The Rural Blog Archive: March 2005

Issues, trends, events, ideas and journalism from the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues

Thursday, March 31, 2005

West Virginia bill would keep local agencies from doing broadband on their own

The West Virginia Senate, under pressure from telecommunications companies, toned down a bill intended to encourage public-private partnerships to bring broadband Internet service to small towns and other underserved areas. In some states, localities have taken the lead in providing high-speed broadband service, but in others, legislatures have prohibited them from doing so.

The West Virginia bill calls for a study of the best way to bring those services to the regions of the state that lack broadband Internet, writes Phil Kabler of The Charleston Gazette. It was a compromise after the Senate Finance Committee amended the bill to allow public-private partnerships only if the state commerce secretary said there was no likelihood that a private company could offer comparable services in the future. The bill’s lead sponsor, Sen. John Unger, D-Berkeley, said of the compromise, “We decided to back off and do the study. I think we should be sure the public sector doesn’t step on the private sector.”

The Associated Press reported that the Finance Committee also "removed a provision that would have allowed municipalities to issue bonds to finance broadband infrastructure development."

In rural Arizona, where tourism is king, capital is scarce; 'great divide' with cities

Thousands of retirees are helping much of rural and small-town Arizona grow at a time when much of non-urban America is losing people.

"Living in much of Arizona's wide-open spaces means settling for per-capita income that trails both the state's urban centers and the national average -- and it's losing ground. Also, industry is scarce in these regions where tourism is king, and traditional sectors of mining, ranching or farming are in decline," reports The Arizona Republic. Joe Yuhas, deputy director of the state Department of Commerce, told the Phoenix newspaper, "When you talk about problems in the state economy, a big contributing factor is the reality of rural Arizona. The health of rural Arizona has a huge impact on the state's economic health."

The department is the spearhead of efforts to improve rural opportunities. Lower incomes, higher poverty and the decline of traditional industries are common themes in the intermountain West, the newspaper reports. These rural Western regions are tethered to tourism, and capital for new businesses is scarce. In addition, schools are starved for resources and higher education options are limited. As in other Western states, the federal government is a force, controlling nearly 45 percent of the state. This brings jobs and tourism, but also limits land uses, they write.

The phenomenon has long drawn the attention of state leaders, although action has been limited. A University of Arizona report cited "the great divide" between Maricopa and Pima counties and the rest of the state. As a result, rural Arizona is hungry for jobs created by projects that are shunned by cities, such as power plants, mines and prisons. One county, for example, is seeing construction of a $75 million private prison, they report.

Jackson, Tenn., newspaper awarded court fees in open-records lawsuit against city

A Tennessee judge has awarded The Jackson Sun more than $6,000 in attorney fees for an open records lawsuit the newspaper brought against the city of Jackson.

The newspaper's attorneys will receive $3,085 each for work when the Sun sued the city for disclosure of documents related to the Diamond Jaxx minor league baseball team and Jackson police field interviews. The Sun filed the lawsuit in January, also suing for the disclosure of the 911 tape or transcript of the tape from a shooting at a state garage that left three dead. The court ruled that the newspaper should have access to the field interviews and the baseball team's financial records but denied access to the 911 tapes. The release of the field interviews has been delayed until an appeals court reviews the issue.

The city plans to appeal the ruling on the baseball records, though they have been released. Sun Executive Editor Richard Schneider said, ''We realize that this is the first round.'' He said he believes the case shows how difficult and expensive it is for private citizens to obtain records a government wants to keep secret.

Wal-Mart beats other companies with technology; smaller businesses must catch up

If smaller companies want to stay competitive against retail giants like Wal-Mart, they must understand and develop their use of computer technology, writes business columnist Don McNay, in a column that was first published online and is to appear in Sunday's Richmond (Ky.) Register.

The column was prompted by the closing of a grocery in nearby Berea. "The loss of IGA was like the death of a friend," McNay writes. The store "sits across the street from a vacated Wal-Mart," abandoned for the supercenter that probably forced the IGA out of business. "Most of Berea's new businesses are near the current Wal-Mart location, while the former Wal-Mart location is surrounded by older and often empty buildings."

McNay references In Sam We Trust, a book by Bob Ortega, which explains how Wal-Mart spent millions on computers in the early 1980s to track inventory, trends and prices. Wal Mart doesn’t know the names of any customers, he writes, but it knows their purchasing habits. “If small-town businesses are going to compete against Wal-Mart, they are going to have to know their customers on a personal basis … and get up to speed with market research and technology," he writes. "They need to find their markets and niches."

Tennessee war on meth official; measure signed into law limits cold-drug sales

Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen yesterday signed a law intended to fight the state's methamphetamine problem, and its affect is immediate on small stores: They must stop, within 24 hours, selling cold tablets used to make the drug.

"I hope this collective action sends a clear signal to the people of Tennessee that we are serious about tackling this problem," Bredesen said as he signed the measure, which raced through the legislature a little more than a month after he proposed it, writes Matt Gouras of The Associated Press.

The biggest changes included in the law are restrictions on some cold medicines that contain pseudoephedrine, a major component in making meth. The medicines will be sold only from behind a pharmacy counter in limited amounts, with each purchase recorded. Small stores that don't have pharmacies won't be allowed to sell drugs that contain pseudoephedrine, writes Gouras. Bredesen said, "This new law strikes the right balance between public safety and consumer convenience. We appreciate pharmacies' and retailers' support and cooperation in the war against meth."

The drug is "cooked" using cold medicine and easily obtainable items such as lye, matchbook striker plates and iodine. Much of the new law takes effect immediately. Pharmacies have 30 days to move restricted cold medicines behind the counter -- excluding liquid or gelcap medicines, which can't be used to make meth. For the Tennessean version by Leon Alligood, click here. For a more detailed look at the law itself, in The Tennessean, click here.

Minnesota governor's tribal casino plan declared unconstitutional; challenge expected

Minnesota Attorney General Mike Hatch has declared in a legal opinion that Gov. Tim Pawlenty's plan to let Indian tribes from entirely rural Northern Minnesota have a multi-tribal casino near the Twin Cities would be unconstitutional without a voter-approved amendment to the state charter.

Hatch and his chief deputy, Kristine Eiden, did not offer a formal opinion on a second casino plan, a "racino" proposed for Canterbury Park racetrack in Shakopee, but Eiden told Patrick Sweeney of the St. Paul Pioneer Press their legal analysis would apply to the Canterbury plan.

Pawlenty's chief of staff, Dan McElroy, said Pawlenty had always expected a constitutional challenge, and still thinks it will survive a court test. McElroy said courts in four other states with constitutional provisions substantially similar to Minnesota's have allowed casinos such as Pawlenty proposed. The Senate Agriculture, Veterans and Gaming Committee. The Senate committee is expected to vote on the bill Monday.

Kentucky counties closing small jails; larger counties house inmates for a fee

With action by Breathitt County, 32 of Kentucky's 120 counties have closed their jails since 1983, when the state began enforcing new standards on the facilities, some of which had been compared to medieval dungeons.

"That was then. Now officials in counties with small jails say they're closing their doors because they can't afford to keep them open," writes Lee Mueller of the Lexington Herald-Leader. Breathitt Judge-Executive Lewis Warrix, in referring to costs, told Mueller, "Every one of us has got a bigger pipe going out than we've got coming in." He told Mueller the expense of maintaining the 12-bed jail in Jackson -- remodeled and reopened in 1996 at a cost of $1 million -- "had just gone out of sight."

