Monday, July 31, 2006

Small Newspaper Group wins another prize for teacher-tenure series

Scott Reeder, the Illinois state capital reporter for the Small Newspaper Group, has won a fifth major award for a series on "The Hidden Costs of Tenure" for teachers in Illinois public schools.

Reeder's latest prize is the Clark Mollenhoff Award for Excellence in Investigative Reporting, sponsored by the Institute on Political Journalism, part of the Fund for American Studies, a Washington-based educational foundation that advocates democracy and free markets, and co-administered by Georgetown University. It carries a $10,000 cash prize, and it advises judges, "Since there is only one annual award, a light thumb on the scale should be awarded to smaller publications that produce strong investigative entries despite limited resources."

Reeder's employer has this image of him and the Illinois Capitol on its Web site. The company's name reflects both its family ownership and the size of its seven daily newspapers, five of them in Illinois -- The Dispatch of Moline (circulation 32,000); The Daily Journal of Kankakee, home of the company headquarters (28,000); The Rock Island Argus (13,000), The Daily Times of Ottawa (11,650) and the Times-Press of nearby Streator (9,000) -- plus the Herald-Argus of LaPorte, Ind. (12,000) and the Post-Bulletin of Rochester, Minn. (44,000). The chain also has weeklies and two reporters in Washington, D.C., where it has had a bureau since 1978.

Reeder's six-month investigation relied on more than 1,500 Freedom of Information Act requests with almost 900 government entities, with which he followed up to get a response rate of 100 percent. He found that "of an estimated 95,500 tenured educators in Illinois, only two on average are fired each year for poor job performance. ... Reeder faced obstacles from an entrenched school-system bureaucracy and powerful teachers' unions," reports Illinois PressLines, the newspaper of the Illinois Press Association.

Reeder beat out the Copley News Service investigation that led to the bribery conviction of California congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham and a New York Daily News probe of wasted 9/11 relief. Reeder's project was "a testament to the power of open records," said Investigative Reporters and Editors, which gave him its Freedom of Information Reporting Award this year. It also netted a finalist slot for the Selden Ring Award for investigative reporting, a special citation from the Education Writers Association and a Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism. To read the series, click here.

Horse-slaughter ban to reach House; limited to New York, Kentucky

The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote for the first time on a permanent ban of slaughtering horses for human consumption in early September.

"The House Agriculture Committee last week added some amendments that change the measure's intent, such as a requirement that the Department of Agriculture pay horse owners for the cost of euthanizing their animals if slaughter is no longer legal. The panel also limited the ban to Kentucky and New York, the home states of the principal sponsors of the bill, Republican Reps. Ed Whitfield of Kentucky and John Sweeney" of New York, writes James R. Carroll of The Courier-Journal. (Read more)

Of the 435 House members, 201 have co-sponsored the bill, but the committee voted overwhelmingly to send the bill to the full House with an unusual recommendation that it not pass.

Al Tompkins of the Poynter Institute has joined The Rural Blog in trying to get people up to speed on this issue, and he provides the following links in his Morning Meeting column: The National Horse Protection Coalition, anti-horse slaughter Web sites and the Department of Agriculture's March 2002 "Report to Congress on Humane Handling and Slaughter Enforcement Activities."

Evangelical pastor draws political line, loses some followers, pleases most

Evangelical Rev. Gregory A. Boyd got fed up over requests to bless conservative political candidates and causes, so he treated the congregation in Maplewood, Minn., to sermons called “The Cross and the Sword” with calls to steer clear of politics in church and give up moralizing on sexual issues.

"Boyd says he is no liberal. He is opposed to abortion and thinks homosexuality is not God’s ideal. The response from his congregation at Woodland Hills Church here in suburban St. Paul — packed mostly with politically and theologically conservative, middle-class evangelicals — was passionate. Some members walked out of a sermon and never returned. By the time the dust had settled, Woodland Hills, which Mr. Boyd founded in 1992, had lost about 1,000 of its 5,000 members," writes Laurie Goodstein of The New York Times.

Woodland Hills is a prime example of the ongoing debates in some evangelical colleges, magazines and churches about the Christian message being compromised by attempts to tie evangelical Christianity with the Republican Party, reports Goodstein. When Boyd arranged a forum on a recent Wednesday night, some church members submitted questions that sum up key issues in the religion-politics connection: Isn’t abortion evil? Should Christians join the military? Didn’t the church play a role in the civil rights movement? (Read more) To read Boyd's sermons, click here.

Lawsuits aim to peel back religious influence in rural Delaware schools

Facing lawsuits challenging the pervasiveness of religion in schools, the Indian River School District in Delaware has revises its policies regarding prayers at commencement and baccalaureate services in the district, reports James Diehl of the Sussex Post.

The New York Times reported on the suit and another over the weekend, saying, "The dispute here underscores the rising tensions over religion in public schools. ... More religion probably exists in schools now than in decades because of the role religious conservatives play in politics and the passage of certain education laws over the last 25 years, including the Equal Access Act in 1984, said Charles C. Haynes, senior scholar at the First Amendment Center, a research and education group."

Neela Banerjee's story in the Times focused on Mona Dobrich and her daughter, Samantha, who started their effort to change religious influence in Delaware's public schools after a minister proclaimed Jesus as the sole path to the truth during Samantha’s high school graduation in June 2004. The school board revised its policy to specify who is responsible for selecting graduation speakers and regulating speech content. As long as students are not coerced, then they are allowed to speak, Diehl reports. (Read more)

The "Does," an anonymous family in the district 40 miles south of Dover, have joined the suit, which alleges students received special privileges for being in Bible club, Bibles were distributed in 2003 at an elementary school, Christian prayer occurred on a routine basis and teachers evangelized. Banerjee describes a community where a shift toward liberal values is occurring: "Inland, in the area of Georgetown [population 4,643], the county seat, the land is still a lush patchwork of corn and soybean fields, with a few poultry plants. But developers are turning more fields into tracts of rambling homes."

Meanwhile, a Muslim family in another school district in Sussex County has filed suit, saying students are being moved to concert to Christianity and that their daughters are harassed. (Read more)

Glacier retreat poses problems for rural areas relying on water source

Mountain glaciers are melting at an alarming rate across the world thanks to global warming, and rural America could witness the disappearance of water used for growing crops and generating electricity.

"The dramatic rise in carbon dioxide that has accompanied the industrial age has brought a spike in global temperatures. Scientists have found that the jump in temperatures is even greater in the upper atmosphere, where the glaciers reign on silent mountain peaks. Glaciers store an estimated 70 percent of the world's fresh water. Water that falls as snow moves through the slowly churning ice and may emerge from the glacier's edge thousands of years later as meltwater. Humans have long depended on the gradual and faithful runoff," writes Doug Struck of The Washington Post.

