"In Kansas, 11 school districts that no longer exist are on the U.S. Department of Education’s distribution list for stimulus funds. They are set to receive nearly $600,000," Jennifer LaFleur reports for ProPublica. "We found these school districts when Kirby Ross, managing editor of the Phillips County Review in Phillipsburg, Kan., alerted us that our county-by-county stimulus tracker included two districts in his area that didn’t exist."
"We checked more states and found that other consolidated or dissolved districts were on the list. In Missouri and Iowa, a handful of closed districts were listed as receiving stimulus funding.
That doesn’t mean stimulus checks will be arriving to empty buildings. In instances where money is allocated to a closed district, it typically is divvied up among the districts where the students now attend." (Read more)
Friday, September 25, 2009
Number of Rhode Island farms increases, apparently from demand for local food
Rhode Island saw the creation of 361 more farms between 2002 and 2007, an increase that analysts suggest coincides with the growing demand for local food. “People see buying local as a benefit in a lot of different ways," Kristen Castrataro, of URI Extension Services, a group that provides research and assistance to farmers, told Talia Buford of the Providence Journal. "Economically, it’s keeping a lot of our hard-earned money in the state. The more you spend in the local community, the more stays in the local community.”
The "green industry" -- nursery, horticulture and turf '' accounted for 67 percent of Rhode Island farms' market sales in 2002, and 60 percent in 2007. Kenneth Ayars, chief of the division of agriculture of the state Department of Environmental Management tells Buford that the decrease resulted from more farmers shifting to fruits, vegetables and livestock.
Rhode Island farms depend largely on direct-to-consumer sales, averaging $25,270 a year in direct market sales, the third highest level in the country, Buford reports. “This ain’t Nebraska," Stu Nunnery, director of the Rhode Island Center for Agricultural Promotion and Education, tells Buford. "And regional agriculture is based more on the direct market model, which is to produce not high volume, but lower-volume, high-quality specialty crops and products and sell them directly to the consumer at retail, rather than wholesale.” (Read more)
The "green industry" -- nursery, horticulture and turf '' accounted for 67 percent of Rhode Island farms' market sales in 2002, and 60 percent in 2007. Kenneth Ayars, chief of the division of agriculture of the state Department of Environmental Management tells Buford that the decrease resulted from more farmers shifting to fruits, vegetables and livestock.
Rhode Island farms depend largely on direct-to-consumer sales, averaging $25,270 a year in direct market sales, the third highest level in the country, Buford reports. “This ain’t Nebraska," Stu Nunnery, director of the Rhode Island Center for Agricultural Promotion and Education, tells Buford. "And regional agriculture is based more on the direct market model, which is to produce not high volume, but lower-volume, high-quality specialty crops and products and sell them directly to the consumer at retail, rather than wholesale.” (Read more)
West Virginia power plant to become first to capture and bury some of its carbon dioxide
American Electric Power's Mountaineer plant in New Haven, W.Va., is poised to become the world's first commercial power plant to capture some of its carbon-dioxide emissions and bury them underground when a new system goes online in the coming days. "The hope is that the gas will stay deep underground for millennia rather than entering the atmosphere as a heat-trapping pollutant," Matthew L. Wald of The New York Times reports.
AEP plans to begin the experiment with two wells that will use between 15 and 30 percent of the plant's energy output. Plans call for Mountaineer to bury 100,000 tons annually for two years, about 1.5 percent of the plant's emissions. The economic viability of Mountaineer's plan remains uncertain, Wald reports; some energy experts argue that the process could prove more expensive that solar or nuclear power. Environmentalists also fear that once the carbon dioxide is injected into the ground it might pollute water supplies and cause earthquakes, though the Environmental Protection Agency says the latter is highly unlikely.
Environmental groups also fear that success of the project might lead industry and government officials to drag their heels in investments in renewable energy, Wald reports. “Coal is the drug of choice of a major industry with a lot of political power,” David H. Holtz, executive director of Progress Michigan, an environmental group, told Wald. Many scientists emphasize Mountaineer's location, within a dozen miles of four other plants, in the so-called "Megawatt Alley" as a reason for optimism. Wald writes: "If the technology spread to all of them in a cost-effective way, many say, it could have a broad impact on the coal industry." (Read more)
AEP plans to begin the experiment with two wells that will use between 15 and 30 percent of the plant's energy output. Plans call for Mountaineer to bury 100,000 tons annually for two years, about 1.5 percent of the plant's emissions. The economic viability of Mountaineer's plan remains uncertain, Wald reports; some energy experts argue that the process could prove more expensive that solar or nuclear power. Environmentalists also fear that once the carbon dioxide is injected into the ground it might pollute water supplies and cause earthquakes, though the Environmental Protection Agency says the latter is highly unlikely.
