Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Nation's one-room schools survive in small numbers, mainly in West

An ongoing National Public Radio series is examining one-room schools in the U.S.: "They've dwindled from 190,000 in 1919 to fewer than 400 today. The bulk of them are in isolated Western towns. But there are schools sprinkled across the United States," writes Neenah Ellis.

One recent story profiled a school in Croydon, N.H., a small town located 30 miles northwest of Concord. Croydon's school was built in 1780 and unlike the low enrollment closing many of the nation's one-room landmarks, this school might actually close because of unprecedented growth, reports Ellis.

"Croydon's population varied only a little for many years, hovering for a long time between 600 and 700. Now a lack of housing in nearby towns and cities is bringing people here. Two new subdivisions have broken ground. Last spring, there were 18 students at the school, and most agree that's near the upper limit. If more come, the residents of Croydon will have hard choices before them: renovate the old, historic school, build a new school, or send more kids down the road to the next town," writes Ellis. Click here to read more and listen to the report.

For the series main page, click here. To listen to the latest report on a school in Death Valley, click here.

Workload, lack of staff for paperwork lead to closure of Red Cross offices

In the latest example of the American Red Cross' abandonment of small towns, the Waynesboro, Pa., chapter will shut down June 30 because of new regulations issued by the regional headquarters and a lack of finances and volunteers, reports Denise Bonura of The Record Herald in Waynesboro.

"Smaller Red Cross chapters are closing all across the country because they cannot afford to keep up with the fees, the new regulations and the diminishing number of volunteers," writes Bonura. "There are only 825 chapters remaining in the U.S., compared to the 1,763 that existed in the late 1900s." The closings leave 40 million-plus people without the Red Cross' services.

New requirements call for Red Cross workers to write detailed local chapter policies on handling disaster relief, the bird flu threat and a possible attack involving weapons of mass destruction. The Waynesboro chapter includes one full-time and one part-time employee and about 50 volunteers, and new requirements hold every chapter accountable for all reports, regardless of staffing numbers, notes Bonura. (Read more)

Thanks to Al Tompkins of the Poynter Institute for alerting us to this story.

Pollution laws shut down charcoal producers, make for cleaner Missouri

Tighter regulations are forcing small-time charcoal producers out of the business in Missouri, "where an estimated 60 percent to 75 percent of the nation's charcoal supply flows from kilns to backyard cookouts and barbecues," writes Todd C. Frankel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

While new rules on smoke have helped make the state's charcoal kilns, which are concrete or metal buildings shaped like small airplane hangars, more environmentally friendly, they have also made it virtually impossible for smaller operators to continue. In the state's Ozarks' hardwood forests, residents depend on using wood waste for charcoal as a way to combat poverty, reports Frankel.

Make no mistake: The demand for charcoal is high, but pollution laws limit how much small companies can produce. That coupled with the expense of removing soot from the kiln's exhaust have reduced the state's number of charcoal kilns to 87, down from 280 in 1998. However, before the new laws, "white smoke poured over the land. At other plants the smoke got so bad it obscured highways and led to thousands of complaints," writes Frankel. (Read more)

Iowa telecom sues USDA over loan program for rural Internet

Mediacom Communications is suing the U.S. Department of Agriculture over a low-interest loan program designed to provide rural areas with high-speed Internet access.

"The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Des Moines federal court, alleges that the loans are unfairly subsidizing competitors to companies such as Mediacom, Iowa's leading cable television provider. The lawsuit seeks to force the Agriculture Department to rewrite its regulations for the program and to block a loan granted last fall to a company in Fairfield. The rival, Local Internet Service Co., was awarded $9.5 million to provide fiber-optic service to Fairfield," reports the Des Moines Register.

At the same time it is being sued for making Internet loans, USDA is considering calls for looser rules on the program. Critics have argued its requirements for applicants are too narrow and automatically eliminate some of the communities most in need of an Internet boost. One rule change being considered would ease a requirement that borrowers have enough cash to cover 20 percent of the requested loan, reports Philip Brasher of the Register's Washington bureau..

The lending program was modeled after the federal program that extended electric service to rural America in the 1930s and 1940s. "The Agriculture Department has approved 57 loans nationwide, including four in Iowa, totaling $872 million," writes Brasher. "A recent report by the Iowa Utilities Board found that 95 percent of Iowa's rural communities had access to high-speed Internet. But the analysts noted that just because there is service in a town doesn't mean that every business or home can get it." (Read more)

Wisconsin governor signs farm co-op bill to boost technology

Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle signed economic development legislation Tuesday that will help farm cooperatives raise additional money and pursue large facilities designed to house the latest technology

"By supporting Wisconsin farmers we are growing the rural economy of our state," Doyle said. "Our farming industry is a top priority of my administration. Wisconsin agriculture is on the cutting edge and now is the critical time to move forward with innovation and investment opportunities.

"From new refining facilities for ethanol and biodiesel to innovative cooperative housing developments, this legislation will foster development of cooperative high-tech business ventures in the bio-tech and bio-medical arena," reports the Wisconsin Ag Connection. (Read more)

Rural communities should pool resources to combat poverty, says writer

The inaugural issue of Rural Realities, a publication of the Rural Sociological Society, examines social and economic efforts to provide hope for poor people living in rural America.

"Hurricane Katrina exposed the poverty that lay in our midst, and although the images served to remind the country of its enduring inequality, the picture was one of urban poverty," writes Leif Jensen. "What the images failed to expose is the rural face of poverty, which in the South — and especially in the Delta — is the face of poverty. About one-third of the area hit by Katrina is rural, and the rate of poverty in the rural South stands at nearly 18 percent, the highest of any region in the country. What is too often overlooked is that poverty rates nationwide are consistently higher in rural than in urban areas (as a percentage of the population), and poverty is far more persistent in rural localities."

Limited economic diversity and sparse populations contribute to the problem of poverty in rural areas, and Jensen suggests that communities "pool resources and knowledge and build regional alliances that support innovative economic development activities." Child care and transportation are two areas cited as in need of major improvement. (Read more)

Members of the new publication's editorial board are Walt Armbruster of the Farm Foundation, Frank Boteler of Economic and Community Systems in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Alisha Coleman of Penn State University, Tadlock Cowan of the Congressional Research Service, Al Cross of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, Brian Dabson of the Rural Policy Research Institute, Robert Gibbs of USDA's Economic Research Service, Steve Murdock of the University of Texas- San Antonio, Jim Richardson of the National Rural Funders Collaborative, Louis Swanson of Colorado State University, Rachel Tompkins of the Rural School and Community Trust, and Michelle Worosz of Michigan State University.

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Rural areas still lag in broadband use, but aren't as far behind in posting

Rural areas' use of high-speed Internet service is growing virtually as fast as the nation overall -- about 40 percent per year -- but only a fourth of rural adults have broadband at home, according to the latest surbey from the Pew Internet and American Life Project. However, rural users account for a larger share of those who post content, illustrating the Internet's utility for overcoming the isolation that defines "rural."

