Old energy vs. new energy: Will Coal River Mountain be mined or be home to a wind farm?

A seminal battle between old, extractive energy and new, renewable energy is shaping up on the aptly named Coal River Mountain in southern West Virginia (in background of Associated Press photo). Environmental groups are appealing the state's "approval of a key permit change for a Massey Energy strip mine at a site where citizen groups are promoting alternative plans for a wind-energy facility," The Charleston Gazette reports.

Coal River Mountain Watch and the Sierra Club argue that the state revised a mine permit without ensuring that the changes complied with federal law and state policy on exemptions from the general rule that strip-mined land be returned to its approximate original contour.

This month, the consulting group Downstream Strategies concluded that a wind farm on the mountain "would provide more jobs and tax revenue than a mountaintop removal mine," like the one on Kayford Mountain in the foreground of the photo, writes Ken Ward Jr. "Massey officials have said that if environmental groups think wind projects are such a good idea, they should buy land, obtain permits and build such projects themselves." (Read more)

Obama expected to name advocates of strong action against global warming to top science posts

By selecting "two of the nation's most prominent scientific advocates for a vigorous response to climate change to serve in his administration," President-elect Barack Obama has sent "the strongest signal yet that he will reverse Bush administration policies on energy and global warming," The Washington Post reports.

"The appointments of Harvard University physicist John Holdren as presidential science advisor and Oregon State University marine biologist Jane Lubchenco as head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, both of which will be announced Saturday, dismayed conservatives, and heartened environmentalists and researchers," the Post reports.

Ala. studying good rural schools to see what works

Rural schools in Alabama generally score lower on achievement tests, and are more likely to have dropouts, but a few, such as J.S. Ervin Elementary, where Jakiyah Bridges studies (photo by Micky Welsh), do much better. School officials are taking a close look at those schools to see if their sucess can be replicated elsewhere, with the help of the Center for Rural Alabama, an agency in the state Department of Agriculture.

"Rural Alabama is headed down a long, desolate road when it comes to turning out a well-trained work force," Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks said when he announced the study. "We knew that there were some schools doing a tremendous job under difficult circumstances, so we wanted to find them -- and learn from them."

Ervin Elementary boosted its reading scores above the statewide average with "reading tutors, dedicated teachers, structure, new programs -- and enough money to make more of a difference," reports Kym Klass of the Montgomery Advertiser. "Ervin has its challenges. For example, it can't afford more teachers so it relies heavily on parents to monitor and help with their children's education." (Read more)

Rule would ease motorcycling restrictions in parks

With only a month left in the Bush administration, another proposal has been made to ease regulations for the National Park Service. This time, the Department of the Interior is seeking greater discretion for individual park supervisors to decide whether to allow mountain bikes and motorcycles on park trails.

Currently, parks must go through a rulemaking process that formally considers environmental concerns and park patrons. The proposal would waive that requirement. At least one former park superintendent says the proposal would cause more difficulties. Denny Huffman, former superintendent for Dinosaur National Monument, said in a statement, "This proposed regulation change would only open more park superintendents and managers to pressure by mountain bikers to open trails where that use conflicts with other visitors."

Juliet Eilpern of The Washington Post writes that "While the White House has barred agencies from issuing rules with a major impact on the economy less than 60 days before Bush leaves office, Bush spokesman Tony Fratto wrote in an e-mail that 'this was a non-significant rule.'" (Read more)

Clean-coal backers want stimulus to revive project

Electric and coal companies want President-elect Barack Obama's stimulus plan to include a restart of their project to build the first commercial-scale generating plant that can capture and store greenhouse gases, "setting up a fight with the anti-coal wing of Mr. Obama's base," Siobhan Hughes reports for The Wall Street Journal. "In one sign of its confidence, the FutureGen Alliance, along with a development group for Coles County, Ill., last week bought a 400-acre site for $7 million." (Encarta map: Mattoon, the city nearest the site)

The federal government was to pay most of the project's cost, but pulled out early this year after the estimate nearly doubled, to $1.8 billion. The Bush administration planned to parcel out the federal money to smaller-scale projects, but FutureGen and its allies in Congress stoutly opposed such a move. Now, worries about spending have taken a back seat to desires for stimulating the economy, but some Obama advisers may think that the technology isn't ready for a commercial-scale test. Herb Meeker of Coles County's Journal-Gazette and Times-Courier notes that Obama's pick for energy secretary, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Steven Chu, said of clean coal at a March conference on energy futures, “If people think this is the solution, think again. A lot of research is needed.” (Read more)

"Technology to take the carbon dioxide out of the exhaust from a coal-fired power plant could take 10 to 15 years to develop on a commercial scale, and even then would be costly," Hughes writes. (Read more) For more background on clean coal, click here.

