The Census Bureau put the spotlight on rural America today when it released the results of its latest American Community Survey, the data that gives us the closest look at changes in American demography, economics, work, and lifestyles. Meanwhile, the survey showed that the Census-defined rural population remained steady from last year.The press release that announced the new Census data focused on rural information, noting that rural Americans are more likely to own their own homes, live in the state where they were born, and to have served in the military. [node:read-more:link]

The deadly fire that struck the resort town of Gatlinburg, Tennessee, has halted the tourism trade, which provides up to half the jobs in the city and surrounding county. Even for businesses that were not damaged, cash registers will be silent until at least Friday. Residents say they are confident the economy will bounce back. [node:read-more:link]

To prevent humans from abusing opioids, under the new mandate veterinarians in New Hampshire will have to check the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program database before prescribing medications to their pet patients. And therein lies the problem. "It's inappropriate and illegal for someone who's not a human medical professional to make a medical determination about human beings," Stephen Crawford, DVM, the state veterinarian who serves on the New Hampshire Board of Veterinary Medicine, told the Union Leader. [node:read-more:link]

Patti Ruby is a rarity among military spouses. She has been able to stay in her chosen career, speech pathology, for nearly 13 years, through the birth of her three children and a cross-country move, from Virginia to California. Last week, the family moved again, to Florida. Ruby said she thought a new Florida law that provides temporary occupational licenses to military spouses would make it easy for her to get back to work. But she realized last month that she may not be eligible. [node:read-more:link]

A U.S. magistrate judge recommended that the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana grant R-CALF USA’s request for a preliminary injunction in a case involving the beef checkoff.  The injunction would stop USDA from continuing to allow the Montana State Beef Council to use checkoff dollars to fund its advertising campaigns unless a cattle producer provides prior affirmative consent that his/her checkoff dollars may be retained by the council for that purpose.The ruling relates to a lawsuit R-CALF filed against the national beef checkoff program in May. [node:read-more:link]

Biosecurity and defense against HPAI: This was a point of success in 2016 – only one turkey flock had an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza – but keeping flocks healthy is a continuing priority in 2017. “One positive outcome of the HPAI outbreak in 2015 is that the industry has increased its focus on biosecurity and that remains in place,” Simmons said. International trade and exports: Another industry success in 2016 was the reopening of the chicken trade with South Africa. [node:read-more:link]

A bipartisan weather bill years in the making quietly died on the floor of the House of Representatives. Supporters of the bill say it was necessary to maintain U.S. excellence in research and forecasting and the National Weather Service’s ability to issue lifesaving warnings. It also would have bridged federal agencies and private companies in a discipline where advances are being made across all sectors. The Weather Research and Forecasting Act of 2015 — which had Democrat, Republican, bicameral and weather enterprise support — passed the Senate by unanimous consent on Dec. [node:read-more:link]

By many measures, Hawaii is one of the healthiest states in the union. Yet only Mississippi has a higher rate of flu or pneumonia deaths than the Aloha State. [node:read-more:link]

Society has just begun to tap new renewable sources of energy from agriculture and forestlands on a commercial scale that impacts energy markets.  Among these sources are biofuels, a small but important component of current fuel consumption in the U.S. [node:read-more:link]

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 temporarily raised SNAP benefit levels to help low-income Americans cope with the economic crisis of the Great Recession. ERS analyses found that during 2008-09, each dollar of SNAP assistance raised participants’ at-home food spending by an average of 53 cents—a higher portion than in previous studies. The lowest income households had the highest propensity to spend SNAP benefits on food—for every $1 in SNAP benefits, these households increased their food spending by 62 cents. [node:read-more:link]