Rural News Clips, July 23, 2024
Program helps rural recreation businesses help each other; some cops go to small towns to avoid closer scrutiny; 1.6 million can't afford health insurance in 10 states that didn't expand Medicaid
CAMPAIGN FOR RURAL PROGRESS
The Daily Yonder
Rural, Recreation-Related Businesses Support Each Other Through ‘Rural is Rad’
July 23, 2024
“In Colorado, a new online database hopes to bring attention and collaboration to rural businesses, primarily those in the outdoor industry.”
“Rural is Rad was started by Kelly Mazanti, TJ Smith, and Robin Hall, who all own small businesses based in rural Colorado. They discovered a shared interest and mutual frustration over growing businesses in rural communities.”
“Rural counties with outdoor recreation opportunities can attract more residents who have more money than non-recreational rural counties.”
“However, recreational economies also tend to have lower wages and can drive up housing prices in a community, which pushes lower-income people to other areas.”
“Mazanti hopes that Rural is Rad can connect rural business owners and communities to help solve challenges like this.”
POLITICS AND ELECTIONS
Ohio Capital Journal
US House incumbents hold cash advantage in Ohio’s most competitive races
July 22, 2024
“This November every one of Ohio’s 15 U.S. Representatives will go before the voters, but only a handful of races are all that competitive.”
“Democrat Joyce Beatty and Republican Jim Jordan both face challengers in their districts but the territory favors their respective parties so much that their victories are a near certainty.”
“In Ohio’s 2nd congressional district, a vast stretch of rural and Appalachian Ohio, nearly a dozen Republican candidates flooded into this year’s primary — some of them from outside the district — for the exact same reason.”
“There are only three races in the state that appear truly competitive. All three seats are currently held by Democrats, but the incumbents face legitimate Republican contenders.”
“Two of those challengers have campaign experience and name recognition after long careers in state government; the third has strong ties to the Republican party in his county.”
Votebeat Arizona
Global computer outage snarls Arizona’s early voting, raises alarm about November
July 19, 2024
“A global Microsoft-based computer outage early Friday crippled the electronic systems Arizona’s two largest counties use for early in-person voting, causing election officials to quickly divert to backup plans to keep early voting open for the state’s primary election.”
“The breakdown affected the devices that Maricopa and Pima counties use at voting locations to check voters in, verify voter eligibility and print ballots. It did not affect the machines the counties use to count ballots, which are not used during early voting because voters place their completed ballots into envelopes to be counted later.”
“The crashes highlight a type of vulnerability in local election systems across the country — the vast majority of which operate on Microsoft Windows.”
“That raises urgent new questions about how to prevent such meltdowns from happening during nationwide elections, especially the November presidential election, and how officials would respond in the heat of election day voting.”
AVIAN FLU
Colorado Newsline
More northeastern Colorado poultry workers infected with bird flu
July 23, 2024
“Colorado health officials identified two more cases of the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza — bird flu — in humans over the weekend, bringing the case count in the state to seven people who worked with inflected birds.”
“The cluster of cases, comprising eight people in Colorado, accounts for most of the bird flu cases in humans in the country.”
“The recently infected workers were dealing directly with infected poultry and experienced mild symptoms such as pink eye and respiratory infection symptoms.”
“Officials with the U.S. Department of Agriculture said last week that heat could have prevented proper use of personal protective equipment, exposing the workers to the virus.”
CHILDREN AND FAMILIES
Politico
Baby Formula Warehouse Hit
July 22, 2024
“A Reckitt’s Mead Johnson baby formula warehouse sustained “significant damage” from a tornado in Mount Vernon, Indiana” earlier this month.
“The company is working to manage inventory at other warehouses to minimize disruption to the formula supply chain.”
The National WIC Association says it’s monitoring the situation and advises against panci about shortages.
In 2022, bacterial contamination shut down a major formula production facility, which caused a nationwide formula shortage that disproportionately hurt rural families.
GROCERIES
Daily Montanan
Study: Dollar stores entry into rural communities often adds to rural grocery challenges
July 21, 2024
“The influx of dollar stores into the rural landscape can have a devastating effect on grocery stores and other small businesses in rural areas, research has found.”
“When dollar stores move into a rural area, independent grocery stores are more likely to close, says a new study released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Employment and sales fall at grocery stores wherever a dollar store is located, the researchers found, but in rural areas the effects are more profound.”
A 2023 report found that “dollar stores are more likely to be located in low-income and rural areas.”
