Nationwide: Reported by Business Week, Gov. Bill Richardson and Lt. Gov. Diane Denish of New Mexico said rural communities need assistance in securing federal stimulus money.

 “Some rural communities, they don’t have the staff and the expertise, in some cases, to make some of these submissions [required for stimulus money],” said Richardson. Another obstacle pointed out by Alex Brown, the City Manager for Silver City, NM, is that a large part of the available money is through reimbursement, which can strain the budgets of small communities. Plus, shovel-ready projects require a community to pay for engineering costs.

Ohio: The state’s trademark highway sign alerting drivers to the hazard of slow moving farm equipment is changing. The old sign depicts a silhouetted farmer in a straw hat atop a 1930’s-era tractor. The modernized version is a silhouette of a large contemporary tractor. The change is not without controversy, however. Proponents of the new sign contend the depiction of modern farm equipment is safer as it more accurately renders what a driver will come upon today. Opponents argue back with, “What’s that supposed to be?”

Vermont: Residents of 22 rural towns teamed up with ValleyNet Inc., a local nonprofit to hire Tim Nulty, an economist with over three decades of telecommunications experience to raise money for a fiber-optic network to bring high-speed Internet. The towns, with a population of about 55,000 total, set out to build a network after being unable to convince phone and cable companies to expand services to their area.

Washington D.C.: The bipartisan Congressional Rural Congress, comprised of 41 members of Congress, sent a letter to President Obama calling for the establishment of an Office of Rural Policy in the White House. Rep. Tom Perriello of Virginia said, “An Office of Rural Policy would be an effective way to make sure rural areas have a seat at the table when it comes to national policy.” An Office on Urban Policy has already been established by the administration.

Contact: Casey Francis, caseyf@cfra.org with questions or to suggest Across the Nation items.