A national survey in the first quarter of 2006 found that 45 percent of adults in cities and suburbs said they had broadband at home, nearly double the 25 percent rate in rural areas. All those figures were about 40 percent higher than in a survey taken in the first quarter of 2005.

There was much less geographic difference among Internet users who say they have posted content online -- shared something they created themselves, including their own Web page or blog. The survey found that 27 percent of rural users had posted content, not far behind the suburbs' 34 percent and cities' 39 percent.

Absence of broadband service from telecommunications companies has been cited as the main reason for the broadband deficit in rural America, but the project's latest report suggests that relatively high prices charged by sole-source providers is also a factor.

"Rural areas are the places with the highest incidence of having one high-speed service available to them," the report says. "Among rural respondents, 35 percent said they did not have more than one high-speed provider available to them, versus 24 percent of non-rural respondents who said this." Those with more than one provider available "said they paid $36 monthly for service. Those who said they did not have more than one provider reported a monthly bill of $38." Satellite broadband service is even more expensive, generally starting at around $50 a month for a relatively slow link. Click here to read the report.

Democracy of Web being threatened by tiered-pricing idea, writer says

"The World Wide Web is the most democratic mass medium there has ever been. Freedom of the press, as the saying goes, belongs only to those who own one. Radio and television are controlled by those rich enough to buy a broadcast license. But anyone with an Internet-connected computer can reach out to a potential audience of billions," opines Adam Cohen for The New York Times.

"Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the British computer scientist who invented the Web in 1989, envisioned a platform on which everyone in the world could communicate on an equal basis. But his vision is being threatened by telecommunications and cable companies, and other Internet service providers, that want to impose a new system of fees that could create a hierarchy of Web sites. Major corporate sites would be able to pay the new fees, while little-guy sites could be shut out," continues Cohen.

"Sir Tim, who keeps a low profile, has begun speaking out in favor of 'net neutrality,' rules requiring that all Web sites remain equal on the Web. Corporations that stand to make billions if they can push tiered pricing through have put together a slick lobbying and marketing campaign. But Sir Tim and other supporters of net neutrality are inspiring growing support from Internet users across the political spectrum who are demanding that Congress preserve the Web in its current form."

Cohen concludes, "The companies fighting net neutrality have been waging a misleading campaign, with the slogan 'hands off the Internet,' that tries to look like a grass-roots effort to protect the Internet in its current form. What they actually favor is stopping the government from protecting the Internet, so they can get their own hands on it. But the other side of the debate has some large corporate backers, too, like Google and Microsoft, which could be hit by access fees since they depend on the Internet service providers to put their sites on the Web." (Read more)

Victims' families may be barred from inquiry into Ky. mining disaster

"Kentucky investigators have subpoenaed about two dozen witnesses to appear for interviews, beginning Wednesday, on the May 20 explosion in Harlan County that killed five underground coal miners. But representatives of the miners’ relatives will not be allowed to attend the interviews unless Gov. Ernie Fletcher’s administration intervenes," writes R.G. Dunlop of The Courier-Journal.

The families have no legal right to attend the interviews, but they put in their requests shortly after the explosion at Kentucky Darby Mine No. 1. At least once in the past year, the state permitted a family to participate in interviews after a mining fatality, reports Dunlop.

Federal Mine Safety and Health Administration officials will also not be present for the interviews, which suggests some division between the typically close federal and state investigators. "MSHA investigators last week refused to enter the mine, saying it would not be safe until the operator repaired walled-off areas that hold back potentially dangerous gases. But state investigators did explore the mine at length last week, writes Dunlop. (Read more)

Laws on coal-mine safety again being written with the blood of miners

It's an old, sad story: Coal miners die en masse, and mine-safety laws are strengthened. Now, again.

Bill Estep and Linda Blackford of the Lexington Herald-Leader note the old saying, "Safety laws are written with the blood of miners." Although deaths declined in recent years, this year's national toll sits at 33, the worst in decades. A January disaster at the Sago mine in West Virginia sparked this year's first round of mine-safety debate, which is an issue that has now reached U.S. House and Senate chambers.

"There is a familiar ring, however, to some of the changes adopted and issues being discussed, such as increased air supplies to help trapped underground miners survive until help arrives, quicker mine-rescue response, and the use of certain materials to seal off unused parts of mines. . . . The United Mine Workers of America and others have long pushed for improvements in emergency oxygen supplies available to miners," report Estep and Blackford.

The big question is what will actually be accomplished by the current ongoing safety talks. A previous call for caches of oxygen in mines and other measures got killed by the Bush administration in September 2001, because of budget restraints and changing priorities, note Estep and Blackford. After the Sago explosion, though, the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Adminstration issued emergency rules requiring that miners have access to two hours of air, plus extra supplies. The U.S. Senate has approved a bill mandating additional oxygen supplies, but that measure is currently stalled in the House. (Read more)

Kentucky promises closer records check of mine-license applicants

Kentucky officials did not check their records or others to find that a part owner of Kentucky mine where a deadly accident occurred April 20 had a long record of safety violations and federal fines.

"Charles Robert Stump's involvement with Tri Star Coal LLC in Pike County came to light only after a massive slab of rock broke free from the mine roof and crushed 28-year-old David Chad Bolen. State inspectors have concluded that several illegal mining practices caused the fatality at Tri Star, where Stump was a 50 percent owner and identified himself in federal records as being 'in charge of health and safety,'" write R.G. Dunlop and James R. Carroll of The Courier-Journal.

Kentucky Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Cabinet officials are now pledging to review matters more closely when granting mine licenses. New regulations are being drafted that will take into account a licensed company's or operator's "compliance history" with the state. Noncompliance could be punished with revocation or suspension of a mine license, reports The C-J. (Read more)

Big utility wants clean-coal plants; big coal company disagrees

"Coal, the nation's favorite fuel in much of the 19th century and early 20th century, could become so again in the 21st. The United States has enough to last at least two centuries at current use rates — reserves far greater than those of oil or natural gas. And for all the public interest in alternatives like wind and solar power, or ethanol from the heartland, coal will play a far bigger role," reports The New York Times.

That means dealing with the fact that burning coal is one of the largest man-made sources of carbon dioxide and gases responsible for global warming. Coal executives are at odds over how to satisfy energy needs and protect the environment at the same time. Michael G. Morris, who runs American Electric Power, the nation's largest coal burner, embraces technology that heat traps carbon dioxide emissions, but such plants cost 15 to 20 percent more to build. Others are not sold on the technology or cost structure, and "no more than a dozen of the 140 new coal-fired power plants planned in the United States expect to use the new approach," writes Simon Romero.

Morris remains unaffected by such doubts and said, "Leave the science alone for a minute. The politics around climate issues are very real. That's why we need to move on this now." Most industry officials "are not making that bet," writes Romero. (Read more)

Philip Morris entices burley tobacco growers to increase production

When Congress repealed production and price controls on tobacco in 2004, and set aside $10.1 billion to compensate growers for loss of their quotas, tobacco production was expected to decline, and has. But now the leading cigarette manufacturer, Philip Morris USA, is offering incentives to farmers to increase production of burley tobacco, prevalent mainly in Kentucky and Tennessee.

