Rural
Blog Archive April 2005
Issues,
trends, events, ideas and journalism from the Institute for Rural
Journalism and Community Issues
Friday, April 29, 2005
Kentuckians to pay more for
soaring Medicaid prescriptions to rein in costs
More than two-thirds of a million (685,000) elderly,
disabled and poor Kentucky Medicaid
recipients, will pay more for many prescriptions in another state
effort to rein in the soaring costs of the health care program.
The higher co-payment is designed to push people toward
the use of generic drugs, rather than more expensive brand names.
If generic drugs are used, the existing $1 per prescription co-payment
will not increase, writes
Mark Chellgren of The Associated Press. For brand
name drugs, the co-payment will be $3 per prescription. For brand
drugs that are on Kentucky's preferred list, designated because
of their effectiveness or special financial arrangements, the co-payment
will be $2. There will be a cap of $9 per month for charges on brand
name drugs, writes Chellgren. Medicaid Commissioner Shannon Turner
told Chellgren, "It's to make people look at the purchases
they're making."
Prescription drugs are the largest single cost in
the $4.5 billion annual Medicaid program, at least in Kentucky.
In most states, hospitalization or long-term care are the largest
Medicaid costs. Nationally, the average Medicaid patient gets around
11 prescriptions a year; in Kentucky, the average is 23. The co-payment
is waived for pregnant women, children to age 19, some minorities
and people who are in nursing homes and other institutions. Turner
said the higher co-payment may not make a huge difference, but even
a 5 percent savings would be significant. The increase is viewed
as a necessary evil in some quarters.
Ed Monahan, executive director of the Catholic
Conference of Kentucky, told AP, "This is a prudent
way to avoid having benefits or eligibility reduced." Pharmacists
will get to keep the co-payment, which can only be waived if the
pharmacy also waives co-payments for private insurance. As it stands,
however, pharmacists cannot unilaterally substitute a generic drug
if there is a brand name on the prescription. The higher charges
will take effect in late May or early June.
Hoosiers to sync-up on daylight-savings;
time zone dilemma to be studied
After decades of debate, discord, dissent, and division,
daylight-saving time is coming to all of Indiana for the first time
in more than 30 years.
The Indiana House yesterday passed by a five vote
margin the controversial issue, which has dominated hoosiers' daily
lives for the past four months as the legislature wrestled with
"father time," report
Mary Beth Schneider and Kevin Corcoran of The Indianapolis
Star.
"Gov. Mitch Daniels, who made passage of the
time change one of his top economic priorities, will sign the bill
soon so that on April 2, 2006, Hoosiers will join people in 47 other
states in turning their clocks ahead one hour," they write.
Some legislators argued the changes are needed to boost Indiana
in a global economy and erase the state's backward image. Others
called it an unnecessary intrusion in Hoosiers' lives.
Indiana's time zones remain the same. Opponents had
argued their state is a better fit in the Central time zone. The
state is to ask the U.S. Department of Transportation
to hold hearings on where the time zone boundary should fall. Currently,
82 Indiana counties are in the Eastern time zone, and 10 counties
in northwestern and southwestern Indiana are in the Central time
zone. The bill will validate five southeastern Indiana counties
that have been illegally observing daylight-saving time. (Blogger's
note: Your blogger worked in Indiana, way back, and recalls one
elderly woman's radio comments in opposition of DST, saying "the
extra hour of sunlight is killing my flowers.")
N. C. Senate passes measure
to curb meth labs; control key ingredients
Legislation to slow methamphetamine production throughout
North Carolina has moved a step closer to becoming a law. The Meth
Lab Prevention Act has cleared the state Senate by an overwhelming
vote.
State Attorney General Roy Cooper has pushed for the
law to fight the spread of meth labs by controlling sales of meth’s
key ingredient, writes
Lindsay Nash of The Asheville Citizen-Times, who
was the principal writer on a series the newspaper ran this week
entitled, "Meth: The Rural Plague."
Cooper told Nash, “These deadly drugs destroy
families and communities. We’ve got to pass this law now to
stop our meth lab problem from turning into a crisis.” The
measure would require tablet forms of common cold medicines containing
pseudoephedrine to be sold only from behind a pharmacy counter.
Wal-Mart, CVS Corp., Target Corp. and
Rite Aid have all said they will place the cold
medicines behind the counter. The law would require customers to
show photo identification to buy tablets containing pseudoephedrine.
Purchases would be limited to no more than 9 grams of pseudoephedrine
within 30 days without a prescription, writes Nash.
Meth production and addiction has soared in North
Carolina, where 243 labs were found last year, up from nine in 1999.
Since enacting similar legislation, Oklahoma has seen an 80 percent
drop in meth production. Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas
and Oregon also have passed bills patterned after the Oklahoma law.
Similar measures are under consideration in many other states, including
Western and Midwestern states, where meth lab busts total in the
thousands annually.
Minneapolis area robber targets
pharmacies for ‘Hill-billy heroin’ - OxyContin
A pharmacy bandit who has struck five times since
Feburary in the suburbs of Minneapolis - St. Paul, Minnesota demands
the same thing: OxyContin, the powerful and highly addictive prescription
painkiller dubbed "hillbilly heroin" for its widespread
abuse in Appalachia, reports
Jill Burcum of the Star Tribune.
Capt. Rob Bredsten of the Anoka County Sheriff's Office
told Burcum, "This is the first OxyContin serial robber that
I can recall. We've had other situations where pharmacies have been
robbed of other narcotic drugs but certainly nothing where it's
been this prolific and in this short amount of time."
Across the metro, pharmacists say they're worried
by the robberies and are taking steps to prevent being targeted,
Burcum writes. Wayne Jeffrey, owner of a pharmacy in a clinic in
Ramsey, a rapidly growing suburb bordering Anoka, told the Star
Tribune, "We're all a little uneasy." Steve Simenson,
managing partner of four pharmacy locations, told the newspaper
he has prepped his employees on what to do if the bandit strikes.
"All are aware that it's safety first."
So-called OxyContin robberies are nothing new in Minnesota
or across the nation, she writes. Soon after the drug's introduction
in 1996, its illicit use as a street drug became a problem, particularly
in Kentucky, West Virginia and Virginia, as well as rural Maine
and Florida, according the U.S.
Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
Work lacked proper permits
at West Virginia coal mine where explosion occurred
Contractors lacked proper safety permits at a McDowell
County, West Virginia abandoned underground coal mine where five
workers were hurt in a methane gas explosion April 19.
The project involved pumping water from a flooded
mine shaft next to a reclamation site to reprocess waste from an
adjacent coal refuse pile. But, the plans were never submitted to
regulatory agencies for methane testing or other safety measures,
reports
Ken Ward Jr. of The Charleston Gazette. Jesse Cole,
director of the U.S. Mine Safety
and Health Administration's district office in Mount
Hope, told Ward, "We didn't even know about that. No one contacted
us about that, or informed us it was going on."
The McDowell
County Economic Development Authority was using funds
from the federal Abandoned
Mine Land program to build a large landfill. Officials
wanted to clean up a 60-acre coal refuse pile, hire a contractor
to reprocess the usable coal, then use leftover debris to build
the landfill base
Reclamation officials last fall had told the state
Office of Miners' Health,
Safety and Training they wanted to enter the adjacent
underground mine. Agency Director Doug Conaway sent an inspector
to test for methane gas and oversee the unsealing of the shaft,
but the agency never heard from the company again. Last week, the
reclaiming company brought in a crane truck to help install a pump
in the mine shaft. On April 19, a spark from a welding torch ignited
the explosion. The workers, who were not identified, suffered arm
and facial burns. The DEP and U.S.
Office of Surface Mining are still reviewing the accident.
West Virginia could be home
to 'Mountain Music' Heritage Center
“Mountain Music” will have a home of tribute
in “The Mountain State” if a congressman from “Them
Thar Hills” is successful in his efforts.
"Tennessee has the Country
Music Hall of Fame. Kentucky's got the International
Bluegrass Music Museum. And if U.S. Rep. Nick Rahall
gets his way, southern West Virginia will someday be home to the
Appalachian Mountain Music Hall of Fame,"
writes
Vicki Smith of The Associated Press.
What "mountain music" is depends on who's
talking. It can be bluegrass or blues, string band or Swiss, gospel
or guitar. Those who study it say it's a little bit country and
a whole lot of soul, Smith writes. The Rev. Thomas Acker, who will
be part of a year-long effort to document the state's musical culture
and history, then shape the vision for a regional music heritage
center, told Smith, "I would like to call mountain music that
which originates in the mountains, whatever nature it may be."
Acker is a past president of Wheeling
Jesuit University who's now with non-profit economic
development group, Forward Southern West Virginia.
Initial research will be done by the West
Virginia Humanities Council with a $97,000 federal
grant obtained by Rahall, D-W.Va., whose district includes southern
West Virginia. Rahall says the hope is to build a tourist attraction
in the Beckley area, possibly featuring a concert hall, exhibits
and access to historical documents, photographs and recordings.
For more on "Mountain Music" from The Augusta
Heritage Center at Davis & Elkins College
click here.
Kentucky-based coal group files
for IPO; acquired bankrupt Horizon assets
International Coal Group Inc. has
registered for an initial public offering of up to $250 million
in common stock, according to a filing with the Securities
and Exchange Commission.
The Ashland, Kentucky-based company is a producer
of coal in Northern and Central Appalachia, with a range of low
sulfur steam and metallurgical coal. It was organized by WL
Ross & Co. in October 2004 to acquire the main assets
of bankrupt Horizon
Natural Resources Co., reports
The Associated Press. That bankruptcy resulted
in the loss of health and retirement benefits to hundreds of coal
miners.
Details about the number of shares offered and estimated
price range for the offering weren't disclosed in Thursday's filing.
The company said it will use $174.6 million of the net proceeds
from the offering to repay its term loan facility and the remaining
proceeds to further reduce debt or for general corporate purposes.
UBS Investment Bank and Lehman Brothers
were listed as underwriters for the offering, writes AP.
The company said it plans to list its shares of common
stock on The New York Stock Exchange under the
symbol "ICO." The $250 million valuation for the offering
was estimated solely for calculating the registration fee, the filing
said. Often, the eventual price terms of an offering differ substantially
from the valuation in the first registration, they write.
Ashland Inc. revises $3.7 billion
gasoline refining business deal with Marathon Oil
Ashland Inc. and
its shareholders would reap an extra $700 million in a revised deal
to sell off its minority interest in Marathon
Ashland Petroleum LLC
to partner Marathon Oil Corp.
in a $3.7 billion cash and stock transaction.
Covington, Ky.-based Ashland owns 38 percent of MAP,
the nation's fifth-largest gasoline refiner and marketer. Houston-based
Marathon owns the rest, reports
Bruce Schreiner of The Associated Press. Ashland's
top executive, James J. O'Brien, chairman and chief executive, said
in a conference call with industry analysts the amended deal marked
a new era for Ashland as it focuses on chemical and road construction
businesses while shedding its refiningand marketing operations.
Ashland's shares rose by 97 cents, or 1.5 percent, to close at $65.07
in trading Thursday on the New York
Stock Exchange.
Sponsors urge Congress to enact
reporter's shield law; confident of passage
Allowing a free press to report on government activities
without fear of being compelled to reveal sources and protecting
whistleblowers who disclose wrongdoing would benefit the public,
four members of Congress said today in urging their colleagues to
support reporter's shield bills currently before both houses, writes
the Reporters Committee for Freedom
of the Press.
Reps. Rick Boucher (D-Va.) and Mike Pence (R-Ind.)
and Sens. Chris Dodd D-Conn.) and Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) reiterated
their support for the bills at a press conference yesterday on Capitol
Hill. Stressing the bipartisan effort, the four said they are confident
a shield law will pass. A House committee hearing on the bill is
scheduled for May 12, and one is expected soon in the Senate, reports
the RCFP.
Lawmakers told the RCFP talks with the White House
and Department of Justice have been "constructive." The
Justice Department's position is important because law enforcement
officials often believe shield laws interfere with criminal prosecutions.
The department has declined comment on the bill.
Colorado newspaper launches
web-based civic journalism intiative
This May, the Rocky Mountain News
will launch YourHub.com, one of the largest civic
journalism initiatives with 40 neighborhood Web sites and 15 zoned
print editions.
Anyone can post what they want on the neighborhood
sites, so long as it’s not obscene or offensive, and some
content will be reused for the print section for subscribers of
the Rocky and the Denver Post. YourHub sites will
also link to stories from any news source that carries a story relevant
to the neighborhood, reports
Graham Webster of Editor & Publisher.
It will compete with The Daily Camera’s
community Web site at mytown.dailycamera.com.
Ad sales teams will divide the 39 Web sites and the 15 print editions
into 10 advertising zones, to compete with other community papers
like the weekly Canyon Courier in Evergreen.
Two KBA stations win Crystal
Radio award for commitment to communities
The National
Association of Broadcasters awarded WUGO in
Grayson, Ky., and WCMT-AM in Martin, Tenn., the
Crystal
Radio Award their outstanding commitment to community service.
The ten Crystal winners were picked from 50 finalists and recognized
at the Radio Luncheon during the NAB’s convention. They will
be further honored at the Service to America Summit in
Washington, D.C. this June.
WUGO in Grayson, with station manager Francis Nash,
is winning its third Crystal Award, something only seven other stations
have achieved. WCMT, with station manager Paul Tinkle, is part of
the Kentucky Broadcasters Association, along with WUGO, and the
Tennessee Broadcaster’s Association.
PEER condemns U.S. Fish &
Wildlife Service regarding Everglades development
Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility
criticized
the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service for changing
its position on development in the Everglades area of Florida.
In February 2001, the service objected to development
proposals in southwest Florida, expressing alarm at “the trend
in wetland habitat loss and its contribution to significant degradation
of aquatic ecosystems,” according to PEER’s records.
The service focused on 24 proposals and 15 other projects where
the service had already voiced objections. It cited that there had
been on cumulative assessment of all the projects’ combined
impact on the environment, there was improper mitigation and there
had been no analysis of alternatives for the development.
But four years later, the objections have disappeared,
PEER says. “Four years after sounding the alarm, the Fish
& Wildlife Service has fallen through the political looking
glass and now defends what it once condemned,” said PEER Executive
Director Jeff Ruch. “The very same projects that the Service
cited for exacerbating environmental problems are now proceeding
without a hitch, despite the irreversible problems they will cause.”
Rural Va. county dealing with
cat-astrophe; colony of out-cats thriving for years
They call it “Cat City.” Scattered in
the woods behind a well-traveled stretch of road in suburban western
Henrico County sits a colony of more than two dozen so-called "feral-cat
houses," where numerous out-cats have mysteriously thrived
for eight years.
"Mostly cardboard boxes covered by plastic trash
bags, the cat homes are behind a shopping center," writes
Meredith Bonny of the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
The humane society has been called and county officials are investigating
the problem. County Supervisor Patricia S. O'Bannon, told Bonny,
"It is very difficult when someone (who is feeding them) is
absolutely dedicated to something like this and continues to do
something that is not in the best interest of everyone."
Some say the cat habitat is a nuisance and is on a
utility easement between a shopping center and a nearby neighborhood.
The shopping center is home to a few restaurants, a beauty salon
and a pet-grooming boutique. An official told the newspaper thy've
posted no-trespassing signs and used night surveillance to deal
with the problem," and that sent letters have been sent to
people suspected of feeding the animals.
One nonprofit group in Richmond, called Operation
Catnip, operates a high-volume, no-charge clinic where
feral and stray cats are spayed or neutered and vaccinated. All
cats have the tip of their left ear cropped, which identifies the
cat as sterilized, according to the group's Website.
There are no clear indications, however, whether the people caring
for the animals in Cat City are affiliated with Operation Catnip.
Two cats were seen by a Times-Dispatch reporter near the colony
but ran away when the reporter approached them. (Cats and politicians
share the same skittishness.)
JOURNALISM HISTORY FOOTNOTE: On this
date
in history, William Randolph Hearst was born.
RURAL CALENDAR
May 4:
Deadline for journalists to apply for national rural-issues conference
One week remains for
journalists to apply for sponsored attendance at Rural
America, Community Issues,
a conference to be held June 12-17 at the Knight Center for Specialized Journalism at the University of Maryland, College Park. The Knight Center is offering fellowships for this
in-depth seminar, programmed by the Institute for Rural Journalism
and Community Issues. Speakers will be experts from top research
institutions, government, business and the media. Attendees will
gain valuable sources and engage in thought-provoking discussions
with other reporters, editors and opinion writers from around the
country.
Confirmed sessions and speakers include: Dee Davis, president, Center for Rural Strategies;
Charles Fluharty, director, Rural Policy Research Institute; Mark Drabenstott, Center for the Study of Rural
America, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City;
Calvin Beale, senior demographer, Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture; experts on the
perceptions and politics of rural America; Hilda Heady, president, National Rural Health
Association; Alan Richard, Education Week writer who
covers rural schools; Sharon Strover, University of Texas at Austin, expert on rural broadband; Ken Stone, professor of economics, Iowa State University and student of the Wal-Marting of America; David Freshwater, agricultural economist, University
of Kentucky; Deb Flemming, former editor, Mankato Free Press;
Tom and Pat Gish, publishers of The Mountain Eagle
of Whitesburg, Ky. ; Al Smith, former editor and publisher of weeklies in
Kentucky and Tennessee; Tom McDonald, general manager of the Las
Vegas (N.M.) Optic and former editor of
the Pine Bluff Commercial; and Bill Bishop of the
Austin American-Statesman. Also, a Washington field trip will explore the roles of federal and state governments, and
the interests that lobby them, in rural issues.We will talk to policymakers,
big thinkers and detail folks.
Knight Center fellowships cover all seminar costs,
including reference materials, hotel lodging, meals and a travel
subsidy. The travel subsidy is a reimbursement of half the cost
of travel up to a maximum subsidy of $300. The deadline for receipt of applications
is May 4. To apply, send three copies of each of the following materials,
organized into sets: A resume, including contact information
at work; a statement of up to 500 words giving the reasons for applying; a supervisor's strong nominating letter that also agrees
to pay partial travel costs to and from the seminar and salary during
the seminar (freelancers send a letter of recommendation from an
editor); and three published articles (editors may send edited work, broadcasters send one CD,
audiotape or VHS videotape). Send applications so that they will be received by May 4
to: Carol Horner, Director, Knight Center for Specialized Journalism, University
of Maryland, 1117 Cole Field House, College Park, MD 20742-1024. Contact the Knight Center at 301/405-4817.
May 18: Editors
training program deadline fast approaching
The registration deadline for APMe NewsTrain’s
training program is approaching. Register by May 1 to participate
in the program at Indiana University Southeast
in New Albany, Ind., designed to help frontline editors develop
editing and management skills. The program is sponsored by The
Associated Press Managing Editors and receives funding
from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
Local partners include The Courier Journal, The
Associated Press, Indiana University Southeast, the Kentucky
Press Association and The News-Enterprise
of Elizabethtown, Ky.
June
11: Spots open in journalism workshop on children and farm safety
There are still openings in the 2nd journalism workshop,
titled “Kids on Farms: Telling the Story in Cooperstown, NY,”
from June 11-12. The workshop will cover all expenses and pay a
stipend to each participant. For more information, visit this website,
or contact Christian L. Hanna, MPH, of the National Children’s
Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety, 1000
N. Oak Ave. in Mashfield, Wisc., 54449. Her phone number is (715)
389-3116 and email hanna.chris@mcrf.mfldclin.edu.
Thursday, April 28, 2005
Think tank says nation’s
policy makers out of step with rapid rural growth
A new study by SRI International,
A Menlo Park, California – based think tank says America's
rural areas are growing faster than government policy makers can
keep up.
Pat Conway, president of the Federal
Home Loan Bank of Des Moines, which paid for the study,
told
the Silicon Valley / San Jose Business
Journal, "It is time for a fresh start in formulating
strategies to strengthen rural America ...it is important we support
and stimulate economic growth in rural America. The study can serve
as a framework to develop new strategies." For a related story
from The Des Moines Register, click here.
The study's authors suggest a renewed, stronger focus
on assets and opportunities for rural America to reclaim its prosperity,
writes the Business Journal. The study also identifies policy and
program steps that can be taken to enable economic growth in rural
areas, including consolidating multiple programs, avoiding duplication
and making them easier to find and use; greater flexibility in terms
of assistance and timeframes, and co-investment by rural communities,
businesses, and institutions.
On the whole, rural America has several assets on
which to build, the study says. These include steadily improving
education achievement, low cost of doing business, high quality
of life, and increasingly high levels of entrepreneurship and small
business development. Liabilities faced by rural areas include declining
population, difficulty retaining educated residents, and lack of
employment opportunities, particularly in growing economic sectors,
they write.
The Business journal reports that while rural America
is moving toward a more diverse economy and agriculture is declining
in its share of that economy, the study shows the bulk of federal
support remains primarily in direct subsidies to agriculture. Thirty
percent of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's 2003 budget was
allocated to agricultural subsidies while rural development accounted
for 3.5 percent of the budget. The full study is available on the
SRI Website.
Congressional action could
threaten local-government broadband projects
In rewriting federal law on telecommunications, Congress
could make it more difficult for local and state governments to
get into the business of providing high-speed broadband Internet
service, which could limit the accessibility and affordability of
the service in small towns and rural areas.
"Internet services are inherently interstate
in nature," said Rep. Fred Upton, R.-Mich., chairman of the
Telecommunications and the Internet Subcommittee of the House Energy
and Commerce Committee, "Federal jurisdiction -- and a unified
federal broadband policy -- trumps state jurisdiction." Upton
said the hearing, the panel’s fourth on Internet services,
is the last: “At the close of this hearing it is my goal to
legislate along these lines."
That approach worries representatives of local governments
and public utilities, several of whom testified at the hearing.
"Many benefits accrue from community-owned communications systems
including lower prices for consumers, increased competitiveness
in the marketplace, responsiveness to local needs, universal access
and economic development," said Lewis Billings, mayor of Provo,
Utah, which has a city-run electric utility.
Billings spoke on behalf of the American Public
Power Association, reports
Drew Clark of National Journal’s Technology Update
(subscription required). “Billings said 600 of the country's
2,000 public power systems provide some sort of broadband access
over fiber wires, power lines, wireless or a hybrid of fiber and
coaxial cables,” Clark writes. “Billings criticized
cable and telecommunications companies for opposing municipal broadband,
and said that Provo had built a municipal fiber network because
of inadequate broadband in Utah. He cited support for municipal
broadband from Intel Corp., the High Tech Broadband Coalition and
the Consumer Federation of America.”
Arvada, Colo., Mayor Kenneth Fellman, speaking for
the National Association of Telecommunications Officers
and Advisers, county officials who draft cable franchise
agreements, asked the subcommittee to “take a deliberative
approach and ensure that any new regulatory regime respects social
obligations of service providers.” Fellman was “particularly
concerned about what he called ‘economic redlining,’
which involves directing services or products at only the most affluent
customers," Clark reports, quoting him: “One of the primary
interests of local government is to ensure that services provided
over the cable system are made available to all residential subscribers
in a reasonable period of time.”
John Perkins, president of the National Association
of State Utility Advocates, said federal preemption of
state Internet telephone regulation might jeopardize public safety
through access to 911 services, Clark reports. “Dissenting
somewhat was Charles Davidson, a state utility commissioner in Florida,
who said consumers would benefit from competition between cable,
telecom and other companies, saying, "A patchwork of rules
will deter some from entering this market."
Rural Virginia tourism: Small,
but growing fast where bucolic is beatified
Virginia Tourism Corporation
officials say rural areas of the state, especially in the southwest,
that offer winding trails, bluegrass music and wine-tasting have
become some of the state's fastest-growing attractions.
Alisa Bailey, president of the VTC, said recently
at the Governor's Conference on Tourism held in Richmond, "Visitors
from afar are drawn by the image of Main Street America, the old-fashioned,
wave-to-your-neighbor place that doesn't exist in many cities —
but does in parts of Virginia," writes
Dionne Walker of The Associated Press.
The rapid growth of these small attractions follows
a national trend of city dwellers seeking relaxing, country getaways.
Many of these tourists prefer to blend their vacations with activities
like wine tastings and spa treatments, and flock to rural Virginia
areas rich in culture, fine dining and recreation, writes Walker.
Southwestern Virginia has responded with "The
Crooked Road," a 250-mile trail highlighting eight
country music landmarks. Matt Bolas, vice president of the Bristol
Convention and Visitors Bureau told Walker the one-year-old
trail has drawn international tourists, boosting the region's economy.
Bolas told the wire service they are expecting 60,000 trail visitors
within the next year. Steve Galyean, director of tourism with the
Abingdon Convention and
Visitors Bureau, said attendance numbers at trail attractions
are growing. The Barter
Theatre, for instance, saw 155,000 visitors last year,
up 25,000 from 2003. But, historic attractions like Colonial
Williamsburg and Mount
Vernon are grappling with fewer visitors. Kat Imhoff,
a vice president at Monticello in Charlottesville, said annual attendance
there hasn't cracked 500,000 in nearly three years. Bailey said
tourists appear to be bored with static history.
For a story by Izak Howell of the Roanoke
Times on that southwest Virginia city's learning from
Asheville, N.C. in an effort to greater capitalize on growing Appalachian
Trail tourism, click here.
Roanoke is trying to boost its business while Asheville, with its
Bilmore Estates, among other attractions, has seen exponential growth
it its area tourism. Click here
for a story by Greg Kocher of the Lexington Herald-Leader
on Nicholasville, Ky.'s efforts to boost tourism business.
Summit says not enough beds
for recovering meth addicts in West Virginia
There are few resources available to help recovering
methamphetamine addicts in West Virginia, according to a Charleston,
W.V. summit, Building a Meth-Free Community.
Addicts have no resources in prison and few beds in
treatment facilities outside of prison, reported Dan Heyman of West
Virginia Public Broadcasting. There are no resources available
for women, though they just opened a 10-bed unit in Charleston,
said Larry Bryson, Team Agape Inc., a faith-based
group. To listen to the report, click here.
Best way to get from here to
there is by air, says Dakota-based flying service
Point2Point
Airways, a new, on-demand charter service designed
to appeal to business travelers who are hundreds of miles away from
a major hub airport, is attracting a lot of attention from business
people who have to travel a lot in highly rural areas.
"Some industry insiders liken Point2Point to
an air taxi service, because the trips will begin and end when the
passengers want to fly. The Bismarck, North Dakota - based firm
will charge businesses about $350 an hour for Midwest flights, and
it is asking companies to buy flight time in blocks, which they
can use over a 12-month period, writes
Liz Fedor of The Star Tribune of Minneapolis, Minn.
With Point2Point, business trips that took a day or two will be
done in half that time or less, say supporters.
John Boehle, a Grand Forks-based consultant, told
Fedor, "We have pre-sold time aboard the first two aircraft."
Point2Point will operate single-engine planes that seat a pilot
and three passengers cruise at 210 mph and have a range of 800 nautical
miles. Point2Point expects to operate with five Cirrus planes during
its first year of operations and expand to 15 planes in year two,
writes Fedor. Passenger revenue for the first 12 months is projected
to be $646,000 and $22 million by year five, she writes.
AEP in talks to settle clean
air violation lawsuits; nation's largest power generator
American Electric Power
is in talks to settle a nearly 6-year-old lawsuit accusing
the nation's largest power generator of violating Clear Air Act
rules by not installing modern pollution controls at nine plants,
the company's top executive said.
AEP president and chief executive Michael Morris told
The Columbus Dispatch,
"We continue to believe that we did not violate"
the law, reports
The Associated Press. Columbus Dispatch story
requires registration. The
Justice Department sued AEP and several other utilities
in 1999 over accusations dozens of coal burning power plants in
the Midwest spewed dirty air that caused smog and health problems
across the Northeast. The government claimed the utilities made
physical changes to their plants without upgrading pollution controls.
AEP's case involving nine plants in Ohio, West Virginia,
Virginia and Indiana is set to go to trial on June 6 in Columbus
before U.S. District Judge Edmund Sargus. Morris told Columbus Dispatch
reporter Ken Stammen that AEP has participated in meetings at the
request of Sargus, but is ready to go to trial. Ben Porritt, a spokesman
for the Justice Department, told the newspaper both sides are prohibited
from talking about the status of negotiations. Last month, Akron-based
FirstEnergy Corp.
agreed to pay $1.1 billion in fines and cleanup costs at four power
plants in the second-largest federal settlement with an electric
utility over air pollution. AEP has about 5 million customers in
11 states.
Kentucky county's residents
'guaranteed' to get hundreds of new jobs
At least 320 new jobs are coming to Knox County, Kentucky
as an existing business expands and a brand new one moves into the
county.
Pearson Government Solutions, located
in Corbin, will be adding 120 new jobs through an expanded federal
contract, according to Deputy Judge-Executive Bruce Murphy, writes
Melissa Newman of The Times-Tribune in Corbin.
The Knox Fiscal Court is offering a tax incentive program to Pearson
if they assure the fiscal court all 120 new jobs will be held for
Knox County residents only and the work will last at least one year.
The incentive package states if all criteria is met, then the 1
percent occupational tax paid by Pearson will be refunded to them
after one year. The median salary for this particular contract is
$10 per hour per employee, writes Newman.
Knox County Judge-Executive Raymond Smith said Pearson
assured the fiscal court there would be an accounting of all personnel
for this particular contract to ensure all those obtaining the jobs
are from Knox County. The total incentive package will cost the
county about $20,000. Smith told Newman if Pearson hires even one
person out of the120 not from Knox County or if they keep the employees
for 11 months instead of the full 12, they don't get the incentive.
Smith told the newspaper the reason for the absoluteness terms of
the incentives offered has to do with companies finding loopholes
to gain tax incentives, and not entirely following the rules of
the agreement, she writes.
Health-care journalists hire
new exec, move base to his current home at Mizzou
Len Bruzzese has a new employer in journalism but
has managed to do it without moving. He is the new executive director
of the Association of Health
Care Journalists, which is moving from the University
of Minnesota to the University
of Missouri – longtime base of Investigative
Reporters and Editors, of which Bruzzese is deputy director. He
will start his new job July 1.
AHCJ has a Center
for Excellence in Health Care Journalism, which will
also be joining several other professional organizations housed
at Missouri. They include the Society
of American Business Editors and Writers, the National
Newspaper Association, the Journalism
and Women Symposium, and the National Institute for
Computer-Assisted Reporting, which works closely with IRE.
“Health care is one of the fastest growing specialties
in journalism,”' Bruzzese said. “I'm excited to be part
of AHCJ's efforts to educate journalists, advocate on their behalf
and, ultimately, better serve the general public.” AHCJ is
a nonprofit membership organization dedicated to advancing public
understanding of health care issues. Its mission is to improve the
quality, accuracy and visibility of health care reporting, writing
and editing. The Center for Excellence in Health Care Journalism
focuses on training to cover all aspects of health care, including
business issues, public policy, medical research, medical practice,
consumer health issues, public health, health law and ethics. More
information about AHCJ and CEHCJ click here.
Bruzzese, 47, has spent the past seven years working
at IRE and teaching at the UM School of Journalism. As IRE's deputy
director, he helped manage programs and services for the 5,000-member
group, which builds membership mainly through conference registration
fees. Bruzzese co-authored the fourth edition of The Investigative
Reporter's Handbook and edited 10 other books while at IRE. Previously,
he held editing, reporting and management positions with newspapers
and wire services, including The Olympian in Olympia,
Wash., the Pensacola (Fla.) News Journal,
The Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Miss., USA
Today and Gannett News Service. He is
a graduate of the University of Alabama
at Birmingham.
NCBA
appealing ruling that mad-cow disease has “genuine risk of
death”
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association,
along with the American Farm Bureau Federation
and many cattle organizations, cattlemen, farm bureaus and the National
Pork Producers Council, filed a “friend of the court”
brief to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Their concern is with
the ruling that Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, known as mad-cow
disease, poses “genuine risk of death” for consumers.
NCBA President-Elect Mike John said
the ruling was “a far cry from sound science,” and that
the group’s priority is to re-open the Asian beef market.
“BSE experts from the World Organization for Animal
Health agree that BSE is not a public health or herd health
risk when key firewalls are in place to protect consumers and cattle,
even when a case of BSE is found. The United States has these firewalls
in place, as does Canada,” John said in a press release on
the group’s website.
Pikeville wants
A&E apology; also working with U of L
on health research
While Pikeville, Ky. residents concerned about the city's image
are demanding an apology from the A&E
television network after an "unflattering and unfair"
episode of City
Confidential, the city's largest private employer wants
the University of Louisville to build a medical
research center there to help them diversify a local economy once
dominated by coal.
City Manager Donovan Blackburn wrote in a letter to
the A&E network, "Obviously, being labeled the town from
hell can not be interpreted in any way as positive," Blackburn
told
Roger Alford of The Associated Press. The documentary
revolved around murders committed by a group of occultists who lived
in the area. The show delved into the 1997 kidnappings and murders
of a Tennessee couple and their 6-year-old daughter by six Eastern
Kentuckians now serving life prison sentences. The couple's 2-year-old
son also was kidnapped and shot, but survived.
A&E said, "It was not the intention of A&E
Network to malign the town of Pikeville, but rather to examine it
through the eyes of people who live in that community and who were
affected by the particular case we were profiling," writes
Alford.
Meanwhile, Alan Maimon of The Courier Journal
writes,
"Pikeville Medical Development Corp., a subsidiary of Pikeville
Medical Center, with about 1,300 employees, will apply
for grants, seek donations and oversee plans for the research facility
and other projects."
Walter May, president of Pikeville Medical Center,
told the Louisville newspaper, "Health care is a real impetus
for economic development ...It's more important than the coal industry
now." May has met with U of L President James Ramsey. He also
plans to discuss the idea with the University of Kentucky.
The corporation wants to develop collaborative research projects,
obtain funding for expansion of programs at the Pikeville hospital
and encourage private companies to locate in Eastern Kentucky. Plans
for the center are still in the early stages. Pike County Judge-Executive
William Deskins said the potential partnerships represent a great
opportunity for the county, Maimon writes.
Mountain murders: Same gun
used in two murders 38 years apart, same place
The same gun used in the murder of an award-winning
Canadian filmmaker in Letcher County, Kentucky in 1967 turned out
to be the weapon used in another murder in the same community in
2003, reports The Associated Press.
A Letcher County jury convicted Kathy Walters-Williams,
48, of Jeremiah, of the murder of Forest Caudill in November 2003.
Prosecutors said Walters-Williams approached Caudill, 19, and without
provocation killed him, writes AP from a story reported in The
Mountain Eagle of Whitesburg. (no website)
Both shootings occurred on property that once belonged
to the late Hobart Ison, who in March 1969 pleaded guilty to voluntary
manslaughter in the death of Montreal filmmaker Hugh O'Connor, killed
in September 1967. Whitesburg filmmaker Elizabeth Barret, who produced
the film "Stranger With a Camera" in 2000 about the shooting
of O'Connor, said it seemed strange the same gun would have been
used in two fatal shootings on the same property.
Police found the gun hidden under a rock on the top
of a mountain about five miles away from where Caudill, and years
earlier, O'Connor, were killed. The gun was soaked in motor oil
to prevent laboratory technicians from recovering fingerprints.
Jeremiah resident Begie "Moose" Breeding Jr. told The
Mountain Eagle his family took ownership of the gun after Ison pleaded
guilty to manslaughter on March 24, 1969, AP writes.
Breeding said the gun was given to his family by the
Letcher County Sheriff's Department and placed in a safety deposit
box in the Bank of Whitesburg. He said the gun remained in the bank
until he took it out while Appalshop was filming "Stranger
With a Camera," reports the wire service.
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
U.S. slides in broadband penetration;
other countries encouraging competition
The United States lags behind the rest of the world
regarding broadband Internet service, with countries like Norway,
Israel and Finland now surpassing the nation in broadband penetration
for the first time.
Getting broadband service has been especially difficult
for rural areas, which are usually outside the existing networks
for major telecommunications companies. Business Week
reports
that it’s expensive to expand the networks in a country as
large as the United States. “About 20 percent of the U.S.
has no way to get broadband Net access, and 5 percent to 10 percent
more only have one choice: Their local cable-TV provider. Makes
sense then, that while the U.S. ranks 11th in total broadband penetration,
it ranks 23rd in DSL use,” BusinessWeek reports.
Some telecommunications officials have attributed
the slide to the lack of competition in the marketplace and the
absence of any public policy to promote broadband Internet, reports
Drew Clark of the National Journal’s Technology
Daily. Critics say the broadband market has thrived in Canada and
France because the countries have encouraged competition. “If
cable companies were forced to open up their lines, over-night 80
percent of the U.S. would have more than one broadband supplier
to choose from,” writes BusinessWeek. “Theoretically
at least, that would drive down prices and force companies to offer
enticing service packages like phone and TV delivered via the Web.”
Another issue, playing out at the state level: Legislation
that keeps local governments from getting into the broadband business.
This and other topics will be the subject of a session at a national
seminar on rural issues June 12-17 at the Knight Center for Specialized
Journalism at the University of Maryland. For more information,
click here.
Virginia Republicans join ranks
of those seeking waivers of 'No Child' rules
Two Virginia Republicans have introduced legislation
that would let the Old Dominion get a broad waiver from key accountability
provisions of President Bush’s education overhaul, the No
Child Left Behind law.
Former governor, now Sen. George Allen and 6th District
Rep. Robert W. Goodlatte introduced the bills, writes
Peter Hardin of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, to
pave the way for states like Virginia to get waivers from the federal
formula used to determine whether a school or school district is
making "adequate yearly progress." Allen said Virginia's
own Standards of Learning program has proved "clearly successful,
yet aspects of the federal No Child Left Behind law are confusing
parents and undermining the progress of our high academic standards
and accountability in Virginia." Goodlatte said their legislation
"gives states with strong accountability standards, like Virginia,
the additional flexibility they deserve," writes Hardin.
A spoeksman for Democratic Gov. Mark R. Warner said
the chief executive "has been vocal for some time about the
need for the federal government to provide more flexibility."
At the National Education Association,
lobbyist Joel Packer told Hardin Allen's bill offered "a key
political sign bipartisan opposition is increasing to the No Child
law as it's currently worded."
ENERGY
‘More modest’ national
energy plan includes 'clean coal' and liquefied gas
The White House said last night that President Bush
will unveil five modest proposals today encouraging production and
use of domestic energy sources, including nuclear power and cleaner-burning
coal and diesel.
Prompted by record high gasoline prices, “Bush
plans to renew his push for a broad energy proposal in a speech
today and present the new measures in an effort to ease concerns
about the supply and cost of energy. White House officials released
the details to reporters under the condition that their names not
be used,” writes
Jim VandeHei of The Washington Post.
The newspaper reports that Bush plans to request clear
federal authority over the siting of new liquefied natural gas (LNG)
terminals, as a way to speed up the completion of 32 new terminals.
A White House official told The Post confusion over federal authority
in the process is slowing expansion. Finally, Bush plans to ask
Congress to expand the tax credit that applies to hybrid and fuel-cell-powered
vehicles to also cover clean diesel and encourage other countries
to help promote clean coal and nuclear power, writes VandeHei.
Officials admitted early the new plan would not immediately
bring down gasoline prices. Proposals include a mix of incentives
and regulatory changes, mainly to encourage the construction of
new production facilities, which the White House plans to weave
into the energy bill now making its way through Congress. Bush will
call for federal risk insurance to "reduce the uncertainty"
for companies wishing to build nuclear plants, VandeHei writes.
The president plans to prod federal agencies to work with communities
to encourage the construction of new refineries at closed military
bases. Because of the cost of building new refineries, most companies
have chosen to expand production at current sites instead of building
new ones, he writes.
Wind energy industry boosting
its projected numbers, creating new jobs
It looks like the U.S. wind energy industry may shatter
its previous record for the number of projects installed, helping
to create clean power and new jobs across America, the American
Wind Energy Association said
on its website. Reporters and editors interested in seeing if
any of the proposed projects are in or near their state can check
the AWEA’s website here
to get a state-by-state list.
The trade group nudged its 2005 forecast from about
2,000 megawatts of energy to about 2,500 megawatts, based on survey
results of wind turbine manufacturer plants. One megawatt of wind
energy generates enough electricity for 250-300 households, the
group said.
Pennyslvania Gov. Edward Rendell announced earlier
this year that the Spanish wind turbine maker, Gamesa, will build
a turbine blade manufacturing plant in the state. The company's
activities in the state are expected to create 1,000 jobs over the
next five years. Blade manufacturer LM Glasfiber also created 100
new jobs in North Dakota and Vestas-American Wind Technology is
advertising 100 new positions.
"More states are looking seriously at wind energy
these days as an engine of economic development, and what they are
seeing confirms a major study released last fall by the Renewable
Energy Policy Project," said AWEA executive director
Randall Swisher. "It reported that boosting wind energy from
6,000 MW to 50,000 MW nationwide would create 150,000 manufacturing
jobs."
Unmined minerals lawsuit settled;
should increase Ky. tax receipts, says lawyer
A disagreement over how Kentucky should assess coal
still in the ground for property taxes has been put to rest after
more than 20 years.
The agreement lays out guidelines the Kentucky
Revenue Department must use to make the assessments,
which are then used to levy property taxes by the state and various
local taxing districts, reports
The Associated Press. The first lawsuit on the
topic was filed in federal court, but moved in Franklin County Circuit
Court in 1988. It was filed by the Kentucky Fair Tax Coalition,
the predecessor to Kentuckians for
the Commonwealth.
The most dramatic change in the assessment program
came in 1994, when the General Assembly assigned the task to the
Revenue Department instead of county property valuation administrators.
Lexington lawyer Joe Childers, who claims 22 years on the case,
said the ruling should result in higher assessments and therefore
greater tax receipts.
Farmers, property owners protest
high voltage power-line proposal
Propoerty owners in northern Anderson County, Kentucky,
are angry over Kentucky
Utilities Co. 's plans to erect a new high-voltage
transmission line across their farms.
Fifty people attended a public meeting at an elementary
school last night to learn more about the proposed transmission
line, and to voice their displeasure. KU says the line is needed
to serve its customers in the future and to keep pace with demand,
writes
Greg Kocher of the Lexington Herald-Leader.
David Mountjoy, who lives north of Lawrenceburg, was
among those protesting the KU plan. He told Kocher, "I don't
want a high-power line running across my property. It's going to
kill the property value." Anderson County Fiscal Court magistrate
Larry Smith said, "A lot of these farms have been in people's
families for 100, 150 years."
Dennis Monohan has lived on one of those properties
for 32 years. The land, now used to raise beef cattle, had the potential
for future residential development. But, he told Kocher, the proposed
path of the power line could end that. "With a line going through
there, you can't build under it, and you don't want to build near
it," Monohan said. Other complaints dealt with safety and aesthetics.
KU intends to rebuild existing lines from its plant
on the Kentucky River to a substation near a plant north of Lawrenceburg.
A new transmission line would be built from that substation north,
across Interstate 64 and to a substation west of Frankfort. The
13 miles of the line would cross about 60 individual properties.
KU spokesman Cliff Feltham told the newspaper half of those properties
already have existing transmission lines. The other 30 properties,
however, do not have KU lines.
JOURNALISM
Americans trust the news but
see bias, says Journalism Center survey
Most Americans believe news coverage is biased and
negative, but they also say they respect journalists and trust what
they hear and read.
A national survey conducted by the Missouri
School of Journalism's Center for Advanced
Social Research found 62 percent consider journalism credible
and more than half rated newspapers and television news as trustworthy,
reports
Sam Hananel of The Washington Post. At the same
time, 85 percent said they detect a bias in news reporting. Of those,
48 percent identified it as liberal, 30 percent as conservative,
12 percent as both, and 3 percent as other bias. About two-thirds
said journalists invade people's privacy too often, while roughly
three-quarters said the news is too negative.
