The Great Plains is the broad expanse of prairie which lies east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States of America and Canada, covering all or parts of the U.S. states of New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota and North Dakota and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. In Canada the name prairie is more common, and the region is known as the Canadian Prairies.

The High Plains refers to the elevated region of the Great Plains generally west of the 100th meridian, which roughly corresponds with the line west of which there is 20 inches (500 mm) of rainfall a year or less. The region is arid and generally characterized by rangeland or marginal farmland. About every 25 years the region is subject to drought and may be subject to devastating duststorms. The region roughly centered on the Oklahoma Panhandle, including southeastern Colorado, southwestern Kansas, the Texas Panhandle, and extreme northeastern New Mexico was known as the Dust Bowl during the late 1920s and early 1930s. The effect of the drought combined with the effects of the Great Depression, and many farmers were forced off the land throughout the Great Plains. Another drought has struck the area in recent years.

The southern portion of the Great Plains lies over the Ogallala Aquifer, a vast underground layer of water-bearing strata dating from the last ice age. Center pivot irrigation is used extensively, resulting in the aquifer being depleted at a rate that is not sustainable in some areas.

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USATODAY.com Nation - Top Stories

Governments' building projects shore up economy
Wed, 20 Aug 2008 04:24:40 -0000
Construction spending by federal, state and local governments has reached record levels, lifting the economy and employing some ...
Florida in for big soaking
Wed, 20 Aug 2008 04:24:19 -0000
Tropical Storm Fay rolled ashore in Florida on Tuesday short of hurricane strength, but mysteriously gained speed as it headed ...
S.C. father accused of killing teen at party
Wed, 20 Aug 2008 02:05:37 -0000
A South Carolina man shot an unarmed teenager to death after a scuffle at a weekend party thrown by his children, then shot two ...
Tenn. trooper accused of snooping on media, musician
Wed, 20 Aug 2008 01:21:20 -0000
A Tennessee state trooper was suspended after investigators said he used his position to conduct 182 background checks, at least ...
Fender-bender leads to killing spree in Fla.
Wed, 20 Aug 2008 01:17:40 -0000
A Florida man was arrested after allegedly going on a violent rampage after a minor fender-bender, stabbing the occupants of ...
N.Y. to pay $2M to arrested war protesters
Wed, 20 Aug 2008 01:05:11 -0000
New York City has agreed to pay $2 million to settle a lawsuit claiming 52 anti-Iraq war activists were unjustly arrested, lawyers ...

