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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: small towns

small towns stories: 18 news summaries

 Chicago Suburb Tops 
 Best Family Towns 


Best spots to raise kids boast good schools, low crime

Nov 20, 09 1:24 AM CST
(Newser) - BusinessWeek has combed the US for the best places to raise a family and has come up with a Chicago suburb to top the rankings again. The rest of the list, based on factors that include education, crime rate, cultural vitality, and air quality, is broken down by state.... More »

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education • Microsoft • parenting • Chicago • Boston • list • Illinois • small towns • Portland, Maine • affordable • Tinley Park, Ill. • Arcadia, Calif. • Great Falls, Mont. • Redmond, Wash. • Malmstrom AFB • Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanical Garden

Horrorcore Rap Killings Shock Sleepy Va. Town

Questions abound about music's role in family's slaughter

Sep 24, 09 8:29 AM CDT
(Newser) - Farmville is a sleepy Virginia town of 7,000, hardly the kind of place you’d expect a Californian “horrorcore” rapper to brutally bludgeon four people to death, Yet that's exactly what 20-year-old Richard Alden Samuel McCroskey III, aka “Syko Sam,” is suspected of doing. “I... More »

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California • MySpace • crime • murder • Virginia • small towns • rap music • MySpace Music • horrorcore • Richard Alden Samuel McCroskey

 Best Small Towns in America 


Jul 13, 09 1:35 PM CDT
(Newser) - Looking for a nice place to move to? CNN has compiled a list of the 100 best small towns to live in, based on what poll respondents said they wanted in a town. Unsurprisingly, the local economy is the No. 1 criterion, but crime rates, affordable housing, schools, and how... More »

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real estate • list • CNN • small towns

(Newser) - Head over the Piscataquog River, past some stone walls and chickenwire fences, and you’ll find a rickety farmhouse, its barn’s nameplate reading, “Souter,” reports Peter Schworm of the Los Angeles Times. The Supreme Court justice grew up in this sleepy part of New Hampshire, and his... More »

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New Hampshire • small towns • US Supreme Court • David Souter

Bernanke's Childhood Home Foreclosed On

Fed chief hails from one of America's hardest-hit towns

Feb 14, 09 10:47 AM CST
(Newser) - “This is where it all happened,” says the new owner of a modest ranch house in Dillon, SC. This is the house Ben Bernanke grew up in, and though his family sold it long ago, it’s a tad ironic that it was just bought in a foreclosure... More »

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Ben Bernanke • foreclosure • small towns

glossies

America's 20 Smartest
Small Towns

Where brains and high property values meet

Jan 10, 09 6:59 PM CST
(Newser) - America's brainiest small towns boast high property values and high culture. Forbes lists the nation's smartest:
  1. Bethesda, Md.: Nearby Georgetown and the National Institutes of Health draw brainy folk to Bethesda, which has a rate of advanced degrees five times higher than the nation's.
  2. Wellesley, Mass.: Home to
... More »

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college • Bethesda, MD • small towns • Wellesley • Palo Alto • educated • advanced degrees • Los Altos • McLean

Trump Files $100M Suit
Over Golf Course 

Mogul: city aims to 'stymie everything I do'

Dec 20, 08 11:20 AM CST
(Newser) - Donald Trump is taking his ongoing battle over a California golf course to court, the Los Angeles Times reports. Trump bought the course in Rancho Palos Verdes 6 years ago and wooed city officials by sprucing it up. Then came battles over land, ficus trees, and a street he wanted... More »

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California • Donald Trump • lawsuit • golf course • small towns

Ore.Town
Elects First Transgender Mayor in US

He wins easy victory in 'coolest town on Earth'

Nov 8, 08 1:36 PM CST
(Newser) - A small town in Oregon has elected the nation’s first transgender mayor, reports News Channel 8 (Portland). “I identify mostly as a heterosexual male,” said Stu Rasmussen, who has breast implants and is partial to skirts and high heels. “I just like to look like a... More »

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transgender • mayor • Oregon • small towns • election • Stu Rasmussen

OPINION

 'Real' America's Not Racist 

Image of rural whites distorted by McCain, media

Oct 26, 08 10:27 AM CDT
(Newser) - The media focus on the “Bradley effect" and the notion of a divided nation—"real" vs. "elite"—hyped by the McCain campaign suggests that racism among small-town whites will prove a stumbling block for Barack Obama, Frank Rich writes. But the alleged racism is nowhere near... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Barack Obama • John McCain • racism • Frank Rich • American media • small towns • Election 2008 • white people • Bradley effect