George Kennedy, a Missouri journalism professor and
co-author of a study that incorporates the survey results told Hananel,
"The consumers of American journalism respect, value and need
it, but they're also skeptical about whether journalists really
live up to the standards of accuracy, fairness and respect for others
that we profess."
Ohio cities, newspapers argue
in state Supreme Court over release of police photos
Attorneys for state newspapers suing for photos of
uniformed police officers told Ohio
Supreme Court justices yesterday that recent changes
to the state's open-records law should not prevent the release of
those photos, reports
The Associated Press.
Fred Gittes, a lawyer representing The
Vindicator of Youngstown said, "A police officer's
name and image is not private, it's not personal. We don't have
KGB police forces and secret forces here." At issue is a 2000
change to the law that exempts from disclosure any record identifying
a person's occupation as a police officer, firefighter, or emergency
medical technician, writes AP.
Attorneys for The
Plain Dealer of Cleveland and The Vindicator argued,
if interpreted literally, the law would make it impossible to identify
any police officers. But Thomas Anastos, assistant Cleveland law
director, said information such as officers' names and photos still
could be obtained by suing or filing a complaint. Justice Paul Pfeifer
questioned whether that wasn't an extreme course of action, AP writes.
Justice Pfeifer said identifying specific officers can be important,
especially when they're accused of wrongdoing.
NYT reports ad problems worse
at big, national newspapers than local chains
While ad revenue remains a challenge for all newspapers,
national and other larger daily are suffering more than local chains,
according to The New York Times, one of the victims
of this trend.
While Yahoo and Google
surpassed all advertising estimates, "Dow Jones
said ad revenue at its domestic and international print publications,
including The Wall Street Journal, fell 10.8 percent
during the first quarter," the Times declared, writes
Editor&Publisher.
"But ad revenue at its Ottaway Newspapers
division, which includes 15 daily newspapers and 18 weekly publications,
rose 1.9 percent," they add.
Similarly, ad revenue at The New York Times
Co. unit that includes The New York Times, The
New York Times on the Web, and The International
Herald Tribune, fell 0.8%, but its regional media group
increased 7.2%. In general, smaller was beautiful. Lee Enterprises
reported a 7.5% surge in ad revenue, Knight Ridder
3.3%, and a little less at the Tribune Co. One
exception: USA Today, published by Gannett, saw
ad revenue increase by 4.8% in the first quarter.
N.C. paper fights for opening
water meetings; files suit against city, county
Buncombe County commissioners and Asheville City Council
members worked behind closed doors all day yesterday and into the
night to find an end to a stalemate over the future of the region's
water system, while local media filed a lawsuit against the secret
session, reports
the Asheville
Citizen Times. As of late last night, neither the city
nor county showed signs of bringing the negotiations to an end.
No one gave any predictions as to when the meetings would end.
Councilwoman Holly Jones told the North Carolina newspaper,
“I think we want to keep talking. We’d really love to
serve our community by walking out of here with a good deal for
everybody.” The City Council, last May, announced it would
end the Regional Water Authority agreement and
take control of its assets. The agreement includes Buncombe and
Henderson counties. The three sides have been trying to come to
a new agreement before the current one expires, the newspaper reports.
City and county residents have asked City Council
and Buncombe commissioners to discuss the agreement in public, but
they chose a closed process with a mediator, they write. The Asheville
Citizen-Times and WLOS-TV
yesterday filed a lawsuit in Superior Court asking the court to
declare the city and county violated state law with the closed meetings
and to issue a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction
to stop the two bodies from meeting illegally again.
In addition, according to the court papers, any decision
the city and county reach during the meetings should be struck down.
The case is scheduled to be heard at 10:30 a.m. today at the Buncombe
County Courthouse. City Council and Board of Commissioners members
said the meeting was within the realm of the open meetings law because
only one or two of their members at a time met with the attorneys
and mediator John Stephens.
Also in the Citizen-Times today, the newspaper continued
its series by Lyndsey Nash on Meth: The Rural Plague. For
that story, click here.
TOURISM AND NATURE
N.C. committee OKs age limits
for ATV drivers; bars children younger than 12
A North
Carolina Senate committee has approved a measure that
would block children younger than 12 years old from operating ATVs,
the popular off-road recreational motorbikes responsible for numerous
deaths and injuries nationwide.
The bill would outlaw young children from driving
three- and four-wheeled off-road vehicles, while those age 12 to
15 could operate smaller ATVs under an adult's supervision, writes
Margaret Lillard of The Associated Press. Robert
Schafermeyer, a doctor at Carolinas
Medical Center said his hospital treats dozens of children
annually -- nine so far in 2005 -- who have been hurt while using
ATVs. Many suffer severe head, neck or spine injuries, sometimes
causing permanent disabilities. He told AP, "As a physician
and father, this is painful to watch," she writes.
The measure would also set requirements for safety
equipment, safe operation and areas where the vehicles could legally
be used. It would also require all ATV drivers to complete a safety
course by October 2006. Violations would be misdemeanors, with punishments
varying from a minimum fine of $200, to 60 days in jail and a fine
of up to $1,000 for disregarding the age restrictions or operating
an ATV on public roads and highways. North Carolina is one of five
states with essentially no restrictions on ATV use, writes Lillard.
Tourism leaders advised to
cooperate, promote attractions of history enthusiasts
Consultants recently told a gathering of tourism officials
in Williamsburg, Va., that tourism attractions need to stop competing
and work together to find a broad base of travelers and promote
the region as a hub.
After a year of interviews and research, consultants
hired by the local tourism industry unveiled their road map to improving
the region's competitiveness after years of low visitor rates, reports
Chris Flores of Money & Works. The report is
timely as the region gears up for an influx of tourists for Jamestown
2007. After years of cuts to the state's funding of
regional marketing efforts, the industry is also becoming flush
with advertising cash from a new $2 lodging fee.
Mitch Nichols, president of the Nichols Tourism Group
said leaders do a good job with historical areas and shouldn't de-emphasize
this strength, but they need to figure out how to make people stay
longer, writes Flores. Consultant David Radcliffe of the Radcliffe
Company told the gathering to capture the visitor a little longer,
they need to be aware of options like shopping and promoting destinations
beyond the historical sites also will attract new types of customers.
Dave Schulte of the Williamsburg
Area Convention and Visitors Bureau said the are too
often is seen as a short stop in a bigger vacation.
The region needs to work together to monitor competitors
and figure out which regions are stealing potential or past business,
writes Flores. The Virginia Tourism
Corporation compiled detailed data that was released
last fall, but is underused, and too little visitor data is shared
locally. For all of these initiatives to work, the numerous tourism-related
organizations and companies need to work together and refine the
roles they are playing, said Nichols. The long consulting process
helped many of these groups form closer relationships, he writes.
More wild horses killed as
Interior, Ford Motor Co. team to save others
The U. S. Interior Department
has halted delivery of mustangs to buyers as it investigates the
slaughter of 41 wild horses in the West this month, which may violate
a federal contract requiring humane treatment.
By enlisting last-minute financial help Monday from
Ford Motor Co. -- maker
of the Mustang sports car -- the agency saved the lives of 52 other
mustangs, writes
John Heilprin of The Associated Press. The latest
horses killed came from a broker who obtained them from the Rosebud
Sioux Tribe of South Dakota. The tribe traded most of the aging
horses it bought from the government for younger ones. Interior
officials said they would review whether a federal contract had
been violated.
Kathleen Clarke, director of Interior's Bureau
of Land Management, told AP, "I don't think it's
fair to say they violated the agreement. They were not traded to
the animal processing facility. They were trading to a private individual."
Todd Fast Horse, a spokesman for Rosebud
Sioux Tribe President Charles Colombe, said they did
not knowingly do anything wrong. The tribal council passed a resolution
saying the BLM horses could be traded or exchanged. The Sioux tribe
had to sign an agreement with BLM that it would "provide humane
care" to each of the animals. Clarke said Interior is investigating
that arrangement.
The department also is investigating the sale of six
wild horses to an Oklahoma man and their slaughter at the Cavel
International Inc. commercial packing plant in DeKalb,
Ill., the same place the 35 were killed. Clarke told Heilprin, "It's
incredibly disappointing. It is not our intent to have these animals
killed. That's why we acted very aggressively." For more on
wild horse rescuing, click here.
Its not easy being green: Tree
frog gains official Georgia amphibian status
The green tree frog has gained equality in Georgia
with the Vidalia onion, the knobbed whelk, square dancing and the
annual "Shoot the Bull" event. The tiny amphibian has
become one of Georgia's 44 state symbols and designations, joining
the official processed food, vegetable, seashell, folk dance and
beef cook-off, writes
Carlos Campos of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The green tree frog movement began with a group of
middle-school students from the Rome area studying the frog two
years ago.The Rome
News-Tribune reported details of the frog "Leaping
into the law" in its edition
yesterday. The students liked the tiny frog, which has smooth green
skin and suction-like feet, and can be heard making a loud "quacking"
sound in the summer. The children also were learning about state
symbols, and one student wondered why there was no official amphibian,
Campos writes.
The students got their legislators to push a bill
(no reference to leap-frogging) through the General Assembly
to designate the green tree frog the official state amphibian. Two
years and lots of political wrangling later, Gov. Sonny Perdue signed
the bill into law at the state Capitol yesterday, he writes. (Blogger's
note: Yes, we had to look up 'knobbed whelk' - a.k.a. the Busycon
carica - and found it is a seashell of sorts, and, yes, it has a
web page. P.S. any
frog that quacks is okay with us.)
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
Report says many rural children
living in poverty also reside in the South
A report from the Economic Research Service of the
U.S. Department of Agriculture titled has found
that a large number of rural children live in the South, and many
rural children are more likely to live in poverty.
“Rural
Children at a Glance” reports that 45 percent of children
in poverty live in the South and that the more rural the area, the
more likely its children are to live in poverty -- up to a high
of 23 percent in completely rural counties. However, the overall
child poverty rate did decline between 1990 and 2000, as did the
disparities between the types of rural areas.
“Rural child poverty has been most persistent
and severe in Central Appalachia, the Deep South (including the
Mississippi Delta), the Rio Grande border area, the Southwest, and
American Indian communities in the Northern Plains,” the report
says. “Although poverty declined between 1990 and 2000, over
750 nonmetro counties (37 percent of all nonmetro counties) had
child poverty rates of 21 percent or more in 2000.”
In 2001, 1.6 million children in nonmetro areas had
no health insurance, or 22 percent of the total living in those
areas. The figure for metropolitan counties was only 12 percent.
Children in non-metro areas are also more likely than those in metro
areas to have parents who are younger and less educated, and are
therefore more likely to poor and unable to provide health care
and other important services for their children.
The Web version of the report does not offer county-by-county
data, but gives a person to contact for more information: Carolyn
C. Rogers at crogers@ers.usda.gov
or 202-694-5436.
Florida gun law expands self-defense;
NRA to promote in other states
Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) could sign as early as tomorrow
a bill allowing Floridians to "meet force with force,"
erasing the "duty to retreat" when they fear for their
lives outside of their homes, in their cars or businesses, or on
the street.
"The legislation passed so emphatically that
National Rifle Association
backers plan to take it to statehouses across the nation ...over
the next year," writes
Manuel Roig-Franzia, Florida-basd reporter for The Washington
Post. NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre said
the Florida measure is the "first step of a multi-state strategy"
he hopes can capitalize on a political climate dominated by conservative
opponents of gun control at the state and national levels. LaPierre
told the Post, "There's a big tailwind we have, moving from
state legislature to state legislature. The South, the Midwest,
everything they call 'flyover land' -- if John Kerry held a shotgun
in that state, we can pass this law in that state."
The Florida measure says any person "has the
right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force, including
deadly force if he or she reasonably believes it is necessary to
do so to prevent death or great bodily harm." Florida already
lets residents defend themselves against attackers if they can prove
they could not have escaped. The new law would allow them to use
deadly force even if they could have fled and says prosecutors must
automatically presume would-be victims feared for their lives if
attacked.
The overwhelming vote margins and bipartisan support
for the Florida gun bill have alarmed some national gun-control
advocates, who say the measure that made headlines in Florida slipped
beneath their radar. Sarah Brady, chair of the Brady
Center to Prevent Gun Violence, told the newspaper,
"I am in absolute shock. If I had known about it, I would have
been down there."
Officials in Bush's home state
shrug off fine over 'No Child Left Behind'
Authorities in President Bush’s home state of
Texas have said "so what," more or less, to a fine the
federal Department of Education
has imposed because it was late last year in notifying schools and
districts whether they had reached student achievement benchmarks
under the President's No Child Left Behind law.
Sam Dillon of The New York Times
writes,
“While promising to notify schools in a timely fashion this
year, the education commissioner of Texas, Shirley Neeley, said,
"Classrooms and teachers will not be harmed by this fine."
Education Secretary Margaret Spellings announced the $444,282 fine.
It appears to be the largest fine imposed on any state since Bush
signed the law in 2002.
Spellings, who was Bush's top education adviser when
he was governor of Texas in the 1990s, said in a terse letter she
would withhold the money from the more than $1 billion the state
receives in federal education financing, arguing that the six-week
delay was unwarranted, writes Dillon. The fine concludes one skirmish
in a broader conflict between Washington and Texas. In the dispute,
which has nettled the Bush administration, Texas has refused to
apply a provision that limits the number of students with learning
disabilities who can be exempted from regular standardized tests,
he writes.
Wal-Mart restricts cold tabs;
W.Va. has anti-meth rally; N.C. meth series continues
Wal-Mart has announced its stores
will move many nonprescription cold and allergy medications behind
pharmacy counters by June because they include an ingredient used
to make the illegal stimulant methamphetamine.
The world's largest retailer will join rivals Target
Corp. and Albertson's
Inc. in making such a move throughout all locations,
writes Joe Bel Bruno of The Associated Press. All
three retailers are trying to make it more difficult for customers
to obtain medications containing pseudoephedrine, a key component
for making methamphetamine, a powerfully addictive drug, reports
AP. Wal-Mart Stores Inc.estimates 60 percent of its stores are already
selling such abused products behind the counter. Wal-Mart had not
previously announced a timetable for making the changes.
Meanwhile yesterday, organizers of a 'Unity against
meth' rally in West Virginia urged various groups to work together
against methanphetamine. U.S. Attorney Kasey Warner boiled down
the state ’s methamphetamine problem into a simple equation:
“Meth is bad. We need to work together. We need more funds.
Let’s move on,” writes
Dave Gustafson of the Charleston Gazette. Better
cooperation among law enforcement, prosecution, federal agencies
and community groups was established as the goal of the state’s
first summit on meth, which continues through tomorrow at the Charleston
Marriott.
Summit coordinator James E. Copple told Gustafson
the hundreds of people from across the state attending the “Building
Meth-Free Communities” conference would create recommendations
specifically for West Virginia. Copple has organized 15 such conferences
across the country. He told the newspaper, “We’re chasing
this problem in many states. We’re coming in way too late.”
The Asheville Citizen-Times continued
its in-depth series on "The Rural Plague: Meth in western North
Carolina." In today's story, Kerra L. Bolton writes
of the state legsilature's plans to restrict colds medicine sales
there. Yesterday, in part two, Lindsey Nash wrote
of how meth is ruining families and how children were found in homes
involved in 25 percent of North Carolina’s meth lab busts
in 2003.
More on Wal-Mart: Council limits
store hours; NYC site trashes company
The West Des Moines City Council has voted to uphold
restrictions on the hours of operation of a Wal-Mart
Supercenter under construction. The council upheld a previous vote
that approved building the store but required it shut its doors
at 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 9 p.m. on Sunday and not
reopen until 8 a.m. the following day, writes
Tom Suk of The Des Moines Register.
The limited hours were sought by nearby residents
who argued an around-the-clock operation would disrupt their neighborhood
and hurt their quality of life. In the resolution to confirm the
previous vote, city officials said "evidence was presented
the retail development will generate noise, traffic, light and litter."
In the city of New York, "There's nothing wrong,
in our view, with large retailers," writes
Charley Suisman's Manhattan
User's Guide (MUG). "This city, after all, gave
rise to the department store," it continues, "And, it
isn't that these behemoths are category killers, pushing out the
mom and pops – which they are and which they do. Ultimately,
we think the market should decide."
"But Wal-Mart is a different
matter," MUG charges. "It is the antithesis of everything
for which New York has stood and for which it should stand."
The article cites Wal-Mart's wages which it says "force many
Wal-Mart employees to turn to the government for food, housing and
other assistance."
On the issue of the company's health insurance, it
says the company covers "fewer than half its employees,"
and cites Georgia as an example, where MUG says, "over 10,000
of Wal-Mart’s employees were on Medicaid – fourteen
times the number of people of the next highest employer." And,
in Florida, the magazine says, "more than 12,300 Wal-Mart employees
are eligible for Medicaid."
Wal-Mart is facing lawsuits alleging exploitation
of illegal immigrants. Child labor law violations. Unfair pay and
unequal promotion for women prompting a gender discrimination class
action suit, outsourcing to Chinam anti-union intimidation, and
racial discrimination, it reports. Supporters say Wal-Mart offers
a choice for consumers. There’s no doubt that Wal-Mart's prices
are low; the issue is how they got that way and at what human cost,
they write. To learn more or get involved, MUG invites its readers
to go to Wal-Mart Free
NYC and Walmart Watch.
'Bible Belt' stereotype debunked
by University of Arkansas history professor
The words “Bible Belt” may not immediately
bring to mind images of Muslim slaves, North Carolina Jews or southeastern
Indians, but these should be part of any conversation about religion
in the American South, according to Beth Barton Schweiger, a history
professor at the University of Arkansas.
Schweiger and her colleague, Donald G. Mathews of
the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill, have edited a book on religion
in the American South from the beginning of the 18th century to
the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, Newswise reports.
“Religion in
the American South: Protestants and Others in History and Culture,”
published by UNC Press,
incorporates essays from young scholars on different perspectives
on religious experiences.
Schweiger said of the essays, “These authors
think beyond the categories laid out by earlier studies to complicate
‘Southern religion’ geographically, chronologically,
and thematically. They banish the equation of ‘Southern’
with white and challenge the interpretive hegemony of the ‘Bible
Belt.’”
The essays, says Schweiger, address a variety of subjects
often not considered in discussions of the Bible Belt, including
Muslim slaves, biracial revivals, southeastern Indians, Confederate
soldiers, North Carolina Jews, white Pentecostals and black Memphis
émigrés to Detroit. This collection pushes the scholarly
conversation on Southern religion into new territory in three ways.
First, it demonstrates the importance of religion in the South not
only to American religious history, but also to the history of the
nation as a whole.
Animal-rights activists say
Ky. cockfight fines too low to deter the activity
Animal-rights activists, unhappy with the fines being
assessed people caught at a suspected cockfighting operation in
central Kentucky, have urged tougher penalties to deter the "blood
sport."
More than 500 people were charged with attending cockfights
recently at a game club in Montgomery County, writes
Bruce Schreiner of The Associated Press. People
pleading guilty in Montgomery County District Court have been ordered
to pay $195.50 in fines and court costs. Some defendants decided
to pay that amount before their court dates. More than 750 people
-- including children -- from at least 16 states, Guam and Canada
were on the grounds when police arrived.
Dan Paden, with the group People
for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, said the punishment
amounted to a slap on the wrist that wouldn't discourage bird fights.
He said bird handlers caught at this month's event could quickly
recover their losses at another cockfight.
Those caught inside the suspected cockfighting arena
were cited on second-degree cruelty to animal charges, a misdemeanor
punishable by up to a $500 fine and a year in jail. John Goodwin,
with the Humane Society of the United
States, told Schreiner Kentucky should join the 31
states that make cockfighting a felony, which would carry harsher
penalties. He told Schreiner, "The penalty for cockfighting
has to be strong enough to offset the gains ...people see a small
fine as simply the cost of doing business." Typically, large
sums of money are wagered at the events.
PETA asked Montgomery County Attorney Paul Cowden
for the maximum penalty for those convicted of animal cruelty --
whether they were bird handlers or spectators. Cowden said he respected
PETA's opinion, but seeking jail time for more than 500 people was
impractical. He estimated it would cost more than $100,000 to put
all 507 defendants on trial before juries.
Poll finds Georgians support
smoking ban; more restrictions in burley country
Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue has indicated he might reject
a smoking ban approved by the state legislature, but a majority
of Georgians say they want smoke-free air in restaurants and other
public places, according to a poll released today.
The Zogby International poll conducted
for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution last week
found that 64 percent of Georgians favor the smoking ban approved
by the Legislature, but only 38 percent support shielding the names
of people who give money to public universities. About 54 percent
opposed the idea, writes
Sonji Jacobs of The Journal-Constitution.
A spokesperson told Jacobs that Gov. Perdue is considering
how to strike the right balance between protecting personal liberties
and addressing health concerns. Both Republicans and Democrats told
pollsters they support the smoking ban. The bill passed last month
with bipartisan support in the Senate, but the House approved a
weaker version, writes Jacobs.
The Danville, Ky., City Commission has joined the
growing list of governments restricting smoking. It has voted to
prohibit smoking in municipally owned buildings, vehicles and parks,
in the heart of Kentucky burley tobacco country. A citizen who spoke
against a proposed smoking ban in restaurants, factories and other
privately owned workplaces, told the city it should police itself
before banning smoking in public facilities. City Manager Darrell
Blenniss acknowledged Danville employees and police officers may
smoke in city-owned vehicles, writes
Greg Kocher of the Lexington Herald-Leader.
The neighboring city of Lancaster, home of the Garrard
County Tobacco Festival, will consider a similar ordinance banning
tobacco products from municipally owned buildings as early as next
week. Roger Trent, director of the Boyle County Health Department
presented to the Danville commissioners a model ordinance similar
to Lexington's indoor smoking ban, which turns one year old tomorrow.
For more on current anti-smoking efforts nationwide, click here.
Former workers of nuclear weapons
plant pressuring for medical compensation
Over a dozen former workers of the Iowa Army Ammunition
Plant in Middletown, Iowa, and their relatives pressured a federal
advisory board in Cedar Rapids to speed up compensation for employees
who either got sick or died after exposure to radiation, reports
Erin Jordan of The Des Moines Register.
The board recommended compensating some former employees,
but the decision stalled after the board started reviewing information
from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and
Health. The group said that because some of the information
is classified, it’s impossible to estimate the amount of radiation
exposure, if any, involved in each claim.
U.S. Sens. Chuck Grassley and Tom Harkin encouraged
the board to speed up the compensation process. Aides to Grassley
said the legal opinion was unusual, and it essentially said the
secretary of health and human services didn’t have authority
to carry out the board’s decision.
Congress approved legislation to compensate workers
who became ill after working with nuclear weapon components with
$150,000 and medical care. Between 1947 and the mid ‘70s,
about 4,000 workers assembled and tested the nuclear weapons. Hundreds
of their claims have languished for many years.
U. S. Senate 'Sunshine' bill
would allow broadcast cameras in federal courtrooms
Broadcast journalists covering federal trials could
be allowed to use cameras and other recording devices - now banned
in the federal courts - under a bill introduced April 18 by Sen,
Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) reports
The Reporters Committee for Freedom
of the Press.
The "Sunshine in the Courtroom Act of 2005"
would give full discretion to the presiding judge of a case as to
whether cameras or recording devices would be allowed during proceedings
in federal trial and appellate courts, including the U.S. Supreme
Court. In appellate courts -- where three-judge panels most often
hear cases -- the most senior active judge would have discretion,
under the bill, writes the RCFP.
Grassley said on the Senate floor about the measure,
"I believe that the First Amendment requires that court proceedings
be open to the public, and by extension, the news media. The sun
needs to shine in on the federal courts. . . . There are many benefits
and no substantial detrimental effects to allowing greater public
access to the inner workings of our federal courts."
In Virginia, Charlottesville's
Daily Progress on the march, literally, musically
To the grand ranks of newspapers that have their own
marches, such as John Philip Sousa's "The Washington Post March"
or the less-frequently played "Chicago Tribune March,"
composed by William Paris Chambers, comes The
Daily Progress, the 30,000-circulation Media General
Inc. paper in Charlottesville, Va., writes
Mark Fitzgerald an editor-at-large for Editor & Publisher.
The newspaper's march, simply titled "The Daily
Progress," debuts today in a performance by the Charlottesville
Municipal Band at its 83rd annual Spring Concert Charlottesville.
Resident Paul Richards, a trumpet player in the municipal band for
15 years, said he was inspired to compose the march for the newspaper
by the wisecracks of other musicians in the band.
Richards told Fitzgerald, "We have some people
who comment every time that we play 'The Washington Post March,'
why don't we have a 'Daily Progress March?' And over time, that
seemed like a good idea." The composition was first reported
by The Daily Progress in an article
Monday by staff writer John Yellig.
Got a tick? Pick the bloodsucker,
post the pest, says Georgia
Georgia health and poison control officials want to
study the range and severity of diseases spread by ticks, and to
help their effort, they are requesting anyone who has a tick bite
them to send them the bloodsucking critters, writes
Patricia Guthrie of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
"We need for anyone who has a tick attached to
them to call the Georgia Poison Center. . . . and arrange to have
the tick mailed to us," said Dr. Stuart Brown, acting director
of Georgia’s Division of Public Health. "The
more ticks we receive, the greater our opportunity to learn where
ticks are biting people in Georgia and if they are carrying disease-causing
organisms."
Poison control officials will help callers safely
remove the ticks and explain how to package them. Health workers
will call back within a few weeks to check on symptoms of illnesses
and exposure to tick habitats. In warm weather, ticks move in to
shady, moist areas, like in tall grass or in wooded areas.
Monday, April 25, 2005
The rural plague: Asheville
paper looks at meth in western North Carolina
Methamphetamine production and addiction is blanketing
western North Carolina, endangering children, law enforcement and
people who unknowingly live near the toxic and explosive meth labs.
The Asheville Citizen-Times’
Lindsay Nash is examining the threat to that area in a series of
stories that began yesterday. “Macon County Sheriff Robert
Holland had one simple question. How many of you know someone who
does meth? Just about every student listening to an anti-drug program
in Franklin High School’s 780-seat auditorium raised a hand,”
writes
Nash.
The methamphetamine scourge has swept across rural
America, settling within the past few years in Western North Carolina,
ruining lives and costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars,
Nash reports. Remote areas help hide the pungent, ammonia smell
produced by a meth lab, she writes. According to the Drug
Enforcement Administration, there were nearly 16,000
methamphetamine lab seizures nationwide last year, compared with
912 in 1995. In North Carolina, law enforcement officers swooped
in on 243 labs last year, up from nine in 1999. Their hazardous
chemicals can push cleanup costs up to $20,000 a lab.
Thirty-five labs have been found there so far this
year. The four counties that comprise western North Carolina also
reported record numbers, and the drug is becoming more than one
used by the young and naive. White, male, blue-collar workers have
used the drug, Nash reports, but it is becoming a choice for diverse
groups, including people in jobs that demand long hours, mental
alertness and physical endurance.
For the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community
Issues' roundup of rural reporting on meth, click
here.
News U. can use: Site has free,
diverse training, ideas and sources for journalists
Rural newspaper editors and staff are often caught
“in the crunch” between their desire to learn how to
better serve their communities and the realities of their budgets.
They often don’t not have the finances to network with fellow
journalists or attend the many seminars and lectures that could
help them.
But, the News
University, a service of the John
S. & James L. Knight Foundation, provides an on-line
service to spark new ideas, and provides an information resource,
at no cost. IRJCI
Interim Director Al Cross says of News U., “It looks like
a very useful service for rural journalists, especially those whose
employers won't support their attendance at conferences."
News University works in concert with leading
journalism organizations and journalism schools to offer three types
of electronic instruction: self-directed classes that journalists
can complete at their own pace; faculty-moderated seminars that
are scheduled over a period of days or weeks; and live "eSeminars"
broadcast over the Internet. News U. is funded by a five-year, $2.8
million grant from Knight. Its public rollout came after 18
months of development and use by 2,000 early adopters, according
to the Knight Foundation.
The Knight Foundation's own, separate site has links
to various sources. Topics currently on the site include the National
Venture Fund, aimed at helping new immigrants. There
is also information on a bipartisan panel at American University
about “Flaws in the 2004 voting,” a segment on Journalism
Initiatives, another on “filling the news gaps”
for ethnic communities and one on “Health Issues in The South.”
Iowa program aims to help rural
entrepreneurs; helps determine costs, customers
Rural Iowans interested in starting a business or
just becoming Internet-saavy to boost their business acumen have
found an ally in the University
of Northern Iowa.
“Penny Nelson might still be running her graphic
design business as a part-time venture if she hadn't signed up for
the first pilot 'MyEntreNet' classes in New Hampton,” writes
Dan Haugen of the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier.
The university's Regional
Business Center developed the courses that helped Nelson
calculate building costs and network with potential customers.
Nelson's business, Graphics FX, eventually
moved into its own building with a garage for doing vehicle work.
She designs and makes signs, banners and fleet graphics. Nelson
told Haugen, without the program, "I probably wouldn't have
had the guts to get it out of my house." The objective of 'MyEntreNet'
is to help rural entrepreneurs overcome their disadvantages. Director
Maureen Collins-Williams told the Courier, "The challenge is
that rural entrepreneurs are geographically isolated."
Compared to their metro counterparts, rural entrepreneurs
often lack investors, services and networking opportunities, Collins-Williams
added. "MyEntreNet" addresses those issues with classroom
and Web-based programming. About 100 participants recently finished
classes at branch campuses, where the business center did its first
full run though of the program. Some signed up for the program with
ideas for new businesses. Others came to refine existing companies,
Haugen writes.
Wyoming town joins list of
rural areas trying to attract more residents
Chugwater, Wyo., is joining many other small towns
in the country that offer land at a reduced price in the hopes of
luring more residents,
reports Michael Riley of The Denver Post.
Beginning next month, newcomers can get a lot 100
feet by 120 feet for $100, if they agree to build a house and stay
in the town at least two years. It’s another step to try and
reduce the shrinking rural population, which the U.S. Department
of Agriculture Economic Research Service described in a
report,
saying that 698 counties in rural areas have lost more than 10 percent
of their population since 1980.
Chugwater is suffering because now, ranchers and farmers
can take Interstate 25 to Cheyenne instead of riding through the
tiny town. They can buy their lumber at mass retailers like Home
Depot and their food at Wal-Mart, instead of coming to local stores
in Chugwater. The town’s youth is also disappearing, because
of a lack of jobs and also because many don’t want the limitations
of a small-town lifestyle.
But many choose to stay, not because life was somehow
easier in a small town, but because things are better. “Doors
are left unlocked. Neighbors pull together. And the town's soda
fountain has charms no Wal-Mart can match. A handwritten sign under
one shelf stuffed with knickknacks proclaims, ‘Make an offer.’”
Rural Alabamans support creation
of rural center to help development
Visitors to this year's conference by Alabama
Agricultural and Mechanical University and the Alabama
Cooperative Extension System, which includes A&M
and Auburn University, called for urban-rural parternships to develop
and protect the state's ecosystem, writes
Kenneth Kesner of The Huntsville Times, a daily
paper with 53,000 circulation.
This year’s conference, titled “When the
Environment Bites Back,” talked about what happens when “urban”
meets “rural.” Environmental and health hazards can
be the result if the state doesn’t plan for “green infrastructure,”
as urban sprawl pushes into rural areas, said Dr. Greg Ruark, director
of the National Agroforestry
Center.
Over 200 people from rural areas echoed some of these
concerns when they flooded Boaz, Winfield, Alexander City, Demopolis
and Montgomery, Ala., to talk about many of the problems facing
them as residents of rural Alabama. They came to talk to the state
senate's Agriculture,
Conservation & Forestry Committee about the loss of jobs
and youth, and the constant struggle to make ends meet in rural
areas, writes
the editorial board of The Eufaula Tribune, a weekly
paper with 12,500 circulation. Their purpose was to support the
creation of a proposed Center for Rural Alabama, an effort to bring
comprehensive development to rural regions of the state.
Over the past fifteen years, the number of jobs in
rural areas of the state grew 8.1 percent, less than one-half the
rate elsewhere in the state. There are also 12,000 fewer jobs in
the state today than five years ago. The Center would help by coordinating
education, health care, employment and other efforts specifically
for rural areas. "This is an opportunity to bring vision to
rural areas, an opportunity to help people see a bigger picture,"
said Arnelle Adcock of the Central Alabama Electric Cooperative.
ATVs bring bucks to rural economies;
gas, equipment, food, safety gear add up
While ATVs often bring news about safety concerns
because of fatal crashes and serious injuries, some rural areas
have found the off-road recreational vehicles bring big bucks to
local economies. The latest report is from Utah, via Tom Wharton
of The Salt Lake Tribune.
"Trailers, trucks, motor homes and tents carpeted
the desert floor as 20,000 off-highway-vehicle riders gathered at
Little Sahara Sand Dunes over Easter weekend. Out front were the
toys - thousands of dirt bikes, dune buggies and all-terrain vehicles,"
writes Wharton.
All that recreational equipment adds up, he adds. And that's not
counting fuel. With gas prices shooting well above $2 a gallon,
that group spent more than $900 on gasoline alone for its Easter
weekend outing. Add the cost of new machines, trailers, food and
safety gear for the nearly 200,000 registered OHVs and it adds up
to a huge economic impact.
Before the Paiute ATV Trail opened, the town of Marysvale
was dying. Now, there are 29 business licenses and two-acre building
lots are selling for $38,000. "The Paiute trail is the best
economic boost Paiute County has ever seen, including the boom years
in mining," says RV park owner Ron Bushman. Kevin Arrington,
a tourism and events director, estimates that 80,000 riders use
the Paiute Trail during the summer. They spend $100 to $125 a day,
which generates up to $6 million a year. Last year's Rocky Mountain
ATV Jamboree in brought riders in from 33 states and several countries,
he writes.
Farmer-crusader keeps storm-water
vigil and puts officials' feet to the fire
Armed with a video camera, Tennessee farmer-crusader
James McMillan, who believed his land was flooded by erosion and
pollution from a nearby construction site, has begun documenting
alleged violations at sites throughout Knox County in a fight for
tighter stormwater controls.
"His vigilante inspections have targeted dozens
of half-finished subdivisions where he says silt-runoff routinely
escapes downstream, without proper detention, due to (the county's)
lagging standards and lack of inspections," writes
Hayes Hickman of the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
To underscore his call for reforms, McMillan has also
targeted runoff from a nearly completed sports complex. The $3.5
million project is administered by Knox County. McMillan told Hickman,
"It's a typical Knox County project - hear no evil, see no
evil, speak no evil. They took no precautions." The project
was cited for multiple violations after McMillan forwarded his on-site
footage, to the local office of the Tennessee
Department of Environment and Conservation.
Paul Schmierbach, TDEC's water pollution control manager
for the Knoxville field office, told Hickman, "It looks like
they've had some problems. We've identified deficiencies we think
may be contributing to erosion pollution." McMillan, however,
told Hickman that county engineers should hold themselves to a higher
standard. "They're supposed to be in charge of water quality
and quantity. How can the citizens trust that Knox County will enforce
its regulations on others when they don't enforce them on themselves?"
By the time state officials arrived at the sports
complex for a follow-up inspection, "significant improvements"
had been made. The problems had been corrected shortly after the
TDEC Notice of Violation, although Doug Bataille, senior director
of Knox County's Parks and Recreation Department, told the newspaper,
"they should have been fixed earlier," writes Hickman.
Farmers in W. Ky. aim for better
quality crops; co-ops' viability questioned
The West
Kentucky Growers Cooperative may be facing a make or
break year and officials are changing some practices in the hopes
of making it.
The cooperative will promote product quality this
year by hiring a production manager and inspecting vegetables, said
Joe Cecil, the cooperative's CEO and president of sales, reports
The Associated Press.
The move comes after the Kentucky
Agricultural
Development Board questioned the cooperative's viability
when it asked the board to cover operating losses last year caused
by heavy summer storms. Although some growers have made profits
in previous seasons, the cooperative as a whole has not turned a
profit in its five seasons, AP reports.
Cooperative officials said they hope the new position
of production manager can help more farmers turn a profit. Production
manager Dave Kendrick will work with the cooperative's 39 growers
to make sure they have high quality sweet corn, bell peppers, squash
and broccoli -- most of which are high maintenance crops that need
more attention than traditional row crops such as corn and soybeans,
writes AP.
Mountain pleasure horses prized
now for gliding gait; breed dates to 1700s
An equine breed developed in Appalachia at a time
when people needed horses that were sure-footed enough for trips
across steep trails, brawny enough to pull a plow, and gentle enough
to give rides to children on lazy Sunday afternoons is becoming
a hot commodity among trail riders across the country, with some
selling for as much as $150,000, writes
Roger Alford of The Associated Press.
Nora Deaton, a breeder who operates Golden
Arrow Farm with her husband and daughter near Rogers, Kentucky
told Alford, "They're very, very versatile and intelligent.
You can teach them anything. They're the Cadillac of horses."
Sarah Sparks, owner of "Star", better known
as "Goldfinger's Star," the 2003 world conformation champion
mountain pleasure horse, told AP, these horses seem to have the
suspensions of luxury sedans. "You can drink coffee and ride
him. You won't spill a drop," said Sparks. Mike Spradlin, president
of the Mountain
Pleasure Horse Association, said the horses have been
around for centuries, brought into isolated Eastern Kentucky communities
by the first settlers in the late 1700s and 1800s.
Byron Crawford of The Courier-Journal
has a column on a couple rescuing "orphaned nurse mare foals"
at a farm in Rowan County. Click here
for that information.
Dogwood
disease infests Mammoth Cave's forest; Indiana has signs of infestation
Native dogwood trees blossoming white beneath a budding
canopy of green leaves are typically the harbinger of spring. But
in forests across the East, including Kentucky and Indiana, dogwoods
are struggling to survive against a deadly disease that has now
invaded Mammoth Cave National Park.
So writes
James Bruggers of The Courier-Journal, reporting
for the Louisville newpaper that the anthracnose fungus likely has
struck about 70 percent of the dogwoods in the park. Officials have
examined 2,298 trees on 10 randomly selected large plots in the
park, and discovered only 29 percent were healthy. The disease had
affected 43 percent of the trees, and 28 percent more had died from
it, Bruggers reports.
Mark DePoy, chief of science and natural resources
at the park, told Bruggers, "We are extremely concerned. It's
a keystone species, an important tree, ecologically." DePoy
adds the tree's fruit helps sustain wildlife, and are especially
helpful at returning nutrients to the soil. Forester Diana Olszowy,
who works for the Kentucky
Division of Forestry, told the newspaper, "People
are very sentimental about their trees."
The disease has also affected some dogwoods in other
parts of Kentucky and Indiana that have been planted as ornamental
trees, but experts said those in sunny areas are less likely to
get sick. Dogwoods are also better able to resist the fungus if
there is good air circulation. As a result of the Mammoth Cave study,
park workers are trying to identify dogwoods that have resisted
the disease in hopes of reproducing them in a nursery-like setting,
then planting the offspring in the forest.
Wild Turkey distillery in Lawrenceburg,
Ky., cutting half its workers
When most people think of bourbon, they immediately
think of Kentucky. When they think of Wild Turkey bourbon, they
think of the heart of the bluegrass.
But Wild Turkey distillery in Kentucky recently announced
it’s cutting half of its jobs and, in an ironic move, is re-locating
all of its bottling and shipping from Lawrenceburg, Ky. to Lawrenceburg,
Ind., reports
Don White of The Anderson News of Lawrenceburg.
Troy Heightchew, who has worked at Wild Turkey for
10 years, is one of the employees losing his job. "It's not
the end of the world. Most of us can go out and find something else,"
he told White. Sandrine Ricard, spokeswoman for Wild Turkey’s
parent company, Pernod Ricard USA, said the decision had been “in
the works” for a while. "It was a tough decision for
us to make," she said.
Ricard said the move would make the bottling and shipping
process “much faster and more efficient,” reports
Greg Kocher of the Lexington Herald-Leader. The
bourbon will continue to be warehoused in Kentucky, Ricard said.
Lawrenceburg stands to lose not only in taxes but also in water
revenue, Mayor Bobby Sparrow told Kocher. The distillery "is
a major water consumer for the city water system," Sparrow
said.
County Judge-Executive Anthony Stratton said plans
were already in the works to assist laid-off workers in finding
new jobs and training. Kocher added that the blow of Wild Turkey
lay-offs would be softened by the March announcement that Wal-Mart
plans to build a SuperCenter in Lawrenceburg next year.
Politically savvy bloggers
taking root in Kentucky; readerships increasing
One of the lessons learned by journalists and political
pundits alike from the 2004 national presidential campaign is the
power of Web logs or, as they are commonly called, "blogs."
And, it appears, blogs are increasing exponentially in their influence,
diversity, depth and breadth.
"They fashion themselves as modern-day William
Randolph Hearsts or Joseph Pulitzers of Kentucky as they publish
local news items laced with their preferred political spin. But
instead of typewriters and printing presses, these scribes simply
rely on computers with Internet connections," writes
Ryan Alessi of the Lexington Herald-Leader.
Over the last year, a host of online blogs focused
on Kentucky politics have sprung up, and a handful have developed
loyal readerships and statewide reputations. Leland Conway, one
of three co-founders of the Conservative Edge blog,
tells Alessi, "They are realizing it's a viable outlet."
Blogs can be found all over cyberspace, writes Alessi.
The ones aimed at politics typically garner the most attention.
In last year's presidential election national bloggers were credited
with first challenging the authenticity of memos CBS
cited in a report about President Bush's National Guard service.
CNN has begun a daily report on what political blogs are saying.
In Kentucky, Alessi notes, such political blogs have
been slower to develop clout. Ben Carter, a University of
Kentucky law student who started Democratic-centric Bluegrassroots.org
a year ago, told Alessi, "I do feel like a journalist because
the primary role is to get the the story out there. You're just
able to make it a little more personal, a little more inflammatory
than a regular news story."
Free Press disciplines Mitch
Albom, others, but keeps them on the payroll
The Detroit Free Press has disciplined
sports columnist and author Mitch Albom and four other employees
deemed responsible for publishing a column that Albom wrote as if
he had attended an event but in fact was written before the event.
The column appeared in a Sunday, April 3 section that was printed
before the event but distributed after the event. The nature of
the discipline and the other employees were not revealed.
"We took into account many factors, including
the seriousness of the offense, the importance of our credibility,
the history of those involved and Albom's 20 stellar years at the
Free Press," Editor and Publisher Carole Leigh Hutton said
in a letter
from the editor in Saturday's paper. "We also think it's
important to report on ourselves and our transgressions in the same
way we would report on the institutions we write about regularly.
So, reporting is continuing on a story that will be published as
soon as it is ready."
Hutton invited readers to examine the paper's ethics
policy, available
here.
Friday, April 22, 2005
NPR looks at farm reports as
examples of government-produced news
Is government-produced news, such as U.S.
Department of Agriculture audio news releases that are
widely used at rural radio stations, blurring the line between programming
and propaganda? National Public
Radio yesterday took its microphone and that question
to rural Virginia, where USDA reports comprise a significant portion
of what rural listeners hear with most stations unable to produce
their own national news.
"Despite intense criticism, the federal government
is putting out video and audio news pieces that seem to blur the
line between real news and government propaganda. Newspapers and
Democrats have denounced this practice. The White House has defended
it," said "Morning Edition" host Steve Inskeep. "In
rural Virginia, the information from the government is welcomed.
Broadcasters have no problem airing it, and farmers who tune in
seem grateful," he adds, introducing the in-depth report by
NPR's David Greene. (To hear the full 7-minute, 44-second report,
click
here to access the story page, then click the "Listen"
icon.)