Politicians in many countries are showing signs of waking up to the problem of global warming, reports Struck, because of the increased awareness about water problems posed by growing populations, more agricultural development and water sources being contaminated by mines. ""When the glaciers are gone, they are gone," Tim Barnett, a climate scientist with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego, told Struck. "There's no way to replace it until the next ice age." (Read more)

Massey, an often controversial coal firm, watches profit, shares plummet

Coal mining giant Massey Energy hit rock bottom with a 91 percent drop in profit during the second quarter of this year, causing an 11 percent drop in company shares and putting its future in question.

Securities analysts are now saying Massey should consider selling the company or replacing its management. "The Richmond, Virginia-based company blamed its poor financial performance on rising costs and lost production at the Aracoma Alma No. 1 Mine, the scene of a fatal fire in January. While Aracoma resumed production July 19th, Massey plans to cut costs by idling four other underground mining sections and shutting down a longwall operation in mid-August. Massey says it's also cutting staff and new miner training at some mines," reports The Associated Press. (Read more)

Friday, July 28, 2006

Without federal program, big tobacco growers boom, small ones fade

"Domestic tobacco production was not supposed to flourish in the absence of a quota system," part of the federal tobacco program that was repealed almost two years ago, wrote Joe Parrino in the Kentucky New Era of Hopkinsville. "Growers lacked the guarantee of a decent price and lost any leverage on tobacco companies, the critics said. . . . The naysayers were half-right. Plenty of Kentucky producers have quit or are on their way out of the business. But there are many midsize to large growers in Pennyrile region, that are discovering an unprecedented business opportunity."

Parrino's story focuses on Jeff Davis, who is raising 205 acres of tobacco, 108 in a single field -- “the biggest single tobacco plot I’ve ever seen,” University of Kentucky extension agent Gary Palmer (at left in above photo, with local extension agent Jay Stone; photo by Danny Vowell), who is helping Davis with a cultivation experiment, told Parrino. Davis hopes his acreage will produce 600,000 pounds.

"Under the federal tobacco program, Davis was limited to as little as 12,000 pounds of burley on his own land. He could lease quota from other farmers. But that cut deeply into profits," Parrino wrote. Without the burden of leasing costs, which were reported as high as 90 cents a pounds contracts, "Davis can still manage a decent profit . . . even with prices dropping down from more than $2 per pound to $1.30 per pound or less," without the price supports that were the other major part of the federal program. The end of the program was accompanied by a buyout -- payments to farmers for their quotas. “The buyout gave me the opportunity to farm it,” Davis told Parrino.

But the story can be much different for smaller growers like Todd Long, who moved to the area from Lancaster, Pa., in 1991. "About 2001, quota restrictions began to tighten. After several years, Long was allowed just 2.5 acres to grow his burley. Quota leasing was not a profitable option. He sold his farm in 2004 and invested in real estate instead," Parrino writes, quoting Long: “The small-time farmer is done for. There was a time when you could see a light at the end of the tunnel. But that is diminishing.” (Read more)

As the number of farmers declines, so does tobacco's political clout. In the same edition, the New Era called for a ban on smoking in publicly owned buildings in Christian County, long one of the state's leading tobacco producers, and sad city officials in Hopkinsville are contemplating such a ban. (Read more)

No Child Left Behind joins 'what works,' 'whatever works,' expert says

"The No Child Left Behind Act is the result of an uncomfortable truce between two groups of school reformers: the 'what works' camp and the 'whatever works' camp," writes Michael J. Petrilli, who was associate assistant deputy secretary of education for innovation and improvement in the first Bush administration.

What-works advocates have made their mark in the "highly qualified teachers" mandate. "Most studies linking subject-matter knowledge to teacher effectiveness have examined math or science at the secondary level; their applicability to elementary school, much less to subjects such as art, geography, or economics, is unknown," he notes in Education Week.

A different world view presented in this commentary is the "classic management model of 'tight-loose': Be tight about the results you expect, but loose as to the means. Put differently, the whatever-works camp combines accountability for student learning with flexibility around everything else." With No Child Left Behind's demand for increased accountability, the government decided to relax the rules regarding the use of Title I funds. That money is given to schools with high percentages of students from low-income families.

"On the one hand, the federal government is saying to do whatever works to boost student learning, and on the other hand it’s saying to do things in a certain prescribed, preapproved way. The result is frustration and anger. Imagine a poor, rural Title I school that is doing whatever works to get great results. In this case, it hires a former engineer from the local coal mine to teach 8th grade mathematics. She’s a natural, and her students’ test scores go through the roof. But because she didn’t major in math, she’s not considered 'highly qualified,'" Petrilli concludes. (Read more)

Seven Kentucky coal miners lose certification under new drug test law

In the 16 days since a Kentucky mine safety law took effect, seven coal miners have had their mining certificates suspended permanently for refusing or failing a drug test.

"Under the law, miners must pass a drug test to be certified in the state, and can also be subject to random testing," writes James R. Carroll of The Courier-Journal. "The law also gives the state the authority to conduct its own drug tests after an accident. The law took effect, along with a number of other mine safety provisions, on July 12."

The new law sprung out of the June 13, 2003, explosion at Cody Mining's No. 1 mine in Floyd County, where the lone miner killed tested positive for hydrocodone, a powerful painkiller, according to the coroner's toxicology report, notes Carroll. (Read more)

Stray animal complaints keep police busy in rural Tennessee counties

Officials in rural counties around Nashville, Tenn., are finding it difficult to handle increasing complaints about stray animals, citing a rise in negligence and malnutrition cases.

"Rural counties often don't have animal control shelters or officers, leaving law enforcement to deal with complaints about pets and livestock even though officers often don't have the right training or equipment," reports The Associated Press. In Lincoln County, Sheriff Jimmy Mullins said county commissioners are reluctant to confront the dog and livestock problems.

In many cases, problems arise after people decide to abandon their pets in rural areas, Vicky Crosetti, executive director of the Humane Society of the Tennessee Valley, told AP. (Read more)

Kentucky man ordered to remove cockfighting 'arena,' give up $430,000

A Kentucky man who hosted an illegal cockfight in April 2005 is being ordered to dismantle the operation and give up the nearly $430,000 that state police seized during a raid that received national attention.

Marvin Watkins of Montgomery County"built an elaborate 700-seat arena, complete with stadium seats, souvenirs and a cafeteria, on his Jeffersonville farm in 1992," writes Emily Yahr of the Lexington Herald-Leader. The 500-plus people present for the 2005 event hailed from several states, and a judge dropped animal cruelty charges filed against most of them because of confusiong state laws. (Read more)

The Rural Blog included an item about this raid on April 19, 2005. Click here for the archived item.

Texas food bank finds increased calls for help among rural residents

Rising gas and utility prices have created a 25 percent increase in the amount of food and other assistance being provided to 21 counties served by the Capital Area Food Bank in Austin, Tex.

