Rural News Clips, Nov. 1, 2024
Rural News Clips, Nov. 1, 2024
Federal program launched to help rural water systems with cybersecurity; how election results could affect Medicaid; new reports detail the dismal state of child care
POLITICS AND ELECTIONS
Brookings
Commentary: What everyone should know about rural America ahead of the 2024 election
Oct. 31, 2024
“There is no single definition of rural. Different delineations by the Office of Management and Budget and Census Bureau are most commonly used, and the wide diversity of classifications impacts policy and eligibility.”
“Not all ‘small’ places are rural. Areas with small populations may not be rural by federal definitions, though they may appear so in the public eye, which affects how these places and their needs are perceived.”
“Rural America is growing in racial and ethnic diversity, with a notable increase in Hispanic residents driving recent growth.”
“Rural America has extremes, from persistently high-poverty areas to thriving ones. There are challenges in housing, labor, and access to federal resources, but there is also growth in industries like renewable energy.”
“Federal support is fragmented. New federal investments and initiatives target rural communities and aim to streamline resources, though rural areas face challenges competing for these funds with larger jurisdictions.”
Blue Ridge Public Radio
‘Anatomy of a Purple State,’ rural North Carolina keeps the state purple
Oct. 30, 2024
“In his new book, ‘Anatomy of a Purple State: A North Carolina Politics Primer,’ political expert Chris Cooper explained that the state is considered purple - a mix of blue urban areas and rural reds- because of its history as a Southern Democratic stronghold, influx of new voters and its strong rural character.”
“Cooper, who is Robert Lee Madison Distinguished professor and director of the Haire Institute for Public Policy Institute at Western Carolina University, … says the state has the second most rural voters in the entire country after Texas. This makes campaigns, legislation and representation different from other states.”
“Because of the rural expanse of the state, campaigns have to spread out to reach voters outside of the city centers to win, forcing political operatives to employ a very different strategy in NC than in other states.”
“The rural nature of the states also impact who runs for office and who wins. The higher cost of being a rural elected official who has to regularly travel to the state capital impedes representation by women, Cooper wrote.”
The Daily Yonder
Commentary: Tim Walz’s Asheville Rally Reclaims Rural Identity
Nov. 1, 2024
“Camo hats with neon text. Carhartt. Talks of faith, freedom, personal rights, and rural voters. This is what a political rally for a Democratic Vice Presidential candidate looks like in Beyonce’s Cowboy Carter era. In an age when mainstream artists celebrate their small-town roots, it’s become cool again to be country,” writes Yonder writer Sarah Melotte.
“I witnessed a unrelenting reclaiming of rurality among the speakers, musicians, and attendees at the rally. It was something I noticed as a part of the Tim Walz persona when Harris first announced him as her running mate, but watching the rural reclamation happen in person was more profound than listening to it on NPR.”
The New York Times
They Barter and Trade to Survive. How Will They Vote?
Nov. 1, 2024
“Many rural Americans engage in cashless barter systems to get food and firewood for heating and cooking. They value self-sufficiency, making them wary of government intervention.”
Researchers found that rural residents were more likely to report using barter and trade as an important means of making ends meet.
One rural resident noted “that rural America was electrified through cooperatives, particularly the Rural Electrification Act of 1936, which provided federal loans for local residents to band together and create rural electric cooperatives that brought electricity to areas deemed unprofitable by private utility companies.”
“The people managed their own power infrastructure,” she said. “But what Kamala is trying to do is bring infrastructure, like broadband internet, to rural America through corporations.”
Arkansas Advocate
North Arkansas voters distrustful of voting machines, poll workers
Nov. 1, 2024
“Distrust of electronic voting machines and tense local political environments have residents in some northern Arkansas counties worried about the integrity of this year’s election.”
One state election monitor assigned to a rural area “said there has been distress and hostility with poll watchers — people who register with the county clerk to watch the polls for a particular candidate or local issue. On one day she wasn’t present, poll watchers were asked to leave, she said.”
ARTS AND CULTURE
The Daily Yonder
Q&A: Identity-Making on Georgia’s Geechee Coast
Nov. 1, 2024
“Neesha Powell-Ingabire is the director of popular education at the Southern media collective Press On and the author of the new book, Come by Here: A Memoir in Essays from Georgia’s Geechee Coast.”
CHILD CARE
The Hechinger Report
2 out of 5 child care teachers make so little they need public assistance to support their families
Oct. 30, 2024
Two new reports detail “the dismal treatment of child care workers. Together, the reports offer a distressing picture of how child care staff are faring economically, including the troubling changes low wages have caused to the workforce.”
