Propane crisis worsens; prices more than double

The crisis in propane, primarily a rural fuel, is hitting people in their pocketbooks. Shortages have driven up prices to levels never seen before. “Five dollars and 11 cents a gallon I had to pay for it,” body-shop owner and Mayor Larry Atcher of Laurel, Iowa, population 240, told Dar Danielson of Radio Iowa. “I was sick to my stomach. You know?” In December, the price was $1.94.

Atcher said he has his home thermostat set at 55, and is using electric heaters, but worries about others: “I would think some elderly people and low-income families are the ones it’s going to hurt the worst, because if you get caught without propane and can’t afford it, what do you do? Do you buy propane or do you buy food?” (Read more)

"The effects of the crisis will reach beyond homes and farms to local businesses, churches and schools . . . in the middle of the nation," Missouri's Nodaway News Leader reports, citing data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration: "Between September and October of 2013, exports of propane from the United States rose by 73,000 barrels a day. That level of exports so close to winter almost guaranteed a domestic shortage. The Missouri Propane Gas Association also noted a pipeline, which provide much of the Midwest supplies, was shut down for repairs while a new pipeline moved propane from the central part of the country to new export terminals on the Gulf Coast. Over 6 million people in the center of the country use propane to heat their homes. Because extremely cold temperatures remain in the forecast in the coming weeks, the situation could get worse." (Read more)

Federal fines for rail disasters are often small

Concern keeps growing about the safety of carrying crude oil by rail. After more oil was spilled in 2013 than in the previous 37 years, the National Transportation Safety Board recommended tougher standards for oil tank cars, and the Association of American Railroads urged manufacturers to replace older cars that carry flammable materials. But federal documents show that the Department of Transportation levis relatively small civil penalties against the railroads it regulates, Curtis Tate reports for McClatchy Newspapers. (McClatchy graphic)

"A McClatchy review of annual enforcement reports shows that the Federal Railroad Administration rarely fines any company more than $25,000, though it’s authorized to collect a maximum of $175,000 per violation," Tate writes. "Some fines are as little as $250, and most settlements are substantially lower than the agency had first proposed." The FRA collected $13.9 million in civil penalties last year.

History shows that penalties are riddled with inconsistencies, Tate writes. For example, in a 2010  derailment in Illinois that spilled more than 300,000 gallons of ethanol, forced the evacuation of 600 residents and killed one person, the agency agreed to a $17,000 settlement, because "two inspection reports filed in the weeks after the accident also show that the violations that resulted in the fine didn’t directly contribute to the accident or its severity, including faulty equipment on cars that didn’t derail or spill their cargo and incorrect documentation of the placement of cars in the train," Tate reports. "Such defects would have been violations even if the accident hadn’t occurred. The agency originally proposed a $25,000 fine." But in a 2011 incident when a woman died in her car at a railroad crossing, the agency got a $36 million settlement from Canadian National Railway.

FRA spokesman Kevin Thompson told Tate the agency, “uses a variety of tools to ensure that railroads are operating safely, including civil penalties, enforcement actions and partnerships to drive change within safety culture. These tools are an integral force in driving continuous safety improvement, resulting in significant declines in all measureable safety indicators.” (Read more)

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/01/30/216464/federal-rail-agency-collects-minimal.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/01/30/216464/federal-rail-agency-collects-minimal.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/01/30/216464/federal-rail-agency-collects-minimal.html#storylink=cpy

Postal reform vote delayed pending measures to control rate hikes and allow guns in post offices

Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis.

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Wednesday delayed a vote on legislation to overhaul the U.S. Postal Service after members said they needed more time to study a pair of amendments: one on how rate increases are determined, the other allowing citizens to carry guns into post offices, Lisa Rein reports for The Washington Post.

If passed, the bill "would allow the Postal Service to drop Saturday mail delivery, but only after mail volume drops below 140 billion pieces of mail annually. The agency would be able to ship alcohol and enter other lines of business that are currently prohibited." The service wants to continue Saturday delivery of packages, on which it makes money.

An amendment from Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), "backed by the powerful mailing industry to strike a plan allowing higher postal rates, appeared to be gaining support," Rein writes. The amendment is in response to language by committee chairman Tom Carper (D-Del.) and its ranking Republican member, Sen. Tom Coburn (Okla.), that would allow the Postal Service to set its own prices beginning in 2017, Eric Katz reports for Government Executive.