"Agricultural forecasters in March projected burley acreage would drop to 58,000 acres, but that was before [Philip Morris] came out with price incentives to entice its contract leaf growers to boost burley production. The pricing strategy seems to have changed some minds and some predict the incentives have spurred some production," reports Bruce Schreiner of The Associated Press.

Philip Morris' incentives include 3 cents a pound for signing contracts by mid-April and an additional 6 cents once growers deliver the products they promised. Farmers who increase production by 25 percent over last year's contracted pounds will get an additional 30 cents a pound on the additional leaf, but the incentives stop once a farmer reaches 125 percent of last year's contracted pounds. (Read more)

Crackdown on illegal immigrants could hurt rural firefighters' numbers

Immigrants comprise almost half of the roughly 5,000 private firefighters contracted by state and federal governments to fight fires in the largely rural Pacific Northwest, and many may be working illegally.

"A recent report by the inspector general for the U.S. Forest Service said illegal immigrants had been fighting fires for several years. The Forest Service said in response that it would work with immigration and customs enforcement officers and the Social Security Administration to improve the process of identifying violators," writes Kirk Johnson of The New York Times. Oregon now requires that crew leaders have a working command of English.

Some Hispanic contractors say state and federal changes could deter many immigrants, even those working legally, from vying for such jobs. Some forestry workers claim firefighter jobs are vital, and that cracking down on illegals would make it hard to fill positions, reports Johnson. Some fire company owners estimate that illegals account for 10 percent of the firefighting crews. (Read more)

Merrill Lynch says newspapers taking a 'deep, depressing dive'

A new report from Merrill Lynch's Lauren Rich Fine, titled "Deep, Depressing Dive," shows that the newspaper industry's decline may be moving faster than anyone suspected. The two main culprits are the changing media consumption and the migration of classified ads to the web.

Merrill Lynch analyzed classifieds with an estimate of a five-year impact from the shift of the category from print to online. The study states that many ads are moving from print to newspaper Web sites, but it also wonders how many have drifted to competitor sites, writes Jennifer Saba of Editor & Publisher.

Fine sees a $9 billion gap in what the industry brought in from print classified revenue over a 10-year period, and she used the Newspaper Association of America's estimate that newspapers picked up $2 billion in online advertising revenue, reports Saba. She concluded the remaining $7 billion in unaccounted revenue "must then represent loss of share to competitors." Merrill Lynch suggests that maybe newspapers charge too much for online classified ads. (Read more)

Fine says newspapers are "a stinker of an industry, but [we] believe management skill and cash flow reinvestment will prove the distinguishing qualities."

Friday, May 26, 2006

Mine-safety bill stalls in House over attempts to make it stronger

"As Kentucky investigators began to map the site of a fatal blast in a Harlan County mine, the U.S. House failed yesterday to follow the Senate by quickly passing a mine-safety bill. Negotiations broke down over the details of the legislation, including the amount of oxygen supplies for miners and the speed of deployment of communications gear underground," reports James R. Carroll of The Courier-Journal.

Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., tried to strengthen the bill by requiring two days' oxygen supply instead of two hours and "put communication and tracking devices in mines within 15 months, instead of no later than three years," but Republicans objected, Carroll reports. Miller was "putting politics ahead of the safety of our miners," claimed Rep. Harold "Hal" Rogers, R-Ky., whose district includes the mine where five miners died Saturday. Miller said his measures "are all easily done if people have the will to do them."

Miller's amendment also would have required the Mine Safety and Health Administration to inspect breathing devices used by miners, the reliability of which were questioned in the explosion that killed 12 miners in West Virginia in January. The United Mine Workers threatened yesterday to sue to force such inspections, but said it opposed Miller's amendment because the House had "a rare opportunity" to pass a major mine-safety bill quickly, without going through the committee process. (Read more)

A New York Times editorial, apparently written before the House failed to act, said, "Mandates for such obvious necessities as extra oxygen supplies for trapped miners languished after an initial burst of concern over the disaster in January that killed 12 miners in Sago, W.Va. . . . The sad truth is that safety equipment and rescue procedures have been scandalously neglected for years under company-friendly regulations that have been laxly enforced by government agencies stocked with political appointees who have come from the coal industry. . . . The Senate bill only begins to repair the problem. But it is preferable to pro-industry proposals in the House to require drug testing for miners — as if the victims, not government and industry, were to blame for miners' highest death rate in 20 years." (Read more)

Chill out: Electric utilities worry coal supply short for cooling customers

Summertime is coming soon, if not already here, and electric utilities are dealing with whether there will be enough coal on hand to handle high power use -- putting more pressure on coal mines to produce.

"With at least a few utilities unable to get enough coal shipped by rail, some are resorting to extreme measures -- even importing it. . . . It's more than a little ironic: Even though the U.S. guzzles imported oil by the tanker load, it is often called the 'Saudi Arabia of coal,' with enough domestic reserves to last centuries. But getting America's abundant coal to where it is most needed is a growing challenge for power companies -- and the railroads that supply them," reports The Christian Science Monitor.

Not only have rising natural-gas prices caused companies to burn cheaper coal faster than expected, but derailments and other railroad problems have created small coal stockpiles throughout the Midwest and South, writes Mark Clayton. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will discuss such concerns at a hearing Thursday. (Read more)

Digital cell phones leave rural folks with poorer reception

The Federal Communications Commission gave cell-phone companies a December 2005 deadline to switch 95 percent of their customers to digital phones to help emergency dispatchers locate callers, but rural Montanans are failing to see the improvement because of poor reception and a lack of 9-1-1 dispatch centers with the right equipment.

"In Great Falls and other cities there are enough digital towers to blanket most areas. But rural Montana's reception is still far behind that in metropolitan areas, where market forces are driving the digital conversion independent of the FCC's mandate," writes Karen Ogden of the Great Falls Tribune. In the analog days, reliable service stretched up to 30 to 45 miles from a cell phone tower, which is now reduced to 12 to 14 miles with digital phones. Cell phone companies shy away from building new towers at a price of $250,000 because of the lack of rural customers.

In metro locations, the switch from analog to digital phones is clearly beneficial to residents, Ogden reports. In cities with several cell phone towers, a digital phone connects with just a few towers, whereas analog phones connected with many and used valuable network space. Digital phones also support wireless Internet that analog phones did not. This story may be purchased in the newspaper's archives section by clicking here.

Survey says: States should prohibit cell phone use among drivers

Rural America is increasingly populated by commuters, many of which brandish cell phones, and a new survey indicates most people would support states banning people from talking while driving.

"Two-thirds of the respondents (65 percent) said state governments should pass laws banning driving and cell phone use, and 29 percent said they did not want such a law. In addition, 88 percent said that a police officer should write on an incident report if a driver used a cell phone when an accident occurred," reports Newswise, a research-reporting service.

