Martha Bode Mullenix, owner of Texan Express, dies after 32 years at helm of rural paper

Mullenix didn't like pictures of herself, and
asked that the graphic display at her funeral
be the first edition of her newspaper.

Martha Bode Mullenix, owner of The Texan Express in Goliad since 1983, died on April 16 at the age of 75. "In almost three decades of running the news operation, she became a revered community figure for her ethics, involvement in the community and later in local politics," Jonathan Silver reports for the Victoria Advocate.

Mullenix's daughter and co-worker, Sandra Mullenix Ross, said her mother's attitude was "If it wasn't good for Goliad, it wasn't good for her," Silver writes. Goliad has about 2,000 people, and Mullenix kept the newspaper a family business that reported on what mattered most to the community. Ross told Silver, "When it came to business, if someone couldn't pay for a service, she would give them time or just say OK. Politicians, on the other hand, weren't so lucky. Politicians did not get a break."

Steve Paulsgrove, an attorney and former Goliad County judge, said "their interactions weren't always rosy, but they were respectful," Silver writes. He told Silver, "She was always professional in times when she had a difference of opinion with me. She was able to do fair reporting." (Read more)

Rural Iowa students taking AP classes online; N.D. students push lawmakers for more AP access

A study released earlier this year by the Carsey School of Public Policy at the University of New Hampshire found that 47.2 percent of rural districts have no students in Advanced Placement classes, compared to 5.4 percent in suburban areas and 2.6 percent in rural ones. The problem is that many rural areas lack access to the courses or enough students or teachers to create classes. But some states are offering rural students the opportunity to take AP classes online, while in other states students are voicing the need for more AP classes.

In Iowa, some students travel to larger nearby schools to take AP classes, Gene Lucht reports for Iowa Farmer Today. "Others are taking advantage of the online program offered by the Iowa Online AP Academy" through the University of Iowa.

Through the program "schools work through the University of Iowa and a private company called Apex Learning to cover the cost of 12 AP courses," Lucht writes. "Participating schools must put a staff member in charge of logistics, and participating students must have a mentor at the school. The school must also schedule time during the school day for the student to work on the online class."

In North Dakota, 20 students in fourth through 12th grade spent this week at the Capitol for the inaugural meeting of the Student Cabinet, a select group that "will advise lawmakers and the Department of Public Instruction on bills and policy issues," Max Grossfeld reports for KFYR 5 in Bismark. Students will spend 15 months on the cabinet.

With an opportunity to affect state politics, "several students from rural districts said they wanted to join the cabinet because they felt their schools lacked adequate opportunities to take Advanced Placement classes or enroll in dual-credit courses," Amy Sisk reports for The Bismark Tribune.

Oregon rural-urban exchange program teaches students about natural resources in both areas

An Oregon exchange program allows rural and urban middle school students to see how the other half lives, while gaining an understanding of natural resource management issues from both an urban and rural Oregon perspective. The 4-H Urban-Rural Natural Resources Exchange, which began in 2006, serves about 100 students each year. Rural 7th and 8th grade students live in a urban home for four days, and urban youth spend five days at a rural home.

Students are expected to help with chores—including working on a farm or ranch— and participate in classes on urban-rural connectedness and dependencies. Urban students learn about the history of the area, "the economics of ranching and agriculture, logging issues, water rights issues and other natural resources management issues from a rural Oregon perspective," while rural students learn about "the history of the area, urban Oregon lifestyle, and the economic, social and environmental issues in Portland which impact sustainability." (Family Search map: Wallowa County, Oregon)

The current program included students from Wallowa County schools and Multnomah County’s Sunnyside Environmental School, Steve Tool reports for the Wallowa County Chieftain. Wallowa County Extension Agent John Williams told Tool, “What we’re doing here is putting kids and families together and letting it happen. We think it’s an effective process. Really, this is all about the kids."

Rural Indiana community helps change state law and reduce speed limits in school zones

A rural Indiana community has made it safer for the state's children to walk to and from school. Local officials in Whitestown (Best Places map) went before the General Assembly to argue against a law that said local governments were not allowed "to reduce the speed limit in rural school zones to less than 30 mph," Katie Heinz and Sarah Swiss report for RTV 6 in Indianapolis. State leaders listened and last week passed a law allowing local governments to lower speed limits around schools to 20 mph.