"Breathitt County's facility is the second small Eastern Kentucky jail to close during the last three months -- and a third could be in jeopardy. Knott County, which spent $1.2 million two years ago to refurbish its 14-bed jail, shut it down in December," Mueller writes. Estill County Judge-Executive Wallace Taylor told Mueller the fiscal court is considering closing it again. The county's finances forced it to shut down its 15-bed jail to briefly in 2003.

Even as the number of inmates in Kentucky jails has increased by 13 percent since last March -- swollen by a flood of drug-related arrests -- the closing of small facilities comes as no shock to most corrections experts. "Every county needs a jail," said Knott County Sheriff Ray Bolen. "But they're just too costly."

John Rees, commissioner of the state Department of Corrections, told the newspaper, "Basically, it really takes a facility of 400 to 500 beds for economies of scale to start taking place. The state and federal mandates for operating a jail are expensive." Kentucky still has 78 full-service jails and 15 so-called "life-safety" jails for misdemeanor offenders. Those facilities housed 14,629 inmates on March 4, 2004, and 16,536 on March 4 this year, he writes.

Low-carb donations feed the needy in Appalachia; diet craze fades, benefits the poor

A surplus of diet food for the overweight is helping feed the hungry in Appalachia. "Unsold crates of low-carbohydrate energy bars, shakes and breakfast mixes have been pouring into the Christian Appalachian Project to be distributed in mountain communities. For people who otherwise might go hungry, diet food beats no food at all," writes Roger Alford of The Associated Press.

Ken Slone manages the charity's warehouse some 25 miles from the spot where President Lyndon Johnson declared war on poverty in 1964, Alford writes. Slone told him, "When you're feeding people, you're doing a good thing." Since September, the charity has received 14 truck-loads of food from Atkins Nutritionals, the New York company famous for the low-carb diet. Slone said each truckload contained about 1,300 cases of energy bars, shakes and breakfast mixes that are being distributed to churches and other organizations that minister to the needy.

Rev. Brooks Kerrick, founder of Extended Hands Ministries, which serves residents in a rural area that has double-digit unemployment rates, told Alford, "The Atkins products have really been a lifesaver for us. They'll sure keep your belly button from rubbing your backbone." Atkins Nutritional said it routinely provides free foods to charitable organizations. A recent study by the independent marketing company NPD Group found the percentage of American adults on any low-carb diet in 2004 peaked at 9.1 percent in February and dropped to 4.9 percent by early November.

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco president defends marketing practices; feds say youth targeted

The president of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. said her company tightly restricts its marketing to reach only adult smokers, but a government lawyer questioned that claim yesterday in a racketeering lawsuit against cigarette makers.

"A Justice Department lawyer pointed Lynn J. Beasley to advertisements for Reynolds products in recent editions of two magazines -- Stuff and Smooth -- that also featured a comic strip, articles on video games and a rap music star, and pictures of largely undressed women," writes Hilary Roxe of The Associated Press. Beasley replied, "Were the advertisement in the publication then it would meet our criteria, and I'd be happy to go through those criteria with you.".

Reynolds' marketing policies include using available readership data to ensure product ads are not placed in magazines that target people under 21 or that have a readership of more than 15 percent youths, Beasley said in written testimony. And, Beasley added, that tightening the company policies since 2000 led Reynolds to stop placing ads in several magazines, including Rolling Stone and Allure. Beasley's testimony, which was expected to continue Thursday, comes in the sixth month of the trial in U.S. District Court.

In a lawsuit filed under a 1970 civil racketeering law designed to prosecute mobsters, the government alleges that tobacco companies engaged in a five-decade conspiracy to hide the hazards associated with smoking. The defendants in the lawsuit are: 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.

Wednesday, March 30, 2005

Georgia bill requiring voter ID stirs furor; critics say hurts blacks, elderly, rural voters

Legislation to require Georgians to show photo identification at the polls has advanced over passionate objections from lawmakers who said the move could disenfranchise many black, elderly and rural voters.

The Senate approved the bill which must go back to the House for approval of minor changes. But, the Senate action moved the legislation much closer to becoming law, write Sonji Jacobs and Carlos Campos of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. It also left hard feelings, especially among black lawmakers. Senate Minority Leader Robert Brown (D-Macon), an African-American, told the newspaper, "This is spitting on the grave of Martin Luther King Jr." Black lawmakers argued the measure would turn back the clock on civil rights. Some compared the bill to a poll tax or other measures from the past that were meant to prevent blacks from voting.

Republicans argued the measure would help prevent voter fraud and protect the integrity of the ballot. The bill would reduce the number of acceptable forms of identification for voting from 17 to six forms of government-issued photo identification. Sen. John Wiles (R-Marietta) told Jacobs and Campos, "This bill reassures the voting public the election process is a fair and honest process."

The bill allows poor people to obtain a free state photo ID. But opponents said there are only 50 places in Georgia's 159 counties where such IDs could be obtained, and it would be inconvenient or impossible for some people to get them. Groups such as the AARP of Georgia, the League of Women Voters of Georgia and the American Civil Liberties Union of Geogia opposed the measure. Meg Smothers, executive director of the state League of Women Voters, said the restrictions would hamper voter turnout, they write.

Federal drug official tours Tennessee meth burn unit; children, families often victims

A top federal drug official yesterday toured a regional burn center in Nashville where a third of the patients were injured by fires and explosions in clandestine methamphetamine labs.

Joseph Keefe, deputy director of the Office on National Drug Control Policy, toured the burn center, where seven of the 20 patients were admitted with what law enforcement authorities believe were meth-related burns, writes Bill Poovey of The Associated Press. Doctors say such cases are showing up every day and driving up the medical costs for everyone. The costs of treating critically injured burn victims typically exceed $10,000 a day, and most meth patients don't have health insurance.

Dr. Jeff Guy, director of the Vanderbilt University Medical Center regional burn center told AP, "As bad as this may sound, as a burn doctor I almost wish another drug, one less volatile that doesn't regularly explode during the manufacturing process, would come down the pike to overtake the popularity of meth." Guy told Keefe of one man who has been in the burn unit about 30 days and his medical costs to date total about $240,000. He said, "We are seeing kids in meth labs." Keefe, who was in Nashville to attend a state conference on meth, described what he saw in the burn unit as "devastating," writes Poovey.

Between October 2003 and August 2004, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration broke up about 1,200 clandestine meth labs in Tennessee, a nearly 400 percent increase from 2000. And, the state removed an estimated 750 children from the custody of meth abusers last year, up from 2003. Even when labs don't explode, AP writes, the toxic vapors contaminate property and can cause health problems. Keefe commended Gov. Phil Bredesen and state lawmakers for approaching the drug problem with tougher criminal laws, public education and addiction treatment.

Iowa casinos, bankruptcies, more crime linked, disputed study indicates

Preliminary findings of a study, that looks into the impact of gambling on Iowans, indicate counties in the state with casinos have more bankruptcies and higher crime rates.

The University of Northern Iowa study was commissioned by the state legislature last year as lawmakers considered expanding the number of casinos, reports The Associated Press. The report says there are more bankruptcies in counties that have casinos than in comparable counties that don't. The report also says the 10 counties that have gambling also have more crime, but the report's authors said they weren't ready to say crime was worse because of gambling. They said more study is needed.

Deepak Chhabra, an assistant professor at UNI , said, "We don't know what the reason is." The study found that gambling generated $3.5 billion and created 35,000 jobs in Iowa last year. It was unclear whether the study would sway state leaders. Senate Republican President Jeff Lamberti of Ankeny told reporters, "Based on what I'm seeing, it's about what we expected. So I don't think it will have a huge impact."