The findings, released this month by the University of Michigan, are in a report that examined public attitudes toward cell phones and other information technology tools in the U.S. The survey was funded by a grant from the Constance F. and Arnold C. Pohs Endowment at Michigan. (Read more)

Texas drivers to hit 80 mph in 10 rural counties; highest limit in U.S.

"Yeehaw! Texans who brag they do things bigger and better are about to go faster too. State transportation officials on Thursday boosted speed limits on two stretches of rural highway from 75 mph to 80, leaving wandering armadillos and feral hogs a split-second less time to avoid becoming roadkill. It will be the highest posted speed limit in the country," reports The Associated Press.

Safety and energy conservation advocates are concerned about the new speed limit causing more traffic fatalities and draining drivers' wallets during an age of high gas prices. The U.S. Department of Energy reports that gas mileage decreases quickly after 60 mph, and its estimates that every 5 mph over 60 costs drivers an extra 20 cents per gallon, reports AP.

The new speed will affect 10 mostly rural counties in West Texas: a 432-mile stretch of Interstate 10 between El Paso and Kerrville, and 89 miles of Interstate 20 between Monahans and the I-10 interchange near the Jeff Davis Mountains. Congress set a national 55 mph speed limit in the 1970s but later abolished it in 1995. Thirteen states currently have roads with speed limits of 75 or higher, notes AP. (Read more)

Auto-racing deaths continue in small towns where regulations lacking

Car racing officials are knee deep in efforts to improve the sport's safety, but deaths continue to occur in small towns where tracks do not require drivers to wear life-saving head-and-neck restraints.

"That safety effort hasn't trickled down in all racing organizations to protect the thousands of drivers and fans at racing's lower levels. The racing industry is broken up into dozens of governing bodies besides NASCAR, as well as track owners who operate independently," write David Scott and Gary Schwab of the Charlotte Observer. "In most of the weekly racing divisions that run weekend nights in small towns across the country, safety standards are left to individual track owners. Major changes sometimes happen only after a fatal accident."

Last year, 21 people died at race tracks including 16 drivers, two spectators, a navigator in a car, a crew member and a flagman, which comes in under the average of 23 deaths a year since 1990. When 40 deaths occurred in 2001, an Observer investigation showed fatalities are not isolated or rare as the industry believed. This year, five people have died at race tracks, up from two at this time a year ago, report Scott and Schwab. (Read more)

No state meeting 'highly qualified' teacher rule of No Child Left Behind

No state is expected to meet the original deadline for putting a “highly qualified” teacher in every core-subject classroom, federal officials announced last week.

"Nine states, along with Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia, face losing federal money because of foot-dragging, the officials said. But those jurisdictions could also get off with agreeing to changes in the way they have been defining or tallying teachers’ status under the No Child Left Behind Act. The states are Alaska, Delaware, Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, and Washington," writes Bess Keller of Education Week. Many rural states struggle to attract teachers with the same qualifications as those in urban areas, because they lack the money to make salaries competitive.

The federal education law set the 100 percent goal for the end of this school year, but states are now being asked to plan to reach that goal by the end of the 2006-2007 school year. Thus far, 29 states have made adequate progress complying with the law’s procedures and do not face penalties, the federal officials said. The remaining 12 states are still being assessed, reports Keller.

Federal officials wants states to have "at least as many effective teachers in schools serving poor and minority students as in wealthier schools, which tend to draw better-prepared and more-experienced teachers," writes Keller. (Read more)

Rural North Carolina county asks farmers to preserve land for 10 years

A rural county southeast of Asheville, N.C., is a prime example of a how a local farm economy is trying to co-exist with a wave of tourism-induced residential growth.

In Polk County, a rich agriculture history is colliding with the pressures created by residential growth. "Each year the area is a little less rural and a little more suburban, and owners of farmland are faced with the choice of hanging on to their land or selling for a potentially large sum to a developer," writes Chris Dailey of the Tyron Daily Bulletin -- "The world's smallest daily," printed on 8.5-by-11-inch paper.

Since farmland is typically sold to developers, Polk County officials are taking steps to preserve the remaining farmland with a new farmland preservation ordinance. Farmers have to sign up to preserve their farms for a minimum of 10 years. Proponents of the ordinance argue that farmland boosts the economy by demanding many agriculture services, such as fertilizer and fencing, and it requires little government services. Some county officials say more precautionary measures may be needed, though, because the constant influx of new residents represents a threat that will not disappear, reports Dailey.

Gerald Harbinson, who works closely with area farmers as the district conservationist for the state Division of Soil and Water Conservation, described what attracts people to the county: “Most people come here because it’s rural and pretty and has low taxes. But the problem is that the more people who come here the more impact it has on the land and the more property taxes are going to go up.”

Some residents oppose creating zoning requirements to preserve the county's rural landscape. Polk County High School agriculture teacher Chauncey Barber, who has spearheaded the creation of an educational farm at the school, says "it’s better to have conservation easements on land than to rely on agriculture zoning districts. He says he’s seen how in some metropolitan areas the agriculture zoning district is quickly scrapped as soon as a developer shows up with big plans," writes Dailey. (Read more)

Residents petition to block ethanol plant in rural South Dakota

Many ethanol plants are being built with bundles of small investments from farmers and others in small, ural communities, but now a grassroots effort is taking shape in rural Aberdeen, S.D., to fight the construction of a proposed ethanol plant.

Glacial Lakes Energy, based in Watertown, S.D., wants to build a $140 million plant, but neighbors are collecting signatures to appeal a planning commission's decision to recommend that land be rezoned from agricultural to heavy industrial. The Brown County Commission will have to make a final decision on whether to grant the change, writes Jackie Burke of American News in Aberdeen.

The neighbors in the city 100 miles southeast of Bismarck, N.D., plan to submit the application of appeal to the commission on Tuesday, and organizers say they would like a vote held on the matter, reports Burke. (Read more)

Students use John Deere's colors as their class colors in rural N.D.

High school graduates in Rocklake, N.D., took their love of John Deere products to a new level by voting to use the company's green and yellow as its class colors.

"This is farming country. We went full-fledged on the farming theme. Pretty much everyone voted for it," senior class president Casie Martin told The Associated Press, adding six of the 10 graduates are girls. "Most of the girls are big John Deere fans. . . . Four of the six girls had class pictures taken with a John Deere tractor."

Some seniors created graduation announcements with the phrase "Got-R-Done," a play on the Blue Collar Comedy Tour co-founder Larry the Cable Guy's catch phrase "Get-R-Done," notes AP. (Read more)

FCC to investigate video press releases masquerading as news

"Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin ordered a probe of dozens of television stations after a report found they aired advertisements as if they were news reports, people familiar with the inquiry said," Neil Roland of Bloomberg News reports. Martin, a Republican, responded to a request from Democratic Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein in the wake of recent research.

The Center for Media and Democracy, based in Madison, Wis., said in April that it found "at least 77 stations, including seven each owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. and Tribune Co., ignored an FCC warning to disclose sponsors," Roland writes. Each violation carries a maximum fine of $32,500, up to a maximum of $325,000 if violations occur for 10 or more days. Sinclair, which has many rural viewers, said its policy is to disclose sources of such promotional material; Tribune declined immediate comment.