The concern was that Boone Meadow Elementary School is located in a fast-growing area, which sees considerable amounts of traffic, Heinz and Swiss write. Zionsville Community Schools board member Bob Bostwick told RTV 6, "We really buy into the neighborhood-school philosophy, and part of that is being able to walk and bike to school."

The Whitestown Town Council plans next month to discuss lowering the speed limit in school zones, possibly to 25 mph, Heinz and Swiss write.

USA Today lists best festivals in the U.S.; many promote tourism in rural areas

Now that the weather is heating up throughout most of the U.S., festival season is on the horizon. USA Today "teamed up with a panel of festival experts to find the best music, food, culture, art and film festivals in the U.S," Lydia Schrandt reports for USA Today. Readers were then allowed to vote for their favorites, and some of the winners include festivals in rural areas or with rural resonance.

Among the best music festivals, No. 2 was the Electric Forest Festival, a four-day music fest in Rothbury, Mich., a village with a population of 424. An estimated 50,000 people attend the festival every year. No. 7 on the list is Bonnaroo, a four-day festival held on a 700-acre farm in Manchester, Tenn. The festival had more than 90,000 attendees last year.

For poetry enthusiasts, the Best Cultural Festival list includes the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nev. The six-day event is "an annual celebration of the ranching and rural West," says the organization's website. Also on the list are the Texas Renaissance Festival, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Frozen Dead Guy Days, Cheyenne Frontier Days, Sturgis Motorcycle Rally and Festivals Acadiens et Créoles.

No. 2 on the list of Best General Food Festival is the Bounty of Yamhill County, located in the Willamette Valley in Oregon. The Bounty of Yamhill County "is a three-day annual event that celebrates this vibrant community of famous wineries, celebrated chefs and sustainable family farms. No other locally sourced food and wine event can boast such nationally recognized participants," says the organization's website. No. 9 on the list is the Beaver Creek Food & Wine Weekend, a four-day event in Beaver Creek, Colo.

For a complete list of best festivals, click here.

Scranton daily, Georgia weekly win awards for use of public-notice advertisements in news reporting

Jim Lockwood, staff writer for The Times-Tribune of Scranton, Pa., is the winner of the 2015 Public Notice Journalism award presented by the Public Notice Resource Center, which works to preserve laws requiring the paid publication of government notices in newspapers and encouraged them as sources for news reporting.

"Lockwood is recognized for his deft incorporation of public notice information into his coverage of local government," a PNRC release said. Lockwood also received the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association's 2014 Public Notice award for “persistent use of public notices in his reporting.”

PNRC President Bradley L. Thompson II, chairman and chief executive officer of Detroit Legal News, said Lockwood's “coverage of a proposed new commuter tax was a terrific example. The city ran the notices, but citizens sued because they believed the action was taken too quickly and without sufficient information to the taxpayers. Lockwood’s story referred readers to the dates of the notices so they could check for themselves.”

A second-place award for went to the weekly Monroe County Reporter of Forsyth, Ga., for reporting on a school district’s attempts to acquire property by condemnation over the landowner’s opposition. The district wanted to build an arts center on the site, but abandoned the project in the face of public opposition that began after the school board advertised its condemnation plans.

2 of last 5 years have been worst for combined pipeline-related deaths and injuries since 2000

Not much has happened in the past 15 years to improve the safety of gas pipelines, Elana Schor and Andrew Restuccia report for Politico. "Oil and gas companies like to assure the public that pipelines are a safer way to ship their products than railroads or trucks. But government data makes clear there is hardly reason to celebrate. Last year, more than 700 pipeline failures killed 19 people, injured 97 and caused more than $300 million in damage. Two of the past five years have been the worst for combined pipeline-related deaths and injuries since 2000."

"Politico talked to more than 15 former and current federal pipeline officials and advisers, as well as dozens of safety experts, engineers and state regulators. We reviewed more than a decade of government data on fatalities, injuries, property damage, incident locations, inspections, damages and penalties," Schor and Restuccia write. "The picture that emerges is of an agency that lacks the manpower to inspect the nation’s 2.6 million miles of oil and gas lines, that grants the industry it regulates significant power to influence the rule-making process and that has stubbornly failed to take a more aggressive regulatory role, even when ordered by Congress to do so."