Environmental groups also fear that success of the project might lead industry and government officials to drag their heels in investments in renewable energy, Wald reports. “Coal is the drug of choice of a major industry with a lot of political power,” David H. Holtz, executive director of Progress Michigan, an environmental group, told Wald. Many scientists emphasize Mountaineer's location, within a dozen miles of four other plants, in the so-called "Megawatt Alley" as a reason for optimism. Wald writes: "If the technology spread to all of them in a cost-effective way, many say, it could have a broad impact on the coal industry." (Read more)
Rural Oklahoma towns offer insight into how to foster entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs have proven their worth in revitalizing rural America, but how exactly do small towns foster entrepreneurship? Brian Whitacre and Lara Brooks examined five rural Oklahoma towns with successful entrepreneurship records to determine just that, and wrote up their findings for the Daily Yonder earlier this month. The towns benefited from geography and natural amenities, but they were from four diverse geographic regions with very different levels and types of amenities. (Yonder map by Whitacre and Brooks)
Emphasizing Main Street was the first strategy Witacre and Brooks noticed from the successful towns. "Cordell has emphasized its history and proudly promotes its unique courthouse, while also looking to the future," they wrote. "Now there are high-speed fiber optic lines in place for businesses requiring them."
For neighboring Davis and Sulpher, putting aside their traditional geographic rivalry was key to working together, teh pair found. "The turning point came when key individuals from both communities applied for and received an Initiative for the Future of Rural Oklahoma grant that helped them think about their shared goals and walk through the issues they had."
Pryor, the home to the largest rural industrial park in the U.S., was an example of a rural community "focusing on its assets," Whitacre and Brooks write. The local high school featured a workforce development program that provided students the type of professional certificates businesses at the park required.
Woodward, in northwest Oklahoma, proved that small businesses need to diversify. "The arrival of Wal-Mart has prompted small business owners to find niche markets that complement the big-box retailer, such as creating customized versions of clothing or materials, or specializing in older, vintage retail," the Yonder reports. (Read more)
Emphasizing Main Street was the first strategy Witacre and Brooks noticed from the successful towns. "Cordell has emphasized its history and proudly promotes its unique courthouse, while also looking to the future," they wrote. "Now there are high-speed fiber optic lines in place for businesses requiring them."
For neighboring Davis and Sulpher, putting aside their traditional geographic rivalry was key to working together, teh pair found. "The turning point came when key individuals from both communities applied for and received an Initiative for the Future of Rural Oklahoma grant that helped them think about their shared goals and walk through the issues they had."
Pryor, the home to the largest rural industrial park in the U.S., was an example of a rural community "focusing on its assets," Whitacre and Brooks write. The local high school featured a workforce development program that provided students the type of professional certificates businesses at the park required.
Woodward, in northwest Oklahoma, proved that small businesses need to diversify. "The arrival of Wal-Mart has prompted small business owners to find niche markets that complement the big-box retailer, such as creating customized versions of clothing or materials, or specializing in older, vintage retail," the Yonder reports. (Read more)
Schools in every state violate drinking-water rules
Roughly one in five schools supplied by a water well has violated the Safe Drinking Water Act in the past decade, and such schools are the largest violators of drinking water standards, The Associated Press reports from Environmental Protection Agency data. Better check to see if any are in your area.
Eight to 11 percent of U.S schools are supplied with water from their own wells. Schools with public water have also violated the standards. "In California's farm belt, wells at some schools are so tainted with pesticides that students have taken to stuffing their backpacks with bottled water for fear of getting sick from the drinking fountain," AP reports.
EPA says a recent spike in violations can be largely attributed to stricter standards. "There's a different risk for kids," Cynthia Dougherty, head of the EPA's Office of Groundwater and Drinking Water, told AP. EPA cannot require testing at all schools and mainly provides environmental guidance.
Schools with unsafe drinking water make up only a small percentage of the country's 132,500 schools, AP reports. Water supplies violated standards in about 100 school districts and 2,250 schools with well water. Those schools had 5,500 separate violations between 1998 and 2008 and 577 in 2008, up from 59 in 1998. California led states with 612 violations during the period, followed by Ohio (451), Maine (417), Connecticut (318) and Indiana (289). Half the violators in California were repeat offenders, including one elementary school that had been cited 20 times.
Older schools on public water systems also were more likely to violate the standard due to the prevalence of lead piping. "There is just no excuse for this. Period," Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., told AP. "We want to make sure that we fix this problem in a way that it will never happen again, and we can ensure parents that their children will be safe." (Read more)
Eight to 11 percent of U.S schools are supplied with water from their own wells. Schools with public water have also violated the standards. "In California's farm belt, wells at some schools are so tainted with pesticides that students have taken to stuffing their backpacks with bottled water for fear of getting sick from the drinking fountain," AP reports.
EPA says a recent spike in violations can be largely attributed to stricter standards. "There's a different risk for kids," Cynthia Dougherty, head of the EPA's Office of Groundwater and Drinking Water, told AP. EPA cannot require testing at all schools and mainly provides environmental guidance.
Schools with unsafe drinking water make up only a small percentage of the country's 132,500 schools, AP reports. Water supplies violated standards in about 100 school districts and 2,250 schools with well water. Those schools had 5,500 separate violations between 1998 and 2008 and 577 in 2008, up from 59 in 1998. California led states with 612 violations during the period, followed by Ohio (451), Maine (417), Connecticut (318) and Indiana (289). Half the violators in California were repeat offenders, including one elementary school that had been cited 20 times.