"The food bank said that extra food and other supplies will help some 6,000 additional families. Last year, the food bank distributed more than 14 million pounds of food to those in need. The most requested items include canned meats like tuna, stew and chili (pop-tops preferred); canned green beans, canned corn and other canned vegetables; pasta and pasta sauce, pinto beans, rice, healthy cereal, peanut butter, baby food and baby formula," reports News 8 Austin. (Read more)

Reporters get low starting pay, newsroom raises small, survey finds

New reporters at daily newspapers typically earn less than $30,000 their first year, according to the annual industry survey on salaries and compensation produced by the Inland Press Association.

"The 2006 Newspaper Industry Compensation Survey found that the average entry-level salary last year for the 521 dailies participating in the study is up 17.3% from 2001, but is still a humble $29,048, or 558.62 a week. They'd be better off moving to the classified department, where the average salary for an inside sales rep last year was $36,077. Sports editors were paid an average salary of $52,632 last year, up about 15.5% from five years ago," writes Mark Fitzgerald of Editor & Publisher.

Newsroom raises averaged 2.1 percent between 2004 and 2005, which is less than last year's U.S. inflation rate of 3.4 percent. Average raises for specific positions included: 1.5 percent for beginning copy editors; 1.4 percent for experienced copy editors; 2.6 percent for experienced reporters; and 2.5 percent for photo directors, reports Fitzgerald. The survey was co-sponsored by the Newspaper Association of America, International Newspaper Financial Executives, and the New England Newspaper Association. (Read more)

Teen content helps newspapers retain readers as they age, study finds

The Newspaper Association of America Foundation reports that content impacts "a newspaper's ability to attract young adult readers and keep them as they age. According to the study of more than 1,600 18- to 24-year-olds, 75 percent of respondents who said they read newspaper content aimed at teens when they were 13 to 17 years old now read their local paper at least once a week, compared with 44 percent of those who said they did not read teen content," according to a press release the National Newspaper Association circulated to its members.

The NAA Foundation estimates that 220 newspapers include teen pages or sections usually written by teens, and similar content is provided by the syndicated services that go out to 800 newspapers. Minneapolis-based MORI Research conducted the study, "Lifelong Readers: The Role of Youth Content," and reported that 30 percent of young adults credited teen content for drawing them to newspapers in the first place. (Read more)

Thursday, July 27, 2006

Crime invades U.S. forest land; assaults, meth labs threaten park rangers

Threats and assaults against U.S. Forest Service rangers continue to rise as part of a phenomenon where urban crime is penetrating the once calm public land that surrounds several growing cities in the West.

"Nationwide, there were more attacks and altercations involving forest rangers last year — 477, compared with 34 a decade ago — than any other year, according to government figures released last month by a public employee advocacy group. As the 193 million acres of national forest become increasingly popular playgrounds, there are more clashes with the small cadre of forest rangers who work as law enforcement officers, the figures showed," writes Timothy Egan of The New York Times.

“There’s been a huge increase in the number of incidents, in large part because what had once been urban problems are now happening deep in the backwoods,” Jeff Ruch, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, a nonprofit group representing about 10,000 people who work on public lands, told Egan. Budget cuts and re-assignments have slashed the number of rangers with police power from 980-plus down to 550 in the last decade.

The bigger picture, according to many rangers, is that cities such as Reno, Denver, Phoenix, and Tucson are growing quicker than the national average, and the increased level of crime is spilling over into public lands. Not only are people opting to use the land for parties and dirt-bike playgrounds, but methamphetamine laboratories are becoming a problem. "In the last four years, rangers made 1,600 felony drug arrests and seized 759 methamphetamine laboratories in national forests, government records show," writes Egan. (Read more)

Government response to Freedom of Information Act slows, study finds

Requests filed under the Freedom of Information Act are being held over year to year at a rate 43 percent higher than in 2002, according to Government Accountability Office figures released Wednesday, and two journalism organizations want action Congress to do something about the problem.

"The increase in holdover requests was 24 percent from 2004 to 2005, compared with 11 percent from 2003 to 2004. The GAO found the median — or midpoint — time for processing requests varied greatly among agencies: from less than 10 days to more than 100 days," reports The Associated Press. "The House Government Reform subcommittee on government management held its second hearing on the ability of federal agencies to follow the Freedom of Information Act — which is 40 years old this month.

Tonda Rush, representing the National Newspaper Association and The Sunshine in Government Initiative, a coalition, said the open records law "has become less reliable, less effective and a less timely vehicle for informing the public of government activities and newsworthy stories." The association represents 2,500 community newspapers and the Sunshine Initiative consists of nine news organizations aimed at lobbying for open-records legislation and educating the public about the First Amendment.

Rush said the organizations want Congress to provide the following: alternatives to litigation to resolve open-records disputes; incentives for agencies to speed responses; and excessive court costs in cases of unwarranted denials, reports AP. (Read more)

Ohio Supreme Court: Economic gain does not justify eminent domain

Ohio's Supreme Court axed a developer's use of eminent domain on Wednesday with new requirements for seizing private property, in the first state supreme court decision following the U.S. Supreme Court ruling last July that local governments could claim private property and turn it over to developers.

"The state Supreme Court ruled unanimously that cities cannot take private property solely for the purpose of economic development," writes James Nash of The Columbus Dispatch. "Local governments across the country have long used eminent domain to override private-property rights in the interest of a broader public good, such as a highway, airport or even a shopping mall."

The Ohio case involved a developer in the Cincinnati suburb of Norwood who wanted to remove three homes for a proposed office, condominium and retail complex. The court said the city abused its discretion by calling the area deteriorating and forcing homeowners out. The court also said cities must now show that a private project serves a greater good than economic enrichment, notes Nash.

"The decision will ripple across the state. Private-property advocates said it will protect homeowners, farmers, churches and businesses from governments taking their property to benefit private developers. Supporters of Norwood’s position, however, said the ruling will stifle attempts to rehabilitate aging city centers and suburbs and will push development into rural areas," reports Nash. (Read more)

County fairs stay true to rural roots, draw folks despite urbanization

County fairs continue to thrive throughout rural America, with many places such as Hendricks County, Indiana, building multi-million dollar fairgrounds. The fairs face one challenge: Keeping the agricultural emphasis intact, while embracing modern technology.

A look at the schedule of events for most fairs shows a movement beyond the traditional farm animal shows and different age beauty pageants. There are more games and rides for fair goers not interested in agriculture, and it is all part of an attempt to attract a wider audience and keep them coming back, reports Rebecca Neal of the Indianapolis Star.

Neal mentions a "national fair report" that lends credence to the idea that county fairs will survive, especially in counties with a long agriculture tradition. Max Willis of the International Association of Fairs and Expositions told her, "To keep the American traditional fair, you have to offer programming relating to agriculture; people today want to see that." (Read more)

Agri-tourism catches on with farmers in rural Virginia; sites offer help

Farming's agri-tourism push is well documented by the media as a means for the industry to bring in extra dollars, and The Roanoke Times provides a good local look at the trend.