"The FCC warned TV stations in April 2005 they may be fined for airing news stories provided by the government and companies without disclosing who made them. The agency had received complaints about the use of videos provided by the Bush administration about topics including military success in Iraq," Roland reports. "Since then, 69 stations have aired video news releases and eight showed satellite media tours, which involve a scripted interview with an author or expert promoting a product such as a book."

Diane Farsetta, a researcher for the Center, said TV stations are using video news releases because they are under pressure to keep up with cable-TV networks but lack the staff to do their own stories. "Station managers have said they are turning to provided media because they can't afford to do all the news on their own," Farsetta told Bloomberg News. (Read more)

Newspaper companies confront the future with Web sites, niche pubs

As the newspaper industry wades through murky waters, some companies are seeing Web sites and niche publications as keys to overcoming circulation woes. However, not all are ready to embrace that future.

"For years, newspapers have treated innovation like a trip to the dentist — a torture to be endured, not encouraged. True, newspapers finally got around to adding color. They shrank stories, hoping that pithier, flashier fare would help attract young people who don't like to read. They spruced up the front page by sprinkling uplifting, maudlin or otherwise titillating features amid the news. But bold new thinking about the newspaper and a world of opportunities beyond it? Please. Tell the dentist to add a veneer and leave the rotting core alone," writes Rachel Smolkin of American Journalism Review.

"Now that's all changing, of necessity. Circulation is falling; newsprint costs are rising; retail, auto and movie advertising is slumping; classified advertising is available free on craigslist and other online venues. . . . An emerging weltanschauung sees newspapers as the engine driving a myriad of products — from Web sites to free commuter tabloids to Spanish-language publications — that can lure additional audience (those folks we used to call readers) and reinvigorate listless advertising," continues Smolkin. Last September, the American Press Institute started a yearlong initiative called Newspaper Next, which aims to offer industry leaders guidance. (Read more)

Thursday, May 25, 2006

Mine safety expert sees dark pattern; Senate responds to disasters

Last Saturday's Kentucky mine disaster is just one step in an "ominous" pattern that must be stopped before it gets larger, said a former mine safety chief who is also leading the inquiry into the Sago disaster.

"You've had three explosions in three separate mines," said J. Davitt McAteer, who ran the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration for seven years during the Clinton administration and is now a vice president at Wheeling Jesuit University in West Virginia. "One explosion does not make a pattern, but three does. This is not an academic exercise -- you're talking about real people." The Jan. 2 explosion at Sago killed 12 men, the Jan. 19 fire at the Aracoma Alma No. 1 mine in Melville, W.Va., killed two miners, and Saturday's blast in Harlan County, Kentucky, killed five, write Linda Blackford and Lee Mueller of the Lexington Herald-Leader. (Read more)

The string of fatalaties seems to be prompting action by Congress. The Senate voted yesterday to toughen mine-safety laws. "The bill gives Labor Secretary Elaine Chao the power to: Shut down mines that ignore safety orders; boost penalties for safety violations to a maximum of $250,000; and require additional oxygen supplies for miners underground," writes James R. Carroll of The Courier-Journal's Washington bureau, who is following the issue closely. (Read more)

The Harlan Daily Enterprise took a local angle with this investigation story by writing about and picturing Ronnie Hampton, supervisor of the Harlan division of the Kentucky Office of Mine Safety and Licensing. His rescue team worked to recover the five men killed in the Darby Mine No. 1 explosion, writes Jennifer McDaniels, who also took this photo of Hampton for the Enterprise. (Read more)

Virginians hold anti-mountaintop removal meetings, call for abolition

After years of scattered protests, followed by a year or so of national publicity, Appalachian residents and activists are gathering to devise strategies on how to fight "mountaintop removal and steep-slope mining" in cities and counties throughout the Virginia coalfields, reports The Coalfield Progress of Norton, Va.

One meeting in Stephens, Va., included such complaints as the Glamorgan Coal Resources’ Unity surface mine, preparation plant and loadout is saturating the community with mud, dust and noise. Bill McCabe, a Tennessee-based organizer for the Sierra Club, told the concerned residents that surface mining practices “simply not acceptable. They are not the way to treat the earth. We need to come together to protect the families and protect the homes of Appalachia.”

Coal is found in a small areaof Virginia, along the borders with Kentucky and southern West Virginia, Residents from all areas of the Old Dominion are being urged to send Gov. Tim Kaine’s office pre-printed yellow postcards that include three demands: Change surface mine laws to prohibit blasting within at least 1,500 feet of any structure, instead of the current 300 feet; prohibit strip mining or coal traffic between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.; and abolish mountaintop removal and all other forms of steep-slope strip mining, writes Jeff Lester of the Progress. (Read more)

Kentucky fifth-graders plant chestnuts on land hurt by surface mining

One-hundred fifth-graders from Johns Creek Elementary School recently traveled to the top of Bent Mountain in Pikeville, Ky., to reclaim land leveled by surface mining and to plant 300 American chestnut trees, according to a press release from the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture.

Blight all but erased the tree from the mountains in the early 1900s, but research and breeding led to a blight-resistant variety. “There was a saying that the chestnut was so much a part of the Appalachian culture that they used it from the cradle to the grave,” said Rex Mann, president of the Kentucky Chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation. “When we lost that tree we lost a part of our culture. Now we have the knowledge and the science to restore that tree and that’s a great thing for eastern Kentucky.”

Don Graves, a professor in the UK forestry department, said he hopes that the fifth-graders learned that they played an important part in reclaiming Kentucky’s strip mines. “Surface mines furnish 50 percent of all of the power in the United States and about 80 or 90 percent in the state of Kentucky. This is their lights. This is their computers. This is everything that they deal with on a daily basis and it’s not necessarily bad to do. We can put it back in a way that will be suitable for all of the people living there from now on.”

Nebraska's ban on local broadband criticized by study, paper, candidate

Local governments were recently barred from offering broadband Internet service in Nebraska, but a new study says the state should lift the ban to help residents saddled with slow, dial-up connections

"The report from the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University law school said the Legislature should allow local governments and public utilities to offer broadband service. The 2006 Legislature enacted a measure, signed by Governor Dave Heineman, that bars all cities, towns, public utilities, and other public entities in Nebraska from providing retail telecommunications services of any kind, including broadband Internet access," reports the Nebraska StatePaper.com. (Read more)

The Lincoln Journal Star recently championed broadband in an editorial: "The quickest way to make that vital service available to businesses and consumers in rural areas of the state is to allow publicly owned utilities and locally owned governments to provide it. . . . The phone company’s main argument — that government should not compete with the private sector — has undeniable appeal. The trouble with their argument is that strict reliance on the private sector means Nebraska businesses and consumers are on the outside looking in, condemned to slow, dial-up Internet access. The private sector is not providing broadband. Because government and publicly owned utilities have been blocked by legislation, that means that that no one is providing the service." (Read more)

Democratic candidate for governor David Hahn wants the ban lifted, reports Southwest Nebraska News. "The widespread provision of Internet technology is vital to support our education and health care systems, and that we need to obtain significant, prosperous, and wide-spread growth in the years ahead," he said. "We should develop a broadband information infrastructure that will support Nebraska's urban and rural economy and that we will be proud to hand off to future generations." (Read more)

To read additional coverage of the new report by Nancy Hicks of the Lincoln Journal Star, click here.