Older schools on public water systems also were more likely to violate the standard due to the prevalence of lead piping. "There is just no excuse for this. Period," Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., told AP. "We want to make sure that we fix this problem in a way that it will never happen again, and we can ensure parents that their children will be safe." (Read more)
Thursday, September 24, 2009
'Fed' written on chest of hanged census worker in Ky. county where feds have been active for years
UPDATE, Oct. 1: Patrik Jonsson of The Christian Science Monitor writes about why police may be keeping mum about the probe, to the extent of not ruling out the unlikely possibility of suicide.A U.S. census worker was found hanging with "fed" scrawled on his chest in Clay County, Kentucky, on Sept. 12, a fact that went unreported until last night, when Devlin Barrett and Jeffrey McMurray of The Associated Press put it on the wire. The victim was Bill Sparkman, left, a substitute teacher from adjoining Laurel County, who was doing interviews for the Census Bureau in preparation for the 2010 census. Authorities say they have not determined the cause of death but call it an "apparent homicide." AP reports, "The FBI is investigating whether he was a victim of anti-government sentiment. ... Attacking a federal worker during or because of his federal job is a federal crime." (Corbin Times-Tribune photo)
Sparkman worked with the Census since 2003 in five counties. AP quotes retired Kentucky state trooper Gilbert Acciardo's warning to Sparkman: "I told him on more than one occasion, based on my years in the state police, 'Mr. Sparkman, when you go into those counties, be careful because people are going to perceive you different than they do elsewhere.'" But Roy Silver, a sociology professor at Southeast Community College in Harlan County, told AP, "I don't think distrust of government is any more or less here than anywhere else in the country."
But when it comes to the federal government, Clay County is a special case. It is a hotbed of marijuana cultivation, mainly in the Daniel Boone National Forest, which covers much of the county, and Sparkman's body was found on forest property. For nearly 30 years, federal and state authorities have targeted pot growers in Clay and adjoining counties, and in the last several years, the Justice Department has won indictments and convictions of officials and other local residents for vote fraud, other corruption and other crimes. And resistance to federal authority in the area dates back more than a century, to the era of major moonshine stills. Ironically, the county's largest employer is a federal prison. (Encarta map) Cary Stemle talked to folks who know these things and filed a story for Time.The AP reporters quote a Manchester Huddle House waitress who feels the government needs to "stick their nose out of people's business." They write, "Manchester, the main hub of the southeastern Kentucky county, is an exit off the highway, with a Wal-mart, a few hotels, chain restaurants and a couple of gas stations. The drive away from town and toward the area where Sparkman's body was found goes through sparsely populated forest with no streetlights, on winding roads that run up and down steep hills." (Read more)
That was surely written by McMurray, who is based in Lexington; Barrett apparently doesn't have sufficient background on the county. On MSNBC last night, liberal talk-show host Rachel Maddow "asked him if he "had seen any evidence that the crime had political motivations," Rachel Weiner reports on The Huffington Post. He replied, "I don't think federal law enforcement would still be involved a week and a half after the body was found if there wasn't still that very serious concern."
In the blogosphere, there is also ill-informed speculation, like this from Chris McGreal, Washington correspondent of The Guardian: "Although law enforcement officials say that southern Kentucky is not considered a particular hotbed of anti-government sentiment, there is little doubt that growing right-wing and libertarian anger at Barack Obama and his administration is increasingly belligerent." McGreal notes that "Local police also consider it possible that Sparkman was killed because he came across illegal activity," but the officer quoted mentions methamphetamine, which is primarily a concern of state police, not federal agents.
UPDATE, 9/28: In the best of the national stories we've seen so far, Morgan Bowling, editor of the Manchester Enterprise, tells Carol Morello and Ed O'Keefe of The Washington Post: "People are puzzled by what happened to Bill Sparkman. A lot of people have said, 'Who knows what he might have walked into?'" The Post cites Dee Davis, president of the Whitesburg-based Center for Rural Strategies, in its description of Clay County: "It is in many ways a typical eastern Kentucky county, left struggling when coal companies went out of business and tobacco farming became less lucrative. Now, the largest employers are the school board, a hospital and a Wal-Mart." (Read more)
UPDATE, 10/1: In the McCreary County Record, Peter Ferrara objects to some of the stereotypical coverage by national and international media, and writes, "It’s just one more black eye on a region that already suffers from a lot of negative stereotypes. I have lived in the Daniel Boone National Forest for a pretty long time. The people here may be a proud and isolated bunch, but they are decent and honest and we deserve better." (Read more) Agence France-Presse is now on the story; you can read its account here.
Florida tomato grower strikes his own deal to raise workers' wages, may break impasse
A long-running quest of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers to increase wages for migrant farmworkers in Florida may have reached an important turning point. East Coast Growers and Packers has reached an agreement with Denver-based burrito company Chipotle to pay workers an addition penny per pound for all Chiptole tomatoes they pick, Elaine Walker of the Miami Herald reports. The agreement will cause a 64 percent increase in the price per 32-pound bucket. (Herald photo by Nuri Vallbona)The agreement comes after several years of negotiations between CIW, a farmworker activist group, and various restaurants to increase worker wages. The group had reached deals with Burger King, McDonald's, Subway, Taco Bell and Whole Foods, but most of that money is still sitting in escrow accounts, never reaching workers, Walker reports. East Coast decided to break from the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange, which had threatened to fine members who participated in the agreements, in making the deal with Chipotle.