By adding "agricultural tourism to the county's recently drafted comprehensive plan, officials are hoping to encourage county farmers to pursue ventures that draw the public to their farms. The comprehensive plan provides long-term guidelines for shaping the county's growth. The goal is not only to bolster tourism in Franklin County but to help farmers stay in business and preserve farmland," writes Megan Watzin.

Since milk prices are down and crops are not bringing in much profit, places like Homestead Creamery is marketing itself as one example of agritourism. The creamery hosts school field trips during its busiest months, and the added revenue helps the operating family stay afloat, reports Watzin. Other farms are offering pumpkin patches, hayrides and corn mazes, wineries, and pick-your-own orchards. (Read more)

Several Web sites exist for people wanting more information on agritourism. Agritourism World is an Internet directory aimed at helping tourists find such farms. AgriTour Solutions works with farmers interested in developing tourism opportunities.

Telemedicine helps treat autism, mental illness in rural Louisiana

St. Mary's Residential Training Facility in Alexandria, La., and the Tulane University Health Sciences Center are teaming up in a telemedicine effort to reduce health care access issues in the state's rural areas.

Patricia Starling, community developer for Health Systems Development for Central Louisiana, said mental health issues are increasing in the aftermath of last year's hurricanes, and rural areas are unable to provide the care needed. The telemedicine effort uses software that allows up to 12 people to share two-way video access on the Internet, reports Bill Sumrall of The Town Talk in Alexandria-Pineville, La.

Patients at St. Mary's are not just receiving telemedical treatment from doctors in nearby New Orleans, but are instead getting care from as far away as San Diego, Calif. For instance, several autistic children are undergoing applied behavioral training with help from a doctor in San Diego, writes Sumrall. (Read more)

Columnist's mother lives on, or so creditors claim to collect debts

"My mother allegedly died on April 2. I say allegedly because a collector representing MBNA said he talked to her on June 21. Until I saw a letter from Dale Lamb, I felt pretty certain my mother was dead. I viewed her lifeless body at the hospital. A funeral director I have known since the second grade gave me an urn that supposedly contained her ashes. I have a death certificate from the state of Kentucky," writes Don McNay, "the business columnist with a rock-and-roll attitude."

McNay writes that despite the overwhelming evidence of his mother's death, "Lamb claims to have talked to her on June 21. You can find a copy of the letter from Lamb and my mother's death certificate at www.donmcnay.com. Thanks to MBNA and their collector -- the ironically named, True Logic Financial Corp. -- mom is now in a category with Elvis Presley, Kurt Cobain and Jim Morrison. She has been deemed alive despite tremendous evidence to the contrary."

"The story about my mom and MBNA is an example of why credit card companies need more regulation. I was named administrator of mom's estate after she supposedly died. I then received a letter from a company called Mann Bracken, saying MBNA had obtained an arbitration award against mom. No one in my family knew anything about a debt to MBNA or had seen notice of an arbitration hearing," continues McNay, who hired an attorney to look into the matter.

"Instead of responding to my attorney, MBNA shifted the alleged debt to True Logic. The True Logic people didn't claim that MBNA actually had an arbitration award -- only that they might get one. Taking MBNA and True Logic at their word, I'm curious as to what mom said to Mr. Lamb. I hope they have a tape recording. Mom was known to use salty language, and I'm sure Mr. Lamb would have heard some," McNay concludes. (Read more)

McNay's journalistic base is The Richmond (Ky.) Register, which announced yesterday that it will publish a bilingual column "to facilitate cross-cultural communication," Editor Jim Todd said. (Read more)

American Life in Poetry Web site offers papers weekly poetry service

American Life in Poetry is a weekly poetry service available for newspapers, and it's something readers might like. After all, poetry was once a staple of rural papers. This week's column by Ted Kooser, U. S. Poet Laureate 2004-2006, features the work of California poet Marsha Truman Cooper.

Cooper "perfectly captures the world of ironing, complete with its intimacy. At the end, doing a job to perfection, pressing the perfect edge, establishes a reassuring order to an otherwise mundane and slightly tawdry world," writes Kooser.

Ironing After Midnight, by Marsha Truman Cooper

Your mother called it
"doing the pressing,"
and you know now
how right she was.
There is something urgent here.
Not even the hiss
under each button
or the yellow business
ground in at the neck
can make one instant
of this work seem unimportant.
You've been taught
to turn the pocket corners
and pick out the dark lint
that collects there.
You're tempted to leave it,
but the old lessons
go deeper than habits.
Everyone else is asleep.
The odor of sweat rises
when you do
under the armpits,
the owner's particular smell
you can never quite wash out.
You'll stay up.
You'll have your way,
the final stroke
and sharpness
down the long sleeves,
a truly permanent edge.

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Kentucky weekly probes background, aftermath of prayer dispute

Adam Gibson writes for The Times Journal of Russell Springs, Ky.: "For a short time in May, because of two very different teenagers, this community was turned into a microcosm for the debate on the separation of church and state when a federal judge ruled to block prayer at the 2006 Russell County High School graduation." That's the lead of a story that is a good example of a rural, weekly newspaper delving deeper into a highly charged issue and revealing the lives and feelings of the main protagonists.

The story revealed that after Megan Chapman talked about her faith in God during a graduation speech, Rev. Jerry Falwell was so impressed that he offered Chapman and her twin sister Mandy a scholarship to his Liberty University. The picture is not so rosy for Derrick Ping, the student who got the American Civil Liberties Union to file a lawsuit blocking the traditional prayer at the commencement -- and who has since been subjected to verbal and physical harassment, reports Gibson.

Gibson chronicles how Ping's personal convictions, both before and during the graduation period, made him an outcast in Russell County, on the shores of Lake Cumberland: "Ping is a 19-year-old whose personal convictions run counter to his community's strong religious framework. When Ping decided to act on his own convictions he created a firestorm of controversy that both enraged and united a community."

Ping told Gibson his acknowledged lack of Christian faith caused him to be singled out and ridiculed by classmates throughout his schooling. Nevertheless, he found it important to speak out about officially sanctioned prayer before the graduation. "I was trying to take away a little power from the religious regime here. They've gone unchecked for a good while now and if I didn't speak out, nothing was going to happen," he said, adding that one of his middle-school science teacher once summarized the theories of evolution and the Big Bang in 30 seconds, then read from Genesis "for quite a while."

Chapman told Gibson that if a majority wants prayer, it should get it, and if someone wants to complain about it, they should not be surprised by the backlash. "I hate to say it, but I'm sorry, the minority doesn't win," she said. To read a PDF of the newspaper's front page, including the beginning of the story, click here. For the rest of the story, continued to an inside page, click here. For a one-page version, which has much lower resolution, click here.

