The Dallas Morning News has flagged another transmission line dispute. These are cropping up all over, as billions of dollars in new transmission lines are being strung to carry electricity generated by wind turbines being built on the Great Plains. In West Texas, there are plans to string lines across the Palo Duro Canyon.

Tim Murphy/NPP This chart compares the recruitment rates in urban, exurban and rural counties.

Recruits joining the U.S. Army in 2008 disproportionately came from rural and exurban communities — especially from southern states.

Recruitment rates in rural and exurban counties across the United States were well above the national average. (See chart above.) In rural counties in Southern states, recruitment rates were more than 44% above the national average.

In contrast, the rate of people joining the U.S. Army from Northeastern cities was nearly 40% below the national average.

Rural Nevada counties had the highest Army recruitment rate among the rural counties in the 50 states in 2008, followed by Alabama and Florida. Rural Massachusetts had the lowest rate, followed by the rural portions of North Dakota and Utah.