"I would rather be unpopular with my competition and do the right thing,'' East Coast sales manager Batista Madonia Jr. told Walker. "I believe when you do the right thing for your worker, it gives you a better worker and a better company.'' Madonia says he's already entered negotiations with other chains about similar deals. We previously reported about CIW's agreements with Yum! Foods and Burger King in 2007 and 2008 respectively. (Read more)
UPDATE 9/28: The CIW and East Coast have reached an agreement with The Compass Group, which operates 10,000 cafeterias in public schools, hospitals and government buildings including the U.S. House of Representatives, to pay an additional 1.5 cents per pound of tomatoes. One cent per pound will go directly to the workers, Jane Black reports for The Washington Post. Compass subsidiary Bon Appetit Management Co. threatened to not serve tomatoes in any of its cafeterias this winter if no tomato grower would agree to pass on the extra penny to workers. (Read more)
Farm profits dive as consumers enjoy lower prices
Researchers at the University of Illinois are predicting a net loss of $8 per acre of corn and $15 per acre of soybeans for U.S. farmers this year, the largest loss since the 1980s, Art Hover reports for the Lincoln Journal Star. The price for corn is too low for most farmers to make a profit, but too high to trigger extra federal price supports. (USA Today graphic)Agricultural economists at the University of Nebraska predict that the Cornhusker State's net farm income will fall from $4 billion in 2008 to $2.5 or $2.6 billion in 2009, a drop of about 35 percent. Farmers who bought fertilizer and other planting supplies before the prices of those commodities and corn dropped will face an even tougher economic outlook, Hover reports. Two positive bright spots for farm profits are a predicted record production this year and the first profit potential for cattle farmers since 2007. (Read more)
The dire predictions for farm profits have led American grocery shoppers to enjoy lower prices at the market. The average retail price for a gallon of milk was down 91 cents, Marisol Bello reports for USA Today, and the average price for a pound of bacon was down 25 cents from 2008. Ag economists blame initial linkage of the H1N1 flu to the pork industry and sluggish corn prices for the drop in prices of farm products, but competition between groceries for consumers during the recession has also played a large role in lower prices at the supermarket. (Read more)
'Fracking' may reinvent the natural gas industry, but poses some environmental risks
A new drilling method has given U.S. natural gas companies access to the vast underground gas reserves for the first time, an advancement that industry executives predict will "revolutionize the industry all over the world." We've reported on controversy surrounding the environmental impacts of "fracking" before (Earlier this month and in February), but Tom Gjelten of National Public Radio has the best explanation of the process we've seen yet.
Fracking projects drill more than more than a mile below the surface before gradually steering the bit to one side until it is heading sideways across the shale layer. Companies then fracture the rock by forcing a mixture of sand and water through the well at high pressure, opening more cracks in the rock for the gas to escape. Shale gas "is the most important energy development since the discovery of oil," Fred Julander, founder and chief executive of Denver-based gas company, Julander Energy, tells Gjelten. (NPR graphic)
Proponents of the process argue "big boost in the use of natural gas would dramatically lower greenhouse gas emissions and reduce the U.S. dependence on foreign oil," Gjelten writes. Despite the rosy predictions of environmental improvement, some residents near fracking sites have already complained of water contamination. A hydrologist found benzene contamination in a water well in Wyoming near a fracking site and residents of Dimock, Pa., near the Marcellus shale formation have voiced similar complaints. The "FRAC Act," before Congress, would also require natural gas producers to disclose the chemicals they are using, Gjeltin reports.
You can read the entire NPR series on fracking here:
Fracking projects drill more than more than a mile below the surface before gradually steering the bit to one side until it is heading sideways across the shale layer. Companies then fracture the rock by forcing a mixture of sand and water through the well at high pressure, opening more cracks in the rock for the gas to escape. Shale gas "is the most important energy development since the discovery of oil," Fred Julander, founder and chief executive of Denver-based gas company, Julander Energy, tells Gjelten. (NPR graphic)Proponents of the process argue "big boost in the use of natural gas would dramatically lower greenhouse gas emissions and reduce the U.S. dependence on foreign oil," Gjelten writes. Despite the rosy predictions of environmental improvement, some residents near fracking sites have already complained of water contamination. A hydrologist found benzene contamination in a water well in Wyoming near a fracking site and residents of Dimock, Pa., near the Marcellus shale formation have voiced similar complaints. The "FRAC Act," before Congress, would also require natural gas producers to disclose the chemicals they are using, Gjeltin reports.
You can read the entire NPR series on fracking here:
- Rediscovering Natural Gas By Hitting Rock Bottom
- Who's Looking At Natural Gas Now? Big Oil
- With Little Clout, Natural Gas Lobby Strikes Out
- Water Contamination Concerns Linger For Shale Gas
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Rural Ohio foreclosures rise faster than statewide
Rising unemployment is pushing more rural Ohio homeowners toward foreclosure, and support for them is more difficult to find their urban counterparts, Nick Carey reports for Reuters. Foreclosure rates in Ohio rose by 1.2 percent in 2008, but by 4.9 percent in counties with fewer than 50,000 people.
"The biggest foreclosure growth Ohio has seen in recent years has been in rural areas," David Rothstein, a researcher at Policy Matters Ohio, told Carey. "In some ways rural areas are just beginning to catch up with the cities." Representatives of Empowering and Strengthening Ohio's People, a non-profit designed to help homeowners avoid foreclosure, tell Carey that "in politically conservative rural areas, one challenge is persuading people to ask for help because they attach stigma and shame with doing so."