Bill to ban horse slaughter gets hearing, support from Boone Pickens

A bill to halt horse slaughter in the U.S. for human consumption, mainly by Europeans and Japanese, came under fire Tuesday before a House committee.

"Opponents of the trade focused on the widespread revulsion to horse meat. Defenders argued that owners should have the right to dispose of animals as they see fit," writes Todd Gillman of the Dallas Morning News, reporting on the Energy and Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection. One of the horsemeat plants, owned by Belgians, is in Fort Worth.

Both sides agreed that current methods of handling thousands of unwanted horses pose problems and that horses should receive humane treatment. But they differ on definitions of humane treatment, with opponents of horse slaughter saying "the bill would end cruel transportation and killing methods now in practice despite government regulations" and supporters saying slaughter is more humane than letting horses starve, writes Janet Patton of the Lexington Herald-Leader. (Read more)

Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens was among those testifying for the bill. "Texas has a dirty secret that should shame all of us," he said. "This is a black eye on our state and our nation that demands action." Click here for a video interview with Pickens from the Morning News, including a short hidden-camera video from inside a horsemeat plant, from the United States Humane Society. (Read more)

Last year, Congress voted to block funding for U.S. Department of Agriculture meat inspectors who are supposed to look after horse carcasses exported for human consumption. The department then accepted an offer from slaughterhouses to pay for their own horsemeat inspections in a "fee for services" setup that did not use taxpayer monies.

Two cities each in Illinois, Texas remain in running for power plant

The first coal-fired power plant with near-zero emissions will either end up in Texas or Illinois, U.S. Department of Energy officials have decided.

Two Illinois cities, Mattoon and Tuscola, and two Texas cities, Odessa and Jewett, are the four finalists "for the $1 billion project to build and operate the 'cleanest power plant in the world.' The electrical plant fueled by coal will be operational by 2012, according to the FutureGen Alliance," writes Herb Meeker of the Mattoon Journal Gazette.

The alliance is a consortium of the world's largest coal producers and users. They considered 22 sites for the project once applications arrived in April. "In May, Mattoon, Tuscola, Marshall and Effingham were chosen as finalists among 12 sites in seven states; the others were in Texas, Wyoming, North Dakota, Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia," reports Meeker. (Read more)

In a separate story focusing on Tuscola, the newspaper's Krista Lewis writes, "The size of the FutureGen project has gained support from neighboring communities, where residents are excited at the prospect of the plant being in either Tuscola or Mattoon." (Read more) For an Odessa American brief, click here.

U.S. safety agency calls for new air packs for underground miners

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health announced Tuesday it intends to ask emergency air pack manufacturers for two new types in an effort to prevent more underground mine disasters like those this year in Kentucky and West Virginia.

"NIOSH official John Kovac said the agency wants proposals for hybrid air packs, or self-rescuers, that combine the oxygen-generating devices used today with filter self-rescuers that scrub toxins but do not provide oxygen," reports Tim Huber of The Associated Press. Coal miners once used filter self-rescuers, but today the devices are found only in other types of underground mines. NIOSH also wants proposals for air packs that allow miners to swap out chemical cartridges that generate oxygen and remove carbon dioxide. Today, miners must switch to a new air pack if it stops working."

Several of the miners killed in West Virginia in January and in Kentucky in May died of carbon monoxide poisoning when they were unable to escape. Although the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration reports tests show air packs recovered from those disasters still generated oxygen, Sago Mine survivor Randal McCloy Jr. contends some failed, notes AP. (Read more)

High gas prices force rural Kentucky districts to cut jobs, trips, budgets

As the school year approaches, high fuel prices are posing transportation problems for many rural districts. One Kentucky television station provides an example of concerns already popping up.

"In Jackson County, the rising cost of diesel to fuel school buses is prompting job losses, and now school leaders are hoping for help from Frankfort. School bus drivers, teachers and other school system employees have lost their jobs, in large part due to the high cost of diesel to power the buses," reports WKYT, Channel 27, in Lexington.

The district already has plans to cut back field trips and sports-related travel. Bus routes are also being consolidated to help with the gas crunch. At least three other districts told WKYT that they are having to re-evaluate budgets to accommodate gas prices. (Read more)

FEMA revises interview policy for trailer parks after reporters booted

Less than a week after Federal Emergency Management Agency security guards expelled reporters from trailer parks in Louisiana, the agency is chalking up the incident to a misunderstanding.

The Advocate in Baton Rouge first reported on a FEMA policy that residents who invite media to a trailer must have a FEMA representative present. "The revised policy, released Tuesday, allows media unescorted access to the trailer parks, lets the media interview residents, and, if invited, enter residents' trailers. If a public information officer is not available, that cannot be used as a reason to deny access to the trailer park, according to the policy," writes Hannah Bergman of The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. (Read more)

Pat Philbin, FEMA communications director in Washington, D.C., claims the agency's original policy was either interpreted incorrectly or taken too literally. The Advocate ended up reporting that several trailer parks remain vacant after being set up as relief housing after last year's hurricanes, notes Bergman.

Judge, paper clash over conservation law for stream access in Montana

A local newspaper editor in western Montana is helping lead the fight to keep landowners from blocking public access to a waterway they say is a manmade ditch and the opponents say is a trout stream.

"A state district judge agreed in May that while Mitchell Slough was once part of the nearby Bitterroot River, it had been transformed by the hand of man, by changes including numerous head gates that control flows, and so was exempt from the Montana stream access law. But an organization called the Bitterroot River Protective Association and the State of Montana appealed the decision to the Montana Supreme Court on July 12, arguing that the waterway belonged to everyone despite the no-trespassing signs and the wire fences crossing it. Lawyers for the state expect a decision within a year," writes Jim Robbins of The New York Times. (Read more)

One founder of the association is Michael Howell, editor and co-publisher of the local newspaper, the Bitterroot Star. In a recent editorial, which did not mention Howell or the group, the paper attacked the district's judge's decision to exempt the waterway from state law: "This is certainly not what the fishermen and recreationists had in mind when the Stream Access Law was being hammered out. We believe the recreationists and the farmers and ranchers understood the law at the time to apply to all historical streams and river channels. What it did not apply to was man-made constructions, called ditches. Now Judge [Ted] Mizner is telling us that natural river channels and spring creeks can be removed from coverage under those laws once they have been altered and manipulated enough." (Read more)

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Under-reported? Use of amphetamines, perhaps meth, is declining

"An iron law of journalism dictates that news of increased drug use goes onto Page One and at the top of broadcasts, but news of decreased drug use must be buried or ignored," writes Jack Shafer of Slate.

Quest Diagnostics, the nation's leading tester of drugs in the workplace, released findings last month under the title "Amphetamines Use Declined Significantly Among U.S. Workers in 2005." The category includes methamphetamine, a scourge in rural areas. Based on six million drug tests administered last year, Quest reported an 8 percent decline in the detection of amphetamines from the previous year. Based on tests from the first five months of this year, the number of positives slid another 10 percent, notes Shafer.