Senate Democratic President Jack Kibbie said some rural counties already are losing jobs and population, and he doesn't see any greater risk of bankruptcies because of gambling. Bob Miller, president of the anti-gambling group Truth About Gambling Foundation, said the study was inadequate. Wes Ehrecke, president of the Iowa Gaming Association, said the study shows gambling is good for the state's economy. Ehrecke told reporters, "It is adding to Iowa's entertainment and tourism industry." A final version of the report is due by July 1, AP writes.

States, Native American tribes put gaming on the table; say economic benefit to all

Representatives of 23 Native American tribes gathered in Denver yesterday for a summit with western state governors to discuss Indian gaming and potential changes to the federal law that oversees the industry.

With Congress pondering increased oversight, tribal leaders were eager to point out the benefits of gambling — not just to their own people, but also to surrounding communities, writes David Kelly of the Los Angles Times. (Site requires free registration.) Keller George, president of the United Southern and Eastern Tribes told reporters, "In New York, we have created 5,000 jobs for Indians and non-Indians. In Florida, they have created 15,000 jobs in and around Miami. Indian gaming has helped everybody."

The summit, sponsored by the Western Governors Association., was designed to look at the 1988 Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, which allowed tribes to open casinos. Republican Govs. Bill Owens of Colorado and Michael Rounds of South Dakota expressed concerns about casino expansion, decrying the practice of tribes putting land in trust so they could use it for off-reservation gambling. Owens is battling the Cheyenne-Arapahoe tribe of Oklahoma, which has laid claim to nearly 30 million acres of Colorado. The tribe has said it will relinquish the land for the right to build a casino east of Denver.

Ownes told reporters, "While the growth of Indian gaming clearly has benefits for the tribes, it also raises questions for states," Owens warned against back-door attempts by Congress to attach riders to bills that gave tribes permission for gaming without state consent. "No one wants to see the federal government locate casinos on our land without the approval of the citizens." Congress recently has taken up the issue of Indian gambling, Kelly writes.

Ohio tax on beer, tobacco may rise; prompted in part by Kentucky cig tax hike

Ohio state legislators are set to approve a proposed $51.3 billion, two-year budget plan, that includes tax increases on beer and tobacco products, prompted in part by neighboring Kentucky's increase it its cigarette tax.

Just who will benefit from the upcoming budget that begins July 1 isn’t certain, but as it stands, Ohio manufacturers like the proposal while Ohio retailers don’t, writes David E. Malloy of The Herald-Dispatch.

Tim Gearhart, owner of Tim’s News and Novelties in Ironton, expects to see a drop in sales if the Legislature approves sin taxes on tobacco and alcohol, writes Malloy for the Huntington, W.Va. newspaper. Gearhart told him, "We’re already at a tremendous disadvantage with Kentucky. If the tax on a pack of cigarettes increases by another 75 cents as is proposed, "it could put somebody like me out of the cigarette business."

"I heard the tax on beer could double," Gearhart continued. "If this happens, it will be doom on cigarette dealers in border areas. It just makes it impossible for small businesses to compete." Gearhart said About 25 percent of his sales, comes from tobacco and beer. He told Mallory he had a glimmer of hope when Kentucky raised its cigarette tax from 3 to 30 cents, but any benefit, he says, will be lost if Ohio raises its tax to $1.30 per pack.

Japan plans to ease mad-cow tests; move could let U.S. beef back in lucrative market

Japan's food safety panel has recommended the government stop testing cattle younger than 21 months for mad-cow disease, a step toward making U.S. beef eligible for import after a 15-month ban, reports the Chicago Tribune.

Tokyo, seeking to soothe worries about a domestic mad-cow outbreak, has refused to reopen its market to U.S. beef until Washington adopts blanket testing for the disease, the Tribune writes. However, the Food Safety Commission's scientific experts said research has shown rogue proteins linked to the disease don't show up in tests on cattle younger than 21 months, and easing the testing standards would not put consumers at risk. (Site requires free registration.)

Contract growers hoping chicken offers steady nest egg may be trapped by debt

In 1999, former high school physics teacher Susan Martin became one of the country's 30,000 contract growers responsible for much of the chicken Americans eat. She had dreams of succeeding in agribusiness working with Sanderson Farms, a large Mississippi poultry processor with more than $1 billion in annual sales, dreams that became a nightmare.

Two years after starting, writes Barry Shlachter of the Star-Telegram, Martin was losing money and carrying $460,000 in farm debt. She discovered under the terms of her contract, she couldn't sue Sanderson, which she accused of misleading her. And, she could not afford the $23,000 cost of binding arbitration. The American Arbitration Association's Dallas office rejected Martin's request to waive the fees, writes Shlachter for the Fort Worth, Texas newspaper.

Sanderson's chief financial officer, Mike Cockrell, denied the company has misled its contract growers in Texas. But poultry companies like Sanderson, Tyson and Pilgrim's Pride have increasingly come under criticism for their half-century-old system of contract growing, through which about 90 percent of U.S. chickens are now produced, Shlachter writes. Under contract, the poultry companies own the flocks and supply the feed. Growers, who get a guaranteed price per pound, provide the labor, chicken houses, water, electricity and gas. But many find themselves deep in hock and unable to make a profit.

Wes Sims, president of the Waco-based Texas Farmers Union, told Shlachter that predictions of growers' earnings are overstated, that they risk being cut off from fresh flocks for refusing costly upgrades demanded by companies, and that their heavy farm debt ensures they renew unfair contracts, creating a system akin to modern-day serfdom. Poultry companies say contracts are a boon to farmers, insulated from fluctuating market conditions by a set price.

Texas, unlike Iowa, Kansas, Illinois and Georgia, has no specific law protecting contract farmers from unfair practices by poultry integrators. And farmers like Martin who have tried to organize growers' associations in Texas say company pressure brought such efforts to an end after one or two meetings, he writes.

Something's fishy in the water; sea lice can be spread to wild fish, researchers say

There has always been disagreement among fishery experts about the extent to which sea lice, a pest on fish farms, can spread to wild fish.

But, Canadian researchers now say that fish farms are “prodigious producers” of sea lice, and juvenile fish can become infested, and in fact could become a secondary source of infestation for wild fish, writes Cornelia Dean of The New York Times, with ominous consequences for consumer popular salmon.

The researches began their fieldwork in 2003 after trapping 5,500 juvenile salmon, all free of parasites until nearing fish farms. Once they passed the fish farms and headed to sea, the scientists concluded the salmon were so infested that they spread the lice as they went, Dean writes.

Sea lice live in salt water, and young salmon first encounter them when they swim down river toward the sea. The lice feed on the fish’s blood and create open lesions, disturbing the fish’s natural balance with the water, writes Dean.

Several briefs on U. S. Supreme Court’s docket involve First Amendment issues

The Supreme Court has had several cases on its docket this year with First Amendment implications, at least one related to the free press and two other cases affecting free speech.

One case appealed a Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling which forced a newspaper to pay damages after it “reported a city councilman called the mayor and council president ‘liars,’ ‘queers,’ and ‘child molesters,’” writes the Chicago Tribune. (Site requires free registration.) The Supreme Court refused to hear that case.

Two other cases relate to file-sharing software and regulating "monopolistic" Internet Service Providers, writes the American Civil Liberties Union. In the first case, the high court will decide whether makers of peer-to-peer software can be held liable for any illegal uses of the software, including the sharing of copyrighted material. In the second case, FCC v. Brand X, the Court will decide whether cable broadband Internet providers can be forced to provide access to other ISPs. (To see the previous blog item about Brand X, check the March archive.)

Barry Steinhardt, Director of the ACLU’s Technology and Liberty Project, told reporters, "This case is about free speech, because if the forums where speech take place are not themselves free, and the Internet may be the greatest forum of them all, then the First Amendment becomes nothing more than a dry, meaningless abstraction."