Rural states finish last in new report on broadband penetration

A recently-released report confirms a long-standing and often-reported problem: rural states are lagging behind in the race for broadband Internet access.

According to Broadband Across the US, a recent report from the Leichtman Research Group, the bottom five states in residential broadband penetration were Mississippi, South Dakota, North Dakota, Kentucky and Montana. The top five were Connecticut, New Jersey, Hawaii, Massachusetts and California. The full report may be posted at this Web site.

Rural residents can no longer get some 'local' TV via satellite, says court

"A federal appeals court late Tuesday dealt a setback to EchoStar Communications in its fight with network-affiliated stations over whose signals the second-largest U.S. satellite-television provider can carry. The court ordered EchoStar to stop providing signals from distant network affiliate stations to customers who can receive over-the-air broadcasts from nearby sister affiliates," reports TVWeek.com.

This ruling by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta has implications for rural areas near the borders of the officially defined TV markets. For example, Leslie and Letcher counties in the Eastern Kentucky mountains are officially in the Tri-Cities market but lots of satellite viewers there would like to get (and may be getting from EchoStar) Lexington stations.

"In a series of lawsuits over the past several years, the broadcasters have alleged that EchoStar was violating a copyright law that bars satellite TV companies from providing distant affiliates' signals that would compete with local affiliates' over-the-air transmissions. The affiliates claimed that EchoStar had been delivering distant network signals to hundreds of thousands of ineligible homes," writes Doug Halonen. (Read more) For The Associated Press story, click here.

Switchgrass shines as potential alternative for ethanol production

"Centuries ago the prairies of the USA were covered with native grasses such as bluestem, buffalograss, Indiangrass and switchgrass. With the advent of intensive agriculture virtually all of these native grasses became very scarce. They revived in the late 1980s with the introduction of the Conservation Reserve Program which took millions of acres of marginal farmland and converted it back into a more natural setting," opines Jack Schultz in his Boomtown USA blog.

"Recently switchgrass has been discussed as a potential alternative for the production of ethanol. The biomass created from the very tall grass is viewed as being more similar to the production of alcohol, made from sugarcane, which has allowed Brazil to become self sufficient in energy production," continues Schultz. "[A recent] test produced almost 20 million kilowatt hours of electricity, enough to run 1,850 average homes for a year. It also set a world record for electricity production from switchgrass."

"You’re going to be hearing a lot more about switchgrass in the future. One recent study showed that SD had enough biomass potential to produce 1/3 of the energy that is produced in Saudi Arabia," concludes Schultz, a consultant to small-town economic developers.

Whether you call ’em morel ’shrooms or ‘dry land fish,’ hunters want ’em

Mushroom hunters are moving fast to snatch up morels, which many rural folks call "dry land fish" -- probably because morels are often breaded and fried just like fish.

In his latest Morning Meeting column for the Poynter Institute, Western Kentucky native Al Tompkins describes this craze: "I have heard of people who hunted for mushrooms -- but now I hear that those folks are actually eating (not smoking) the things. Last week, during the Reporting for Public Radio seminar I led here at Poynter, I listed to a wonderful story about whole groups of people who spend the weekends looking for mushrooms."

Beth Gauper of the St. Paul Pioneer Press has perhaps provided the most descriptive narrative about this hunting phenomenon: "Deep down, every morel hunter believes in divine providence. There's nothing so providential as baskets overflowing with morels, and the taste is so divine hunters dream about it all winter. In spring, they offer a fervent prayer to the mushroom gods: May the fungus be among us. Morels do taste heavenly. But it's the hunt that's so addictive, not the mushroom itself. For one thing, it's fun to find something for free that's so expensive in stores and restaurants, and it's fun to beat the odds by finding something so notoriously elusive." (Read more)

Click here for a story on this obsession for some by National Public Radio. Also, for all the information you ever wanted on this subject, visit the National Morel Mushroom Hunters Association.

New livestock regulations would ignore call for organic management

A proposal for new federal organic livestock regulations does not close loopholes that allow some factory-scale dairy farms in western states to bring into their milk herd new animals raised with antibiotics, hormones, and genetically engineered feed produced with toxic pesticides, according to an eMedia Wire report used by the New Hampshire Agriculture Department in its Weekly Market Bulletin.

The proposal ignores recommendations endorsed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's own expert advisory panel, the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB). That board passed recommendations in 2002 and 2003 that all animals being brought into such farms had to be under organic management at least for the last three months of pregnancy. The industry’s dominant milk marketer, Dean Foods, and the Organic Trade Association, an industry lobby group, have tried to delay the implementation of such recommendations, reports eMedia Wire. To contact the Weekly Market Bulletin, click here.

Small-town orchestra of lawyers, teachers creates musical mecca in Mo.

A musical mecca is shining in the rural community of Marshall, Mo., with nearby doctors, lawyers, teachers, housewives, retirees or third-shift workers flocking to the city of 12,000 residents to be part of the Marshall Philharmonic Orchestra.

The philharmonic just finished its 43rd year, such outfits actually date back to 1871, and residents have paid a one-tenth of a cent "band tax" to support community music for the last 72 years, reports Alan Scher Zagier of the Columbia, Mo., bureau of The Associated Press. Performances once took place in participants' living rooms before moving to a middle-school stage.

"A half-dozen times each year, the symphony entertains locals with selections by Bach, Mozart and the like, or in the case of its late April finale, a pops program featuring the works of Jerome Kern, Stephen Sondheim, Rodgers and Hammerstein and other American composers," writes Zagier. (Read more)

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Statewide and local weeklies in West Virginia agree to share news

The State Journal, a statewide weekly based in Charleston, W. Va., will share news with two local weeklies, the Parsons Advocate in Tucker County and the Moorefield Examiner in Hardy County.

In an e-mail interview, Parsons Advocate Editor Chris Stadelman explained the agreement: "Essentially, we have permission to use any stories or columns from The State Journal, and they have the same right with any of our stories. Theirs are available from their Web site, and they let me know if they see anything they would like to pick up, and I e-mail it to them. I also e-mail them stories I think they might be interested in."

Dan Page, the editor and publisher of The State Journal, is a long-time acquaintance of Stadelman and approached him with the idea for a non-exclusive agreement, meaning the Parsons Advocate can still share information and run stories from other newspapers. The news-sharing agreement benefits the Parsons Advocate in a big way. "From our perspective, they're able to do reporting that we just don't have the time and staff to do," wrote Stadelman, a former employee of The Associated Press and former managing editor of the Charleston Daily Mail.