"In urban areas the housing crisis was caused more by poor lending practices," Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray tells Carey. "But in rural areas the crisis is related to the economy." Helping struggling homeowners in rural areas is imperative to organizations like ESOP, member Shane Lightle tells Carey: "In some parts of the state there is simply no one around to help." (Read more)
"The biggest foreclosure growth Ohio has seen in recent years has been in rural areas," David Rothstein, a researcher at Policy Matters Ohio, told Carey. "In some ways rural areas are just beginning to catch up with the cities." Representatives of Empowering and Strengthening Ohio's People, a non-profit designed to help homeowners avoid foreclosure, tell Carey that "in politically conservative rural areas, one challenge is persuading people to ask for help because they attach stigma and shame with doing so."
"In urban areas the housing crisis was caused more by poor lending practices," Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray tells Carey. "But in rural areas the crisis is related to the economy." Helping struggling homeowners in rural areas is imperative to organizations like ESOP, member Shane Lightle tells Carey: "In some parts of the state there is simply no one around to help." (Read more)
Now you can follow The Rural Blog on Twitter
We've jumped on the Twitter bandwagon, now you can follow us at http://www.twitter.com/ruraljournalism. The twitter account is set up to send out blog updates as new items are posted. Blogger is currently experiencing some technical difficulties with its Twitter gadget, but as soon as those are resolved you will also be able to see our tweets on the right sidebar of the blog. You can also follow the blog on Facebook, subscribe to the RSS feed and you can email us to sign up for the e-mail updates.
Kentucky schools buying hybrid school buses
Kentucky school districts will have the chance to purchase hybrid-fueled electric school buses starting in October through funding from economic stimulus funds. The state plans to replace 200 diesel-powered buses; it has 9,800 diesel-fueled buses and the project will replace the oldest.
“Clean fuel technology is not just the wave of the future – it’s here now, and our schools are an excellent venue to showcase the benefits,” Gov. Steve Beshear said in a news release. The governor anticipates the project saving 122,000 gallons of diesel fuel per year and extending the 14-year life cycle of buses by 18-20 years. Hybrid buses cost between $126,000 to $133,000, compared to $85,000 for a diesel-fueled bus. (Read more)
The Todd County Board of Education unanimously voted to purchase one of the hybrid buses for $71,263, Ryan Craig of the Todd County Standard reports. "Board members did question if the bus would be cost effective for the school system," Craig writes. Transportation Director Carrol P. Moseley said the bus will be 70 percent more fuel efficient and garage technicians have already received training on hybrid bus maintenance.
“Clean fuel technology is not just the wave of the future – it’s here now, and our schools are an excellent venue to showcase the benefits,” Gov. Steve Beshear said in a news release. The governor anticipates the project saving 122,000 gallons of diesel fuel per year and extending the 14-year life cycle of buses by 18-20 years. Hybrid buses cost between $126,000 to $133,000, compared to $85,000 for a diesel-fueled bus. (Read more)
The Todd County Board of Education unanimously voted to purchase one of the hybrid buses for $71,263, Ryan Craig of the Todd County Standard reports. "Board members did question if the bus would be cost effective for the school system," Craig writes. Transportation Director Carrol P. Moseley said the bus will be 70 percent more fuel efficient and garage technicians have already received training on hybrid bus maintenance.
Ideas for fixing 'brain drain' of rural young people
Rural problems tend to take a back seat to urban problems that have higher visibility, but addressing rural needs could help much more than just rural America, Patrick J. Carr and Maria J. Kefalas report for The Chronicle of Higher Education. The two researchers found that in just over two decades, 700 rural counties lost over 10 percent of their population, much of it educated young people. The brain drain isn't new, Carr and Kefalas write after nearly two years in rural Iowa, but "the 21st century the shortage of young people has reached a tipping point." (Photo by Steve Schapiro)"The health of the heartland is vital to the country as a whole," Carr and Kefalas write. "This is the place where most of our food comes from; it can be ground zero for the green economy and sustainable agriculture; it is the place that helps elect our presidents, and it sends more than its fair share of young men and women to fight for this country." The two sociologists, funded by the MacArthur Foundation's Network on Transitions to Adulthood, found adults in the community were facilitating the town's decline by pushing the best and brightest young people to leave, and by underinvesting in those who chose to stay.
Schools should push those not headed to four-year institutions toward vocational training and associate-degree programs, Carr and Kefalas suggest, adding schools must build better links to higher education and nurture learning in areas of regional economic growth, like wind energy and biotechnology. The pair also advocates small towns embracing immigration to fuel a dwindling work force, and offering student-loan forgiveness for college students willing to return to the area. Rural states must also invest in the "green economy," and reinvent the food industry to save rural America, the researches argue.
"The residents of rural America must embrace the fact that to survive, the world they knew and cherished must change," Carr and Kefalas write. "And, on a national level, rural development must be more closely linked to national economic growth priorities, and policies must be created to help these communities prepare for a future that is already here." (Read more)
Kentucky pupil objects to teacher's anti-Islam film
A Pulaski County High School student has objected to being shown a video that depicted images of dead bodies, beheadings and bombings to illustrate its creator's opinion that the "Islamic incursion" must be stopped. Amber Cruey says she first felt hatred toward Muslims after watching the film, Bill Estep of the Lexington Herald-Leader reports, but decided the film was wrong in its hatred of Islam after a discussion with her parents.