No movement in Kentucky lawsuit that sparked debate on overweight trucks

Lawyers have made no moves yet to restart a lawsuit that sparked debate among Kentucky legislators about whether truckers should be allowed to haul heavier loads of sand, oil, gravel and other natural resources.

Pike County Circuit Judge Eddy Coleman left the lawsuit in limbo more than four months ago to give the state legislature time to deal with the issue. However, legislative efforts stalled earlier this month, shortly before the General Assembly adjourned for the year, writes Roger Alford of The Associated Press.

Jon A. Woodall, a Lexington attorney representing D.R.T. Trucking of Pikeville, told Alford he plans to meet with his client next week to discuss what action to take. The company claims in the lawsuit that Kentucky's weight limits unconstitutionally favor coal haulers. Woodall said, "I suspect when we sit down and talk about this a decision will be made one way or the other. Frankly, my gut feeling is we will go forward with it."

Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet is a defendant in the case. Spokesman Chris Gilligan declined comment. Bill Caylor, president of the Kentucky Coal Association, told AP, the next step in the case is up to the trucking company. He said. “ For the record, I'd like to see the plaintiff not pursue this lawsuit."

States sue after EPA weakens Clean Air Act for power plant mercury emissions

Nine states have filed suit against a new federal rule, released by the Environmental Protection Agency earlier this month, which loosens the Clean Air Act’s strict controls on power plant's mercury emissions.

The suit was filed by New Jersey and California, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York and Vermont, writes Anthony DePalma of The New York Times. It says the rule doesn’t do enough to control dangerous mercury emissions, often found in fish. Mercury emissions are considered a neurotoxin that can cause brain damage. “Instead of having to apply cutting-edge technology to reduce mercury, power plants will be given the option of using a system called cap and trade,” DePalma writes. “Under that system, operators can purchase pollution credits from other plants that have managed to lower their mercury emissions.”

Power companies say once the system begins, some operators will begin reducing mercury emissions almost immediately, DePalma writes. Scott H. Segal, director of the Electric Reliability Coordinating Council, told DePalma,"Facilities that can make cost-effective reductions early, so they can generate credits they can trade, have a big incentive to do it quickly." The New York Department of Health listed 51 water sources last year where people were advised to limit their consumption of fresh-caught fish, DePalma writes.

Mine worker drug tests bring mixed results; accidents cut, hiring harder, say owners

Efforts to help combat accidents in coal mines with more stringent drug testing have brought pluses and minus, say industry officials.

Coal mine owner Greg Damron credits drug testing at his Eastern Kentucky mines for reducing accidents nearly by half over the past three years, to about 15 minor injury incidents. But he said that pre-employment, random and post-accident screenings at his Cheyenne Elkhorn Coal Co. are also why he cannot hire enough people, writes Alan Maimon of The Courier-Journal. Damron told Maimon, "We could use 15 more miners, but we won't get them because of our drug tests."

Industry, labor and government representatives met in Hazard to discuss drug use in mines and whether the state should legislate drug testing. Kentucky Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet Secretary LaJuana Wilcher created the task force to, "eliminate substance abuse in Kentucky coal mines." Wilcher said the group would try to compile data to quantify the extent of drug use in mines. She said the state has had difficulty collecting reliable statistics on accidents caused by drug use because state and federal agencies lack the authority to test miners for drugs, he writes.

Currently, coal companies voluntarily create their own drug-testing policies. But not all do so. The meeting came after the General Assembly adjourned without getting to consider draft legislation that would have empowered the state Department of Mine Safety and Licensing to test miners after fatal or serious injury accidents. The bill did not get a sponsor, writes Maimon.

Horse Cave pollution costs Michigan company $325,000; Sierra Club applauds fine

A Michigan company that owns a manufacturing plant in Horse Cave, Ky., will pay the state a $325,000 settlement, 65 times larger than one it previously agreed to for allegedly dumping pollution in a sinkhole.

"In the waning weeks of Gov. Paul Patton's administration, state environmental regulators had reached a settlement with the Dart Container Corp., whose Kentucky plant makes foam and plastic cups and eating utensils, to pay $5,000," writes James Bruggers of The Courier-Journal.

The settlement was reached after inspectors had discovered a pipe sending wastewater from a production line to a sinkhole that flows into the Green River and Mammoth Cave National Park. But after Kentucky Attorney General Greg Stumbo's office reviewed the case, Stumbo obtained the larger settlement. Dart denies any wrongdoing. Corporate counsel Frank Liesman, told Bruggers, "To avoid any further cost, and a lot of problems, we feel it was appropriate to put this matter behind us." He said no one told the company the discharge had resulted in environmental harm. Liesman acknowledged discharge occurred but he believed water was being poured into the sinkhole.

A Sierra Club activist was pleased Stumbo found a way to increase the settlement, saying the earlier penalty was likely too small to be felt by the company. Aloma Dew, a Sierra Club representative, told Bruggers, "Five thousand dollars is a pitiful amount of money if there was pollution going into the water from an industrial operation. It wouldn't make them think twice."

Rural dating services match country folks seeking country mates, country loving

"Rural guy seeks country lady," appears to be the mantra of dating services who are expanding their services and marketing efforts, seeking to enhance romance beyond city limits.

Match.com now offers a specialty dating service for those whose dating predilections mirror their love for all things country. MyCountryMatch.com specializes in matching up available singles who are “ready to focus [their] efforts on someone with real country values—integrity, honesty and family.”

According to promotional material on the site, the premise behind MyCountryMatch.com starts “with the fact that most of our members are drawn to today's country music artists.” “Country music,” the Web site claims, “speaks to your heart. You relate to the lyrics, you appreciate the values, and the sexuality and romance make your heart pound.”

MyCountryMatch.com offers a free registration that allows users to navigate much of the site. Full privileges start at $9.95. Of particular note, MyCountryMatch offers RSS—Really Simple Syndication—feeds for prospective singles for each state. Men and women seeking members of either sex can add the feed appropriate for their state and dating interests to their news aggregator. Doing so brings a user a fresh batch of ads posted by interested singles as soon as the ads are updated.

The advantages of RSS extend beyond finding oneself a Martina McBride-loving sweetie. RSS feeds, coupled with freely available news aggregators like NewsGator and Feed Demon, allow users to receive a continuous news feed on specific topics of their choice. Check out James Lewin’s Introduction to RSS News Feeds for an in-depth introduction to the technology. (IRJCI Blog Research Assistant Josh Tucker wrote this story.)

Tuesday, March 29, 2005

Kansas research challenges happy home on the range; rural but dense, less happy

The notion of easy-going small-town life, with its picket fences and friendly neighbors, might only be true in the movies.

That's according to interviews of Kansans conducted in connection with a research project at the Kansas University School of Medicine's Rural Primary Care Practice and Research program, writes Terry Rombeck of The Lawrence Journal-World. The research showed that people living in sparsely populated rural areas and densely populated urban areas tended to be happier than those living in more densely populated rural areas.

Dr. Allen Greiner, who directs the program, told Rombeck, "I think part of it has to do with changes over time. What's happening in rural America is a consolidation of the agriculture industry. It's tougher for businesses that can stay afloat to be supported, and there's population shrinkage in those middle-sized counties." The 4,600 interviews were conducted in 2001 by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. The KU project was based on the results of two questions, one asking how connected a person felt to their community and the other asking how they rated their communities as a place to live, Rombeck writes.

The study found people living in frontier and rural areas were the most involved in their communities, while those in the densely settled rural areas were the unhappiest. Those in the densely settled rural areas also were more likely to smoke and drink than their counterparts in other categories of counties. Nineteen Kansas counties fall into the densely settled rural population category.

