Gun sales up in rural Ohio county where 8 were killed and sheriff told fearful locals, 'arm yourself'

Pike County, Ohio (Wikipedia map)

Gun shops in rural Pike County, Ohio, have seen an uptick in sales since eight people were killed in a shooting there last week, Bob Strickley reports for the Chillicothe Gazette. Sheriff Charles Reader told residents, "If you are fearful, arm yourself. If you feel you need to protect yourself or your family, do so."

Reader's comment wasn't "considered a gaffe or even the first time a high-ranking Pike County official said or did something curious regarding firearms. The Appalachian hills of Pike County and neighboring Adams, Scioto and Ross counties are home to many hunters and gun enthusiasts. The rural surroundings and dense forests make for a suitable, and arguably safer, setting for firearm buffs."

Handguns are popular, too. In Pike County, 1,515 concealed-carry weapon permits were issued from 2011 through 2015, and 348 permits were renewed, Strickley writes. Scioto County Commissioner Michael Crabtree told him, "I think a lot of people have experience with guns here because they hunt from an early age. Many people I grew up with were introduced to guns at a young age. They would hunt groundhog, squirrel or venison and at the end of the day, the stuff you'd hunt would be on the dinner table. When I was a kid, our dad taught us how to use guns and the different safety practices of gun ownership. We didn't have the problems we have now. It was a different life. When people went to town, they left the doors unlocked. ... I'm not going to allow someone to do bodily harm to me or my wife." (Read more)

Tiny, isolated radio station punches above weight

Wikipedia map

A radio station in a remote desert town in West Texas has been scoring big with listeners, Kristen Hare reports for The Poynter Institute. The station, KRTS, Marfa Public Radio won an award in every category in this year's regional Edward R. Murrow Awards for small markets in Texas and Oklahoma. Awards representative Derrick Hinds told Hare, "It’s like their building, and then the nothingness for just miles. They’re out there and they’re just doing incredible radio." While Marfa only has 1,819 residents, partnerships with Texas Standard, AudioTexas and Fronteras make the station available in six of the country's top 20 markets.

Tom Michael, who founded the station in 2005 and is its general manager, said it focuses on three areas: "borderlands," including ranching and immigration; energy (the station serves a community in the Permian Basin), and "arts and culture, a staple of public radio," Hare writes.

Staff members are expected to know how to do everything, Hare writes. "Staff needs to tweet on their way to report a story, collect audio, get images, put together a tease for the morning show and prepare a post for the site. If they have past audio or interviews they can use with current reports, they will. Additionally, each quarter, the station produces between 50 to 70 original spots and features." (Read more)

Pa. officials trying to determine if small earthquakes are linked to hydraulic fracturing

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources are conducting a study to see if a series of small earthquakes recorded Monday in Western Pennsylvania are linked to a nearby natural gas hydraulic fracturing operation, Laura Legere reports for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

"The U.S. Geological Survey says five minor earthquakes originated in an area just west of New Castle in a 22-hour period on Monday, all small tremors between magnitude 1.7 and 1.9, which is below what humans can feel," Legere writes. "The timing and proximity of the Lawrence County earthquakes—originally the geological survey had identified just two—suggest a link to a nearby natural-gas fracking operation, but seismologists were being cautious Thursday, saying it is too early to tell definitively if fracking triggered the quakes." (Post graphic)

"A DEP spokeswoman said Wednesday that the wells that were being fracked have horizontal wellbores headed northwest from the pad, which is the general direction of the closest earthquake," Legere writes. Michael Brudzinski, a geology professor at Miami University in Ohio, told Legere, "I think anyone looking at the situation would say there are earthquakes very close to where the well is at the time the well is being stimulated with hydraulic fracturing. That’s suggestive that there is a link. But I don’t think any of us are ready to say anything more conclusive than that.” Injection wells for disposal of fracking fluids have caused quakes in Oklahoma, officials there say.

Free workshop in Louisville will examine changing dynamics in ag finance, land ownership

As investors keep putting more money into farmland, questions are raised about how that many affect agriculture and farm policy. The Farm Foundation is hosting a workshop to explore the implications of investor-owned farmland and other newly evolving trends that affect the financial landscape of agriculture.