In the report from Harrisonburg, Va., store owner
Doug Michael tells Greene, “Everybody around here turns on
WSVA-AM 550
(of ) and listens to Jeff Ishee and his reports. It's just good,
well-rounded information." Ishee does the station’s agribusiness
reports, from a town that Greene describes as “surrounded
by silos stretching for miles in all directions.”
Each weekday, Ishee turns to the USDA Web site to
help him fill a number of newscasts. Ishee tells Greene, “It's
got 10 different stories that I could use if I wanted to. And they
even provide, if you want to use it, a suggested lead for your story.
Some are just sound-bites of agricultural officials. Others sound
like stories on any news station, except it's the USDA's communication
staff reading the script."
One soundbite Greene relayed was from Agriculture
Secretary Mike Johanns, defending his effort to drop the ban on
importation of Canadian beef, which a federal judge has blocked.
"The Bush administration wants the ban lifted, and that's exactly
what Ishee tells his listeners," Greene reports, without offering
any comment from those who want the ban kept in place.
Ishee doesn't have any other reporters, notes Greene,
so if he wants to give farmers national or international news, the
USDA is just about the best and least expensive source he can find.
"There's no way we could get an interview on a daily basis
with the secretary of agriculture, but they have access, which here
in Virginia, I wouldn't," Ishee told Greene. "A farm reporter
in Iowa or Nebraska, they wouldn't have that access."
USDA officials tell NPR their reports have nothing
to do with politics and are just a service to farmers. In each report,
NPR notes, the narrator makes clear he or she works for the agency,
“but is it really clear to the audience?” Greene asks.
WSVA news director Karl Magenhofer tells Greene he's not even sure
listeners pay attention to who's talking. “I (don’t
think) they don't even know what's live and what's not live,”
he said.
Marvin Kalb, of the Washington office of Harvard
University's Joan
Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy,
and a long-time CBS correspondent, told Greene the government label
alone is not enough, that listeners should know where their information
is coming from; but more importantly, people who put it on the air
must make sure they're doing a service for their audience and not
for government policy-makers. “Is this information being provided
for a political purpose? Does the government use the information
in order essentially to win votes? Now if the answer to that question
is yes, then it's a no-no,” says Kalb.
Ishee, however, tells Green: "I don't detect
any bias at all, at least from the USDA." Dairy farmer Lowell
Heatwole tells Green he knows some of the reports could be propaganda,
but that doesn't bother him. “They will naturally tell you
what they want us to hear, which is OK. I mean, you know, I don't
have a problem with that,” he says. And, he says, farmers
don't have much choice about whether to listen to Jeff Ishee's show
or not. "They absolutely depend on his weather reports, and
the rest just comes naturally," reports Green.
On Earth Day, environmentalists
mull movement's future; losing the debate?
With the 35th
anniversary of Earth
Day, "Environmentalists are debating the future
of a movement that seems to be losing the battle for public opinion,"
writes
Terence Chea of The Associated Press.
"President Bush's re-election, the failure to
slow global warming and the large number of Americans who dismiss
them as tree-hugging extremists have environmental leaders looking
for new approaches," Chea says. Polls show most Americans want
clean air, clean water and wildlife protection, but environmental
issues rank low on their list of priorities -- behind jobs, health
care, education and national security. Peter Teague, of the Nathan
Cummings Foundation told Chea, "There's this paradox
where Americans hold these views, but when it comes time to take
action, there are many, many issues that trump environmental concerns."
George Lakoff, a University of California
linguistics professor, argues the public agenda has been seized
by a "right-wing ideological political movement that's extremely
powerful and well-funded." The Bush administration's environmental
philosophy has centered on the idea most environmental decisions
are better made by the marketplace, landowners and state and local
governments. And, he says, certain proposals the Bush administration
has floated -- such as changes to the Clean
Air Act -- would lead to weaker regulations than required
by laws already in place, many environmentalists argue.
Many green leaders say they deserve some of the blame
for the situation. Buck Parker, executive director of Earthjustice,
who chairs a coalition of 30 national environmental organizations
called the "Green Group," told AP Bush "was re-elected
in a campaign in which neither candidate talked much about the environment."
Smokies backdrop for Bush on
Earth Day; enviros call visit 'height of hypocrisy'
Environmental advocacy groups have bashed President
Bush's environmental policies on the eve of his Earth Day visit
to the Great Smoky Mountains
National Park, "alleging faulty leadership and
a record of missed opportunities, writes
Scott Barker of the Knoxville News Sentinel.
“The White House on Thursday countered that
high-profile controversies have overshadowed the environmental achievements
that should be the focus of Earth Day,” Barker writes. Bush
is scheduled to help on a volunteer work project today before speaking
on volunteerism and environmental issues.
Environmentalists criticized Bush on issues ranging
from global warming and air pollution to the energy bill approved
earlier in the day by the House. Dave Muhly, who heads the Appalachian
regional office of the Sierra
Club, told Barker, "It's the height of hypocrisy
for President Bush to come to the Smokies on Earth Day." Jim
Connaughton, chairman of the president's Council
on Environmental Quality, defended the administration's
record, citing conservation provisions of farm legislation, a key
law to clean up contaminated industrial sites and a wetlands conservation
initiative, Barker writes.
The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is both the
most visited and most polluted national park in the country. Bush's
primary air pollution proposal, the Clear Skies initiative, is bottled
up for now in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
Stephen Smith, executive director of the Southern Alliance
for Clean Energy, calls the Clear Skies initiative an "Orwellian"
measure that would gut provisions of the Clean Air Act requiring
industry to install advanced technologies to reduce emissions, he
writes.
Virginia official not shut
out of committee on merging development programs
When a nationwide committee meets to discuss consolidating
18 federal economic and community development programs, an official
from Virginia will definitely be getting a seat.
Ron Flanary, the executive director of the Lenowisco
Planning District Commission, was not originally included
as a panel member on the press release that Commerce Secretary Carlos
Gutierrez sent about the committee. At the time it had 17 panel
members, but the number has increased to 25, writes
Jeff Lester of The Post, Flanary’s hometown
newspaper in Big Stone Gap, Va. Federal officials hadn’t finished
security clearances for Flanary and the others so he wasn’t
added to last week's press release, Flanary said. He "has spent
more than 30 years navigating the details of community development
block grants" and other federal economic-development programs,
Lester reported.
The committee will discuss the Bush administration’s
“Strengthening America’s Communities” initiative.
The plan would merge federal programs, such as the massive community
development block grant initiative, the Rural Development
agency funds and the Economic Development Administration
funds. They will all join to make a single, two-part program for
needy communities, which the Commerce Department will administer.
The Bush administration said that in their current state, the programs
sometimes overlap and create unnecessary bureaurcracy and that sometimes
urban communities automatically get development funds, trumping
needy rural areas that have to compete for the money.
Flanary supports the idea that all communities should
compete for the funds, and that all projects in urban areas that
are now funded by entitlement grants should have a cap placed on
their size. He is skeptical, however, of having the Commerce Department
administer all the programs. That means lots of development money
would be put to a single yes or no vote.
Congress votes to extend daylight
saving time as Indiana wrestles with issue
Time is of the essence as Indiana state lawmakers
are in a rush to beat the clock before the legislative session ends.
At issue is whether Indiana will join 47 other states that participate
in daylight saving time, writes
Mary Beth Schneider of The Indianapolis Star.
But, while Indiana is considering turning its forward
as a state for the first time, Congress is has voted to expanding
daylight saving time by two months as part of a new energy bill.
If the measure passes the U.S. Senate, daylight savings would start
the first Sunday in March and end the last Sunday in November.
Indiana Gov .Mitch Daniels has made daylight time
a priority of his administration, saying it will spur jobs in the
state. But many constituents have told him they are “overwhelming
against a change,” he said. Lawmakers will vote next week
on whether the state will observe daylight saving time; the bill
would require Daniels to ask the Department of Transportation
to host hearings on where the time zone boundaries should be in
Indiana. All but the northwest and southwest corners of the state
are in the Eastern Time Zone. However, five counties in the southeast
observe daylight time illegally to be in sync with nearby Louisville
and Cincinnati.
Kentucky
authors call for end to mountaintop-removal strip mining
A group of Kentucky authors wants the state to outlaw
a widely used but controversial coal-mining method because it causes
"appalling destruction to the land" and "economic
and cultural violence" to the entire state.
"The statement by 16 of Kentucky's best-known
authors came after their two-day tour of mountaintop removal strip-mining
sites in Leslie and Perry counties," writes
Art Jester of the Lexington Herald-Leader. The
statement came in conjunction with a social action group, Kentuckians
for the Commonwealth, which organized the tour. Probably
the toughest words in the authors' document came in the concluding
paragraph.
"We are horrified that this practice is legal.
We are angry that representatives in our own government are allowing
this to happen. Mountaintop removal is not right; it is not acceptable,
and it is an act we will fight. We call for the abolition of mountaintop
removal and urge our fellow citizens to pressure elected officials
in every way to stop this criminal desecration of our common wealth."
The de facto chairman of the authors' group who drafted the first
version of the statement was Silas House, a novelist who teaches
English and writing at Eastern Kentucky University.
House said the statement was adopted unanimously after the authors
met yesterday morning at the Hindman Settlement School to craft
a final version.
Bill Caylor, president of the Kentucky
Coal Association, responded with a brief statement.
He said the authors' statement "was an emotional tirade playing
fast and loose with statements of facts. These are the same people
who would be outraged if they knew where their ground beef came
from." The controversial strip mine method uses explosives
to blast away dirt and rock above a coal seam, then alternate lawyers
of dirt and coal are removed. Afterward, the remaining dirt is bulldozed
into a plateau. Excess dirt and rock are dumped into adjacent hollows,
which become what are called valley fills.
Two mine blowouts in a week
cause concerns in Eastern Kentucky; elsewhere?
Two separate blowouts at abandoned underground coal
mines in Eastern Kentucky in the past week killed fish, turned a
stream orange and closed a major highway for three days.
"Blowouts, the equivalent to a dam bursting,
are the result of a buildup of underground water that creates extreme
pressure inside old coal mines," writes
Roger Alford of The Associated Press. Mark York,
spokesman for the Kentucky
Department for Natural Resources, said blowouts, once
common in the coalfields, now are rare, despite the back-to-back
incidents. He told Alford, "They can cause some environmental
problems when they do occur. But we have not seen an increase in
the number of blowouts that would cause us to become overly concerned
at this point."
Tom FitzGerald, head of the environmental advocacy
group Kentucky Resources
Council, told Alford blowouts can be damaging to streams
and property, and, depending on where they occur, can be life-threatening
to residents. "There has certainly been hazards created for
localized flooding, and obviously that's a concern. It is an issue
that has plagued the region for some time, and will continue to
do so."
Kentucky began requiring coal companies to build
stronger barriers in entrances and near outcroppings in underground
mines following a series of blowouts a decade ago. Between 1993
and 1995, 15 blowouts occurred in the state, records show. Inspectors
from the Department of Natural Resources still are monitoring the
effects of the latest incidents in Harlan and Knott counties, he
writes.
Major coal user AEP raises
outlook for first quarter earnings after sale of units
After a year of turmoil over layoffs of coal miners
and the loss of health benefits for retirees, one of the nation's
largest users of coal, American
Electric Power has reported profits would be much higher
than expected in the first quarter helped by a settlement the company
reached over sharing future profits from operations it sold in Texas.
The nation's largest power generator said it now expects
earnings of 88 cents per share, discounting one-time costs, for
the quarter that ended March 31 compared with 71 cents a year ago.
AEP received a $70 million payment, or 11 cents a share, in March
from Centrica,
a United Kingdom company that bought two AEP retail operations in
Texas in 2002, reports
The Assocaited Press. The retail operations sell
electricity to customers. The deal included a provision that allowed
AEP to share in the profits if business grew by a certain amount.
AEP also expects payments in 2006 and 2007.
The first quarter results also benefited from a plan
approved by Ohio regulators that allow AEP to recover some regional
transmission organization and environmental costs incurred through
2005 that will be collected from customers in 2006 and 2007. Its
stock price has ranged from $28.50 to $36.34 in the past year. AEP
has more than 5 million customers in 11 states.
Colorado plateau gas drilling
effects underestimated; danger to wildlife
State wildlife managers say a draft federal report
on gas drilling on a prized Colorado plateau underestimates potential
impacts on wildlife, ignores science and lacks the details needed
to make predictions.
The
Colorado Division of Wildlife comments, obtained by
The Associated Press through an open-records request,
also accuse the Bureau of Land Management
of downplaying the economic benefits of hunting and recreation on
the Roan Plateau,
writes
AP's Judith Kohler. The division said of the BLM report, "It
does not describe the irreplaceable losses or the regional impacts
which is required information."
The plateau, about 200 miles west of Denver, is prized
for its wildlife, rugged terrain and abundant natural gas. Industry
representatives say the nation urgently needs the natural gas locked
in the plateau and in deposits across northwestern Colorado. The
Division of Wildlife says the document does not fully describe the
project or its potential affect on wildlife, writes Kohler.
Pete Kolbenschlag, field director for the Western
Slope office of the Colorado
Environmental Coalition, which opposes drilling on
the plateau's top told Kohler, "I think they are pretty strong
comments. They get to the point that there are a lot of flaws in
the document." The agency's comments are among at least 74,000
submitted this month on the proposed management plan for the Roan
Plateau.
Steven Bennett, an associate field manager for the
BLM, told AP the agency may make corrections and clarifications
in the agency's final environmental impact statement. Opponents
of wide-scale development argue extensive drilling will deplete
deer and elk herds and undermine the area's economy. The division
estimates fishing, hunting and wildlife watching produce about $5
million a year for the area.
N.C. ag-diversification money
being used to expand burley tobacco territory
A North Carolina state foundation established to help
tobacco-dependent communities diversify has given a grant to researchers
to help farmers outside western North Carolina grow burley tobacco.
The Golden
LEAF Foundation, which receives half the state’s
tobacco settlement funds, has approved a grant of $264,800 for scientists
at North Carolina State University
to research burley production and teach farmers in the Piedmont
and eastern parts of the state to cure it, reports
The Associated Press. Valeria Lee, Golden LEAF
president, defended the grant against criticism that it doesn't
fit legislative intent: “Our research told us the market is
still there for burley tobacco. So it’s a question not of
whether it’s going to be grown, but where. There is a market
and someone’s going to fill it.”
For more than 65 years, the federal system of tobacco
quotas and price supports kept burley confined mainly to Kentucky,
Tennessee and the Appalachian areas of North Carolina and Virginia.
But those geographic restrictions disappeared with the federal buyout
of the quota system. Though burley is generally known as a mountain
tobacco, the North Carolina effort will install curing structures
and research plots at a number of research stations far to the east
of the plant’s usual environs, in flue-cured tobacco country.
Tommy Bunn, the executive vice president of the Leaf
Tobacco Exporters Association and a member of Golden LEAF’s
board, said, “It’s to determine where burley can be
successfully produced. The intent is to find how far it can move
east. “We’re not trying to move burley production out
of the North Carolina mountains. We’re trying to find a way
to supply a market that’s already out there.” Burley
tobacco typically accounts for about 30 percent of the leaf used
in U.S. cigarette blends, while flue-cured leaf accounts for 60
percent and Asian tobacco 10 percent, AP reports.
Louisville smoking ban finds
vocal support; backers flood council hearing
A public hearing on a smoking ban for Kentucky’s
largest city became almost a pep rally for supporters last night
as most speakers urged Louisville
Metro Council members to adopt strong restrictions.
For the latest rundown on smoking bans nationwide from Americans
for Nonsmokers' Rights, click here.
"Kenneth Frye put on a gas mask when he reached
the lectern to take issue with bar and restaurant owners who argued
that a ban would hurt their business," writes
Joe Gerth of The Courier-Journal. Frye said, "That's
just a bunch of crap. You ain't going to lose no business."
But Larry Flaherty, co-owner of the Castaway Lounge
on Old Shepherdsville Road, said he is convinced a smoking ban would
force him to shut down. "The problem is, people come to bars
to relax. Smokers cannot relax in a nonsmoking bar," writes
Gerth. A recent survey of businesses in Lexington on the economic
effects of that city's smoking ban showed no discernable consequences.
The Metro Council committee is nearing a vote on the
issue of a smoking ban, which has been under consideration for nearly
two years. John Dant, president of the Metro
Louisville Hospitality Coalition, told Gerth ban supporters
knew of the meeting before his side did and took most of the speaking
slots. He said he wouldn't ask for another hearing.
Tobacco racketeering case wraps
up first phase; 'seven pillars' sagging?
The first phase of the federal government's racketeering
case against the nation's largest cigarette companies has ended
with lawyers debating whether the firms misled the public about
the health effects of smoking.
After a recess next week, the trial will move into its final stage,
witness testimony on remedies that U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler
may apply if she decides in favor of the government, writes
Michael Janofsky of The New York Times. Liability
arguments gave each side a chance to consolidate the enormous amount
of evidence that has come before Kessler as the government has tried
to prove that the companies engaged in a conspiracy of fraud for
more than 50 years. Lawyers for the companies insisted the government
had fallen short in its mission and had failed to take into account
the changes the companies had made since 1998, when they signed
the Master
Settlement Agreement to end a series of lawsuits with the states
over the medical costs of smoking. For details, click on the Justice
Department tobacco
litigation:
Reviewing the so-called "seven pillars"
(or the major tobacco companies) on which the government built its
current case and trying to dismantle them through citations of testimony,
David Bernick, a lawyer for Brown
& Williamson, now part of Reynolds American,
the second-largest tobacco company, told The Times the government's
effort was in "a shambles." "Today, not a single
one of those pillars stands strong and stable," adding later
with a reference to the civil statutes of the
Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act,
"Even if you froze the facts as they were in 1999, they don't
support a wire fraud case and certainly don't give rise to any RICO
violations," Janofsky writes. For The Associated Press
version, click here.
Thursday, April 21, 2005
Census report shows more people
heading South: shift shaping the nation
The
U. S. Census Bureau estimates in a report being released
today that within three decades, nearly four in every 10 Americans
will be Southerners with significant social, religious, cultural,
political, businesses, industrial and economic implications for
the nation.
Scores of newcomers are establishing their own cultural
touchstones, writes
Bob Dart of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The
South's population will be about 143.3 million in 2030, which means
39.4 percent of the U.S. population will live in the South. Three
Sun Belt states — Florida, California and Texas — will
account for nearly half of U.S. population growth between 2000 and
2030, the Census Bureau projects. Previous census reports showed
the largest sources of migration to the South between 1995 and 2000
included Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania,
while New York was the No. 1 source of new residents in Florida.
Economic and cultural reasons appear central in the
move, along with the climate and a desire to be closer to relatives.
People are looking at employment opportunities, professional growth,
and the tangibles and the intangibles, writes Dart. Merle Black,
a political science professor at Emory
University in Atlanta, told Dart, "This is probably
good news for Republicans." The "Solid South" used
to refer to the region's Democratic loyalties. But now, the South
is solidly GOP, and vital in establishing the current GOP dominance
in Washington, writes Dart. The South is picking up congressional
seats and presidential electoral votes, and explained Black, "It
means Democrats can't afford to alienate themselves from Southerners."
William Ferris, former chairman of the National
Endowment for the Humanities and associate director
of the Center for
the Study of the American South at the University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, told the Journal-Constitution
the population shift "means much of America's legacy is now
rooted in the South, culturally, economically and politically."
And, the notion of what's Southern will undergo dramatic changes,
too, writes Dart, particularly with an increasing share of newcomers
hailing from Latin America and Asia. Suzanne Jones, an English professor
at the University of
Richmond in Virginia, told him, "I foresee an
upsurge of immigrant literature in the South."
Kentucky authors view strip
mining; mountaintop removal causes concern
Some of Kentucky's best-known authors were hard-pressed
for words to describe Eastern Kentucky mountains reshaped by a controversial
form of coal mining, called mountaintop-removal strip mining.
“After looking at mountaintop removal strip-mining
sites in Leslie County on the first day of a two-day trip sponsored
by Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, the authors
went to Hazard's Wendell H. Ford Regional Airport for a flyover
of more mining sites,” writes
Art Jester of the Lexington Herald-Leader.
Bob Sloan, a Rowan County author and a former Herald-Leader
community columnist, said the flyover had him "vacillating
between rage and tears" and grasping for a way to tell about
what he just saw. "It was as though somebody took a knife and
cut all the life off a thousand acres -- every tree, every blade
of grass, every thing green, everything not a mineral. I don't know
how you can fix it. It can't be fixed," writes Jester.
Sloan was one of 16 Kentucky authors on the tour,
which totaled about 35 people. Some of the most notable Kentucky
authors were there, including Silas House (author of Clay's
Quilt), Erik Reece (who is writing a book on mountaintop removal
mining and recently had an article on the subject in Harper's
magazine), Gwyn Hyman Rubio (whose Icy Sparks was a selection
for Oprah's book club), Ed McClanahan (The Natural Man),
children's author Anne Shelby and Loyal Jones, retired director
of the Berea
College Appalachian Center, he writes. The
Rural Blog has featured a critique
March 28 of Reece's Harper's story, and another
article on Reece on April 14th.
Groups like Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, which
focuses on social justice issues in Eastern Kentucky, hope to bring
more attention to mountaintop removal methods in Kentucky, West
Virginia, southwest Virginia and east Tennessee. The groups are
preparing for what they call "Mountain
Justice Summer."
Report finds people in rural
areas often live on brink of financial catastrophe
People who live in rural areas have lower wages, fewer
job opportunities and inadequate services, according to a report
by the Annie E. Casey Foundation
called "Family Economic Security for Rural Americans."
The report studied 13 states and found that twenty
percent of Americans live in non-metropolitan areas, The
Associated Press reports.
The findings suggest that Census data do not accurately reflect
the challenges of living in rural areas, said the communications
coordinator of Voices
for Children in Nebraska, Eric Fought. The report recommends
creating programs to help rural communities economically and to
create partnerships to improve services like transportation and
health care. Such programs are needed, the report maintains, because
many rural areas have only one or two dominant job industries, which
are often on the decline.
Kansas University panel finds
the state's rural communities facing sharp decline
Rural Kansas is facing painful hardships, said several
panelists at a Kansas University forum titled,
“Farmers, Food and Rural Communities in the 21st Century."
The forum came after the U.S. Census Bureau
reported that most of Kansas’ counties are losing population,
and 30 rural counties lost over 5 percent of their population in
the first half of this decade, writes
Joel Mathis of The Lawrence Journal-World. "The
state of rural communities is tough," said Tom Gissel. He farms
7,000 acres with his brother.
Panelists described many woes for farmers, including
how agriculture is too reliant on far-away markets and how consumers
don’t understand how the food they buy got to the supermarket.
"I prefer to call them the eater," he said. "I think
there needs to be education for the eaters."
Ethanol benefits questioned;
homegrown fuel might worsen cities’ air pollution
Ethanol, a fuel that's backed by state and federal
governments and viewed as a boon to corn farmers in the Midwest
and South, may make it harder to breathe in cities this summer.
"While governors in more than 25 states, including
Kentucky and Indiana, tout it as a way to make gasoline burn cleaner,
there's new evidence ethanol can worsen some types of pollution
linked to damaging health effects -- namely ozone and fine particles,"
writes
James Bruggers of The Courier-Journal. That could
make it harder for cities, where it already is being used, to meet
air standards.
Frank O'Donnell, a longtime clean air advocate in
Washington, D.C., told Bruggers, "There is growing evidence
that when used in the summer with reformulated gasoline, ethanol
actually creates more smog and fine-particle soot. Ethanol has been
oversold as a clean fuel." His comments are backed by a new
draft study from the California
Air Resources Board, the nation's leading air pollution
agency, and other reports. But ethanol supporters cite different
research to portray the fuel in another light.
Todd Barlow, executive director of the Kentucky
Corn Growers' Association, a partner in a new ethanol
plant in Western Kentucky, told the newspaper."It's certainly
a benefit to farmers to create a market (for ethanol) as well as
to provide a clean, environmentally friendly and American-made fuel,"
he said. "Science has documented the overall benefits of ethanol."
Ethanol reduces carbon monoxide, a wintertime concern
in some parts of the country. And ethanol in gas can produce fewer
emissions that are blamed for global warming. Advocates see ethanol
as a renewable fuel made from homegrown crops like corn, and say
its use can help reduce American dependence on foreign oil. Recently,
wholesale ethanol has been cheaper than wholesale gas, writes Bruggers.
Bush's education law goes to
court; NEA, states challenge 'No Child' rules
The nation's largest teachers union joined school
districts in Michigan, Texas and Vermont in filing a federal lawsuit
charging the Department
of Education has failed to provide adequate funding
for the No Child Left Behind initiative.
"The first-of-its-kind suit is the latest in
a series of challenges to the Bush administration's signature education
law, which is designed to make every student in the country proficient
in reading and math by 2014," writes
Michael Dobbs of The Washington Post. The Utah
legislature this week voted to give priority to its own school accountability
system over the federal law in the event of a conflict.
Jack Jennings, president of the Center
on Education Policy, a Washington-based think tank
that has been tracking implementation of the No Child Left Behind
law, told reporters, "The rebellion is growing. These actions
are all ratcheting up the pressure on the Bush administration to
either relax some of the requirements of No Child Left Behind or
provide more money to fund it." For The New York Times
version, click here.
Pine Mountain gets easier to
cross; improved route formally opens tomorrow
A 250-million-year-old barrier to travel in the heart
of Appalachia has become noticeably easier to cross, giving travelers
a much better view of the mountains and a safer, often faster route.
The barrier is Pine Mountain, a long ridge that runs through southeastern
Kentucky, from the Virginia border into Tennessee. The route is
US 119, which will be formally dedicated at 11 a.m. tomorrow, at
a new overlook on top of the mountain near Whitesburg, Ky.
The view from the overlook is “calming but exhilarating
at the same time,” Terry Tackett of Whitesburg told The
Mountain Eagle, the town’s newspaper. Before the
road was improved, the Eagle said, “The scenery was all but
forgotten by drivers as they gripped their steering wheels, eyes
glued to the narrow, winding roadway, afraid to look off into the
distance. Narrow driving lanes, switchbacks, steep grades, and sheer
drops from virtually nonexistent shoulders made crossing Pine Mountain
a risky experience.” The road, built in the 1920s along old
logging roads, rises and falls more than 1,700 feet as it crosses
the mountain, the Eagle reported. The old road was “incredibly
crooked,” helping make US 119 “reportedly one of the
most dangerous major roads in America,” says the privately
operated Kentucky
Highway Page.
For most of the 20th Century, there was talk of improving
the route, even with a tunnel, as was done several years ago to
the southwest, under Cumberland Gap of Cumberland Mountain –
the next summit to the southeast in the series of Appalachian ridges
and valleys that run from Alabama to Pennsylvania. But as time passed,
cost estimates rose, and each succeeding alternative seemed too
expensive to policymakers. The issue was forced in 2000, when a
school bus collided with a tractor-trailer on Pine Mountain. Local
and state officials and citizens worked together to design and build
the new route. The tunnel option remains, with the help of Appalachian
Regional Commission money, but still seems distant.
The road is still winding, and will remain a barrier
to some, but it now has passing lanes, paved pull-offs and much
better safety features, and at little environmental cost. The Eagle
called it “a model of environmental stewardship and an outstanding
example of context-sensitive design,” protecting 93 species
of rare plants and animals on the mountain. The project has no “hollow
fills” common to such projects and large surface coal mines
in the region “because preserving the integrity and beauty
of the environment was right up there as a priority with making
the road more safe,” Danl Hall, chief highway engineer for
the region, told the Eagle.
For a detailed report on the project and tomorrow’s ceremony,
from the privately operated site KentuckyRoads.com,
click here.
For details on the geology of Pine Mountain, formed by the collision
of continents and their tectonic plates more than 250 million years
ago, click here.
Chemical neutralization funding
delayed for Kentucky chemical weapons depot
Delays in funding for a chemical neutralization plant
at Blue
Grass Army Depot near Richmond, Ky. mean the United
States will probably miss a treaty deadline for destruction of its
chemical weapons, according to members of a local advisory board.
"The group also discussed 10 potential changes in design or
destruction processes that are being studied to fulfill a Pentagon
directive to cut costs at the $2 billion plant," writes
Peter Mathews of the Lexington Herald-Leader.
The Pentagon asked the Army to study potentially less-costly
alternatives to building the plant, such as transporting the weapons
to other disposal sites. After pressure from U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell,
R-Ky., and others in Congress, the Pentagon agreed to release money
it had been withholding from the project and shelved the transportation
concept. The money should enable work to continue through September
2006.
Although the money has been released, cost-cutting
measures are still being sought. Officials haven't determined how
much the changes might save, writes Mathews. One is potentially
unpopular: a proposal to ship the chemical compounds left over after
munitions are chemically decomposed and neutralized out of state
instead of destroying them on site. Officials didn't say where the
waste material might be shipped.
Illegal cigarette sales could
be aiding terrorists; tobacco company receives tips
Calls to a consumer complaint line tipped Philip
Morris USA to a problem that's costing the cigarette
giant and states around the nation millions and could be providing
terrorists and organized crime with easy money.
The red-and-white cardboard packs that customers were
buying looked like Marlboros, but were made by counterfeiters profiting
off one of the world's most recognizable trademarks. In one case
last year, federal officials broke up a Texas-based ring and seized
$18 million worth of counterfeit cigarettes, writes
Brendan Farrington of The Associated Press.
Now Philip Morris is going state-to-state asking lawmakers
to pass bills that allow law enforcement to better track sales,
with the hope of removing illicit cigarettes from the market. States
would require anyone involved in cigarette sales to be licensed
and to document where they received their product. Wholesalers would
have to make sure cigarette packs have stamps that prove they paid
the state tax. A PM spokesperson told AP, "We want to make
sure that, if a consumer is going into a store and paying $3, $4,
$7, $8 a pack for a pack of our cigarettes, they're getting the
quality they've come to expect. Why should anyone else care? Revenue."
That point has been proven in California where the
number of legal cigarette sales jumped by more than 42 million packs
the year after a law tracking sales was passed there, writes Farrington.
Officials say that helped raise $36.7 million in cigarette taxes
in a state where cigarette sales had been declining in recent years.
Counterfeiters spend about $2 a carton to produce cigarettes and
can sell them for as much as $70 a carton in places such as New
York, according to estimates by U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the investigative
arm of the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security, he writes.
U.S. Appeals Court won't reconsider
barring $280 billion penalty in tobacco case
A federal appeals court won't reconsider its ruling
barring the Justice Department
from seeking $280 billion in a lawsuit against cigarette companies.
"The
U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has
released its 3-3 decision not to reconsider the case," writes
Hilary Roxe of The Associated Press. Officials
said the government has not decided whether to appeal the decision
to the Supreme Court.
Associate Attorney General Robert D. McCallum Jr.
told AP, "...the United States will carefully review its options
and make a determination in the near future as to what course of
action it will pursue." In the case, filed in 1999 under a
civil racketeering statute, the government is alleging cigarette
makers conspired for decades to deceive the public about the dangers
of smoking. A trial began in U.S. District Court in September, and
is ongoing. Click here
for more information on the Justice Department tobacco litigation:
The defendants include: Philip Morris USA
Inc. and its parent, Altria Group Inc.;
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.; Brown &
Williamson Tobacco Co.; British American Tobacco
Ltd.; Lorillard Tobacco Co.; Liggett
Group Inc.; Counsel for Tobacco Research-U.S.A.;
and the Tobacco Institute.
Kentucky Press Association
appeals case regarding access to juvenile records
The Kentucky
Press Association voted to appeal a juvenile court
proceedings lawsuit to the Sixth Court of Appeals. The lawsuit was
filed last fall, but was dismissed by the district court.
The original case was filed against the Commonwealth
of Kentucky and the Clerk of Franklin Circuit Court Janice Marshall,
to challenge several statutes in the Kentucky Unified Juvenile
Code that deny public access to juvenile court proceedings
and records. A copy of the KPA's appeal is available here.
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
Catholics ponder the pope:
Southwest Virginia provides rural example
Church historian Fred Baumgartner of Virginia
Tech University told The Roanoke Times
the new pope "is not sympathetic to the issues Catholic leaders
face in this country," reflecting concerns by many in the church
-- even among the more conservative elements found in rural America.
"In western Virginia as around the world, Roman
Catholics -- and those who study them - are trying to figure out
just what the election of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as Pope Benedict
XVI means," writes
the Times' Cody Lowe, in an enterprising example of localizing an
international story from the perspective of the many Catholics that
do not congregate in urban areas.
Msgr. Thomas Miller, pastor of St. Andrew's
Catholic Church in Roanoke, told Low, "I think people,
including myself, are surprised it happened so quickly. Given what
a long and amazing pontificate there had been with John Paul II,
I thought perhaps this would be a time when it would take a good
while for the cardinals to decide who should step into this role.
It will be interesting to see what the Holy Spirit had in mind here."
Baumgartner, an expert on papal succession, told the newspaper
he was "surprised by how short the conclave was, and by the
choice." Baumgartner has made a special study of papal succession
and wrote a recent book on the subject. He told Lowe, "I think
it tells us that the cardinals expect a steady-state situation for
the next few years, that they don't want any change -- a two-thirds
majority of them, anyway."
While many saw the name selection as an indication
that Ratzinger, who has been viewed as a church hardliner on orthodoxy,
may be signaling a more moderate direction for his papacy by following
the moderate example of Benedict XV, elected in 1914, Baumgartner
said he has "no idea what the choice of (the) name means,"
Lowe writes. For more on the new pope from The Catholic
News Service, click here.
Utah rejects 'unfunded and
conflicting' parts of No Child Left Behind law
The Republican-dominated legislature of Utah, in a
rebuke of President Bush's No Child Left Behind Act, has passed
a bill directing state officials to ignore provisions of the law
that conflict with Utah's education goals or that require state
financing.
The bill is the most explicit legislative challenge
to the federal law by a state, and its passage marked the collapse
of a 15-month lobbying effort against it by the Bush administration,
writes
Sam Dillon of The New York Times. Federal officials
fear Utah's action could embolden other states to resist what many
consider intrusive or unfunded provisions of the
law.
Utah's action comes as a federal-state conflict over
the law appears to be escalating. The attorney general of Connecticut
has announced he will sue the Department
of Education over the law's finances. Texas is defying
a federal ruling on testing disabled children and many state legislatures
have protested various provisions of the federal law, which has
required a sweeping expansion of standardized testing, writes Dillon.
The 29-member Utah Senate passed the bill just hours
after the Utah House approved it. Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., a Republican,
has said he intends to sign it. Several lawmakers said in the debates
they admired Bush, but described the 1,000-page federal education
law he signed in January 2002 as an unconstitutional expansion of
the federal role in education, he writes.
Alliance to improve land trusts,
train and accredit conservation organizations
A national conservation group has announced it is
launching a $3 million program to improve ethics and governance
at the nation's 1,500 land trusts.
The Land Trust
Alliance, the nation's leading association of conservation
organizations, is funding the effort largely through a $1 million
challenge grant from the Doris
Duke Charitable Foundation. The grant is to help the
alliance train and accredit conservation groups, part of a broad
effort to improve professionalism and weed out rogue nonprofits,
writes
Joe Stephens of The Washington Post.
Rand Wentworth, president of the Washington-based
alliance, said, "We cannot allow a few bad apples to stop thousands
of private land owners, working farmers and ranchers, and local
communities from protecting America's natural areas and landscapes,"
Stephens writes. The move comes as some conservation organizations
are under attack, especially for practices related to conservation
and historic facade easements. A congressional committee has recommended
doing away entirely with some tax breaks associated with the donation
of such easements: development restrictions placed on property deeds
in an effort to preserve open space and protect antique streetscapes.
In February, the Internal Revenue Service included
excessive tax deductions related to facade easements -- easements
that protect the outward appearance of historic buildings -- on
the IRS's annual "Dirty Dozen" list of scams for taxpayers
to avoid, he writes.
Pentagon to release money to
destroy chemical weapons in Kentucky, Colorado
A Defense Department memo says the Pentagon will release
at least $300 million to dispose of chemical weapons stockpiles
in Kentucky and Colorado, setting stalled destruction programs back
into motion.
"The money was earmarked for the two sites in
the 2005 budget but frozen as the Pentagon considered whether there
were cheaper ways to destroy the deadly munitions," writes
Hilary Roxe of The Associated Press. Undersecretary
of Defense Michael W. Wynne asked project managers to develop budgets
that will move the programs forward with a goal of meeting an international
treaty deadline. Craig Williams, director of the Chemical
Weapons Working Group, a Kentucky-based watchdog organization,
called the decision "a complete turnaround."
Under the international treaty, ratified by the Senate
in 1997, the weapons stockpiled at eight sites across the country
must be destroyed by 2012. The
Blue Grass Army Depot in Richmond, Ky., and the
Pueblo Chemical Depot in Pueblo, Colo., are
the only sites where disposal facilities have not already been constructed,
Roxe writes. The military earlier this year said it was studying
other ways to destroy the weapons, including moving them to other
facilities. Wynne's memo doesn't take that option off the table,
but asks project managers not to consider the possibility "at
this time." Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., a vocal advocate for
Blue Grass, told the newspaper, "It sounds like complete capitulation
to me." For The Courier-Journal story, by
James R. Carroll, more specific to the Blue Grass Depot in Richmond,
click here.
Reporters lose again in CIA
leak case; grass-roots reporting in jeopardy?
"This is not a New York Times or
a Time magazine issue. What's at stake here is
journalism at the grass-roots level." That's what Times Publisher
Arthur Sulzberger Jr. said after a federal appeals court rejected
a request for a new hearing for two journalists after they refused
to disclose confidential sources to a grand jury investigating the
leak of a CIA operative's name. They could face jail time as early
as next week.
"The decision by the full U.S. Court of Appeals
in Washington accelerates the pace of the conflict between a special
prosecutor and the two reporters, Matthew Cooper of Time magazine
and Judith Miller of The New York Times," writes
Dan Eggen of The Washington Post. It also serves
as a firm rebuke to major news organizations and First Amendment
groups who had weighed in on the case, legal experts said.
Both news organizations indicated they would immediately
seek a stay of the appellate court's order and ask for a review
of the case by the U.S. Supreme Court. Without such a stay, attorneys
said, the case would be sent back next Tuesday to the lower court
judge, Thomas F. Hogan, who first ordered the reporters jailed for
as long as 18 months last October, Eggen writes. New York Times
spokesman Toby Usnik said, "We are disappointed with the court's
decision and we will seek a stay in order to have sufficient time
to seek U.S. Supreme Court review." A similar statement by
Time Inc. said the newsweekly was "disappointed but not surprised
by the decision."
The ruling marks the latest chapter in the ongoing
Justice Department probe by Chicago U.S. Attorney
Patrick J. Fitzgerald to determine whether a government official
knowingly leaked the name of a CIA operative, Valerie Plame, to
columnist Robert D. Novak in the summer of 2003. Fitzgerald indicated
in court filings last month he had completed his probe except for
the testimony from Cooper and Miller. For The New York Times version,
click here.
Washington Post top editor
says much in media 'opinion, gossip, propaganda'
The future of journalism is being challenged by repetitive
news produced by media outlets that are understaffed and financially
crunched, the executive editor of The Washington Post
said last night.
Leonard Downie Jr. spoke at the University
of Kentucky's 28th Joe
Creason Lecture to encourage young journalists to enter
a business full of opportunity to change society, despite the challenges,
writes
Samieh Shalash of the Lexington Herald-Leader.
Downie said "accountability journalism"
is the highest role of the press in society, so reporters must continue
pursuing stories of waste and corruption that keep the government
in check. But, he contended, they often miss stories that affect
the heartbeat of a community, such as coverage of young adults and
immigrants. Instead, he contends, the media are obsessed with rehashing
crime, catastrophe and celebrities. And, he opined, most of what
America sees isn't journalism at all, but thinly veiled opinion,
gossip and propaganda.
He told the audience, "Overall, journalism is
a shrinking part of the growing world of media," referring
to the advent of Internet media and 24-hour cable stations that
often air the same news on repeating cycles. But, Downie added,
even the content on TV and the Internet usually comes from a newspaper
because "at their core, newspapers own the news." He cited
torture at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, athletes on steroids, war
crimes in Darfur, Sudan -- all stories told by journalists, he said.
Americans never would have heard otherwise, writes Shalash.
Six added to Kentucky Journalism
Hall of Fame, from various specialties
Six journalists were inducted last night into the
Kentucky
Journalism Hall of Fame, including two journalists
retired from The
Courier-Journal, the news director of an Owensboro
radio station, the student publications director at Western
Kentucky University, a past president of the Kentucky
Press Association and the first woman reporter for
a major Kentucky daily newspaper.
The Courier-Journal's story
by Elisabeth Beardsley highlighted its alumni. Bob Schulman wrote
the groundbreaking "In All Fairness" media criticism column
for The C-J and Louisville Times from 1974 to 1981. He also was
known for his earlier WHAS-TV and radio commentaries,
"One Man's Opinion." Bob Johnson covered politics for
the newspaper from 1979 to 1989, and held several editing positions
before retiring in 1997. He also worked for WHAS-TV and Radio in
1958-78, first as a newscast scriptwriter and later as a reporter
focusing on government and politics. Johnson's former C-J colleague,
Richard Wilson, said Johnson may be the first Hall of Fame member
qualified to enter from both broadcast and print.
The others honored: Lee Denney, news director of Owensboro's
WBKR-FM/WOMI-AM since 1985, with more than 40 years
in broadcasting; Gene Clabes, past president of the Kentucky Press
Association and former owner of three weeklies known as Recorder
Newspapers in Northern Kentucky; Bob Adams, Western Kentucky
University student publications director and adviser to the school's
College Heights Herald
since 1968. Marguerite McLaughlin of the University
of Kentucky and the Lexington Herald-Leader
was honored posthumously. She was the first woman reporter for a
major Kentucky daily newspaper. McLaughlin taught for 38 years at
until 1950. She died in 1961. This year marks the 25th anniversary
of the Hall of Fame, which is sponsored by the
UK School of Journalism and Telecommunications and
the UK Journalism Alumni
Association.
Citizens'
group disappointed after W.Va. governor vetoes English-only bill
The chairman of U.S.
English Inc., which says it wants to preserve the role
of English in the U.S, announced
disappointment with West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin’s decision
to veto controversial English-only legislation.
The amendment to make English the official language
of the state was added on to a bill with another topic, which the
West Virginia Constitution prohibits. Manchin supported the legislation,
but vetoed it because of its "technical flaw," he told
The Associated Press. U.S. English Inc. Chairman
Mauro E. Mujica responded, “I share the sentiments of the
vast majority of West Virginians in that I am extremely disappointed
in Governor Manchin’s veto. Laws that the public supports
should not be stopped by supposed ‘technicalities.’”
The group was founded in 1983 by the late Sen. S.I.
Hayakawa of California, and now has more than 1.8 million members,
the group says.
Remains at building site may
be of ancient Indians; Wal-Mart project waits
Archaeologists have unearthed what they believe are
5,000-year-old remains of two American Indians at a Louisville site
planned for development, a find that has building plans on hold
for the nation's largest retailer.
Bone fragments were found during a recent archaeological
survey of a 55-acre site slated for a Wal-Mart,
restaurants and condominiums. Spear tips and burned rock were found
several years earlier at the site, officials said, writes
Chris Kenning of The Courier-Journal. "The
remains, accompanied by trash pits, charcoal, carbonized seeds and
tools, suggest a camp used by nomadic hunters who might have gathered
medicinal herbs and food in the wetland area around 3000 B.C., said
David Pollack, a Kentucky
Heritage Council archaeologist and site-protection
manager," Kenning writes for the Louisville newspaper.