Sex offenders and their registries make news in Iowa, Georgia, Kentucky

Iowa authorities have virtually stopped distributing fliers listing sex offenders' addresses, saying it's up to the public to check the searchable Internet database for predators in their neighborhoods, but a prominent Iowa legislator wants to toughen the state's registry law.

Unless Iowans check www.iowasexoffenders .com , which lists 6,400 names, they probably won't know. Police officers aren't going to come knocking on their doors, write Jennifer Jacobs and Madelaine Jerousek, of The Des Moines Register. Mark Klaas, who founded the Klaas Kids Foundation in 1994, told Jacobs and Jerousek, "That's the trend across the country. I've always been in favor of a screwdriver sticking out of the forehead as a way of handling this, but I don't think that's going to go over well. The main source for accessing information about sex offenders in America now is pretty much the Internet."

Iowa House Speaker Christopher Rants, a Republican, has promised an amendment that would prevent a sex offender from living within 1,000 feet of a child care center or school. Iowa used to prevent sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of such places, but that law was ruled unconstitutional. Rants told the newspaper, "If we are going to have a discussion about the registry, it's time we put that law back on the books."

A nationwide survey last fall by Parents for Megan's Law found that Florida and Maryland scored best in notifying the public. Vermont and South Dakota were lowest, and Iowa ranked in the middle. The survey found that Iowa and 21 other states don't require active community notification when offenders move into new neighborhoods, and that Iowa and 26 other states don't offer phone numbers to access registries. Unlike Iowa, 15 states don't require juvenile sex offenders to register.

For a story in today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution, headlined Public Rushes Sex-Offender Site, click here. Georgia's online sex-offender registry has drawn a record number of visitors this month — probably because the recent kidnapping and murder of a 9-year-old Florida girl has jarred people into wondering just who's living near them, a Georgia Bureau of Investigation spokesman told AJC writer Jill Young. For Georgia registry go to www.ganet.org/gbi. and click on sex offender.

For a story on three sex-offenders who've slipped out of Floyd County, Kentucky, click here for a story from The Floyd County Times. For the national sex offender registry clearinghouse, listing all states' registries, click here.

Georgia bill shields info on elected officials; 'lockdown' blocks union, public access

A broad new exception to Georgia's public records law could make it nearly impossible for citizens to learn where elected officials live or how to reach them by telephone.

The House bill would block disclosure of personal information about elected officials and employees of every state and local government agency in Georgia. Home addresses, telephone numbers and Social Security numbers would be among the protected data, writes Alan Judd of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Though the bill does not specify which documents would be shielded from the public, it could allow officials to keep their addresses secret even on their annual financial disclosure statements. Those filings, which can reveal conflicts between an official's public actions and private holdings, require hundreds of the state's top elected and appointed officials to list the real estate and businesses they own, Judd writes. Hollie Manheimer, executive director of the Georgia First Amendment Foundation, an open government advocacy group, told Judd, "It essentially is a lockdown. And it doesn't seem ...necessary in all, if any, cases. The broadness is the thing to fear. It can be manipulated to hide whatever the public employer wants to."

The bill, which is ready for Gov. Sonny Perdue to sign into law, is one of numerous secrecy measures introduced during this year's legislative session, including a measure which would allow government agencies to negotiate private development deals in secret and another which would allow state university foundations to withhold donors' names from the public.The public records exception bill, sponsored by Rep. Austin Scott (R-Tifton), could cloud the transparency afforded by numerous government documents filed by elected and appointed officials, he writes.

Minnesota newspaper appeals case; open meeting law, confidentiality request at issue

The Minnesota Supreme Court will again be asked to determine the power of local officials to close public hearings under an exception to the state's Open Meeting law.

A Court of Appeals panel ruled against the Brainerd Dispatch last week in a case that challenged the Brainerd City Council's use of the attorney-client privilege to discuss a threatened lawsuit, reports The Associated Press.

The Dispatch publisher, Terry McCollough, told the newspaper's reporters he will appeal the case to the state's highest court. The Supreme Court isn't required to review the appellate court's decision. That ruling upheld a district court's dismissal of the lawsuit against the City Council. The council met in closed session in July 2003 about a possible lawsuit from a peace group that had been denied permission to march in the local Fourth of July parade, writes AP

Judge Natalie Hudson wrote for the Court of Appeals, "The need to have confidential discussion with specifically appointed counsel and to discuss strategies to defend against potential claims and avoid financial damages outweighs the purposes of the Minnesota Open Meeting Law in this case."

Mark Anfinson, the paper's attorney, said the ruling could allow public bodies to go into private session more frequently when controversial issues arise and prompt threatened lawsuits. "It knocks a significant tooth out of the smile of the Open Meeting law." In 2002, the Supreme Court narrowed the ability of government bodies to close public meetings, ruling that the Prior Lake City Council broke the law when it met privately to discuss a legal threat on a pending matter. An attorney for the city said last week that the latest ruling was consistent with the Prior Lake case.

Tennessee House approves meth-free measure; similar to effective Oklahoma law

The Tennessee House has joined the Senate in unanimously approving the "Meth-Free Tennessee Act of 2005," aimed at ending the state's status as leader in the Southeast in illegal methamphetamine manufacturing.

The Senate concurred in a minor House amendment later in the evening, clearing the bill for a ceremonial signing tomorrow by Gov. Phil Bredesen. The bill was drafted by a task force the governor appointed last year, writes Tom Humphrey of The Knoxville News Sentinel. The bill is similar to a law in Oklahoma credited with reducing that state's illegal meth labs by 82 percent within a year. House sponsor Rep. Charles Curtiss, D-Sparta, said 1,594 meth labs were found in Tennessee last year, 75 percent of all those discovered in the southeastern United States.

The bill would move certain cold medicines behind pharmacy counters. The pharmaceuticals are a key ingredient in meth. It also would limit the amount of pseudoephedrine-based medicine that people can buy and requires identification to get it. The state Pharmacy Board will decide which cold medicines need to be restricted, Humphrey writes.

Curtiss told reporters if the 82 percent reduction in Oklahoma happens in Tennessee,"That means we'll be down to 319, and we'll have effectively cleaned up 1,200 meth labs without spending a dime.It's going to curb the clandestine labs in our state. It's not going to stop meth abuse. Meth is now coming out of Mexico into our country just like cocaine." For The Associated Press version of this story, click here. For a story on South Carolina's efforts to deal with a growing meth problem written by Brock Vergakus of The (Myrtle Beach) Sun, click here.

W. Va. Senate approves casino gambling; sponsor predicts 'excellent' chance of passage

Legislation to legalize casino-style table gambling at West Virginia’s four racetracks remained on a hot streak yesterday, winning passage in the state Senate.

The bill goes to the House of Delegates, where lead sponsor Sen. Andy McKenzie, R-Ohio, said of its chances for passage, “I think they’re excellent.” Senators rejected several Republican amendments, including one by Sen. Steve Harrison, R-Kanawha, to require a statewide referendum on whether to allow the four host counties to vote to authorize table games at their local tracks, writes Phil Kabler of The Charleston Gazette.

Harrison told reporters just before his amendment was defeated, “I don’t think anyone can credibly argue that casino gambling won’t have a statewide impact.” Also rejected were amendments to put the state’s share of table gambling profits into special revenue accounts, first to offset the sales tax on food, and second, to offset state gasoline excise taxes. The Senate adopted an amendment by Sen. Don Caruth, R-Mercer, to set aside a portion of the state’s profits to offset counties’ regional jail expenses. Senators also approved an amendment to raise the annual table game license fee for each track from $25,000 to $150,000. The additional $125,000 per track would be divided among the state’s Regional Economic Development Authorities. For The Associated Press version, click here.

