EPA tries to ban a widely used pesticide to protect fish; two big chemical companies fight decision

The Environmental Protection Agency is taking steps to ban "the pesticide flubendiamide, which under the trade name Belt is registered for use on more than 200 crops," including soybeans, almonds, tobacco, peanuts, cotton, lettuce, alfalfa, tomatoes, watermelon and bell peppers, Stephen Davies reports for Agri-Pulse. Two major chemical companies, Bayer CropScience and Nichino America, have told EPA "they plan to fight the cancellation decision." Last month Bayer refused a request from EPA to remove the pesticide from the U.S. market.

"Once a Federal Register notice is published announcing the intent to cancel, the registrations will be cancelled unless the companies ask for a hearing under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act within 30 days," Davies writes. EPA said in a press release: "EPA studies that show flubendiamide breaks down into a more highly toxic material that is harmful to species that are an important part of aquatic food chains, especially for fish, and is persistent in the environment. EPA concluded that continued use of the product would result in unreasonable adverse effects on the environment. EPA requested a voluntary cancellation in accordance with the conditions of the original registration.”

Bayer and Nichino stated that they "do not agree that continued registration of flubendiamide poses unreasonable adverse effects on the environment. EPA's concerns are focused solely on the possibility that flubendiamide and a metabolite might accumulate in ponds and water systems to levels that may be toxic to aquatic invertebrates that dwell in sediment," Davies writes.

Series on suicide as a public-health issue is one of five finalists for journalism ethics award

UPDATE: The Associated Press won the award.

A newspaper series on suicide as a public issue is among the five finalists for the Anthony Shadid Award for Journalism Ethics, which is given for aggressive reporting on important issues with care for the consequences of that reporting.

Reporters from The Columbus Dispatch dealt with privacy and public-safety issues issues in reporting on suicides as a public-health issue while considering the probability that reporting on suicides might lead to copycat attempts. The title of the series, "Silent Suffering," reflected the taboo that still attaches to suicide and discourages reporting about it, as noted on The Rural Blog in January.

"The Dispatch spent nine months examining the effects of a public-health crisis spawned in part by a broken mental-health-care system," the paper says in a headnote for the series. One story was headlined "Most people who commit suicide have mental illness, don’t receive care needed."

Other finalists are a McClatchy Newspapers team that preserved medical privacy of victims of nuclear-energy programs; ProPublica and NPR, which protected the privacy and dignity of sick and injured employees in revealing how states are curtailing workers' compensation programs; Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Gina Barton, who faced ethical challenges reopening a 40-year-old unsolved murder; and a team from The Associated Press that protected its sources from retaliation, including death, in reporting on the use of slave labor in supplying fish to the U.S.

The award is named for the late Anthony Shadid, a Pulitzer Prize-winning foreign correspondent for The New York Times and The Washington Post and a journalism graduate of the University of Wisconsin. The university's Center for Journalism Ethics oversees the award and will present it at its annual conference April 29.

Perceived Washington indifference towards rural South fuels support for Trump and Sanders

Trump in Radford, Va., Monday (Roanoke
Times photo by Stephanie Klein-Davis)

Discourse in the rural South over a downturn in local economies and a perceived notion that Washington politicians don't care about the region "is driving the insurgent candidacies of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders and has turned the 2016 election upside down," Mason Adams reports for Politico. "The right blames illegal immigrants, President Barack Obama and congressional leadership that hasn’t fought Obama hard enough. The left blames big banks, the rich and a Republican Congress that only obstructs."

Adams, a former reporter for The Roanoke Times, writes: "The American South is about to put its stamp on the 2016 campaign—a stamp that could all but end the presidential primary race." Voters today in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia "will decide two-thirds of the day’s vote for both Democrats and Republicans, definitively framing the campaign and perhaps ending it."