The free workshop will be held in Louisville June 6-7, just before the Farm Foundation Round Table meeting in the city June 8-10. The program will feature "farmer-landowners, academic researchers and lenders, including representatives of commercial banks, Farm Credit, insurance companies and the investment community," says a foundation news release. "The program will also examine the relationship of ownership and financing to farm policies, including programs targeted to credit, conservation, commodities and crop insurance."

Farm Foundation President Neil Conklin said, "This workshop is targeted to farmers, landowners, investors and members of the finance, agribusiness and public policy communities. All are key players whose actions are shaping the trends in farmland ownership and agricultural finance which, in turn, has potential implications for the social and political environments in which they operate. ... It is clear that trends in farmland ownership and tenure patterns are changing. This workshop will explore the current interest in farmland, the players driving it, and the implications for farmland ownership and tenure." For more information, or to register for the event, click here.

Ky. papers get governor to veto provision that would have taken public notices out of papers

Gov. Matt Bevin

The Kentucky Press Association won a victory for government transparency and accountability this week, as its members persuaded Republican Gov. Matt Bevin to veto last-minute legislation that would have allowed local governments to stop publishing their annual financial statements in local newspapers and put them online or in the local public library. Similar efforts are being made in many other states.

The provision was in language added to the state budget by a House-Senate conference committee at the behest of a Northern Kentucky senator with many small cities that have to run their public-notice ads in The Kentucky Enquirer, an edition of The Cincinnati Enquirer. Republican Sen. Chris McDaniel said he intended to have the exemption apply only to counties of more than 100,000 population but last-minute drafting left that out.

When KPA discovered the language, its executive committee decided to ask Bevin to veto a similar provision that the legislature had been adding to biennial budgets for the last 12 years, exempting school districts. He vetoed both, without explanation, but his communications director, Jessica Ditto, said “Governor Bevin values our small-town papers and supports transparency.” Meanwhile, at McDaniel's behest, a legislative committee will study "the merits of public notices in newspapers vs. on government websites," the Lexington Herald-Leader notes in an editorial.

Growing number of people purchasing survivalist homes in rural Northwest

Photo by Kirk Siegler

A growing number of people are moving to the rural Northwest in search of survivalist homes, Kirk Siegler reports for NPR. "At first glance, real estate agent Theresa Mondale's listings don't sound too different from those of other agents trying to sell a piece of Montana paradise: 270 acres at the base of the Bitterroot Mountains completely surrounded by U.S. Forest Service land, stands of old growth fir and cedar trees, a spring with pure water. Only when you read on do you discover this isn't your average vacation cabin. One listing boasts of a modified bunker with a 'very secure' iron locking door on the property and a root cellar that could be turned into an alternative living situation. Another one mentions a yard with space to land a helicopter 'if the need is there.'"

"Welcome to the world of sustainable, survivalist real estate," Siegler writes. "There's a growing market for this kind of off-grid property. Mondale figures over the past six to eight years, sales of these survivalist properties have risen by 50 percent." Mondale said clients have cited fears about the financial system, societal collapse and fear of floods from global warming for wanting to purchase survivalist homes: "It seems like over the past few years, there's just this need, I don't want to say panic or frantic, but people feeling the need to be able to have someplace to go."

It's not as if the homes are simple cabins in the woods, Siegler writes. Some of the listings are for more than $1 million. One home includes a helicopter pad, "solar panels and inside, a backup generator, luxury bathrooms and a kitchen with granite countertops and stainless steel appliances." Mondale told Siegler, "Just because you're off-grid or being sustainable doesn't mean you have to be looking like the old hick miner." (Read more)

Rural Entrepreneurship Challenge application period opens Sunday

The American Farm Bureau Rural Entrepreneurship Challenge will begin accepting online applications Sunday for its business competition that will award $145,000 in funds to rural entrepreneurs working in food and agriculture. As part of the challenge rural entrepreneurs pitch innovative business ideas to a team of judges with expertise in business development and agribusiness. Six semi-finalists will receive $10,000, with four finalists competing for four awards: Farm Bureau Entrepreneur of the Year award ($30,000); People's Choice award ($25,000); First runner-up ($15,000); and Second runner-up ($15,000). (Read more)