The Politico story doesn't go far enough to uncover the real problems with pipelines, Charles Pierce of Esquire writes for the liberal Reader Supported News. The story "has a serious 'both sides do it' element running through it," Pierce writes. "It engages one critic from each party—Fred Upton is the Republican and Peter DeFazio is the Democrat—and it is tough on the current administration for neglecting the PHMSA. (There hasn't even been a permanent director since October. Stop me if you've heard that one before.)" (Read more)

Federal officials announce voluntary programs to reduce carbon emissions from agricultural sources

Today federal agricultural officials presented voluntary programs for farmers, ranchers and foresters to reduce agricultural carbon emissions as part of President Barack Obama's efforts to fight global warming, Jeff Karoub reports for The Associated Press.

Agricultural Secretary Tom Vilsack revealed the plans at Michigan State University, where Obama signed the Farm Bill last year. "The efforts, many of which have their roots in that law, aim to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions, boost carbon capture and storage and come with various enticements, including grants, low-interest loans and technical assistance," Karoub writes.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, left, and President Obama toured the biomass
conversion area at Michigan State University last year. (Associated Press photo)

The agriculture industry is responsible for approximately 9 percent of U.S. emissions, and while that compares favorably with the rest of the world, it could still improve, Vilsack said. "American farmers and ranchers are leaders when it comes to reducing carbon emissions and improving efficiency in their operations," he said. He also noted that officials want to both help the environment and improve agricultural productivity.

Some of the actions outlined in the plan include "reducing the unnecessary use of fertilizer and methane emissions from cattle and swine, reforesting areas damaged by wildfire and disease and encouraging tree planting in urban areas," Karoub reports.

Following the plans would reduce emissions and enhance carbon sequestration by about 120 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, Vilsack's department estimated. That would be like taking 25 million cars off the road per year. (Read more)

Local Mohawk governing authority in Canada bans weekly newspaper editor from its council meetings

To download a PDF of the editorial, click here.

A rural newspaper that serves the 8,000 residents in the Mohawk community in Kahnawake, Que., is showing that size doesn't matter when it comes to reporting the stories that matter most to readers. Five years ago The Eastern Door "exposed a controversial plan by the local Mohawk council to evict non-native people—work that earned the paper the prestigious Michener Award and international praise," Rosemary Westwood reports for Canada's Metro News. Eastern Door editor Steve Bonspiel told Westwood, “You don’t get into this job to make money, that’s for sure. It is my dream job; it is what I love to do."

The plan to issue 26 eviction notices was dropped, but tensions between the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake and The Eastern Door have remain high, with the Mohawk Council last month sending a letter to Bonspiel saying his attendance at community meetings had been revoked for not following reporting guidelines created by the tribe.

In the letter, the Mohawk Council wrote: "We became aware that you posted the entire March 10, 2015, Winter Community Meeting via 'Twitter.' You have many followers on your Twitter feed, including numerous external contacts. While the Kahnawake Community Meeting is for the purposes of updating the community of Kahnawake, you have failed to respect the guidelines for media coverage regarding the consultations. For this reason, your attendance at Kahnawake Community Meetings is no longer permitted." The Mohawk Council did say the newspaper could send another community member to cover meetings.

USGS releases maps of earthquakes thought to be triggered by human activity

"For the first time, the U.S. Geological Survey has unveiled a map of earthquakes thought to be triggered by human activity in the eastern and central U.S.," Rong-Gong Lin II, Jon Schleuss and Thomas Suh Lauder report for the Los Angeles Times.

Seismic activity has increased dramatically in recent years in Oklahoma, in Texas near Dallas-Fort Worth, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico and Ohio, all in areas with deep injection wells from increased oil and gas activity or other industrial activities, the Times writes.

Earlier this week The Oklahoma Geological Survey, the state agency in charge of determining the cause of Oklahoma's rise in earthquakes, said it is "very likely" that the shaking has been caused by oil and gas activity. Oklahoma had 585 earthquakes of magnitude 3 or greater last year and is on pace to have more than 800 this year.

Mark Petersen, chief of the USGS' National Seismic Hazard Project, "said the pattern of increased quakes is troubling," reports the Times. He said, “These earthquakes are occurring at a higher rate than ever before and pose a much greater risk and threat to people living nearby." (USGS map)

Texas moves one step closer to banning cities from banning fracking; Denton passed ban in November

When residents in Denton, Texas, voted to ban fracking during the November 2014 election, becoming the first town in the state to do so, it inspired other Texas towns to step forward and express interest in also banning fracking. But in Texas, where oil and gas are king, lawmakers seem to be caving to industry pressure, with the state House last week passing a bill by a 122-18 to "ban any ordinance that prohibits an oil and gas operation," H. Sterling Burnett reports for The Heartland Institute. A similar bill awaits action in the Senate.

