Anger over immigration isn't limited to Arizona. The Boston Globe tells this sad story from Milford, Massachusetts (location above). 

In a public field, a group of Ecuadorans planted a heart-shaped flower bed, a goodwill gesture to their adopted home. "A day later, only mulch and a few stubs remained, the flowers ripped out and the mini-fencing dumped in a trash barrel," reports Brian Mooney. “They’re disappointed,’’ said the Rev. Manuel Clavijo, associate pastor of St. Mary of the Assumption Church, where immigrants, many in this country illegally, worship. “It was meant to be a sign of their commitment to the town, that they can contribute.’’

Mooney reports that immigration is now a "key issue in state political races this year." The legislature has passed restrictions on public benefits for undocumented immigrants and the issue has become important in this year's governor's race.

The immigration has heated up in part because states are in financial binds. Bloomberg reports, however, that state revenues showed their first quarterly gain since 2008. 

Most of that increase in the January through March time period is due to higher revenues in New York and California, where tax receipts were up. “Recent data show an unmistakable improvement in the economy and a slight firming in state tax-revenue collections,” wrote the authors of a report on state revenues.

Still, state revenues are down 9.3 percent compared with the same period two years ago.

Are small towns "too tiny to be xenophobic?" asked The Watershed Post, a new web-based newspaper in Delhi, New York.  Editor Julia Reischel attended a panel discussion last night about a new movie, Bienvenidos a Fleischmanns, that is about the growth of the Hispanic community in Fleischmanns, New York.  Last night four academics, faculty members at a nearby state university discussed immigration patterns in upstate New York.

Jessica Vecchione is the filmmaker and she was joined on the panel by others who discussed how the new Hispanic population was getting along with Fleishmanns seasonal population of Orthodox Jews. Vecchione said the two groups were getting along just fine, a function, perhaps of living in a small town. See the clips for an interesting discussion.

We can also turn to Henry Beetle Hough's classic book, Country Editor, first published in 1940. Hough was editor of The Vinyard Gazette, the weekly newspaper on Martha's Vinyard. He wrote 70 years ago: "The great thing about the small town is its spirit of tolerance and understanding. The gossips may talk meanly, and the scandals go to the rounds quickly, but when all is said and done the town looks after its own because it must." True enough.

Congress agreed last week that conversion to digital television should be delayed. Many stations in rural areas are converting anyway.