Rural News
No link between immigration and increased crime, four decades of evidence finds
Science Daily | Posted on February 12, 2017Political discussions about immigrants often include the claim that there is a relationship between immigration patterns and increased crime. However, results of a new study find no links between the two. In fact, immigration actually appears to be linked to reductions in some types of crimes, according to the findings.
Who owns Texas water?
The Eagle | Posted on February 11, 2017As Texas population continues to increase, so will demands for water. The answer to the question of who owns Texas water will continue as a point of argument. Water availability has become such a critical issue that many statewide meetings, legislation and court cases revolve around the subject. A recent state-wide conference, devoted to water, was the Texas Section Society of Range Management annual meeting held in Uvalde. The opening remarks presented by Charles Porter addressed the question of water ownership. Porter suggested looking at three geological water containers – natural surface, diffused surface and groundwater – to determine ownership. Each container has different ownership and regulations. Porter is an author, speaker, fulltime visiting professor at St. Edward’s University, and a water rights and real estate expert nationwide.
Texas Water Wars: Texas v. New Mexico
Texas Ag Law | Posted on February 11, 2017In February 2013, Texas filed suit against New Mexico and Colorado in the United States Supreme Court in a battle concerning the Compact. Although Texas sued both New Mexico and Colorado, it appears that Colorado was named only because they are party to the treaty at issue. All of Texas’ claims are based upon alleged wrongful conduct by and in New Mexico. It may seem strange that the lawsuit was actually filed in (as opposed to being appealed to) the United States Supreme Court. The reason for this is that the United States Constitution provides original jurisdiction to the Supreme Court for all disputes between states. In this instance, a state must file a motion seeking permission to file the complaint and a brief explaining why the Court should hear the case. So now that the motion has been filed, the Court will decide whether to hear the case. In making that decision, the Court considers three factors: (1) whether the dispute is truly between states (as opposed to disputes between state agencies or private claims); (2) the seriousness of the dispute–specifically looking at whether this type of conflict would lead to war between sovereign nations; and (3) whether an alternative forum is available to decide the dispute.
Maine veterinarians newest members in fighting opiate abuse
Bangor Daily News | Posted on February 11, 2017Thanks to a new law that went into effect at the start of the year, whenever Dr. Amanda Bisol, owner of The Animal Medical Clinic in Skowhegan, writes an opiate-type painkiller prescription for one of her patients, she has to first run a background check on its owner. Public Law Chapter 488: An Act to Prevent Opiate Abuse by Strengthening the Controlled Substance Prescription Monitoring Program was signed by Gov. Paul LePage in 2016 and went into effect Jan. 1. In addition to establishing limits on the amount and dosage of specific painkilling drugs can be prescribed by medical professionals, the law also required all prescribers check the state’s prescription monitoring program before writing any prescription for opiate or benzodiazepine drugs.
Republicans fast-track school-voucher bill in Arizona Legislature
Arizona Central | Posted on February 11, 2017Republican lawmakers in the Arizona Legislature are attempting to fast-track a plan to eventually offer vouchers to every public-school student and, in separate legislation, privatize oversight of the public money given to parents to pay private-school tuition and other expenses. The Legislature is training its sights on the plan to broaden eligibility for Empowerment Scholarship Accounts, a school-choice program created six years ago for disabled children. Under the legislation, all of Arizona's 1.1 million students would be eligible for the program by 2020. SAs allow families to use public-school dollars on private-school tuition and other educational expenses. ESAs would be offered to four grades in 2017-18 and incrementally to all public-school students by 2020-21.
Creating bright futures for Maine’s rural economies relies on collaboration of ideas
Bangor Daily News | Posted on February 11, 2017Communities throughout rural Maine are up against no shortage of challenges. Facing geographic isolation, aging and declining populations, paired with the loss of traditional manufacturing or mill jobs, it can be easy to feel pessimistic about the prospects of the state’s rural backbone.But pessimism was not the mood that filled a Cross Insurance Center conference room Friday, as a daylong discussion about the future of Maine’s rural economy stoked hope and advocated for a collaborative approach to revitalizing these rural communities. “What makes us Mainers is our collectivism,” Vaughan Woodruff, owner of Insource Renewables, said. “Our future is bright, and I just want to say to everyone in rural Maine, we’ve got this. We’ve got this.”
Dam break near Nevada-Utah border
KMTV.com | Posted on February 10, 2017The National Weather Service says a dam has failed in northern Nevada, causing flash floods and life-threatening situations for residents near the Utah border. The weather service stated there were reports of at least 2 to 3 feet of water rapidly moving downstream Wednesday night. The Elko Daily Free Press reports the depth of water may increase as the dam continues to fail. The National Weather Service in Elko has extended the flash-flood warning. Significant flash flooding was reported in Montello and authorities have closed State Route 233.
What’s Driving Population Declines in More States?
Pew Charitable Trust | Posted on February 9, 2017Eight states lost population between 2015 and 2016, and 12 others recorded their lowest population increase of the decade, as economic woes and lower birth rates hit some states harder than others. Connecticut, Illinois, Mississippi, New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, West Virginia and Wyoming lost population. The last time so many states registered a drop in population was from 1986 to 1987, when oil prices collapsed. Twelve Western and Southern states, along with the District of Columbia, lost population then. Meanwhile, Alabama, California, Hawaii, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, North Dakota, Oklahoma and Virginia saw anemic growth of between 0.02 and 0.66 percent in the number of people living inside their borders. That’s less than the nation’s increase in population of 0.7 percent and the lowest growth those states had experienced since 2010.
ACA Repeal Seen Thwarting State Addiction Efforts
Pew Charitable Trust | Posted on February 9, 2017In the three years since the Affordable Care Act took effect, its federally funded expansion of Medicaid to low-income adults has become the states’ most powerful weapon in the battle against the nation’s worsening opioid epidemic. Now, as Congress and President Donald Trump debate potential replacements for the law, governors, health care professionals and advocates for the poor are cautioning that any cut in federal funding for addiction treatment could reverse much of the progress states have made. “The current plan to replace the Affordable Care Act would cut health care for our most vulnerable residents, including children, seniors and individuals suffering from opioid and heroin addiction,” Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf of Pennsylvania said last month. “This will have a devastating impact for many Pennsylvanians.” The Affordable Care Act (ACA) offered states the ability for the first time to provide Medicaid coverage to adults without children, with the federal government paying most of the bill. That change, and the law’s mandate that all insurers cover addiction treatment at the same level as medical and surgical procedures, has allowed states to ensure that low-income people can get the care they need, said Linda Rosenberg, CEO of the National Council for Behavioral Health, which represents nonprofit addiction treatment organizations.
More than 101 million sterile screwworm flies have been released in the Keys
Miami Herald | Posted on February 9, 2017Antiparasitic medicine for endangered Key deer and an abundance of sterile New World screwworm flies continue to help fight the screwworm situation in South Florida. More than 101 million sterile screwworm flies have been released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Marathon and the Lower Keys since October. In Homestead, where a stray dog was found with a screwworm infestation in December, nearly 2 million have been released. They help to drive down the number of fertile flies by mating with wild flies to produce eggs that never hatch. Screwworms feed inside the open wounds of any warm-blooded living animal, which has resulted in the deaths of 135 endanger Key deer found only in Monroe County. Some have had to be euthanized and others have died from their screwworm-inflicted conditions.