"In a concession to the Texas Municipal League, which agreed not to oppose the bill, cities would retain limited authority over oil and gas production through their power to set reasonable limits on noise, night lighting, traffic and setbacks from buildings, although restrictions on the distance of wells to homes, schools and churches would have to be 'commercially reasonable,' according to the bill," Burnett writes.

The Texas Oil and Gas Association "praised the bill, saying it would prevent cities from adopting a patchwork of local regulations that could slow down the state's drilling boom and threaten its energy-reliant economy," Mike Lee reports for EnergyWire. Texas is the nation's largest oil and gas producing state.

Other bills also will be heard that could benefit the oil and gas industry, Lee writes. That includes "bills that would make it harder for residents to request a public hearing to contest permits for industrial plants, rolling back the state's renewable energy standard and limiting local governments' ability to collect civil damages in pollution cases." (Read more)

West Virginia VA clinic accused of swapping new mental health medications for older, cheaper ones

A Department of Veterans Affairs medical center in Beckley, W. Va., "swapped out new mental health drugs for older, cheaper medications to save money, federal officials alleged Wednesday," Rusty Marks reports for the Charleston Gazette. According to a letter from the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, the VA’s Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee restricted health-care providers from administering newer drugs, a violation of VA policy. The practice was exposed by a whistleblower. (Veterans Affairs Medical Center-Beckley)

The VA reportedly restricted health-care providers from administering aripiprazole, used to treat schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression, and ziprasidone, used to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, Marks writes. The Beckley VA Medical Center provides services to more than 38,000 veterans in 11 West Virginia counties. (Read more)

Rural Georgia city council votes in favor of flying Christian flag in front of public buildings

Bleckley County Court House

Despite a warning from the city attorney that it is a violation of separation of church and state, the city council in rural Cochran, Ga., has chosen to fly Christian flags in front of public buildings, Tony Ortega reports for Raw Story.

The city council voted on April 14 to fly the flag at City Hall, the Bleckley County Court House and in other public places, said City Manager Richard Newbern, Ortega writes. Newbern said he has not received any complaints about the flags from the town's 5,100 residents. (Read more)

Despite a rise in the number of insured residents, Obamacare getting mixed reviews in Eastern Ky.

When federal health reform was introduced last year in Eastern Kentucky—a largely Republican area that has for years relied on the coal industry—Central Appalachia residents were skeptical of President Obama's health care system.

The jury is still out whether or not locals are calling the plan a success, Laura Ungar and Chris Kenning report for USA Today. Obamacare "has given many of the poor and sick a key to long-neglected health care. It's also brought skepticism and fear, and some business owners argue it's stunting their growth in a region that can't afford another economic blow."

On the plus side, "scores of newly insured residents, mostly covered by Medicaid, have sought care in hospitals, mental health centers and drug treatment facilities," Ungar and Kenning write. In places like Floyd County—which ranks second to last in the state's health rankings because of high rates of smoking, cancer, diabetes, obesity and heart disease—the uninsured rate of residents under 65 dropped from 19 percent to 10 percent by the end of 2014. (Family Search map: Floyd County)

"Overall, 5,403 Floyd County residents have enrolled in Medicaid under the ACA, while only 620 have bought private health plans on the state's 'kynect' exchange," Ungar and Kenning write. "Data from a recent state examination of the Medicaid expansion found it had brought $15.5 million in Medicaid payments to Floyd County in 2014, including $5.9 million to hospitals."

But many Floyd County residents echo the same complaints as in other parts of the state, "such as the tax penalty people must pay if they don't have insurance and the upcoming requirement that businesses with more than 50 full-time employees provide affordable insurance or face a penalty," Ungar and Kenning write. "Hospitals report being squeezed financially. One insurance agent says the system remains difficult to navigate. Many who don't qualify for Medicaid or a sizable subsidy—and have been largely left out of the health care system—say their insurance has gotten more difficult to afford."

One insurance agent said "some residents who purchased private plans on the state exchange in 2014 found the monthly premiums rose sharply in 2015, causing some to drop out or reduce coverage," Ungar and Kenning write. Other residents who are waiting for their employers to provide health insurance could be waiting a long time.