The Economist: United States

The swing states: North Carolina:
Thu, 14 Aug 2008 11:49:44 -0000
Barack Obama wants to turn this state Democratic. That will be harder than he thinksTHE past few years have been difficult for Mark Paylor, a pig, cattle and grain farmer. On a sunny summer morning in Greensboro he complains that rising petrol and feed prices have driven up his costs so far that it is impossible to compete with cheap imports. He is disgusted by trade agreements that let Mexico send America jalapenos riddled with salmonella, when American farmers have to play by stricter rules. Mr Paylor is a black and a Democrat, and he clearly wants change. He will not vote for John McCain. But he does not have much faith in Barack Obama, either: “He might put on a show to win, but he don’t understand.”That comment suggests why Mr Obama faces an uphill climb in North Carolina. As swing states go, North Carolina is an unlikely prospect for the Democrats. It is a culturally conservative southern state that has voted for the Republican in every presidential election since 1976. In 2004 George Bush clobbered John Kerry here by a 12-point margin, even though Mr Kerry’s running mate, John Edwards, was North Carolina’s senator at the time (see article). ...
Lexington:
Thu, 14 Aug 2008 11:49:44 -0000
Rick Warren has emerged as the most powerful evangelical in AmericaON AUGUST 16th John McCain and Barack Obama will both appear at one of America’s great mega-churches, Saddleback, in Lake Forest, California, to discuss “leadership and compassion”. The result of the “discussion”—it is not a formal debate because the candidates will be appearing in sequence rather than side by side—will not only help “values voters” decide which man they support. It could also determine whether the host of the event, Rick Warren, can lay claim to one of the most sought-after titles in America, that of “the next Billy Graham”.Billy Graham has been the most powerful Christian in America since the 1950s. Eisenhower summoned Mr Graham on his deathbed. Richard Nixon played golf with him. George Bush senior called him “America’s pastor”. George Bush junior credits him with planting the “mustard seed” of faith in his heart. When Mr Graham was hospitalised in 1976, three presidents (Nixon, Ford and Jimmy Carter) rang him in a single day. ...
Animal conservation:
Thu, 14 Aug 2008 11:49:44 -0000
Is it safe to let bison return to the unsupervised wild? TO THE earliest explorers they seemed almost infinite, a dark pulsing mass stretching to the horizon. But the vast throngs of bison or buffalo grazing on the Plains, by some estimates as many as 60m, were not endless. Relentless hunting and the approach of civilisation reduced them to a last herd of 300 in 1893. Now they are being slowly reintroduced into the wild.As many as 200,000 bison are currently raised commercially, to satisfy a growing demand for a meat that is leaner and richer in protein than beef. But wild bison, which are held in federal and state preserves, number fewer than 20,000. ...
Technology and the campaigns:
Thu, 14 Aug 2008 11:49:44 -0000
The battle to master new media becomes ever more intenseON JULY 30th John McCain’s campaign released an anti-Barack Obama advertisement on the McCain YouTube channel. The ad compared Mr Obama’s celebrity to that of Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. By August 13th it had been viewed 2m times, TV and newspapers had taken it up, a bikini-clad Paris had launched a spirited riposte (“Thanks for the endorsement, white-haired dude”) and it was still the most viewed clip on the McCain channel. In reply, Mr Obama’s campaign launched “Low Road Express”, a website that mocked Mr McCain’s reputation for straight talk. On July 31st the Republican National Committee launched “Obama Audacity Watch”, to track less-than-glowing stories and clips about him. Last year, seven of the 16 major presidential contenders kicked off their campaigns online. Andrew Rasiej, a former Howard Dean adviser and founder of Personal Democracy Forum, a website and annual conference that explores the relationship between politics and technology, thinks the internet will change not only campaigns, but also democracy itself. He points to Utah’s Politicopia, an open wiki (a collaborative website where content is added or modified) through which citizens can influence the legislature. ...
Detroit:
Thu, 14 Aug 2008 11:49:44 -0000
A mayor who seems to spend more time in court than in city hallA PATCH of pavement outside the district court has become a second home for Detroit’s reporters. On August 7th their mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick, spent a night in jail for violating his bond terms in a perjury case. The next day he was charged with assault, bringing his total roster to 14 counts. He was in court again on the 12th and is scheduled to return on August 14th and 15th. Known for his style, the mayor now wears an anklet adorned with a tracking system. Such chaos would damage the healthiest city. But Detroit’s population has fallen by half since 1950; almost one-third of its residents are poor; and its car industry is in a long decline. For a town with an image problem, Mr Kilpatrick is hardly helping. ...
Cities and housing:
Thu, 14 Aug 2008 11:49:44 -0000
The suburbs have been hit hard by the housing crisis. But reports of their death are exaggerated“KEEP your house” reads the handwritten sign on a chain-link fence some 60 miles east of downtown Los Angeles. It is an advertisement, although it could be the attitude of an overstretched buyer who owes the bank more money than his home is worth. Many people in Moreno Valley have simply walked away from their properties. As abandoned lawns turn brown in the desert climate, the fallout spreads. It is no longer a matter of saving individual houses, but a whole city. Until recently Moreno Valley was one of the fastest-growing cities in America. It lies in the Inland Empire, a two-county region in southern California that is so called largely because it is difficult to know how else to characterise such a sprawling expanse of detached homes, strip malls and warehouses. Between 1990 and 2007 the Inland Empire’s population grew from 2.6m to 4.1m—the equivalent of adding a city the size of Philadelphia. ...

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