Rural News
We need to fix up roads and bridges — not mines
High Country News | Posted on June 8, 2018Federal officials are considering a proposal to add mining to the list of sectors covered by federal legislation that grants funds and speeds up infrastructure projects. The law is called Fixing America’s Surface Transportation, aka FAST-41, passed in 2015. How can mines qualify — the way roads and bridges certainly do — as community “infrastructure?” Mines produce vast quantities of waste, much of it hazardous waste that must be managed forever. Even with modern technology, water pollution, enormous waste-rock piles, heavy-metal-laden dust and toxic spills are the norm. Worse, the decision on whether to allow mining projects to be fast-tracked is being made behind closed doors, without any involvement from the citizens who will be most affected by it.
It’s Wildfire Season in California, and Utilities Want to Tamp Down Their Liability
Pew Charitable Trust | Posted on June 8, 2018California utilities might have to pay billions of dollars in damage if state investigators find their power lines sparked last year’s devastating wildfires. And they’ll face similar bills in the future, whenever a tree falls across a power line and sparks a fire that reduces homes, hotels and schools to ashes. To head off financial disaster, the companies and the electrical workers’ union are frantically lobbying Golden State officials for relief from a system that the utilities say is unfair: They’re liable when their equipment ignites a fire, but they can’t automatically pass on the costs to consumers. “Our employers are now at financial risk, because the damage associated with these fires is literally billions and billions of dollars,” said Hunter Stern, a business representative for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1245, which represents 20,000 workers in California and Nevada. But advocates for ratepayers and wildfire victims say the current system works just fine, and that it gives utilities an incentive to trim nearby trees and invest in their infrastructure.
Des Moines DREAMer dies within weeks after being sent back to Mexico’s violence
Des Moines Register | Posted on June 8, 2018Manuel Antonio Cano Pacheco should have graduated from high school in Des Moines last month. The oldest of four siblings should have walked across a stage in a cap and gown to become a proud symbol to his sister and brothers of the rewards of hard work and education. Instead, Manuel died a brutal death alone in a foreign land, a symbol of gang supremacy in a country plagued by violent drug cartels. It happened three weeks after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement returned him to Mexico, a country he had left at age 3 when his parents brought him here without a visa. The fact that America was the only home he has known made Manuel eligible to apply for and be granted DACA status under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program initiated by former President Barack Obama. It exempted from deportation certain young people, referred to as DREAMERS, who were brought to the U.S. without papers as children. But that status didn’t protect Manuel when he came to immigration authorities’ attention after being stopped for speeding last fall and charged with driving under the influence. An ICE spokesperson said in a statement that ICE officers arrested him in Polk County Jail, and a federal immigration judge terminated his DACA status because of two misdemeanor convictions.
Human Trafficking Uncovered On Ohio Egg Farm
Plant Based News | Posted on June 4, 2018The victims, predominantly Guatemalan minors, were told by a trafficker that a better life awaited them in the US and were brought to Trillium Farms to pay off $15,000 of imposed debt.There, they were forced to work in poor conditions, allowed to keep only a fraction of their pay checks, and met with death threats in the event of protest.They were given such little freedom that one teen was at Trillium for four months before he managed to call his uncle in Florida for help. In response to his nephew's pleas, fear, and desperation - the uncle contacted the Collier City Sheriff's office.Two months later, federal and local authorities raided the trailer park where the workers were held, uncovering at least 10 victims of human trafficking.Senator Robert Portman - who was Chairman of the investigatory committee - said what authorities uncovered during the investigation that followed was 'flat out wrong'.
Local Latino movie producer opens theaters in rural, poor areas
San Francisco Chronicle | Posted on June 4, 2018For nearly 10 years, residents in a California farming community have had to drive nearly 40 miles (64 kilometers) to see the latest film, a rare trip for some in a place where a third of the population lives in poverty. That all changed in May when Moctesuma Esparza, a Latino movie producer, opened his latest Maya Cinemas theater in Delano in his ongoing effort to open theaters in poor, rural areas in the U.S. that lack entertainment options. The $20 million project gives Delano's 53,000 residents access to recent movie releases in a high-end experience with luxury seating. In 1965, Delano helped spark Cesar Chavez's farm worker union movement. Esparza, who produced the 1997 movie "Selena" and has opened up four identical theaters in poor areas in California, said poverty shouldn't sentence residents to "movie deserts" where inexpensive leisure is limited. He has vowed to do his part to change the landscape in rural America.For years, rural communities in Appalachia, the American Southwest and the Mississippi Delta have seen small theaters close due to the high cost of technology updates and to economic downturns that discourage investors from taking over struggling movie houses.