Mine survivor told investigators breathing device worked, sources say

Contrary to earlier reports, the sole survivor of Saturday's mine disaster in Eastern Kentucky has told investigators that his self-rescue device gave him oxygen "throughout his ordeal," James R. Carroll of The (Louisville) Courier-Journal reports this morning, citing unnamed "sources close to the investigation."

U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration officials said likewise on Monday, but yesterday "would not comment on Ledford's account," Carroll writes. (Read more) Miner Paul Ledford's brother had told reporters over the weekend that his brother's self-rescuer "had failed after approximately five minutes. The units are designed to supply oxygen for one hour," writes Brandon Goins in the Harlan Daily Enterprise. (Read more) Reports of the brother's account raised concerns among miners and their families.

Also yesterday, Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher said the primary explosion that led to the deaths of five miners appeared to have been caused by methane, not coal dust. "Some have speculated that coal dust was the problem because of the explosion's force, which traveled out to the mine's entry," note Linda Blackford and Bill Estep in the Lexington Herald-Leader.

"But a methane explosion puts more suspicion on alternative seals used to block off unused parts of mines to prevent gases like methane from moving into active areas," the Herald-Leader reports. "Fletcher, who arrived in Evarts yesterday afternoon to meet with the miners' families, said three of these foam seals were blown out in Kentucky Darby No. 1 mine." (Read more)

Anniston Star tells human story of demise of Alabama textile industry

Metropolitan daily newspapers give regular coverage to the human effects of shriveling industries, but such stories can be well told in rural and community newspapers, as a feature story in the Anniston (Ala.) Star, circulation 25,000, shows.

Alabama, the heart of cotton country, is losing its textile industry. A recent announcement that Avondale Mills will close July 25 means about 2,000 of Alabama’s remaining textile workers must find new work. This comes 11 years after the Standard Coosa Thatcher mill closed in Piedmont and took with it 700 jobs from a once-flourishing textile industry in the state, reports Crystal Jarvis of the Star.

"Textile industries once were emblematic as a way of life for the South. They were a boon for rural towns that had few job opportunities, which gave the mills the chance to orchestrate their employees’ lives. The factories provided homes to rent in mill villages, activities including church and baseball, and company stores where employees could buy groceries," writes Jarvis.

When such plants close, rural residents are left with few options for work, reports Jarvis. “Over the past 10 years (Alabama) lost close to 60,000 jobs and Georgia lost 100,000 jobs,” said Ahmad Ijaz, economist for The Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Alabama. “That’s one problem — the plants are located in rural areas and they don’t have that many job opportunities available.” Access to this newspaper's site is limited, but you can get a free trial by clicking here.

Programs for agriculture conservation and value-added grants face cuts

U.S. House appropriators approved $104 million in agricultural funding cuts last week for fiscal year 2007, and the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee plans to act on the issue after Memorial Day.

Agriculture programs facing cuts include the Conservation Security Program, which will receive $280 million, a reduction of $92 million from the amount in the 2002 Farm Bill; and the Value-Added Producer Grants program, which will get $28 million, a cut of $12 million. The two cuts were cited in an e-mail aler from the Center for Rural Affairs, an advocacy group asking people to contact their legislators.

The Conservation Security Program provides financial and technical assistance to help farmers and ranchers implement conservation systems and practices to improve soil, water, and ecosystem health. The Value Added Producer Grant program provides money to groups of farmers and ranchers for farm and food-related businesses that will bolster incomes, create jobs, and increase rural economic opportunity.

Bay Area exurb exerts a 'Herculean' effort to keep out a Wal-Mart

The Supreme Court said last year that governments could condemn private property for private use, raising hackles across the ideological spectrum. Now, the Hercules, Calif., City Council is using eminent domain to block a Wal-Mart development in the community 25 miles northeast of San Francisco.

"Tuesday's council action raises the specter that a small-town government, bolstered by a grass-roots residents' campaign, could run the world's largest retailer out of town. That potential spectacle galvanized first regional, then national media organizations in the days preceding Tuesday's meeting," writes Tom Lochner of the Contra Costa Times.

Wal-Mart announced on April 1 a proposal for a 99,000-square-foot store with a grocery located within the 171/4-acre future Bayside Marketplace. That conflicts with a 2003 development agreement with previous owner, the Lewis Group, for a neighborhood shopping center with a maximum store size of 64,000 square feet, reports Lochner.

A Wal-Mart attorney told the council it would be "wrong" to use "government's most awesome power." Lochner writes, "A possible takeover of Wal-Mart's property by Hercules throws the traditional eminent-domain dynamic on its head. The popular view of eminent domain, accurate or not, is one of a city dispossessing small homeowners, often on behalf of a large corporation. But in Hercules, it would be small-town residents and their council dispossessing the corporation." (Read more)

Another Ky. high school ordered not to sponsor prayer at graduation

No formal prayer will occur during the graduation ceremony at Shelby County High School in Kentucky, following the second student complaint filed in one week over such practices in the state.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky wrote a letter on behalf of a Muslim student demanding the prayer not take place because it would violate the constitutional ban on state-sponsored religion, and the school has also agreed not to hold traditional prayers at a banquet and an awards ceremony, reports Peter Smith of The Courier-Journal. The Supreme Court has ruled that student-led prayers at football games and clergy-led prayers at graduations are unconstitutional. (Read more)

"But whether that decision means there will be no prayer is another question. Last Friday at Russell County High School, after a court ordered a student who had been designated to pray not to do so, students rose on their own and recited the Lord's Prayer during the principal's remarks. And the student who'd been designated to lead the prayer included religious messages in her remarks," writes Smith.

CBS to sell 30-plus small-market radio stations, one-fifth of its portfolio

CBS is planning to sell 32 to 35 radio stations in smaller markets, representing about 20 percent of its 179-station portfolio, and says it does not plan to purchase new media properties. Instead, CBS will give money from the sales to its investors, which means purchasing open-market shares of CBS to bolster outstanding shares of the company, reports Wayne Friedman of MediaDailyNews.

The report did not specify the markets where stations would be sold. Also, contrary to industry rumors, CBS said it will not try to purchase the growing Spanish-language broadcaster Univision. (Read more)

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

Texas weekly gives voice to residents' cry for high-speed Internet

Residents of Wilson County, Texas, want high-speed Internet, but they must rely on Verizon, a telephone company that does not wish to invest in such equipment just 30 miles southeast of San Antonio. And the weekly Wilson County News is writing about it, in a kind of story usually found in metro dailies but of increasing interest in rural areas.

Many residents in Wilson County opt for satellite Internet providers, which are more expensive than Verizon's service. What troubles many residents is that rural communities near big cities sometimes get left in the cold by big companies. "While many residents in the area may feel like they are between a rock and a hard place, others who have plans to move to the area are a bit wary," writes Holly Mutz.