Residents in the rural South are "haunted by empty factories and warehouses that symbolize the once-dominant businesses that have long since departed for more profitable locales," Adams writes. "Economic instability has left those who haven’t fled to the metro areas feeling anxious and unrepresented. The resulting frustration has propelled politicians who have harnessed that angst into outsider campaigns by attacking those at fault." (Huffington Post map: States voting today)

"Everyone wants to overhaul, if not dismantle, political and economic systems that they see as rigged against them," Adams writes. "Around the South, longtime employers where generations of families could be assured of steady work have sloughed off jobs, shuttered their factories and shifted operations overseas. In its place is what’s known as the 'gig economy,' where workers must reinvent themselves several times within a lifetime. The chaotic—and unequal economic—transition continues to create anxiety, frustration and fear across rural communities. The anger is not just over lost jobs, but the indifference of Washington in watching them go."

Adams uses southwest Virginia as his object example. John Bassett III, subject of former Roanoke Times reporter Beth Macy's book Factory Man: How One Furniture Maker Battled Offshoring, Stayed Local—and Helped Save an American Town, told Adams, “Politically, I don’t care whether you’re on the right over there, or if you’re on the left, all the way over to Bernie Sanders, I think you’ll find not only anger, you’ll find frustration. We have a whole segment of our population that has been forgotten. They have been left behind.” The book, based on Bassett's experiences in Galax, Va., is reportedly in production to be a mini-series on HBO produced by Tom Hanks.

Florida's national leader for open government has success defending awards of attorneys' fees

Barbara Petersen

For more than 20 years Barbara Petersen has been leading the fight—largely behind the scenes—to defend open government and freedom of the press in Florida, Susannah Nesmith reports for Columbia Journalism Review. Recently Petersen made a rare appearance in the limelight to lead the fight against state legislation introduced last year that threatens the state's Sunshine Law for open government by letting judges deny attorney fees to winning plaintiffs in open-records cases. So far, she's gotten most of what she wanted, again showing how she is one of the nation's most effective open-government advocates, and a reminder of Sunshine Week, coming up March 13-19.

Petersen, the president of the nonprofit First Amendment Foundation, was already Florida's "leading advocate for government transparency," Nesmith writes. "The foundation, started in the 1980s by a consortium of media groups, is a leading institutional advocate for open government in the state—but Petersen didn’t come to this fight alone. The foundation had recently worked to organize the Florida Sunshine Coalition, gathering together a variety of groups and individuals who have an interest in government transparency, even though it isn’t their primary focus. Those connections were helpful in getting people like Rich Templin, a lobbyist for the Florida AFL-CIO, pushing back on the [proposed] change to the law. Petersen also alerted the media, helping to attract widespread coverage to the proposal."

Nesmith continues, "And she worked directly with the bill’s Senate sponsor, Sen. Rene Garcia, and testified before a Senate committee, something she rarely does. Those efforts paid off: Garcia was willing to listen to reason, Petersen said. He amended his Senate bill to require a judge award attorneys’ fees when an agency wrongly withholds records unless the judge finds, according to the revised language, that the public record request was made for the primary purpose of (1) harassing the agency or (2) causing a violation of the public records law.”

"That change addresses concerns about predatory records requests, while maintaining the default expectation that violators will have to pay legal fees—an important incentive to comply with the law," Nesmith writes. "The House version hasn’t been amended, so the issue isn’t entirely resolved yet. But at this point, the Florida Senate is no longer considering a bill that would have dramatically weakened the state’s public records law. That’s a win—one Petersen can claim much of the credit for."

Petersen told Nesmith, “I get frustrated, but I don’t get tired of it. I don’t think there’s anything more fundamental to a democratic society than the people’s right to oversee their government and hold it accountable. That’s why we call public officials public servants—they work for us.” (Read more)

Hundreds of rural Minn. towns struggling to find funds to replace aging sewer and water systems

Hundreds of towns in rural Minnesota with limited budgets "are struggling to find money to replace aging wastewater, stormwater and drinking water systems or upgrade them to meet changing environmental standards," Bill Salisbury reports for the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

In the village of Dennison (Best Places map), population 190, Mayor Jeff Flaten has to perform a daily ritual of climbing into the sewer to make sure the village's two pumps are working, or else the sewer mains will get backed up. "The task landed in the mayor’s lap when the city’s longtime sewer and water system operator retired. Flaten hasn’t been able to hire a replacement, because not only is the work unpleasant but the lift station, built in 1962, also fails to meet federal safety standards." Flaten told Salisburg, “It’s obsolete and essentially dangerous."

