Interior Secretary Ken Salazar

The White House established a Rural Council on Thursday, the first of its kind, focused on rural America and its economy. President Obama signed an executive order calling for a group of two dozen administration officials, including cabinet secretaries, to sit on the advisory group.

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The Interior Department is backing away from a plan to make millions of acres of undeveloped land in the west eligible for federal wilderness protection. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar made the announcement in a memo today to the director of the Bureau of Land Management.