HEALTH CARE
Missouri Independent
Missouri children are losing Medicaid coverage at rate that is alarming pediatricians
July 19, 2024
“Since June of last year, Missouri has been re-checking the eligibility of all Medicaid enrollees, after a three-year federal pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
“The Medicaid rolls are down by roughly 136,000 kids since the process of recertification started up again. [Nearly 80%] qualify for coverage but are losing out due to paperwork or “procedural” reasons.”
“And in recent months, the state’s application processing times for Medicaid have gotten so long the federal government was compelled to intervene to help Missouri improve the situation.”
“In the meantime, thousands of children who lost coverage are dealing with delayed or foregone medical care, which can include missed vaccines for infants, preventative care and prescriptions for chronic diseases like asthma and diabetes.”
“Several pediatricians mentioned patients driving from hours away, from rural areas without pediatricians who take Medicaid, only to be turned away for lack of coverage.”
Stateline
Dental therapists, who can fill cavities and check teeth, get the OK in more states
July 17, 2024
“Dental therapists are licensed to fill cavities, place temporary crowns, extract diseased teeth and provide other basic preventive dental care, working under a dentist’s supervision. They have more training than a hygienist but not the advanced degree of a dentist.”
“More than a dozen states have authorized the licensing and practice of dental therapists, and the occupation is growing.”
“Critics of dental therapy say state and federal policy should instead focus on supporting dentists.”
“But many experts say dental therapists can help provide better access to oral health care for underserved communities — including in rural areas and for adults and children who lack insurance coverage or who are on public insurance.”
Modern Healthcare
Rural Hospital CEOs Risk Cuts Unless Medicare, Medicaid Pay Grows
July 22, 2024
“Rural hospitals are weighing which services to cut if lawmakers do not boost Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement and streamline pay processes, CEOs said.”
“Half of rural hospitals were operating in the red last year, up from 43% in 2022, according to a February report from the consulting firm Chartis Center for Rural Health.”
“As a result, a growing number of providers in rural communities are slashing obstetric and chemotherapy services, among others, the report found.”
IMMIGRATION
Food & Energy Reporting Network
Agricultural guest worker debate lurks amid GOP plans for mass deportations
July 22, 2024
“U.S. agriculture has turned increasingly to short-term guest workers to relieve a labor shortage in recent years. Farm groups and farm state lawmakers want to expand the program.”
“The Republican platform does not mention agricultural workers while pledging strong immigration laws.”
“Project 2025, which describes itself as a blueprint for a new Trump administration, says the H-2A agricultural visa should be phased out over the next 10 to 20 years.”
JOBS AND LABOR
Stateline
Steep fines in Iowa set off state-federal showdown over child labor laws
July 23, 2024
“In recent years, lawmakers in [31 states] have sought to roll back long-standing child labor protections as employers struggle to fill open jobs and critics complain that many safeguards on child workers are outdated.”
Federal law doesn’t address some parts of the new bills and laws, but other changes “directly conflict with federal laws.”
“Federal and state governments had for decades embraced protecting the youngest workers after eradicating the worst child labor abuses.”
“But legislatures, backed by business groups, have recently sought to loosen standards, leading to heightened tensions over federal rules.”
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Stateline
Some police officers leave big cities for smaller towns to avoid heightened scrutiny
July 12, 2024
“Four years after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and the police murder of George Floyd, many big-city law enforcement agencies are struggling to fill their ranks.”
“Larger agencies, which usually serve more densely populated communities, are seeing more officers move to smaller places, often to escape the intense scrutiny found in big cities.”
“Some of the job incentives are working, especially in smaller agencies. More sworn officers were hired in 2023 than in any of the previous four years, and fewer officers overall resigned or retired.”
MENTAL HEALTH
Daily Montanan
Therapists learn how to help farmers cope with stress before it’s too late
July 22, 2024
“Studies have concluded that suicide is unusually common among farmers. Researchers believe it’s not just because many farmers have other risk factors, such as rural addresses and access to guns.”
“The tragic trend has caught the attention of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which sponsors training sessions … to help health care professionals learn how to talk to farmers about the pressures they face in wringing a living out of the land.”
“Surveys show many farmers are reluctant to seek mental health care, partly because they think therapists or doctors couldn’t understand their lives.”
“A 2023 review of studies on farmer suicides in multiple countries, including the U.S., cited cultural and economic stresses.”
Nebraska Examiner
New Nebraska law connects 911 operators with 988 suicide prevention line
July 22, 2024
“Two years after the nation adopted a three-digit suicide prevention line, a new Nebraska law will offer clear interface between mental health and other emergency providers.”