Electric co-ops encourage rural residents to vote

Rural electric cooperatives are asking their members to "become a co-op voter" and go to the polls. During the 2012 presidential election, voter turnout was down 18 percent in rural areas, twice that of the nation as a whole, according to the Kentucky Association of Electric Cooperatives. Kentucky's voter turnout in 2015 followed a similar trend. (KAEC photo: Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes, right, has been traveling the state encouraging rural residents to register and vote)

Earlier this year the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association launched “Co-ops Vote,” a campaign designed "to boost voter turnout in areas served by cooperatives by encouraging electric co-op employees and their consumer members to exercise one of their most basic rights—the right to vote," NRECA said. Its CEO, Jeffrey Connor, said, “Co-ops Vote focuses elected leaders on the people who are most invested in the success of their own communities. With 42 million members across the nation, electric co-ops are a powerful voice on national issues that have a local impact. We want to be sure that voice is always heard, especially on Election Day.”

To take the Co-ops Vote pledge, click here. To find voter information in your state click here.

Instead of giving attention to wildlife-refuge occupiers, Oregon weekly focused on community

White spoke at a panel discussion about covering the takeover.

When journalists from around the world descended on Harney County, Oregon, to cover the militants at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, the local paper, the Burns Times-Herald, a 3,000-circulation weekly, was not on the scene. That's because leaders at the paper thought the focus shouldn't be on Ammon Bundy and other occupiers, but on the community, Samantha Swindler reports for The Oregonian.

Reporter Samantha White, a fourth-generation resident of Burns, population 2,000, told Swindler, "We knew we did not want to go out there and give this guy any more attention or leverage. We were absolutely not going to give him a platform." During the refuge occupation, journalists "from as far away as Russia and Istanbul called the Times-Herald asking for comment," Swindler writes. "The staff always declined." White told her, "We didn't want to be the voice of the community." Instead, "the paper's coverage of the occupation focused on local voices and reaction. They gave little space to Bundy's views, but offered unlimited newsprint to locals who wanted to sound off. It wasn't unusual in those weeks to see a letter to the editor take up an entire page of the newspaper."

"It wasn't necessarily Bundy's opinions about the Bureau of Land Management that divided the town, Samantha said," Swindler writes. "It was his vaguely threatening attitude, and his attempt to speak for the community about the community's own problems." She told Swindler, "People didn't like the idea of someone else speaking for them. Sometimes when we say local control (over federal lands), we're just saying that we want more say in the process. We just want to have a voice."

In a column on Jan. 6, at the beginning of the occupation, White wrote, "As a local reporter, you’d think I’d be chomping at the bit to cover the story that’s been making headlines across the nation. You’d think I’d be pointing my camera and tape recorder in the face of every man, woman, and child in Harney County in order to get 'the scoop.' You’d think I’d be thrilled to watch a sensational scene unfold in my own backyard. But that’s simply not the case. I know that big, dramatic events sell newspapers. I’ve seen sensational journalism advance reporters’ careers."

"I know I could exploit this situation for my own personal gain," she wrote. "But that’s not why I got into the business. I decided to study journalism because I like to help people tell their stories. After earning my degree. I decided to return home to Harney County because I wanted to provide this service for the village that raised me. I consider it an honor and a privilege to bring Harney County its news because I genuinely love this land and the people who live in it."

Ag groups air complaints to lawmakers about guest worker program, FDA regulations, EPA rules

At a congressional hearing Wednesday, representatives from agricultural lobbies on detailed regulatory complaints about the Environmental Protection Agency's oversight of pesticides, new Food and Drug Administration food-safety regulations, the Department of Labor's management of farmworker programs and the prospect of labeling foods with ingredients from biotech crops, Chris Clayton reports for DTN The Progressive Farmer.

One of the main issues concerned the H-2A program, which provides guest visas for farmworkers. Maureen Torrey, vice-president of Torrey Farms, a vegetable, grain and dairy operation in New York, told lawmakers "that American farmers are affected by the fact that the immigration process is badly in need of repair and reform," Clayton reports. "She said her farm was 28 days behind planting onions this season because of problems getting H-2A guest workers approved." The Department of Labor, which has been swamped with H-2A applications, has failed to keep up with the volume of applications, leading Torrey to tell lawmkers, "We will see some of these fruits and vegetables no longer grown in the United States because of lack of labor."