"The Postal Service recently won a surcharge on that rate from regulators, who allowed a 3-cent jump in the price of first-class letters and other mail that took effect Monday," Rein writes. "The surcharge would last two years, raising $2.8 billion to help the Postal Service recoup revenue it lost during the recession." But Carper and Coburn "agreed to language that would allow that increase to be permanent and raise the annual price cap from inflation to inflation plus 1 percent. The Postal Service’s governing board also would have some authority to override rulings by regulators on rate increases."

Baldwin said the plan would give the Postal Service too much power: “No public or quasi-public entity, especially one with monopoly power, should have near-absolute control in setting its own prices. It’s wrong.” But Coburn said the amendment "would effectively kill the bill by leaving the mail agency in the red."

The sponsor of the other amendment, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), said his amendment "would allow licensed gun owners to carry weapons inside post offices, rather than having to un-holster them and keep them in the car." Guns are banned in federal buildings. (Read more)

Farm Bill includes new program to help food stamp recipients eat healthier at farmers' markets

Even though the Farm Bill cuts an estimated $800 million a year from food stamps, officially the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, it includes an initiative to help low-income families eat healthier while doubling their food stamp benefits through farmers' markets, Tim Carman reports for The Washington Post. While final details for the Food Insecurity Nutrition Incentive program are incomplete, proponents say the $100 million program "could help hungry families and also address the country’s obesity crisis" by "matching funds to farmers markets, up to $20 million annually for five years, to incentivize SNAP recipients to buy more fresh fruits and vegetables with their benefits."

“This program helps families buy healthy food from their local farmers markets, which also helps family farmers and boosts the economy,” Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), the Senate's chief writer of the bill as Agriculture Committee chair.

Similar local and state programs are already in place, and are credited with helping low-income families eat healthier, Carman reports. "Many of the state and local programs work the same: Foundations and other organizations raise money to supplement SNAP purchases at a farmers market or similar venue where local fruits and vegetables are sold. The participating market then will double the SNAP benefits up to a certain dollar amount, usually $10 or $20."

Oran Hesterman, president and chief executive officer of Fair Food Network, a Michigan nonprofit, told Carman that because of that state's program, 95 percent of food stamp users say they increased the amount of fruits and vegetables in their diet, and 90 percent said they decreased the amount of junk food the purchase. "Hesterman said that while the current allocation is only $100 million, the number could increase with the next farm bill in five years, if the program proves successful," Carman writes. "If it increased to 1 percent of the SNAP budget, for example, it would be about $800 million to spend annually on an incentive program at farmers markets, he said." Hesterman told him, “That would be a game changer." (Read more)

EPA to finalize coal ash disposal rules by Dec. 19

The Environmental Protection Agency has finally announced when it will finalize rules for coal-ash disposal: Dec. 19. The agency has repeatedly put off setting a deadline; a federal judge's ruling that the EPA announce a deadline was extended from Dec. 29, 2013 until this past Wednesday.

EPA is considering two basic options, notes Romando Dixon for the Citizen-Times in Asheville, N.C.: " In one option, the EPA would list coal ash as special waste subject to regulation when destined for disposal in landfills or surface impoundments. In the second option, the agency would regulate coal ash under the section for non-hazardous wastes." (Read more)

The dangers of coal ash, which contains metals that can be toxic in high doses, became national news more than five years ago when "a dike rupture at a Tennessee Valley Authority power plant spilled more than 1 billion gallons of ash slurry in 2008, covering 300 acres and flowing into two rivers," notes Bruce Henderson of the Charlotte Observer. When EPA dithered, several groups sued it. Matt Wasson of Appalachian Voices told Henderson, “It’s absolutely historic that we’re finally going to have a resolution of this. This has been going on not just since the spill in 2008, but well before that.” (Read more)

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2014/01/30/4651914/epa-agrees-to-issue-coal-ash-rules.html#storylink=cpy

Those in Ky. with enough info on how Obamacare affects them support it; those who lack info don't