Shafer's column points out the story failed to make The Washington Post, the Boston Globe, the Chicago Tribune, the Washington Times, and the Los Angeles Times. He also poses concerns about the data: "The company does not test people randomly, so its findings don't represent the population at large. Also, workers who know a mandatory drug test is in the offing might abstain from drugs to pass and then return to them, further skewing the results. Yet shakier findings touting increases in drug use make bigger news all the time." (Read more)

U.S. refusal to cut farm subsidies blamed for end of global trade talks

Have farm subsidies trumped free trade? Perhaps so, at least for now. The World Trade Organization gave up on negotiating more changes in global trade rules Monday, after a meeting turned into a bashing of the U.S. for its refusal to cut farm subsidies more deeply.

Tom Wright and Steven R. Weisman of The New York Times report that the WTO's director general, Pascal Lamy, said "he no longer had hope of overcoming resistance in wealthy countries to sharply reducing domestic protection for their politically powerful farm industries." (Read more)

The meeting was aimed to give "developing countries more benefits from the global trading system. Poor nations have long complained that their main exports, notably agricultural goods and textiles, are subject to high import barriers in rich countries. The poor nations have also condemned the big subsidy payments that governments in wealthy nations give their farmers because those payments can spur overproduction that depresses crop prices," writes Paul Blustein of The Washington Post.

Peter Mandelson, the European trade commissioner, told reporters, "The United States was unwilling to accept, or indeed to acknowledge, the flexibility being shown by others in the room and, as a result, felt unable to show any flexibility on the issue of farm subsidies." Susan C. Schwab, the chief U.S. trade negotiator, responded that since other countries are not willing to lower import barriers for farmers, there is no purpose in offering to cut farm subsidies. (Read more)

No state meets qualified-teachers deadline; only 10 get OK for tests

No state met the requirement of the No Child Left Behind law that all teachers be “highly qualified” in core teaching fields, reports Sam Dillon of The New York Times. This follows the item in yesterday's Rural Blog (see below) about the U.S. Department of Education intending to withhold funding from 10 states because of their failure to meet the law's testing requirements.

Only 10 states, many with large rural populations, got full approval of their testing: Maryland, Oklahoma, Tennessee, West Virginia, Arizona, Delaware, Indiana, North Carolina, South Carolina and Utah.

Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings "flatly rejected as inadequate the testing systems in Maine and Nebraska," writes Dillon. "She has also said that nine states are so far behind in providing highly qualified teachers that they may face sanctions, and she has accused California of failing to provide federally required alternatives to troubled schools. California could be fined as much as $4.25 million." (Read more)

Landowners, developers take advantage of Oregon property-rights law

Oregon property owners have filed at least 2,755 claims seeking government compensation for land-use restrictions on 150,455 acres, under a property-rights law the state's voters passed in 2004.

"The measure says that when land rules reduce the value of property, the government must compensate the owner or waive the regulations," writes Timothy Egan of The New York Times. Since that "shot heard around the property rights world," states such as Idaho and Washington have added similar measures to their ballots for this fall, Egan reports. Oregon's land-use rules are "some of the most restrictive land-use rules in the nation ... designed to keep forest and farm areas intact and cities compact.".

The biggest claim may be that of James R. Miller, who owns a tract inside the Newberry National Volcanic Monument and wants to develop a pumice mine and power plant. He says the government must let him move forward or pay him $203 million in compensation.

"If all the claims were paid, state officials say, it could amount to more than $3 billion in compensation," Egan reports. No claim has been paid, according to the Portland State University Institute of Portland Metropolitan Studies, which is tracking the measure’s impact. "Instead of paying property owners, local government agencies have routinely chosen to waive the regulations, clearing the way for numerous developments in rural areas," writes Egan. (Read more)

House passes bill to protect land from drilling in three western states

Northern New Mexico's Valle Vidal Forest houses 101,000 acres of conifer and meadows that are now being targeted for energy exploration, which is drawing criticism from a coalition of hunters, anglers, environmentalists, ranchers, homeowners and politicians.

"Here and elsewhere in the Western United States, this coalition is starting to resist the push for energy exploration in some of the nation's most prized wilderness areas. Although it remains unclear how successful they will be, these new activists -- including many who treasure Valle Vidal as a place to fish for cutthroat trout, hunt for elk and ride horses across its wide expanses -- have brought a new dynamic to the public debate over energy development in the West," writes Juliet Eilperin of The Washington Post.

The U.S. House approved legislation on Monday to make Valle Vidal off-limits to oil and gas drilling and to protect hundreds of thousands of acres of wilderness in California, Idaho and Oregon. The measure now goes to the Senate, where Republicans Conrad Burns of Montana and Craig Thomas of Wyoming have called for restrictions on energy exploration on public land, reports Eilperin.

"The U.S. government has already opened to drilling 85 percent of the federal oil and gas reserves in the Rocky Mountains' five major energy basins. Responding in part to increased demand and rising energy costs, in 2005 the administration issued almost twice as many drilling permits -- 7,018 -- as President Bill Clinton did in 2000. But now resistance to drilling is growing, especially because environmentalists have enlisted sportsmen and other new allies in their fight, and because energy companies already have access to most of the public land in the Rocky Mountain West," writes Eilperin. (Read more)

Meanwhile, one state to the east, Reuters reports that rural towns north of Dallas are undergoing facelifts from natural-gas drilling. North Texas is home to the geological formation Barnett Shale, which is the nation's fastest growing natural-gas field and the biggest in Texas. (Read more)

Reporter on Kiplinger fellowship probes Ohio churches' political activity

"Both inside and outside the church, pastors are recruiting and organizing followers in much the same way as political parties," Steve Myers writes in the lead story of a package about political activity of religious conservatives in Ohio, where the Republican nominee for governor is Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, who often sounds religious themes in his race with Democratic U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland, a Methodist minister -- amid allegations that the groups' political activity should cost them their tax-exempt status.

We think this helps illustrate how journalists at all levels should report on grassroots political activity in churches, whether they be rural, urban, conservative or liberal. Myers' report in The Columbus Dispatch, which includes many video and audio clips from pastors and candidates, was prepared during his fellowship of the Kiplinger Program in Public Affairs Journalism at Ohio State University. Myers' regular job is government reporter for the Mobile Register. His fellowship lasted six months, but his report is statewide; local stories don't take as long, but with elections approaching, it's time to start working on them.