EPA was criticized for its slow response "to written questions about the 'waters of the U.S.' rule that is tied up in federal courts" and for continually pushing back the approval date for weed-resistant herbicide dicamba, Clayton writes. Fruit and vegetable growers, producers and processors say they are struggling to understand the different rules under the Food Safety Modernization Act and "panelists also lamented the failure of the Senate to find a compromise on a GMO labeling bill even though the House voted out a bipartisan bill last year."

Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.), chairman of the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Biotechnology, Horticulture and Research, told lawmakers, "Our government agencies need to stop implementing burdensome policies and regulations, which threaten the farm economy and pose challenges for producers and processors with little evidence of added benefit to food safety or production." (Read more)

U.S. could learn from Europe's approach to coal

The United States could learn a lesson from Europe in how to survive a decline of the coal industry, Joshua Zaffos writes for High Country News. In Europe "unemployment benefits generally last longer, job-training programs are more extensive and retirement benefits are better protected. That makes it easier for both industry and mining communities to weather the hard times when they come."

"West and East Germany relied heavily on coal for power and jobs following World War II," Zaffos reports. "But coal mines began declining following reunification in the 1990s. In the western part of the country, the high costs of continued 'hard coal' mining from deep geological formations has forced some closures as prices have dropped. Eastern Germany has the most productive lignite mines in the world, but lignite, also known as soft or brown coal, is extremely dirty, emitting much more carbon dioxide than other fossil fuels when consumed. The government is now scaling back those operations as part of Germany’s national effort to address climate change, and to restructure its energy policy to reduce carbon-spewing coal and fossil fuel use and invest in renewables. ... Germany’s environmental minister is pushing to stop mining and burning coal entirely by 2040."

"The U.S., in contrast, has no such comprehensive national-level climate action or energy policy," Zaffos writes. Miners and energy officials "continue to blame President Obama and the Clean Power Plan, rather than global economic and environmental pressures, for the downfall of coal, and many refuse to support climate action or even acknowledge climate change. With plenty of congressional support for that viewpoint, the U.S. has come up with only relatively minor coordinated efforts to manage sweeping energy trends. Instead of getting behind deliberate and comprehensive energy policies or climate-change planning, U.S. lawmakers have allowed global energy market forces to buffet the industry and energy workers, with few resources offered to ease the pain."

"Through German government and industry agreements that began nearly a decade ago, mining subsidies will be phased out by 2018, creating a 'soft landing' for workers and companies, compared with the typical U.S. pattern of unexpected layoffs and abrupt bankruptcies," Zaffos writes. "The arrangements aim to allow much of the over-40 workforce to move out of the mines and ease into retirement, while younger workers can go through job retraining to meet the growing need for skilled labor in engineering, technology, and other industries. Germany has a strong tradition of vocational training and apprenticeship programs, supported by unions, the government and employers."

"In Germany, the mining, energy and chemical industry trade union is one of the nation’s largest and strongest," Zaffos writes. "Unions do more than lobby to keep coal mines open and jobs in place; they also work to maintain welfare and retirement benefits and pensions for their members—and they support negotiated phase-outs"  In contrast, the United Mine Workers has seen its members drop from 800,000 in the 1930s to just 35,000 active and 40,000 retired miners today, with only 5 percent of mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction workers being union members in 2014. (Read more)

Five-part series takes a look at Central Appalachia

Oxycontin/Stacy Kranitz photo

Vice, a print magazine and website focused on arts, culture and news, this week published a five-part series on Central Appalachia called "Ain't No Grave." The series "focused on the effects of the declining coal industry, systemic problems with the health-care system, the struggle against the obliteration of mountains due to strip mining, the drug epidemic, and the history and meaning of the terms 'redneck' and 'hillbilly'," Stacy Kranitz reports for Vice. She said those involved in the series didn't want to focus on "mass media's view of Central Appalachia as a poverty-ridden region," but didn't want to ignore those traits either.

One story, "A Portrait of Coal Town on the Brink of Death," is a first-person narrative of Boone County, West Virginia. "Handley's Funeral Home buried most of my family," Jacob Knabb writes. "The stone structure sits on a corner lot near the terminus of Phipps Avenue, a couple miles downriver from my parents' house in Madison, W.Va., and right across the street from the old Bank of Danville building. The funeral business is one of the few that remain viable here in Danville—these days home to a smattering of churches and fast-food joints, a shocking number of for-sale signs, and not much else. But there are always going to be bodies to bury, grieving families to comfort, and so Handley's remains, its logo emblazoned on the menus a few blocks up Phipps at the Park Avenue Restaurant, on the fence at the Little League Ballpark in Madison, and on the press box perched above the football field where the Scott Skyhawks play."