Kentucky Health News: Obamacare in Kentucky

Severe drought in California draining water supply for 17 rural communities

UPDATE, Feb. 3: State officials announced Friday they were cutting off the water supply to 25 million residents and about 750,000 acres of farmland, Ian Lovett reports for The New York Times. "With no end in sight for the dry spell and reservoirs at historic lows, Mark Cowin, director of the California Department of Water Resources, said his agency needed to preserve what little water remained so it could be used “as wisely as possible.” (Read more)

Severe drought in California could drain the water supply from 17 rural communities within 60 to 120 days, and more communities could be in danger of running out of water if conditions continue, Paul Rogers reports for the San Jose Mercury News. Last year California had its lowest rainfall in state history, and state officials said some wells are running dry, while some reservoirs are nearly empty. Wells for the 17 communities serve between 39 to 11,000 residents. (Bay Area News Group graphic)

"Most of the affected water districts have so few customers that they can't charge enough money to pay for backup water supplies or repair failing equipment, leaving them more vulnerable to drought than large urban areas," Rogers writes. Bill Croyle, director of the state Drought Task Force, told Rogers, "This is a statewide drought. This is a serious drought. It's all hands on deck."

"State health officials are in discussion with leaders of other agencies, including the state Office of Emergency Services and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, to work on immediate solutions," Rogers writes. "Those could include everything from trucking in water to the health department providing emergency funds for drilling new wells or connecting faltering systems to other water systems." (Read more)

Montana exchange program gives rural and urban students an insight into each others' lives

High school students in rural and urban Montana are getting an inside look at how the other half lives through a program that allows students from one area to visit the other area and be chaperoned around by their peers. Most recently, the program paired up students from Forsyth High School, with a student population of 112, with students from Skyview High School in Billings, Rob Rogers reports for the Billings Gazette. With an enrollment of 1,600, Skyview has almost as many students as the entire population of Forsyth, which has 1,900 residents.

The program, through the nonprofit OneMontana and its Rural-Urban Student Entrepreneur Exchange program, began last year, Rogers writes. As part of the program, students are given a tour of the other group's town, visit local businesses, attend classes at the other school and put together a business project that will be showcased in April when students from the two schools are reunited.

"Students saw first hand the differences between a rural and an urban community, which is what the teachers wanted the students to see," Rogers writes. Kim Knoche, a teacher at Forsyth, told Rogers, "They always think the grass is greener, you know. It's a real-world view." Another hope is that students from different backgrounds will form a bond. Knoche told Rogers, "I was hoping they'd get a chance to make some friends. And they connected right off." (Read more) (Facebook photo: Forsyth students getting a view of Billings)

Working-class children in largely rural states are not getting better paying jobs than their parents

Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska and Texas have done the best job ensuring that children born to working-class families do better than their parents, while Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Mississippi and Virginia have done the worst job, Jim Tankersley reports for The Washington Post.

A Harvard-led study "suggests that any advances in opportunity provided by expanded social programs have been offset by other changes in economic conditions. Increased trade and advanced technology, for instance, have closed off traditional sources of middle-income jobs," Tankersley writes. "The findings also suggest that who your parents are and how much they earn is more consequential for American youths today than ever before. That’s because the difference between the bottom and the top of the economic ladder has grown much more stark, but climbing the ladder hasn’t gotten any easier."

Lawrence F. Katz, a Harvard economist and one of the study's authors, said the paper suggests that “it is not true that mobility itself is getting lower,” Tankersley writes. Katz told him, “What’s really changed is the consequences of it. Because there’s so much inequality, people born near the bottom tend to stay near the bottom, and that’s much more consequential than it was 50 years ago.” (Read more) (Post map) (To view an interactive map click here.)

Farm Bill winners, losers, and plenty of opinions

Now that the Farm Bill has passed the House and is expected to pass the Senate and be signed into law by President Obama, here's a look at some of the stories being written about the bill.