Last month, Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton "proposed a $220 million plan to upgrade sewer and water systems and protect groundwater across the state," Salisbury writes. "About 60 percent of the state aid for water projects money would go to rural communities. His plan would increase state aid for municipal sewer and water projects from an average of $160 million to $300 million a year and enable the Minnesota Public Facilities Authority, which provides grants and loans to local governments, to fund up to 80 projects a year, compared with fewer than 50 now, said Jeff Freeman, the authority’s executive director."

"But that would just be a down payment on meeting cities’ needs," Salisburg writes. "The Pollution Control Agency and the state Health Department have 567 local projects totaling $1.7 billion on their priority lists for funding for sewer and water system construction over the next five years. Based on a survey of Minnesota cities, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates the state will need $11 billion in sewer and water improvements over the next 20 years."

Some rural Oregon speed limits went up today; safety advocates fear a rise in traffic fatalities

Speed limits on major rural hughways in Central and Eastern Oregon were raised to 70 mph in some areas and 65 mph in others today, Eliot Njus reports for The Oregonian. The limits went from 65 to 70 for passenger vehicles and from 60 to 65 for trucks on some interstates and US 95, and from 55 to 65 for passenger vehicles and to 60 for trucks on some other highways. Traffic engineers "are studying whether to increase some speed limits to 75 mph." (Oregon Department of Transportation map: Speed limit increases; click on it for a larger version)

"Safety advocates say raising speeds might amplify a recent increase in traffic fatalities," Njus writes. "The spike in road deaths comes as people are driving more in response to a stronger economy and lower gas prices, and the increase in Oregon was one of largest in the country.  Ken Kolosh, who heads the nonprofit National Safety Council's statistics department, told The Oregonian, "Even with safer automobiles, the increased speed does increase the severity of crashes when crashes do occur. The roads with higher speed limits are most at risk for fatal crashes. It's really just a question of physics." (Read more)

West Virginia Republican lawmakers block science standards that teach man-made climate change

The Republican-led West Virginia House of Delegates voted last week to block implementation of new science standards that require instruction on man-made climate change, saying the standards will negatively influence students in a state that relies heavily on fossil fuels, Eric Eyre reports for the Charleston Gazette-Mail. The House voted 73-20 to block the rules for at least one year. New standards were supposed to go into effect July 1.

"Last year, state school board members modified the standards that mentioned climate change in hopes of satisfying global-warming skeptics," Eyre writes. "West Virginia's new Next Generation Science Standards three times address human-influenced climate change—in sixth-grade science, in ninth-grade science and in a high-school environmental science elective course." Current science standards received a D grade in 2013 from a conservative think tank, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute. The same Fordham study rated the Next Generation standards a C.

Republican delegate Michel Moffatt told Eyre, “Starting in kindergarten, you're talking about teaching the kids about how humans negatively affect the Earth. In an ideal world, you could interpret that as, sure, everyone has a footprint, but you could also twist that into all fossil fuels are bad.” Republican Del. Jim Butler told Eyre, “In an energy-producing state, it's a concern to me that we are teaching our kids potentially that we are doing immoral things here in order to make a living in our state. We need to make sure our science standards are actually teaching science and not pushing a political agenda.” (Read more)

Radio series looks at how one Central Appalachian town is using arts, tourism to revitalize economy

Central Appalachian communities continue to look for ways to revitalize local economies hurt by the loss of coal jobs. One such community is Hindman, Ky (Best Places map). Making Connections News and WMMT 88.7 in Whitesburg teamed up to produce a two-part radio series that looks at how the tiny county seat has turned to tourism and arts for economic development.

In the first segment WMMT reporter Kelli Haywood examines how efforts are "being made to use the distinctive cultural resources available to the community in hopes that arts, traditional music, education and skill-building opportunities, and tourism will create a thriving economy in the years to come," Making Connections News reports. Hindman has a rich tradition in the arts, with the Hindman Settlement School annually hosting the Appalachian Writers' Workshop and Family Folk Week, both of which draw well-known Appalachian writers and musicians.