Sonya Wilds, an assistant superintendent in the school system, told Estep the teacher showed the film on Sept. 11 "in order to commemorate the anniversary of the terror attacks in New York and Washington and generate discussion on the dangers of extremism." The teacher was not named by the school system, but Cruey identified him as Michael Foncannon, a teacher in the Junior ROTC program. The school system says that the teacher's intentions were pure, but that the film was not proper for a class of juniors and seniors.
The fifteen minute film, Fitna, was made by Dutch politician Geert Wilders, whom a Dutch court prosecuted in January for allegedly inciting hatred against Islam. "Islam is not a religion. Islam is an ideology." Wilders said in an interview with the Boston Globe in March. "You keep comparing it to Christianity, Judaism. It's not. It's an ideology that wants to dominate every aspect of society. I know billions of people believe it's a religion. I don't." Jenny Sutton-Amr, executive director of the Kentucky Islamic Resource Group in Lexington, told Estep: "Islam is definitely against violence. The notion of killing innocent people ... does not have a place in Islam." (Read more)
Sonya Wilds, an assistant superintendent in the school system, told Estep the teacher showed the film on Sept. 11 "in order to commemorate the anniversary of the terror attacks in New York and Washington and generate discussion on the dangers of extremism." The teacher was not named by the school system, but Cruey identified him as Michael Foncannon, a teacher in the Junior ROTC program. The school system says that the teacher's intentions were pure, but that the film was not proper for a class of juniors and seniors.
The fifteen minute film, Fitna, was made by Dutch politician Geert Wilders, whom a Dutch court prosecuted in January for allegedly inciting hatred against Islam. "Islam is not a religion. Islam is an ideology." Wilders said in an interview with the Boston Globe in March. "You keep comparing it to Christianity, Judaism. It's not. It's an ideology that wants to dominate every aspect of society. I know billions of people believe it's a religion. I don't." Jenny Sutton-Amr, executive director of the Kentucky Islamic Resource Group in Lexington, told Estep: "Islam is definitely against violence. The notion of killing innocent people ... does not have a place in Islam." (Read more)
Appalachian Trail's cheap, transient lifestyle attracts hundreds of jobless Americans
In a struggling job market, more Americans are turning to the Appalachian Trail for its transient lifestyle. In a typical year 1,000 hikers leave Georgia to hike the 2,000-mile trail to Maine, Joel Millman of The Wall Street Journal reports. This year 1,400 hikers left in the first wave, with hundreds more lagging behind. "I wouldn't do this if I was employed," hiker Dan Kearns told Millman. "I couldn't find any work, so I just decided to take a walk."
Millman writes, "An economist might have another name for Snipe [Kearns' trail name] and his fellow travelers: trailing indicators. [Ha, ha.] Depending on one's level of optimism, an Appalachian Trail through-hiker is either a symbol of a jobless recovery or of a still-deepening recession."
Hikers budget $1 a mile for food, but often earn lodging on a work-for-stay bartering system. "If you do this on the trail, you're a hiker," The Druid, a 48-year-old south-bounder (SoBo) from Tennessee, tells Millman. "If you do this off the trail, you're a bum." So-called "Trail Angels" provide lodging and free meals to hikers short of cash. "NoBos and SoBos are reminiscent of the hobos of the Great Depression," Milliman writes, "though there aren't so many of them this time." (Read more) For a Journal video, click below.
Hiking the trail, through or not, earned a boost in popular lore when South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford claimed he was hiking it in June while he was actually culminating an affair in Argentina. UrbanDictionary.com includes the phrase "hiking the Appalachian" as a slang term for having an affair and includes possible uses for the term, such as: "Why is Bob's wife angry with him? He got caught hiking the Appalachian, if you know what I mean." (Read more)
Millman writes, "An economist might have another name for Snipe [Kearns' trail name] and his fellow travelers: trailing indicators. [Ha, ha.] Depending on one's level of optimism, an Appalachian Trail through-hiker is either a symbol of a jobless recovery or of a still-deepening recession."
Hikers budget $1 a mile for food, but often earn lodging on a work-for-stay bartering system. "If you do this on the trail, you're a hiker," The Druid, a 48-year-old south-bounder (SoBo) from Tennessee, tells Millman. "If you do this off the trail, you're a bum." So-called "Trail Angels" provide lodging and free meals to hikers short of cash. "NoBos and SoBos are reminiscent of the hobos of the Great Depression," Milliman writes, "though there aren't so many of them this time." (Read more) For a Journal video, click below.
Hiking the trail, through or not, earned a boost in popular lore when South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford claimed he was hiking it in June while he was actually culminating an affair in Argentina. UrbanDictionary.com includes the phrase "hiking the Appalachian" as a slang term for having an affair and includes possible uses for the term, such as: "Why is Bob's wife angry with him? He got caught hiking the Appalachian, if you know what I mean." (Read more)
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Farm Safety and Health Week runs through Sat.