The Army
Corps of Engineers also is involved in handling the
site. Indian tribes have been notified of the find. Archaeologists
hired by the developer are still working to determine the scope
and significance of the find -- and if more remains exist beyond
a one- to two-acre section, she notes. For more on efforts to find
and preserve Native American Indian burial sites and remains, click
here.
Longtime Kentucky newspaper
photographer, John C. Wyatt, dead at 76
John C. Wyatt, an intensely private man who earned
his living peering into the lives of thousands of other people through
the lens of his camera, died yesterday at Kenton Health
Care Center.
Wyatt, who was a photographer for the Lexington
Herald-Leader for more than 40 years and who took pictures
for Keeneland Race Course for more than 30 years, was 76, writes
Jennifer Hewlett of the Lexington Herald-Leader. Former Herald-Leader
associate editor Bill Hanna told Hewlett, "I think he was one
of the hardest working, conscientious newspaper photographers I've
ever seen. He knew his job --knew how to do it and knew how to help
others do theirs."
Wyatt began his career as a teenager, developing negatives
for a local photographer. He became a photographer for the former
afternoon daily, the Lexington Leader, in 1946.
He retired from the Lexington Herald-Leader, where he was chief
photographer for many years, in 1990.
Clogging workshops, competition
kick off dancing season in Maggie Valley, N.C.
If you are a ‘hoofer from the hills,’
you may want to clog your way to Maggie
Valley, N.C. this coming weekend, as dancing season
kicks off at the Stompin'
Ground on Soco Road. The
American Clogging Hall of Fame's spring workshop and
competition marks the beginning of weekend dancing, writes
Jill Ingram of the Asheville Citizen-Times.
There are Friday evening and Sunday morning events
for Hall of Fame members, but the main attractions for the public
are Saturday's workshop and competition, which include precision
dancing, flatfoot, clogging, line dancing and more for dancers of
all ages, writes Ingram.
Last year's event attracted about 40 teams, mostly
from the Southeast. April 29 and 30 will kickoff regular weekend
dancing through the end of October at the Stompin' Ground, the dancehall
that Kyle and Mary Sue Edwards started more than 20 years ago. Kyle
Edwards told Ingram, young people still take up dancing, "but
not near as many as there once was. Times change, I guess."
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
Bush-backing papers with rural
audiences join call for DeLay’s departure
Some newspapers that urged their readers, many of
them rural, to re-elect President Bush have joined more liberal
editorial voices in calling for embattled House Majority Leader
Tom DeLay to step down. The trend is “calling into question
the contention that DeLay's woes are the result of a battering by
‘liberal media,’ as some of his supporters claim,”
writes
Graham Webster for Editor
& Publisher.
Webster’s story was prompted by a release from
the liberal media watchdog group, Media
Matters for America, which cited editorials in The
Wall Street Journal
and eight newspapers that endorsed Bush in either or both the
2000 and 2004 elections, including The
Daily News-Leader of Staunton, Va.,
circulation 18,200. It said on April 12, “Republicans have
rallied around DeLay in the same loyal way that the Democrats circled
their wagons around [former House Speaker Jim] Wright. If you ca't
count on your own party, who can you trust? But it is becoming rapidly
clear that, in order to cut their losses and regain the moral high
ground, DeLay must go."
Media Matters also cited editorials in the
Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch, the Winston-Salem
(N.C.) Journal, the Dallas Morning News,
the Omaha (Neb.) World-Herald,
the Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch
and the Lincoln (Neb.) Journal Star,
which said, April 12, "It's time for Republicans to renounce
his leadership and choose a more principled and temperate representative
as House Majority Leader.”
Farmers seed program to save
land; preservation versus development
A farming couple in Shelby County, Kentucky, took
expensive preventative measures after they saw the 300-acre farm
next door carved into lots for houses, in an effort to "save"
their property in the future.
"To hold off the encroaching suburbs farmers
Susan and Doug Schlosnagle paid nearly $400,000 to buy 11 lots covering
70 acres between their farm and the highway," writes
Michael A. Lindenberger of The Courier-Journal.
Susan Schlosnagle, who has cattle, more than 1,000 free-range laying
hens and may plant an orchard on the new 70 acres, told Lindenberger,
"We would have had 10 driveways coming onto the road leading
from our farm to (the) highway. It would have changed everything."
The loss has contributed to a debate about the future
of Shelby County, with some advocating wholesale preservation of
farmland, and others warning such a move could increase the cost
of housing. Activists want to create a program to pay farmers to
preserve their land forever for agriculture. The goal is to remove
the temptation for farmers to sell to developers. Fayette County
is the only Kentucky county now with such a program. The state runs
a similar program, but it has a waiting list of 587 applicants statewide.
For information on Fayette County's farmland preservation program,
click here.
Jim Ellis, president of the local conservation group
called Maintain Our Rural Environment, is
calling for quick action, but developer Mike Meinze is
concerned it could drive up prices up for those seeking to buy new
homes. Some realtors note the county's location between the state's
two largest cities and near the state's capital, makes it a "natural
choice." Former Kentucky first lady Libby Jones, on the board
of the state farm preservation program since it began, said, "We
are just trying to channel development into areas where it can be
served cost-effectively," Lindenberger writes.
In Shelby County, since 1999, more than 2,100 single-family
housing permits have been issued, as the population rose from 24,842
in 1990 to an estimated 37,219 in 2004. The state launched the Purchase
of Agricultural Conservation Easement program in 1994.
Farmers retain ownership and the rights to sell the land or give
it to heirs. They agree to limit the land to agricultural uses forever,
a restriction that would run with the deed and bind future owners
as well. The waiting list has 587 applications, representing 115,000
acres, with an estimated value of over $100 million. The state only
has about $800,000 to spend each year, half of which comes in federal
funds, he writes. For the C-J story headlined Farm sale worries
neighbors along Wolf Pen Branch, by reporter Matt Batcheldor,
click here.
Not enough low-cost rural housing;
millions can't afford home, advocates say
A national housing assistance council maintains there
are more than 35 million rural families who cannot afford rental
housing.
Duplicate the situation nationwide, and 35 million
households - one-third of all U.S. households - suffer from a shortage
of affordable rental housing, according to advocates for more and
better rural housing. That is projected to rise by another 2 million
in the next decade, writes
Roque Glenn Omanio of the Scripps Howard Foundation
wire service InfoZine. “Rural Californians
(as one example) who earn less than $12 an hour - nearly twice the
state minimum wage of $6.75 per hour - can't afford to rent a two-bedroom
apartment near their jobs," Omanio noted.
With housing subsidies from the government running
dry, housing units built 15 to 30 years ago are now in dire need
of repair, and prospects for new construction are bleak. Michael
Bodaken, president of the National
Housing Trust, a nonprofit group that preserves subsidized
housing, told reporters, "We no longer build a sufficient supply
of new rural housing. We are losing apartments, as owners want to
rent them to people who can pay more," Omanio writes.
Bodaken said some private investors buy low-rent apartment
houses and raise the rents, making affordable places for low-income
renters hard to find. The
MacArthur Foundation, which finances rural housing
preservation projects, said 19 million households live on annual
incomes of $30,000 a year or less, which made them qualified for
government housing assistance, but only 5 million receive it, he
writes.
N.C. newspaper unveils a topic
of fear and confusion: registered sex offenders
The Watauga Democrat of North Carolina is going
where few newspapers have gone: into the heads of convicted sex
offenders, examining their lives post-conviction and the roads that
got them where they are.
The paper is talking to sex offenders in a two-part
series. The first story is written
by Jerry Sena. He talked to “John,” one of 25 registered
sex offenders in Watauga County. He accepted a plea bargain after
he was charged with statutory rape and indecent liberties with a
minor. He was convicted of indecent liberties to avoid going to
jail for 30 years, Sena writes. John maintains that he was wrongly
accused, but now has to register as a sex offender wherever he goes,
for the rest of his life. On his three-year probation, he will attend
four counseling sessions each month and submit to searches and drug
tests without notice.
"For the first six months of this, I was very
angry, and very hurt..,” he said. “But, I managed to
deal with it, through the help of my friends, and my counselor,
talking about things like this in class and how people react."
Ex-user in Tennessee forms
‘Mothers Against Meth’ prayer support group
A 22-year-old, five-year methanphetamine addict and
mother of two children from Bradley County, Tennessee, has formed
a prayer support group to help others who want a higher power's
help fighting off the ravages of this rural plague.
As she sat and cradled her 3-month-old son, Bryson,
while telling her story, Brittany Bowman said she can hardly accept
that she was once a slave to the highly addictive drug, writes
Tammie Goins of the Cleveland Daily Banner. Bryson
considers both her children to be miracles because they were exposed
to meth in and out of the womb, but are still healthy. "Bowman
is a living testament that meth users can be free from the drug
and stay off it with a little help from above," writes Goins
for the Cleveland, Tenn. newspaper.
To help others, Bowman has established a Mothers
Against Methamphetamine prayer support group in Bradley
County. She told the newspaper, "I wanted to do something to
help people be aware of what meth does to you, and how to cope.
Family members and law enforcement have no control over it. The
only thing that does is God." The Bradley County Chapter of
MAMA was named "Heal the Hurt" by Bowman. Brittany Bowman's
e-mail address is Forgivenblb509@yahoo.com.
The support group is not only for mothers, but for
fathers, brothers, aunts, uncles or even addicts who want help for
themselves or a loved one. Bowman said, "They can't do it by
themselves. This is a time to come and be loved on and share personal
stories. The only way to reach these people is through prayer,"
writes Goins.
Minnesota-based Target tackles
abuse; bans or restricts meth ingredients
Target
store customers across the country will have to ask pharmacists
for cold pills and other pseudoephedrine-containing products, a
move announced by the discount retail giant in an effort at keeping
needed chemicals out of meth-makers' hands.
"At the (Minnesota) Capitol, where similar proposals
are under consideration, officials hailed the announcement as a
bold move in the fight against methamphetamine," writes
Rachel E. Stassen-Berger and Scott Carlson of the St. Paul Pioneer
Press.
Gov. Tim Pawlenty said, "They're showing leadership
at a national level. We're trying to get the Legislature to legislate
what they're doing voluntarily." Officials from the Minneapolis-based
discount retailer — the nation's second-largest — said
the company opted to move the drugs behind the counter because it
is the right thing to do and it allows the company to have a consistent
policy in the face of dozens of different state and other local
restrictions on pseudoephedrine sales, write Stassen-Berger and
Carlson for the Pioneer Press.
Target spokeswoman Carolyn Brookter told them, "It
is part of our business. ...we think it really is the way to go."
The new policy — the first for a national discount retailer
— will go into effect in all the Target stores that have pharmacies,
about 1,000 stores, in the next two to three months. Target will
stop selling the pseudoephedrine products completely in its 300
stores without pharmacies. For The Associated Press version,
click here.
For reaction to the policy and information on the problem, click
here.
North Carolina medical director
urges cigarette tax hike to fight health effects
North Carolina's state medical director has strongly
and publicly waded into the debate over increasing the cigarette
tax, irking some legislators in the nation's No. 1 tobacco-producing
state..
Dr. Leah Devlin, in a letter to the state's General
Assembly, urges lawmakers to raise the tobacco tax from the current
nickel a pack to at least 50 cents per pack, a proposal made by
Gov. Mike Easley in February, writes
Mark Johnson of The Charlotte Observer. The move
elicited a sharp response from opponents of an increase over what
they see as a politicization of the health director's post. Rep.
Leo Daughtry, a Republican from a large tobacco-producing county
said, "It's out of line, frankly."
Devlin said in her letter that a higher tobacco tax
is one of the most thoroughly documented strategies toward reducing
smoking and its damaging effects on health. She wanted legislators
to have that information as they prepare to vote on a cigarette
tax, writes Johnson. She added, "It's important for them to
know that there is well-established science that a tobacco tax that
goes to at least 50 cents would have an incredible impact in terms
of saving lives."
She highlighted the $1.9 billion that the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says North Carolina
spends every year on tobacco-related health care. Devlin also wrote
that, according to CDC, an increase to 50 cents would reduce youth
smoking by nearly 10 percent, prevent thousands of smoking-related
deaths and save tens of millions of dollars in health care costs.
Daughtry said he didn't receive any letters from state officials
when Democratic legislators took money from the Health and Wellness
Trust fund to balance the budget in recent years. Part of that money
is intended for anti-teen smoking efforts, he writes.
Kentucky, the No. 2 tobacco state, recently raised
its cigarette tax to 30 cents from 3 cents.
Mine seal blowout, flood shut
road in Kentucky; safety problems elsewhere?
A seal in an inactive underground mine collapsed yesterday,
sending water, mud and rocks across all four lanes of a highway
near Softshell east of Hindmanin in Knott County, Kentucky, again
raising questions about the safety of other such operations throughout
Appalachia.
Sara George, spokeswoman for the Kentucky
Transportation Cabinet office in Pikeville said no one
was injured and there have been no reports of damage to homes or
personal property, but water gushing out of the mountainside was
eroding the highway, reports
the Lexington Herald-Leader. The blowout occurred
at a mine which was operated in the 1980s and 1990s by Consol
of Kentucky. The blowout then triggered a mudslide. Local
officials expect the highway to be closed for "at least two
days." Kentucky State Police officer Tony Watts told reporters
the water gushing across the road could go on for hours, maybe days.
State officials told reporters that unlike the Martin
County sludge spill in 2000, when 306 million gallons of thick coal
wastes poured out of a ruptured impoundment into abandoned mineworks
and then into nearby streams, the spill yesterday contained mostly
water. Sediment problems are the only environmental worries at this
point, Natural Resources Department
spokesman Mark York said. York said he's received no reports of
damage to homes or personal property in the area, the newspaper
writes.
Knott County is in the heart of Eastern Kentucky's
coalfields, where both underground and surface mines are widespread.
Once sealed, water frequently collects inside underground mines.
Some mountain residents, including small towns, use such abandoned
mines as a source of water. York said inspectors have begun an investigation
into what caused the mine blowout and are trying to determine when
the water flow will stop.
People from 16 states, Canada
and Guam attend illegal Kentucky cockfight
There’s more evidence that the outlawed sport
of cockfighting is popular in many parts of the nation, and that
the laws against it, and enforcement of those laws, are not strong
enough to deter it.
“Most of the 507 people cited after a raid this
past weekend on a suspected cockfighting operation in central Kentucky’s
Montgomery County will not have to go to court if they plead guilty
and pay fines and court costs,” writes
the Lexington Herald-Leader The fine is $50 and
court costs are $145.50. First appearances for cases that go to
court will begin Monday and run through June, the newspaper writes.
Kentucky State Police told the newspaper
more than 750 people from 16 states, Canada and Guam were on the
grounds. The owner of the property was charged with cruelty to animals.
Capt. Lisa Rudzinski, a state police spokeswoman, said more charges
are possible after a grand jury hears evidence. State police say
fights were held at the same location a couple of times a month
before large crowds. The arena featured three rings, an announcer's
booth and stadium seating. There also was a restaurant, holding
areas for roosters, and concession sales. (Bloggers' note: It
appears to this reporter that fines, enforcement and distance don't
seem enough to deter attendees, who could gain significantly from
betting on the blood sport.)
West Virginia ‘English-only’
bill vetoed by governor; 'flawed, not wrong'
West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin has vetoed a bill that
would have made English the state's official language. He said he
did so not because he did not like the idea, but because the legislation
had a technical flaw.
Manchin, who co-sponsored unsuccessful English-only
bills when he was a lawmaker, cited the state's Constitution, which
limits each piece of legislation to one topic. An English amendment
was added to a bill on increasing the size of local park and recreation
boards in the final hours of the legislative session, reports
The Associated Press.
West Virginia has the highest percentage of English-only
speakers in the nation, with only 2.7 percent of its residents speaking
a language other than English at home, according to the 2000 Census.
For an earlier AP report, with more background, click here.
Authors Guild to offer online
purchasing of books by Appalachian authors
The Appalachian Authors Guild plugged
itself into the virtual world last week as it unveiled its online
sales website to market Appalachian authors in an array of genres.
The Appalachian Regional Commission and the Virginia
Center for Innovative Technology have both financially
supported the AAG’s effort, reports
Angie Arms of the Richlands News-Press / Clinch Valley News.
The site will offer books from many different authors
for purchase, and will include pages for the different authors with
their biographies, links to personal websites and scheduled online
chats, writes Arms for the Virginia newspaper. Johnny Duncan, AAG's
e-commerce director, said the website will also help authors keep
more of the revenue. It will require a 25 percent take, which helps
pay for the Guild's marketing, whereas sites like Barnes
& Noble and Amazon
may take up to 45 percent of the sale revenue.
Bobbie Ann Mason to lecture,
Al Smith to be honored at University of Kentucky
Bobbie Ann Mason, writer in residence at the University of Kentucky, will deliver
the 24th annual Edward F. Prichard Jr. Lecture at the UK Library Associates annual meeting Friday, April 29 at 8 p.m. at the Crowne Plaza Lexington, The Campbell House. The
associates will present Al Smith, notied civic leader and host of
KET’s "Comment on Kentucky," with
the UK Libraries Medallion for Intellectual
Achievement. The award was created in 1990 to recognize high intellectual achievement in
Kentucky or by Kentuckians, and
to encourage education and the free and creative use of the mind
in the citizens of Kentucky.
Raised on her family’s dairy farm near Mayfield, Mason
has a Ph.D. from the University of Connecticut. Her first
short stories were published in The New Yorker
magazine , and some
appeared in her first book of fiction, Shiloh and Other Stories, published
in 1982. She has published three other books of short stories
and four novels, including her famed work In
Country. She will read from Clear
Springs, her memoir and family history that was a finalist
for the Pulitzer Prize.
The meeting will begin with a reception at 5:30 p.m., followed
by dinner at 6:30, with the lecture and awarding of the medallion at 8 p.m. The meeting is open to the public.
Tickets are $50 and may be purchased by calling Esther Edwards at 859-257-0500, extension 2159.
Monday, April 18, 2005
Democrat warns Republicans
that Medicaid cuts will hurt rural folks most
U.S. Rep. Sharon Sanders Brooks, a Democrat from Kansas
City, Mo., warned rural Republicans that their constituents, not
urban African Americans, would bear the blunt of Medicaid cuts.
Brooks was fired up after reading a story that quoted
a Medicaid patient who incorrectly complained that most patients
were black, write
Kit Wagar and Tim Hoover of The Kansas City Star.
Brooks has received many letters from rural Missouri residents begging
her not to vote for cutting coverage. One woman from Potosi said
the cuts would make her $645 monthly disability income disqualify
her from Medicaid. “Explain to your child when she comes home
crying why you can't afford $5 for a classroom field trip,”
she wrote. “Or choose which bill isn't going to get paid (because)
your children need shoes and clothes.”
The House approved a cut in Medicaid spending by $307
million, eliminating coverage for about 92,000 people. “These
people from Hootin' Holler, they're not my constituents,”
Brooks said. “You ain't kicking the brothers and sisters off
Medicaid. You're kicking other folks off.”
Increase for Medicare spent,
many rural elderly may lose home therapy services
Two years ago, a five percent increase was added to
Medicare services, targeting hard-to-serve rural areas. It gave
thousands of elderly residents in rural areas the chance to get
needed nursing care and therapy at home, helping them avoid nursing
homes,
writes Lawrence O'Rourke of the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
Home health care in rural areas costs more, one reason
being the residents live farther apart. Therapists may drive 40
miles in between patients’ homes. Someone has to pay for the
mileage, explained the vice president of CareSouth, a major home
healthcare provider in the Carolinas, Chris MacInnis. "Those
distances really drive the expenses up," said MacInnis.
Now, the $100 million that was earmarked for Medicare
services is spent. The one-year add-on expired March 31, and it’s
unlikely the funds will be renewed, leaving the elderly who benefited
from the plan this past year facing big cuts. "We will not
sacrifice patient care," MacInnis said, noting that the loss
of the extra money pressures therapists to cut the number of visits
to patients. "The government is putting the onus on providers
to offer better care with less money," MacInnis said.
Panel named on community-development
overhaul; Virginia official not on it
Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez
has named 17 people whom his
press release calls "national and regional experts"
to advise him on the Bush administration's plan
to consolidate and reduce spending on community- and economic-development
programs.
A southwest Virginia economic and planning
official who has been skeptical of Bush's plan, but had hoped to
be named to the advisory committee, did not make the list. Ron Flanary's
hometown newspaper, The Post of Big Stone Gap,
reported Wednesday that he might be appointed at the suggestion
of U.S. Sen. George Allen, and that the committee would have 25
members. It wound up with only 17 members.
Flanary is executive director of the
Lenowisco Planning District Commission and "has
spent more than 30 years navigating the details of community development
block grants" and other federal economic-development programs,
senior writer Jeff Lester reported for The Post. His
story called Flanary "a finalist" for the committee,
and said Allen suggested his name after he told the Republican senator
of his "skepticism and concern about the fate of several programs
that have been instrumental to projects in Wise, Lee and Scott counties
and the City of Norton," which comprise the planning district.
Lester's story and a
sidebar laid out the arguments on both sides of the proposal,
which would consolidate 18 programs and cut their initial funding
to $3.7 billion from $5.3 billion. Fla nary told the paper that
too much of the community development block grant program supports
urban bureaucracies; agencies such as his "get no direct CDBG
funds," The Post reported. The paper's thorough coverage also
included a
list of local projects that had received recent grants from
the programs that would be consolidated.
The panel includes two people with
connections to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community
Issues -- Inez., Ky., banker and Republican National Committee
Treasurer Mike Duncan, who is a member of the Institute's
advisory board, and Mark Drabenstott, director of the Center for
the Study of Rural America at the Federal Reserve Bank of
Kansas City. Drabenstott will speak at a national
seminar on rural issues, which the Institute is programming
for the Knight Center for Specialized Journalism at the University
of Maryland June 12-17. He is chairing the advisory committee.
Cut food stamps to preserve
farm subsidies? Bad idea, says Johanns
Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns opposes the notion
of some in Congress that food stamps will have to be cut in order
to spare farmers from reductions in subsidies. "It's a very tough
sell to say we're going to get out there and cut food programs for
the most needy Americans because we don't want to take cuts over
here," Johanns said in an exclusive interview with the Des
Moines Sunday Register.
"Johanns, the former Nebraska governor, knows something about
the politics of spending cuts," wrote
Philip Brasher of the Register's Washington bureau. "He
warned that cutting the food stamp program more than the relatively
small amount that the administration has proposed would undermine
public support for farm programs." Johnanns told him, "All
of a sudden you start reading stories on the front page about how
a very needy family has been impacted in the food they eat."
Johanns has the unenviable job of "selling farm groups on the
Bush administration's deficit-reduction plan, which would cut farm
subsidies by $9 billion over the next five years," Brasher
notes. "Congressional leaders are trying to work out a compromise
that could cut Agriculture Department spending by as little as $2.8
billion. Lawmakers say some of that will come out of nutrition and
conservation programs. . . . Spending on food stamps, projected
to hit $38 billion next year, double what it was when President
Bush took office, would be pared by $100 million annually under
the president's budget."
Johanns told Brasher that he expects Congress to
impose caps on subsidies that individual farmers and landowners
can receive. "Southern Republicans, including the Senate Agriculture
Committee's chairman, Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., strongly oppose the
new caps, which would fall heaviest on large cotton and rice farms
in the South," Brasher wrote.
Texas
senator learns about rural health care issues in roundtable discussion
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, learned a few things
about about health care issues in rural areas of his state, after
participating in a roundtable discussion at the Texas Tech
University Health Science Center.
Cornyn, a member of the Senate Republican Task Force
on Health Care Costs and the Uninsured,
told Brandi Dean of the Amarillo Globe-News,
"Texas is a big and diverse state. It's not just defined by
I-35. There's a lot of people who live in smaller parts of the state
where health care is an issue. I'm here to listen to good things
that are being done and find out how I can help."
One issue, he added, is that the state’s rural
population is older and more reliant on Medicare. "We have
a challenge because people should not have to go to a big city in
order to get good quality health care,” he said. “Nor
should they be forced, because of where they live, to delay treatment
when it could be treated more humanely and cost effectively early
on."
Newspaper publisher and anonymous
writer defend Wal-Mart in Berea, Ky.
"It's OK to shop at Wal-Mart."
That was the headline over Publisher Teresa Scenters' editorial
in last week's Berea (Ky.) Citizen in apparent
response to a
column in the April 3 Richmond Register by
columnist Don McNay, who bemoaned the closing of a Berea grocery
and blamed it on Wal-Mart -- which is notorious among newspaper
people because it rarely uses their medium to advertise.
"Wal-Mart is one of those things we love to hate,"
Scenters wrote. "Even though we may gripe about it, I can't
think of too many people in town I haven't run into there at one
time or another. . . . It's out of necessity for most of us."
Such as the reader who sent Scenters an anonymous letter. The Citizen
(which does not put its content on the Web) doesn't run such letters,
but Scenters quoted from it in her editorial:
"There are many families like mine who cannot
afford to support the locals if we can get lower prices at Wal-Mart.
. . . My family has to exist on $15,000 annually, and I realize
we are in better shape than some families, especially senior citizens."
The writer said the letter was anonymous because "If my employer
knew I was complaining of my minimum-wage salary with no benefits,
I would then really be in trouble. In a small town, a person of
ordinary means cannot express themselves for fear of being ostracized."
Minister-columnist-goat raiser
says goodbye to readers of The Mountain Eagle
Tom Currie, a Presbyterian minister who raised goats
for Heifer International and wrote a column for
The Mountain Eagle of Whitesburg, Ky., said goodbye
to his readers last week after retiring to Carthage, N.C., near
Fort Bragg. Some excerpts:
"Don't ever let anyone put down Letcher County
or Appalachia," Currie wrote. "Sure, it is not for everyone
. . . but it has a great deal to offer anyone who is looking for
a place to call home and enjoy. . . . We will always be marked in
a positive way by the people we have met and gotten to know while
in Eastern Kentucky, and by the experiences we have had while in
your midst. . . . You taught me about compassion and family loyalty.
I leave Kentucky a more educated fellow than when I arrived."
Currie concluded, "I will not forget you!"
And neither will those of us at the Institute for Rural Journalism
and Community Issues, who met Tom Currie and enjoyed his columns.
Best of luck, Preacher.
SPJ announces finalists in
Green Eyeshade Awards for Southern journalists
The Society of Professional Journalists
has announced the
finalists for the 2004 Green Eyeshade Awards, which recognize
the best journalism in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky,
Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee
and West Virginia.
Among smaller and rural-oriented media outlets, the finalists include
editorial writer Mac Thrower of The Paducah (Ky.) Sun,
investigative reporters Jon Elliston and Barbara Solow of The
Independent Weekly in Durham, N.C., and humor columnists
Tim Nicholas of The Clinton (Miss.) News and Scott
Wright of The Post in Centre, Ala.
The finalists
will be honored May 14 at a banquet in Atlanta, home of the SPJ
chapter that began the awards 55 years ago. During the banquet,
first, second and third place winners will be announced, along with
the winner of the overall Green Eyeshade Award. The winner receives
a $1,000 cash. For more information, contact Heather Porter at hporter@spj.org
or 317-927-8000, ext. 204.
Booklet offers ways to use
newspapers to teach about First Amendment rights
With so many high school students ignorant about the
First Amendment, teachers can look to new teaching methods when
addressing the amendment's freedoms. Five pairs of teachers, who
each won in the 2001 Newspaper Innovators in Education Awards,
recently compiled a First Amendment booklet
for teachers with suggestions on how to use newspapers to explain
the amendment’s five freedoms. The suggestions are targeted
for elementary, middle and high-school students, with activities
to explain each of the five freedoms.
Some ideas include having students write letters to
the local newspaper editor, asking them what freedom of the press
means to them in their job and, for high schoolers, reading newspaper
stories and identifying who might not want the story published.
Let students decide if the press goes too far, not far enough, or
just right regarding what it publishes.
Prominent journos coming to
Bowling Green, Ky., for First Amendment event
Western Kentucky University’s
School of Journalism and Broadcasting, along with the provost office’s
American Democracy Project, will host a celebration called “First
Amendment First,” on Thursday, April 21. The celebration comes
after a John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
survey revealed many high school students are ignorant about the
rights guaranteed them in the First Amendment.
The event will feature professional journalists, philosophers
and educators discussing First Amendment freedoms. The list includes
recently retired New York Times columnist William
Safire; former NBC chairman Julian Goodman; First
Amendment Center executive director Gene Policinski; former
Courier-Journal publisher Barry Bingham Jr.; his
daughter, photojournalist Molly Bingham; and David Yalof and Kenneth
Dautrich of the University of Connecticut, who
conducted a survey
of high school students’opinions of First Amendment rights
for the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
The Society of Professional Journalists
and its Western campus chapter are also working on the First Amendment
celebration. SPJ participants will include Vice President for Campus
Chapter Affairs Jim Highland, adviser to the campus chapter; and
three past SPJ presidents, Gordon “Mac” McKerral, Robert
Leger and Al Cross, will be present on the Town Hall Meeting panel.
Cross, former political writer for The Courier-Journal, is interim
director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community
Issues. Leger is editorial page editor of the Springfield
(Mo.) News-Leader.
Bobbie Ann Mason to lecture,
Al Smith to be honored at University of Kentucky
Bobbie Ann Mason, writer in residence at the University of Kentucky, will deliver
the 24th annual Edward F. Prichard Jr. Lecture at the UK Library Associates annual meeting Friday, April 29 at 8 p.m. at the Crowne Plaza Lexington, The Campbell House. The
associates will present Al Smith, notied civic leader and host of
KET’s "Comment on Kentucky," with
the UK Libraries Medallion for Intellectual
Achievement. The award was created in 1990 to recognize high intellectual achievement in
Kentucky or by Kentuckians, and
to encourage education and the free and creative use of the mind
in the citizens of Kentucky.
Raised on her family’s dairy farm near Mayfield, Mason
has a Ph.D. from the University of Connecticut. Her first
short stories were published in The New Yorker magazine ,
and some appeared in her first book of fiction, Shiloh and Other Stories, published
in 1982. She has published three other books of short stories
and four novels, including her famed work In
Country. She will read from Clear
Springs, her memoir and family history that was a finalist
for the Pulitzer Prize.
The meeting will begin with a reception at 5:30 p.m., followed
by dinner at 6:30, with the lecture and awarding of the medallion at 8 p.m. The meeting is open to the public.
Tickets are $50 and may be purchased by calling Esther Edwards at 859-257-0500, extension 2159.
SPJ conference in Morgantown,
W.Va., on shield laws, records, rural journalism
The Society
of Professional Journalists will host a conference
titled“Protecting Sources, Preserving Our Rights,” at
West Virginia University
in Morgantown, W.Va., on Saturday, April 23. The conference will
focus on shield laws for reporters to protect confidential sources
and the erosion of public records.
At 10 a.m., there will be a panel titled, “Protecting
Sources, Preserving our Rights,” with Eric Eyre, from The
Charleston Gazette, and James V. Grimaldi, part of
The Washington
Post’s investigative team and a member of Investigative
Reporters and Editors. Also at 10 a.m., Al Cross, director of the
Institute for Rural
Journalism and Community Issues
and Chris Staelman, publisher of The
Parsons Advocate, will host a panel titled “Rural
Journalism: Small Ain’t Necessarily Bad.”
At 1:15, Kate Long, a writing coach with The Charleston
Gazette and a frequent presenter through the Poynter
Institue, will host “Telling the Story Behind
Health Care,” At 2:45 she will host another lecture panel
titled, “Better Storytelling.” To register, fill out
a registration form.
'Understanding the Social Security
debate' seminars set for journalists
Several no-cost, half-day seminars on Social Security will begin
April 25 at the University of Oklahoma and continue
May 5, at Marshall University
in Huntington, West Virginia. Others will be held May 13 at the
University of South Florida in Tampa; May 20at
Vanderbilt University in Nashville, June 10 at
the University of Texas in Austin and one other location to be announced
soon.
The seminars are being presented by the National
Press Foundation and The
National Academy of Social Insurance. They are being
underwritten by a grant from the Ford Foundation "Designed
to inform in a balanced and interesting way, but not to advocate
any specific viewpoint, the seminar will feature speakers recognized
as national experts but with different perspectives," promotional
materials say.
Scheduled speakers in Huntington include William J. Arnone of Ernst
& Young; David John of The
Heritage Foundation; Laurel Beedon of the AARP
Public Policy Institute and Robert Rosenblatt, senior
fellow at the National Academy of Social Insurance. They will look
at the fundamentals of Social Security, examine how government programs
fit into retirement, and include a debate on the merits of private
accounts.
Reservations are required. To reserve
a seat contact the National Press Foundation. E-mail is khill@nationalpress.org.
Call Kashmir Hill at 202-663-7282. Fax is 202-530-2855. Mail to
National Press Foundation, “Understanding the Social Security
Debate,” 1211 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 310, Washington,
DC 20036. Provide name, affiliation, address, telephone, email and
fax.
Journalists invited to apply
for national conference on rural issues
Rural
journalists and others who cover rural America are invited to apply
for fellowships to attend Rural America, Community Issues, a
national conference on rural issues at the Knight Center
for Specialized Journalism at the University of
Maryland, College Park, June 12-17.
The Institute
for Rural Journalism and Community Issues is programming
this conference, which will feature speakers from top research institutions,
government, business and the media. Attendees will gain valuable
sources and engage in thought-provoking discussions with other reporters,
editors and opinion writers from around the country.
Knight
Center fellowships cover all seminar costs, including reference
materials, hotel lodging, meals and a travel subsidy. The travel
subsidy is a reimbursement of half the cost of travel up to a maximum
subsidy of $300. The deadline for receipt of applications
is May 4.
Session
topics and speakers include the politics of rural America, the rural
economy, the technology divide, rural health care, education in
rural areas, strategies for managing rural growth, the financial
realities of rural journalism and a field trip to Washington. For
details and application information, click
here.
Friday, April 15, 2005
Protagonists of battle over
'The Real Beverly Hillbillies' find common ground
The man who proposed a reality show based on “The
Beverly Hillbillies” explained himself yesterday at the opening
session of a symposium on “The Media and Appalachia”
at East Tennessee State University. Then he listened
to the man who mounted a successful campaign to keep CBS from producing
the show.
“I’m as unapologetic a hillbilly as you’ll
ever meet,” Dub Cornett, a native of Appalachia, Va., said
in introducing himself to the audience. He said he looked for a
likeable family that could mirror the integrity and judgment displayed
by the patriarch of the original show. “Jed Clampett had integrity,”
he said. “The banker was the idiot.”
Cornett said Appalachian stereotypes would continue
to prevail in the media until those in the region are able to tell
their own story. “The people here have never had a chance
to speak for themselves,” he said. “The media have always
defined us.” He said documentaries don’t have the impact
of entertainment, and journalism has been taken over by show-business
values anyway. “If we don’t set the agenda, Paris Hilton
will,” he said, alluding to the show “The Simple Life,”
in which Hilton and Nicole Ritchie engage with rural folk. “We
can either get positive about it or we can keep hiding.”
Documentary filmmaker Dee Davis, president of the
Whitesburg, Ky.-based Center for Rural Strategies,
said he accepted almost of Cornett’s arguments, but did not
believe the show would have turned out the way Cornett hoped, because
CBS had set the frame for it and “would continually be playing
off the stereotypes.” Davis reminded the audience that the
only “Beverly Hillbillies” character who could read
was 26-year-old Jethro Bodine, who has a sixth-grade education and
some weird ideas about how the world worked. And he noted that one
CBS executive thought it would be funny to see the family interviewing
potential maids.
Earlier, anticipating Davis’s remarks, Cornett
argued that it is easy to say that the show could not have reflected
well on Appalachia, but “That’s self-loathing, to me.”
Davis said Cornett was “a wonderful gentleman to be in a protracted
fight with,” and added that Cornett told him they wanted the
same thing, “but he was doing it like Al Sharpton and I was
doing it like Martin Luther King.”
The symposium continues today; for a more complete
report, including a parody of "The Ballad of Jed Clampett"
and a presentation about Olympic bomber Eric Rudolph, click
here. Here is the program.
Bush to pay Earth Day visit
to polluted Great Smoky Moutains National Park
President Bush plans to visit the Great
Smoky Mountains National Park next Friday, one of the
nation's worst areas for air pollution, to mark the annual Earth
Day. The office of U.S. Rep. John J. Duncan Jr., a
Knoxville Republican, announced Bush's visit, and Duncan plans to
join Bush at the most-visited national park, writes
Richard Powelson of the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
The White House had no comment yet on Bush's schedule
for Earth Day. Bush could use the backdrop of the Smokies to make
another pitch for his administration's proposed regulation to reduce
unhealthy levels of air pollution in many areas of the country.
Bush's latest proposal is called the Clean
Air Interstate Rule, writes Powelson. The Republican-controlled
Senate Environment and Public Works
Committee deadlocked and failed to pass Bush's "Clear Skies"
legislation to address air pollution concerns. One Republican and
one independent joined Democrats to stall the bill and seek another
approach. Environmental groups have alleged that the current Clean
Air Act's laws are stronger than Bush's proposals for change.
Don Barger, a spokesman for the National
Parks Conservation Association, told Powelson, "The
air quality situation at the Smokies points to the inadequacies
of the administration's policy on clean air." Barger agreed
with a recent statement by National
Park Service Director Fran Mainella that the air in
the Smokies is improving. Barger told the newspaper, "But cleaner
air does not mean clear air." He also warned that federal requirements
need to do more and do it faster for the long-term health of the
Smokies park.
Kentucky's
fastest growth near cities, interstates; rural areas continue to
struggle
U.S. Census
Bureau population estimates released yesterday show
Kentucky's suburban counties grew rapidly over the past four years,
while Eastern and Western Kentucky rural counties faltered, reports
Roger Alford of The Associated Press. For quick
facts on your state and counties, click here.
Ron Crouch, head of the Kentucky
State Data Center at the University of Louisville,
told Alford, "The trends are continuing. We're becoming a more
urbanized society, and areas along interstates are the ones that
are benefiting. Areas off the interstates are the ones that are
struggling." Crouch told the AP population declines in rural
counties also are largely the result of economic factors, especially
in the heavily agricultural sections of Western Kentucky, where
Fulton (4.5 percent) and Crittenden (4.3 percent) suffered the biggest
losses. Among agricultural counties, Christian County had the largest
numerical loss, 1,625 people.
Crouch told Alford, "As farms get bigger and
get more automated, you need fewer people to work on the farms.
That's resulted in people moving to more suburban counties."
Eastern Kentucky counties losing the largest percentage of population
over the four-year period include Harlan, 3.3 percent; Leslie, 2.8
percent; Carter, Letcher and Lewis, 2.2 percent; and Pike, 2.1 percent.
W. Va. congressman reintroduces
mine cleanup bill; health care provision included
U. S. Rep. Nick J. Rahall has reintroduced his version
of a bill to extend and reform the nation’s program to clean
up abandoned coal mines. The new version also includes a proposal
to help some miners who have lost their health care benefits. "The
West Virginia Democrat again proposed the 15-year extension with
Rep. Barbara Cubin, a Wyoming Republican who is chairwoman of a
key House subcommittee that must approve the legislation,"
writes
Ken Ward Jr. of The Charleston Gazette.
Their bill is the first legislation this session of
Congress to address long-term plans for the Abandoned
Mine Land, or AML, program.The Bush administration
has said it supports continuing the program, but declined this year
to reintroduce its own extension plan. The bill would reduce coal
industry taxes that fund the program by 20 percent, but extend them
through 2020. Rahall and Cubin propose to expand use of AML money
to cure problems in health-care plans that cover retired United
Mine Workers
members.
The bill would funnel interest on the $1.5 billion
AML trust fund to the UMW’s Combined Benefit Fund, and also
two other union health-care plans currently paid for by the nation’s
largest coal producers. Estimates of the annual cost of those transfers
were not immediately available. Rahall said that the UMW funds need
the money to combat financial woes caused by a rash of coal and
steel industry bankruptcies, he writes.
Ruling sought in mine inquiry;
company allegedly interfered in firing probe
The U.S. Department
of Labor has asked a federal court to stop a Harlan
County, Kentucky, coal company from allegedly interfering with an
investigation of the firing of a miner and allegedly threatening
employees who agreed to talk.
The filing in U.S. District Court in London asked
for a preliminary injunction against two defendants, B&D
Mining of Harlan County and Michael K. Bishop, a B&D
shift superintendent, writes
Art Jester of the Lexington Herald-Leader. Also
named as a plaintiff was U.S. Labor Secretary Elaine Chao. A hearing
on the requested injunction is scheduled for 1 p.m. Wednesday before
U.S. District Judge Karen Caldwell at the federal courthouse in
London.
The legal action stems from a complaint that miner
Ray Brummett filed with the Mine
Safety and Health Administration, which is part of
the U.S. Labor Department. Brummett alleged he had been fired illegally
for "making safety complaints about unsafe equipment and for
refusing to operate unsafe equipment." Brummett had worked
at B&D's No. 3 mine at Mary Alice, in Harlan County.
W. Va. Environmental Protection
Department unsure about water-rules plan
West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin has no plan as yet
for how the state Department
of Environmental Protection will take over the duties
of writing West Virginia’s water quality rules, following
a reversal on who is to have the authority and how they are to make
those rules.
"For at least three years, lawmakers have debated
transferring the water quality rule-making job to DEP from the state
Environmental Quality Board.
This year, DEP Secretary Stephanie Timmermeyer reversed the agency’s
previous opposition and supported the change,"
writes Ken Ward Jr. of The Charleston
Gazette.
DEP chief communications officer Jessica Greathouse
said agency officials have not sat down to figure out how to do
the job. She told Ward, “We don’t have a plan.”
Timmermeyer has not returned calls and has declined to be interviewed
about the subject. Greathouse told the newspaper, “We’re
not really prepared to talk about water quality rule making until
we have a chance to sit down and look at the legislation.”
DEP officials also refused to talk about how to handle
the rule-making duties until it was clear that lawmakers were going
to make the switch from the board. In response to a Freedom of Information
Act request, DEP officials also said they had no records about the
legislation, he writes. For another story, also by Ken Ward Jr.
in The Charleston Gazette, on the W.Va. DEP merging two top positions,
click here.
Tennessee state parks chief
promoted to head of environment and conservation
Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen has promoted state parks chief Jim
Fyke to commissioner of the Tennessee
Department of Environment and Conservation, an agency
Bredesen called vital to the state's future prosperity. Bredesen
also named Paul Sloan, an environmental advocate, to be deputy commissioner
in charge of the Bureau of Environment, writes
Scott Barker of the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
Fyke succeeds Betsy Child, who is leaving to run a
geothermal heating and air-conditioning company in Livingston. Sloan
replaces Karen Stachowski, who will remain in the bureau as an assistant
commissioner. Environmental groups praised the appointments, saying
Bredesen listened to their requests to hire someone with environmental
experience, writes Barker. Fyke has run the Bureau of Parks
since April 2003. Previously, he had served a quarter century as
director of the Metro Nashville Board of Parks and Recreation.
He serves on the Tennessee Valley Authority Regional
Resource Stewardship and formerly served as chairman of both state
and national recreation and parks associations, he writes.
Iowa restoring prairie chickens
population; public and bird watchers enthused
'Tis the season for love. Bird love, to be precise.
Tomorrow, as part of Prairie Chicken Day at the Kellerton
Grasslands Bird Conservation Area, near Kellerton, Iowa,
residents and visitors will be able to watch as the birds spread
out the orange sacks on their necks and fan their tail feathers,
all to attract a mate.
