4 of it, or more than 97 percent, was carbon dioxide or nitrogen from enhanced oil recovery operations outside the Bakken formation in Bowman and Slope counties." (Read more)

Increased farm safety precautions could save thousands of lives, Minneapolis paper finds

"More than 210 work-related deaths occurred on Minnesota farms from 2003 to 2013—an increase of more than 30 percent when compared with a decade earlier," Jeffrey Meitrodt reports for the Minneapolis Star Tribune as part of its series "Tragic Harvest."

"Farming remains one of the most dangerous occupations in America, with fatality rates above other high-risk industries such as mining and construction. Altogether, nearly 5,000 people have died in farm accidents since 2003," Meitrodt writes. "Unlike at most work sites, state and federal regulators rarely visit farms after a fatality. There is usually no penalty for running a dangerous farm and little financial incentive to improve safety. Steps to address safety problems at the federal level have stalled, most recently in 2014 when Congress forced the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration to curtail a campaign to reduce grain bin deaths. Farming remains one of the most dangerous occupations in America, with fatality rates above other high-risk industries such as mining and construction. Altogether, nearly 5,000 people have died in farm accidents since 2003." (Tribune graphic)

One problem is that farm safety rules are not enforced, Meitrodt writes. "Farmers are supposed to follow the same kind of safety rules that apply on other work sites. But Congress has routinely exempted farms from federal oversight if they do not employ at least 11 workers. Most fatal accidents happen at these smaller operations, not mega-farms or giant dairies, and receive little scrutiny. In Minnesota, state regulators have investigated just six of 210 farm deaths in recent years, records show. That’s a typical rate in the Midwest. By comparison, state and federal regulators typically review about 90 percent of construction fatalities across the U.S."

"Roughly half the accidents in Minnesota occurred when a farmer was working alone," He writes. "In many of those cases, farmers were not found for hours, delaying the arrival of medical attention and possibly turning treatable injuries into fatal ones. One of the most common mistakes involved malfunctioning equipment. In 25 accidents, farmworkers died while they were trying to fix a broken belt or make other repairs without taking proper precautions, often while the equipment was still running."

Another problem is the use of older tractors that are not equipped with rollover protection, he writes in another story in the series. "More than 1,700 U.S. farmworkers died in tractor accidents from 2003 to 2013, and the most common thing to go wrong was a rollover. Those accidents accounted for 40 percent of all tractor fatalities—including at least 30 in Minnesota."

"There is no doubt about the effectiveness of roll bars and cabs, which create a protective zone around an operator. According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the devices are 99 percent effective in preventing death or serious injury in a tractor overturn when used with a seat belt. If every tractor in the U.S. had rollover protection, the institute predicts, nearly 1,000 lives could be saved over the next 10 years." (Tribune graphic)

Rural school district finding success filling vacancies with international teachers

While many rural school districts have struggled to fill teaching vacancies, one district 43 miles from the Mexican border has found success internationally, Yoohyun Jung reports for the Arizona Daily Star. About 40 percent of teachers in the Ajo Unified School District (Best Places map) are from foreign countries, such as the Philippines, Jamaica, South Africa and India.

"Some of the international teachers have visas sponsored by the district. Others have experience working in other U.S. schools and pre-existing work visas or permanent residencies," Jung writes. School superintendent Robert Dooley said "word has spread through international teaching communities that Ajo is supportive of international teachers. That has led to more highly qualified foreign candidates' applying."

The district of 420 students from K-12—80 percent of them participate in the federal free and reduced lunch program—consists of 56 percent Latino students, 25 percent Native American and 14 percent white, states the district website. Dooley said to Jung about having international teachers, “For a smaller district like ours, it gives the kids a much broader world experience."

Filipino native Mercy Arancon, who serves as an instructional coach to help international teachers adapt to the U.S., said "there are challenges of being a teacher in a foreign country, including different instructional styles and content," Jung writes. "But there is a network of foreign teachers in Ajo who are there for each other." Personally, she said, she loves the town and the small-school settings. She told Jung, “It’s become personal for me, and I want to see the kids succeed. If I move, what will happen to my kids?” (Read more)

Bernie Sanders trying to change red back to blue, eyes rural voters who turned against Obama

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is aiming his presidential campaign at rural counties—like those in Appalachian West Virginia—that favored Democratic candidates before President Obama was elected, David Weigel reports for The Washington Post. Sanders is also looking to win over a state that overwhelmingly voted for Hillary Clinton over Obama in the 2008 primary.