Dairy farmers welcome the bill's subsidy overhaul, reports M.L Johnson for The Associated Press. "Farmers expressed relief this week that a long fight over federal dairy subsidies had ended with an overhaul that most thought would be fair and effective in keeping farms from going under during hard times." (Read more)

One provision, "tucked into page 735 of the 949-page farm bill, could make it more difficult for gasoline blended with higher concentrations of ethanol to find its way to rural areas, where demand for the fuel is greatest," Cezary Podkul reports for Reuters. "That, in turn, could make it more difficult for the United States to implement a program known as the renewable fuel standard, or RFS, which mandates increasing amounts of biofuels like corn-based ethanol be blended into the nation's fuel supply." (Read more)

"Soybean and catfish farmers, dairy food manufacturers, U.S. cattlemen and the organic food industry all counted themselves among the big winners," Bill Tomson and Tarini Parti report for Politico. "Much less pleased are meat processors, champions of the food stamp program and Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa)," who sponsored an amendment "that would have prohibited states from regulating other states’ means of agricultural production." (Read more)

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or food stamps, took a major hit, with $8 billion in cuts, Alan Bjera reports for Bloomberg. "The bill would cut food-stamp spending by $8.6 billion over 10 years, though additions to other programs bring nutrition-aid cuts down to $8 billion—one-fifth of the $40 billion sought by Republicans and fought by Democrats and food retailers." (Read more)

Passage of the farm bill is a huge victory for House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas (R-Okla.), "who was whipsawed by his own party throughout much of 2013 over the costs of the bill and demands for more spending cuts," writes Chris Clayton for DTN The Progressive Farmer. "Nonetheless, he was able to successfully navigate a compromise bill through the chamber." (Read more)

Katie Valentine, of Think Progress, takes a look at what the bill means for energy and the environment, writing that it "has been heralded as a win for conservationists, but it’s got some pitfalls, too." (Read more)

President Obama should veto the bill, opines The Washington Post. "We hope Mr. Obama will pick up the phone, call Congress—and tell them he’s preparing his veto pen for the 2014 farm bill. It is only a slight exaggeration to say that this legislative grotesquerie gives to the rich and takes from the poor." (Read more)

The bill "makes some of the most significant reforms to wasteful agriculture subsidies in many years, and it contains dozens of important provisions designed to increase employment in rural areas and save lives with farsighted crop research," reports The New York Times. "It preserves some important environmental protections, while cutting others. And though its food-stamp provisions were saved from being much worse, they will still reduce benefits for too many poor people. On balance, the bill is clearly worthy of support, particularly because it will prevent austerity fanatics in future Congresses from gutting food stamps for the next five years." (Read more)

Backers of the farm bill "are patting themselves on the back for saving billions by eliminating a huge wasteful farm subsidy program. Don't believe the hype," Michael Hiltzik writes for The Economy Hub. "The conservative American Enterprise Institute says the measure could cost taxpayers $15 billion more per year than do existing crop programs, much of it going to the wealthiest farmers and the crop insurance industry." (Read more)

Farm Policy has a copy of the farm bill debate transcript, which can be accessed by clicking here.

Hidden among one of the nation's richest counties is a growing population of poor rural families

Chester County, Pa., is a haven for the rich and the Amish but is seeing a new, alarming trend—a rise in rural poverty and families going hungry in Honey Brook Township, Alfred Lubrano reports for the Philadelphia Inquirer. The growing problem led to the opening this week of something not normally seen in these parts, a food pantry.

"Route 322 runs 494 miles from Cleveland to Atlantic City, crossing the Appalachian Mountains in Western Pennsylvania," Lubrano writes. "Although Route 322 traverses Chester County, one of the richest counties in the United States, it remains a hunger highway, thick with the traffic of Honey Brook residents seeking food."  The county poverty rate has risen from 4.5 percent in 2000 to 7.4 percent in 2012, but in Honey Brook the poverty rate is 11 percent, and a third of public school children are considered low-income, with 40 percent of families earning less than $50,000 annually. Only 7,000 people live in Honey Brooke, but 1,700 of them live within one square mile.

Dawn Schell, a former teacher who runs an outreach center to help the poor of Honey Brook, told Lubrano, "People are stuck. Lack of food is a huge thing. More and more families here are needing help. But they're sort of giving up hope. We want this pantry to restore it."

Peggy Magnuson, whose husband is a seasonal landscaper, is a former house cleaner and a stay-at-home mother of five children under 17. Their family lives in a trailer that costs $1,000 a month. She told Lubrano, "The children eat like you can't believe, and sometimes I have to say, 'Look, we need to cut down. There's just not enough.'" (Read more)

Farm Bill compromise passes House by 251-166 vote; Senate is expected to pass it

"The House approved the five-year Farm Bill today, with a 251-166 vote, sending the nearly $1 trillion agricultural policy package to the Senate," Derrick Cain reports for Agri-Pulse, a Washington newsletter. "The bill would eliminate direct payments in favor of enhanced crop insurance, revise commodity supports, create a new dairy program and make several other changes to agricultural policy, including an approximate $8 billion cut to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program," better known as food stamps.