The arrival of mating season for the prairie chickens
brings a smile to the face of wildlife biologist Mel Moe, who, with
help from other Iowa Department of Natural Resources
employees, has been working to help restore the chickens to Iowa,
writes
Juli Probasco-Sowers of The Des Moines Register.
"The prairie chicken is important to Iowa because it is part
of our heritage, and it is a real interesting bird to watch,"
said Moe. He and other Natural Resources employees have been releasing
birds in the Ringgold County area until the population started taking
hold in the late 1980s and early 1990s. "When there is excellent
habitat, they do OK," said Moe. "But they are not spreading
. . . like we thought."
Viewing of the birds begins at 6 a.m. at a platform
west of Kellerton. There will be spotting scopes available, but
Micah Lee, a wildlife technician with the Mount Ayr Wildlife
Unit, said visitors should try to bring their own scopes
or binoculars. "We'll have . . . people there to talk about
the history and tell them more about prairie chickens," Lee
said.
Iowa completely banned hunting of the chickens in
1915. Agricultural growth and the plowing of the grasslands caused
the prairie chickens to disappear from the state until 1987, after
efforts from wildlife enthusiasts like Moe. "The future of
prairie chickens in Iowa depends on how much work is put into the
habitat," Moe said. "I think we can keep them here for
our grandchildren to see."
SPJ conference in Morgantown, W.Va., on shield laws,
records, rural journalism
The Society
of Professional Journalists will host a conference
titled“Protecting Sources, Preserving Our Rights,” at
West Virginia University
in Morgantown, W.Va., on April 23. The conference will focus on
shield laws for reporters to protect confidential sources and the
erosion of public records.
At 10 a.m., there will be a panel titled, “Protecting
Sources, Preserving our Rights,” with Eric Eyre, from The
Charleston Gazette, and James V. Grimaldi, part of
The Washington
Post’s investigative team and a member of Investigative
Reporters and Editors. Also at 10 a.m., Al Cross, director of the
Institute for Rural
Journalism and Community Issues
and Chris Staelman, publisher of The
Parsons Advocate, will host a panel titled “Rural
Journalism: Small Ain’t Necessarily Bad.”
At 1:15, Kate Long, a writing coach with The Charleston
Gazette and a frequent presenter through the Poynter
Institue, will host “Telling the Story Behind
Health Care,” At 2:45 she will host another lecture panel
titled, “Better Storytelling.” To register, fill out
a registration form.
SPJ announces finalists in
Green Eyeshade Awards for Southern journalists
The Society of Professional Journalists
has announced the
finalists for the 2004 Green Eyeshade Awards, which recognize
the best journalism in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky,
Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee
and West Virginia.
Among smaller and rural-oriented media outlets, the finalists include
editorial writer Mac Thrower of The Paducah (Ky.) Sun,
investigative reporters Jon Elliston and Barbara Solow of The
Independent Weekly in Durham, N.C., and humor columnists
Tim Nicholas of The Clinton (Miss.) News and Scott
Wright of The Post in Centre, Ala.
The finalists
will be honored May 14 at a banquet in Atlanta, home of the SPJ
chapter that began the awards 55 years ago. During the banquet,
first, second and third place winners will be announced, along with
the winner of the overall Green Eyeshade Award. The winner receives
a $1,000 cash. For more information, contact Heather Porter at hporter@spj.org
or 317-927-8000, ext. 204.
'Understanding the Social Security
debate' seminars set for journalists
Several no-cost, half-day seminars on Social Security will begin
April 25 at the University of Oklahoma and continue
May 5, at Marshall University
in Huntington, West Virginia. Others will be held May 13 at the
University of South Florida in Tampa; May 20at
Vanderbilt University in Nashville, June 10 at
the University of Texas in Austin and one other location to be announced
soon.
The seminars are being presented by the National
Press Foundation and The
National Academy of Social Insurance. They are being
underwritten by a grant from the Ford Foundation "Designed
to inform in a balanced and interesting way, but not to advocate
any specific viewpoint, the seminar will feature speakers recognized
as national experts but with different perspectives," promotional
materials say.
Scheduled speakers in Huntington include William J. Arnone of Ernst
& Young; David John of The
Heritage Foundation; Laurel Beedon of the AARP
Public Policy Institute and Robert Rosenblatt, senior
fellow at the National Academy of Social Insurance. They will look
at the fundamentals of Social Security, examine how government programs
fit into retirement, and include a debate on the merits of private
accounts.
Reservations are required. To reserve
a seat contact the National Press Foundation. E-mail is khill@nationalpress.org.
Call Kashmir Hill at 202-663-7282. Fax is 202-530-2855. Mail to
National Press Foundation, “Understanding the Social Security
Debate,” 1211 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 310, Washington,
DC 20036. Provide name, affiliation, address, telephone, email and
fax.
Thursday, April 14, 2005
Bush won't cut payments to
farmers, but other agricultural cuts are expected
After two months of fierce resistance from farmers
and Congress, the Bush administration has dropped an effort to cut
government payments to farmers.
Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., said cuts would be felt
most keenly by cotton and rice farmers in the South and California,
but growers across the country oppose any cuts, writes
Libby Quaid of The Associated Press. She told
AP, "Perhaps the administration has finally begun to hear the
roar from the heartland."
Bush asked Congress in February to slash billions
of dollars from payments to large farm operations, dropping the
maximum farmers are allowed to collect from $360,000 to $250,000
and closing loopholes allowing some growers to obtain millions of
dollars. He also proposed to cut all farm payments by 5 percent.
But, U.
S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns
has told key senators that while spending must be reduced to hold
down the federal deficit, he is willing to look elsewhere in agriculture
programs for cuts. Johanns acknowledged to a Senate Appropriations
Committee panel on farm spending that such proposals as the one
to cut the payment limit are "quite sensitive."
Johanns told the committee "We recognize Congress
may have other proposals to achieve these savings, and we are willing
to work with the Congress on other cost-saving measures." He
told reporters afterward that reducing the deficit is more important
than anything else. Bush wants to cut the deficit, projected to
rise to $427 billion this year, in half by 2009.
Coal official notes power of
author's argument against mountaintop removal
Kentucky author Erik Reece has produced new writing
about strip mining in Eastern Kentucky that could set off a searching
and acrimonious debate about the region, reports
Art Jester of the Lexington Herald-Leader.
The power of his argument is recognized even by one of the top officials
in the coal industry.
Reece is a lecturer in English and writing at the
University of Kentucky. His 19-page article, Death
of a Mountain: Radical Strip Mining and the Leveling of Appalachia,
appears in the April issue of Harper's
Magazine. It's an excerpt from his book that will be
published in the summer of 2006. (Your Rural Blog reviewed Reece’s
Harper's article March 25. For that report click
here.)
Wendell Berry, the esteemed Kentucky author and longtime
environmental advocate, called Reece's book the "most important
document so far on strip-mining," writes Jester. Berry told
him that Reece's book, while different from noted Kentucky author
Harry Caudill’s acclaimed Night Comes to the Cumberlands,
nevertheless achieves Caudill's aim, to "think soberly and
seriously about the fate of Eastern Kentucky."
Bill Caylor, president of the Kentucky Coal
Association and a sharp critic of most of Reece's article,
agreed the author could have the same effect as Caudill, by forcing
renewed debate about Eastern Kentucky's future, Jester writes. Reece
writes about what he and other environmentalists call the most destructive
form of coal mining in Eastern Kentucky and Appalachia -- mountaintop
removal.
Cracks in teeth, dentists note,
from poverty and rural-prevalent 'meth mouth'
A dentist noting a patient’s comment "Yeah, crystal meth.
It broke my tooth," has brought renewed attention to a report
by the nation’s top doctor five years ago on the lack of proper
dental care among the nation's rural poor and increasing signs of
methamphetamine in rural America, reports
The New York Times.
In 2000, Dr. David Satcher, then the surgeon general,
issued the first report on oral health in America. Calling dental
and oral diseases a "silent epidemic," the report details
significant oral health problems in poor people of all ages, members
of racial and ethnic minorities, people with disabilities and those
living in rural America, writes the Times' Ben Daitz. The report
emphasized the major factors exacerbating the condition of Americans'
teeth and gums, including lack of community fluoridation programs,
lack of transportation to see dental providers, and, low rates of
dental insurance coverage, all problems especially prevalent among
rural poor. According to most authorities on oral health, dental
care for Americans has not improved since the report, and there
are many indications it is getting worse, writes Daitz.
New Mexico is among the poorest and most rural states
in the country. While 600 dentists practice there, more than 400
of them are in Albuquerque. The rest are mostly in the next largest
cities, Santa Fe and Las Cruces. New Mexico does not have a dental
school, but in June 2004, the University of New Mexico Health
Sciences Center began a dental residency, in part to help
address the state's poor dental care.
Dr. Charles Tatlock, a dentist on the faculty, sees
patients at Albuquerque's Health Care for the Homeless Clinic
and reports more and more patients with "meth mouth."
Dr. Tatlock and Dr. Steve Wagner are researching the effects of
methamphetamine use on the teeth and gums. "Meth use is an
emerging epidemic," Dr. Wagner said. "It explodes people's
teeth. It's like ice crystals forming in the crevices of rock, fracturing
the teeth."
Virginia is denied waiver from
'No Child' Law; 'no loopholes,' official says
The U.S. Department of Education
has rejected Virginia's first request for a waiver from part of
the No Child Left Behind law, which has strict testing requirements
to determine whether students from all economic, ethnic and other
groups are performing up to par.
The notice came after U.S. Education Secretary Margaret
Spellings convened a meeting of the nation's top state school officials
at Mount Vernon, Va., to promise there would be new flexibility
for states that "show results and follow the principles"
of the federal law, writes
Rosalind S. Helderman of The Washington Post.
However, in her speech last week, Spellings added
that states "looking for loopholes to simply take the federal
funds, ignore the intent of the law and have minimal results to
show for their millions of federal dollars" would be disappointed.
Virginia educators, who have argued that the state's standardized
testing program fulfills the law's intent, have asked to be exempt
from several provisions of the law and have been waiting since January
for formal responses, Helderman writes. Virginia's schools superintendent,
Jo Lynne DeMary, said she was deluged with questions from state
lawmakers and local educators about Spellings's speech and what
it portended for Virginia's requests. Then she got the rejection
letter.
She told Helderman, "What was the purpose of
(the meeting) last week and was it as open as it seemed, in terms
of looking at what would make [the law] work in every state."
Susan Aspey, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Education,
said the denial "should not be taken as a statement as to whether
the state is a model in implementing the law," and that Virginia's
other requests remain under consideration, she writes.
Sky high fuel prices life or
death for Roanoke's helicopter emergency service
Tanking-up for a Roanoke, Virginia emergency medical
helicopter service, Carilion Life Guard 10, is
underscoring an increasing problem with rising fuel prices, but
in the case of emergency responders, especially in the nation's
rural areas, it’s a matter of life and death.
“The crew of Carilion Life Guard 10 counts seconds,
not gallons,” reports
Angela Hatcher of Roanoke’s WSLS, NewsChannel 10.
"You probably have to fill up the tank on your average size
car about once a week and it likely costs you around $25 or $30.
The emergency medical helicopter service has to fill up every 3
hours and it costs more than $686," notes Hatcher. Life Guard
10 operations manager Allan Belcher, told her to put the crisis
in perspective: "Three hours of fuel would probably take us
from the New River Valley Medical Center, to UVA
(University of Virginia, at Charlottesville) and
then back to Roanoke."
A 10,000-gallon fuel farm in Roanoke supplies Life
Guard 10. It's filled about once a month, Hatcher writes. Jet fuel
was at $1.35 a gallon around the beginning of the year, so it cost
$13,500 to fill the tank. A month later at $1.53 a gallon, it cost
$15,300. Last week at $2.08 a gallon, it cost $20,800 to fill the
tank. The chopper burns more than a gallon per minute. If they fuel
up outside of Roanoke, the gas is even more expensive. It's $4 a
gallon, she writes. Carillon's second chopper Life Guard 11 goes
up in May, and so will the cost, Hatcher writes. It takes about
$300 to fill its tank for a two-hour flight. But, Belcher tells
her, it's about saving lives, not money.
W. Va. optimistic about landing
AEP plant, despite rejecting tax break request
Gov. Joe Manchin says he believes West Virginia is
still in the running for a coal-gasification power plant that American
Electric Power plans to build, even though he rejected
the utility's request for tax breaks.
American Electric Power Co. has identified three potential
sites in West Virginia, Kentucky and Ohio for its first Integrated
Gasification Combined Cycle plant, reports
The Associated Press. The West Virginia site
is in Mason County near AEP's Mountaineer Plant. The other sites
are in the Great Bend area of Meigs County, Ohio, and the Carrs
area near Vanceburg in Lewis County, Kentucky. Coal-gasification
plants convert coal into gas that is burned in turbines to power
electric generators with reduced nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide
and mercury emissions.
Small Arkansas town loses Greyhound bus service but
refuses to be shut out
Greyhound Bus Lines had to cut bus services to rural
communities recently, including over 140 small towns in such states
as Kansas, Arkansas and Texas, reports
Greg Allen of National Public Radio. But one small
town decided that without the bus service, they desperately needed
another plan.
In Newport, Ark., population 8,000, a town with no
trains or airports or taxi cabs, the news came as a shock. Mayor
David Stewart told Allen, “What we found was that there was
a possibility that we were going to lose a very important service
to our citizens. When we found that, we decided that we needed to
do something if it was even a break-even proposition.”
Stewart and Malcolm Vance, an employee of the bus
terminal, got together to solve the problem. They talked to Jefferson
Lines, a Minnesota carrier that offered some service in Arkansas.
It offered to help if the town could arrange a van service to nearby
towns, like Little Rock. The state Transportation Department
had vans to lease, and the town council approved to pay
for the agreement. “Friday morning, we got to work again and
hired a full-time bus driver,” Stewart said. “I hired
a part-time bus driver just a few minutes ago to work weekends.
And we'll have at least one more, and we're in the bus business.”
Kentucky burley acreage will drop after tobacco buyout;
yield is the key
The U.S. Department of Agriculture
reported on March 31 that Kentucky burley acreage would drop 31
percent in 2005, but a University of Kentucky tobacco
economist says that even though total production will drop, several
farmers have changed their minds and will keep growing tobacco.
Will Snell with UK’s Department of Agriculture
said farmers that originally said they wouldn’t grow tobacco
on March 1, when the USDA made its estimate, have decided to grow
tobacco this year, writes
Laura Skillman, also with the Department of Agriculture. Several
farmers opted out of tobacco growing after the tobacco quota buyout
in 2004, eliminating price supports and production controls. Some
farmers retired, others don’t anticipate yields adequate to
be competitive, and others are quitting because the tobacco manufacturers’
incentives aren’t attractive enough, Snell explained.
“I definitely think eastern Kentucky will lose
production and the bluegrass area is also likely to decline. On
a percentage basis we will likely see a greater share of Kentucky’s
burley tobacco production shifting to the central and Midwestern
part of the state,” he said.
To be successful, tobacco growers will need access
to barns and land, average 2,300 pounds of tobacco per acre, and
produce quality leaf, say tobacco production specialists. Burley
acreage makes up the bulk of tobacco production in Kentucky and
is expected to drop, but dark acreage is expected to be higher because
of increasing demand and price incentives from companies, Skillman
writes.
Louisville smoking-ban proposal
advances; restricted in most public places
Louisville, Ky.’s Metro Council
may be nearing a compromise that would ban smoking in indoor workplaces,
except for bars, two years after the debate began in a city that
for decades was the headquarters for most of the major tobacco companies.
Republican councilperson Ellen Call, who is leading
the council committee studying a smoking ban, said she has asked
the Jefferson County Attorney's Office to draft a smoking-ban ordinance,
writes
Joe Gerth for The Courier-Journal. Call said the
ordinance would prohibit smoking in virtually all indoor public
places except bars, which likely would be defined as establishments
that derive more than 25 percent of their gross receipts from alcohol
sales, writes Gerth for the Louisville newspaper.
Churchill Downs will be exempted, even though the
newly renovated racetrack only allows indoor smoking inside one
fully enclosed bar. The proposal could change as council members
reach a consensus. For example, Call told Gerth, "if someone
really wants bingo halls exempted, we could exempt them." Call
expects to introduce the ordinance in late April or early May after
council members review the proposal. Council members who support
a ban believe they have enough votes to pass an ordinance by midsummer.
Anti-smoking wristbands debut;
support program aids black youths
The popularity of yellow plastic bracelets linked
to cyclist champion Lance Armstrong's charity -- The
Lance Armstrong Foundation -- has prompted several
health groups to join forces in a campaign to keep young African-American
males from smoking, reports
Gregory A. Hall of The Courier-Journal.
The Band4Life campaign seeks to spread
black wristbands, with the program's name and Louisville's 502 area
code on them, to black youths. The bracelets would be a sign of
a young person's commitment not to smoke, writes Hall for the Louisville
paper. Christy Brooks, the Louisville
Metro Health Department's tobacco coordinator, told
Hall, "You need to acknowledge that smoking kills and (that
youths need to) make smart choices so that you can have a longer
life." The program includes the Health Department, the American
Cancer Society, the American
Lung Association and the
American Heart Association.
Tennessee National Guard member starts donation drive
for Iraqi school children
A member of the Tennessee Army National Guard
has started an effort to provide Iraqi children with needed school
supplies for the upcoming fall, writes Claudia Johnson of the Pulaski
Citizen Press.
Backpacks for Iraq began after Lt.
Col. Bart Butler, civil affairs officer for the 194th Engineer Brigade,
was stationed in Southern Iraq. He noticed that children desperately
need basic school supplies. They also need backpacks, because some
children walk one to three miles a day to school and must carry
everything they need. He is starting the donation drive to get supplies
and hopes to have enough by August to equip several hundred school
children. For more information about Butler’s unit, visit
their website. The community
outreach page has a list of needed school supplies and where
donations should be sent.
Longtime Western Kentucky journalist
David L. Riley dies of cancer at 52
David L. Riley, who spent 24 years as a reporter,
photographer and editor for the Kentucky
New Era of Hopkinsville, died yesterday of cancer.
He was 52, reports
The Associated Press. Riley died at his home, an
1820s log house he restored with his family. For the New Era report
by Jennifer P. Brown, click here.
Taylor Hayes, the New Era's publisher, said, "Trying
to keep up with him was impossible. He did so much." Riley
was the editor of the newspaper's editorial page. His career at
the New Era began as a reporter and photographer in 1981, and he
also served as editor, graphics editor and weekend editor, AP reports.
He graduated from Hopkinsville High School in 1971 and attended
Hopkinsville Community College. He earned bachelor's and master's
degrees from the University of Missouri.
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
Study: 'No Child' law, passed
to boost achievement, may have reverse effect
A new study has found that students' academic growth
in a given school year has apparently slowed since the passage of
No Child Left Behind, the education law that was intended to achieve
just the opposite.
"The researches said in both reading and math,
the study determined, test scores have gone up somewhat, as each
class of students outdoes its predecessors. But within grades, students
have made less academic progress during the school year than they
did before No Child Left Behind went into effect in 2002,"
writes Greg Winter of The New York Times.
That finding casts doubt on whether schools can meet
the law's mandate that all students be academically proficient by
2014. In fact, the study said, to realize the goal of universal
proficiency, students will have to make as much as three times the
progress they are currently making. The study was conducted by the
Northwest Evaluation Association,
which develops tests for about 1,500 school districts in 43 states.
The group drew upon its test data for more than 320,000 students
in 23 states, a sample that it calls "broad but not nationally
representative," in part because the biggest cities, not being
Northwest clients, were not included, writes Winter.
One of the more ominous findings in the study is that
the achievement gap between white and nonwhite students could soon
widen. Closing the gap is one of the driving principles of the law,
and so far states say they have made strides toward shrinking it.
But minority students with the same test scores as their white counterparts
at the beginning of the school year ended up falling behind by the
end of it, the study found. Both groups made academic progress,
but the minority students did not make as much, it concluded, an
outcome suggesting that the gaps in achievement will worsen.
Gage Kingsbury, Northwest's director of research,
told Winter, "Right now it's kind of a hidden effect that we
would expect to see expressed in the next couple of years. At that
point, I think people will be disappointed with what N.C.L.B. has
done." The findings diverge from those of other recent studies,
including a survey last month by the Center
on Education Policy, a research group. It found that
a significant majority of state education officials reported widespread
academic progress and a narrowing of the achievement gap, he writes.
Wal-Mart, facing enviro, labor
opposition, to give $35 million for conservation
Barely a week after environmentalists forged a broad
alliance with organized labor and community groups to attack Wal-Mart
and its business practices, Wal-Mart has announced
plans to donate $35 million over the next decade to an ambitious
new conservation effort by the National Fish and Wildlife
Foundation.
"The gift will be used to buy land or secure conservation easements,
legal agreements limiting development on a piece of property to
protect its ecological value. The land will consolidate existing
nature preserves to protect larger areas from development and encroachment,"
reports
The New York Times.
Some $6 million of the money will be spent on an agreement
to protect 312,000 acres of contiguous land between 600,000 acres
of protected land in New Brunswick, Canada, and 200,000 acres protected
by the State of Maine. The purchase will create an area of roughly
1 million acres of protected land, with more than 50 lakes, 1,500
miles of rivers and streams and 54,000 acres of wetlands, home to
10 percent of Maine's famous loon population, Stephanie Strom writes
for the Times. John Berry, executive director of the National Fish
and Wildlife Foundation, said of the Maine agreement, "I cannot
overstate the importance of this. (It) is like a Noah's Ark for
Eastern wildlife species, everything from big stuff like moose to
frogs and salamanders."
The program created by Wal-Mart and the National Fish
and Wildlife Foundation, called Acres for America,
intends to acquire 138,000 acres eventually using Wal-Mart's gift,
as much land as the company projects that its American stores, parking
lots and supply centers will occupy in 10 years, she writes.
Guards assist drug rings at
prisons? Tennessee correction chief says 'conspiracy'
With the proliferation of maximum security prisons
in Appalachia, a story out of Tennessee could echo alarmingly through
those rural areas.
The Tennessee Department of Correction
commissioner said Tuesday during a legislative hearing a "conspiracy"
among prison guards to smuggle drugs and cell phones to inmates
is leading to sophisticated jailhouse drug rings. Officials said
prison guards earning little more than $20,000 a year are being
coerced to traffic drugs and, authorities suspect, outside gang
members have been able to infiltrate the system as guards, writes
Matt Gouras of The Associated Press.
One lawmaker said the drug rings stretch far beyond
prison walls. Agency Commissioner Quenton White said drug smuggling
into prisons is increasing, something that would be nearly impossible
without the help of prison employees. White told the committee that
recently, 60 to 70 cell phones were confiscated from inmates in
a three-month period at one state prison in West Tennessee. The
cell phones are used to coordinate much of the smuggling, writes
Gouras.
Sen. Doug Jackson, D-Dickson believes part of the
problem could be caused by the low prison guard pay and resulting
turnover in staff. Jackson said Gov. Phil Bredesen needs to look
at the budget again and put some money into the problem."Understand,
these people behind the prison walls are running drug rings on the
outside of the prison walls using cell phones. They are part of
the drug racketeering that takes place in the communities we live
in." According to officials, the Tennessee Correction Department
budget has decreased in the last 10 years, leaving it strapped for
resources, he writes.
Drug Court key part of Tennessee
plan to treat meth addicts; treatment lengthy
A highly acclaimed felony Drug Court in Nashville
may find itself facing a different sort of addict: the methamphetamine
user.
"Crack is still the drug of choice for 95 percent
of the residents at the Davidson County Drug Court but, under a
$1.7 million plan proposed by Gov. Phil Bredesen, meth users from
around the state will be taken for treatment in Nashville,"
writes
Sheila Burke of The Tennessean.
Methamphetamine poses a new challenge for the Drug
Court, which is the only self-operated residential drug court in
the U.S., and has been recognized by the Bush administration as
a national model. Because the program has been so successful —
about 75 percent of graduates are not convicted of another crime
within five years — the governor's office is hoping it can
play a pivotal role in helping to stop the growing impact of methamphetamine
in Tennessee, writes Burke. Will Pinkston, an aide to Bredesen,
told Burke, the hope is to save the money it costs to incarcerate
addicts. Only nonviolent addicts will be allowed into the program.
Drug Court officials said treating methamphetamine
addicts is a daunting challenge. Experts have cited methamphetamine
as being more addictive than cocaine. John Averitt, a scientific
consultant to the Governor's Task Force on Methamphetamine,
told Burke the chemicals used to make methamphetamine, are highly
toxic and alter the brain chemistry differently than other drugs.
''It's going to take probably six months for the methamphetamine
addicts to kind of clear their mind to be able to think properly.''
Averitt said only then can work begin on the addiction problem,
she writes.
Nuclear fuel in South Carolina
for testing; protesters say shipment dangerous
A shipment of nuclear power plant fuel made from weapons-grade
plutonium and headed for testing just south of Charlotte, N.C. has
arrived in Charleston, S.C., despite protests from activists who
said the shipment poses environmental and terrorist threats.
Duke Power spokeswoman Rose Cummings
said the shipment of mixed-oxide fuel, or MOX fuel, a mixture of
plutonium oxide and uranium oxide, will be tested at a nuclear facility
about 20 miles south of Charlotte, writes
Jacob Jordan of The Associated Press. For the Charlotte
Observer version click here.
The U.S. Energy Department shipped
the batch of plutonium to France for conversion into MOX because
there isn’t a plant in the United States that can do it. Officials
want to build a conversion facility at the Savannah River Site near
Aiken, S.C. but construction has been delayed. Cummings told AP,
“The U.S. Department of Energy has taken possession of the
MOX fuel and they, that is the Department of Energy, will deliver
that fuel to Catawba in time for our routine refueling of our Catawba
reactor.” The testing at Catawba is part of the beginning
stages of a U.S.-Russian agreement to convert 34 metric tons of
surplus plutonium.
The shipment arrived in Charleston amid a small group
of protesters, who tried unsuccessfully to follow a convoy thought
to be carrying the fuel. Tom Clements of Greenpeace International
was in Charleston when the heavily guarded shipments arrived. He
thought the shipments were headed to Catawba and is concerned the
nuclear plant has not met Nuclear Regulatory Commission
security requirements. The NRC said last month several conditions
still needed to be met.
Anti-nuclear activists have said the government would
have to keep the material in a secure location until the NRC approvals
are granted for depositing the MOX at Catawba. Clements told Jordan,
“They never should have sent this stuff over from France without
having their ducks in a row, and it’s quite clear that they’re
scrambling to meet the conditions of storage,” But the National
Nuclear Security Administration and Duke Power officials
said everything has proceeded as planned without any delays.
Smoking ban sparks GOP rift
in Georgia legislature; Gov. Perdue in quandary
Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue must decide soon whether
he'll snuff out or sign a smoking ban that has exposed a smoldering
fault line within the state's new Republican majority.
"The state Senate and House, in GOP hands for
the first time in 130 years, approved the ban, which would prohibit
smokers from lighting up in many Georgia eateries and other public
places. But the Republican governor has problems with the legislation,
which some Republicans view as government big-footing into the affairs
of private business," writes
Jim Tharpe of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Perdue, a nonsmoker, told the newspaper, "I'm
still smoking it over, but haven't made a decision yet. There's
some really divergent philosophies about this bill that I'm trying
to consider." A possible veto has provided a rare hint of political
drama in the post-session bill-signing season, which ends May 10.
Perdue must sign or veto more than 400 bills by that date or they
automatically become law, Tharpe writes.
The smoking ban legislation was sponsored by a fellow
Republican, Sen. Don Thomas, a family doctor who has pushed a smoking
ban for four years. Thomas wants to spare nonsmokers from the health
risks of secondhand smoke. The bill passed by large majorities in
both legislative chambers, but Republicans in the House split over
the issue. Thomas told Tharpe if Perdue vetoes the bill, he will
reintroduce it next session.
Lincoln, Neb., smoking ban
sparks threats to withdraw its state funding
Nebraska lawmakers have voted down a proposal that
would have withheld state cigarette tax dollars from the city of
Lincoln because of its ban on workplace smoking.
"It was part of a debate on whether the Nebraska
Legislature should toughen up state anti-smoking law even as cities
begin to take action of their own on smoking in the workplace,"
writes
Leslie Reed of the Omaha World Herald. In November,
Lincoln banned smoking in all workplaces, including bars and restaurants.
Officials in Omaha and in Grand Island also have considered workplace
smoking bans.
State Sen. Pat Bourne of Omaha offered the amendment
to forfeit Lincoln's share of cigarette tax dollars, money the city
now is using to help finance a major flood-control and a downtown
redevelopment project, writes Reed. Bourne told the newspaper he
offered the amendment as a "carrot-and-stick" effort to
promote a uniform statewide policy. He said Nebraska's "cobbled-up
mess" of smoking laws does not treat businesses fairly. "
I think consistency should be the goal here."
State Sen. Ray Aguilar of Grand Island, a supporter
of stronger restrictions on smoking, said the Legislature is going
to be left behind by the majority of the state. He told Reed, "I'm
not Nostradamus, but I predict that some time in May, the City of
Omaha and the City of Grand Island will pass stricter smoking bans
than the state law provides. We're talking about the three largest
stand-alone communities in the state of Nebraska."
Woman claims coal mining forced
her out of her home, into tool shed
An Eastern Kentucky woman who says she had to live
in a tool shed for nearly two years because mining activity drove
her out of her mobile home goes to court next month in her lawsuit
against a coal company.
Beatrice Turner, 65, said she had no choice but to
move out because mining turned her lawn into a bog and filled her
home with mold that made her sick, writes
Roger Alford of The Associated Press.Turner, the
widow of a United Baptist minister, told Alford, "Oh, mercy!
Many nights I've cried all night long over this. I couldn't treat
a dog or a cat the way I've been treated."
In a trial set to begin May 9, Turner will seek an
unspecified amount of damages from the Koch Victory division of
C. Reiss Coal Co. of Richlands, Va. Her attorney
estimates the cost of repairing the mobile home and property at
more than $66,000. Martin Osborne of Prestonsburg, attorney for
the coal company, claims Turner didn't live on the property at the
time the mining was done. Instead, he charges, she and her late
husband bought the property after it was mined, and caused the damage,
after excavating the land.
Osborne argues C. Reiss Coal owes Turner nothing,
and has filed a counterclaim, asking that she be ordered to reimburse
the company its expenses in repairing damage to the land caused
by Turner. Osborne didn't return phone calls from AP. The
Kentucky Division of Mine Reclamation and Enforcement had
ordered the coal company to make repairs on the property in early
2003 after a landslide occurred above Turner's home. Osborne said
the company made the necessary repairs.
Governor to chair W. Va. public broadcasting, says
will not affect news content
West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin announced yesterday
he would not interfere with public broadcasting’s programming
or with general newsgathering after he becomes chairman of the state’s
Educational Broadcasting Authority.
A newly passed state bill makes him the EBA chairman,
giving him the authority to hire and fire its executive director,
writes
Scott Finn of The Charleston Gazette. Manchin said
he wants to control the EBA in order to make it more efficient and
accountable for voters, not because he wants to dictate its content.
He said he has no plans to change the board’s personnel, but
that it will come up with is own management plan. The bill will
sunset in four years, so if state lawmakers don't changes it, the
board will return to its current set-up.
West Virginia’s state-run public broadcasting
authority is the only one out of the current 15 that give the governor
so much power, said the president of the National Educational
Telecommunications Association, Skip Hinton.
Casinos in Illinois are a jackpot, but industry in
trouble with increased taxing
Legalizing casino gambling has created a new “cash
crop” for the state of Illinois, but the industry is facing
an economic downfall with increased taxes even while the state is
considering expanding gambling.
“Ornate black and gold street lamps line the
newly paved sidewalks of Elgin's downtown, and dozens of stately
Victorian homes have been repainted in their traditional yellows,
greens and blues,” writes
Maura Kelly Lannan and Ryan Keith of The Associated Press.“The
source of the once-struggling river town's rejuvenation is docked
a few blocks away - the Grand Victoria casino has pumped $250 million
in taxes into Elgin over the past 10 years.”
However, the graduated tax on the state’s nine
casinos is now at 70 percent. In response, casinos have had to cut
over 3,000 jobs, cut back on wages and benefits by $50 million,
and reduce their services, Lannan and Keith write. Meanwhile, Illinois
lawmakers are considering allowing more gambling, including a mega-casino
in Chicago and two others in suburban areas.
Harrah’s Joliet Casino experienced a 37 percent
drop in attendance and a 13 percent drop in revenue since 2002,
when the taxes skyrocketed, said the general manager, Joe Domenico.
"If the tax rate is not lowered, the state basically closes
any opportunity for casino operators to invest one cent in Illinois,"
he told Lannan and Keith. "It makes no financial sense."
Expected 'shroom boom in Alaska, state shows rural
areas how to market them
Alaska is bracing, in fact hoping, for a boom this
year like many in the state’s history. But unlike the hunt
for fur, gold or oil, this one boils down to a tiny fungus: the
morel mushroom.
The mushrooms are popular in French cuisine and they
thrive after forest fires, which Alaska set a record for last year
after over 6.5 million acres burned, writes
Dan Joling of The Associated Press. Alaska’s
extension service is providing a workshop for rural communities
to show how to pick, dry and market the mushrooms. When they are
dried they can bring in hundreds of dollars per pound, Joling writes.
The Rural Calendar
April 14: 'The Media and Appalachia,'
symposium at East Tennessee
How
do journalists accurately cover Appalachia, and how is the region
represented in the media? The Center for Appalachian Studies and
Services at East Tennessee State University is
holding a symposium Thursday and Friday to answer those questions
and celebrate the center's 20th anniversary.
The
symposium begins at 1 p.m. Thursday with "Hollywood and Hokum,"
a panel discussion on how the region is a source of entertainment.
The panel includes Dub Cornett, who first proposed "The Real
Beverly Hillbillies" reality TV show, and Dee Davis of the
Center for Rural Strategies of Whitesburg, Ky.,
who mounted a successful campaign against it. Following an afternoon
tour of Bristol Motor Speedway, attendees will hear from author
Rick Bragg, formerly of The New York Times.
Friday's
events include a panel discussion with Anne Pope, federal co-chair
of the Appalachian Regional Commission, and other ARC officials;
and breakout panels. Subjects and speakers include the environment,
with Alan Maimon, Eastern Kentucky Bureau reporter for The
Courier-Journal. The symposium will conclude Friday afternoon
with observations from two responders -- East Tennessee novelist
Cameron Judd of Tusculum College and Al Cross,
interim director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and
Community Issues. For more details click
here.
Events
will be held at the ETSU Millennium Center, next to the Carnegie
Hotel. The registration fee is $105. Students may register for $40.
ETSU and other Tennessee educational institutions’ faculty
and staff may be eligible for an employee
audit fee waiver.
April 14: Panel about rural life and farming comes
to University of Kansas
The University of Kansas history
department, along with the Kansas Farmers Union,
will host
a discussion by a panel of Kansas farmers on April 14 on the university’s
campus. The discussion, "Farmers, Food and Rural Communities
in the 21st Century,” will focus on the health of family farms
and rural communities in Kansas. A public lecture will follow the
panel, titled, "Every Farm a Factory: the Industrial Ideal
in American Agriculture," by Deborah Fitzgerald, president
of the Agricultural History Society.
Tuesday, April 12, 2005
Farm thefts rise nationwide,
with methamphetamine partly to blame
The theft of farm and construction machinery has risen
to annual losses of $1 billion nationally. In Kentucky, police say
thieves sneak onto farms to steal tanks of liquid fertilizer used
to make methamphetamine, and if they can't find the fertilizer,
they are stealing equipment to sell so they can have money to buy
drugs.
"We see it as a growing problem and one that will
likely get worse before it gets better," Patrick Duncan, manager
of the farm, crop and commercial division of United Farm
Family Mutual Insurance Co. in Indianapolis, told Jim Malone
of The Courier-Journal.
Kentucky State Police say farm larceny
reports in the state rose to 357 in 2003, the latest year available,
from 41 in 1996 -- or 770 percent, Malone writes.
He reports that farms have become more tempting as city sprawl draws
closer. Farm equipment is increasingly costly and hard to trace.
"A $60,000 backhoe can be hauled off at night, have its serial
number changed, and be sold without a title at an out-of-state auction,"
Malone writes for the Louisville newspaper.
Bill Riley, a Kentucky State Police detective in a
special-investigations unit that tracks vehicle and equipment theft,
told the C-J that once sold, "This equipment is not on the
highway and it is not out where someone will see it." William
Lewis, a former state police captain and now sheriff of Lewis County,
told Malone, thieves who specialize in farm theft "case a place
out and they usually are pretty coy about it, where a druggie will
just steal whatever he can and run."
In a C-J sidebar, Mark Pitsch reports
that a multimillion dollar theft operation that targeted farm and
construction equipment in Central Kentucky has been cracked. Two
Morehead residents have been arrested in the eight-month investigation
and more arrests are expected. About $1 million in property was
recovered at three sites and police were looking for more stolen
property. The recovered equipment involved thefts in Bourbon, Clark,
Fayette, Powell, Rowan and Scott counties. For the Lexington
Herald-Leader version of the Central Kentucky thefts story,
click here.
Report says most media ignored
U.S. rural life, while some major outlets better
A two-year study of press coverage released yesterday
charged that much of the press is apathetic toward America's heartland
and clueless about the rural way of life, while some major media
outlets significantly increased their rural coverage.
"To most TV reporters in the coastal network
bureaus, middle America is a big red question mark," said Robert
Lichter of the District-based Center for Media and Public
Affairs, which examined 529 print and broadcast stories
in 2002 and 2004, writes
Jennifer Harper of The Washington Times.
Crops, fields and farming legislation barely registered
on media radar. Only 3 percent of rural-themed stories even mentioned
"farming," and only 1 percent had any connection to agriculture.Instead,
charged Lichter, who is a regular commentator for the Fox
News Channel, most rural coverage was fixated on urban
sprawl and zoning issues, Harper writes.
The report criticized journalists as descriptive but
not necessarily insightful: Although they generously bandied about
such positive terms as "pastoral" and "picturesque,"
the press often ignored rural realities or issues important to family
farms. The study said, "The media frequently hollowed out whatever
substantive meaning might be attached to rural conditions or lifestyles.
Rural life was often presented positively but defined negatively
-- not in terms of what it is, but what it has ceased to be or what
it may become."
Network news, the report claimed, has been the most
apathetic. Rural coverage on ABC, CBS
and NBC -- and related morning and evening news
programs -- fell 23 percent in the past two years. Between them,
the three networks only featured 48 rural-themed stories last year,
down from 62 in 2002, she writes. Newspapers and magazines, however,
were more farm-friendly. Rural coverage in the New York
Times, USA Today, Time
magazine and four other publications actually rose by 75 percent,
from 275 stories in 2002 to 481 last year.
'The Media and Appalachia,'
symposium at East Tennessee, starts Thursday
How
do journalists accurately cover Appalachia, and how is the region
represented in the media? The Center for Appalachian Studies and
Services at East Tennessee State University is
holding a symposium Thursday and Friday to answer those questions
and celebrate the center's 20th anniversary.
The
symposium begins at 1 p.m. Thursday with "Hollywood and Hokum,"
a panel discussion on how the region is a source of entertainment.
The panel includes Dub Cornett, who first proposed "The Real
Beverly Hillbillies" reality TV show, and Dee Davis of the
Center for Rural Strategies of Whitesburg, Ky.,
who mounted a successful campaign against it. Following an afternoon
tour of Bristol Motor Speedway, attendees will hear from author
Rick Bragg, formerly of The New York Times.
Friday's
events include a panel discussion with Anne Pope, federal co-chair
of the Appalachian Regional Commission, and other ARC officials;
and breakout panels. Subjects and speakers include the environment,
with Alan Maimon, Eastern Kentucky Bureau reporter for The
Courier-Journal. The symposium will conclude Friday afternoon
with observations from three responders -- leading Appalachian historian
John Alexander Williams of Appalachian State University,
East Tennessee novelist Cameron Judd of Tusculum College
and Al Cross, interim director of the Institute for Rural
Journalism and Community Issues. For more details click
here.
Events
will be held at the ETSU Millennium Center, next to the Carnegie
Hotel. The registration fee is $105. Students may register for $40.
ETSU and other Tennessee educational institutions’ faculty
and staff may be eligible for an employee
audit fee waiver.
Congressmen form caucus to support economic development
in Appalachia
To increase financial support for issues effecting
the Appalachian region, 24 congressmen have joined to form the Congressional
Appalachian Caucus. Reps. Bud Cramer, D-Ala., and Bob Ney,
R-Ohio, created the caucus to promote legislation that supports
economic development programs for the Appalachian region.
An important goal of the caucus is to help the Appalachian
Regional Commission, and money -- $65.5 million -- is the
main way the caucus can do that, as Congress prepares to vote on
President Bush’s budget recommendation for the ARC, writes
Sarah Bruyn Jones of Medill News Service. An ARC
spokesman, Louis Segesvary, told Bruyn Jones, "We see this
caucus as further support from Congress for the work in the region
that needs to continue even in this time of budgetary constraints."
The ARC needs money to support the initiatives in its five-year
plan, which includes building an Appalachian development highway
system.
Maine is way behind in delivering high-speed Internet
access to rural areas
Rural Maine’s Internet service in 2005 is reminiscent
of Internet service in 1995. Then, a small percentage of homes had
access to the Internet through dial-up services, but now, a small
percentage has access to the growing technology of broadband Internet
service, writes
Tux Turkel of the Portland Press Herald.
Peter Mills of Cornville, Me., has been waiting five
years for broadband. He lives in a rural area not directly served
by the telephone company’s central office but by a subloop.
Vernon Burke owns Skowhegan Online, an Internet service provider,
and he wants to bring Mills high-speed Internet by using a small
portion of the network to extend to his area. But, Burke says Verizon
is in no hurry to make the needed connections.
Verizon is fighting with Burke and other Internet
service providers in the area, both at the Maine Public
Utilities Commission and before the Legislature, over whether
the state has the authority to regulate Internet access. Earlier
this year, Gov. John Baldacci announced his vision to have broadband
access for 90 percent of Maine homes by 2010. Only 15 percent of
Maine homes currently have high-speed access. Verizon and other
companies said that the Federal Communications Commission
ruled states can’t regulate Internet service. "Verizon
believes the competitive marketplace is doing a good job of getting
the technology where it makes sense," said Peter Reilly, a
Verizon spokesman in Maine.
Rural Missourian's victory
could hold lesson for Democrats elsewhere
A Missouri Democrat endorsed by Missouri Right
to Life and the National Rifle Association
won in a special election last week and became the only rural Democrat
in the state’s 34-member Senate.
Barnitz contends his victory should provide a blueprint
for Democrats, if they are to have any hope of regaining power.
When he and two other newly elected lawmakers are sworn into their
new offices, Republicans likely will hold a 23-11 Senate majority
over Democrats and a 98-65 House majority, writes
David Lieb of The Associated Press. Republicans
have won their majorities in recent years partly by capturing rural
seats vacated by term-limited Democrats, many of whom had been more
socially conservative than city Democrats, Lief writes. Guns and
abortion have been fundamental issues for the GOP, he adds.
Barnitz joined Republicans in those votes. In fact,
he was one of the lead sponsors of the concealed guns legislation.
So, observes Lieb, Barnitz had solid gun and abortion credentials
last week for the rural voters of his district, which is generally
considered Republican. Republican State Treasurer Sarah Steelman,
whom Barnitz will succeed in the Senate, previously won the region
with 72 percent of the vote. And even though Democratic Secretary
of State Robin Carnahan is a native of that district and won statewide,
she lost in the 16th Senate District with less than 43 percent of
the vote.