“The 988 number was established in July 2022 as a nationwide, 24/7 suicide prevention line, which is available to anyone experiencing a mental health-related crisis.”
In Nebraska, “call volume increased in the second year, between July 1, 2023, and June 30, 2024, by 22.5% from the previous fiscal year, to 22,409 calls.”
“A spokesperson for DHHS said the department will establish pilot sites in each of the state’s six behavioral health regions to test protocols in urban, rural and frontier areas of Nebraska. The outcomes will be used to better expand 911-988 interoperability statewide and with the Public Service Commission.”
NATIVE AMERICANS
Oklahoma Voice
Tribal lands in Oklahoma are 5 times more likely to flood than rest of state
July 22, 2024
“In Oklahoma, Indigenous communities are the most likely to be at risk of flooding, with one recent study showing the danger increases by more than five times when compared to surrounding areas.”
“Help might be on the way. The United States Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland announced last week that $120 million are available to fund tribal efforts to become more resilient to climate-fueled extreme weather, including flooding in places like Oklahoma.”
The flooding was once only a concern in the spring, but climate change has also raised the risk at other times of the year.
RENEWABLE ENERGY
Nevada Current
Rural officials tell NV lawmakers they can’t keep up with flood of proposed energy projects
July 16, 2024
“The federal push to build large-scale renewable energy projects on public lands is in full force, and Nevada’s rural counties fear they may be on the chopping block.”
“As of June, there are over 130 pending applications to build renewable energy projects across Nevada’s public lands. Most of those projects are in rural counties, where as much as 80% of land is federally managed.”
“Several rural counties are now asking state lawmakers to establish a policy that would require federal agencies to coordinate all their land use planning and management decisions with state and county governments when considering massive utility-scale energy projects on Nevada’s public lands.”
“During an Interim Natural Resources Committee meeting on public lands [recently], representatives for rural governments told lawmakers that the intensity and scale of utility-scale energy proposals they are seeing in their counties will require targeted state policy to support and protect rural economies.”
Brookings
Podcast: Farming for wind in rural Michigan
July 23, 2024
“In clean energy projects, people care more about benefits for their community and less about intangible national or global climate benefits from reduced emissions.”
“Negotiating equitable community benefits in leases requires intensive time and energy from local coalitions.”
“Policymakers can help by providing a playbook or access to expertise so communities can shape their collective interests and engage constructively with developers.”
“Clean energy projects often face politicized pushback, sometimes fueled by outside groups, but local concerns about losing what many people like most about living rural remain valid.”
“State legislation that allows developers to not seek local approval for large-scale projects should ensure that local voices remain part of decision-making and negotiation with clean energy developers.”
REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS
Iowa Public Radio
Iowa abortion ban law to go into effect next week
July 23, 2024
“An Iowa law that bans abortion as early as six weeks of pregnancy will go into effect Monday, July 29, at 8 a.m.”
“A district court judge filed a motion Tuesday to dissolve the temporary injunction next week.”
“This was following an Iowa Supreme Court decision last month that found the law, which bans abortion when cardiac activity is detected, can go into effect.”
“The Court ruled that the abortion ban is constitutional and that an injunction blocking its enforcement should be dissolved. That started a three-week period for the lawsuit to make its way back to a lower court, but Planned Parenthood and the ACLU of Iowa’s request to reconsider the ruling made that take longer.”
“When the law does go into effect, it will make Iowa the most recent state to severely restrict the procedure. It does have exceptions for rape, incest and life-threatening situations.”
SAFETY NET PROGRAMS
Stateline
In the 10 states that didn’t expand Medicaid, 1.6M can’t afford health insurance
July 19, 2024
“Nearly 1 of every 5 uninsured working-age adults across the 10 states that have not expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act are, according to a new analysis, stuck in a health care limbo known as a ‘coverage gap.’”
“That means they earn too much money to receive Medicaid but not enough to qualify for financial help to purchase their own plan on the marketplace.”
The 10 states that haven’t expanded Medicaid are Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
“The analysis also found that more than 60% of those who fall into this gap are people of color: Latino people account for 35%, Black residents account for 24%, and Asian people account for 2%.”
UTILITIES
Inside Climate News
Funds to Help Low-Income Families With Summer Electric Bills Are Stretched Thin
July 19, 2024
“A federal program helps people in poverty cover the costs of heat and cooling. But advocates say it disadvantages states like Texas and Arizona, even though extreme heat is a key cause of weather-related deaths.”