“43 percent of families of early educators rely on public assistance like food stamps and Medicaid.”
“Pay inequity exists within these low wages: Black early childhood educators earn about $8,000 less per year than their white peers.”
“The same pay gap exists between early educators who work with infants and toddlers and those who work with preschoolers, who have more opportunities to work in school districts that pay higher wages.”
“Wages for early educators are rising more slowly than wages in other industries, including fast food and retail.”
CYBERSECURITY
USDA Rural Development stakeholder announcement
USDA Partners With White House, National Rural Water Association to Strengthen Cybersecurity for Rural Water Systems
Oct. 31, 2024
Rural Development announced Thursday that “that USDA is partnering with the White House Office of the National Cyber Director (ONCD) and the National Rural Water Association (NRWA) to launch a one-year program study to enhance cybersecurity for rural water systems.”
“USDA is expanding its Circuit Rider Program to include more resources and personnel who are specifically trained to assess and improve cybersecurity capabilities at water systems in rural areas.”
“Through the Circuit Rider Program, USDA partners with NRWA to provide personnel in each U.S. state and territory known as ‘circuit riders’ to help rural water systems navigate day-to-day operational, financial and managerial issues.”
EDUCATION
The Daily Yonder
Commentary: Defending Public Education Means Investing in Rural Education
Nov. 1, 2024
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona writes: “For countless communities across our nation, a strong rural education means a strong public education … For the 9 million students attending rural public schools every day, these buildings are more than places to learn. They’re connection. They’re community.”
“Unfortunately, in states across the country, some politicians and well-funded special interests are busy attacking public education instead of defending it and investing in it.”
“Left unchallenged, these efforts to undermine public education could cause grave harm to rural communities that rely on quality local public schools to open doors for their students.”
FARM BILL
Food & Energy Reporting Network
A Post-Election Farm Bill Will Require High-Level Dealmaking, Say Analysts
Nov. 1, 2024
“The lame-duck session of Congress offers a last chance to enact the new farm bill this year, but it would require compromise on a number of nettlesome policy disputes and an agreement among House and Senate leaders on how much to spend, said farm policy experts.”
“The bill could also be sidetracked by overarching issues such as passing a government funding bill, they cautioned.”
“Neither chamber has made much progress on the farm bill, now 14 months overdue.”
“The House Agriculture Committee approved a Republican-written bill in May that is $33 billion over budget. Leaders of the Senate Agriculture Committee have written farm bill outlines but have not drafted legislative language.”
HEALTH CARE
The Associated Press
‘Obamacare’ enrollment opens, as Republicans threaten the health insurance program used by millions
Oct. 31, 2024
“Americans can start signing up Friday for health care coverage offered through the Affordable Care Act marketplace for 2025, days before a presidential election that could threaten eligibility and raise costs for millions of those in the program.”
Rural Americans are more likely to rely on the ACA Marketplace for insurance coverage.
RURAL IMAGE
CBC News
The Current: Breaking stereotypes about the rural heartland
Oct. 31, 2024
“Sarah Smarsh grew up on a wheat farm in Kansas, and in her new essay collection ‘Bone of the Bone: Essays on America by a Daughter of the Working Class’, she tackles the damaging narrative that people from the heartland are just 'backwards, bigoted, terrible folks.’”
SAFETY NET PROGRAMS
Stateline
Election results could mean major changes in Medicaid
Nov. 1, 2024
“Three notable blueprints — The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 report, the fiscal year 2025 Republican Study Committee budget plan and the FY 2025 House budget resolution — all propose Medicaid cuts and changes that are more likely to happen under a Trump administration and a Republican Congress. Some researchers say all three plans would slash federal Medicaid dollars and scrap the 90% federal matching rate for Medicaid expansion enrollees.”
“Conservative proposals … would use block grants or per-capita caps to limit federal Medicaid dollars.”
“Block grants would give Medicaid programs a fixed amount of federal funds instead of a percentage of overall costs. A risk is that if states faced unexpected Medicaid demands — such as from a natural disaster or an expensive new drug therapy — they could be on the hook for 100% of costs.”
“Timothy McBride, a health economist and professor at Washington University in St. Louis, put it bluntly: Turning Medicaid into a block grant would cause states to run out of money.”
“Rural areas, which generally have higher uninsured rates than urban ones, could be especially hard hit, McBride said. Almost half of children and 1 in 5 adults in small towns and rural areas depend on Medicaid or CHIP, according to a Georgetown University report.”