N.C. tobacco farmers plot new course; some see same level but fewer producers

With the end of price supports and restrictions on how much they can grow that came with last year’s tobacco buyout legislation, Western North Carolina’s nearly 4,000 growers will have to decide what they’ll do.

Eddie Shelton, a Madison county farmer who usually grows about 50 acres of tobacco but is cutting back to 40 this year, told John Boyle of the Asheville Citizen-Times, “I’m just like everybody else — I’m really concerned about making a living the next 10 years. You’re afraid to spend any money on anything to be able to farm any better because you just don’t know what’s going to happen.” Shelton says he’s selling close to the same number of tobacco seedlings this year as in past years, an indication that growers will stay in the business. But he expects burley production to be more concentrated among fewer producers.

Shelton welcomes the end of having to lease land and pay quota holders for their pounds — usually 30 cents to 35 cents a pound. But production costs such as labor and fertilizer likely will not decrease, and the tobacco he grows will be totally dependent on the free market. Shelton told Boyle, “The only thing that really worries me, with the support price being gone, you’re really not sure you’re going to be able to sell the tobacco you grow. They may not take it all.”

Madison County had about 900 farmers who grew tobacco last year, a number likely to dwindle considerably, according to Charles Zink, county executive director for the Farm Service Agency, a division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that has administered the tobacco program for decades. Zink told the newspaper, “The older ones are pretty much getting out. There’s others saying if there’s a market closer, they’ll stay in it.”

Aaron Martin, district director for the Farm Service Agency western region of 11 mountain counties, which includes about 3,500 tobacco growers, says it is the end of an era. Martin told boyle, “You’ll see the numbers shrink greatly. There will be far fewer growers, and the ones that do grow will grow a lot more acres. So tobacco production will be concentrated more in the Asheville, Buncombe, Madison areas. A lot of the older growers, the money they get, that’ll end (their growing careers).”

Judge fines British American Tobacco quarter-mill for 'egregious lack of candor'

A federal judge has fined a British tobacco company $250,000 for an "egregious lack of candor" in violating an earlier order in the Justice Department's lawsuit against the cigarette industry.

The fine, imposed by the judge, Gladys Kessler of the U.S. District Court, grows out of the efforts of the company, British American Tobacco, to keep a potentially damaging memorandum out of the racketeering trial of cigarette manufacturers, reports The Associated Press.

Judge Kessler said the company acknowledged last month that it had falsely claimed that an executive was able to answer questions from government lawyers about parts of the memorandum that had been publicly revealed. The judge had earlier ordered the company to make available an executive who could talk about the memorandum.

Justice Department lawyers have been seeking the 1990 memorandum for two years, believing it could strengthen their argument that tobacco companies committed fraud by lying about the dangers of smoking and hiding that information from the public. The memorandum by a London lawyer, Andrew Foyle, advises an Australian subsidiary of the company on whether it should keep or destroy internal paperwork in light of increasing litigation.

Six institutions receive grants to digitize historical twentieth-century newspapers

Six institutions will receive a combined $1.9 million in grants, announced the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress, as part of the National Digital Newspapers Program, an effort to develop a free, Internet database of U.S. newspapers now in public domain.

"Newspapers are among the most important historical documents we have as Americans. They tell us who we were, who we are, and where we're going," said NEH Chairman Bruce Cole.

The institutions include: the University of California, the University of Florida Libraries, the University of Kentucky Research Foundation, the New York Public Library, the University of Utah, and the Library of Virginia. The institutions will each digitize 100,000 or more pages of the most historically significant newspapers from 1900-1910 in their respective states, writes the NEH. Once finished, the papers will be available through the Library of Congress’ website. “It will be available to the American public for free, forever,” said Cole.

The six awards were made as part of the We the People initiative, announced by President Bush in 2002. The initiative recognizes any project that seeks to advance understanding of American culture and history. The Digital Newspaper Program is an outgrowth of the U.S. Newspaper Program, an effort by individual states to microfilm local newspapers, which will soon be completed.

Wyoming's budget surplus tops states; energy-dependent states lag behind

Record budget surpluses in Wyoming have prompted an unprecedented spending spree by lawmakers the past two sessions.

Spurred by a huge windfall from mineral taxes, especially on natural gas, lawmakers boosted state spending on government operations from $1.6 billion to $2.5 billion in two years, an eye-popping 56 percent jump, writes Robert W. Flack of The Associated Press.

Wyoming is among a handful of states that are outperforming the rest of the nation, said Arturo Perez, fiscal analyst for the National Conference of State Legislatures. The others include Alaska, Montana, South Dakota, West Virginia, Delaware and Florida.

Perez told Flack, "States that are heavily dependent on energy, more so than other states, have gotten by to a much better degree, and the energy prices being the primary reason for that. But on a percentage basis, no other state came close to matching Wyoming's surplus this past year." Just six years ago, Wyoming faced a $127 million deficit budget. State officials were quick to point out that a significant amount of the extra money also was socked away in savings, allocated toward replacing dilapidated schools and public buildings and shared with income-strapped cities and towns for street, water and sewer repairs.

Humane Society asks Louisiana Supreme Court to uphold parish’s cockfighting ban

The Humane Society of the United States has filed a brief with the Louisiana Supreme Court, asking the court to uphold a Caddo Parish ordinance that bans cockfighting. Louisiana is one of two states in the union where cockfighting is not banned, but the Parish has banned it since 1987. Local promoters and operators of cockfighting pins are challenging the ordinance, saying local authorities can’t prohibit animal fights, writes the Humane Society.

"The plaintiffs are attempting to strip local authorities of their home rule authority, and to pave the way for the reintroduction of cockfighting in all of the Louisiana communities that have specifically outlawed this abhorrent practice," said Jonathan R. Lovvorn, vice president of animal protection litigation for the Humane Society.

“Cockfighting is an arranged fighting match between two specially bred roosters often enhanced with steroids and other drugs who maim each other until one is declared the winner,” says the Humane Society. “The birds are often fitted with specially designed knives that are attached to their talons. Roosters—winners or losers—often die as a result of their injuries from the fight.”

Va. gov. goes 'to Big-eared bat' to add flying rodent to 'state animals' ranks

Virginia, nicknamed the "mother of presidents," soon may be the father of bats.

Gov. Mark R. Warner made it official yesterday when he signed into law the bill making the Virginia big-eared bat the official bat of the commonwealth, writes Michael Hardy of the Richmond Times-Dispatch. In a statement accompanying his signing, the Democrat offered some doggerel to explain his decision. "We have a state dog and a fish and a bird. And of the fossil I'm sure you have heard. So why not a bat? What's wrong with that? The state beverage is no more absurd."

The endangered cave-dweller from Southwest Virginia won the votes of state lawmakers last winter when they added the critter to the state's pantheon of official flora and fauna, writes Hardy. There are about 1,500 to 2,200 big-eared bats in Virginia. The brown, fuzzy big-eared bat - smaller than a sparrow - also takes flight in the mountains of West Virginia, Kentucky and North Carolina. The legislation becomes law on July 1, making Virginia only the second state designating an official bat. Texas also has an official one: the Mexican free-tailed bat, he writes.

Monday, March 28, 2005

Environmental activists plan summer protests against mountaintop-removal mining

Environmental activists from around the country are being urged to descend on Central Appalachia this summer for a series of protests against mountaintop-removal coal mining.