Competition for stimulus money could be stiff. "The profusion of requests from governors, transportation groups, environmental activists and business organizations is spawning fears that the package could be loaded with provisions that satisfy important Democratic constituencies but fail to provide the jolt needed to pull the nation out of a deepening recession," Lori Montgomery reports for The Washington Post. She quotes an unnamed Obama adviser as sayign that Obama is focused on funding ideas that would quickly pump money into the economy, to meet his promise to create or preserve 2.5 million jobs by 2011. (Read more)

New York Times notices that smaller papers have fewer people to cover congressional delegations

We suppose they've noticed for some time, but our friends at The New York Times have a story today about a phenomenon that we've been reporting for many months: the gradual disappearance of Washington reporters for regional newspapers and broadcast stations, keys to the coverage of House members from rural districts.

The newspapers and corporate owners are "eliminating hundreds of journalists’ jobs at a time when the federal government — and journalistic oversight of it — matters more than ever. Television and radio operations in Washington are shrinking, too, although not as sharply," Richard Pérez-Peña writes. "The times may be news-rich, but newspapers are cash-poor, facing their direst financial straits since the Depression. Racing to cut costs as they lose revenue, most have decided that their future lies in local news, not national or international events."

The Houston Chronicle’s Washington bureau has three people. Two years ago, it had nine. Republican Rep. Kevin Brady told the Times, “From an informed public standpoint, it’s alarming. They’re letting go those with the most institutional knowledge, which helps reporters hold elected officials accountable.” For example, George Condon of the San Diego Union-Tribune won a Pulitzer Prize for stories that brought down corrupt Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham. Now his bureau is closed. He told the Times, “No matter how much great journalism is done by national organizations, they’re simply not geared to monitor closely a member of Congress ... who’s not a national leader.”(Read more)

Education Department expands privacy of school records, bringing objections from journalists

In new regulations issued under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), also known as the Buckley Amendment, the U.S. Department of Education is making more information about students difficult to get.

The 1974 amendment was intended to "safeguard against disclosure of personally identifying 'education records' such as attendance records and transcripts," writes Frank LoMonte for the Student Press Law Center. If schools violate the law, they run the risk of losing federal education funding.

The latest regulation issued under the law, published in the Dec. 9 Federal Register, broadens the definition of "educational record" to include "redacted" records -- documents and records that have already had names and identifying information deleted from them. "The final regulation says that a redacted record is confidential if a person's identity could be determined by people in the school -- so that, in DOE's view, a record about an incident not well-known to the public but known to people within the school will become confidential," writes LoMonte.

The center, the Society of Professional Journalists and the Education Writers Association are questioning the necessity of expanding the scope of confidentiality. They argue that existing regulations are already abused by schools that withhold information that should be public. The new rule would even apply to documents naming a student named who "voluntarily revealed his or her identity to the media."

The rule is expected to go into effect just before the Jan. 20 presidential inauguration. Read the center's whole story here.

Ethanol industry wants a piece of Obama stimulus

Ethanol distillers want "an immediate $1 billion to finance current operations and avoid layoffs and a $50 billion federal loan guarantee program to build new conversion facilities and pipelines," plus unspecified incentives for research and development and a tax credit for job creation, as part of the economic stimulus being planned by President-elect Barack Obama, reports Congressional Quarterly.

"The industry, which has been battered by falling fuel prices and erratic commodity markets, denies it is asking for a bailout," writes Aliya Sternstein. "But environmentalists and the food industry are calling the ethanol stimulus ideas irresponsible and potentially detrimental to the rest of the alternative energy sector." Craig Cox, Midwest vice president of the Environmental Working Group, told CQ that ethanol may increase greenhouse-gas emissions through increased tilling of land, and is "essentially eating up" money that could be used to subsidize other forms of renewable energy. "I think we need to question whether this industry can really ever stand on its own," he said.

"Ethanol producers argue that they are the best available solution to the energy crisis and are integral to any 'green' initiative aimed at energy independence, job opportunities and fighting global warming," Sternstein reports. "Ethanol companies have been pinched by decreased demand for fuel as well as the national credit crunch, according to the [Renewable Fuels]Association. In addition, ethanol manufacturers lost money by using the commodities markets to bet that corn futures prices would rise. Those prices recently dropped." (Story is not available online.)