Another story, "The Hard Times, Struggles, and Hopes of Addicts in Appalachia," looks at opiate addiction. "The opiate epidemic in Beckley, W.Va., is something that reveals itself quickly and casually—on the side of the road, in the parking lot at Walmart, in line at Taco Bell," writes Juliet Escoria, a Beckley resident. "Burnt bits of aluminum foil, paper packets that once held heroin. People nodding out, buying drugs on playgrounds, smoking heroin on the side of a busy road. It's worse on hot days, immediately after snowstorms, and especially on the first of the month, when paychecks and government benefits come through."

Other stories include: "What It Means to Be a 'Redneck' or a 'Hillbilly'"; "How Environmental Activists Are Fighting Back Against Pollution and Big Business in Appalachia"; and "Inside a Life-Saving Rural Clinic in Appalachia".

Kentucky Supreme Court to decide if anonymous Topix critics should be unmasked

Are anonymous posters on Topix protected by the First Amendment? Should posters be held accountable for slanderous accusations? If so, to what lengths should authorities go to uncover their identities? These are some of the questions that could be answered by the Kentucky Supreme Court in a case being heard this week in which an Eastern Kentucky lawyer and chairman of the airport board has sued two unknown posters who in 2013 called him a thief, embezzler and criminal, Andrew Wolfson reports for the Courier-Journal. The lawyer for the anonymous posters argues that "Topix has 'tremendous value' because critics in a small town can’t afford the repercussions of making their complaints publicly" and that the posters should not be unmasked.

"The case puts in the spotlight an Internet site—Topix.com—that proponents say allows small-town residents to keep local officials honest but others malign as a cesspool of character assassination and a corrosive influence on community life," Wolfson writes. "While the Palo Alto, Calif.-based site has slipped in popularity with the rise of Facebook and Twitter, it still claims to be the country's largest local forum site." Pikeville, Ky., the home of the plaintiff, has become the site's most heavily trafficked single forum, said Topix CEO Chris Tolles. "He said the site—which recently changed its emphasis to entertainment news—was always most popular in what he calls 'feud states,' with Kentucky, which once had 1 million page views a day, the 'highest by a country mile.'”

Al Cross, director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, which publishes The Rural Blog, "said the influence of Topix and similar sites has eroded with the rise of other social media," Wolfson writes. "But given that many newspapers in rural communities lack the resources and the backbone to tackle controversy, Topix sites provide unfiltered, anonymous criticism that can be healthy."

Some courts "have allowed the shield of anonymity to be pierced," including instances in Georgia and Texas where people where Topix was forced to identify users who anonymously people called pedophiles, drug addict or drug dealers, Wolfson writes. But in the Kentucky case, the plaintiff is a public figure. Tolles, who said Topix "supports defamation laws and complies with lawful subpoenas," told Wolfson that “politicians occupy a special place and should have a thicker skin,” especially if anonymous speech alleges “corruption or that they acted like a jerk.” (Read more)

Western culture and diet have caused explosion of obesity among rural children in China, says study

The U.S. has helped make rural children in China fat, according to a report published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology. Researchers blamed Western culture, such as sodas and video games, for the rate of obesity among rural boys increasing from 0.03 percent in 1985 to 17.2 percent in 2014. The rate for girls increased from 0.12 percent to 9.11 percent. The study examined 27,840 rural students aged 7-18 in Shandong Province. (Chart: Body mass index Z-scores).

Professor Joep Perk, cardiovascular prevention spokesperson for the European Society of Cardiology, told Science Daily, "This is extremely worrying. It is the worst explosion of childhood and adolescent obesity that I have ever seen. The study is large and well run, and cannot be ignored. China is set for an escalation of cardiovascular disease and diabetes, and the popularity of the western lifestyle will cost lives."

