Population decline in rural counties, and more

Population decline in rural counties

About 46 percent of rural counties in the U.S. lost population over the last decade, while metropolitan areas—defined as cities and their suburbs—grew 10.8 percent.

The Wall Street Journal

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In China, no room for the dead

China is running out of room to bury the 9 million Chinese who die each year, and is urging people to choose cremation and bury ashes at sea or under trees.

USA Today

Bristol Palin's big paycheck

Sarah Palin’s daughter Bristol was paid $262,500 in 2009 by the Candie’s Foundation to help raise awareness about teen pregnancy. The nonprofit foundation, which took in $1.7 million in donations, gave a total of $35,000 to groups trying to lower teen-pregnancy rates.

Associated Press

What the Boston Medical Group doesn't say

The Boston Medical Group does not say so in the radio and newspaper ads it buys across the country, but its primary treatment for erectile dysfunction is a powerful mix of drugs a man must inject in his own penis with a syringe every time he wants to have sex.

Los Angeles Times

Playing partisan politics with press releases

About 27 percent of congressional press releases are devoted to taunting the other party. A Harvard researcher found that while most of the 64,000 press releases he studied claim credit for a success, or stake out a position, more than 1 in 4 are devoted to such statements as, “[The other party] is not listening to the American people.”

The Washington Post