Saturday, May 7, 2011

News roundup

A couple of news items that do not have to do with flooding on the lower Ohio:

According to an article in the New York Times, Brooke County WV has the largest gap between births and deaths per 100 people of any county in a metropolitan area in the U.S., except for counties that are magnets for retirees. One reason cited in the article is that Brooke County is not a magnet for Hispanic immigrants.

Here's a question: Why are companies that haul freight on the Ohio River the only ones taxed to pay for construction and maintenance of its locks and dams when there are many more companies that benefit from the stable water levels the dams provide? This article explores who benefits from the dams.

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