Barnitz said in an interview with AP, "You've
got to have the right issues. You take the two issues that have
divided the parties out of the mix, because I've been a strong supporter
of the Second Amendment and I'm a pro-life Democrat. ... And you
bring back the conversation to those issues that impact Missourians
statewide. Those issues are education, health care and jobs,"
writes Lieb.
Daylight Saving Time bill,
a long-debated issue, may see the light in Indiana
In a state where the time is a time-honored issue
of contention, Daylight Saving Time has lived to see another day
in the Indiana General Assembly.
"But even though it has been rescued twice, it
is far from certain whether it can survive the final three weeks
of the legislative session and land on the desk of its biggest backer
- Gov. Mitch Daniels," writes
Mike Smith of The Associated Press. The governor
has made adopting Daylight Saving Time one of his top legislative
priorities, saying it would eliminate confusion and boost commerce.
Unlike 47 other states, 77 counties in the Eastern time zone portion
of Indiana do not change clocks, writes Smith.
Daylight Saving Time has been an extremely divisive
issue in the General Assembly for three decades. This year marked
the first time in a decade such a proposal made it to the floor
of either chamber, Smith writes. Proponents said statewide daylight
time would promote economic development. Opponents whose districts
are adjacent or close to Illinois and the pockets of southwestern
and northwestern Indiana that are in the Central Time Zone, said
most of their constituents were against any switch. Rep. Dale Grubb,
whose district includes three counties that border Illinois, said,
"The sun will come up tomorrow on its own time."
Suburban Atlanta schools to
use metal detectors, other security measures
Clayton County Superintendent Barbara Pulliam said
yesterday that school officials will begin using hand-held metal
detectors for the first time in an effort to crack down on crime
and violence in the 52,000-student district southeast of Atlanta.
She declared, "We will not, under no circumstances,
tolerate any behavior that jeopardizes the safety of students and
staff, period. As much as we would like to believe our schools are
immune to violence, no schools are," writes
Bridget Gutierrez of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Pulliam told the board of education schools would
begin using hand-held metal detectors on students "randomly"
and when there is "reasonable suspicion." Pulliam ordered
more than 30 "batons," as she called them, for use in
the county's high schools. System spokesman Charles White said school
administrators as well as school resource officers would use the
metal detectors in the hopes of preventing violence. Last month,
Clayton was hit by a rash of violent incidents, including the beating
of a teacher and a racial brawl at one school, writes Gutierrez.
Board members also agreed to a "pilot program" using dogs
to sniff out drugs and gunpowder through the end of the school year
at high school campuses.
Jonesboro mother Artansa Snell said she appreciated
Pulliam's actions. But, she told Gutierrez, "I don't want them
violating the civil rights of children." Many parents said
they were in favor of the superintendent's plans, but one father,
Bob Hartley, asked the board to reconsider the use of canines. He
told the board, "I don't want my child walking past dogs every
day going to class." Pulliam lamented the need for the new
measures, but said, "It is not my wish to do this, but it is
one of the most reasonable ways that we can ensure safety of our
students," Guttierrez writes.
Ten states to sue EPA over
mercury rules; Sierra Club applauds action
Wisconsin has joined a list of states suing the federal
government's environmental policies, challenging new regulations
they say fail to protect children and expectant mothers from dangers
posed by mercury emissions.
In announcing his approval of the lawsuit, Gov. Jim
Doyle said the Bush administration has cowed to big business with
new guidelines for coal-fired power plant emissions that could allow
19 states to increase mercury emissions in the next five years by
setting caps that are higher than current levels, writes
Juliet Williams of The Associated Press.
The New Jersey attorney general's office is taking the lead on the
lawsuit. The eight other states involved are California, Connecticut,
Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York and Vermont.
The Sierra Club applauded Wisconsin for being the first
Midwest state to sue. Eric Uram, the club's regional representative,
told Williams, "We hope Governor Doyle takes this opportunity
to help call on other Great Lakes and Midwest states to join Wisconsin."
Mercury settles in waterways and accumulates in fish.
If eaten, the toxic metal in those fish can cause neurological and
developmental problems, particularly in fetuses and children. The
suit criticizes the EPA for exempting power plants from having to
install the strictest emissions control technology available. The
New Jersey attorney general says that technology would cut mercury
pollution by 90 percent.
Nuclear plants not keeping
track of waste; GAO study faults federal government
A federal report issued yesterday said pervasive problems
plague the control of radioactive waste at the nation's nuclear
power plants, in part because the federal government has been sluggish
in instituting and enforcing safeguards.
The Government Accountability Office's
indictment of the nuclear facilities and the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission is the most comprehensive reckoning to date
of problems that have begun to emerge at a number of plants in recent
years, writes
Shankar Vedantam of The Washington Post. The GAO
said inadequate oversight and gaps in safety procedures have left
several plants unsure about the whereabouts of all their spent fuel.
Problems in tracking the materials suggest that radioactive rods
could be missing from more than the three plants that are widely
known to have problems.
The commission agreed with the GAO's findings of "uneven"
control of spent nuclear fuel. NRC spokeswoman Beth Hayden told
The Post the agency had been forced to prioritize safety concerns
after the Sept. 11 attacks, causing delays in implementing security
measures to safeguard the spent fuel rods. The nuclear industry
pointed out the GAO had not found evidence of adverse health consequences,
writes Vedantam. Steven Kerekes, a spokesman for the Nuclear
Energy Institute, told him problems in accounting for the
fuel are being addressed. Critics, however, said close ties between
federal regulators and the commercial facilities they supervise
has dulled the edge of oversight, he writes.
Surprise! English made official
language of W. Va.; ACLU says discriminatory
Much to the surprise of many in the West
Virginia Legislature, two days after the end of the
session they are discovering they voted to make English the official
language of their state.
The language amendment was quietly inserted into a
bill on appointments to boards of parks and recreation. An amendment
adds the provision that "English shall be the official language
of the State of West Virginia," writes
Erik Schelzig of The Associated Press. Senate Majority
Whip Billy Wayne Bailey offered that change amid a flurry of bills
in the House and Senate Saturday, the last night of the 60-day legislative
session. Bailey told Schelzig, "I just told the members the
amendment clarifies the way in which documents are produced."
House Majority Leader Rick Staton recommended his chamber agree
with the Senate's changes, but said he was unaware of the substance
of the amendment until asked about it by AP.
Efforts to make English the state's official language
have been introduced annually since the late 1990s. A group called
U.S. English has championed the cause. House Judiciary
Chairman Jon Amores, who helped kill an earlier proposal to forbid
any state or local agency from having to print documents in any
language but English, told AP "I think it's wrong that's something
like that was snuck into that bill in the last minute." Andrew
Schneider, executive director of the American Civil Liberties
Union of West Virginia, told Schelzig that English-only
laws "do nothing constructive to increase English proficiency.
They simply discriminate and punish those who have not yet learned
English."
Journalists are invited to
apply for national conference on rural issues
Rural
journalists and others who cover rural America are invited to apply
for fellowships to attend Rural America, Community Issues, a
national conference on rural issues at the Knight Center
for Specialized Journalism at the University of
Maryland, College Park, June 12-17.
The Institute
for Rural Journalism and Community Issues is programming
this conference, which will feature speakers from top research institutions,
government, business and the media. Attendees will gain valuable
sources and engage in thought-provoking discussions with other reporters,
editors and opinion writers from around the country.
Knight
Center fellowships cover all seminar costs, including reference
materials, hotel lodging, meals and a travel subsidy. The travel
subsidy is a reimbursement of half the cost of travel up to a maximum
subsidy of $300. The deadline for receipt of applications
is May 4.
Session
topics and speakers include the politics of rural America, the rural
economy, the technology divide, rural health care, education in
rural areas, strategies for managing rural growth, the financial
realities of rural journalism and a field trip to Washington. For
details and application information, click
here.
Pat
Chapman, who helped produce graphics for the C-J, dies at 53
John Patrick "Pat" Chapman, a graphics researcher
who worked for The Courier-Journal &
Louisville Times Co. for more than 28 years, died early
yesterday of complications from a heart attack he suffered a week
earlier, writes
Paula Burba of The Courier-Journal. He was 53.
Chapman used resources ranging from the Internet to
printed reference materials to find details and context for the
art and graphics with everything from daily stories to The C-J's
most complicated special projects, writes Burba for the Lousville
newspaper. Bill Ellison, then the newspaper's deputy managing editor,
said the newspaper created the position in 1996 as "sort of
a one-man Library of Congress" and Chapman was "just the
right person to fill it." Bennie L. Ivory, executive editor
and vice president/news, said, "He took his job seriously,
and he was very good at it. I will personally miss him."
Monday, April 11, 2005
Meth replacing marijuana as
teens' high of choice; moving from rural to urban
While the meth epidemic often has been associated
with drug labs hidden away in the countryside, today's users frequently
defy that image, whether they are urban professionals or suburban
homemakers.
Minnesota, for example, has been dealing with all
of the above and is home to another scary trend: There, many young
people and experts who monitor drug use agree that meth is steadily
replacing marijuana as the teenage drug of choice, writes
Martha Irvine of The Associated Press. Anthony,
a 17-year-old student at Sobriety High School in
St. Paul, who first tried meth at age 13 and has been in recovery
since he overdosed last summer, told Irvine, "Meth is the thing.
It's what everybody wants to do." Though statistics show that
meth use among teens and middle-school students has been level for
the past few years, experts caution that those numbers can be deceiving
since meth seems to spread in pockets, leaving some regions or populations
relatively untouched while others are devastated.
Caleb Banta-Green, an epidemiologist at the University
of Washington's Alcohol & Drug Abuse Institute, told
AP, "Meth is an oddball in that way. You never know where it's
going to hit." Few states have thus far evaded meth's reach
in one population or another, including young people, writes Irvine.
In Nebraska, she notes, two 20-year-olds who were high on meth froze
to death after getting lost in a snowstorm in January. And in Oregon,
officials recently reported that meth is now second only to marijuana
-- surpassing alcohol -- as the drug that sends the most teens to
treatment in that state, she writes.
Nebraska and Oregon are among the nearly two dozen
states, including Kentucky, Tennessee, Oklahoma and Illinois, that
have entrenched meth problems, according to state-by-state advisories
the Drug Enforcement Administration released this
year. And the DEA says meth is a growing concern in sections of
nearly every other state. Many states are pinning their hopes on
proposed laws that would make it difficult for anyone to buy large
quantities of cold medicine that contains pseudoephedrine, a main
ingredient in meth.
Sludge slugfest prompts officials,
newspaper to take closer look at regulation
All communities have the same problem of sludge and
how to get rid of it. And, while everyone has sludge, nobody wants
someone else’s as a Kentucky company found out this past month.
So writes
James Bruggers of The Courier-Journal in the wake
of withdrawal of an application to truck as much as 500 tons a day
of sludge from Nashville, Tenn., to strip-mined land in Hopkins
County, Kentucky.
Hopkins County Fiscal Court, the county's governing
body, pushed ahead last week toward approving an ordinance regulating
sludge treatment and disposal, Bruggers writes for the Louisville
newspaper.
A leader of a joint House-Senate environmental committee,
who usually favors busienss interests, said last week that he's
concerned state rules would allow such a project with no public
notice or involvement. Rep. Jim Gooch, co-chairman of the joint
Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources, told Bruggers he
is concerned about "expedited permits … without local
people's input." LaJuana S. Wilcher, secretary of the Kentucky
Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet, told
the newspaper, "The rules are only as good as the people who
implement them. In this case, they were sufficient."
Communities produce more than 7 million tons annually.
Nationally, about 60 percent of sludge is reused under terms allowed
by state and federal rules. But the practice is loosely regulated
compared with disposal of other material, such as solid or hazardous
waste, because sludge is presumed safe if state and federal regulations
for treating, monitoring and applying it to land are followed, writes
Bruggers.
However, environmentalists and some industry insiders
said that state and federal rules are out of date and that enforcement
is often sketchy. Tom FitzGerald, director of the Kentucky
Resources Council, told the C-J, "There is a virtual
circle of neglect when it comes to the use of these sludges. They
are often not adequately tested for pollutants or properly managed
by state and federal regulators in light of their potential to affect
public health and the environment."
Atlanta-area refuse threatens
country dreams for those seeking rural refuge
When Georgians Joe and Morel Ann Klatka fled congested
Gwinnett County for Jackson County, they had no idea Gwinnett's
garbage might follow them — into a proposed landfill near
their home. The problems plaguing congested Gwinnett wouldn't migrate
up I-85 into rural, unspoiled Jackson County, they thought, writes
Rebecca McCarthy of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The Klatkas are just one of several transplanted Gwinnettians
fighting a proposed landfill in northwestern Jackson County —
one that would take in garbage from Gwinnett. The Klatkas, like
their many neighbors, say they knew nothing about the proposed landfill
when they bought property in River Plantation, where houses range
from $250,000 to $800,000. Morel Ann Klatka told McCarthy, "We
pictured band shells, community concerts and good restaurants coming
here. As it turns out — we get a landfill."
The landfill in question would be a 94-acre construction
and demolition facility near the city of Pendergrass, which opposes
it. First proposed in 2001 by Earth Resources Inc.,
the landfill is willing to restrict its operations. But, Jackson
County's Planning Commission voted to reject their request. The
County Commission also denied the company's request, saying that
the proposed use for the property didn't conform to the county's
land use plan, writes McCarthy. Earth Resources filed a lawsuit
arguing the facility would meet federal and state regulations. With
a capacity of 4 million tons, it would accept construction waste
from suburban and exurban counties, including Gwinnett, for 15 years.
On March 18, Jackson County Superior Court Judge T.
Penn McWhorter ordered the County Commission to give Earth Resources
a conditional use permit. Jackson County has appealed that ruling
to the Georgia Supreme Court, said Gainesville attorney Julius Hulsey,
who represents the county. He said he doesn't expect to hear from
the court for eight to 10 months, she writes.
Movie filmed in Appalachian
county will premiere locally; filmmaker area native
A Los Angeles filmmaker is getting a chance to premier
his works closer to home, in Appalachia.
“Last year, it was only a script. Now, Shannon
Blackburn is ready to premier his first feature-length film, the
film filled with Pike County. BlackArc Production's 'The Humane
Game' gave Blackburn, a Los Angeles producer/writer, a chance to
work closer to his hometown,” writes
Janie Taylor of The Appalachian News-Express. Blackburn
told Taylor, "Seventy-five percent of this film was shot in
Eastern Kentucky. A lot of local Pikeville business owners stepped
up to the plate and helped this become a reality." Blackburn,
a Pikeville native, said hard work and a leap of faith completed
the film, writes Taylor for the Pikeville paper.
Blackburn told the newspaper, "We were really
impressed with the local talent here. A lot of people in Pike County
were extras." He said the film would have cost $5 million had
it been filmed it in Hollywood and that more than 100 directors
were screened for the movie. Acting auditions were held in New York
and Eastern Kentucky. He told Taylor three or four of the major
characters are from Kentucky. The light-hearted drama, according
to Blackburn, deals with the life and lost love of a wealthy Kentucky
businessman as he hosts a local reality show, writes Taylor.
Blackburn said, "The heart and soul of the film
is in Eastern Kentucky." A limited DVD release of the film
is planned for the end of May. The film, Blackburn said, has been
accepted at both the Chicago Independent Film Festival and the New
York Film Festival, and has been "accepted in Chicago and people
from MGM, Warner Bros. and Fox
will be there." That, he sayskl, could lead to wider distribution.
The film's VIP premier is scheduled for mid-May with the time and
location to be announced later. Blackburn said only 200 tickets
will be available for the showing. For ticket information on call
434-2711. Staff Writer Janie Taylor can be reached via e-mail at
jtaylor@news-expressky.com.
Rural Iowa internship program designed to keep youth,
spur new business growth
Many small towns may be slowly disintegrating, statistics
show, because many of the towns’ youth are disappearing in
favor of urban life, writes
Josh St. Peters of Brownfield.
But Kossuth County, Iowa has started a plan, funded
through a federal grant from the Cooperative Extension Service,
designed to pull some of those youth back into rural America. The
plan revolves around a college internship program to attract youth
seeking business opportunities, in the hopes the students will come
back to the rural areas after college. The program encourages the
interns to start new companies as business entrepreneurs. The U.S.
Department of Agriculture says 80 percent of jobs created
in rural areas are from new businesses.
Dropping ethanol prices and rising gas prices create
concern for the industry
The price of ethanol dropped 20 percent since last
September to $44 a barrel, threatening the foundation of the growing
industry, reports
USAgNet. Last year, approximately 3.57 billion
gallons ethanol were used in the country, according to the Renewable
Fuels Association.
Ethanol comes from fermented renewable crops, like
corn. In the past, ethanol prices fluctuated along with gasoline
prices, but in the past few years ethanol prices have dropped while
gas prices have skyrocketed.
EPA cancels controversial pesticide
study; trials focused on poor children
The Environmental
Protection Agency has canceled a controversial study
using children to measure the effect of pesticides after Democrats
said they would block Senate confirmation of the agency's new head.
Stephen Johnson, as EPA's acting administrator, ordered
an end to the planned study, a reversal from the agency's position
just a day earlier when it said it would await the advice of outside
scientific experts, writes
John Heilprin of The Associated Press.
The aim of the study, Johnson told AP, was to fill
data gaps on children's exposure to household pesticides and chemicals.
He suspended it after ethical questions were raised by scientists
within EPA and by environmentalists. Over the study's two years,
EPA had planned to give $970 plus a camcorder and children's clothes
to each of the families of 60 children in Duval County, Fla., in
what critics of the study noted was a low-income minority neighborhood.
EPA also had agreed to accept $2 million for the $9 million "Children's
Health Environmental Exposure Research Study" from the American
Chemistry Council, a trade group that represents chemical
makers. For The New York Times version, by David
D. Kirkpatrick, click here.
For The Washington Post version by John Heilprin,
click here.
W. Va. lawmakers vote to double
cell-phone 911 fees, help smaller counties
West Virginia legislators have approved a plan to
more than double 911 fees on cell phones and to distribute more
of the collected fees to small counties.
The bill bumps the monthly 911 service improvement
charge from $1.48 to $3 and increases the share collected by all
but four counties, writes
Erik Schelzig of The Associated Press. Sen. Brooks
McCabe amended the bill to include a fund to encourage the construction
of cell phone towers and to allot 10 cents of every fee to improve
State Police communications technology. McCabe earlier took issue
with the notion that every county needs money for 911 centers. He
argued that would be a disincentive for counties to merge services.
McCabe told Schelzig, "I had to do something with this bill
to make it more palatable.They would have pushed this thing through
anyway." McCabe’s amendment would set aside $1 million
that could help build as many as 10 new towers a year.
Fifty-five percent of the county distribution is based
on population and number of landlines. Each county would receive
0.85 percent of the remainder under the plan headed for Gov. Joe
Manchin’s signature. Under the new provisions, only four counties
receive lower projected 911 fees, writes Schelzig.
Momentum building for Cincinnati-area casino; could
bring in new state revenue
Supporters who want to build a land-based casino in
the greater Cincinnati region say it's just a matter of time before
the way is cleared for one or more to be built in that area, writes
The Equirer, in a plethora of reports on numerous
aspects of the possibility, "SPECIAL REPORT: The Big Gamble."
Even gambling opponents agree the region, which already
has casinos on riverboats on the Indiana side of the Ohio River,
is one of the strongest potential casino markets in the country.
Jerry Carroll, a Kentucky developer who wants to build one, told
the newspaper, "You put a casino along the riverfront or along
the I-75 corridor in Northern Kentucky, and you couldn't build it
big enough."
Proponents say Ohio casinos could bring in more than
$500 million a year for schools, tax cuts or other uses. Kentucky
casinos could create $400 million annually in new taxes in that
state. Their argument is gaining momentum with business leaders
and politicians, who see an opportunity for new revenue in their
financially strapped states, writes the
Cincinnati newspaper. Ohioans spend $2 billion and Kentuckians
spend $725 million on the lottery every year, and horse racing has
been popular in both states for decades.
Opposition, however, is considerable, notes The Enquirer.
Ohio voters rejected ballot initiatives on casinos in 1990 and 1996,
and some state office holders continue to oppose casinos. Kentucky's
legislature quit for this year without taking any action on gambling.
Opponents say casinos bring more crime, corruption and family dysfunction.
Rev. Nancy Jo Kemper, leader of the 800,000-member Kentucky
Council of Churches, told the newspaper, "We're going
to work harder than we ever have."
But a majority of Kentuckians said in a recent statewide
poll they want slot machines at racetracks. And in Ohio, a new poll
by The Enquirer found most state lawmakers would put casinos or
slot machines up for a statewide vote this fall if details on spending
the profits could be worked out. Gambling supporters say the combination
of more jobs, tax revenue and entertainment trumps the negatives.
For the summary version from The Associated Press,
click here.
Special announcement: Journalists
invited to apply for rural conference
Rural
journalists and others who cover rural America are invited to apply
for fellowships to attend Rural America, Community Issues, a
national conference on rural issues at the Knight Center
for Specialized Journalism at the University of
Maryland, College Park, June 12-17.
The Institute
for Rural Journalism and Community Issues is programming
this conference, which will feature speakers from top research institutions,
government, business and the media. Attendees will gain valuable
sources and engage in thought-provoking discussions with other reporters,
editors and opinion writers from around the country.
Knight
Center fellowships cover all seminar costs, including reference
materials, hotel lodging, meals and a travel subsidy. The travel
subsidy is a reimbursement of half the cost of travel up to a maximum
subsidy of $300. The deadline for receipt of applications
is May 4.
Session
topics and speakers include the politics of rural America, the rural
economy, the technology divide, rural health care, education in
rural areas, strategies for managing rural growth, the financial
realities of rural journalism and a field trip to Washington. For
details and application information, click
here.
Newspaper investigates best-selling
author's faulty column on basketball game
An assistant managing editor and a group of reporters
at the Detroit Free Press will conduct an investigation
prompted by errors in a column by best-selling author Mitch Albom.
Free Press managing editor Thom Fladung said in a
telephone interview, "Basically it will be some reporters doing
what reporters do, which is checking it out," writes
Sarah Freeman of The Associated Press. Albom apologized
to readers for reporting former Michigan State players Mateen Cleaves
and Jason Richardson attended the Michigan State-North Carolina
NCAA basketball game. He'd written the players "sat in the
stands, in their MSU clothing, and rooted on their alma mater."
Neither player was at the game, writes Freeman. Albom said he wrote
the column before the game took place, as if the events already
had happened, based on what the players had told him they planned
to do. The paper said the players' plans changed after they were
interviewed.
Albom told Freeman the column had to be filed Friday
afternoon - a day before the game - but appeared in the paper Sunday.
The paper said the section in which the column appeared was printed
before the game. The investigation first was announced in a letter
to readers from publisher and editor Carole Leigh Hutton, and published
on the paper's front page Friday. For Michael Hirsley's version
in the Chicago Tribune via The Baltimore
Sun, click
here. For commentary by Nat Ives of The New York Times,
click here.
Chalmers Roberts, noted Washington
Post journalist, dead at 94
Chalmers M. Roberts, a retired chief diplomatic correspondent
for The Washington Post who covered the cold war,
the nuclear arms race and the seats of power in Washington in the
1950's and 60's, died Friday at his home in Bethesda, Md. He was
94.
The cause was congestive heart failure, writes
Robert D. McFadden of The New York Times. A typewriter-pounding
deadline reporter who preferred the street to the desk, Roberts
joined The Post in 1949 and took on the diplomatic beat in 1953.
Besides global affairs, he covered a range of general assignments,
writing about the Supreme Court, Congress, the White House and political
campaigns.
Roberts also wrote obituaries of world leaders, including
Churchill and Stalin, chronicled the summit meetings of American
and Soviet leaders, reported from Vietnam and the Middle East and
covered the United States tour of Soviet Premier Nikita S. Khrushchev
in 1959 and rioting in the Watts section of Los Angeles in 1965.
Saturday, April 9, 2005
Special announcement: Journalists
invited to apply for rural conference
Rural
journalists and others who cover rural America are invited to apply
for fellowships to attend Rural America, Community Issues, a
national conference on rural issues at the Knight Center
for Specialized Journalism at the University of
Maryland, College Park, June 12-17.
The Institute
for Rural Journalism and Community Issues is programming
this conference, which will feature speakers from top research institutions,
government, business and the media. Attendees will gain valuable
sources and engage in thought-provoking discussions with other reporters,
editors and opinion writers from around the country.
Knight
Center fellowships cover all seminar costs, including reference
materials, hotel lodging, meals and a travel subsidy. The travel
subsidy is a reimbursement of half the cost of travel up to a maximum
subsidy of $300. The deadline for receipt of applications
is May 4.
Session
topics and speakers include the politics of rural America, the rural
economy, the technology divide, rural health care, education in
rural areas, strategies for managing rural growth, the financial
realities of rural journalism and a field trip to Washington. For
details and application information, click
here.
Friday, April 8, 2005
Bush budget drug program cuts
to hurt states' meth war programs, say officials
The Bush administration is retreating in its battle
against methamphetamine, a pullback that will trip up enforcement
programs just as they are hitting their stride, some state and local
officials say..
President Bush has proposed gutting funding for some
programs and slashing spending for others, proposals that worry
officials who have seen firsthand the debilitating effects of methamphetamine
in their communities, write
Larry Bivins and Pamela Brogan of the Gannett News Service.
According to the Drug
Enforcement Administration, there were 1,259 meth incidents
in Tennessee alone during 2004. The cases included the discovery
of labs, lab dumpsites or lab paraphernalia. The discoveries placed
Tennessee No. 3 in the nation, behind Iowa with 1,300 and Missouri
with 2,707. Here are some methamphetamine
quick facts. Here is a report on how
to cover meth in rural areas, where its impact is disproportionately
heavy.
Overall, Bush plans to spend $12.4 billion on the
drug war in 2006, a 2.2 percent increase over current funding. But
most of the additional money is targeted toward intercepting drug
shipments before they cross the border and international programs,
such as crop eradication. The president intends to eliminate a $634
million grant program for state and local police departments and
cut anti-drug spending in
High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA)
from $226 million to $100 million, write Bivins and Brokan
Bush also would reduce spending on a Justice Department
methamphetamine initiative from $52.6 million to $20 million, a
60 percent cut. Bush's budget would: eliminate grants to states
under the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Program, funded
at $441 million this year; eliminate grants to states under the
National Alliance
for Model State Drug Laws, (NAMSDL) an organization
that has been instrumental in helping states draft legislative responses
to the methamphetamine crisis; and, eliminate Justice Assistance
grants used to bolster multijurisdictional anti-drug task forces.
Sherry Green, director of the NAMSDL, told Bivins and Brogan, 'The
consequences of (meth) addiction are being felt all across this
country in a complete drain of resources.''
Dale Woolery, associate director of the Iowa
Office of Drug Control Policy, told the news service
the Justice Assistance grants ''constitute the backbone of resources
for drug task forces in Iowa.'' DeLynn Fudge, director of public
programs for the Oklahoma
District Attorneys Council, said the 23 drug task forces
battling meth in that state rely heavily on Justice Assistance grants.
She told Bivins and Brogan, "If Bush's proposed budget cuts
are approved. I'm fearful of what might happen. Half our task forces
might be eliminated. The thought of it is frightening for public
safety,'' they write.
Death and funeral of the pope
stir local story ideas on religious subjects
Al Tompkins of the Poynter Institute for
Media Studies, in today's Morning
Meeting, passes along two good story ideas for reporters
and editors anywhere, originating with the newsletter Religion
Link.
“Has the inundation of papal coverage washed
up any potential converts at the door of your local parish? It can
happen, as the interest and emotion -- whatever the event --
draw people to learn more,” Tompkins writes. “Who are
those people who just joined? Will others now make that pilgrimage
as well? Conversely, will Catholics who were turned off by John
Paul's policies and teachings give their old church a second look
when a new pope is elected? Remember, the second-largest "denomination"
in the United States is ‘lapsed’ Catholics . .
. who have largely given up all ties to the church of their birth.”
For data on how many members each denomination has, go to http://www.adherents.com.
The grandiose formality of the pope’s funeral
occasions another observation and a possible story: Increasing use
of ritual in Protestant churches. “A growing number . . .
are increasing the frequency of communion, for example, and coming-of-age
rites that resemble confirmation services or bar mitzvahs are becoming
popular in churches and communities -- even humanist groups --
that would not normally be associated with the kind of display .
. . in Rome,” Tompkins writes. “Rituals for death, life
and commitment are vital, and the distance between the Eternal City
and your city may not be so wide.” He also notes “the
power and efficacy of ritual in our lives. Psychologists and sociologists
of religion can testify to this, but trends in local houses of worship
across the religious spectrum also demonstrate the power of ritual.
“
Native Americans across the
country proposing big-city sites for their casinos
The Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians have not had land
in Colorado since a massacre by soldiers at Sand Creek in 1864.
Driven out of the state, they live today in poor rural areas scattered
around Oklahoma.
But the tribes are now offering Colorado a gift of
$1 billion and are willing to give up their ancestral claims to
nearly half of the state, all in exchange for a 500-acre piece of
land near Denver on which they hope to build one of the world's
largest casinos, complete with a five-star hotel, a golf course,
a mall and an Indian cultural center, writes
Fox Butterfield of The New York Times.
Currently there are efforts by several tiny landless
bands of Indians in California to build casinos in three cities
on San Francisco Bay. There are also proposals by three tribes,
now in Oklahoma, to construct casinos in Ohio, where they once lived.
And there are tribes in Wisconsin and Oklahoma, originally from
New York, that have proposed exchanging their land claims for the
right to build casinos in the Catskills, he writes.
The National
Indian Gaming Association says revenues for tribal
casinos reached $18.5 billion last year, double the take of all
the casinos in Nevada. That is up from $5.4 billion in 1995. The
drive for permission to build casinos far from reservations is drawing
protests from more established Indian gambling operations that do
not want more local competition, as well as from tribes that built
casinos on their own remote lands, limiting the kinds of profits
they can make. The Senate Indian Affairs Committee, headed by Senator
John McCain, R-Ariz., is examining such proposals and where lawmakers
in both houses are considering more stringent rules, like banning
tribes from moving across state borders and giving greater say to
other tribes that would be affected, writes Butterfield.
Southwest Virginia paper focuses
local attention on how to build tourist trade
The folks who run the Richlands
(Va.) News-Press and the Clinch Valley News
see economic potential in tourism, and are trying to gets their
readers to think about it with a series of editorials and guest
columns.
"We
hope that you will read and consider what they have to say and make
your own decision on whether or how tourism can be a strong part
of this community's economy and way of life," the newspapers
said
this week. "Tazewell County has places worth the time and money
to get here. But those places need the support of tourist infrastructure
- motels, restaurants, marketing and guides, advice from professionals
to help destination owners find a profitable niche market of visitors."
The
editorial starts with observations that apply to many rural communities
seeking tourists: "The uninitiated often think that it's a
matter of putting out a few signs, selling a few arts and crafts
and bringing in the visitors and the dough. Guess again. As has
been demonstrated several times over in Southwest Virginia and other
parts of the Commonwealth, just calling one's self a tourist destination
and a buck-fifty will get you a large cup of coffee. And even a
coherent tourism development strategy . . . with viable resources
and destinations may not be enough without the active, long-term
involvement of several sectors of the community."
Kentucky residents outraged after local official
turns down unionized jobs
Madisonville, Ky., residents met in the Holy Temple
Church of God in Christ Tuesday to demand the firing of Danny Koon,
the executive director of Madisonville-Hopkins County Economic
Development Corp.
The campaign for Koon’s removal began he told
a group of business leaders in October that he turned down a company
that would have provided 500 jobs for the community, because they
contacted with United Auto Workers. He told the
group that the Corp. doesn’t “look at any companies
that have representation with a bargaining group,” reports
The Messenger of Madisonville. (Link goes to
the newspaper's homepage; the story requres a subscription. To contact
the paper, click here.)
The economic development board reprimanded Koon and
he later apologized publicly, but six months later people are still
asking for him to be removed. “I dare say if any of us made
such a blunder, we would have been fired,” said Bishop Raymond
Marion, a retired United Auto Workers member and president of the
Madisonville NAACP branch.
Marion attended the Tuesday meeting and gave some
startling figures, provided by the UAW research department and the
Economic Policy Institute, to show how much Koon’s
decision would cost the community. Union workers are more likely
to have better wages and be covered by health care and retirement
plans, and are less likely to be forced to contribute to maintaining
such plans than nonunion workers, the UAW
said.
Koon has been praised for his work in the community
in enticing other companies to come to the area, including Land
O’ Frost, a meat-packing company, and Fort Knox National,
a call center for electrical payment services. Combined, the companies
will offer almost 700 jobs.
Tobacco exec tells federal court policy changes were
'good business decisions'
The head of Philip
Morris USA Inc.
told a court that the company shifted its policies on publicizing
the risks of smoking in recent years partly to increase respect
for the company and drive up its value.
But a government attorney questioned whether many
of the changes Michael E. Szymanczyk described were mere publicity
ploys, designed to improve the image of a company beset by lawsuits,
writes
Hilary Roxe of The Associated Press. The chairman
and chief executive officer of Philip Morris was testifying in a
civil racketeering lawsuit the Justice Department
filed against major U.S. tobacco companies. The government alleges
the companies spent decades conspiring to conceal the health risks
of smoking. Szymanczyk said when he took the top job in 1997, it
was clear that Philip Morris was "out of alignment with society's
expectations of a socially responsible company."
He told the court policy decisions, such as those
to dedicate more money to stopping underage smoking, to provide
links to health-related Web sites from its homepage, and to scale
back magazine advertising, were driven partly by the settlement
agreement reached with 46 states in 1998. Justice Department attorney
Sharon Eubanks pointed to a 1999 memo circulated to employees of
Philip Morris companies that included comments from a financial
analyst who concluded the company needed to make potential jurors
and the public believe that it was making responsible decisions.
For more detail on the Justice Department tobacco litigation, click
here.
Coal-dust mask makers fighting
miners' lawsuit; miners complained of illnesses
Three companies that manufactured dust masks and respirators
used in the Kentucky coalfields are not responsible for miners'
contracting black lung disease, said attorneys for those companies.
3M, a Minnesota manufacturing company
named as a defendant in a lawsuit filed in December in Harlan County,
said the miners could be ill because they misused, altered or didn't
properly wear their masks, reports
The Associated Press. Jacqueline Berry, spokeswoman
for 3M, the largest manufacturer named in the suit, told AP, "The
allegations have no merit, and we're going to vigorously defend
against this lawsuit." 3M contends the dust masks were safe.
The company has successfully defended itself against dust-mask lawsuits
in the past, winning six out of seven jury trials, AP writes.
The 12 Harlan County miners are asking for unspecified
compensation and punitive damages in the suit, which has been moved
to federal court. Hundreds of Kentucky coal miners have filed similar
suits blaming their illnesses on 3M and companies that distributed
dust masks. The lawsuits claim the dust masks used from the 1970s
through the 1990s were ineffective in keeping them from inhaling
airborne particles that cause black lung, a crippling and often
fatal disease that kills 1,000 people a year. The lawyers who filed
the Harlan County suit said wearing the dust masks made the miners
think they were safe in the mines.
U. S. senator pushes for chemical
weapons destruction; restores funding
U. S. Sen. Mitch McConnell is trying to force the
Pentagon to abandon its proposal to delay the destruction of aging
chemical weapons at Kentucky's Blue
Grass Army Depot.
McConnell this week won the Appropriations Committee's
approval of a requirement that Defense Department officials press
ahead with original plans to eliminate the munitions early in the
next decade, writes
James R. Carroll of The Courier-Journal. The Pentagon,
citing budget constraints, had said it would hold up work on a depot
facility to destroy 523 tons of weapons, including the nerve gas
sarin and VX, a toxic liquid. The facility was scheduled to begin
operations in 2010 and would take about two years to destroy the
munitions, Carroll writes for the Louisville newspaper.
McConnell told reporters after the committee voted
to include the so-called "directive" in a fiscal 2005
supplemental spending bill, "Our goal is to keep the project
on track." Asked about McConnell's directive, spokeswoman Kathy
DeWeese for the Pentagon's Assembled
Chemical Weapons Alternatives program said, "If
it becomes law, we will set about doing what we can to implement
it." The directive eliminates any Pentagon discretion on the
matter. McConnell said he did not expect any problems in the House
during a conference later this month to work out a final version
of the bill. He predicted final passage and President Bush's signature
"within the next month or so."
Advocates of destroying the weapons praised the effort.
Craig Williams, director of the Chemical Weapons Working
Group, a watchdog organization based in Berea, Ky, told
the C-J, "Obviously, it breathes new life into the disposal
process here in Kentucky. Berea Mayor Steven Connelly called McConnell's
move "good news." He told the newspaper, "We are
one of the more populated areas that have a significant portion
of the nerve gas rockets, and we think every day they grow older
they are more of a hazard."
West Virginia racetracks say late start killed legislation
to allow table games
West Virginia’s four racetracks blame bad timing
on the demise of legislation that aimed to transform them into full-blown
casinos by allowing blackjack, craps and similar table games.
John Cavacini, president of the state Racing
Association, said the tracks waited too long by not having
Senate Bill 442 introduced until March 3, three weeks into the Legislature’s
60-day session, writes
Lawrence Messina of The Associated Press. Cavacini
told Messina, "This bill got caught up in the logjam of bills,
in both houses. We happened to get caught behind some of the most
complex and contentious issues this session." House Speaker
Bob Kiss announced the Senate-passed bill had been pulled from his
Judiciary Committee’s agenda to allow work on more "critical"
bills before the session expires at midnight Saturday. A leading
critic of the proposal agreed with Cavacini’s assessment,
at least in part. Rev. Dennis Sparks, executive director of the
West Virginia Council of
Churches, told AP, "There was
the crowded agenda."
A February poll found that 60 percent of the House
members interviewed -- 77 of 100 delegates were surveyed -- supported
county referendums on table games. Senate Bill 442 proposed to allow
Hancock, Ohio, Jefferson and Kanawha counties to vote on whether
to permit the games at their tracks.
West Virginia environmental
board concerned about secret meetings
When West Virginia lawmakers transferred water quality
rule-making authority to the Department
of Environmental Protection they also gave DEP permission
to ignore the state’s open meetings law.
Under the bill, DEP Secretary Stephanie Timmermeyer
can meet privately with companies that want to weaken water pollution
rules, writes
Ken Ward, Jr. of The Charleston Gazette. Timmermeyer
and other DEP employees can also meet privately to discuss water
pollution rule changes with agency consultants and with other state
and federal agencies.Previously, all such discussions were held
in open meetings held by the state Environmental Quality
Board.
The measure to transfer the authority to write state
water pollution limits from the board to DEP now goes to Gov. Joe
Manchin. Spokeswoman Lara Ramsburg told Ward unless there is a technical
flaw in the bill, Manchin will sign it. Board members said they
were concerned about secrecy provisions of the legislation. Board
lawyer Wendy Radcliff told the newspaper the legislation would allow
DEP to have rule-making discussions in private that the board now
conducts in public. Radcliff said, “The implication is that
does not have to happen in the open anymore.”
Board member Ted Armbrecht, a Charleston businessman,
initially said he thought that lawmakers removed what he felt was
the worst of the secrecy provisions. But, when told about the legislation's
language after final modifications, which added that DEP can hold
private meetings with “any interested party for the purpose
of collecting facts and explaining state and federal requirements
relating to a site-specific change or variance,”Armbrecht
said that Manchin should be made aware of its secrecy provisions.
North Carolina suspends mobile-home hauling rules;
no police escorts required
North Carolina has approved a three-month experiment
that allows truckers to carry 16-foot wide mobile homes on two-lane
roads without a police escort. The N.C. Highway Patrol and the mobile
home industry asked for the test, saying the current rule requiring
a blue-light escort was a nuisance for both parties and did not
improve safety, writes
Dianne Whitacre of The Charlotte Observer.
Companies taking part must have their extra-wide load
accompanied by two private escort vehicles bearing strobe lights,
flags, flashers and banners to make them more visible. Currently,
private escort vehicles have a banner and a revolving orange beacon.
About 800 16-foot mobile homes are shipped each month in North Carolina,
Whitacre writes. State traffic engineer Kevin Lacy told the newspaper
an average of about six crashes a month involving mobile homes and
manufactured housing, with 82 percent causing no injuries.
Tom Crosby, spokesman for AAA Carolinas told Whitacre
the blue-light escort is important for safety and especially to
keep drivers from passing the wide load. "People have a lot
more patience with a 16-foot wide when it is escorted by police."
For information on mobile home rights and laws and a referral list
of lawyers who are familiar with the laws and rights of mobile home
owners, from the The Colorado Coalition for Mobile/Manufactured
Home Residents Rights (CCMMRR) , click here.
West Virginia Senate passes
bill for mini-distilleries with direct public sales
The West Virginia Senate has moved to create mini-distilleries
in the state that would be allowed to sell directly to the public,
bypassing state rules that limit liquor sales to licensed retailers.
The House measure applies to distilleries making less
than 20,000 gallons a year. The state’s two distilleries,
Isaiah Morgan in Summersville and Mountain
Moonshine in Morgantown, would qualify for the new designation
and have their licensing fees dropped from $1,500 a year to $50,
writes
Erik Shelzig of The Associated Press.
In exchange for breaking with the state-run system,
the distilleries would pay regional retailers 10 percent of their
sales. Sen. Steve Harrison, R-Kanawha, was the lone dissenter in
the 33-1 vote, citing concerns about increased availability of alcohol,
Schelzig writes. The House passed a similar version of the bill,
but will have to approve the minor changes made by the Senate before
the measure can head for the governor’s signature.
Newspaper van crashes, burns
all copies of Kentucky paper's latest edition
A newspaper van crashed last Wednesday, destroying
all the copies of the latest edition of The
Paintsville Herald, a 5,200-circulation newspaper in
eastern Kentucky.
Editor Loretta Tackett said the van was traveling
north on U.S. 23 from Pikeville, where the twice-weekly newspaper
is printed, to Paintville when a tire blew out, causing the crash,
reports
The Associated Press. The van struck a guardrail
and burst into flames, destroying all the newspapers. The driver
escaped without injury, AP writes. Tackett said the newspaper was
reprinted later that day, with photos and a story about the crash.
"We altered the front page to insert the story of why readers
were a bit late getting their news."
Thursday, April 7, 2005
Kentucky's easternmost county
gets America's first fine-arts extension agent
Say "extension agent" and you get an image
of a man visiting a farm or a woman speaking to a meeting of homemakers.
But Pike County, Kentucky, in the heart of Central Appalachia, has
America's first extension agent in fine arts.
Stephanie Richards started work in Pikeville in December,
but her arrival was celebrated last week with a gathering of local
artists and University of Kentucky officials who
have brought new meaning to the name, "Cooperative Extension
Service." The name signifies the support the service gets from
local, state and federal governments, but this agent is supported
with a memorandum of understanding between the university's College
of Fine Arts and College of Agriculture,
which has the extension service.
Richards, who is also the artistic director for Artists
Collaborative Theater in Elkhorn City, told
Jamie Taylor of the Appalachian News-Express, "The
audience here is so ready for arts and culture. I believe we can
become a cultural destination for the arts and give local artists
the opportunity to thrive artistically and financially." She told
the newspaper that she hopes to capitalize on Pikeville's role as
a regional medical center. "Richards said a large number of
Pikeville medical professionals have already expressed a cultural
interests in area art," Taylor wrote.
Richards wants to open an artists center for classes
and exhibits. She credited Robert Shay, dean of the College of Fine
Arts, with the notion of an extension agent in fine arts. "He had
the idea that we weren't getting arts and culture into our rural
areas," she told the News-Express. "And for the past three
years this has been getting off the ground and approved."