Researchers say the "traditional Chinese diet has shifted towards one that is high in fat and calories and low in fibre," reports Science Daily. "The authors speculated that boys are more overweight than girls because they are given preferential treatment," such as greater access to sodas high in sugar and video games that keep them inactive. Dr Ying-Xiu Zhang, leader of the investigation team at the Shandong Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, told Science Daily, "In China today, people eat more and are less physically active than they were in the past. ... This is a wake-up call for policymakers that rural China should not be neglected in obesity interventions. We need to educate children on healthy eating and physical activity, and monitor their weight to check if these efforts are making a difference." (Read more)

Georgia tax credit could help rural hospitals

Georgia Republican Gov. Nathan Deal Tuesday signed a bill that could help the state's struggling rural hospitals by allowing individuals and businesses to apply for tax credits for contributing to rural health, Dave Williams reports for Atlanta Business Chronicle. Five of the state's rural hospitals have closed since 2013 and 24.3 percent of Georgia's rural hospitals are at-risk, according to an October report by iVantage Health Analytics.

Individual taxpayers can "apply for a state income tax credit for either 70 percent of the amount of the contribution or $2,500, whichever is less," Williams writes. "Married couples filing jointly can get a tax credit for the lesser of 70 percent of the contribution or $5,000. For businesses, the tax credit is either 70 percent of the amount they contribute or 75 percent of their state income tax liability, whichever is less. The total price tag of the tax credits to the state is capped at $50 million in 2017, $60 million in 2018 and $70 million in 2019. The tax credits expire at the end of 2019." (iVantage map)

Rural-based yogurt firm to give employees a stake; some stand to get shares worth $1 million

Chobani, the nation's biggest yogurt seller, announced it will give its 2,000 full-time employees a stake in the company, basd in rural New Berlin, N.Y. (NYT photo by Alexandra Hootnick: Chobani owner Hamdi Ulukaya handing over stock to employees)

"Hamdi Ulukaya, the Turkish immigrant who founded Chobani in 2005, told workers at the company’s plant here in upstate New York that he would be giving them shares worth up to 10 percent of the company when it goes public or is sold," Stephanie Strom reports for The New York Times. "The goal, he said, is to pass along the wealth they have helped build in the decade since the company started. Chobani is now widely considered to be worth several billion dollars."
Ulukaya told reporters, “I’ve built something I never thought would be such a success, but I cannot think of Chobani being built without all these people. Now they’ll be working to build the company even more and building their future at the same time."

Shares were given based on tenure, Strom writes. "Two years ago, when Chobani received a loan from TPG Capital, a private equity firm, the company’s value was estimated at $3 billion to $5 billion. At the $3 billion valuation, the average employee payout would be $150,000. The earliest employees, though, will most likely be given many more shares, possibly worth over $1 million." Rich Lake, lead project manager at the plant, told Strom, “It’s better than a bonus or a raise. It’s the best thing because you’re getting a piece of this thing you helped build.” (Read more)

Ken Burns series on national parks repeats on PBS to celebrate National Park Service entennial

To help celebrate the National Park Service Centennial, PBS is rebroadcasting a six-part Ken Burns series on national parks. The series, "The National Parks: America's Best Idea," was filmed over six years at various parks. It is the "story of people: people from every conceivable background—rich and poor; famous and unknown; soldiers and scientists; natives and newcomers; idealists, artists and entrepreneurs; people who were willing to devote themselves to saving some precious portion of the land they loved, and in doing so reminded their fellow citizens of the full meaning of democracy," reports PBS. For more information or air times click here. The official 100th anniversary date is Aug. 25. There are 407 national parks in the U.S. To find a park click here.

Climate scientists create website to review accuracy of climate journalism

With all the misinformation floating around the internet about climate change, a group of climate scientists are trying to set the record straight with a website that reviews the credibility of climate journalism. Climate Feedback was created to bring "the expertise of the scientific community into the world of online climate coverage to provide readers and authors with in-situ feedback about the content’s scientific credibility," states the website. "Climate Feedback is a project born from the reality that we are at a critical moment in history, one in which important decisions about climate change must be made. It’s a project born from the understanding that in order for our democracies to choose the right courses of action, citizens must have access to scientifically accurate information. And it’s a project born from the belief that it’s the civic duty of scientific professionals to better inform their fellow citizens in their respective areas of expertise."