"Archie Everage, who owns a chain of fast-food sandwich shops in Floyd and nearby counties that employ more than 80 full- and part-time workers, said he plans to pay a fine of $2,000 per full-time employee rather than provide insurance as the ACA requires," Ungar and Kenning write. "Paul Reffett, owner of ValueMed pharmacy, said the ACA has meant more work but less profits," with more customers getting prescriptions but paying with Medicaid instead of cash, "meaning low reimbursements instead of full payments."

Hospitals also say that with Medicaid handled by managed-care companies, reimbursements are slow in coming, Ungar and Kenning write. And more Medicaid patients means more slow payments. (Read more)

Interactive map details migration patterns of each state

More than 70 percent of residents living in Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Mississippi, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa and Ohio in 2012 were born in that state, while only 25 percent of Nevada residents were born in the state, according to a treemap created by The New York Times. The map shows the percentage of residents born in each state, the percentage born in other states and the percentage born outside the U.S.

A large percentage of Nevada's population comes from California, with 19 percent of Nevada residents born in The Golden State. Only 36 percent of Florida residents were born in the Sunshine State, with 8 percent born in New York. California has the highest percent of residents born outside the U.S., at 28 percent, followed by New York (25 percent), Florida (23 percent), Nevada (21 percent) and Texas (17 percent). (For an interactive version, click here)

2015 Pulitzer Prize winners include South Carolina newspaper's series on domestic violence

The 2015 Pulitzer Prize winners included a handful of stories with rural resonance, including stories by The Post and Courier in Charleston, S.C., and stories by The Seattle Times, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.

The Post and Courier won the Public Service award for a series on domestic violence by Doug Pardue, Glenn Smith, Jennifer Berry Hawes and Natalie Caula Hauff. The seres, titled "Til Death Do Us Part," detailed how "more than 300 women have been shot, stabbed, strangled, beaten, bludgeoned or burned to death by men in South Carolina over the past decade, dying at a rate of one every 12 days while the state does little to stem the carnage from domestic abuse." It is the first Pulitzer won by the newspaper since 1925.

The Seattle Times won for Breaking News Reporting for its coverage of the deadly Oso landslide that claimed 43 lives. "The coverage, which included stories, photos, video and graphics, revealed that, contrary to public officials’ insistence, there were warnings for decades about the unstable nature of the earth in the region," reports the Times. The award, which is shared by the staff, is the 10th Pulitzer for the newspaper.

Two Pulitzer awards were given for Investigative Reporting. One went to The Wall Street Journal for its story "Medicare Unmaked: Behind the Numbers," which included a database on "payments to more than 880,000 medical providers in 2012 and how doctors and other providers compare with their peers in their region, state or nationwide," the Journal writes.

The other Investigative Reporting award went to Eric Lipton of The New York Times for his story, "Courting Favor," which "examines the explosion in lobbying of state attorneys general by corporate interests and the millions in campaign donations they now provide," the Times writes.

For a complete list of winners, click here.

Rural America can lead the charge to benefit from climate change, climate expert says

"One of the nation's most dynamic and high-profile speakers on climate change, Katharine Hayhoe, will speak [tonight] in Iowa about the ways agriculture and rural America can lead on climate change," Chris Clayton writes for DTN The Progressive Farmer. Hayhoe's talk echoes one over the weekend by President Obama, in which he said climate change can create opportunities.

Hayhoe, director of the Climate Science Center at Texas Tech University, said "she's looking forward to coming to Iowa because close collaborators at Iowa State University are focusing heavily on the contributions agriculture can make adapting to climate change and helping suck carbon emissions out of the air," Clayton writes. She told him, "Agriculture and forestry are really the only two sectors that really have the potential to be not just carbon neutral but carbon negative."

"Longer term, ten or 15 years out, we’re going to see a price on carbon because carbon has already been ruled to be a pollutant by the Supreme Court," Hayhoe told Clayton. "Every single other pollutant that people emit—they have to pay for the pollution and the cleanup costs. Carbon is the only one where the polluters don't have to pay for the cleanup costs."

Putting "a price on carbon benefits Iowa farmers because of cropping practices that can sequester carbon," Clayton writes. "No-till planting and cover crops certainly has been highlighted as ways to build carbon in the soil rather than releasing it. Hayhoe told him, "This whole range of things that can be done in agriculture actually reduce carbon as well as take carbon out of the atmosphere. If there is a price on carbon, then there is a benefit to storing that carbon."