In the second segment Haywood examines how Hindman is using "the community’s cultural assets to rebuild the economy," reports Making Connections News. Haywood joins staff of the Settlement School "to discuss their place within the community and how they use their historical perspective to envision the future. Jessica Evans, assistant director of the Appalachian Artisan Center, also continues the conversation along with artist, Sean Starowitz." (Read more)

Rural weekly newspaper localizes problems with homeless counts in rural communities

Earlier this month NPR reported that inaccurate counting of the number of rural homeless is costing local services federal funding. Josh Little of the thrice-weekly Appalachian News-Express in Pikeville, Ky., localized the effects of the annual count on the newspaper's coverage area in far Eastern Kentucky.

This year's "K-count" found 134 homeless people in Floyd, Martin, Magoffin, Johnson and Pike counties, which make up the Big Sandy Area Development District. Anna Coleman of the Pikeville WestCare Emergency Shelter "said the shelter served more than 500 people without homes in 2015. She said on the day of the K-Count, the shelter was housing 22 people," Little writes. Coleman said, “You cannot count a whole county in a day. Imagine how many hollows are in Pike County. You can’t cover that in one day, plus ask the four pages of questions that they want you to ask. It takes a while for them to trust you, even when they come to the shelter, because society has made them promises and not kept them.” Only people living on the street or in shelters on the day of the count, not people who escape the cold by staying with friends, family or finding money for a hotel, are considered homeless.

Brenda Mullins, who has worked for three years as a direct care worker at the West Care Emergency Shelter, "attributes a lack of jobs in the area to the increasing number of people without homes," Little writes. "She said as of Feb. 23 there were 26 people housed in the shelter, which has a capacity of 30." She told Little, “There’s no jobs. The coal miners who were making pretty good wages are now working for minimum wage. They have house payments and car payments." The News-Express, which is behind a paywall, can be accessed by clicking here.

Investigative report on farmland preservation tax break spurs change; many states have such laws

A large Lexington tract now being developed is surrounded by
development but still gets a tax break designed to protect farm
land from development. (Herald-Leader photo by Faron Collins)

"Cities and suburbs displaced more than 40 million acres of rural land over the past 50 years, even as rural landowners were heavily subsidized to keep their properties undeveloped," said Richard England, a professor of economics and natural resources at the University of New Hampshire, told Linda Blackford and John Cheves of the Lexington Herald-Leader for their series that "found scores of examples of the tax break benefiting suburban homes surrounded by vast lawns, qualifying as agricultural land that can knock as much as 40 percent off their tax bills, and large parcels rezoned for commercial or residential use, where plat maps have been filed with the city and concrete slabs are expected to be poured soon."

The series looked mainly at Kentucky, but noted that similar laws in other states are enforced differently. "In Texas, South Dakota, Montana and Alaska, landowners must show that a substantive part of their income is from agriculture. They have to submit income tax documents as proof. Other states, including Ohio and Rhode Island, set a smaller threshold of $2,500 in farm income. Delaware, Idaho and Indiana collect as much as 10 years of deferred property taxes at market value when farmland is converted to other uses, such as a shopping center. In Vermont, land getting the tax break faces a penalty of as much as 20 percent of its market value if it’s developed. These penalties are often referred to as 'clawbacks'."

Cheves also wrote, "Arizona strips agricultural land of the tax break if the owner requests a rezoning for some other use; if he files a development plat map or plants survey stakes; or if he brings in a utility service not required for farming. Nebraska forbids land inside a city limits from getting the tax break unless it has a conservation easement that permanently prohibits development.Nevada, South Dakota and Washington state require a minimum of 20 acres to grant the tax break. It’s 25 acres in Vermont and 160 acres in Montana."

In Kentucky, policies vary by county, Cheves and Blackford write. Some counties "don’t ask questions about the tax break," while others require landowners to "sign a short application each year to qualify for the farmland preservation tax break" and ask "for the acreage devoted to agricultural production and how those acres are used." Other ask for proof of farm income.