Rural empowerment zone beneficiary
charged with fraud in bankruptcy
A federal trustee has charged the owner of a defunct
Kentucky houseboat company with hiding ownership of major assets
in his $2.2 million bankruptcy. John Sturgill's Fantasy Custom Yachts
was the first firm scheduled to open in Wayne County, Kentucky,
with the help of America’s rural empowerment zone program.
Sturgill “also shorted creditors by funneling
income to his wife that should have been his, according to the complaint
filed on behalf of Richard F. Clippard, federal bankruptcy trustee
for the Kentucky-Tennessee region,” the Lexington
Herald-Leader reported.
“The complaint seeks to bar Sturgill from having his debts
wiped away, as his Chapter 7 bankruptcy requests.”
Sturgill acknowledged to Herald-Leader reporter Bill
Estep that agents from the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service
have also looked at his case. No criminal charges have been filed.
He denied any fraud and said the allegations stem from “false
information from disgruntled former employees or a part-owner with
whom he had a falling out,” Estep wrote.
The empowerment zone, a federally funded program,
provided loans and tax credits in Clinton and Jackson counties and
the part of Wayne County that adjoins Clinton. Jackson does not
border either county. After Sturgill entered the houseboat industry
around Lake Cumberland in 1996, houseboat makers in the part of
Wayne County outside the zone complained that the program gave him
an unfair edge, and helped him siphon away their employees. “Sturgill
and officials of the program defended it, saying it had helped create
jobs, ” Estep reported. Sturgill said his company did well
for several years, but suffered in the economic downturn following
the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.”
Rural Internet use focus of
Maine legislation; needed for economic development
Supporters of two bills to improve Internet access
in Maine say the state's economic growth is suffering from lack
of high-speed access in many rural areas, reports
the Bangor Daily News.
"If Maine is to attract more businesses, then
we must improve and expand access to high-speed Internet services,"
Sen. Lynn Bromley, D-South Portland, told the Legislature's Utilities
and Energy Committee during public hearings on the bills Tuesday.
"This is a requisite and not a luxury as we move forward."
At present, high-speed Internet access is available
in those limited parts of Maine served by cable television, fiber-optic
cables, or digital subscriber phone lines, known as DSLs. One of
the bills discussed Tuesday proposes a study to determine if municipalities
could act as Internet service providers in areas where high-speed
Internet service is now lacking. Rep. Hannah Pingree, D-North Haven,
has introduced a second bill, which would create the Maine Broadband
Advisory Council and expand the authority of the Public
Utilities Commission to regulate line-sharing agreements
and establish right-of-way rules, writes the Daily News.
Several environmental concerns
in Kentucky and Colorado are settled
The company that wanted to truck 500 tons a day of
Nashville's sewage sludge to a site in Hopkins County in Western
Kentucky has withdrawn its proposal for the project, blaming the
move on what it called, "environmental hysteria in the media."
In a letter to Kentucky regulators, BioReclamation
LLC manager Charles W. Martin said the company feared that
the Kentucky Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet
was going to "proactively scrutinize" the proposal
in ways that exceed state requirements, writes
James Bruggers of The Courier-Journal. Martin declined
to elaborate. State officials would not comment.
Hopkins County Judge-Executive Patricia Hawkins predicted
that the county's fiscal court will adopt an ordinance that "gives
us some kind of leverage and control if we are hit again with another
attempt like this." Louisville environmental attorney Tom FitzGerald,
director of the Kentucky Resources Council told
Bruggers, "Whenever you propose to bring 500 tons a day of
active sewage sludge into a community with no public hearing, no
notice to local government and no opportunity for local input, what
do you expect?"
A couple hundred miles to the east, more public concern
about contamination was settled after a Kentucky congressman warned
top Pentagon officials to abandon any proposal to move chemical
weapons from Blue Grass Army Depot in Madison County,
Kentucky, rather than destroy them there.
U.S. Rep. Ben Chandler, a Democrat whose 6th District
includes the Richmond depot, said that moving the weapons would
be dangerous and told Assistant Defense Secretary Dale Klein, "You
will probably see a nuclear response from the citizens of our district.
Transportation is not an option, just very simply," writes
James R. Carroll of The Courier-Journal. The Pentagon
in December said it was looking at relocating chemical weapons as
part of an examination of cost-saving alternatives, writes Carroll
for the Louisville newspaper. For The Associated Press
version, click here.
To the west, more concerns about radioactive waste
contamination, this time in Colorado, were addressed by the Department
of Energy, which wants to move a 12-million ton pile of
radioactive waste away from the banks of the Colorado River. The
river is a major source of drinking water for about 25 million people
in the Southwest. Environmentalists and Western politicians fear
the debris could poison the drinking water supply for Las Vegas,
Los Angeles, Phoenix and other cities, writes
Travis Reed of The Associated Press. The Department
said it will recommend
the waste be moved to a closed storage facility about 30 miles north,
near Crescent Junction. Now, the mostly open-air heap sits 750 feet
from the river. The 94-foot-tall pile contains dirt, toxins and
traces of radioactive substances from decades of uranium ore processing,
he writes.
EWG lists rural MTBE polluted
water supplies, and backers with local pollution
The Environmental Working Group
says 26 members of Congress voted in late 2003 to stop their communities
from being able to sue oil companies for polluting their drinking
water with a toxic gasoline additive called MTBE.
Since that vote, says
EWG, communities in each of those districts have filed suit for
help with cleanup, and if members vote again this year siding with
the oil companies "they will be voting away their constituents'
right to sue," EWG claims in its website news release. Interested
reporters can search a list of those 26 members, along with the
names of water utilities who bear cleanup costs that could reach
$29 billion nationwide, here.
Eighty-six additional members who voted, the environmental group
says, to shield oil companies have MTBE contamination in their districts,
but no lawsuits yet, EWG says. For that information click here.
EWG Action Fund's website
lists the Members' districts — including the number of water
drinkers and utilities affected and where there are lawsuits —
for all 112 House Members who voted with the oil companies last
year. EWG also says its site features documents disproving oil company
claims of having been forced to add MTBE to gasoline.
Urban dwellers making ‘rural rebound’;
migration may push out some farmers
Several American families, originally from cities
like Atlanta, Nashville and Houston, are evacuating urban life for
rural serenity, according to population researchers. Over five million
residents moved to non-metropolitan areas during the 1990s, and
today, rural areas within reasonable commuting distance from major
cities are rapidly expanding in a “rural rebound,” teports
Don Teague of NBC News.
Steve and Rhonda Linehan are one example of a family
that traded their “strip of grass” in Orlando, Fla.
For a 35-acre farm in Rockwall County, Texas. "The big appeal
was the open space; No. 1, for the kids to play, and No. 2, it’s
nice for the adults to have the open space surrounding you as well,"
Steve told Teague. Rockwall County is the fourth-fastest growing
in the country, Teague writes. But, the growth comes at a cost:
farmers say they are being squeezed out, as more subdivisions develop
on farm land.
Farmer J.D. Jacobs told Teague that a new subdivision,
filled of homes that have five-acre lots, now rests on the 1,000
acres he used to lease for growing corn. "My son wants to farm,"
he said. "But if he does, he'll have to move out of this area."
With acres on the block, West Virginia towns trying
to find answers for growth
Some West Virginia towns have taken original approaches
to development, with some trying to keep their towns as they are
today, and others creating plans for the future.
Some residents in Scrabble, W.Va., for example, pitched
together to try and buy 300 acres of a farm that was up for sale,
to keep more subdivisions and development out of their town, writes
Elizabeth Williamson of The Washington Post. (Katherine
Frey of The Post contributed to the report.) "This is an investment
not only for ourselves but in our community," said many residents
in a presentation to local lawyers about letting them buy the land.
But the final price was what stomped the dream: $3.6 million for
the whole farm.
From 1990 to 2000, Berkeley County’s population
increased by almost 30 percent and Jefferson County’s grew
by about 20 percent. People in Berkeley are developing a blueprint
for future growth in the county, which has no zoning, and slow-growth
advocates are now dominating the Jefferson County Commission.
But some residents of Scrabble want the farms to stay
as they are, Williamson writes. Many acres in the town have already
gone up for sale, but, “the Scrabble plan reflected a broader
truth here on West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle: a determination
to find unique answers to the challenges of exurban growth. In that,
the people here are hoping to succeed where communities such as
nearby Loudoun and Frederick counties [in Virginia] have faltered,”
Williamson writes.
North Carolina joins lottery
ranks; millions expected to help plug budget gap
The North Carolina House of Representatives has voted
to create a state lottery.
The House vote likely clears the way, because leaders
in both parties expect the Senate to give it a friendly reception,
write
Mark Johnson and Sharif Durhams of The Charlotte Observer.
Democratic Gov. Mike Easley, who would have to sign the bill, has
long been a lottery champion.
State officials say players could see scratch-off
tickets as quickly as Thanksgiving, if the Senate acts soon on the
bill. House Speaker Jim Black, who largely engineered the passage
in hopes of getting more money for schools, told the newspaper,
"This goes a long way toward solving our problems." The
lottery is projected to raise $300 million to $400 million a year,
according to the Easley administration and General Assembly officials.
Legislators are trying to fill a $1.3 billion gap in the state budget,
write Johnson and Durhams.
State officials say half of all gross sales would
be devoted to prizes, 16 percent would cover administrative costs
and the remaining third would be spent on education.The education
money breaks down like this: 50 percent for school construction,
25 percent for college scholarships for the needy and 25 percent
for an education fund appropriated by the legislature, they write.
Texas legislator’s bill
would lure more students to rural institutions in west
Officials with Texas’ Angelo State
and Sul Ross State universities are hoping a bill
before the Texas House Higher Education Committee will boost enrollment
at the rural West Texas institutions.
Angelo State President James Hindman and Sul Ross
President Vic Morgan testified in front of the committee about a
proposal that would provide scholarships to attract 1,000 Texas
students to enroll at Angelo and 600 students to Sul Ross in Alpine,
writes
Tim Eaton of the Scripps Howard Austin Bureau.
Campbell said the bill would set up a pilot program
to add students to the universities, both of which have room to
accept more students without expanding. Campbell asked why legislators
should pay to expand state universities, such as the University
of Texas at Austin and Texas A & M University,
while other institutions need students, writes Eaton.
Campbell said, "This pilot program is meant to
fully use existing but underutilized classroom space in some of
our colleges and universities,'' The program would set aside $6.5
million in grant money for the 1,600 students to attend Angelo State
and Sul Ross. Both presidents said they could handle the extra students
without any new bricks and mortar, he writes.
Ag. Sec'y Johanns sets $22.8
million for renewable and efficiency energy projects
U. S. Department of Agriculture Secretary
Mike Johanns has announced $22.8 million to support investments
in renewable energy systems and energy efficiency improvements by
agricultural producers and rural small businesses.
Johanns said in a USDA release, "Renewable energy
is an exciting growth frontier for American agriculture. Implementing
an innovative energy policy, which the President has proposed, provides
an opportunity to strengthen both our national security and the
rural economy."
Sections of the Farm Bill established the Renewable
Energy Systems and Energy Efficiency Improvements loan and grant
program to encourage agricultural producers and small rural businesses
to create renewable and energy efficient systems, write
Ed Loyd and Tim McNeilly. The funds will be available to support
a wide range of technologies encompassing biomass (including anaerobic
digesters), geothermal, hydrogen, solar, and wind energy, as well
as energy efficiency improvements. To date, the news release says,
the Bush Administration has invested through this program nearly
$45 million in 32 states.
Montana Public Service Commission
breathing life into major wind power deal
Montana's first major wind power project cleared its
final hurdle when the state Public Service Commission
approved NorthWestern Energy's agreement to buy
135 to 150 megawatts of electricity for 20 years from a wind farm
to be built near Judith Gap.
By a 4-1 vote, the commission gave NorthWestern an
expedited ruling so Invenergy Wind can build the
$150 million wind farm by Dec. 31, when a federal wind production
tax credit expires. Dissenting was Commissioner Brad Molnar, R-Laurel,
writes
Charles Johnson for the Helena Independent
Record.
The PSC approved the deal over the objections of PPL
Montana, which now supplies 70 percent of NorthWestern's
electricity supply through mid-2007, and Exergy Development
Group, an unsuccessful bidder. David Hoffman, PPL Montana's
external affairs manager, declined to say whether the company would
appeal the decision to court.
Rhode Island reporter granted
early release from sentence for not revealing source
A Rhode Island television reporter who was convicted of criminal
contempt for refusing to reveal the name of the person who gave
him an F.B.I. videotape has been granted early release from his
sentence, writes
Pam Belluck of The New York Times. The judges action
sent chills throughout the journalism industry.
The reporter, Jim Taricani of WJAR-TV
in Providence, was serving a sentence of six months of home confinement.
At the time of his sentencing last December, the judge had said
Taricani could be eligible for release in four months if he abided
by the terms of his sentence. Yesterday, the judge ruled he could
be released on Saturday. Taricani was unable to speak with reporters
because he is barred from giving interviews until his sentence is
complete. He was also prohibited from working or using the Internet.
Taricani was convicted of violating a court order
to disclose his source for the videotape, evidence in an investigation
of government corruption in Providence. The tape showed an aide
to Mayor Vincent Cianci taking a $1,000 bribe. Those involved in
the investigation were ordered not to release any surveillance tapes.
Taricani refused to reveal his source, who he said had demanded
confidentiality. But a week after his conviction, the source, Joseph
A. Bevilacqua Jr., identified himself.
National conference in Lexington,
Ky., to address rural health and safety
University of Kentucky extension
educators are helping plan the National Priester Extension Health
meeting along with the UK College of Public Health; USDA’s
Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service;
the National Association of State and Land Grant Colleges
and Universities; the National Institute for Agricultural
Safety; and several land-grant universities.
200-plus participants are expected to attend the April
12-15 gathering in Lexington, Ky., at the Radisson Plaza Hotel,
reports the university's
Agricultural Communications Service. Conference
participants are university, state and federal government employees
from across North America. Several conference panelists and discussion
leaders are specialists with UK’s Cooperative Extension Service.
Topics include Agricultural Rehabilitation for Occupational
and Physical Therapists, Legal and Regulatory Responses to Bio-
and Agri-Terrorism, Addressing Rural Health Care Shortages, Health
Literacy in Rural America, Farm to School and Physical Activity
Legislation, and Food Security. Speakers include Dr. John Nelson,
president of the American Medical Association;
John Perkins, senior policy advisor for food and nutrition at the
Texas Department of Agriculture; Dr. Paul Gunderson,
former director of the National Farm Medicine Center;
Dr. Richard Jackson, California State Public Health
Officer; and Dr. David Mathews, chief executive officer of the Kettering
Foundation.
For registration and program information, click here.
Wednesday, April 6, 2005
New website offers vast array of data on individual
schools; instant information
"After today, public accessibility to education
data will never be the same." So said David P. Driscoll, president
of the Council of Chief State School Officers,
last week about School
Matters, a Web site created by Standard &
Poor's School Evaluation Services and
featuring the world's largest collection of public education data.
The site offers a powerful tool to journalists who
investigate education. It allows free public access to a vast array
of information through a searchable database. Educational information
can be sorted and compared by state, district, or individual school.
Demographic information, math and English proficiency measures,
itemized measures of school spending, and tax and revenue information
are all easily found for each school in all 50 states.
School Matters also features several success indicators
labeled as "S&P ratios." These ratios offer a quick
way to evaluate school success based on a variety of statistics.
School Matters uses one such S&P ratio to provide a list of
schools in each state that outperform their demographically similar
peers. Kentucky, for example, features 18 such outperforming schools.
Other interesting S&P ratios measure school performance based
on the school's return on money spent and provide an aggregate measure
of school performance.
With such a detailed and precise database available,
the School Matters Web site takes great pains to encourage responsible
use of the information. "Pulling individual data points out
of context to create a ranking is a serious misuse of the data and
S&P strongly discourages users of this website from using data
in this way," the site cautions. Former North Carolina Gov.
James Hunt, a board member of S&P School Evaluation Services,
also warns potential users of the site that S&P ratios "should
not be used alone to draw conclusions about education performance.
These ratios should always be considered with other academic, financial,
and demographic indicators provided on the website."
Federal Court rules Western
Kentucky landowners cheated; restitutions ordered
After 40 years of legal battles, a federal judge has
ruled the federal government cheated hundreds of Western Kentucky
families evicted from their farmland to make way for a World War
II Army training camp.
The heirs of those families are now entitled to at
least $32 million in compensation - and likely more, given the award
was calculated in 1965 dollars, writes
Maureen Hayden of the Courier & Press of Evansville,
Ind. The ruling by U.S. Court of Federal Claims
Judge Susan Braden, says the federal government "unjustly profited"
from the sale of 36,000 acres in farmland condemned in 1942 to make
way for the Camp Breckinridge military installation.
Braden ruled in favor of more than 1,000 plaintiffs
who contended their families were forced off their farmland and
the government purchased the land at rock-bottom prices while promising
the families could buy back the property after the war. Many families
were not paid until after the war, Braden notes in her ruling. The
judge also noted how the federal government continued ownership
of the land, which it bought for a total of $3.2 million, and resold
it to oil, gas and coal developers for more than $35 million in
1965. That decision, she ruled, allowed the government to "unjustly
profit" at the expense of hundreds of landowners whose farms
had been in their families for generations, writes Hayden.
Ruby Higginson, 78, whose family was evicted from
their 803-acre Union County, Kentucky farm, told Hayden, "I'm
elated. It's been a long wait for justice." Higginson's brother,
now dead, brought one of the first lawsuits against the government
in 1965. The plaintiff's attorney, Steve Pitt, says the wait may
be longer because of the 'interim ruling," where Justice
Department lawyers have 60 days to appeal, and could argue
Congress must act before compensation could be paid out.
Uner the ruling, plaintiffs are entitled to the profits
the government made from the sale of their land and has given the
Justice Department 60 days to argue why the plaintiffs shouldn't
be given their money. The judge decided to reopen the case after
plaintiffs had been excluded from the lawsuit by a 1998 ruling.
Braden also found the government land agents and the property owners
initially undervalued the property, but also noted the federal government
found out after the war just how rich the land was in coal, oil
and gas. For The Courier-Journal version by Jim
Malone, click here.
For The Associated Press version click here.
Iowa law officers warn warmer
weather brings meth labs, say more chances to 'cook'
Warmer weather means more methamphetamine labs are moving outside,
creating more toxic and dangerous dump sites, warn Iowa law enforcement
agencies.
Capt. Brian Gardner of the Linn County Sheriff's
Office, told
The Associated Press, "Typically, it's seasonal.
The nicer weather provides more chances to cook (meth) outdoors."
Lt. Brent Long of the Cedar Rapids Police Department credits increased
public awareness for identifying methamphetamine byproducts, but
he warns people not to touch suspicious items. Items found at a
dump site can include bottles, pseudoephedrine packages, gas tanks
with pipes attached and aerosol cans. Long told the wire service,
"Leave it alone. Call us."
Resolution seeks to stop tobacco
sales at UT; also proposes smoke-free entrances
For some University of Tennessee
professors there are just too many unhealthy butts on campus.
They would like to see an end to the sale of tobacco
products at UT and the creation of some smoke-free entrances at
all of its buildings,
writes Randy Kenner of the Knoxville News Sentinel.
For the second time in two years a nonbinding resolution
has been presented to UT's faculty senate to stop the sale of tobacco
on campus. The measure, introduced by faculty senator Mark Harmon,
an associate professor in the School of Journalism and Electronic
Media, also added the smoke-free entrance provision, writes
Kenner. The last such bid by Harmon failed in late 2003. Harmon
introduced his resolution at Monday's faculty senate meeting, where
it didn't make it to a vote. Instead, it was pushed back to next
month.
Harmon told Kenner after the meeting,"I'm pleased.
It's a lot better than losing outright. If the faculty senate wants
to take a month and debate it on the (group's) listserv fine. I
hope we can pass it in May." Harmon said he introduced the
measure again in part because cigarette smoking contributed to the
death of his brother two years ago and because he said college is
when some students become addicted to nicotine. Harmon told the
newspaper, "I think it's a health issue. We are a better campus
when we don't sell tobacco products."
Beauvais Lyons, a professor of art and former faculty
senate president, spoke against the resolution because it was "brought
to us in the 11th hour." Lyons called Harmon a good friend
but said "whether you are in favor or against this resolution
this is not the way we should do business, folks." Lyons said
the resolution should go through the senate executive committee
or another committee and be debated before the senate considers
it, he writes.
EPA removes 21 counties in
9 states meet air-quality standards; removed from watch list
The Environmental Protection Agency
has announced 21 counties in nine states are being removed from
the government's watch list of areas in the country with the dirtiest
air. Interested reporters and editors can look at the EPA's complete
list to see if their county is effected and if so, can use the
information to make a localized story. The states with counties
now in compliance with the clean-air rules for soot are Ohio, Indiana,
West Virginia, Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Pennsylvania
and California.
Ken Ward, Jr. of The Charleston Gazette
reports
that the EPA list removed Marion, Monongalia and Harrison counties
in West Virginia's from its "'nonattainment' areas for small-particle
pollution." The action will loosen permit requirements for
new busineses in those areas, Ward writes, and the state's air quality
officials won't have to create plans for reducing the air pollution
of those areas. The EPA made the decisions after local business
leaders, the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce and
the state Department of Environmental Protection
made numerous complaints, he reports.
The government had identified 225 counties in 20 states
that were either unclassified or not meeting its new clean-air standards
for reducing the amount of microscopic soot in the air, putting
those areas on notice that they must devise a pollution-reduction
plan, writes
Malia Rulon of The Associated Press. Failure to
comply could mean a county will have to limit development and its
state could lose federal highway dollars.
Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, chairman of the Senate
Subcommittee on Clean Air, Climate Change and Nuclear Safety, asked
the EPA to review its list based on 2004 information. The agency
said the review indicated certain areas now have air that is free
of dangerous levels of soot, which comes from power plants, car
exhaust, diesel-burning trucks, wood-burning stoves and other sources.
About 5 million people live in these areas and now benefit from
cleaner air, said the agency.
W. Va. Governor Manchin set
to sign bill wooing AEP power plant; wants fast-track
West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin's proposal to help
attract a next-generation, coal-fired power plant to the state awaits
his signature after the state House unanimously agreed to accept
Senate changes to the legislation.
The measure would end a requirement that utilities
wait for final approval from the state Public Service Commission
before applying for other permits. The Senate had amended the bill
to only apply to power plants, writes
Erik Shelzig of The Associated Press. Manchin introduced
the bill to make the West Virginia site more attractive for American
Electric Power Co. to build its first Integrated Gasification
Combined Cycle plant. AEP has also identified potential sites in
Kentucky and Ohio for the power station. IGCC plants convert coal
into gas that is burned in turbines to power electric generators
with reduced nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide and mercury emissions.
P. Scott Icard, government affairs manager for AEP-subsidiary
Appalachian Power Co., told Schelzig, "I think
this (legislation) will be of benefit and certainly of consideration
about where we're going to locate our plants in the future."
The PSC permitting process can take 13 months, followed by another
six months for environmental evaluations. Icard told AP, "You
add those figures together consecutively and you're talking about
a considerable length of time." Manchin said he hopes the legislation
will help avoid delays, writes Schelzig.
Wal-Mart summons media to Arkansas
headquarters for criticism counter-offensive
Continuing a public relations offensive that began
last year, Wal-Mart executives brought reporters
from around the world to company headquarters in Rogers, Ark. to
address criticism it has received over its treatment of workers,
its impact on small towns and its push into major metro markets
such as Chicago and Los Angeles.
Wal-Mart Chief Executive H. Lee Scott said Wal-Mart's
size and its expansion into the supermarket business, a unionized
industry in many parts of the country, have made the retailer a
lightening rod for disparagement, writes
Heather Landy of the Star-Telegram of Dallas, Texas.
Scott told Landy, the criticism "is self-serving
for people who do not want to compete in the arena the way it is
today. They want to protect the status quo." Scott disputed
labor groups' claims that the retail giant is leading a "race
to the bottom" for wages and benefits, and he argued that the
chain raises the standard of living for customers and employees,
writes Landy. The company estimates its low prices save shoppers
$100 billion a year, while aggressive hiring has helped remove 160,000
people from the ranks of the uninsured. Some 84 percent of Wal-Mart's
workers have health insurance, more than half of whom are covered
by Wal-Mart.
Wal-Mart has been trying to repair its image after
a series of embarrassing legal challenges and scandals, Landy writes.
Female employees have filed a class-action lawsuit claiming widespread
sex discrimination. The company also recently settled charges that
its cleaning crew contractors hired illegal immigrants and that
underage workers operated dangerous machinery.
Growth group staff member hope
to get area thinking about suburb alternatives
A Virginia man who grew up in rural Prince William
County in Northern Virginia., Michael McDevitt, says he watched
as fields and woods around his boyhood home were gradually transformed
into suburbs and shopping centers. Now he’s working to see
that a similar fate does not befall the areas around Richmond.
As the first full-time staff member of the new Partnership
for Smarter Growth, McDevitt hopes to help put together
a blueprint for the region's growth, writes
Will Jones of the Richmond Times-Dispatch. He described
the group to the Times-Dispatch, saying, "We're not coming
into this with a confrontational attitude. We want to develop and
grow in a way that's sustainable and livable." He said that
means building more walkable neighborhoods near jobs, and clustering
homes to preserve fields and forests. "It's all about having
choices and alternatives" to traditional suburban- style growth.
McDevitt said he understands local governments have
their own plans to guide development and that officials and many
residents guard that authority fiercely. The problem, he told Jones,
is the individual plans often don't make sense collectively. "If
you take a bunch of pieces of cloth and stitch it together, I guess
you could call it a suit, but I'm not going to wear it." The
Partnership for Smarter Growth started last year and is operating
through the education fund of the Virginia League of Conservation
Voters, a nonpartisan, anti-sprawl lobbying group led by
a steering committee of 10 to 15 people from across the region.
WKU hosts First Amendment celebration
featuring prominent journalists
Western Kentucky University’s
School of Journalism and Broadcasting, along with
the provost office’s American Democracy Project, will host
a celebration of the First Amendment called “First Amendment
First,” on Thursday, April 21. The celebration comes after
a John S. and James L. Knight Foundation survey
revealed many high school students are ignorant about the rights
guaranteed them in the First Amendment.
The event will feature professional journalists, philosophers
and educators discussing First Amendment freedoms. The list includes
recently retired New York Times columnist William
Safire; former NBC chairman Julian Goodman; First
Amendment Center executive director Gene Policinski; former
Courier-Journal publisher Barry Bingham Jr.; his
daughter, photojournalist Molly Bingham; and David Yalof and Kenneth
Dautrich of the University of Connecticut, who
conducted a survey
of high school students’opinions of First Amendment rights
for the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
With so many high school students ignorant about First
Amendment rights, some concerned teachers can look to new teaching
methods when addressing the amendment's freedoms. Five pairs of
teachers, who each won in the 2001 Newspaper Innovators
in Education Awards, recently compiled a First Amendment
booklet
for teachers with suggestions on how to explain the amendment’s
five freedoms using the newspaper. Their suggestions are targeted
for elementary, middle and high school aged students, with activities
to explain each of the five freedoms.
Some ideas include having students write letters to
the local newspaper editor, asking them what freedom of the press
means to them in their job and, for high schoolers, reading newspaper
stories and identifying who might not want the story published.
Let students decide if the press goes too far, not far enough, or
just right regarding what it publishes.
The Society of Professional Journalists
and its Western campus chapter are also working on the First Amendment
celebration. SPJ participants will include Vice President for Campus
Chapter Affairs Jim Highland, adviser to the campus chapter; and
three past SPJ presidents, Gordon “Mac” McKerral, Robert
Leger and Al Cross, will be present on the Town Hall Meeting panel.
Cross, former political writer for The Courier-Journal, is interim
director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community
Issues. Leger is editorial page editor of the Springfield
(Mo.) News-Leader.
Six honorees to be inducted
in Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame at April ceremony
The University of Kentucky has announced
four journalists and two college professors will be inducted into
the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame in Lexington, reports
The Associated Press.
The six, who will be inducted on April 19, include:
Robert R. Adams, who has been a faculty member at Western
Kentucky University since 1966 and adviser for the College
Heights Herald since 1968. Gene Clabes, a past president
of the Kentucky Press Association and former owner
of the (Ludlow) News Enterprise and the Recorder
Newspapers of Northern Kentucky. Lee Denney, a news director and
anchor at WBKR-FM and WOMI-AM
in Owensboro. Bob Johnson, a former political and government reporter
for WHAS-TV and radio in Louisville for almost
20 years. He also was the chief political writer and, later, editor
for The Courier-Journal of Louisville.
Marguerite McLaughlin, a UK faculty member from 1914
until 1950. McLaughlin, who died in 1961, was the first female reporter
on a major Kentucky daily newspaper and one of the first female
journalism teachers in the nation. She also co-founded the UK
School of Journalism. Bob Schulman, a former radio, television
and newspaper journalist in Louisville. He wrote for The Courier-Journal
and Louisville Times and had a long-running commentary
series on WHAS-TV and Radio.
Boston paper may cut one quarter of union newsroom
positions after failing revenue
The Boston Herald’s publisher
recently announced he wants lay-off about one quarter of 145 union
newsroom positions, saving the newspaper $2 million.
Publisher Patrick J. Purcell wants to carve $7 million
out of the paper’s expenses, after circulation and advertising
revenues have both stagnated, writes
Mark Jurkowitz of The Boston Globe. In a meeting
with the Newspaper Guild of Greater Boston yesterday,
Purcell laid out a plan to cut 35 editorial positions. The company
wants to try to reduce the staff through buyouts, but to follow
up with layoffs if needed, Jurkowitz writes.
Some newsroom employees work on contracts instead
of being covered by the Newspaper Guild. The guild was assured no
changes would be made to nonguild employment, said Lesley Phillips,
the guild's president. Phillips said the company indicated it would
implement layoffs with regard to seniority, though Purcell made
no reference to how they would be handled. Lay-off decisions by
seniority runs against the union contract, but it’s not clear
how the union would react if that were to happen, the Globe reports.
''It's shocking, frankly," said Tom Mashberg,
a newsroom union shop steward. ''Obviously, you can't cut 35 people
from your news staff and not have an impact on your product."
Hunter Thompson's ashes will
be shot from cannon in tribute, wife says
Often noted for his outlandish lifestyle, “Gonzo
Journalist” Hunter S. Thompson's ashes will be blasted from
a cannon mounted inside a 53-foot-high sculpture of the journalist's
"gonzo fist" emblem.
His wife told news reporters the cannon shot, planned
sometime in August on the grounds of his Aspen-area home, will fulfill
the writer's long-cherished wish, writes
Dan Elliott of The Associated Press. Anita Thompson
said, "It's expensive, but worth every penny. I'd like to have
several explosions. He loved explosions." Thompson, 67, shot
himself in the head on Feb. 20 after a long and flamboyant career
that produced such new journalism classics as "Fear and Loathing
in Las Vegas" and cast his image as a hard-charging, drug-crazed
daredevil, AP reports.
The cannon shot will be part of a larger public celebration
of Thompson's life. Some details of the ceremony and celebration
remain to be worked out. But, Anita Thompson said the gonzo fist
will be mounted on a 100-foot pillar, making the monument 153 feet
high. It will resemble Thompson's personal symbol, a fist on an
up-thrust forearm, sometimes with "Gonzo" emblazoned across
it, writes the wire service.
Tuesday, April 5, 2005
Report shows where health
care stands in each state, in nine areas of concern
A national health report provides an opportunity for
reporters and editors to do stories on how their states ranked on
nine different health-related issues, including cancer, diabetes,
heart disease, HIV/AIDS, maternal and child health and respiratory
disease. The 2004 National Healthcare Quality Report,
a state-by-state review mandated by Congress, looks at the "effectiveness,
safety, timeliness, and patient centeredness" of state health
care for each issue, according to the full report's web
site.
Kentucky is one state plagued by high rates of cancer
and diabetes, but the state received solid marks for some preventive
efforts, writes
Bruce Schreiner of The Associated Press. The state
ranks high for early prenatal care and is in the middle of the pack
nationally for blood cholesterol checks to try to prevent heart
disease, said the report. Kentucky's best ranking was 12th for the
percentage of women receiving prenatal care in the first three months
of pregnancy, Schreiner writes. But, the state's overall cancer
death rate easily exceeded the national average. In 2001, Kentucky
had an overall cancer death rate of 227.9 per 100,000 people, compared
with a national average of 195.1. Kentucky's death rates from lung
cancer and colorectal cancer also topped the national averages,
he writes.
For The Courier-Journal's version
of the story by Patrick Howington, click here.
Uncertain tobacco times mean
less production in state where leaf was once king
Many tobacco farmers in Western Kentucky are opting
out, while others plan to hold on, but in the state where tobacco
has been king, the crop for 2005 appears to be considerably less
than previous years.
According to the planting-intentions reports to the
U.S. Department of Agriculture, 73,000 acres of
burley tobacco will be planted in Kentucky this year, compared to
106,000 acres in 2004, writes
James Mayse of the Messenger- Inquirier. U.S. farmers
intend to plant a total of 108,000 acres of burley, down from 154,650
in 2004.
Mayse reports a wide variation from county to county
in the Owensboro newspaper's circulation area: "In Hancock
County, only one-fourth of farmers who grew tobacco in 2004 will
plant a crop this year. But, in Daviess County, it seems most tobacco
farmers intend to grow the crop in the upcoming season."
Daviess County's extension agent for agriculture,
Clint Hardy, told the newspaper most county growers he knows plan
to grow tobacco this year. His counterpart in Hancock County, Diane
Perkins, said "very few" farmers will grow tobacco this
year, and "I'm very surprised." Perkins told Mayse that
producers are uncomfortable with the prospect of growing tobacco
without the price support program that ended with the federal buyout
of tobacco quotas.
The buyout has removed from the equation many of middlemen,
such as quota owners who did not grow a crop but leased their allotment.
Many growers continue to be interested in producing tobacco for
a few more seasons, Mayse writes. Kelly Tiller of the University
of Tennessee told him, "We're going to have two to
three years of transition."
Second tobacco buyout program
regulation published; dictates how buyout to occur
The first payments in the $10.1 billion tobacco buyout
passed by Congress last year will be made between June and September,
starting annual payments that will end the program that controlled
American-grown leaf for 65 years.
The Agriculture Department has published
the second of two regulations to dictate how the buyout occurs.
The regulation spells out formulas that will be used to determine
how much growers of each class of tobacco will be paid, and when
the payments will occur, writes
Hilary Roxe of The Associated Press. Officials
began registering quota holders and producers last month at Farm
Service Agency offices. Sign-ups will continue through
June 17.
Beginning next year, the government will make annual
payments every January. Quota holders will receive $7 per pound
of tobacco marketed under the quota in 2002, writes Roxe. Producers
will receive $3 per pound, based on their share of the risk in the
2002, 2003 and 2004. Steve Connelly, assistant deputy administrator
for farm programs at FSA, said there is no early count of the number
of people who have signed up for the program so far.
Connelly told AP, "There's a lot of money at
stake, a lot of people that are nervous because they're counting
on this money. Doing away with the quota system is going to be a
lifestyle change for a lot of producers. We want to make sure that
we treat everybody fairly." FSA first mailed information to
the 500,000 people registered as quota holders and producers after
the buyout passed last fall. It has been running announcements in
various media and scheduled 48 town hall meeting across tobacco
states, Roxe writes.
For Farm Service Agency tobacco information, click
here. The regulation
can be found in the Federal
Register.
Asheville poverty law center
to fight eviction notice from federal poverty legal agency
The federal agency that helps fund legal services
for the poor has filed a lawsuit seeking to force Pisgah
Legal Services to give up the historic Asheville building
that has housed its offices for nearly 24 years.
Pisgah Legal vows a spirited court battle against
Legal Services Corp. Pisgah Legal severed its ties
with the federal agency in 1998 because it wanted to retain local
control, writes
Clarke Morrison of the Asheville Citizen-Times.
Attorney Larry McDevitt, a former Asheville mayor
and one of the founding board members of Pisgah Legal Services told
Morrison, “I can’t think of another act that will rally
the lawyers of this county as much as this lawsuit will. And defend
it we will. The gall of them to come in and take our building away
is remarkable. We have a strong position, a position that is superior
to theirs legally and morally.”
Raboteau Wilder, a Charlotte attorney representing
Legal Services Corp. in the lawsuit, couldn’t be reached for
comment. Phil Smith, president of the non-profit organization’s
board of directors, told the newspaper defending the lawsuit will
divert valuable resources away from the purpose for which Pisgah
Legal Services was established in 1978: providing free legal assistance
for the community’s most vulnerable citizens, writes Morrison.
Smith told Morrison, “We are determined to continue
providing these critical services and helping people in crisis,
regardless of this federally funded effort to bully Pisgah Legal
Services out of its offices.” Legal Services Corp. maintains
in its lawsuit that Pisgah Legal is in violation of its rental agreement
and has refused to comply with demands made since 2002 to vacate,
he writes.
Georgia school's effort to reduce dropouts show area’s
plight: Poverty repeats itself
In Gordon County, Georgia, high school principal Allen
Fort wanted to start encouraging students and convincing them a
high school diploma is a life necessity. But five years into those
efforts, 7.5 percent of Gordon Central High School’s
1,600 students dropped out last year, and only 50.5 percent of its
students earned a diploma in four years.
About 36 percent of Georgia’s high school students
don’t earn a high school diploma, one of the worst rates in
the nation, writes
Mary MacDonald of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Out of every six students in Georgia who graduates, three will go
on to college and one will earn a college degree, said the former
chairman of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, Phil Jacobs. "From
an economic development standpoint, more and more people who are
looking to relocate to Georgia are asking questions about why we
are doing so badly," he told MacDonald.
In the Gordon County school system, low-skilled jobs
are plentiful. Approximately one-third of Gordon Central High’s
students qualify for free or reduced lunch, and about 40 percent
of the area’s adult population didn’t graduate from
high school. Employers in the area say they have to train recent
graduates in typically entry-level tasks. Jacobs, who is now president
of Georgia operations for BellSouth, said that less than half of
applicants pass an entry-level assessment of as basic reading and
writing and interpretive skills.
Fort summarized many of his student's attitudes about
school, saying many of them would rather start making money that
stay in class. "If I'm on my fourth generation of dirt poor
— what is my life?" he said.
West Kentucky workers charge
unfair treatment; say tire plant withholding benefits
Hundreds of former employees of a Western Kentucky
tire plant that has ceased production protested this past weekend
in front of the company to complain that their benefits are being
withheld. The former workers at the Continental Tire
plant in Mayfield marched about one mile from a local steelworkers
union hall to a road near the plant on U.S. 45, reports
The Associated Press.
United Steelworkers of America leaders
say the workers have been shorted benefits due to them because the
company says they have been laid off indefinitely. The plant ceased
tire production on Dec. 15 and cut 730 jobs, but Continental officials
say there is a chance that tire production might one day resume.
Union President Terry Beane said, "I can't make
them give you guys your jobs back. All we're asking is something
decent for these people to walk away with." Beane said Continental
site manager Ken Herndon was invited to the rally. Herndon, AP reports,
sent letters last week to notify laid-off workers of a current company
proposal to provide $8,000 in severance pay, add five months of
company-paid health care and increase early-retirement supplemental
pay by $250 a month. Company officials could not be reached for
comment.
Prof with mountain experience
heads University of Kentucky Appalachian Center
A University of Kentucky faculty
member who has worked extensively in the mountains and Cumberland
Plateau of Kentucky and Tennessee is being recommended as the new
director of UK's Appalachian Center.
Evelyn Knight, a researcher and associate professor
in the university's College of Public Health, will begin her new
duties May 1, pending approval by the UK Board of Trustees, writes
Roger Alford of The Associated Press. Knight worked
14 years in Appalachia before joining UK. She was an associate professor
at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City,
Tenn., and was a coordinator at Appalshop, an arts
and cultural cooperative in Whitesburg. Wendy Baldwin, the university's
executive vice president for research, told AP, "She's going
to bring a lot of new energy and her broad vision to the Appalachian
Center."
Knight told the wire service she is excited about
the position. The first order of business, she said, will be to
meet with people who have an interest in the Appalachian Center,
whether they're students, professors or community leaders in Eastern
Kentucky. She told Alford, "I'm looking forward to it. The
main thing I want to do is get out and talk with people. We'll be
spending a lot of time in the car, really getting to know folks."
Some in Eastern Kentucky have criticized the university for not
locating the center in Appalachia.
The mission of the Appalachian Center, created more
than 25 years ago, is to enlist experts from every field of study
at the university to help solve problems in the mountains. Knight
will guide the center as it takes on various research, service and
education projects involving mountain communities. Knight, a New
Jersey native, beat out one of Eastern Kentucky's best-known champions
for economic development. Roger Recktenwald, who helped develop
industrial parks and recruit factories to the region, was among
the finalists selected by a search committee, Alford writes.
Millions designated to protect
Colorado River wildlife; enviros say effort not enough
Federal and state officials have committed $626 million
over the next 50 years to protect some of the Colorado River's most
imperiled wildlife. They hope that the move will allow them to keep
tapping water for swimming pools and irrigation ditches across the
arid Southwest. The conservation effort, more than a decade in the
making, is intended to keep healthy 26 species of plants, fish,
birds and other animals along 400 miles of the river below the Hoover
Dam, in Nevada, Arizona and California, writes
Dean E. Murphy of The New York Times.
The water agencies expect to continue water and power
operations on the river unburdened by concerns about endangered
and threatened species. Craig Manson, the assistant secretary for
fish, wildlife and parks in the Interior Department, said at a gathering
here near the dam, "Never before have we undertaken a program
of this scope. Fifty years from now, the communities of the lower
Colorado River will still be thriving," writes Murphy.
Environmental groups are highly critical of the effort.
Most refused to participate in the planning because the 100 miles
or so of the river in Mexico, where some of the richest and most
threatened habitat exists, were excluded. Federal and state officials
said it would have been impossible to control conservation activities
across the border. Critics have also suggested the program does
too little to account for climate changes because of global warming,
which many scientists theorize will result in long-term reductions
in water flows. Environmentalists want more of the water to remain
in the river for wildlife, rather than have it siphoned off for
agriculture and the 20 million people in Arizona, Nevada and Southern
California who rely on it , he writes.
Conservation program in Nebraska seeks to recharge
reservoirs, stop river depletion
Western Nebraska farmers took a big step in the fight
to save water this Monday by signing up for the new Conservation
Reserve Enhancement Program, designed to take irrigated land out
production.
The program envisions taking 100,000 acres of irrigated
land along the Platte and Republican River basins out of production,
to recharge reservoirs and stop the depletion of rivers and streams,
writes
David Hendee of the Omaha World-Herald. “The
program pays farmers the average of the irrigated cash rental rates
in their counties,” he writes. “The average producer
would receive about $125 an acre to turn their cropland back to
grassland for 10 to 15 years.”
Officials hope to enroll 15,000 acres of land in the
program’s first year. About 6,000 acres were enrolled by Sunday
mid-afternoon, Hendee writes.
Minnesota casinos voted down;
gambling plans may be melded after both go bust
Two bills proposing new casinos near the Twin Cities
for rural Indian tribes have been decisively defeated in a Minnesota
Senate committee The votes against the bills by the Democratic-Farmer-Labor
Party majority on the committee were expected, writes
Patrick Sweeney of the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
But a decision by Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Republican
House leaders to postpone casino votes set for today in the House
Tax Committee was a more important sign that the move to expand
gambling in Minnesota is facing significant opposition from lawmakers,
Sweeney writes. House Speaker Steve Sviggum, R-Kenyon, told Sweeney
members of Pawlenty's staff requested a delay in the Tax Committee
votes because they feared the casino bills might be defeated.