Studies have shown "that only about half the population in some countries with among the highest CO2 emissions per capita understand that human beings are the driving force of our changing climate," writes Daniel Nethery, associate editor of Climate Feedback, and Emmanuel Vincent, Climate Feedback founder, for The Guardian. "Even fewer people are aware of the scientific consensus on this question. We live in an information age, but the information isn’t getting through. How can this be?" (Climate Feedback graphic: Scientists’ comments and ratings appear as a layer over the article. Text annotated with hypothesis is highlighted in yellow in the web browser and scientists’ comments appear in a sidebar next to the article)

"While the internet puts information at our fingertips, it has also allowed misinformation to sow doubt and confusion in the minds of many of those whose opinions and votes will determine the future of the planet," Nethery and Vincent write. "And up to now scientists have been on the back foot in countering the spread of this misinformation and pointing the public to trustworthy sources of information on climate change."

"Climate Feedback intends to change that," Nethery and Vincent write. "It brings together a global network of scientists who use a new web-annotation platform to provide feedback on climate change reporting. Their comments, which bring context and insights from the latest research, and point out factual and logical errors where they exist, remain layered over the target article in the public domain. You can read them for yourself, right in your browser. The scientists also provide a score on a five-point scale to let you know whether the article is consistent with the science. For the first time, Climate Feedback allows you to check whether you can trust the latest breaking story on climate change." (Read more)

Washington county votes against legalized pot, setting up showdown between political leaders

Voters in rural Pierce County, Washington (Wikipedia map) voted Tuesday against marijuana sales, a move that could lead "the Pierce County Council to consider reinstating a ban on such businesses that is due to expire July 1," Brynn Grimley reports for The News Tribune of Tacoma. "The results of Tuesday’s vote are non-binding. That means the County Council could let stand its decision to lift its de facto ban, which doesn’t explicitly outlaw marijuana businesses but requires them to comply with federal law that prohibits marijuana sales. Or the council could reverse itself and cancel the ban’s expiration."

It could also set up a showdown with Pierce County Executive Pat McCarthy, who has opposed banning legal marijuana, Grimley writes. "If the council votes to reinstate the marijuana-business ban and McCarthy vetoes that action, the seven-member council could again override her veto" with five votes, which is unlikely with three Democrats on the council who have opposed the ban. (read more)

Political reporters for mainstream news outlets are out of touch with rural America, says author

Neal Gabler

Mainstream political reporters for urban-based media have grown out of touch with the rest of the nation, mainly because political journalists are white men in their 40s, while the rest of the U.S, including rural areas, is becoming more diverse, Neal Gabler writes for Moyers & Co.: "A country that is increasingly younger, darker and half female is being reported on by a press corps that is older, whiter and more male. A gaping demographic gulf separates the press from the people—a gulf that undoubtedly affects the kinds of stories chosen and the way in which they are covered."

"And there are other dredges that widen the gulf," he writes. "Although journalists are obviously scattered throughout the country, they are not geographically apportioned equally. As one might expect, the news centers are New York, Washington and, to a lesser extent, Los Angeles. Of the 40,000 journalists in America, nearly a quarter live in these three areas, which is staggering when you think about it, and which certainly skews the news coverage. It also seems to confirm the familiar gripe of middle America that media elites consider most of the country a fly-over from LA to NYC."

The Big Feet—the reporters and pundits who wield the most influence—are also the highest paid, which means many are disconnected with how the other half lives, Gabler writes. "It is very possible that reporters—especially the Big Feet—dismissed (Donald) Trump and (Bernie) Sanders because journalists couldn’t possibly fathom the deep, seething, often unspoken economic discontent that afflicts so many Americans and that has helped fuel both the Trump and Sanders movements. They couldn’t fathom it, perhaps, because they haven’t experienced it. I know because I have."

"When you put their geographical proximity together with their class solidarity, it is entirely likely that MSM reporters will huddle, the way most geographic and economic cohorts do," Gabler writes. "They are more likely to see the same things, attend the same parties and events, mingle with the same people, draw on the same sources and send their children to the same schools, which adds up to their seeing the world in similar ways and reporting the same stories in the same ways. In short, the MSM is not only an elite, it is a kind of economic and cultural clique. And that clique is not us."

Gabler is an author and senior fellow at the Lear Center for the Study of Entertainment and Society. (Read more)