Myers' story focuses on groups run by the Rev. Rod Parsley, Reformation Ohio and the Center for Moral Clarity, which "have sponsored seminars, revivals and voter registration;" the Rev. Russell Johnson's Ohio Restoration Project, "which has held rallies and created its own network around the state;" and their connections with Blackwell; and their organizing around opposition to gay marriage -- a policy Ohioans voted into their state constitution in 2004, but one that remains on the national agenda as a proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The groups are the focus of a complaint to the Internal Revenue Service, alleging that their activities violate their tax-exempt status. All 2005 events of the Ohio Restoration Project "have featured Blackwell in some way, and for that reason some have said that proves the group is merely a front for the candidate," Myers reports. "Johnson says Blackwell was invited each time because he was the only public official who backed the 2004 marriage amendment," Issue 1. He told Myers, "We never said, 'I want you to look at a future governor.' ... We invited every official who was for life and for marriage and for Issue 1."

Johnson is trying to recruit 2,000 "Patriot Pastors," each of whom "must commit to sign up 200 volunteers, 100 people to pray on various issues and 300 newly registered voters," Myers reports. Parsley "evangelizes crowds packed under hot tents. They're like any other small-town revival, except that the pastor is not only tallying how many souls are saved, but how many voters are registered." Reporting on a revival in Chillicothe, the weekend before the primary election Blackwell won, "Parsley urged the crowd fill out forms so he could pray for them. The next morning, Parsley reported to his congregants that 612 people were saved and 200 registered to vote" for the fall election.

Myers reports from the other side: "Though the conservative pastors argue that they're speaking for mainstream Ohioans, a group of self-described moderate and liberal religious leaders has sprung up to say their faith has been misappropriated. The organization, called We Believe, seeks to challenge the notion that only conservatives are 'values voters,' instead arguing that Christians can share a variety of viewpoints on social issues. Rather than focusing on divisive issues such as abortion and homosexuality, they say Christians should speak out on poverty, health care and education." (Read more)

CMT launches broadband video site; part of the 'YouTube situation'

Country Music Television unveiled a broadband video site on Monday that features videos sure to please fans of the genre. It may increase the demand for high-speed Internet in rural areas, where country music is popular but broadband service is spotty at best.

CMT Loaded will draw both on previously-aired material and on shows created specifically for the Web site. "It's that whole YouTube situation--we definitely want to get in on that," said Lewis Bogach, vice president of programming and production at CMT, referring to the wildly popular video-sharing site. The addition of a broadband video site is similar to MTV's Overdrive and VH-1's Vspot, reports Mark Walsh of Online Media Daily.

Martin Clayton, vice president of digital media for CMT, said the station's online visitors are younger than its TV audience, which has a median age of 40--but both are split about evenly between men and women. "When it comes to any advertiser skittishness about the Wild West of broadband media, Clayton isn't overly concerned," writes Walsh. (Read more)

Smoking ban passes in Kentucky's capital; joins six others in state

A smoking ban was passed Monday night by the capital city in Kentucky, the state with more tobacco farmers than any other and the highest adult smoking rate in the U.S. -- about 27.6 percent.

The Frankfort City Commission voted 3-2 to ban smoking in public, indoor areas. Its vote follows similar bans in other cities along or close to Interstate 64 -- Lexington, Morehead, Georgetown and Louisville -- and Letcher County, in the state's mountainous southeastern corner, where little if any tobacco is grown.

Louisville has a partial ban that excludes places such as bars and tobacco stores, and Daviess County [Owensboro] does not allow smoking in buildings open to children younger than 18," writes Emily Yahr of the Lexington Herald-Leader. (Read more)

Monday, July 24, 2006

Drug tests occur more in rural schools than in urban ones, study finds

While superintendents in urban school districts have been reluctant to drug test students, rural districts are not letting the opportunity go to waste, according to a new study by University of New Hampshire researchers, reports Newswise, a research-reporting service.

"Researchers surveyed superintendents nationwide from school districts ranging from small and rural districts to large, urban districts with more than 20,000 students. Of the more than 200 superintendents who responded, only 25 – about 12 percent -- said their school districts drug tested students involved in extracurricular activities. . . . Of those 25 school districts that drug test students, the majority – almost 71 percent – were small and/or rural school districts with student populations under 5,000."

The U.S. Supreme Court has gradually expanded what students can be submitted to random drug tests in public schools, going from only athletes and cheerleaders to all students involved in extracurricular activities, including academic teams, marching bands and the Future Farmers of America, reports Newswise. (Read more)

Mainly rural states fail to comply with No Child Left Behind testing

The U.S. Department of Education intends to withhold funding from 10 states because they failed to fully comply with the testing provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act by the end of the 2005-06 school year. Those funds will instead be diverted directly to school districts.

States struggled to show that they gave appropriate accommodations to special education students and those still learning English, Education Week reported in its July 12 issue. The 10 states, many of which are predominantly rural, include Hawaii, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Montana, South Dakota, Texas, Maine and Nebraska. For a map of where all states fared with compliance, click here.

Nebraska and Maine are the only states that received the lowest possible designation of “nonapproved,” and they must enter into a compliance agreement with the federal government. The other eight states fell under the "approval pending, withholding funds" category. “We will challenge the findings,” Nebraska Commissioner of Education Doug Christensen told reporters.

"The federal law requires states to test students in reading and mathematics annually in grades 3-8 and at least once in high school, beginning with the 2005-06 school year, using tests aligned with their state academic standards. States must include students with disabilities and English-language learners in their testing systems," reporter Lynn Olson writes. This follows a recent threat to withhold money from states that fail to meet the law’s requirements for “highly qualified” teachers. (Read more)

Rural Minnesota colleges keep students with research opportunities

Colleges in rural Minnesota see declining numbers of youth in their areas, but are keeping enrollment figures stable by offering hands-on research, smaller classes and individual attention from professors.

"As the number of youth declines in rural parts of the state, schools like Crookston, Morris and Moorhead are looking for ways to distinguish themselves and keep their enrollments healthy," reports The Associated Press. One of the biggest lures for high-school graduates to attend smaller colleges seems to be the opportunity to perform research work usually reserved for graduate students at bigger universities.

Enrollment figures across the state show an overall jump in college enrollment, with a five-year 8.5 percent increase at state colleges and 7.2 percent rise at private ones, notes AP. (Read more)

Ky. Press Assn. to pursue legislation, not suit, to open juvenile courts

Directors of the Kentucky Press Association decided Friday to pursue legislation rather than keep pressing a lawsuit to open the state's juvenile courts to the press and public.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled this month that the newspaper group had not presented an issue that was ripe for judicial action. It suggested that KPA fight the issue in state court, and suggested that state law allows judges to open juvenile proceedings to those with “a direct interest in the case or the work of the court.”

However, KPA's First Amendment counsel, Jon Fleischaker, said state court would be a piecemeal approach, based on individual cases. He recommended pressing hard for legislation. So did John Nelson of Danville, managing editor of The Advocate-Messenger, who pushed the organization to file the lawsuit when he was KPA president -- and will discuss the issue at the national convention of the Society of Professional Journalists in Chicago Aug. 24. Nelson is president of SPJ's Bluegrass Chapter.