We don't do much with press releases, but we do care about farm safety, because farming is, by one measure, the fifth most dangerous occupation and usually involves most of not all members of a family, putting them all at risk. So here's a release on National Farm Safety and Health Week, which began Sunday and runs through Saturday. Ever wonder why it's this time of year? Harvesters on the highways.
Civil War battlefield, state line at issue in renewed debate over wind farm on Allegheny Mountain
A Civil War battlefield is the center of the latest effort to stop a wind-energy project. Two weeks ago we reported about a California community's esthetic objections to a substation needed to handle new wind power; now, residents near the Camp Allegheny Battlefield on the Virginia-West Virginia border are voicing similar complaints. "If wilderness is sacred, and if American history is sacred, then there's no doubt this place is doubly sacred," Richard Laska, a local opponent of a proposed wind energy project, told Laurence Hammack of The Roanoke Times. (Times photo by Sam Dean)Ground was broken for a row of 19 wind turbines, 400 feet tall, on a ridge overlooking the battlefield last month. The project is the first of its kind in Virginia and would create enough electricity to power 15,000 homes, Hammack reports. Developers behind the project, Highland New Wind Energy, have called themselves "trailblazers" in the quest to bring alternative energy to Virginia. "Opponents say the trail being blazed will destroy the county's natural beauty," Hammack writes. Camp Allegheny, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was the highest military encampment above sea level during the Civil War, and the battle saw 300 soldiers die, including many who are buried near the battlefield.
"In a complaint filed with the State Corporation Commission, the Virginia Department of Historic Resources is arguing that the wind-farm project will be detrimental to Camp Allegheny," Hammack reports. While no turbines will actually be constructed on the battlefield, opponents say having them within eyesight "will likely have a negative impact." (Read more)
The Pocahontas Times of Marlinton, W.Va., ran this photo illustration by Laska, showing the height of the turbine towers on the ridgeline as viewed from the battlefield, which lies in West Virginia. Official maps show one of the turbines would be in West Virginia, but a survey for the developers put it 40 feet into Virginia, limting regulation to one state. Pam Pritt of the Times reports that opponent Dawn Baldwin Barrett told the Pocahontas County Commission, “So far, Highland New Wind has skillfully avoided federal oversight of their project. Loopholes in the Virginia state regulatory process have allowed a project to go forward which is, quite simply, located in the wrong place.” (Read more)A commisison has been named to verify the border, reports Anne Adams of The Recorder in Monterey, Va., which has covered the project most extensively because it lies in its home Highland County, but the weekly paper doesn't post full versions of its stories for non-subscribers until three weeks have passed. Its free archive is here. Its home page is here.
Cause of huge fish kill in W.Va. and Pa. unknown; gas-drilling chemicals, coal mine are suspected
UPDATE, Sept. 28: Ken Ward Jr. of The Charleston Gazette has a comprehensive look at the sitiation. UPDATE, Sept. 24: West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Randy Huffman blames the fish kill on an algae bloom, set up by temperature, sunlight and drainage from the mine mentioned below. Also, "One possible culprit is a new borehole on the Pennsylvania side that’s injecting polluted water into the mine void," Erica Peterson and Scott Finn report for West Virginia Public Broadcasting.
Dunkard Creek, a 38-mile stream that forms in Monongalia County, West Virginia and flows into the Monongahela River in Greene County, Pennsylvania, may be home to the largest fish kill in West Virginia more than two decades, and no one seems to know what caused it. The creek has seen "161 species of fish, mussels, salamanders, crayfish and aquatic insects killed by mysterious pollutants coming from sources state and federal agencies have yet to pinpoint despite aggressive field work," Don Hopey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.
"We've just been decimated down here. Everything is being killed almost from the headwaters of the creek to where it flows into the Monongahela River," Betty Wiley, president of the Dunkard Creek Watershed Association, told Hopey. Environmental agencies are treating the creek as a crime scene. Initial speculation as to the cause of the pollution centered on Consol Energy's Blacksville No. 2 mine, but dead fish have been found recently upstream from the mine and chemical analysis of the water reveals chemicals used in drilling deep natural-gas wells into the Marcellus Shale. State agencies are investigating the possibility that someone is illegally dumping drilling water into the creek, Hopey reports, adding the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection doesn't allow water- or sewage-treatment facilities in the state to accept or discharge Marcellus wastewater.
Regardless of the cause, the devastation along the creek in undeniable. Hopey quotes Paul Ziemkiewicz, director of the National Research Center for Coal and Energy's Water Research Institute at West Virginia University: "This is the worst fish kill I've experienced in 21 years in West Virginia." (Read more)
Dunkard Creek, a 38-mile stream that forms in Monongalia County, West Virginia and flows into the Monongahela River in Greene County, Pennsylvania, may be home to the largest fish kill in West Virginia more than two decades, and no one seems to know what caused it. The creek has seen "161 species of fish, mussels, salamanders, crayfish and aquatic insects killed by mysterious pollutants coming from sources state and federal agencies have yet to pinpoint despite aggressive field work," Don Hopey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.