In addition to no high-speed Internet, residents tell Mutz that Verizon's phone service is also lacking. "The problem is not just with Verizon not providing DSL service to the county," Eagle Creek resident Jeff Quillin. "We were having problems with our home phone and the Verizon technician that came out said the existing lines in the Eagle Creek area were overloaded and causing some problems." (Read more)

Ethanol demand creates profit for corn farmers, but risky stock market

Ethanol, a byproduct of corn, is being lauded as a key alternative fuel, which is benefiting farmers and encouraging investors to play the risky game of stocks.

Shares of Pacific Ethanol Inc., a California-based company, rose from $10 in January to $40 per share by May. Shares of Ohio-based Andersons Inc., jumped from $40 to $120 during the same period. However, potential shareholders should take note, because both companies' stocks have fallen in recent weeks. "U.S. ethanol production is heavily subsidized, which exposes undiversified firms to huge risk if the subsidies are removed, analysts say. These are relatively small, almost one-product companies that carry a lot of risk for investors," writes Will Deener of The Dallas Morning News. (Read more)

At the same time, farm companies are flourishing because of the big demand for ethanol. John Deere Co. stocks are up 40 percent to 50 percent based on the fact that the rising demand for ethanol will push corn prices higher. Farmers will benefit because 2.2 billion bushels will be used this year to make ethanol, up 34 percent from 2005. Also, the price of corn per bushel is $2.50, up from a $1.95 last year, reports Deener.

‘Synfuel’ plants shut down due to rising diesel costs, lay off workers

Rising oil and diesel-fuel prices are shutting down many of the nation’s coal “synfuel” plants that took a low-tech advantage of a tax break designed for a higher-tech industry. As a result, hundreds of workers are without jobs in rural Alabama, Kentucky and West Virginia. Meanwhile, Congress debates whether to continue the tax credits that have "put billions of dollars ... in the hands of a few companies," writes Paul Nyden of The Charleston Gazette.

The 1980 credits were designed to encourage gasification and liquefaction of coal, and development of expensive energy sources such as oil shale. Those getting the credit must make “chemical changes” to an original source of energy, but all most synfuel plants do is spray coal with diesel fuel or pine-tar emulsion, Nyden notes. The tax credits decline as oil prices rise. "In recently filed reports to investors and reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the three companies cited rising diesel fuel costs as the reason for suspending operation of their once-profitable synfuel plants," Nyden reports.

"Today, there are 55 synfuel facilities around the nation," Nyden writes. "Most large synfuel operations are owned by electric utilities, including Progress Energy, DTE Energy Co. and TECO Energy Inc. Other companies, including Marriott International, have also benefited from the tax credits related to synthetic fuel production." Progress Energy, based in Raleigh, N.C., has stopped synfuel production at five plants, which will affect 120 to 130 employees in the West Virginia cities of Cyrus, Ceredo and Quincy and along the Big Sandy River in Eastern Kentucky. Last week, DTE Energy, based in Detroit, announced it was closing nine synfuel plants in West Virginia, Kentucky and Alabama. Those plants employed 150 workers, Nyden reports. "Synfuel Solutions Operating LLC, which operates three synfuel plants, shut down its facility near the Warrior Mine Complex in Hopkins County, Ky. on April 23. SSO might also close coal synfuel plants near Virginia Electric and Power Company’s Mount Storm power plant in Garrett County, Md., and its facility near the Gibson County Coal Complex in Gibson County, Ind., according to a recent SEC filing." (Read more)

Coal company listens to Ky. residents, decides against 390-acre fill

When residents of Letcher County, Kentucky, spoke out against a proposed 390-acre fill area for a mountaintop-removal coal mine, the local newspaper took notice, the citizens' voices were heard, and the coal company changed its plans.

Last night, Thurman Holcomb, general manager of Cumberland River Coal Co., said his company will file a revised permit request that no longer calls for the fill. The announcement came before a packed house during a special meeting of the Fiscal Court, the county legislative body, reports William Farley of The Mountain Eagle of Whitesburg, Ky.

Holcomb told the court his company wants to be a good neighbor, and will haul mined rock and dirt from to another hollowfill approximately 8,000 feet away. The new mining plan will also put off mining near the Franks Creek site for about two years, reports Farley. Judge/Executive Carroll Smith said the meeting was a "good exercise in democracy." (This article is not available online.)

Urban sprawl gets bad rap because of water, traffic myths, says writer

"With the explosion of growth dramatically reshaping Northern Colorado, residents often are mistaken about how it actually affects them. Often, people have the impression that the urban areas eat up all the resources, cause the traffic jams and bring about general community ills. But that is not always the case," writes Alicia Beard of The Daily Reporter in Loveland.

Beard proceeds to debunk three myths: apartment complexes, or high-density housing, create more traffic jams than single-family residences; residential developments are the biggest drains on the state's water supply; and high-density housing and commercial developments lower property values. For the first myth, Beard writes, "Actually, neighborhoods with houses cause more traffic on a unit-to-unit basis than apartments or condos do." A 2003 Institute of Transportation Engineers report stated houses produce 1.05 traffic trips during the weekday drive home, but an apartment creates only 0.62 trips.

As for water supplies, Beard reports that irrigated cropland actually uses more water than urban sprawl. Also, any drain on property values will more than likely come from aesthetic appearances rather than the presence of apartments or businesses. (Read more)

Forum Communications CEO nabs North Dakota's 'Rough Rider' award

Forum Communications President and CEO Bill Marcil is the latest recipient of North Dakota's highest honor, the Theodore Roosevelt Rough Rider Award.

Marcil, publisher of the Fargo Forum (circ. 51,000), is the 35th recipient of the Rough Rider Award. Past recipients include big band conductor Lawrence Welk and famed baseball player Roger Maris. Marcil, who became the Forum's publisher in 1969, transformed the family-owned chain into a strong regional chain that owns newspapers, radio and television stations, commercial printing plants, and online ventures in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, notes Editor & Publisher. (Read more)

Calif. editor resigns after ethics investigation; third exit in three years

Managing Editor Richard Luna has left the Ventura County Star less than two years after arriving, and just days after parent company E.W. Scripps Co. concluded an investigation into his violation of the company's ethics code.

Publisher Tim Gallagher said the investigation by Mary E. Minser, Scripps' director of employee relations, "found no further violations of Scripps ethical policy." Star officials said Luna had been disciplined for pressuring a sports reporter for credentials to attend the NCAA championship basketball game in Indianapolis in April. "Luna did not cover the game, and, according to the paper, sought credentials for other games that, in the end, he did not attend," writes Mark Fitzgerald of Editor & Publisher.

This is the third time Luna has left a newspaper abruptly, following a departure from the metro editor position at the Detroit News in 2004, and an exit from the managing editor position at the Indianapolis Star the previous year, reports Fitzgerald. (Read more) The Rural Blog last reported on this investigation May 2. Click here for the archived item.

Monday, May 22, 2006

Disaster raises questions about oxygen, coal dust, pressure to produce

"Three of the five Harlan County miners killed in an explosion early Saturday probably survived the blast but died later of carbon monoxide poisoning, preliminary autopsy reports showed yesterday. Angry relatives of the dead men called for miners' oxygen supplies to be