The series had an impact. State Rep. Ruth Ann Palumbo, D-Lexington, said she would file a bill to stop developers and owners of 10-acre-plus lots from getting the tax break, and Fayette County Property Valuation Administrator David O’Neill said he would change his policies. He wrote in an opinion piece for the Herald-Leader that the paper and its reporters "have done an excellent job identifying an area of tax law long overdue for modernization."

GOP has 11 of the 12 elected ag commissioners

There's been a changing of the guard among agriculture commissioners. Of the 12 states that elect such a position, 11 are held by Republicans, with eight of those states switching from Democrats since 2001, Louis Jacobson writes for Governing magazine. "Three states elected Republican agriculture commissioners prior to 2001—Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas. The eight that switched to the GOP between 2001 and 2011 were Florida (2001), Kentucky (2004), North Carolina (2005), Iowa (2007), Louisiana (2008), North Dakota (2009), Georgia (2011) and Alabama (2011)." Now the only elected Democrat is in West Virginia.

"In many states, the position carries significant authority," Jacobson writes. "In 40 states, according to the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture, agriculture departments oversee the animal industry; in about half of states, they oversee food safety and meat inspection. In 48 states, they determine what qualifies as 'organic,' while in 43 states they regulate pesticides."

"Interviews with political experts in these states suggest that the shift stemmed, in part, from rising Republican success at the ballot box," Jacobson writes. "Many of the states that elect their agriculture commissioners are solidly red. Over the past decade, growing Republican strength further down the ballot—combined with attrition among long-serving, conservative Democratic incumbents—has helped the GOP win lower state offices and increased opportunities for the types of rural Republicans who can seriously contest the position of agriculture commissioner."

"The GOP has also focused more attention on agriculture offices, partnering with the Republican Agriculture Commissioners Committee and Ag America, a group that works to elect qualified Republican candidates to the position," Jacobson writes. What's more, Democratic electoral and bench strength in these states is concentrated in cities and suburbs, where it’s hard to become a credible candidate for agriculture commissioner. Besides, rural voters feel they have more at stake in voting for agriculture commissioner than urban voters do."

AT&T donated to Missouri legislative committee that voted to limit municipal broadband expansion

"A Missouri legislative committee last week approved a bill that would limit the spread of municipal broadband networks, helping private Internet service providers such as AT&T avoid competition," Jon Brodkin reports for Ars Technica. Municipal broadband has been used to provide high-speed Internet to rural areas that commercial telecommunications companies have been unwilling to serve.

The decision comes a few months after AT&T donated a total of $62,500 to political committees in Missouri, including "$20,000 to the House Republican Campaign Committee, $20,000 to the Missouri Democratic State Committee, $7,500 to the Missouri Republican Party, and $15,000 to the Missouri Senate Campaign Committee. One of the donations is listed by the Missouri Ethics Commission as occurring just two weeks ago, but we’ve been told it was made in September 2015 and not deposited until this month because the original check was lost." CenturyLink and Comcast have also donated to a majority of the committee members.

"AT&T’s opposition to municipal broadband is well-known. In Tennessee, Sen. Todd Gardenhire (R-Chattanooga) recently called AT&T 'the most powerful lobbying organization in this state by far' and a 'villain' in the state’s municipal broadband battles," Brodkin writes.

"The new bill would mostly close the 'Internet-type services' exception going forward, but it would allow existing networks to continue and allow new ones to be built under some circumstances. City or town Internet services would have to be approved by a majority of voters in the municipality unless certain conditions are met. No vote has to be held if fewer than 50 percent of residents have access to Internet service or if the municipal network will cost less than $1 million over five years. Before a vote could be held, municipal leaders would be required to complete a financial study on the proposed network." (Read more)

Sam Beall, whose East Tennessee restaurant was famous for its farm-to-table approach, dies at 39

Sam Beall, owner of East Tennessee's Blackberry Farm, a nationally acclaimed luxury inn and restaurant famous for its farm-to-table approach in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains, died in a skiing accident on Thursday, Dana Kopp Franklin reports for Nashville Scene. Beall, 39, was married with five children. (Maryville Daily Times photo by Mark Large: Beall, right, at the Fort Craig Boys & Girls Club in September 2015)