Called “Mountain Justice Summer,” the four-month campaign is modeled after protests more than a decade ago against logging old-growth forests in Northern California, writes Ken Ward Jr. of The Charleston Gazette. The event is being sponsored and promoted by a Tennessee-based affiliate of the controversial group EarthFirst.On Thursday, Coal River Mountain Watch, based in Whitesville, W.Va., is hosting a kickoff rally. Group officials told Ward none of West Virginia’s major environmental organizations has signed on as a sponsor of Mountain Justice Summer, but they support the campaign's goal of stopping large-scale strip mining.

Judy Bonds of Coal River Mountain Watch, which supports the project’s goals but is not a sponsor, told Ward, “It is more a campaign than it is a coalition of groups.” J. John Johnson, a Knoxville, Tenn. resident and volunteer with EarthFirst, agreed: “Mountain Justice Summer is more of an amorphous movement than a tight organization.”

Organizers are asking for volunteers to protest mining operations. A notice on their Web site says, “We see our call to action as an emergency plea, in desperate circumstances — to ratchet up the resistance to the atrocity of mountain range removal before it’s too late. Mountain range removal is the ultimate theft of a people’s heritage, the destruction of entire watersheds and the annihilation of one of the most biologically diverse places on earth. And, the perpetrators are turning it into the biological equivalent of a parking lot.”

To view Mining Central Appalachia's mountains: Writers lament it, some residents praise it, an item in the March 25 Rural Blog on a Harper's article about the mining practice, written by University of Kentucky English professor Erik Reese click here. Reese was interviewed today on XM Satellite Radio by Bob Edwards. To listen, sign up for a free trial on the XM Web site, www.xmradio.com.

Mountain tourism on the map: National Geographic charts Appalachia’s best attractions

The Appalachian Regional Commission has helped states throughout the mountainous region build roads and other infrastructure, and provide high-speed Internet access. Now the agency is turning its attention to another economic development tool -- tourism.

As reported earlier by several local and regional newspapers, ARC paid the National Geographic Society to develop a "geo-tourism" map promoting a mix of more than 350 attractions reflecting the diversity of the 13-state region. Pam Ramsey of The Associated Press writes that the attractions range from the mainstream to the obscure, from the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y., to what's billed as the oldest continuous flea market, in Ripley, Miss.

Also featured, writes Ramsey, are Civil War sites, museums, parks, hiking trails, festivals, historic districts, spas and resorts, celebrity birthplaces, prehistoric Indian mounds and notable farms. The ARC said in a recent news release, "This map delivers a taste of Appalachia's distinctive culture and heritage to a wide audience, exposing this 'undiscovered national treasure' to many first-time visitors."

Anne Pope, ARC co-chairwoman, told the AP the goal is to spur economic growth by drawing tourist dollars to Appalachia. The region covers all of West Virginia and parts of Kentucky, Alabama, Georgia, Maryland, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Virginia. In a 2003 report, the ARC said tourism's overall economic impact on Appalachia was $29.1 billion and the industry employed a total of 601,431 workers. The map was also the subject of Louisville Courier-Journal columnist Byron Crawford's Sunday column.

Denied state funding, Kentucky agency folds; aim was to brings jobs to the mountains

The East Kentucky Corp., created by the Kentucky General Assembly in 1990, is closing its doors after being shut out of the new state budget.

The purpose of the now defunct agency was to bring jobs to the mountains. But, executive director Tom Jones said in a news release, "We are out of money to continue operations. We have not received state funding for almost two years and did not receive funding in the recently enacted state budget." The agency will close on Thursday, writes the Lexington Herald-Leader.

East Kentucky Corp. was a mix of public money with private donations from several large companies that had made fortunes from Eastern Kentucky's natural resources. After a slow start, the agency recently boasted of recruiting 27 new companies with 4,130 jobs to 20 counties in the region. It also raised more than $1 million in private funds for small-business loans, writes the Herald-Leader.

EKC had mostly relied on state funds for its annual $500,000 budget. In 2003, however, the state Senate eliminated funding for EKC, which was saved from folding last year by donations from some member counties. Gov. Ernie Fletcher had renewed $480,000 in funding in his initial proposed budget this year, but the funds were not included in the final version. EKC board chairman Lewis Warrix expressed gratitude to counties, cities, private individuals and corporations who supported the agency, the Herald-Leader reports.

Meth-lab aftermath; 30 percent of meth-lab busts involve rural children, mothers

The spreading and profoundly destructive nature of methamphetamine is becoming more evident as social service agencies deal with jittery babies, mistreated toddlers and strung-out mothers in the aftermath of law enforcement crackdowns on the insidious substance.

"The meth epidemic took root on the West Coast and is worsening in many big cities nationwide. But its heartbreaking toll is evident in the towns and small cities of America's heartland -- Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Indiana," writes David Cary of The Associated Press.

Nationally, authorities have dismantled more than 50,000 clandestine meth labs since 2001, writes Cary, including some 4,000 in Iowa. Roughly 30 percent were "mom and pop" labs in homes where children live. According to Holly Hopper, chairwoman of the Kentucky Alliance of Drug Endangered Children, Kentucky law enforcement officials found 110 children in 2003 in the same locations as meth labs. Seizures of meth labs soared from 66 in 1999 to more than 500 in 2004, according to Kentucky State Police statistics.

Thousands of children, nationwide, have been taken away from their meth-abusing parents, placed with relatives or shifted into already overloaded foster care systems, Cary writes. Scores have been injured, a dozen or more killed; thousands have been born with traces of meth in their bodies. Dr. Rizwan Shah, a pediatrician at Blank Children's Hospital in Des Moines, saw her first meth-exposed child in 1993 and has studied more than 500 of them since, becoming a respected expert on the phenomenon. Some of these children, she said, suffer serious brain damage .Others experience long-lasting development problems, while many will grow into adults without serious health consequences.

Texas official admits missteps that helped railroads in unsafe crossings lawsuits

The Texas official overseeing rail crossings has made comments in court proceedings that many in the rail industry "would consider me their friend." That may not be surprising given what the official, Darin Kosmak, has done to help railroads fight lawsuits brought by accident victims, reports The New York Times.

"At the behest of the rail industry, Kosmak on about 100 occasions over the last 11 years signed sworn statements about warning signs at railroad crossings, according to court testimony. The affidavits were mostly drafted by the rail industry, which then used them in case after case as a critical defense against claims that unsafe crossings had caused deaths and serious injury, court records show," writes Walt Bogdanich. According to his testimony, Kosmak recently admitted that his sworn statements misrepresented -- unintentionally, he says -- what he knew about those crossings.

The Texas case comes amid criticism of how the government oversees rail safety, as well as an increase in the number of deaths at grade crossings last year. An inspector general's report, made public last month, cited substantial safety problems at the nation's big railroads and raised questions about federal regulation of the industry, Bogdanich writes.

Carl V. Crow, a lawyer in Houston, told Bogdanich, Kosmak's admission could have repercussions for similar lawsuits in Texas, where more than 5,000 people have been killed or injured at grade crossings in the last 20 years. Kosmak acknowledged problems with the affidavits in several legal proceedings. Crow told him the affidavits, were "devastating" to accident victims. He said, "People get killed at their crossings, and they had this guy for 11 years who looked like a guy wearing a white hat out of Austin, just doing his civic duty."

North Carolina farmers get the goat: Leaner meat, better pasture management

Several farmers in Hendersonville, N.C., have started raising a type of livestock whose meat is considered to be the most popular meat in the world: goats.

Hendersonville farmers have started raising Boer goats after a rise in the immigrant population, reports Jennie Jones Giles of the Times-News. The latino and Muslim populations have both increased, and along with them the demand for goat meat, especially around religious holidays, said a retired high school agriculture teacher, Carroll Parker.