Lawmakers look to ‘small cell’ tech for rural high-speed internet answers
Rome News Tribune | Posted on June 4, 2018Getting high-speed internet service into less-populated areas of Georgia remains a top priority of the House Rural Development Council, although providers have yet to propose an overall fix.Towers aren’t going away but small cells — “about the size of garbage cans,” Lumsden said — can be added to increase capacity and coverage in targeted areas. They’re mounted on poles in the public rights of way and can serve customers in a radius of 500 to 1,200 feet.Lumsden said future advancements are expected to bring devices attached to power lines that will add even more capacity as the demand for service continues to increase.“It will give providers the ability to build out their networks in a more cost-effective way than they’ve ever had before,” he said. “But they have to rely on rights of way and that’s where the rub seems to be.”Local governments have control over their rights of way and are unwilling to give that up. Rome City Commissioners discussing the issue said they welcome the service but have concerns about the potential for unsightly transmitters every quarter-mile, especially in historic districts.
University of Memphis to offer free tuition to children, spouses of fallen service members
The Hill | Posted on May 31, 2018The University of Memphis will no longer charge tuition to the children and spouses of fallen service members. The school becomes the first to offer the national Folds of Honor scholarship as a payment-in-full scholarship, The Memphis Commercial Appeal reported on Monday, Memorial Day. The university already accepts the scholarship, which provides a $5,000 per year payment to undergraduate students under the age of 24 who had a parent severely injured or killed while on active duty. Spouses of any age can also receive it if they have not remarried. Fold of Honor recipients, both those currently enrolled and future students, will no longer need to pay for the rest of their education at the Tennessee school. The average cost of tuition at Memphis is reportedly about $9,700 a year, plus room and board, fees and textbooks. Any outstanding fees may also be covered by additional scholarships, said university President David Rudd.
Rural America Has Jobs. Now It Just Needs Housing
The Wall Street Journal | Posted on May 31, 2018Austin Steinbach said he was “dead set” on moving to this rural farming town for a job that offered benefits, a $500 signing bonus and a higher wage. But the 25-year-old father of two had to turn it down after a week-long search with his wife for a home failed to turn up anything livable or in their price range.“What they offered out there was great, but I can’t afford to move because I can’t afford to rent a house there,” he said. Instead, Mr. Steinbach will stay in Creston, Iowa, where he supports his family earning $2 less an hour power-washing farm equipment and has no benefits. Fewer homes are being built per household than at almost any time in U.S. history, and it is even worse in rural communities. Developers in less populated areas can’t tap into the economies of scale available in urban centers, making materials and labor more expensive. Rural areas are also seeing their populations stagnate or decline as younger people opt for urban living, adding to the gamble involved in speculative building.“As a developer or builder, you have to think hard about whether the risk is worth the reward,” said K.C. Belitz, president of the Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce. “For a lot, it isn’t.”
Federal, state funds bring high-speed internet to rural areas
Daily Yonder | Posted on May 31, 2018The first step toward better connectivity came in 2014, when Suzanne Phillips Sims, Congress Elementary School’s technology specialist, stumbled upon a small microwave internet company that was installing equipment atop the town’s water towers. Microwave connections utilize transmission towers, which must be directly in the line of sight of a receiving antenna. Sims asked the technician installing the equipment, Wayne Markis, whether he’d provide internet at the school for an introductory rate. The school’s relationship with AZ Airnet was born. Congress Elementary saw a much better connection, and the teachers were pleased with the round-the-clock service.“We adore him,” Miller said of Markis, who owns AZ Airnet. “It’s finding a quality person that will provide that individualized service.”With AZ Airnet’s help, the school made big strides, but the connection was still slow and there were problems, like maintenance calls in the middle of the night. New funding will allow Congress Elementary, as well as 60 other schools and libraries throughout Yavapai County, to access to a new fiber-optic connection that will provide faster, more reliable internet.The money comes from $1.8 million federal grant as well as $400,000 from the state, through a funding initiative that began last year. The Arizona Broadband for Education Initiative grew out of a partnership between the state Department of Education, the Arizona Corporation Commission and a nonprofit, Education SuperHighway. It designates $11 million from the state budget and Universal Service Fund to help schools and libraries improve access to internet. Matching funds from the federal Schools and Libraries Program, commonly known as E-rate, have amounted to more than $100 million for the state.
The tourism economy in South West Virginia
Daily Yonder | Posted on May 31, 2018Southwest Virginia turned an unused railroad right of way into a critical part of a regional tourism powerhouse. Jacob Stump, a native of the region, begins a series on how those changes have affected the economy and culture of this Central Appalachian area. The Virginia Tourism Corporation’s 2014 Economic Impact Report showed that Southwest Virginia generated nearly $971 million in tourism expenditures. And, Friends of Southwest Virginia published a 2016 report that showed a 56 percent increase over a decade in tourism expenditures. These numbers are expected to grow in the coming years.