The inn, which was opened in 1976 by Sam Beall's parents, grows its own food on the property near Walland and turns its produce into artisan items that can be found on store shelves as far away as Nashville, Franklin writes. "In 2012 Blackberry Farm hosted the inaugural installment of the James Beard Foundation's Chefs Boot Camp for Policy and Change. Among its most recent awards, the Barn restaurant at Blackberry Farm won the national James Beard award for Outstanding Service in 2015 and Outstanding Wine Program in 2014. In 2011, Travel + Leisure named Blackberry Farm the No. 1 Resort in the Continental U.S. and Canada."

Ed Mitchell, mayor of Blount County, told The Daily Times, "I always admired Sam’s positive attitude and his kind heart. He always seemed so even and in control of the situation around him. He was very easy to work with, very easy to talk to, and will be greatly missed by not just the people of Blackberry, but the people of Blount County. He had such a caring spirit. We are saddened to hear this news today. Our prayers are with his family." U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, who is from the county, told the Times, "Sam Beall was a caring young man and one of our state's most creative businessmen. He led a hotel company that has become known around the world for its quality."

Carl West, who brought Washington ideas to a small-town state capital and its newspaper, dies

State Journal photo by Suzanne Feliciano

Carl West, retired editor of The State Journal in Frankfort, Ky., died Sunday of complications following a stroke. He was 74.

Frankfort, population 25,000, is the fourth smallest state capital in the U.S., so The State Journal is a community paper that covers state government, the top local employer. West came to the daily after an award-winning career as a Washington reporter, and brought a hard-nosed attitude to political and government coverage, displayed most publicly in his role as the recurring panelist on what was the state's best public-affairs interview show.

West, a native of Northern Kentucky, brought something else to the state from Washington: the idea for a book fair like the one he helped start as a member of the National Press Club. With the newspaper's help, the Kentucky Book Fair became an institution in the state, and is being taken over by the Kentucky Humanities Council, headed by former U.S. Rep. Ben Chandler of Versailles.

Ed Staats, retired Kentucky chief of The Associated Press told The State Journal in 2003, when they went into the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame together, that West “set a high journalistic standard for the countless reporters, editors and photographers he has hired over the years. In addition, Carl brought a deep knowledge and a strong interest in politics to the job – essential elements for a strong newspaper in a capital city.” For The State Journal's obituary of West, click here.

West's leadership of the book fair, and his strong career in journalism, won him last year's Al Smith Award for public service through community journalism, given by the Bluegrass Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, publisher of The Rural Blog. West struggled to overcome health issues to attend the awards dinner, but gave a rip-roaring defense of public-service journalism in his acceptance speech, his final public remarks. Here's a video:

Uninsured rates are down, but hospitals struggle to collect big deductibles from newly insured

Federal health reform has decreased the number of uninsured Americans and charity cases at hospitals, it has also led to an increase in the number of high deductibles they can't collect, a particular problem in rural areas where hospitals are already struggling financially, John Lauerman reports for Bloomberg Business.

The nation's uninsured rate has dropped from 15.7 percent in 2009 to 9.1 percent today. That would be good news if a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey hadn't revealed "that in the first nine months of 2015, about 36 percent of the U.S. insured were covered by high-deductible or consumer-directed health plans that can require considerable out-of-pocket payments, compared with about 25 percent in 2010," Lauerman writes. As a result, companies like Community Health Systems Inc., which "operates 195 hospitals in 29 states and is the U.S.’s second-biggest for-profit U.S. hospital chain." earlier this month "revised its fourth-quarter 2015 provision for bad debt up by $169 million—and said that 40 percent, or about $68 million of that amount, was from patients being unable to pay deductibles and co-payments."

"Patients are unlikely to pay medical bills that are greater than 5 percent of household income, according to the Advisory Board, a consulting firm to hospitals," Lauerman writes. "Median household income in the U.S. is at about $53,000, suggesting that when out-of-pocket charges exceed $2,600 hospitals can forget about collecting," said Washington-based analyst Spencer Perlman.