UPDATE, Dec. 30: The Renewable Fuels Association says its request for part of the stimulus should not be considered a bailout.

Rural N.C. school district recruits teachers locally

One rural North Carolina community has started a "teacher cadet" program to recruit local students to return to their hometown to teach. Bertie County, in the northeastern corner of the state, is also the state's poorest school district, and has struggled to retain qualified teachers.

The program selects promising high school seniors who "have a strong academic record, demonstrate a desire to remain in Bertie County, and commit to becoming a teacher in math, science, or English," says The Rural School and Community Trust. In exchange for five years of service after graduation, the community, in partnership with Shaw University in Raleigh, pays for tuition and books for four years, then receive a salary of $25,000 with full benefits.

The program aims to recruit 20 students per year, which would cost the community $670,000 annually. “We pitched this in economic development terms,” says Superintendent Chip Zullinger. “We’re keeping county money in the county and investing in our own young people.” (Read more)

Salazar, Vilsack will be Cabinet's rural voices

President-elect Barack Obama's picks to head the agriculture and interior departments will provide "two rural-tuned voices to the Cabinet of the most urban president in at least 100 years," write Jim Tankersley and Bettina Boxall for the Los Angeles Times. "The majority of conservationists and rural interest groups say ... Obama has taken a step toward fulfilling his campaign promise of revitalizing rural economies."

The appointment of former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack has prompted a look back at his record to gain a sense of what changes he may bring to the Department of Agriculture. "On matters of agriculture, Vilsack was a pragmatic centrist, content with incremental changes and reluctant to take steps to significantly disrupt the status quo," writes Chase Martyn of The Iowa Independent.

In his two terms as governor Vilsack worked to endear himself to both the left and right, meaning he tended to stay away from divisive issues such a factory-style hog farms. "Vilsack remained largely above the fray of ongoing feuds over the placement of confined animal feeding operations near rural communities," writes Martyn. "Groups on the left who would like to give local communities stricter control over where the CAFOs are allowed felt betrayed by their governor’s unwillingness to help, but his stance kept agribusiness interests relatively quiet."

In fact, "Vilsack’s most noticeable impact on rural Iowa did not involve changes to agricultural policy or stricter environmental regulations, but rather tax credits and business incentives," adds Martyn. But he favors tighter limits on farm subsidies, as does Obama. "Expect the incoming secretary of agriculture to achieve tangible results that are easy to explain, because that is Vilsack’s style," writes Martyn. "He will immerse himself in a few specific issues, come up with a few policy ideas, and set to work building a political consensus, diluting the original ideas when necessary." (Read more)

Salazar also has a reputation as a centrist. "Salazar is expected to forge compromises with those who have competing interests over mining, drilling on public land and the protection of endangered species," write Karen Crummy and Anne Mulkern in The Denver Post. "While this has bothered some liberal groups, Salazar has received a mostly warm reception by environmentalists and business groups." One of the first challenges Salazar would likely face at the Department of the Interior is the issue of oil shale mining on federal lands. Salazar has opposed what he considered the Bush administration's hasty attempt to allow commercial developers to lease Western lands for shale mining and processing. (Read more)

The department and its Office of Surface Mining will also be involved in discussions about changes in laws or regulations on mountaintop-removal strip mining for coal. Shares of publicly traded U.S. coal firms rose after Obama's announcement, suggesting Salazar is more favorable to coal than the president-elect, analyst Jeremy Sussman of Natixis Bleichroeder told the Reuters news service. "He is practical and not too ideological," Sussman said. "A bill he sponsored on capture and storage of carbon emissions was widely supported." (Read more) UPDATE, 12/19: Big coal operator Massey Energy led a decline in energy stocks, The Wall Street Journal reports.

State budget cuts hurt localities, mine inspections

States expect to fall $30 billion short of covering their budgeted expenses in the fiscal year that ends June 30, according to the National Governors Association and the National Association of State Budget Officers. "That figure is likely to grow in the coming months," as the economy stagnates, and 22 states have already cut spending -- often by reducing money for local governments, "which already are slashing police, firefighters and other services," Conor Daugherty and Amy Merrick report in The Wall Street Journal.

