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NEWS ABOUT: small towns

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15 Oddball US Town Names

One-way ticket to Toad Suck, please

(Newser) - There are so many towns in the great expanse of the United States that a few of them are bound to have absurd names. ( The little Irish town of Effin isn't the only spot struggling with a name that makes us say, "Huh?") BuzzFeed runs down... More »

Small Planes to Small Cities Seeing Big Cuts

Soaring fuel prices have made small planes least profitable for airlines

(Newser) - The big airlines may be pampering their first-class passengers more than ever , especially on international routes, but around the United States, small-plane service to small cities is increasingly getting the ax, reports the AP . Over the past two years, the big airlines have cut service entirely to 27 US cities,... More »

Vicious Small-Town Gossip Gets Online Forum

The virtual stuff is anonymous and nasty

(Newser) - It’s small-town gossip 2.0: Tiny towns in the Ozarks, Appalachia, and elsewhere are increasingly turning to the Internet for local chatter—and when posts are anonymous, they can get nasty. On sites like Topix.com, cruel rumors get started virtually, and true or not, the fallout can be... More »

Rural Share of US Population Hits Record Low

84% of Americans now live in cities or suburbs

(Newser) - Small-town and rural America is fading away as the US becomes a nation of suburbanites and city dwellers, according to the latest census figures. The share of Americans who live in rural areas—including towns with fewer than 50,000 people that are out of commuting range of metropolitan areas—... More »

Texas Town Furloughs Entire Police Force

With five-member department on 6-month leave, mayor predicts chaos

(Newser) - With its finances stretched to the breaking point, Alto, Texas, is giving its police officers the boot for six months—all five of them. OK, so it’s not exactly the NYPD. But with the county sheriff’s office already overburdened, town residents are afraid losing their small department could... More »

Minnesota Town Tops List of Best Places to Live in US

Eden Prairie beats out suburbs of Washington, Boston, Seattle

(Newser) - If you follow the advice of Money magazine, you'll want to live in a non-diverse suburb of a not-too-gritty city. The top five places to live are Eden Prairie, Minn.; Columbia, Md.; Newton, Mass.; Bellevue, Wash.; and McKinney, Texas. The rest of the list is dominated by more suburbs and... More »

Yeah, She's a New Yorker. You Got a Problem With That?

Guess what: 80% of Americans also live in metro areas

(Newser) - Conservatives, desperate for some angle from which to attack Elena Kagan, have found a particularly distasteful one, complaining that she's a longtime New Yorker in a court that already has a couple, and hence can't understand the experiences of Americans in the “heartland.” It's an irritating meme, “... More »

Chicago Suburb Tops Best Family Towns

Best spots to raise kids boast good schools, low crime

(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 »

Horrorcore Rap Killings Shock Sleepy Va. Town

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

(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 »

Best Small Towns in America

(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 »

Sleepy NH Town Happy It's Getting Souter Back

(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 »

Bernanke's Childhood Home Foreclosed On

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

(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 »

America's 20 Smartest Small Towns

Where brains and high property values meet

(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 two private
... More »

Trump Files $100M Suit Over Golf Course

Mogul: city aims to 'stymie everything I do'

(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 »

Ore.Town Elects First Transgender Mayor in US

He wins easy victory in 'coolest town on Earth'

(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 »

'Real' America's Not Racist

Image of rural whites distorted by McCain, media

(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 »

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

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

(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 »

Why Palin Is Mac's 'Meal Ticket'

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

(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 up... More »

GOP's Heartland Appeal Just Plain Heartless

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

(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 »

For Some US Towns, Internet Access is DIY

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

(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 »

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