"Rural hospitals have been hit particularly hard," he writes. "Minnesota has long had high rates of care coverage, and many employers have switched to high deductible offerings, according to Joe Schindler, vice president of finance for the Minnesota Hospital Association. Last year, bad debt rose by 20 percent to $425 million at the association’s 140 member hospitals." Schindler told Lauerman, “We have 39 hospitals that have negative margins and the majority of them are rural. They have less of a financial cushion to absorb the losses of bad debt.” (Read more)

Communities largely embrace growing Muslim population in Central Appalachia, professor says

In Central Appalachian coal country that is predominantly Christian a growing Muslim population has emerged that has been largely welcomed and embraced by communities such as Pike and Floyd counties in far Eastern Kentucky, Kevin Williams reports for Al-jazeera America. "With its coal-caked hills, isolation and deep poverty, southeastern Kentucky is probably not the first place that springs to mind when one considers the Muslim experience in America. But nonetheless, a small Muslim community has settled in the Appalachians, making a home forged in the ash-black-smudged margins. Friendships are made and communities are established, even as a wider debate rages around the prejudice of GOP frontrunner Donald Trump’s call for a ban on Muslims immigrating to the U.S."

Christopher Green, an associate professor of Appalachian Studies at Berea College, told Williams that he's not surprised that Central Appalachian communities have welcomed Muslims: “Many people outside the area don’t think about it, but Central Appalachia is an incredibly diverse region religiously. You have Baptists, Pentecostal, Holiness, Catholic churches and mainline churches, there is a tremendous diversity of religious experience through Christian denominations. There is tremendous respect for people who hold religion close, no matter the denomination.”

Another likely reason: The Muslim population has helped in a region suffering from doctor shortages, Williams writes. "Yassin Khattab, originally from Syria, is the only private-practice pediatrician in the underserved area around Prestonsburg. He has over 5,000 patients from a seven-county area." When one of his nurses asked him what would happen if Trump was elected president he said he responded, “Nothing. I’ll still be here practicing medicine.” Khattab’s son Asaad, who blogs about his life growing up as a Muslim in Central Appalachia, is studying to be a dentist, and said he can't see himself practicing anywhere but Eastern Kentucky, which has a severe lack of dentists. Asaad told Williams, “I want to contribute and give back to my community. . . . The Muslims that they are putting on the news do not represent us.”

Lost jobs, declining enrollment leading to school closures in western North Carolina mountains

A downturn in the economy in rural Western North Carolina's mountains is putting the future of local schools in jeopardy. Haywood County officials voted earlier this month to close an elementary school at the end of this school year, while Mitchell County has closed two schools in recent years, Julie Ball reports for The Citizen-Times in Asheville. Haywood County schools have lost 745 students in the past 10 years, with more than half of the lost enrollment occurring in the past two years. Associate Superintendent Bill Nolte told Ball, "From our point of view, the people of child bearing age don’t have the job availability that they used to have in our area. They’re moving to places where there are jobs, and our overall population is a graying population." (Asheville Now map)

Mitchell County's closings are largely blamed on "a shifting economy and the loss of jobs in textiles and furniture contributed to the changing demographics that mean fewer children in county schools," Ball writes. Rick Spurling, Mitchell County's superintendent, said he expects there to be more restructuring in the future, with enrollment projected to continue to fall. Spurling said in 1983 district enrollment was about 3,400 to 3,500, but has now fallen to 1,900. He said the district loses about 45 students per year, which amounts to losses of $300,000.

