[imgbelt img=57233234.jpg]The same housing/foreclosure problems found in the cities are showing up in rural communities. Bank of America wrongly repossessed Christopher Hamby’s house in Wheelwright, a very old Kentucky coal camp. He came home one day and all the locks were changed, according to the Floyd County Times. Local attorney Ned Pillersdorg filed suit against BOA and won. Hamby didn’t even have a mortgage with BOA. The court sided with Hamby and ordered the bank to pay damages, costs, etc. Now the bank won’t pay and Hamby is having to go back to court to get any kind of compensation.• The Wall Street Journal is highlighting Rep. Mike McIntyre’s southeastern North Carolina district as one to watch this week. It’s largely rural, a swing district in what is now a swing state. McIntyre, a Democrat, is running against an Iraq vet and tea party favorite Ilario Pantano. • The L.A. Times is reporting of rural resistance to a solar farm in San Benito County. The solar facility will fill 5,000 acres in a valley now farmed and ranched by 20 families. It’s green technology versus brown (as in dirt) technology.”They are selling us and a unique landscape out for a measly 50 long-term jobs and $24 million spread out over 20 years,” said Kim Williams (above), who raises grass-fed pastured chickens in the valley. “That’s pathetic.” • See the story on this page about the GIPSA livestock rules. Brownfield is reporting that some of the big producer groups will present their own economic analysis of these proposals November 10.You don’t have to guess what the findings will be. Gregg Doud, chief economist for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, said recently that he could not find any justification for the new rules. • Columbia University professor Dickson Despommier thinks we should shift our farming to the cities, to “vertical farms” developed on tall buildings. He’s just published a new book on the subject, The Vertical Farm. Despommier would burn human waste and biofuels to power his hydroponic farms. He says that fish and poultry could be raised downtown, along with fruits and vegetables.