Rep. Frank Lucas

The Senate is expected to approve the legislation—possibly as early as next week—and President Obama to sign it into law, Cain writes. House Agriculture Committee Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) said, "It may not have everything my friends on the right may and it may not have everything my friends on the left may want. But, it's a compromise.”

"The Congressional Budget Office released a score for the bill Tuesday estimating that direct spending for authorized programs would total $956 billion over 10 years, of which $756 billion would be for nutrition programsm," Cain writes. "Relative to spending and revenues projected under CBO's May 2013 baseline, CBO said it estimates that enacting the legislation would lower budget deficits by $16.6 billion and increase revenues by $100 million over 10 years. This came in below the $23 billion in possible savings being touted by bill supporters, but they noted that the Farm Bill baseline had already been reduced by $6.6 billion" through budget sequesters. (Read more)

The bill includes "a new revenue insurance subsidy that would pay farmers in the event of 'shallow losses' or revenue losses incurred before their paid crop insurance kicks in. That program might kick in sooner than previously thought as some crop prices have dropped in recent months," The Associated Press reports. Also, "a separate subsidy program would trigger payments when crop prices drop. This is similar to current subsidies, though the new programs would kick in sooner, especially for cotton and rice, the crops that depend the most on the direct payments that would be phased out. Producers would have to choose between these subsidies or the revenue insurance." (Read more)

Farm Bill ends 'direct payments' and sets limits, but not what reformers wanted

The five-year Farm Bill, which passed the House Wednesday by a vote of 251-166, and now heads to the Senate, ends direct payments to farmers, whether they farm or not, that cost around $4.5 billion a year, reports The Associated Press. However, "Reformers came away frustrated by the bill’s failure to rein in crop insurance subsidies and impose a more meaningful cap on what any single farm can receive in government aid," David Rogers reports for Politico.

The bill includes "stricter limits on how much money an individual farmer can receive—$125,000 annually on all payments and loans, when some were previously unrestricted," the AP reports. "The agreement is less strict than either the House or Senate bills, which had put limits on how much a farmer could receive from individual programs. Language that would limit how many people in a farm operation may receive such payments was also passed by both chambers but taken out of the compromise bill, which would kick the issue to the Agriculture Department."

The bill also includes "a new revenue insurance subsidy that would pay farmers in the event of 'shallow losses' or revenue losses incurred before their paid crop insurance kicks in. That program might kick in sooner than previously thought as some crop prices have dropped in recent months," AP reports. Also, "a separate subsidy program would trigger payments when crop prices drop. This is similar to current subsidies, though the new programs would kick in sooner, especially for cotton and rice, the crops that depend the most on the direct payments that would be phased out. Producers would have to choose between these subsidies or the revenue insurance." (Read more)

Farm Bill revives payments in lieu of taxes, a boon to rural counties, especially in the West

The final Farm Bill, which passed the House Wednesday on a 251-166 vote, includes more than $400 million for the recently expired payments in lieu of taxes (PILT) program, which "are meant to compensate local governments for services they provide on federal lands, which are not subject to local property taxes," reports the Daily Yonder. PILT divides "$425 million among some 1,850 counties in 49 states."

PILTs are especially popular in rural areas in the West, where most federal land is located. In 2013, New Mexico received $34.7 million, and areas like San Juan County—with a population of 128,000 in the northwestern part of the state—received $2 million, or 6 percent "of the county's $34 million general fund that year," Ryan Boetel reports for The Daily Times in Farmington.

Payments to other Western states, according to the U.S. Department of the Interior, were: California, $38 million; Utah, $34 million; Arizona, $31 million; Colorado, $27 million; Alaska, $25 million; Idaho, $25 million; Wyoming, $25 million; Montana, $24 million; Nevada, $22 million; Oregon, $13 million; and Washington, $13 million. No other state received more than $5 million.