Kentucky, which was 44 percent rural at the 2000 census, plans to cut money for county jails, which house state prisoners, and reduce inspections of coal mines and other rural facilities. "Budget cuts will prevent Kentucky from doubling the number of safety inspections at coal mines next year as mandated by lawmakers in 2007 following a series of fatal mining accidents," Beth Musgrave writes in the Lexington Herald-Leader. "There will be delays in annual air and water quality inspections as well." (Read more)

New Hampshire, which is about 40 percent rural, is the only state expected to be more than 15 percent short of its budget this year. In the state with the motto "Live Free or Die," prison officials have proposed shortening some prisoner sentences. Here's The Wall Street Journal's state-by-state map of state budget shortfalls:

An ode to a community newspaper, near death

UPDATE, Dec. 23: Qunnipiac University journalism professor and former metro editor Paul Janensch warns in The Connecticut Post of Bridgeport, a Hearst daily, against anything resembling a government bailout: "You can't expect a watchdog to bite the hand that feeds it. New Britain and Bristol each deserve its own newspaper to cover town news. What about an online publication, not printed on presses and not distributed by trucks but delivered over the Internet? Around the country, there are five online nonprofit publications, each supported by foundation money. One is the New Haven Independent. I have misgivings about a news provider being a recipient of charity. But that's better than being beholden to government." (Read more)

In Bristol, Conn., a community newspaper is about to die. The Bristol Press, its sister New Britain Herald and 11 affiliated weeklies in the Hartford area are at the mercy of the bankrupt Journal Register Co., the highly tenuous credit market and the efforts of some politicians -- politicians! -- who are trying to find a buyer for the paper(s) and contemplating tax breaks and other incentives.

We reported that two days ago. The same day, in The New York Times, Dan Barry used his "This Land" column to write an ode to the Press, and to the press: "The newspaper matters because it contains the intense coverage of sports at the high school and City Hall level; the listings of births, deaths and potluck suppers. ... In the 1910s it was anti-immigrant and anti-labor. In the 1920s it warned local members of the Ku Klux Klan that it knew their names. In the 1940s it published the names of 139 uniformed men from Bristol who were killed in World War II. And in the 1980s its local owners sold The Press to an out-of-town conglomerate that proved to be too fond of junk bonds."

Editor William Sarno (left, in Times photo by Angel Franco) "wonders about stories untold if The Bristol Press were to fold. Stories like that of Matt Lavoie, a Bristol boy who became an Army corporal, went to Iraq and nearly died in a roadside bombing. That was front-page news here, as was the “pasta supper fund-raiser” for the soldier, held at Nuchie’s Restaurant.

"Who knows what will replace The Bristol Press if it becomes another business out of time in this old city of watches and clocks? Maybe a weekly newspaper will step up to serve the community’s needs, or a well-crafted Web site dedicated to all things Bristol will appear. For now, a heavy-hearted editor will continue to be who he is, and do what he does. And a small band of reporters, working for a small, imperfect newspaper, will record for posterity the challenges facing a wounded soldier; the fire that roared through an animal shelter and the number of cats (30) and dogs (9) saved; the death of an 88-year-old woman named Henrietta; and the birth of a girl named Ava Marie." That is community journalism. (Read more)

For Press reporter Steve Collins' blog on efforts to save the paper, click here. For his regular blog, click here.

Energy secretary pick called coal 'worst nightmare'

"President-elect Barack Obama's pick for U.S. energy secretary isn't sold on the idea that technology to capture greenhouse emissions and pump them underground will save the coal industry," writes Ken Ward Jr. of The Charleston Gazette. Steven Chu's selection concerns observers in the coal industry, which sees clean coal as its future though the technology remains unproven.

"Coal is my worst nightmare," Chu, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist, said in an April speech. Ward writes, "Chu said existing pilot projects involving a few million tons of carbon dioxide sequestration are far too small to tell if the process would work on the scale needed." There is concern that carbon dioxide pumped into the ground could escape, or turn acidic and cause cracks in geological formations, leading to leaks. Carbon dioxide is the main greenhouse gas reponsible for global warming. To watch Chu's speech, click here.