While science tells us it's getting warmer, "far too many people believe the negatives of shifting away from fossil fuels outweigh the positives," Clayton writes. "Moreover, they argue that acting on climate would put the U.S. at a disadvantage internationally, though China reported just last month that the country reduced its carbon emissions 2 percent in 2014 while growing the GDP 7 percent."

Hayhoe said "the people who stand to benefit are those who get on board with a greener economy, Hayhoe said, particularly in the Midwest and Great Plains," Clayton writes. She told him, "All of the resources for this new economy are in middle America. So we have been letting our politics inform our economic choices instead of letting our economic choices inform our politics. That is a really strange place to be in." (Read more)

Oklahoma Geological Survey says it is 'very likely' that oil and gas industry causing rise in earthquakes

The Oklahoma Geological Survey, the state agency in charge of determining the cause of Oklahoma's rise in earthquakes, announced on Tuesday "that it is 'very likely' that the shaking has been caused by oil and gas activity," Mike Soraghan reports for EnergyWire.

The statement, which contradicts earlier statements by OGS scientists, said, "The OGS considers it very likely that the majority of recent earthquakes, particularly those in central and north-central Oklahoma are triggered by the injection of produced water in disposal wells," Soraghan writes. "In response, the Oklahoma Independent Petroleum Association conceded a 'possible relationship' between earthquakes and the industry."

Oklahoma had 585 earthquakes of magnitude 3 or greater last year and is on pace to have more than 800 this year, Soraghan writes. The state, which only averaged one to three earthquakes per year before 2009—when the oil and gas boom took off—is now averaging 2.5 earthquakes each day. (The Nation graphic)

The Oklahoma Corporation Commission, the agency in charge of regulating oil and gas in the state, said it is considering all options and considers resolving the issue a priority, Soraghan writes. But officials "have said some aspects of the situation are beyond their control and in the hands of the state Legislature."

"Legislators, though, have not acted," Soraghan writes. "No legislation related to man-made earthquakes or disposal wells was introduced this year, though it has moved to protect industry from municipal ordinances." Republican Gov. Mary Fallin has said she believed most of the earthquakes are natural. (Read more)

USDA awards $72 million to six renewable energy projects in rural communities

The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Tuesday announced $72 million in funding for six rural electric infrastructure projects in North Carolina, South Carolina, Kansas and Vermont. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement: "These solar projects represent an ongoing commitment from rural electric cooperatives to increase the diversity of their fuel sources with a focus on renewable energy."

Funds include: $20 million to Montgomery Solar Owner in Cornelius, N.C., to build a 20 megawatt solar farm; $5 million to Chocowinity Solar and Cirrus Solar in Cornelius to build 5 megawatt solar farms; $17 million to Rolling Hills Electric Cooperative in Kansas to build or improve 197 miles of transmission and distribution line and make other system improvements; $18 million to Broad River Electric Cooperative in North and South Carolina, to build or improve 138 miles of line and make other system improvements; and $7 million to Washington Electric Cooperative in Vermont to build or improve 46 miles of line and make other system improvements. (Read more)

Cluster boxes not the answer to Postal Service's financial woes, watchdog report says

One of the proposals by the U.S. Postal Service to save money—the agency lost $5.5 billion in 2014—is to exchange home deliveries for neighborhood cluster boxes that would allow mail carriers to do their jobs more quickly and efficiently, Josh Hicks reports for The Washington Post. "But a new report from the USPS inspector general’s office casts doubt on how much the change would benefit the agency financially."

Mail advertising accounted for 22 percent of the Postal Service's $28 billion in product revenue two years ago, Hicks writes. The watchdog report says that about 10.6 percent of people who receive home mail service read and respond to credit card solicitations, compared to only 3.1 percent of customers with cluster boxes. "With other types of mail advertisements, the findings were 'qualitatively similar to the credit card solicitation results, albeit with less dramatic differences by mode,' according to the report."

"Republican and Democratic lawmakers have pushed for greater use of curbside and cluster mail boxes, but opponents say the Postal Service should focus on new products and services rather than cuts," Hicks writes. "It is unclear whether the Postal Service would truly lose advertising revenue by moving away from the door-delivery model or whether it could make up for the potential loss with cost savings."