 Ala. Group Offers 
 Jews $50K Move-In Bonus 

Small-town synagogue group aims to sell Jews on the charms of the South

Sep 25, 08 4:17 AM CDT
(Newser) - A dwindling Alabama Jewish community is spending $1 million to stop itself from disappearing, as have many others in the South, CNN reports. A local group in the town of Dothan is offering a $50,000 shalom to Jewish families who choose to relocate to the community and hopes to... More »

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Jews • Alabama • small towns • synagogue • rabbi

OPINION

 Why Palin Is 
 Mac's 'Meal Ticket' 

The culture of celebrity, evangelical ideals, and small town nostalgia combine to enable Palin's 'outsized' influence

Sep 17, 08 9:19 AM CDT
(Newser) - The number of enthusiastic Republicans have doubled in polls since John McCain picked Sarah Palin for his ticket, and Palin figures in slightly more news coverage than her running mate. That might be expected, but she is mentioned 10 times more than  Democratic counterpart Joe Biden. Tim Rutten offers... More »

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religious right • John McCain • celebrity • small towns • Election 2008 • Sarah Palin • nostalgia • Tim Rutten

OPINION

GOP's Heartland Appeal Just Plain Heartless

McCain, Palin pander to 'values' of voters they'd sell out to big business

Sep 10, 08 12:23 PM CDT
(Newser) - Sarah Palin can’t say enough about the virtues of small-town Americans, the good, honest folk “who do some of the hardest work,” skip college and join the military. But they have to work so hard and skip college because they’re not doing very well, Thomas Frank... More »

MORE ABOUT:
John McCain • agriculture • Republican • Midwest • small towns • Sarah Palin

For Some US Towns, Internet Access is DIY

As providers focus on big markets, locals take net into own hands

May 19, 08 3:07 PM CDT
(Newser) - Around the world, firms and governments are ramping up the speed and availability of internet access. But in the US, telecoms are focusing mainly on big-city markets. To avoid professional brain drain, some smaller cities and towns are investing in more powerful infrastructure, the Wall Street Journal reports. But the... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Comcast • broadband Internet • competition • small towns • Internet access • fiber optic cables • utilities • bandwidth

 Giant Sinkhole
 Eats Texas Town 

Residents pack their bags as ravenous hole expands

May 9, 08 3:48 AM CDT
(Newser) - A gigantic sinkhole is gobbling up a small East Texas town, the New York Times reports. The hole—dubbed "Sinkhole de Mayo" by the residents of Daisetta—opened up suddenly, and quickly grew to the size of several football fields, swallowing trees and trucks. Many of the town's thousand... More »

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Texas • geologist • small towns • oil drilling • sinkhole

Obama Rips Clinton's Reaction to 'Bittergate'

'She's talking like
she's Annie Oakley'

Apr 14, 08 4:46 AM CDT
(Newser) - As Barack Obama reiterated that he regretted calling American heartlanders gun loving and bitter, he also lashed Hillary Clinton for her reaction backing hunting, AP reports. “She is running around talking about how this is an insult to sportsmen,” Obama told a Pennsylvania audience yesterday. “She’s... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Barack Obama • Obama 2008 • small towns • blue-collar vote • Pennsylvania primary • Indiana primary

ANALYSIS

 Why 'Bittergate' Is
 So Bad for Obama 

'Elitist' remarks could be turning point of campaign, Politico argues candidate's 'Dean Scream?'

Apr 13, 08 4:45 AM CDT
(Newser) - The uproar over Barack Obama's description of small-town Americans as "bitter" has hit the candidate so hard that there's talk of a Hillary Clinton comeback, and Politico's Mike Allen can think of plenty of reasons why. For starters, Obama has alienated a swath of blue-collar voters just nine days... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Barack Obama • Obama 2008 • small towns • blue-collar vote • Pennsylvania primary • Indiana primary

Obama: 'Bitter' Words Were Ill-Chosen

But working class frustration is real,
candidate argues

Apr 12, 08 1:34 PM CDT
(Newser) - Barack Obama acknowledged today that he’d chosen his words poorly when he said small-town working-class voters are “bitter” and “cling to guns and religion.” “I didn’t say it as well as I should have,” Obama said, but he insisted that working-class frustration is... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Barack Obama • Obama 2008 • small towns • blue-collar vote • Pennsylvania primary • Indiana primary

Obama Slammed for Calling Small Towners 'Bitter'

Candidate described small towners as 'bitter'

Apr 12, 08 6:16 AM CDT
(Newser) - Barack Obama is catching flak for comments made to an audience of wealthy Californians about small towners, Reuters reports. Talking about people in towns where jobs have vanished, the candidate said, "It's not surprising they then get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Barack Obama • Obama 2008 • fundraiser • small towns • blue-collar vote

18 Stories


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