Carol Raulston of the National Mining Association reminded Ward that Obama has endorsed development of clean-coal technology, and "pointed to a presentation Chu gave to the Chinese Academy of Sciences in October 2007 in which he said, 'Technologies for capturing and sequestering carbon from fossil fuels can play a central role in the cost-effective management of global carbon dioxide emissions.' Environmental groups and other advocates of swift and serious action to deal with the climate change crisis said Chu's comments on coal reflect a clear understanding of the scientific basis for concern and a practical view of the challenges for reducing the energy industry's greenhouse impacts." (Read more)

Obama says Tom Vilsack and Ken Salazar will help him make his rural agenda 'America's agenda'

Naming his interior and agriculture secretaries this morning, President-elect Barack Obama said "I am confident we have the team we need to make the rural agenda America's agenda." As reported here yesterday, Obama said his agriculture secretary will be Gov. Tom Vilsack of Iowa and the interior boss will be Sen. Ken Salazar of Colorado, who wore a cowboy hat and a string tie to the announcement. (Associated Press photo)

Obama called the two "as accomplished a pair of public servants as we have in America." As usual, he took three questions at the press conference; most of the discussion dealt with Interior Department issues, because a CBS reporter asked about Obama's delay in releasing contacts his staff had with Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and Tom Beaumont of The Des Moines Register asked what happened since Vilsack told the Register last month that he hadn't been contacted by the transition team and didn't expect to get the job. "I dont know who led him to believe that," Obama said. "Whoever did that was misinformed."

The third question also went to a home-state reporter, Karen Crummy of The Denver Post, who asked Obama what he meant when he said he envisioned and expanded role for the interior secretary. Obama said the "deeply troubled" department has "been seen as an appendage of commercial interests as opposed to a place where the values and interests of the American people are served." He said he wants the agency to be "at the cutting edge of environment and energy policy so commercial interests are just one group among many groups that are being listened to."

Vilsack said the Agriculture Department "must expand opportunities for rural communities." Obama said Vilsack has been "fiercely protective of family farms and the farm economy" but also "forward-looking," pushing development of cellulosic ethanol and wind and solar power "to give a boost to our rural economies."

Jim Wiesemeyer of Washington-based Informa Economics tells Ken Anderson of Brownfield Network that suring his brief presidential campaign last year, Vilsack "suggested maybe reducing some of the more traditional farm subsidies and moving them more toward the water and conservation payments area, and to the alternative energy area." (Read more)

Study finds higher rate of diabetes in rural areas

A new study published by the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Rockford shows that instances of diabetes among adults are higher in rural populations than in urban.

Mike DeDoncker of The Patriot Ledger in Quincy, Mass., writes, "9.7 percent of the adults living in rural areas, identified as being outside metropolitan or suburban areas, had diabetes and 8.2 percent in the metropolitan and suburban areas had diabetes." That means that rural residents are 16 percent more likely to develop diabetes.

The study did not look for contributing factors, but it seems counterintuitive to DeDoncker, who writes, "You would think that, living in a rural area, maybe you were eating better, healthier foods and maybe being more physically active as opposed to people living in the city who you might think would be getting more fatty foods, being very sedentary and using their car to go to everywhere."(Read more) But other studies have indicated that as rural residents become dependent on motor vehicles to get to jobs, often far from their homes, they become less active and have less time for physical activity.

Rural and urban have rich connections that some urbanites fail to recognize, writer says

Our friend Bill Bishop, right, who edits the Daily Yonder with his wife, Julie Ardery, steps up to the plate and hits for extra bases today, taking on urbanites who "sweep rural America out of the conversation about the future."

His particular target is Bruce Katz of the Brookings Institution, who inspired a February New York Times editorial criticizing presidential candidates for appealing to rural voters and wrote with associate Jennifer Bradley in The New Republic, "metros, not small towns, are where our economy is, where our population is, and where our country's future is." The article, playing off Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's small-town profile, was titled "Village Idiocy."

That's bunk, Bishop writes. "What we find over and again at the Yonder are the rich connections between rural and urban places. The creation of a rural energy economy is essential for urban growth. A fight by Great Plains ranchers for open cattle markets is essential for city consumers. People flow from rural counties to urban ones to work and live. There is simply no way to decouple rural from urban.

"Having lived in both small towns and big cities, I can assure Katz that rural residents spend far more time in urban areas than my city neighbors do in small towns. People come from the countryside to the cities to shop, do business, find specialized health care, attend arts events or visit friends. They are much more comfortable with urbanity than city residents are with rural places. They understand that rural and urban are neighbors. And neighbors take care of each other." (Read more)

Pay inequity between rural, urban women grows

Rural women working full-time make less money than their urban counterparts, and the disparity is greater than it was almost 40 years ago, according to a study released yesterday by the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire.