"West Virginia has rejected the Obama-era Democratic Party more dramatically than any state outside the South, with Appalachian counties that voted for Mike Dukakis and Walter Mondale turning blood red over the past eight years," Weigel writes. "But if you think it’s in places like this that the insurgent Sanders campaign faces its most formidable test, here’s what he thinks: It is also one of his greatest opportunities. The Vermont socialist thinks that white, working-class voters, the sort of people Obama once self-defeatingly said 'cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren’t like them,' are just one honest argument away from coming back." (Wikipedia map: In 2012, Mitt Romney won every West Virginia county, beating President Obama statewide 62.3 percent to 35.54 percent)

When Sanders campaigned for the first time in West Virginia on Friday, miner after miner said they basically agreed with him "more than they agreed with Clinton," Weigel writes. "Several were aware that Sanders had actually walked picket lines, something that resonated as they packed a hotel ballroom to demand that Washington fully fund UMWA pensions." Coal miner Shelley Brannon told Weigel, “For one thing, he knows what union is, and he respects it. That’s all we need is respect. He’s just a likeable fella, trustworthy. I don’t think she has the same respect for the union, and she really shot herself in the foot over, you know, all that secretive stuff.” (In 1996, President Bill Clinton won most the counties, beating Bob Dole 51.51 percent to 36.76 percent)

Former Democratic state legislator Mike Manypenny, one of the many casualties of a 2014 Republican sweep, "is running for Congress on the theory that the progressive politics he shares with Sanders—a living wage, the return of Glass-Steagall’s repealed restrictions on banks—is the way to break the conservative grip on voters’ imaginations," Weigel writes. Manypenny told Weigel, “The problem last year was that everybody focused on getting the vote out from the historic Democratic voters . . . This is something new. Barring anything happening in the Democratic debate, like Bernie stumbling badly, I don’t see anything changing the momentum. I think he wins.” (Read more)

Rural residents in off-the-grid underdeveloped mountain range ordered to correct home violations

Nine residents in Old West Ranch—north of Los Angeles—living in non-permitted RVs, travel trailers and other structures that do not meet county standards have been told to "correct multiple violations of the Kern County Ordinance Code—or face the consequences," Steven Mayer reports for The Bakersfield Californian. (Best Places map: Old West Ranch is located just outside Tehachapi, Calif.)

Disabled musician Bert Bockover and his wife April, who have owned their 5-acre parcel near Tehachapi for some 20 years, say conforming to code could leave them destitute or homeless, Mayer writes. They have "no plumbing, no natural gas, and what electricity they use is generated by a modest solar array and a propane-powered refrigerator. They pay a monthly service for their plastic, portable outhouse. And they have a 2,500-gallon water tank donated by Grammy-based MusiCares, a nonprofit that provides assistance for music people in times of need."

For neighbors, who say the playing field is not level among residents who pay taxes and those who don't, the move is long overdue, Mayer writes. Robert and Donna Moran have "paid taxes to support local schools and fire protection. They paid fees to support maintenance of the roads on the ranch, which are private and not maintained by the county. And they paid the fees for permits to legally build on and develop their property." They are among at least five property owners to complain about neighbors, saying property values are being hurt and that the number of squatters and drug users has increased.

"The county’s code enforcement operates exclusively on complaint-generated cases, said Code Compliance Division Supervisor Al Rojas," Mayer writes. "First a letter goes out to the residents alleging that a violation exists on property for which they are the owner or responsible party. If the party does not respond or the violation is not corrected, the division inspects the propety and provides the resident with a 30-day notice to “abate” the violations." (Californian photo by Felix Adamo: The Bockovers)

In order to come into compliance, "the Bockovers have to either remove everything from the land and sell, an option they say would leave them homeless and eventually pennyless" or "establish a permitted structure on the property, drill a working water well and set up a sewage system," Mayer writes. So far they have broken apart and hauled off two travel trailers and removed three cars, earning them a deadline extension. Also, Self-Help Enterprises, a nonprofit housing and community development organization "is currently assessing the Bockovers’ eligibility for assistance. And if they are, in fact, deemed eligible, help could be on the way for a new manufactured home and financing for the drilling of a water well." (Read more)

Crusading N.M. weekly's family wins Gish Award for courage, tenacity and integrity in rural journalism

Robert, Ruth and Bob Trapp of the Rio Grande Sun

A family that has published a crusading weekly newspaper in a small town in northern New Mexico for almost 60 years is the winner of the 2015 Tom and Pat Gish Award for demonstrating the courage, tenacity and integrity so often needed in rural journalism.

The Trapp family of Española, N.M., has published the Rio Grande Sun since 1956. Robert and Ruth Trapp died in 2014 and 2015; their son Bob is the publisher. He will accept the award Oct. 29 in Lexington, Ky., at the annual awards dinner of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, publisher of The Rural Blog.

Also at the dinner, Carl West, retired editor of The State Journal in Frankfort, Ky., will receive the Al Smith Award for public service through community journalism by a Kentuckian, presented by the Institute and the Bluegrass Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. West led the state-capital paper’s newsroom for 33 years and founded the Kentucky Book Fair.

The Tom and Pat Gish Award is named for the couple who published The Mountain Eagle at Whitesburg, Ky., for more than 50 years and became nationally known for their battles with coal operators and corrupt politicians, and the firebombing of their newspaper office by a Whitesburg policeman. The Eagle, now published by son Ben Gish, and the Rio Grande Sun have exchanged subscriptions for many years, Bob Trapp said.

