The Los Angeles Times reports that a "flurry of recent stable closures has generated talk where equestrians gather about whether the Southern California horse culture can survive the sprawl of suburbia and its relentless appetite for onetime ranch land." Jessica Garrison reports on the clash between housing and horses, a conflict horses are losing. "We are losing an irreplaceable piece of the American culture...and the Western heritage," said one rider.

Stables are giving way to cul de sacs and fairgrounds are being turned into parking lots. And not just in California. Outside of Lexington, Kentucky, horse farms can be found on one side of a four plank fence and a parade of McMansions is on the other. It's happening all over the country, but California "is being really hard hit," said Deb Balliet of Kentucky's Equestrian Land Conservation Resource.

The vanishing of horses is a sign that "we are separated from the land, rider Mary Benson told Garrison. "People are afraid of the dirt. They are afraid of the dark. They have no sense of their place in the natural world."

Railroad cars are being stored on sidetracks across the country. Mines and sawmills are closing. The recession is hitting home in rural communities.

The outlines of the Obama Administration's stimulus plan were revealed this week. The House Democrats' proposal has money designated for several rural programs.

A close friend of President-elect Barack Obama is expected to be named to lead the Federal Communications Commission, emphasizing the new president's interest in using internet broadband as a tool for economic development. Obama and Julius Genachowski were classmates at Harvard Law School and have remained close since.

"It's been a long time since we've had an FCC chairman who is close to the president," Andy Lipman, who leads the telecom-media practice at the Bingham McCutchen law firm in Washington, said to Austin American-Statesman reporter David Ho. "It's important because the president and the White House want to be hands-on in terms of FCC policy, especially using broadband as a key part of the economic stimulus."

Information Week reports that Genachowski has clerked for two U.S. Supreme Court justices and has worked for entertainment mogul Barry Diller. The first controversy to meet the new FCC chair, however, will be the February 17 conversion from analog transmission of television signals to digital. Obama has asked that this switch be postponed because too many elderly and rural residents don't have the devices that allow analog sets to receive a digital signal.