2/16: Urban, rural areas battle over prison population count

NPR: Urban, rural areas battle over who gets to count prison population in census

Prison inmates are counted as residents of the prisons where they are locked up, which can inflate the population of mostly white, rural towns with prisons. Activists say counting the prisoners in the census unfairly shifts political and economic power away from the poor, innercity areas where most inmates came from.

As reported last week in The New York Times, a number of states, including Florida, are considering legislation requiring that prisoners be counted at their last known address — for purposes of reapportionment, a change that would likely favor larger and mostly Democratic cities.

However, Rep. William Lacy Clay (D-Missouri), who is chairman of the census subcommittee, said the 2010 census “will again be counting incarcerated people as residents of the rural, predominantly white communities that contain prisons.”

Also in the South:

ALABAMA: State Senate enters bingo battle -- to legalize or not

ARKANSAS: Gov. Beebe reports more than $1 million raised in January for campaign

FLORIDA: Editorial: Oil drilling could change Florida for the worse

GEORGIA: Gov. Perdue's plan to use lottery funds may be unconstitutional

KENTUCKY: New report shows Kentucky, Tennessee rank low in quality of life

LOUISIANA: Mardi Gras 2010 kicks off

MISSISSIPPI: State sees transition in farming from crops to tree farms

NORTH CAROLINA: Analysts say it'll be a tough election year for state Democrats

SOUTH CAROLINA: Naturalists worried about boom in feral hog population

TENNESSEE: Stimulus funds to pay for health information technology improvements

VIRGINIA: Lawmakers look to loosen firearm restrictions in state

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