Sviggum told the newspaper, "The governor's office
wanted some opportunity, some time to develop a different strategy,"
A merger between the two casino plans — a state-tribal partnership
that Pawlenty advocated and a rival plan promoted by the owners
of Canterbury Park racetrack in Shakopee — could be the next
step. Erma Vizenor, chairwoman of the White Earth Band of
Ojibwe, told Sweeney, "The tribes would consider it
favorably."
As satellite radio takes off,
it is altering the airwaves; more than 5 million
The newly emergent titans of radio –Clear
Channel Communications, Infinity Broadcasting
and the like – have been accused of lacking programming and
news diversity and of drowning listeners in wall-to-wall commercials.
But now, the new medium of satellite radio is fast
emerging as an alternative. And broadcasters are fighting back,
writes
Lorne Manly of The New York Times. The announcement
last week by XM Satellite Radio, the bigger of
the two satellite radio companies, that it added more than 540,000
subscribers from January through March pushed the industry's customer
total past 5 million after fewer than three and a half years of
operation. Analysts call that remarkable for firms charging more
than $100 annually for a product that has been free for 80 years,
writes Manly. Total subscribers at XM and its competitor, Sirius
Satellite Radio, will probably surpass 8 million by the
end of year.
XM and Sirius are furiously signing up carmakers to
offer satellite radio as a factory-installed option and are paying
tens of millions of dollars for exclusive programming. XM has begun
offering every locally broadcast Major League Baseball game to a
national audience, having acquired the rights in a deal that could
be worth up to $650 million over 11 years, Manly writes. Each company
offers 120 or more channels of music, news, sports and talk.
Sean Butson, an analyst with Legg Mason,
told The Times, "Radio almost killed the golden goose by getting
it to lay too many eggs. If you're going to have a third of an hour
of commercials, you're going to turn a lot of people off, and they're
going to look for an alternative." (Legg Mason owns stock in
XM.)
Shop talk: Some Pulitzer Prizes
have rural resonance; veteran Virginia editor retires
A series of articles about fatal accidents at rail crossings won
a Pulitzer Prize for Walt Bogdanich of The New York Times.
Finalists in the national reporting category included Steve Suo
and Erin Hoover Barnett of The Oregonian, for their
stories on the spread of methamphetamine in rural areas, highlighted
in this report. The Oregonian
acknowledged
that the local alternative weekly, the 90,000-circulation Willamette
Week, formed former Gov. Neil Goldschmidt that he had sexually
abused a female minor in the 1970s -- a story that the daily paper
chased but never nailed down. The weekly and Bogdanich also won
Investigative Reporters and Editors awards, all
listed here.
In literary Pulitzers, Nebraska insurance executive
Ted Kooser, who just agreed to a second term as America's poet laureate
and is a voice for rural America, won for poetry, recognizing his
book Delights and Shadows. (On a new Library of Congress
Web site, Kooser
offers to newspapers for free.) For the story in his local paper,
the Lincoln Journal Star, click here.
Marilynne Robinson won the fiction prize for Gilead, named
for a small Iowa town, which reviewer Michael Dirda said
in The Washington Post "reads like a spiritual
diary, the journal of a country pastor."
Nick Anderson of The
Courier-Journal won the Pulitzer for editorial cartooning.
Judges said Anderson, 38, was honored for "his unusual graphic
style that produced extraordinarily thoughtful and powerful messages."
Some of the cartoons in his entry took swipes at President Bush,
the Republican Party and the religious right. Others were critical
of the new Medicare prescription drug program and even the U.S.
Olympic men's basketball team, AP reported.
Charlotte Observer photographer Patrick
Schneider, 35,took home two awards in the 2005 National
Press Photographers Association's "Best of Photojournalism"
competition, his newspaper reports.
He won for his Olympic coverage and got an honorable mention for
domestic news with a picture taken while documenting the efforts
of the Charlotte Fire Department's swift-water
rescue team during last summer's hurricanes.
After 39 years at the Richmond Times-Dispatch,
including more than 11 as executive editor, William H. Millsaps
Jr. is retiring in July 1, his 63rd birthday. J. Stewart Bryan III,
chairman and chief executive of Media General Inc.,
which owns the Times-Dispatch, said, "We're all sorry to see
him go, but he deserves a retirement, if that's what he wants to
do." Millsaps said he had been mulling it for about a year
and a half but wanted to stay on to help make sure Thomas A. Silvestri
"gets off to a fast start" as publisher, a job he assumed
Jan. 1, writes
the newspaper's Bob Rayner.
Monday, April 4, 2005
North Dakota farmers wary of
proposed cuts; subsidies not a recipe for growth?
No one is talking about eliminating federal farm subsidies,
just reducing them. But in North Dakota, where more than three in
four farmers receive payments -- the highest percentage of any state
-- the proposals working their way through the hearing rooms on
Capitol Hill are big news.
President Bush proposed cuts of $5.7 billion from
agricultural programs over the next 10 years as part of a deficit
reduction package. The House Budget Committee set the figure at
$5.3 billion, while its Senate counterpart said $2.8 billion should
be trimmed. Most North Dakota farmers tell
Peter Slevin of The Washington Post that any cut
would be a bad cut. Ferd Hoefner, policy director of the Sustainable
Agriculture Coalition, told the Post, "They've either
had droughts or floods so many years in a row now, they've got a
double-whammy. The further west you go, the more marginal the land
is, so the 5 percent cut is going straight at your midsize family
farm that's relying on commodities."
Bush called for a reduction of 5 percent across the
board, as well as a $250,000 cap on payments to large producers.
Farm income has been up the past two years, but Congress has channeled
more than $130 billion in subsidies to farmers in less than a decade.
Seventy percent of the cash goes to 10 percent of the producers,
particularly cotton and rice farmers in the South, writes Slevin.
Farm subsidies create more dependency than growth,
according to Mark Drabenstott, director of the Center for
the Study of Rural America, writing
in the latest issue of the center's Main Street Economist.
He cites data from farm-dependent counties and says the key to rural
economic growth is "fostering a climate of business innovation
and entrepreneurship." Drabenstott's center is part of the
Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.
Public investment in Internet
access may help, not hurt, private firms
In many ways, affordable access to high-speed Internet
broadband service resembles reliable electric service in the 1930s:
It doesn’t exist in most rural areas, and municipalities have
taken to providing it for these regions by trying to tap into larger
private companies’ networks.
Those companies have persuaded state legislatures
in Arkansas, Missouri, Minnesota, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, South
Carolina, Texas and Utah to ban municipalities from joining and
creating communications networks. But the principal argument for
prohibiting municipalities from joining the industry may be based
on a huge misconception, according to new research by George S.
Ford, president of Applied Economic Studies, a
Tampa consultancy.
That misconception is a hypothesis that Ford calls
“crowding out,” that a market can only sustain so many
companies, so a municipality will crowd out at least one private
company. Ford finds that a municipality may be the only way to get
certain services to particular geographic areas, usually rural areas,
partially because the return may not be large enough for a private
firm to want to invest in that area.
His study found the opposite theory is more likely,
one he calls “stimulation.” Municipalities investing
in communication services, such as Internet access, actually helps
increase the number of private firms in the region, presumably because
the municipality helps build up the network the private firm needs
before it will invest.
Such findings could hamper the arguments of telecommunications
firms that have been pushing states to keep communities from publicly
investing in communications services. The issue arose recently in
the West Virginia Senate, when legislators toned down a bill designed
to encourage public-private partnerships for broadband Internet
service, after pressure from larger communications companies.
To see the blog
item of this Charleston Gazette story, visit the March archive.
To see Ford’s full report, click here.
Biofuels incentives encouraged;
may not create alternative fuels market, says report
A report by the state comptroller’s office says
Tennessee lawmakers should include incentives for consumers in any
taxpayer-funded help for the alternative fuels industry. The report,
which didn't advocate a course of action, also cautioned lawmakers
to take a close look at markets and infrastructure needs before
subsidizing production and distribution networks for biofuels, writes
Scott Barker of the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
Bio-fuels include ethanol, which is made with corn
or sugar, and bio-diesel, which is made with soybeans or waste grease.
Advocates for bio-fuels say their use would help reduce America's
dependence on foreign oil, create a renewable energy source, strengthen
farmers and reduce harmful emissions, Barker writes. The report
concluded that using bio-diesel in trucks and heavy equipment could
reduce nitrogen oxide and particulate matter emissions. Less clear
is the effect of ethanol on ozone levels.
Both farm and fuel trade groups found something to
like in the report, though they differed in how they would like
to see the biofuels industry develop. Mike Williams of the Tennessee
Petroleum Council, which opposed an ethanol bill proposed
last year, said consumer demand must come first. Distributors wouldn't
invest the millions of dollars necessary to build a distribution
network for biofuels, he said, without a market for them. However,
he told Barker, if incentives create a market, energy companies
would fill it. "We're in the fuel business, not the gas business.
If people want to run their cars on vinegar and soda water, we'll
provide it."
Joe Pearson, director of commodity activities for
the Tennessee Farm Bureau, told the newspaper consumer
incentives alone wouldn't do. He said subsidizing production and
distribution would help stimulate demand at the same time by making
it easier for motorists to find outlets selling biofuels.He said
"It's the old chicken-and-the-egg deal."
Ky. joblessness hits rural
areas hardest; toughest for coal economies, physical labor force
Officials in many rural areas across Kentucky are
scrambling to lower unemployment, but are finding that bringing
jobs to a local economies that have been based primarily on agriculture
isn't a simple feat.
Last year, 74 out of Kentucky's 120 counties had an
unemployment rate above the state's average of 5.3 percent, according
to the Kentucky Education Cabinet's Office of Employment
and Training. The rate in 41 counties was below the average, and
five were right on the average, writes
Joe Biesk of The Associated Press. Wolfe County
Judge-Executive Raymond Hurst told Biesk, "I really don't know
the answer. If I knew, I'd get something in here."
In 2004, the U.S. unemployment rate was 5.5 percent,
according to the office. The statistics are estimates and based
on the number of people actively seeking work. The same year, Eastern
Kentucky counties of Magoffin, Elliott, Wolfe, Morgan, Leslie, Carter,
Lewis and Powell -- along with Fulton and Hickman counties in Western
Kentucky -- all had unemployment rates above 8 percent. Magoffin
County had the highest at 12.7 percent, followed by Elliott and
Wolfe counties at 9.9 percent and 9.8 percent, respectively, writes
Biesk.
John Garen, an economics professor and co-director
of the University of Kentucky's Center for Business
and Economic Research, told Biesk that historically
many counties, particularly in Eastern Kentucky, have had unemployment
rates above the state and national averages. Many of the counties
have had less of a knowledge-based economy and focused more on physical
labor, including coal mining. That, Garen said, has contributed
to the higher unemployment rates. And, he added, it's a cycle that's
hard to break. When companies look to locate in Kentucky, they tend
to focus on the state's urban areas of Lexington, Louisville and
Northern Kentucky, writes Biesk.
Kentucky crackdown on overweight
trucks nets violators; speed-ticket blitz planned
A year after it began, Kentucky's crackdown on overweight
coal trucks in Eastern Kentucky is rolling on. Now enforcers plan
to focus more on ticketing truckers who drive fast to get in extra,
lighter loads.
Final numbers had not been tabulated, but in one four-day
stretch, Kentucky Vehicle Enforcement officers
weighed at least 957 coal trucks in Eastern Kentucky and wrote only
32 overweight tickets, writes
Lee Mueller of the Lexington Herald-Leader. Most
officials were not surprised by the results. KVE Commissioner Greg
Howard told Mueller, "I just want people to know the enforcement
is here to stay. It's not a fly-by-night thing." Howard, however,
pointed out that up until last year's unexpected blitz -- resulting
in more than 200 overweight tickets -- nearly all of the 1,800 coal
trucks traveling U.S. 23 daily exceeded the state's generous weight
limits.
For more than three decades, law-enforcement agencies
had essentially ignored the speeding, grossly overweight trucks
that occasionally killed people in traffic accidents and pulverized
the 114-mile four-lane highway, which is Eastern Kentucky's main
north-south artery, Mueller writes. Because it leads to a sprawling
complex of barge-loading facilities on the Big Sandy River near
Catlettsburg, it also is generally considered the nation's busiest
coal-haul road.
Kentucky's maximum fine for overweight trucks is $500,
although judges in most mountain counties levy lower penalties.
Under Kentucky law, 18-wheel tractor-trailer rigs are legally permitted
to haul up to 126,000 pounds of coal -- 46,000 pounds above the
federal weight limit. But until last year, Howard told the Herald-Leader,
trucks frequently were caught carrying up to 200,000 pounds. Rick
Caudill of Martin in Floyd County said, "It's like they've
taken the biggest, baddest shark in the ocean out of the water.
It just feels safer. A lot safer."
Consumer advocate sees 'tug
of war' for new power plant; W.Va., Ky. and Ohio vying
A fight over the location of a new, billion-dollar
power plant could mean consumers will end up footing the bill, according
to a top consumer advocate in one of three states vying for the
project.
"American Electric Power Co.
wants to build its first next-generation, coal-fired power plant
along the Ohio River, but the utility is seeking changes to permitting
and cost-recovery mechanisms before making a final decision,"
writes
Erik Schelzig of The Associated Press.
Ohio Consumers' Counsel Janine Migden-Ostrander
told Schelzig, "It seems that AEP is playing Ohio against West
Virginia to see who will give them better rate recovery. It's not
right to do that at the cost of the consumers." Kentucky is
also in the running for the new facility. The AEP project would
be the first commercial-scale plant using special technology to
convert coal into gas that is burned in turbines to power electric
generators. The process decreases nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide,
particulates and mercury emissions, writes Schlezie.
AEP has filed paperwork in Ohio requesting the utility
be allowed to increase rates to help pay for planning and building
the plant at a site it is considering. The company has also made
a preliminary filing in West Virginia for a possible plant about
eight miles away from the Ohio site. West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin
has introduced legislation to speed up permitting procedures in
hopes of persuading AEP to build the facility near an existing plant.
But Manchin bristles at the suggestion that West Virginia
could be manipulated into making unfavorable changes to the state's
permitting rules. He told AP, "They're not going to play me
against anybody. We have the utmost confidence we can attract a
plant here, but we have to have the best possible deal that we can
get." AEP officials say a third potential site, in Kentucky,
remains in the running.
Opponents of Wal-Mart to coordinate
efforts; company countering, courting media
Led by Wal-Mart's
longtime opponents in organized labor, a new coalition of about
50 groups -- including environmentalists, community organizations,
state lawmakers and academics -- is planning the first coordinated
assault intended to press the company to change the way it does
business.
In the next few months, those critics will speak with
one voice in print advertising, videos and books attacking the company,
they say. They also plan to put forward an association of disenchanted
Wal-Mart employees, current and former, to complain about what they
call poverty-level wages and stingy benefits, writes
Steven Greenhouse of The New York Times. The critics
have already begun lobbying in 26 states for legislation intended
to embarrass Wal-Mart by disclosing how many thousands of its employees
do not receive company health insurance and turn to taxpayer financed
Medicaid.
Carl Pope, president of the Sierra Club,
which has joined the coalition, told Greenhouse, "We recognize
that we are much more likely to win the battle against a giant like
Wal-Mart if we act on multiple fronts. You don't want to challenge
Wal-Mart just on health care or just on the environment or just
on sex discrimination. You want to pressure them on all three. This
is an assault on a business model. We're not trying to shut Wal-Mart
down."
Wal-Mart, the nation's largest company, is in turn
mounting a huge counter-offensive. Last week, it took out an advertisement
across two pages in The New York Review of Books
in which it defended its business practices and accused its union
detractors of being selfish, writes Greenhouse. Wal-Mart is spending
millions of dollars on television advertisements in which blacks,
Hispanics and women say Wal-Mart is an excellent place to work.
And, Wal-Mart has invited 100 journalists to its Arkansas headquarters
to hear its case tomorrow.
N.C. paper clarifies living wills, advanced directives
after Terri Schiavo confusion
The Watauga Democrat in Boone, N.C.,
was one of many local newspapers that responded to the Terri Schiavo
controversy with a story for residents concerned about how to manage
their affairs in prepartion for the worst.
Scott Nicholson of the Democrat talked to local attorney
Carole Spainhour, experienced in estate planning and elder law for
ten years, about living wills, advanced directives and other documentation.
She said a living will is “not ironclad,” because it
leaves many details subjective, especially in determining what's
considered a “terminal and incurable condition,” Nicholson
writes.
She recommended instead filing a certain advanced directive form
for “Health Care Power of Attorney,” which appoints
a legal agent who can make medical decisions on your behalf, should
you be incapacitated. Let that person know your wishes, and share
those wishes with all other family members.
Every state has its own advanced directive forms,
so make sure if you move that you fill out that state’s forms,
Nicholson writes. Spainhour recommends not filling out a living
will, because some of the language may trump the Power of Attorney
form. “Basically, what you find is that doctors and hospitals
can ignore living wills. It’s important to keep those documents
in place,” Spainhour said. “Even more important than
the document is to have the conversation with family members.”
Smithsonian launches music
download service, features traditional music
The Smithsonian
Institution will soon be competing with other popular
music download services, such as Apple’s iTunes Music Store
and Microsoft’s MSNmusic, when it launches the Smithsonian
Global Sound project this June during the Smithsonian
Folklife Festival.
The project will offer all kinds of music, from the
earliest American folk songs to groups doing contemporary versions
of traditional European, African, Asian and South American music,
writes Jacqueline Trescott of The Washington Post.
The songs, available in MP3 format, will cost 99 cents each and
the Smithsonian will pay royalties to the artists.
The Rockefeller Foundation, the Aga Khan Trust for
Culture, and the Allen Foundation for Music and Folkways Alive!
at the University of Alberta contributed start-up money for the
project. The site will allow searching by artist, location, language,
cultural group or instrument.
Mike Seeger, a member of the New Lost City Ramblers
and son of musicologist Charles Seeger fully supports the new project.
"I have a feeling of mission that I would like to have people
get to know this realm of music better. This is a way to afford
it," he said.
Wolf group causing a stir in
the Senate after trappers threaten to end research
A family of wolves, known as the Toklat group, has
become an easy target for trappers after long cohabitation with
people in Denali National Park in Alaska.
For about sixty years, biologist Gordon Haber and
other scientists have chronicled hunting techniques, mating habits
and the social structuring of this geographically stable family
of wolves, but members are being picked off with traps, writes
Blaine Harden of The Washington Post. Thomas Meier,
a biologist for the National Park Service in Denali,
said, "Frankly, these wolves aren't as wary of humans as the
average wolf. Trappers usually catch young wolves, stupid wolves,
but that is not the case here. They are catching mature animals
habituated to people."
After pressure from animal rights groups and wildlife
preservationists, Sens. Frank Lautenberg, Carl M. Levin and Barbara
Boxer wrote to Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton, asking her to
take immediate action to save the Toklat family of wolves. "These
wolves are a national treasure and are of inestimable value to scientists
and thousands of park visitors each year," the senators wrote.
So far Norton hasn’t replied, a department spokesman said.
Haber asked the Alaska Board of Game
to stop trapping on state land that juts into a northeastern section
of the national park, where the Toklat wolves have been trapped
recently. However, the board refused to expand the no-trap buffer
area. "We don't manage wolves for their safety and livelihood
and whatnot," said the board chairman, Mike Fleagle. "We
feel that wolves shouldn't be treated individually. Sure, wolves
are complex, and sure, they have a pretty interesting social structure,
but the bottom line is Alaska is crawling with wolves. We manage
for population."
Remedies emerging as issue
in federal tobacco case; cost, benefit ratio a concern
One of the most costly civil cases ever prosecuted
by the Justice Department, the racketeering trial against the tobacco
industry, now in its seventh month, is being heard in two courts
and could reach a third, raising questions about what the government
might gain with a victory.
Testimony continues in the Federal District Court
in a nonjury trial to determine whether companies hid the adverse
health affects of cigarettes for 50 years, as the government contends.
Meanwhile, an appeal is already under way to determine the extent
of liability if the trial judge rules against the companies, writes
Michael Janofsky of The New York Times. Barring
a settlement, the efforts are expected to drag out for months, driving
up litigation costs to hundreds of millions of dollars for each
side. William S. Ohlemeyer, vice president and associate general
counsel for Altria, the parent of Philip
Morris and one of the five defendant companies, told Janofsky,
"This is a very expensive, very time-consuming process. It's
particularly difficult with such a large number of people working
for such a long period of time."
The big question now is how the tobacco companies
might be held accountable if the government wins its case. Judge
Gladys Kessler had ruled the government could seek $280 billion
from the companies as a remedy for any past fraudulent acts. A three-judge
panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of
Columbia Circuit has overruled her, asserting financial remedies
would be contrary to civil racketeering law, which requires remedies
to prevent and restrain future illegal acts.
The appellate decision has cast doubt on other remedies
the government might seek and whether they would accomplish the
lawsuit's goals any better than the latest tobacco bill in Congress,
which seeks to confer regulatory authority over tobacco products
to the Food and Drug Administration. Government
lawyers say that even without a financial remedy, Judge Kessler
has at her disposal a broad pallet of methods that could discourage
future illegal acts.
President Bush authorizes use
of quarantine powers in cases of bird flu
President Bush has signed an executive order authorizing
the government to impose a quarantine to deal with any outbreak
of a particularly lethal variation of influenza now found in Southeast
Asia.
The order intends to deal with a type of influenza
referred to as bird flu. Since January 2004, an estimated 69 people,
primarily in Vietnam, have contracted the disease. But Dr. Keiji
Fukuda, a flu expert at the federal Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention in Atlanta, said he suspects there
are more cases, reports
The Associated Press.
The fatality rate for the disease is reported to be
about 70 percent. Health officials around the world are trying to
monitor the virus because some flu pandemics are thought to have
begun with birds. President Bush's order added pandemic influenza
to the government's list of communicable diseases for which a quarantine
is authorized. It gives the government authority to detain or isolate
a passenger arriving in the United States to prevent an infection
from spreading, AP writes. The Department of Health and
Human Services told the wire service the authority would
be used only if the passenger posed a threat to public health and
refused to cooperate with a voluntary request.
The quarantine list was amended in 2003 to include
SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, which killed nearly
800 people in 2003. Other diseases on the list are cholera, diphtheria,
infectious tuberculosis, plague, smallpox, yellow fever and viral
hemorrhagic fevers.
Bluegrass journalists' seminar
on words, religion, using Internet to catch criminals
The Bluegrass Chapter of the Society
of Professional Journalists is conducting a second 'Learning
from the Best' forum Saturday, April 9 at the offices of the Lexington
Herald-Leader from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The forum, entitled 'Riting, Religion and Research,'
features a first session on 'Getting Your Words Worth' with Emmy
Award winning, writing consultant and nationally syndicated columnist
Rick Horowitz. The second session will feature a panel discussion
moderated by Asbury College journalism professor
Mike Longinow on religion, including the Muslim faith. In the afternoon,
Herald-Leader staffer Linda J. Johnson explains how she used the
Internet to track a convicted baby-killer, the subject of the cover
story in this month's Quill magazine, and give
tips on computer-assisted reporting.
The Herald-Leader is located at 100 Midland Ave. in
Lexington. The cost for SPJ Bluegrass members is $10, for non-members,
$20 and for students it's $5. For further information, you can e-mail
chapter treasurer Patti Cross at patticross@bellsouth.net
or Liz Hansen, chapter president, at Liz.Hansen@eku.edu.
Friday, April 1, 2005
Bipartisan freedom-of-information reforms running
into trouble in Congress
Looks like it may be time for journalists in all parts
of the country, rural and urban, to speak out in favor of improving
the federal Freedom of Information Act. U.S. Sen. John Cornyn said
Wednesday that he thinks his proposed legislation to study problems
with FOIA will pass, but legislation to actually reform the law
may be up against a wall.
Some of Cornyn’s colleagues said they questioned
why he wanted to “help the press” and “make it
easier for reporters to air government’s dirty laundry,”
he told Lisa Falkenberg of The Associated Press.
Cornyn said members of Congress would not be subjected to the FOIA
reforms, but the added exemption was necessary so he could get the
bill to pass. "We hope to get a good start on this bill and
not kill it in the cradle," he said.
Cornyn, a Republican, and Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Democrat,
co-sponsored a bill to create a panel that would recommend ways
to speed up information requests, writes
Falkenberg. The bill to reform the FOIA would create an ombudsman
to settle disputes, and require agencies to give requesters a tracking
number within 10 days, so that they can check the status and estimated
date of completion for their requests. The bill also requires agencies
to create either a telephone or Internet system, so that requesters
can check their request’s status. Agencies that fail to respond
within 20 days would forfeit FOIA request exemptions and could be
forced to pay the requester’s attorney fees.
Rural Montana schools need strong incentives to attract
teachers, report says
A new report shows Montana's rural and American Indian
school districts have the hardest time recruiting teachers, and
recommends the state should develop incentive programs that entice
educators to those areas.
Curt Nichols, former assistant state budget director,
prepared the report on teacher recruitment and retention for the
Montana Taxpayers Association. "Nichols' report
contradicts the argument made by the education lobby that the state
should raise the base pay of all teachers in order to help rural
and Indian districts recruit teachers," writes
Allison Farrell of the Billings Gazette.
Nichols told the special legislative committee working
on a school funding formula, "I think it's questionable whether
a general rise in salaries would solve recruitment and retention
problems." He said teachers in rural and Indian districts earn
an average $7,000 less than their teaching counterparts statewide.
Raising the pay of all teachers would preserve that inequity, writes
Farrell.
The most difficult positions to fill in all schools
are in world languages, special education, mathematics and music.
Nichols said Montana's recruitment problems follow the national
trend, and the state should consider offering targeted incentives,
such as student loan forgiveness, signing bonuses, moving expenses,
additional stipends for teachers in shortage areas, increased starting
salaries and differentiated compensation for teachers in high-demand
fields. He cautioned against raising the base pay of all teachers,
she writes.
To bring Montana teacher pay in line with the average
pay of bordering states would cost an additional $6.4 million a
year. To bring Montana teacher pay from the bottom of the nation
to 25th in the nation would cost another $74.7 million a year and
to bring it to the U.S. average would cost an additional $122.4
million a year. The Montana Supreme Court declared the existing
funding formula unconstitutional and told the Legislature to come
up with a fix by Oct. 1.
MINING, RECLAMATION and
ENVIRONMENT
Eastern Kentucky cattle farmers
reporting success on topless mountains
A project to improve heifer quality has produced vast
improvements in cattle and sale prices for Eastern Kentucky farmers,
who are grazing cattle on reclaimed mountaintop-removal strip mines.
Each October, consignors bring cattle to the D&D
Ranch in Knott County, named for the Duff brothers who mine coal
in the area. According to a story by Aimee Heald-Nielson of the
communications office of the University
of Kentucky College of Agriculture, the heifers have the
same vaccination schedule and must meet a strict pelvic measurement
requirment. Larger pelvises reduce calving problems.
Heifers are bred at the ranch and sold, but some farmers
bring cattle home to improve herds. The project manager, Perry County
farm extension agent Charles May, said he’s seen improvements
in the cattle and in management practices. While some price increases
can be attributed to the overall higher cattle market, May said
some stems from the quality of the animals. "We started out
averaging about $700 a head and in the last sale we averaged nearly
$1,000,” he said. “We know people are hearing a lot
about these heifers and they are willing to pay more for them."
The project is now operating at or near full capacity
with 600 heifers. In fact, the program can’t grow anymore
because it has run out of land, May said. Consignors from Virginia,
West Virginia, Indiana and Kentucky are all participating. "We
started over seven years ago and I never knew where we'd be by now,
but it just keeps getting bigger and better," he said. "This
year we actually had to turn some people away."
Studies by UK professor David Ditsch, associate agronomy
professor and superintendent of the university's Robinson
Station, have shown that cattle generally need more than
three times as much reclaimed land as typical pasture land. That's
because reclaimed land is highly compacted and has a lower capacity
to retain water. Waste from grazing cattle helps the soil develop
a thin but useful layer of organic matter in 10 to 15 years, sooner
than expected, Ditsch reports.
Kentucky county moves to keep
Nashville sludge off reclaimed strip mine
Hopkins County, Kentucky's governing board has moved
to block a proposal to import sewage sludge from Nashville.
A standing-room-only crowd of about 80 people watched
as the Fiscal Court voted unanimously to pass a draft ordinance
forbidding any use of sludge "that causes or may cause a nuisance."
The ordinance requires another vote, tentatively set for the Fiscal
Court's April 14 meeting, before it becomes law, writes
James Malone of The Courier-Journal. The county
attorney raised concerns that it may be too stringent to survive
a court challenge.
Chuck Wolfe, a spokesman for the state Environmental
and Public Protection Cabinet, said Gov.
Ernie Fletcher has decided the state will conduct a public hearing
on the application to import the sludge before a permit is granted,
if the plan passes technical approval. Magistrate Karol Welch said,
"If it starts, we can't stop it." Welch told the newspaper
more than 1,000 people signed petitions calling on Fletcher to require
a hearing. The application led to an outcry from people who live
near the mine site near Nortonville. Residents fear the sludge would
cause unpleasant odors, draw swarms of flies and possibly hurt water
quality.
Charles W. Martin, manager of Bioreclamation
LLC of Wickliffe, the company that filed the sludge application,
did not return a phone message left at his office by Malone seeking
comment on the Fiscal Court's action. In its application last month
with the state Division of Waste Management, Bioreclamation
proposed bringing in 3,000 tons of sewage sludge a week from Nashville
to a reclaimed strip mine owned by Don Bowles of Madisonville.
Tom FitzGerald, who drafted the ordinance for the
county, said it would prohibit composting sludge in unlined earthen
trenches, which is what Bioreclamation proposes to do. Under the
application, sludge would be placed under a layer of dirt in unlined
trenches at the strip mine and allowed to decompose without air
for about four months. It later would be mixed with power plant
ash and applied as a soil additive to reclaimed strip mines.
West Virginia water-quality
board opposes weaker pollution rules
As West Virginia lawmakers appear poised to strip
the state Environmental Quality Board of its rulemaking
authority, board members have taken one last shot at opposing efforts
to weaken the state’s water-pollution rules. They have refused
to endorse a legislative-ordered elimination of a statewide water
quality limit for the toxic metal manganese, writes
Ken Ward Jr. of The Charleston Gazette.
The change was sought by coal-industry lobbyists and
added to a bill last year that made several other industry-backed
changes to state water rules, Ward writes. Ed Snyder, a Shepherd
University scientist and chairman of the board, told him,
“I see this as being an issue that, as a board, we would be
unwise to endorse.” In ordering the manganese change, lawmakers
added to growing tension between themselves and the board members.The
move helped set up — for the third year in a row — a
battle over industry efforts to move water rulemaking duties from
the board to the state Department of Environmental Protection,
he writes.
South Carolina polluters could face grand jury; proposal
cracks down on offenders
Companies and their employees who intentionally harm
the environment could face state grand jury investigations under
legislation that has cleared the South Carolina Senate.
The legislation, seen as a key tool for the attorney
general’s office in prosecuting environmental crimes, has
gotten final Senate approval. The House is considering similar legislation,
writes
Jim Davenport of The State. Companies would have
to cause more than $1 million in damages before the state grand
jury could investigate, he writes for the Columbia newspaper. Sen.
Jake Knotts, R-Lexington, said the bill will “protect the
state from those people who intentionally violate the state’s
laws.” Sen. Dick Elliott, D-Horry, spoke against the bill
but won changes that clarified how it would work. It still has a
shortcoming, Elliott said, because the definition of what might
be an environmental crime is too broad. For instance, he said, there’s
no clear definition on wetlands..
Under the bill, the state Department of Health
and Environmental Control would investigate how companies
are following the state's environmental laws. If they have evidence
of intentional violations, and an independent estimate showing that
damage or cleanup costs could be $1 million or more, the DHEC would
call on the state Law Enforcement Division and the attorney general's
office. The attorney general would refer cases for grand-jury investigation.
Companies would be protected from simultaneous state and federal
prosecution. Knotts told Davenport the legislation is not to harrass
companies, but is “solely for those people who are intentionally,
knowingly or willfully violating the environmental laws.”
AGRICULTURE NEW AND OLD
Getting plucked: Chicken farming
resembles sharecropping, Texas Observer says
Chicken farmer Barry Townsend woke up and took his
wife’s 38-caliber revolver to Sanderson Farms. There, he shot
and killed manager Kevin Crook, injured manager Larry Ryals and
then put the gun in his mouth and killed himself.
Why, at age 46, would Townsend do that? A rumor in
New Waverly, Tex., is that Townsend was a victim of modern-day sharecropping
and indentured servitude, writes
Dave Mann of The Texas Observer. He talked to 11
current and former growers whose contracts with Sanderson Farms
required them to borrow $400,000 or more to build chicken houses.
Contractors often put up land as collateral, and with their land
at stake, they are totally under the company’s control, Mann
writes. He says Sanderson Farms declined to comment.
The contractors described low pay, long hours, financial
manipulation and health problems that some blamed on additives in
the company’s chicken feed. Sanderson Farms advertises its
chicken as “all natural,” but some groups are challenging
that, Mann reports. Susan Martin, a former contract egg grower for
the company, says its feed has traces of arsenic. Sanderson has
acknowledged that arsenic is part of Roxarsone, a drug approved
by the Food and Drug Administration to spur growth
and kill bacteria. Scientists have questioned whether arsenic in
chicken feed can make its way into the meat, but so far data remains
inconclusive, the Observer reports.
Barn restoration popular in Maine; residents try
to preserve ‘rural heritage’
Some homes in Saco, Me., are looking a little different
than the average Midwesterner would expect. Instead of terraced
windows there are high lofts, and curved roofs replace some of the
slanted, triangular house tops.
No, it’s not a revolution in architecture. It’s
the result of a growing movement, which began in the 1990s, in Maine
to restore historic barns. Newcomers bought up homes with empty
barns and “turned farm country into suburbs,” reports
The Associated Press. A historian with the Maine
Historic Preservation Commission, Christi Mitchell, said
awareness of barn restoration has grown in the past 10 years. ''Barns
are one of the most important markers we can use to look at our
rural heritage," she said.
There’s no state money to support the cause,
but the Legislature is considering several bills that would create
a grant program for barn restoration projects, AP writes. Jim Leary,
75, is one resident pleased with the move. He owns Saco’s
last operating dairy farm, and he’s seen lots of barns raised
in his lifetime. ''Something about barns, especially old post and
beam ones that were hewn out by hand, there is a spirit of cooperation
about them,” he said.
LEGISLATIVE SESSIONS ENDING
Georgia legislators approve
smoking ban before adjourning; will Minnesota follow?
The Georgia General Assembly has wrapped up its 2005
legislative session by voting to, among many other things, restrict
where people can smoke in a state where tobacco has long been grown.
The legislature gave final approval to a smoking ban
bill that prohibits lighting up in many eateries. It exempts bars
and restaurants that don't employ minors. Smoking also would be
allowed in lounges at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International
Airport and at some small businesses, write
Jim Tharpe and Nancy Badertscher of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Sen. Don Thomas (R-Dalton), a physician who sponsored the bill,
told the newspaper, "It'll save thousands of lives."
Minnesota's state legislature is also considering
a statewide smoking ban in restaurants. A House committee rejected
a measure earlier, but backers in the Senate are still pushing to
revive the issue this year, reports
the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Supporters may try
to attach it to healt care-related measures on the House floor,
said Rep. Ron Latz and Rep. Doug Meslow. Chief sponsor Sen. Scott
Dibble told reporters there is about a 50 percent chance of statewide
ban passing if it were put to a full Senate vote. The state's two
biggest counties have already passed smoking bans.
Georgia lawmakers pass voter
photo ID law; critics say hurts poor, old, rural residents
The Georgia legislature has approved what election
officials called the strictest measure in the country for screening
voters, requiring one of six forms of government-issued photo identification
at the polls.
Supporters said they were trying to prevent fraud
and breed confidence in election results. But Democrats accused
the legislature's Republican majority of trying to screen out poor,
rural and minority voters, who they said were less likely to have
such identification and less likely to vote Republican, writes
Ariel Hart of The New York Times.
Gov. Sonny Perdue, a Republican, will review the bill
before deciding whether to sign it, said his press secretary, Heather
Hedrick, but in general he "believes that voting is at least
as important as seeing an R-rated movie," for which she said
photo identification was also required, writes Hart.
Georgia voters are now allowed to present any of 17
forms of identification, most of them, including bank statements
and utility bills, bearing no photos. Seven other states request
photo identification, but all offer an alternative, according to
the Georgia secretary of state's office, she writes.
Shootout coming in Nebraska legislature: Panel approves
concealed-weapons measure
Nebraska lawmakers may have to hunker down for a gunfight,
at least figuratively, following the legislative Revenue Committee's
approval of a proposal to legalize carrying concealed weapons in
the state.
“The bill, introduced by State Sen. Jeanne Combs
of Friend, would allow Nebraskans to carry concealed handguns if
they obtained training and a permit and passed a background check,”
writes
Leslie Reed of the Omaha World-Herald. Carrying
concealed weapons has been a contentious issue before the Legislature
for a number of years. Combs told the newspaper Nebraska is now
one of only four states that do not allow concealed carry. Despite
a history of avoiding the issue, Combs believes this is the year
for a concealed weapons bill to pass.
As amended, the proposal would give the Nebraska
State Patrol authority to issue the permits. Supporters
say that would result in more consistent standards for issuing the
permits and improved public safety. But, State Sen. Ernie Chambers
of Omaha vowed another tough battle on the floor of the one-chamber
Legislature. "I will not be the only one opposing it. It's
going to be a hard battle for them."
Supporters say a decision on when the concealed-carry
measure might reach the legislative floor for debate is up to Speaker
of the Legislature Kermit Brashear and they hope the measure can
be debated before the state budget is forwarded to the full Legislature
for action later this month. Combs told Reed she hopes to have the
two-thirds majority needed to pass the bill over a filibuster by
opponents. Combs is a former crime victim who owns a handgun. She
asked rhetorically, "What's 911? 911 is what you call after
the fact to pick up the pieces."
West Virginia Legislature may
help local governments with jail costs
Legislation to split the cost of regional jails among
state, counties and municipalities has apparently died in the West
Virginia Legislature, but other measures aimed at saving counties
money on the jails remain alive.
Bills in the Legislature had to pass their house of
origin by mid-week to stay alive. The session ends April 9, writes
Scott Wartman of The Herald-Dispatch. Lawmakers
had introduced a flurry of bills targeting the large cost the regional
jails impose on the state’s counties, writes Wartman for the
Huntington newspaper.
The Legislature drafted bills to either split the
$48.50 per prisoner per day cost, currently paid by counties, or
make the court system more efficient and therefore reduce the amount
of time prisoners spend in jail. But, bills to divide the costs
of the regional jail between the different governments didn’t
garner much support.
One would have made the state responsible for 50 percent
of the cost of housing prisoners and the municipality responsible
for 10 percent if the crime is committed in the municipality. Others
to make the arresting agency, either state, county or municipal
police. pay for the first night’s incarceration also failed
to get approval from either house. Del. Jim Morgan, D-Cabell, told
the newspaper the state or municipalities don’t have the money.
He told Wartman, "I think a lot of those bills were for show
than for real. To suggest the municipalities can just come and pick
up a share of the cost when there is no money is not real sound."
Other bills to help reduce the costs and number of
prisoners still stand a chance of passage. The Senate passed two
bills that would require bond reviews for defendants after each
term of the grand jury where the state would have to show a judge
why the prisoners should not be released on bond while awaiting
trial. Another bill passed by the Senate allows magistrates to order
home confinement to keep people out of the jails. The Senate also
passed a bill to add $30 court fees for criminal cases and $20 for
civil cases to go into a fund to help counties pay for the jail.
Regional Jail officials have estimated this could reduce jail costs
for counties by 10 to 15 percent.
RURAL ROADS
Feds reviewing Kentucky road-construction
change orders that raise costs
The U.S. Department of Transportation
is investigating how change orders are used at the Kentucky
Transportation Cabinet to raise the cost of road projects,
sometimes by millions of dollars. Until a recent change by the administration
of Gov. Ernie Fletcher, changes could be made by officials in the
field, without approval from their supervisors in the state capital.
Kentucky continues to undertake much road construction in rural
areas.
The federal DOT's Office of Inspector General
first called the cabinet last year, after the cabinet ordered its
own inspector general, Bobby Russell, to resign. Russell had submitted
a report that specifically criticized change orders approved for
some of the state's most prominent road builders, writes
John Cheves of the Lexington Herald-Leader.
For five months, the Transportation Cabinet has refused
to release Russell's report, calling it an early draft that needs
more work. But, state Highway Commissioner Marc Williams told the
newspaper the cabinet's new inspector general is sharing the report
and other records with investigators from the federal DOT's regional
office in Chicago.
Officials in the federal DOT's Office of Inspector
General said they have the authority to look for waste, fraud or
abuse in state projects involving federal highway money, but declined
to discuss specifics of the case, writes Cheves. The cabinet's new
inspector general, David Ray, declined to discuss meetings with
federal investigators. Ray also would not say how his predecessor's
report on change orders is being altered, or when it will be finished.
State Auditor Crit Luallen recently released a report
on use of federal funds at many state agencies, including a section
urging more scrutiny of change orders at the Transportation Cabinet.
Yesterday, Luallen said her auditors ran into investigators with
the federal DOT in February at the cabinet's Frankfort headquarters.
For several weeks, her auditors shared meetings and compared notes
on change orders with the federal investigators and the cabinet's
inspector general. Luallen told the newspaper, "Obviously,
there is interest in this issue from several different fronts. The
federal highway officials at this point have the lead."
THE RURAL CALENDAR
Today is deadline to sign up
for April 9 Mammoth Cave wildflower hike
Saturday, April 9, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., the Kentucky
Association for Environmental Education is hosting a day of hiking
and enjoying the wildflowers of Mammoth Cave National Park. The
group says its "reasonable" registration fee includes
breakfast, lunch, and a copy of the field guide Wildflowers
of Mammoth Cave National Park. For more information
contact KAEE President Julie Gee at julie.gee@wku.edu.
Volunteers sought to test Kentucky
River water quality; training sessions planned
Volunteers are needed to test the quality of water
in the Kentucky River and the streams that feed into it. The Kentucky
River Watershed Watch will train testers in five workshops
beginning Sunday. There is no charge, but part of the training will
be in a stream, so volunteers should dress to get wet, reports
the Lexington Herald-Leader.
The schedule is: noon to 5 p.m. Sunday, Midway
College, Midway; 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. April 9, Centre
College, Danville; 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. April 16, Douthitt
Park, Jackson; 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. April 30, Meadowbrook
Farm, Richmond; and noon to 5 p.m. Aug. 30, Hall's
on the River, Winchester. For more information,
or to register, click here,
or call (859) 846-4905.
Permission to reprint items from The Rural Blog is hereby granted, on the
condition that clear credit is given to the original source of the
material. If the blog provides information
for a story, please ket us know by sending an e-mail to al.cross@uky.edu.
The Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues helps non-metropolitan media define the public agenda in their communities,
through strong reporting and commentary on local issues and on broader
issues that have local impact. Its initial focus area is Central
Appalachia, but as an arm of the University of Kentucky it has a
statewide mission, and it has national scope. Cooperating institutions
include Appalachian State University, East Tennessee State University,
Eastern Kentucky University, Marshall University, the University
of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, the University of Tennessee-Knoxville
and West Virginia University. To get notices of Rural Blog postings and
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