The Sun is likewise nationally known for fighting “the crooks and the crooked politicians, the declining health and educational systems in one of the poorest counties in the country and the fight for open records and open meetings in a county where political shenanigans is the rule,” Ben Daitz, producer of The Sun Never Sets, a 2012 documentary about the paper, wrote in a nomination. Robert Trapp “did not care what advertisers thought, and neither does his son, and the paper still sells out every week.”

The Sun claims the largest paid circulation of any New Mexico weekly. “Its success shows that robust community journalism can be good business,” said Al Cross, director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and an associate professor of journalism at the University of Kentucky. But a good newspaper often makes enemies. “A geologic feast of rocks, all thrown through the Sun’s windows over almost 60 years, is displayed on shelves around the pressroom,” Daitz wrote. “This April, the Sun was firebombed, but luckily, damage was contained, and the presses ran.”

Robert Trapp was president of the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors and won its Eugene Cervi Award for a career of public service and adherence to the highest standards of journalism. He won many state, national and international awards but thought his biggest victories were in the courtroom fighting public entities for open records and meetings. The Sun successfully sued or settled every one of the more than 15 open-records or open-meeting lawsuits it filed, according to its website. Trapp was a founding member of the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government and served as its president.

The Sun has also shone its bright light on the drug abuse that plagues Rio Arriba County (Wikipedia map). It “prints a one- or two-paragraph vignette about each overdose death—their names, ages and the medical examiner’s toxicology and autopsy findings,” wrote Daitz, a physician and professor at the University of New Mexico medical school. “It’s a descriptive diorama of a death scene—of how they were found, a needle left stuck in a vein, a bottle of spilled pills by her side. They are obituaries without the family and friends, or instructions about where to send the flowers.” Daitz added, “Newspapers are not in the public health business, but as a physician, reading the Sun over the years, I realized I was seeing a pattern—the signs and symptoms of an endemic health problem, reported not by the medical community or state government, but by a community newspaper.”

Robert and Ruth Trapp backed out of the newspaper's daily operations in 2001, but he “kept in touch with the business side,” the Sun’s website says, “and Ruth read copy until the day she died, often offering different headlines and an optimal way to state something.” Daitz noted that the back of Robert Trapp’s business card is a Benjamin Franklin quote: “Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech.” He wrote, “His journalistic ethic is shared and venerated by his son and countless young, and now, old reporters.”

Carl West

Smith Award: Carl West, who still lives in Frankfort, was editor of The State Journal from 1979 to 2012 and remains editor emeritus. He came to the paper after winning major awards as an investigative and Pentagon reporter for Scripps Howard News Service. While in Washington, he chaired the National Press Club Library Committee, which established a highly successful book fair and authors’ night, and he took the idea to Frankfort, creating and heading the Kentucky Book Fair Committee.

The Al Smith Award is named for Albert P. Smith Jr., who published newspapers in rural Kentucky and Tennessee, was founding producer and host of KET’s “Comment on Kentucky,” and federal co-chair of the Appalachian Regional Commission. He was the driving force for creation of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, headed its national advisory board for many years and remains active on the board as chairman emeritus.

Rural Oregon community where 10 were killed Thursday has long fought for right to bear arms

In the small towns of Western Oregon—like conservative Roseburg, where 10 people were killed during a shooting at Umpqua Community College on Thursday—the right to bear arms is a way of life, Jim Tankersley reports for The Washington Post. After the 2013 Newtown shootings that left 26 dead, including 20 children, Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin sent a letter to Vice President Joe Biden "making 'a formal request that you NOT tamper with or attempt to amend the 2nd Amendment' and vowing not to enforce any such law that violated the constitution." He wrote, “Gun control is NOT the answer to preventing heinous crimes like school shootings."

Earlier this year "when Oregon lawmakers were considering their own background check expansion, Douglas County leaders recoiled again, even before the Democratic-controlled legislature could send it to the governor," Tankersley writes. "At a meeting in February, county commissioners approved a resolution 'objecting to any expansion of Oregon's failed background-check' system for firearms transfers between qualified, law-abiding persons' The bill passed over their objections, and Gov. Kate Brown, a Democrat, signed it."

"That legislation made Oregon one of the first states to adopt the blanket background checks that have been pushed by a national gun-control group funded by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg," Tankersley writes. "Those checks apply to almost any transfer of a gun between two people who aren’t related to one another, and not just to sales at shops and gun shows. Until that point, Oregon put relatively few restrictions on gun ownership, compared to other states."

"A right to bear arms is enshrined in the state constitution," Tankersley writes. "No state license is required to buy a gun. It is a “shall-issue” state for concealed weapons permits, meaning applicants only need to satisfy certain criteria—like not having any outsanding warrants for their arrest—and not demonstrated a need to carry a gun concealed. The background checks law was a step in a different direction. And to some in large swaths of rural Oregon—and vast expanses of America—it can feel like a betrayal of their way of life. (Read more)

The shooter targeted Christians, and that is rare, the Post reports, citing FBI data from 2013: There were 625 hate crimes against Jews, 135 against Muslims, 70 against Catholics and 35 against Protestants.