The study, "Working Hard for the Money: Trends in Women's Employment 1970-2006," found that 42 percent of rural women and 44 percent of urban women worked full-time. In 1970, the corresponding numbers were 26% and 24%. However, the pay inequity has increased. In 1969, rural women earned 83 cents for every dollar earned by an urban woman; in 2006, they made only 77 cents.

Analysis "suggests that rural and urban areas may have different labor markets for highly educated women, with fewer high-paying opportunities for women in rural areas," writes Kristin Smith, who conducted the study. Smith also notes that, as fewer jobs are available for men in "traditional rural industries," many rural women are finding full-time employment necessary for their families' economic survival. (Read the full report)

Thieves repeatedly steal from town's road-salt pile

Last month, The Rural Blog posted a story about one city's solution to road salt shortages and higher salt prices. But Galena, Ill., in the state's northwest corner, is finding that shortages and higher costs are not the only threat to the city's salt supply.

"The city seems to have missed three important potential sources of loss: a $131 per ton price on salt; pickup trucks; and larcenous people," writes Richard Clark of The Galena Gazette. He reports that, on at least three occasions, salt has been stolen from the town's distribution center. Each time, about a "small pickup truck load" of salt went missing. The price on road salt is currently around $131 per ton, making the loss fairly significant for the town. (Read more)

Rural states led the rise in prescription overdoses

We reported last week that overdoses of prescription drugs increased greatly in the last few years, especially in largely rural states, led by West Virginia. Now Julie Ardery of the Daily Yonder takes a closer look at the Centers for Disease Control study and delivers a state-by-state map of the rates of overdoses in 2004 that were not deemed intentional:
Among the findings Ardery notes: The surge in prescription-drug addiction and overdoses can be traced to a 1997 liberalization of the guidelines for dispensing pain medications. "As so many more powerful analgesic drugs became widely available, so did unsupervised use of these medications. The researchers found that of those who died from accidental prescription drug overdose in West Virginia during 2006, 63 percent had no record of prescription for these drugs." (Read more)

BREAKING, UPDATED: Vilsack to be secretary of agriculture, giving Obama a real 'Team of Rivals'

Citing unnamed sources, Mike Glover of The Associated Press bureau in Des Moines reports that President-elect Barack Obama will appoint former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack secretary of agriculture. "Last month, Vilsack dismissed rumors that he would take the position," AP notes. "He said in an e-mail that he had never been contacted by Obama or his aides." (Read more)

The Des Moines Register reports it has a source confirming the appointment, completing (in basketball terms) the "Team of Rivals" discussed since Obama's selection of Joe Biden for vice president, Hillary Clinton for secretary of state and Bill Richardson for commerce secretary. Vilsasck ran briefly for president, then endorsed Clinton and "campaigned aggressively" for her until Obama sewed up the nomination, the Register's Thomas Beaumont notes. (Iowa Politics photo shows Vilsack dropping out of the race.)

Phillip Rucker and Al Kamen of The Washington Post report that Obama will announce the appointments of Vilsack and Sen. Ken Salazar as interior secretary tomorrow. Beaumont gives the time: 10:45 a.m. Central.

AP has a profile of Vilsack, noting his political career "began as a small-town mayor forced into the job because of a sensational shooting spree," in which the mayor of Mount Pleasant, population 8,700, was killed by an angry constituent. Vilsack, a Pittsburgh native who had joined his father-in-law's legal practice, "was appointed mayor of the largely Republican city." (Encarta map)

The Register's Washington reporter, Philip Brasher, weighs in with a fast analysis noting that Iowa gets more farm-subsidy money than any other state and Vilsack is "sympathetic to big agribusiness that dominates Iowa and a believer in biofuels and agricultural biotechnology. In short, Vilsack is not likely to shift the U.S. Agriculture Department in the radical new direction as many of Obama’s liberal supporters had hoped." But Vilsack "could prove to be a reformer" in tackling two topics important in Iowa, "managing the growth of the biofuels industry" and addressing a National Academy of Sciences recommendation to limit use, in the Mississippi River watershed, of fertilizers that cause a recurring dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico. (Read more)

National Farmers Union President Tom Buis, whom reformers had pushed for secretary, said in a statement: "I think Gov. Vilsack is a great choice and I look forward to working with him. Being from Iowa, Gov. Vilsack has an understanding of the challenges and opportunities that exist in rural America." For more from Nebraska Rural Radio, click here.