Mike Murray, a county commissioner from Lewis and Clark County, Montana, and chair of the National Association of Counties Public Lands Steering Committee, told the Yonder, “We are most pleased that the federal government will once again renew its obligation to America’s counties which are unable to collect property taxes from the nation’s 606 million-acre estate yet are responsible to provide services on these lands." (Read more)

PILTs have been around for about 35 years but were only recently added to the Farm Bill by House Republicans as a way to help save the bill. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) "promised to help after PILT found itself left out of the omnibus spending bill enacted earlier this month," David Rogers reports for Politico. "And it could prove a bit of fortunate log rolling by Lucas since many of the same Western Republicans who wanted the PILT money are also allies of the cattle and beef lobby," which opposed the final version of the bill because it made no substantive changes to the law requiring meat to be labeled with its country of origin. (Read more)

Rural schools in Iowa form lobbying group

Concerned that state lawmakers aren't supporting rural schools as much as urban ones, rural school leaders in Iowa have formed a new group to give them a stronger voice in the statehouse, Jill Kasparie reports for KCRG News in Cedar Rapids. The Rural School Advocates of Iowa are "pushing for legislative support that strengthens rural education."

Springville School Board President Lee Ann Grimley told Kasparie, "Our purpose is to speak up for children in rural school districts, to make sure they get a fair, quality and equal education." Springville Community Schools Supt. Brian Ney said, "I'm hoping we can get a true understanding of legislators that just because we are small doesn't mean we are an inferior school—not at all. We want enough money to fund the school is what we want to do." One of the group's main concerns is transportation costs because buses have to travel longer distances than urban schools to pick-up and drop-off students. Other concerns are operational sharing costs and flexibility in funds districts operate, Kasparie reporyts. (Read more)

Funds are often determined by enrollment size, and leftover funds from one account sometimes can't be used in another account, Audrey Ingram reports for the Daily Times Herald in Carroll. Those concerns led representatives from more than 40 districts with school enrollments under 1,250 to meet earlier this month to establish the group. Coon Rapids-Bayard Schools Board President Joel Davis said, "By the end of 2014, 24 fewer school districts will exist in rural Iowa than were present in 2008. In that same time span, the percentage of students in poverty has increased from 33 to 42, but the funding to address the needs of those at-risk students has declined by 5 percent in rural schools."

Davis said the group "would take a 'tuning fork' approach—one tine will focus on helping local school boards network and build personal relationships with their legislative representatives, while the other tine funnels membership dues into hiring a professional lobbyist to reinforce the local message," Ingram writes. (Read more)

Arizona program requires health-care students to spend at least 4 weeks with rural providers

Most states have struggled to attract recent graduates to take medical positions in rural areas. Incentive programs that pay or forgive some or all of school-loan debt haven't done the trick, as recent grads continue to prefer urban areas. Arizona is trying to change that by requiring all health care students at the University of Arizona, Arizona State University and Northern Arizona State University to get rural experience, Rachel Leingang reports for Cronkite News at ASU. (University of Arizona photo: Students on rotation in the program)

Each year, as part of the Rural Health Professions Program, students in medicine, pharmacy, nursing, public health and other health care fields at the three schools "spend at least four weeks following rural health professionals and receive additional seminars and mentorship, culminating in a 24-week clinical experience for pharmacy and medical students toward the end of their studies," Leingang writes. "After completing the program, participants can receive a notion of 'Distinction Track in Rural Health' on their transcripts." Last year 870 students participated in the program.

Dr. Jonathan Cartsonis, who heads the University of Arizona program, in which 152 students participated last year, "said the goal is getting more health professionals to work in rural parts of the state," Leingang writes. Cartsonis told her, “We believe once they have a taste of it, they’ll be excited to practice in a rural area. When you’re practicing in a rural setting, you feel like you’re using all the skills you learned in medical school; they’re required on a daily basis.”

Sandy Haryasz, CEO of Page Hospital in northern Arizona, "said the challenges in rural practices often come down to lifestyle," Leingang writes. Haryasz told her, “It gives them an opportunity to see if small-town living is what they need or want—to see if they want to come back to a rural area. It gives them a good flavor of the differences between rural and metropolitan.” (Read more)

Feb. 18 symposium in Philly to focus on natural-gas drilling's effects on environment, public health

The Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology and the Center for Public Health Initiatives are hosting a free symposium Feb. 18 on the “Impact of Unconventional Natural Gas Drilling Operations on the Environment and Public Health.” Registration is required for the event, which will take place at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. The registration deadline is Feb. 10.

