Two things in the news

The river is still up and the rain keeps on coming. So what else is new, right?

Here are a couple of news items.

First, a New York investment company that wants to build a coal gasification plant along the Ohio River near Rockport, Ind., have started the process of applying for the necessary permits.

Second, there's more attention on problems with abuse of prescription painkillers in Appalachia and in counties along the Ohio River. Earlier this week, the New York Times ran a story on the situation in Portsmouth, Ohio. A lot of the story was familiar to people who have read about the problem already. And the there's this piece in The Cincinnati Enquirer about how desperate some people in Appalachia are to get the drugs, and how the governors of Ohio and Kentucky are looking for ways to cooperate in their fight against the problem.