[imgcontainer] [img:Charleywaving.jpg] [source]Daily Yonder[/source] We came across Charley (he kept his last name to himself) in Brady, Texas, in the front yard of the county courthouse. Charley says he comes to the intersection every Sunday to try to bring some cheer to the world and a smile to the faces of the people who drive through the West Texas town. Well done, Charley! [/imgcontainer]
A Progressive Farmer-Zogby Rural Issues poll of farmers finds that 53 percent do not believe global warming is impacting their operations. Twenty-three percent disagree, saying climate change is affecting their farms and ranches, and 24 percent aren’t sure.
Farmers are split on the good of genetically modified crops, on both their effectiveness and their safety.
Thirty-seven percent of farmers say that GM crops are as effective as they were five years ago while 36 percent say they are not.
Rosalee Watson Dies — Rosalee Watson, the wife of legendary guitar player Doc Watson, has died. She was 81 and died at a medical facility in Boone, North Carolina.
Rosalee Watson was also a musician. Click here to listen to Robert Plant and Allison Krauss singing her song “Your Long Journey.”
Same Day Postal Service — While it’s closing rural post offices to save money, the U.S. Postal Service is looking to provide same day delivery in some cities as a way of increasing revenue.
The service would be offered first in big cities: Boston, New York, Chicago, San Francisco. The Postal Service expects to generate up to $50 million per city where the service is offered.
Such is the value of instant gratification.
Outspent in Iowa — President Barack Obama was outspent by Mitt Romney nearly two to one in Iowa, the Des Moines Register reports.
Romney (and pro-Romney groups) spent $21.5 million in the final five weeks of the campaign.
Disappearing Trout — Wyoming planted trout in three Beartooth Mountain lakes and now they are disappearing. Nobody knows why.
The lakes are stocked, but the fish are “all but disappearing the following year,” said a state biologist.
Vets Join Congress — Next year’s Congress will have just over 100 veterans, most having served in the Vietnam War. Nine vets from Iraq and Afghanistan will join Congress next year, making 16 representatives coming from the nation’s latest conflicts.
In 1977, Congress had more than 400 veterans among the 535 members of the House and Senate.
Gas Buyout Lags — The Trust for Public Land is raising money to buy 58,000 acres of oil and gas leases south of Jackson, Wyoming. But fundraising is slower than expected and the group is far short of the $4.25 million it needs to complete the deal, the Jackson newspaper reports.
Grazing and Climate Change — A study of federal rangelands by Oregon State University researchers found that “grazing by cattle, sheep and wild horses and even deer and elk needs to be reduced because of climate change,” Rocky Barker reports.
But Barker writes that some in the region find the study to be more advocacy than science. Meanwhile, the Bureau of Land Management is reviewing its grazing permits and the effects grazing has on the environment.
Logging Slowdown — In Minnesota’s north woods, the demand for wood has slackened and lumberjacks are turning into taconite miners.
More than a hundred U.S. paper mills have shut down in the last decade, and the collapse of the housing market has lowered the demand for construction lumber. By July of this year, Minnesota’s tree harvest had dropped 40 percent in six years.
And in the last ten years, 22,500 jobs in logging have been lost, a 32 percent decline.
No Fracking in Longmont — The New York Times reports on the ban on oil and gas fracking in Longmont, Colorado.
The city awaits an onslaught of lawsuits.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