The symposium hopes to "engage many different stakeholders concerning hydraulic fracturing and educate participants on the process and effects on the environment and public health," according to the Perelman School of Medicine at Penn. "The symposium will also profile ongoing research on this topic. The day will end with a session on citizens’ concerns with a panel discussion." For more information or to register click here. For the event's full agenda click here.

Workshop on covering local elections to be videostreamed live starting at 5 p.m. CT Thursday

It's a big election year in most of the country, from the U.S. Senate to local school boards, and it's time for news outlets to start planning their coverage. You can get some ideas online Thursday evening through noon Saturday by watching live videostreaming of the "Down-home Democracy: Empowering Citizens With Outstanding Coverage of Local Elections" workshop from the Reynolds Journalism Institute at the Missouri School of Journalism.

The workshop starts at 5 p.m. CT Thursday with a presentation about the importance of political coverage from Jim Pumarlo, author of Votes and Quotes: A Guide to Outstanding Election Campaign Coverage. The Friday program runs from 8:30 to 5:30 CT and includes Mark Horvit, executive director of Investigative Reporters and Editors; Hank Waters, publisher emeritus of the Columbia Daily Tribune; and Al Cross, director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues (publisher of The Rural Blog) and former political writer for The Courier-Journal in Louisville. For the full schedule, click here. For the videostream, click here.

Farm Bill waters down limits on subsidy payments

Sen. Charles Grassley
smiles but he's not happy

While lawmakers came to an agreement Monday on a final Farm Bill, not everyone is happy with the outcome, especially Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and the meat industry. Even though meat industry groups have said they will fight the bill because it doesn't change country-of-origin labeling, it is expected to pass the House by Wednesday evening.

"Reformers are furious that the final agreement waters down their efforts to rein in the growth of large farms by imposing limits on what each operation can receive" from the new crop-insurance programs, Agriculture Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage, reports David Rogers of Politico. Grassley, a strong supporter of direct payments, which are being eliminated, said “This is an example of why Congress has a 12 percent approval rating." (Read more)

Grassley criticized the bill "after his payment-limit provisions were basically scrapped," Chris Clayton writes for DTN/The Progressive Farmer. "The House and Senate had passed bills with $50,000 payment caps for ARC and PLC but those were changed in conference. The bill instead would have a $125,000 payment cap applying to PLC, ARC, marketing-loan gains and loan-deficiency payments. That amount doubles to $250,000 for married couples."

Grassley said: “It appears the payment limit and actively engaged reforms, which Congress overwhelming approved, have been watered down to the point they will likely have little to no effect. It’s bad for agriculture, it’s bad for taxpayers who are worried about the debt, it’s bad for our credibility with trading partners, and it’s bad for the future of farm programs." (Read more)

If Farm Bill passes, 11 states can grow industrial hemp in pilot and research projects

Industrial hemp made its way into the final Farm Bill, with the pending legislation allowing colleges, universities or "state departments of agriculture to cultivate industrial hemp in agricultural pilot programs in states that already permit the growth and cultivation of industrial hemp," U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said in a press release. Eleven states -- Colorado, Hawaii, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, Vermont, Washington and West Virginia -- have such laws. 

McConnell

McConnell took primary credit for the provision, citing his role as Republican leader of the Senate. He said it could help state economies "by exploring innovative ways to use hemp to benefit a variety of Kentucky industries, while avoiding negative impact to Kentucky law enforcement’s efforts at marijuana interdiction, the pilot programs authorized by this legislation could help boost our state’s economy."

Ed O'Keefe reports for The Washington Post, "Aides noted that the new hemp-themed provisions are among hundreds of policy and spending details buried in the legislation, but the decision is likely to contribute to a growing national debate about the legalization of marijuana both for medicinal and recreational purposes."

McConnell's release said, "The legislation carved out industrial hemp from the federal Controlled Substances Act, which currently does not distinguish industrial hemp from marijuana. Industrial hemp lacks the high quantities of the active ingredient THC found in the abuse-prone marijuana." Colorado has already released hemp regulations, and had a legal hemp crop. Kentucky had been planning a spring crop, even as state officials debated its legality. The bill defines industrial hemp as that containing less than 0.3 percent delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol by dry weight. (Hemp for You graphic)