In Buncombe County, site of Asheville, enrollment is down by about 1,000 students compared to 2011-12, according to officials numbers, Ball writes. "But at least some of that reduction is tied to the opening of two charter schools. The district's total enrollment numbers about 24,600." School officials don't expect to close any schools in the near future, calling that move a "last resort." (Read more)

Clinton, Sanders hitting rural backroads in South Carolina to win African American votes

Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders are hitting the churches, barbershops and beauty salons in South Carolina's African American communities in an attempt to win over the state's large black population ahead of Saturday's primary, Brad Mielke reports for ABC News. "Both have made stops along South Carolina’s infamous 'Corridor of Shame,' a stretch of poor, rural, largely African-American populations that have long complained about underfunded school systems." (ABC graphic)

"Invoking the backroads of the rural South rather than the streets of Manhattan is no accident, said Democratic Chairman Jaime Harrison," Mielke writes. South Carolina, where African Americans make up more than half of the state's Democratic electorate, is the first true test for the candidates in the South, where several other states—including Alabama, Arkansas and Georgia which vote on Tuesday—have similar demographics. Harrison told Mielke, “Folks here are so far from Wall Street. It might as well be just as distant as Moscow. You have to make it real, in what they see in the real world.”

"In the 2008 primary, Clinton lost by nearly 30 points to then-Sen. Barack Obama, who inspired unprecedented turnout among black voters," Mielke writes. "This time around, polls show Clinton leading Sanders among African-Americans by a 3-to-1 margin." Chris Covert, the state director for Sanders, thinks those numbers are misleading. Covert told Mielke, “I think the number of people you see in polls are still trying to make up their minds . . . and we’ve got one hell of a field campaign.” (Read more)

Rural Tenn. reporter wins Public Notice Journalism Prize for investigative report on nursing home

Kenneth Little

Kenneth Little, staff writer for the daily Greeneville Sun in East Tennessee, won the 2016 Public Notice Journalism Prize for coverage of a Limsetone nursing home that saw its Medicare/ Medicaid coverage revoked by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Carol Pierce reports for the Public Notice Research Center that the story, published in December, "followed publication of an official newspaper notice by HHS in the Sun noting 'deficiencies' by the hospital. ... The public notice advised readers that Medicare/Medicaid coverage would cease as of Nov. 28, 2015."

Little will be presented the award March 17 by the Public Notice Resource Center at the National Newspaper Association’s Community Newspaper Leadership Summit in Washington.

"Bradley L. Thompson II, president of the Public Notice Resource Center, said judges found Little’s coverage compelling and important to readers," Pierce writes. "The story noted shortcomings of the John M. Reed Health and Rehabilitation Nursing home cited by HHS. Among them were a report from a housekeeper who said she had checked a patient’s vital signs one night because of a shortage of nursing staff, a failure to maintain antibiotics ordered by physicians, and failure to prevent pressure sores." To read the winning story click here.

Falling salaries cause teacher shortages, especially in the South; mean salaries are down in 28 states

While many states have tried to address teacher shortages—especially in rural areas—by paying off new teachers' student loans, recruiting rural high school students into education programs or promoting the quality of life in a rural community, the problem of low pay persists in many areas. In 28 states, including most of the South, teacher pay decreased from 1999-2000 to 2013-14, according to data Stateline took from National Center for Education Statistics estimates.

In Oklahoma, for example, "teachers new to the profession earn about $31,600 a year," Sophie Quinton reports for Stateline. "Although $31,600 is higher than the average private-sector salary for a new college graduate in Oklahoma, after 10 years private sector workers earn 37 percent more than teachers do, according to an analysis commissioned by the School Boards Association and the Oklahoma Business and Education Coalition." (Stateline map screenshot; to view an interactive version click here)

Some states, like New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Washington have called for statewide teacher raises, Quinton writes. But low pay is not the only factor. "Teacher shortages involve many factors, including teacher retirements, a growing school-age population and efforts to reduce class sizes. Educators, advocates and researchers nationwide have different theories about why schools may have trouble recruiting qualified teachers."

Richard Ingersoll, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, argues that the problem isn't shortages, but high turnover rates, pointing to federal data showing that 17 percent of new teachers leave the profession in five years or less, Quinton writes. Ingersoll said that states or schools that focus on recruiting college graduates are missing the point. He said "public schools hire teachers of all ages, including people who enter the profession through an alternate route, such as the Teach for America program. In any case, students will return to education programs once the economy improves and teacher hiring picks up, he said." He also said "new teachers are more likely to stay in the profession if they’re connected with mentors and additional training." (Read more)