The meat is much healthier than beef because it’s leaner and has less cholesterol, Parker said. To better manager their pastures, farmers can place goats and cattle together and the goats will eat weeds and plants that the cows will not. Dairy goats can also be used for pasture management, but they require much more work than meat goats, he said. One difficulty in successful goat raising is fencing, Parker explained, especially if you raise cattle and goats together. "The fences have to be strong enough to keep the goats in and the predators out," Parker said.

According to the University of Kentucky's Department of Agriculture, Kentucky has also increased goat production and is ranked fifth in the nation. For The Associated Press version of the story, click here.

Earth to gas tank: Kentucky farmers filling up on soybean-produced biodiesel

Diesel fuel made with soybeans produced at a Union County farm is being pumped at a Paducah service station, the first site in Western Kentucky to offer the alternative fuel to retail customers.

Soybean Board spokeswoman Jamie Morgan said biodiesel has been sold in only six or seven other places in Kentucky, reports The Associated Press, including stations in Lexington and Northern Kentucky. Proponents say biodiesel costs about three to five cents more per gallon, but burns cleaner and improves engine lubrication.

Andy Sprague, a farmer in Sturgis, opened a small bio-diesel plant in January. Sprague each day produces about 2,500 gallons of B2, a blend of two percent biodiesel-fuel, AP reports. He sells the fuel to Mid West Terminal in Paducah, but before last week it had gone solely to farmers and select customers. Now the fuel is available at the Kentucky Tobacco Outlet, which recently starting pumping bio-diesel. The station's owner, Bob Hill, told reporters the fuel can be used in any diesel engine. The Mid West Terminal, Hill said, "wanted somebody to take the initiative to start retailing it. I said I'd be willing to do it because it's something that will help the farmers and the environment."

National Park Service fills holes, prepares abandoned rail line in Tennessee for trail

At what point is a mud hole more than a mud hole? The answer, writes Morgan Simmons of the Knoxville News-Sentinel, can be found along the abandoned Oneida & Western Railroad bed in the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area, where pools of ink-black water collect after every rain like medieval moats.

This winter the National Park Service filled in the worst of these wet areas with $14,000 worth of gravel. In all, 13 mud holes were eliminated on almost five miles of the O&W between Zenith and the O&W bridge. At 100 feet long, 30 feet wide and three feet deep, the biggest of these resembled catfish ponds. At times, the nine-person crew had to wear waders, writes Simmons.

The O&W receives more use, and more varieties of use, than any other trail in the Big South Fork. In addition, it passes through one of the most historically rich river gorges in the park. The O&W stretches 15 miles through the southern end of the park, and being an old railbed, has a virtually flat grade. Horseback riders use it as part of the Cumberland Valley Loop, and the trail is popular among mountain bikers, hikers and all-terrain vehicle users, he writes.

Wally Linder, head of trail maintenance for the Big South Fork, told Simmons the compacted dirt and poor drainage of the sunken railroad bed helped to create the monster mud holes. "You can see where some of the holes were so deep, the horses have worn new trail to get around them," Linder said. "Putting this gravel down is one of the best things we've done for the park." The O&W runs parallel to North White Oak Creek, a major tributary of the Big South Fork of the Cumberland River. In addition to beaver and various game fish, North White Oak Creek also is home to a federally endangered mussel species known as the Cumberland Elktoe. Park biologist Steve Bakaletz said re-surfacing the O&W will significantly reduce the amount of sediment that washes into the stream.

Bakaletz told Simmons, "The mud holes were an environmental problem. The work here will help water quality and make the trail more accessible to nonmotorized use." Under the Big South Fork's new general management plan, motorized vehicle use on the O&W would continue from the east as far as the O&W bridge. West of the bridge the trail only would be open to hikers, mountain bikers and horseback riders, he writes.

Plan to wipe out exotic deer sparks debate; officials say endangering native species

Rare species of deer called fallow and axis deer, introduced for hunting six decades ago, are popular with tourists eager to see wildlife at Point Reyes (California) National Seashore. But park rangers see them as an invasive species threatening native deer and elk, devouring excessive amounts of vegetation, hurting agriculture and possibly spreading disease, writes Terence Chea of The Associated Press.

Now Point Reyes officials want to eliminate more than 1,000 nonnative deer, using shotguns and contraception, from the 71,000-acre national park about 40 miles north of San Francisco, writes Chea. Park Superintendent Don Neubacher told him, "We think the timing is pretty critical to control the population and keep them from spreading widely throughout the state of California." The park's draft plan calls for eradicating the two exotic species by 2020. After the 60-day public comment period ends on April 8, the park is expected to issue a final plan late this year or early next year, and start eliminating the deer in 2006.

But, the idea of killing these deer has prompted intense debate among wildlife biologists, conservationists, dairy ranchers and animal activists, Chea writes. Park scientists and some environmentalists say the invaders must be eliminated to protect the native ecosystem. Gordon Bennett, chairman of the Sierra Club's Marin County group, told him, "Protecting native species and biological diversity should be the park's prime priority. These exotic species are basically agents of genocide. They displace and occupy the habitat of native species."

But many nearby residents and animal rights advocates argue that the animals shouldn't be killed just because they aren't natives. Elliot Katz, president of In Defense of Animals, based in Marin County, told Chea, "I think it is being both cruel and insensitive to say just because they're not native we should kill them." Dozens of residents voiced their opposition to shooting the deer at a recent meeting at Point Reyes. Ilka Hartmann, who lives in the northern California coastal community of Bolinas, told officials, "I don't agree with killing the deer at all. I think it should not be an option. These are beautiful, majestic animals that were brought here against their will to be hunted."

Survey says many smokers still confused, uninformed about dangers of the habit

A recent study from Rutgers University and the National Cancer Institute has found that many smokers don’t understand the risks of developing cancer from smoking, says the American Cancer Society's web site.

The study, published in Tobacco Control, surveyed over 6,000 people, including 1,245 current smokers. About 21 percent of smokers thought their risk of developing lung cancer was a little higher than a nonsmoker, 23 percent thought it was twice as high, and 23 percent thought it was 10 times higher or more. In reality, a smoker’s risk of developing lung cancer is 10-20 times higher than a nonsmoker, depending on how many cigarettes the smoker uses and how long he or she has smoked. Around 36 percent of smokers thought that developing lung cancer depends on genes more than any other factors, but ACS statistics say tobacco smoking is directly responsible for over 87 percent of lung cancer cases.

Lead study author Neil Weinstein, PhD, wasn’t surprised. "It's a continuing challenge, not only in smoking but in all sorts of health behaviors, to help people realize the size of the risk, not just that there is a risk," said Weinstein, a professor in the Human Ecology department at Rutgers and an associate member of the Arizona Cancer Center.

The study shows that despite many public campaigns, people are still confused about the dangers of smoking. "One big issue is that even if we can get people to acknowledge that smoking is not healthy, we can't assume that smokers agree that it's unhealthy for them," Weinstein said. "They find various reasons for thinking that the way they smoke and the kind of cigarettes they smoke and all kinds of other pseudo-factors mean that it's not as bad as for other smokers."

Minnesota ranks No. 1 in high-school diplomas, among top 10 in college graduates

The U.S. Census Bureau will announce today that Minnesota -- rural, isolated and cold -- is the No. 1 state in share of residents with high-school diplomas, and has moved into the top 10 in percentage of adults with college degrees.

Minnesota demographer Tom Gillaspy told David Peterson of the Minneapolis Star Tribune the precise rankings are less important than the evidence that a "cold state at the end of the road" is still managing to attract the bright young minds that are key to a region's