"We've just been decimated down here. Everything is being killed almost from the headwaters of the creek to where it flows into the Monongahela River," Betty Wiley, president of the Dunkard Creek Watershed Association, told Hopey. Environmental agencies are treating the creek as a crime scene. Initial speculation as to the cause of the pollution centered on Consol Energy's Blacksville No. 2 mine, but dead fish have been found recently upstream from the mine and chemical analysis of the water reveals chemicals used in drilling deep natural-gas wells into the Marcellus Shale. State agencies are investigating the possibility that someone is illegally dumping drilling water into the creek, Hopey reports, adding the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection doesn't allow water- or sewage-treatment facilities in the state to accept or discharge Marcellus wastewater.
Regardless of the cause, the devastation along the creek in undeniable. Hopey quotes Paul Ziemkiewicz, director of the National Research Center for Coal and Energy's Water Research Institute at West Virginia University: "This is the worst fish kill I've experienced in 21 years in West Virginia." (Read more)
Miss. reporter earns prestigious McArthur grant, will keep trying to solve crimes of civil-rights era
Jerry Mitchell, investigative reporter for The Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, has been awarded a prestigious McArthur Fellowship. Mitchell, who has spent two decades solving crimes of the civil-rights era in Mississippi, will receive a five-year, $500,000 grant funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. "The purpose of the program is to promote creativity across a great range of fields in the interest of improving the human condition," foundation president Bob Gallucci told Chris Joyner of The Clarion-Ledger. Mitchell, 50, plans to use the grant to continue his pursuit of crimes that remain unsolved and to finish a book. He may take temporary breaks from The Clarion-Ledger to work on the project, but will continue to publish his findings in the Gannett Co. Inc. newspaper.
"I speak for the entire Clarion-Ledger family when I say that Jerry's latest honor solidifies his position as one of the nation's top journalists," Larry K. Whitaker, The Clarion-Ledger's president and publisher, told Joyner. According to the foundation's Web site, the three criteria for the fellowship are exceptional creativity, promise for important future advances based on a track record of significant accomplishment, and potential for the fellowship to facilitate subsequent creative work. (Read more) For the foundation's bio of Mitchell, click here.
UPDATE, Sept. 29: Richard Perez-Pena of The New York Times has a short but nice profile.
Wyo. coal plant would be first at commercial scale to capture and sequester carbon dioxide
Three energy companies have filed an application for funding from the Department of Energy for the country's first commercial-scale coal-fired power plant that would capture and sequester carbon dioxide, preventing its escape to the atmosphere, where it is the main greenhouse gas.
The plant in Campbell County, Wyoming, proposed by Black Hills Corp., Babock & Wilcox, and Air Liquide Engineering, would use oxy-coal combustion, which burns coal in a regulated oxygen environment instead of normal air, Dustin Bleizeffer of the Casper Star-Tribune reports. The process results in near-zero sulfur dioxide emissions and a more pure stream of carbon dioxide.
"It will be capable of capturing and storing approximately 1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide a year, which is greater than 90 percent of the proposed plant's total carbon dioxide emissions," B&W says on its Web site. Rob Hurless, telecommunications and energy adviser to Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal, told the Wyoming legislature's Joint Minerals, Business and Economic Development Committee that the process could be used to retrofit existing coal plants.
The project is among dozens seeking funding from DOE programs like the Clean Coal Power Initiative, which received $800 million from the stimulus act, Bleizeffer reports. Energy Secretary Steven Chu "has been serious about moving money," Hurless told Bleizeffer. "The Department of Energy had a reputation of sitting on money. Recently, these things have been moving fairly quickly." (Read more)
The debate over whether the state or federal government should assume long-term liability for any carbon-sequestration projects is delaying progress on the plant, Bleizeffer reported Monday. "There's a total lack of any kind of integrated plan among all the states in the West" on the long-term liability question, Joint Minerals Committee Co-Chairman Sen. Grant Larson told Bleizeffer. Wyoming officials want to claim sovereign immunity from liability in the event of a carbon leak or earthquake and say that the federal government should assume that responsibility. (Read more)
The plant in Campbell County, Wyoming, proposed by Black Hills Corp., Babock & Wilcox, and Air Liquide Engineering, would use oxy-coal combustion, which burns coal in a regulated oxygen environment instead of normal air, Dustin Bleizeffer of the Casper Star-Tribune reports. The process results in near-zero sulfur dioxide emissions and a more pure stream of carbon dioxide.
"It will be capable of capturing and storing approximately 1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide a year, which is greater than 90 percent of the proposed plant's total carbon dioxide emissions," B&W says on its Web site. Rob Hurless, telecommunications and energy adviser to Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal, told the Wyoming legislature's Joint Minerals, Business and Economic Development Committee that the process could be used to retrofit existing coal plants.
The project is among dozens seeking funding from DOE programs like the Clean Coal Power Initiative, which received $800 million from the stimulus act, Bleizeffer reports. Energy Secretary Steven Chu "has been serious about moving money," Hurless told Bleizeffer. "The Department of Energy had a reputation of sitting on money. Recently, these things have been moving fairly quickly." (Read more)
The debate over whether the state or federal government should assume long-term liability for any carbon-sequestration projects is delaying progress on the plant, Bleizeffer reported Monday. "There's a total lack of any kind of integrated plan among all the states in the West" on the long-term liability question, Joint Minerals Committee Co-Chairman Sen. Grant Larson told Bleizeffer. Wyoming officials want to claim sovereign immunity from liability in the event of a carbon leak or earthquake and say that the federal government should assume that responsibility. (Read more)
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