Nelson and others at the meeting urged their fellow editors to do stories and editorials about juvenile cases to help put public pressure on the legislature to change the law. Nelson said the cases that need publicity “aren’t just rapes and murders,” noting that a cemetery in Junction City, Ky., was vandalized by kids 10, 11 and 13. “That is the kind of thing the public has a direct interest in,” he said. (Read more)

Ky. paper takes a closer look at legacy of racial expulsion in one town

A week ago, we alerted you to the remarkable research and story by Elliot Jaspin of Cox Newspapers which showed that at least 14 rural communities across the middle of the country had a history of expelling their African American residents in the 55 years after the Civil War. Yesterday, the Lexington Herald-Leader took a closer look at Corbin, Ky., where "as of the 2000 census, six black people lived among ... 7,000 residents. That's an 87-year-old legacy from the night a group of white Corbinites rounded up a group of black railway workers at gunpoint and forced them to ride out of town on the very same Louisville & Nashville Railroad where they labored," Linda Blackford reported.

The story focused on Shirley Wallace, a black woman and Hurricane Katrina refugee who came to Corbin. "I didn't know the story, and I don't care. I just thank God for a wonderful experience here," Wallace told Blackford -- who noted that Wallace, "being from Mississippi, knows a thing or two about racism."

Mayor Amos Miller didn't welcome the newspaper's attention. "The problem is that we keep talking about it," he told Blackford. "All you do is feed the bigots." But Corbin may still have some issues. "People noticed when First United Methodist Church, a huge citadel on the hill above Corbin, brought a group of African American storm victims up from Mississippi," Blackford wrote, quoting Gus Clouse, the church's director of junior recreation: "The word on the streets is that we're bad. It's sad." All the refugees but Wallace's family and one man left, and though she says "No one has been anything but nice, nice, nice," she says she can't find a decent job -- "despite a junior-college degree and many years of employment at a Gulf Coast casino," Blackford reports. (Read more)

Bob Edwards tries to direct more attention to mountaintop removal

Bob Edwards of XM Satellite Radio is promoting a documentary on mountaintop-removal coal mining in Central Appalachia, scheduled for first broadcast on Friday morning. In an essay in Sunday's Courier-Journal, published in his native Louisville, Edwards describes his work and that of the coal companies, which he says "have concluded it's easier to remove the mountain from the coal than to remove the coal from the mountain," and calls for more attention to the subject.

"Do Americans know this is happening? Why isn't it getting more attention?" he asks. "If the Adirondacks or the Catskills were being blown up, wouldn't New York camera crews be in helicopters shooting video of the devastation? Why is there so much outrage over plans to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and so little notice paid to the destruction of our oldest mountains? Why was there so much news coverage of the Exxon Valdez oil spill when a coal-waste spill 30 times bigger in [Kentucky's] Martin County got hardly any national press? Do Kentuckians care about the loss of mountains, forests and streams? Is there concern about silt and mining chemicals spoiling the drinking water? How can a state with so many hunters and fishermen tolerate the loss of habitat for fish and wildlife?"

Edwards writes that the government agencies "charged with protecting our environment and keeping wise stewardship of our water and land are making it possible for mountains to be leveled and streams to be buried. . . . So are Congress, the courts and the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Even the major environmental advocacy groups are much more concerned about the burning of coal than the mining of it. Except for their neighbors similarly afflicted in Virginia, Tennessee and West Virginia, the people of Eastern Kentucky stand alone." (Read more)

We're sure the coal industry has a different view. For the National Mining Association Web site's page on reclamation, click here. For more on the Edwards show, click here. The documentary "Exploding Heritage" airs first on Friday, July 28 at 8, 9 and 10 a.m. EDT. Two of his interviewees are Tom and Pat Gish, publishers of The Mountain Eagle in Whitesburg, Ky.

Byrd presses administration to fill mine-inspector jobs Congress funded

U.S. Sen. Robert Byrd, who led the effort to put $26 million for coal-mine inspectors in a spending bill President Bush signed a month ago, says the Office of Management and Budget has not made the money available to the Labor Department, and the department's Mine Safety and Health Administration "hasn't come up with a detailed plan for hiring the inspectors in the 2006 and 2007 fiscal years," James R. Carroll of The Courier-Journal reports in his "Notes from Washington" column.

The money was added in response "to the Jan. 2 Sago Mine disaster in West Virginia that killed 12 miners and the May 20 Kentucky Darby Mine No. 1 disaster that killed five miners," and is intended to replace the 217 MSHA inspectors that have left the payroll since 2001, Carroll reports.

Byrd, D-W.Va., wrote Labor Secretary Elaine Chao and Director Rob Portman, urging action. "I stood next to President Bush at the White House in June when he told the families of miners: 'We'll do everything possible to prevent mine accidents,' " Byrd wrote. "The hiring and training of these inspectors is critical to fulfilling that promise." MSHA spokeswoman Amy Louviere told Carroll the Labor Department is working on a response. (Read more)

Friday, July 21, 2006

With small number of infections, U.S. cuts back on mad-cow tests

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is reducing the number of mad-cow disease tests by about 90 percent, because the low number of infected animals does not justify the current monitoring levels.

"After the disease was found in a Canadian-born dairy cow in Washington in December 2003, the department tested more than 759,000 animals over 18 months from 2004 to 2006 and found only two infected cows. In a report issued in April, the department concluded that fewer than one in a million adult cattle was infected," writes Donald G. McNeil Jr. of The New York Times.

The announcement sparked criticism from some who question how the USDA will determine which cows to test. “We think this is just absurd,” said Michael K. Hansen, an expert on the disease at Consumers Union, which publishes Consumer Reports, told McNeil. “They’re playing Russian roulette with public health.” (Read more) To read The Associated Press story, click here.

Google, other Web giants may build in rural areas for cheap power

Google may follow a trend by considering rural Caldwell County, North Carolina, as a possible site for an $800 million to $1 billion computer center for processing search engine requests and other services. This is the first such case we have heard of in the East; tech companies in the Seattle area are already moving "server farms" to rural Washington, where power is becoming cheaper in relative terms.

"Energy costs have turned into the driving force behind site selection decisions by Google, Yahoo and other Internet operations. They're eyeing rural areas with plentiful and cheap power. These cyber giants process massive amounts of information through server farms spread throughout the globe," write Mark Johnson and Mike Drummond of The Charlotte Observer. "The primary power drain is not the computers themselves, but the air conditioning needed to keep them cool."

Relocating to rural locations helps companies saves pennies per kilowatt-hour, but since the farms use enough power to serve 35,000 people, small cuts in electricity rates can save millions of dollars a year, report Johnson and Drummond. (Read more)

Arizona boosts scholarships, residency programs to retain rural doctors

A $2.8 million plan will create a residency program