Rural News Clips, Oct. 23, 2024
The grassroots electoral movement reshaping rural politics; Coast-to-coast warning signs for Blue Dogs; Rural election activist in NC advises 'election protection' squad to flag Hispanic voters' names
CAMPAIGN FOR RURAL PROGRESS
Barn Raiser
The Grassroots Electoral Movement Reshaping Rural Politics
Oct. 23, 2024
The work of “a growing number of progressives across the United States … is supported by a network of political groups targeting small towns and rural communities.”
“These organizations vary in their structure and tactics, but they all intend to generate enthusiasm and spur engagement from political progressives in areas the Democratic Party has given up on since 2000.”
POLITICS AND ELECTIONS
CBS News
"Election protection" activist says he plans to flag voters with "Hispanic-sounding" names as "suspicious"
Oct. 21, 2024
“In a video obtained by CBS News, the leader of an ‘election protection’ activist group of 1,800 volunteers in [rural] North Carolina is seen instructing attendees at a virtual meeting to flag voters with ‘Hispanic-sounding last names’ as one way to identify potentially suspicious registrations as the group combs through voter rolls ahead of the 2024 election.”
James Womack, the leader of the effort, who chairs the Republican Party in Lee County, North Carolina,”describes his organization as comprised mostly of retirees working remotely from their computers to analyze public records related to voting. He says the group has a list of multiple factors they are using to flag suspicious voters, a task he believes is necessary because of flaws in how voter information has been collected in recent years.”
HuffPost
In Rural Arizona, A Bid — And A Block — To Get Indigenous Voters To The Polls
Oct. 23, 2024
“Activist Allie Redhorse Young has been bringing celebrities, popular events and voter registration to Navajo Nation. Now she's tapped into field organizers, too.”
President Biden “won Arizona by just over 10,000 votes in 2020, thanks in part to a huge spike in Indigenous voter turnout.”
The Harris and Trump campaigns both “have teams on the ground targeting tribes, and both candidates have descended on the state in the last couple of weeks,” but neither Trump nor JD Vance “engaged directly with tribes during their visit.”
“During HuffPost’s visit to Navajo Nation, it was clear that Harris is resonating here more than Trump.”
Politico
The tightest House race not yet on your radar
Oct. 18, 2024
“Mary Peltola stunned the political world in 2022, turning Alaska’s lone House seat blue. She now faces a fierce reelection battle for the most Republican-leaning territory currently held by a Democrat.”
“Her opponent, Trump-endorsed businessman Nick Begich, “finished third behind Peltola and former Gov. Sarah Palin (R-Alaska) under Alaska’s unique top-four, ranked choice voting system during both the special and general 2022 contests held after the passing of longtime Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska).”
Peltola “has sought to keep her distance from the national Democratic Party, repeatedly declining to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential bid. Alaska voted for Trump over President Joe Biden in 2020 by a 52.8 to 42.8 margin.”
All polls indicate it’s a toss-up race.
Politico
Coast-to-coast warning signs for Blue Dogs
Oct. 22, 2024
“Both Reps. Jared Golden (D-Maine) and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.) have found uncommon victories as Democrats in red districts. This cycle, their luck may run out.”
“Golden and Gluesenkamp Perez are co-chairs of the centrist Blue Dogs, and they’re running high-stakes races in rural districts where Republicans think they have an edge.”
“If Golden and Gluesenkamp Perez are out: That leaves the Blue Dogs with just one co-chair left, Rep. Mary Peltola (D-Alaska) — if she wins her own tough reelection. Inside Congress previewed that race last week.”
“While the Blue Dogs are trying to grow their ranks, losses in these seats could further cement Democrats’ significant problems inside rural communities and districts.”
The Daily Yonder
Montana’s Senate Race Depends on the Ever Rarer Split-Ticket Voter
Oct. 23, 2024
Split-ticket voting has become rare, with only 8% of voters casting ballots that way in the 2022 midterm elections.
“This ideological siloing could cost Democrats control of the Senate this November, which is predicted to hinge on the election results of a single state: Montana’s Senate race.”
“Incumbent Democratic Senator Jon Tester is running against Republican candidate Tim Sheehy. This would be Tester’s fourth term as U.S. senator if he wins, but polls show that this could be his toughest race yet because of growing party allegiance from voters that motivates them to cast all-red (or all-blue) ballots.”
West Virginia Watch
West Virginia’s abysmal voter turnout a challenge for political parties and their local candidates
Oct. 23, 2024
“As early voting kicks off on Wednesday, West Virginia’s political parties are trying to motivate voters in a state that has an abysmal voter turnout rate. Population decline, poverty, transportation barriers and political party apathy contribute to a lack of West Virginians at the polls.”
“In 2020, West Virginia had the second-lowest citizen voting rate in the country … with 55% of residents voting. Only 30% of registered voters cast ballots in the May primary election earlier this year.”
Lack of competitive races and rural barriers to access like transportation also contribute.
Votebeat Arizona
Cochise County supervisor accepts plea agreement for refusing to certify midterm election
Oct. 21, 2024
“One of the two Republican supervisors in [mostly rural] Cochise County, Arizona, who refused to certify the county’s 2022 midterm election on time has accepted a plea agreement.”
“Supervisor Peggy Judd was initially charged with two felony counts of conspiracy and interference with an elections officer, and had pleaded not guilty.”
“On Monday, though, she pleaded guilty to a separate misdemeanor charge of failure or refusal to perform duty by an election officer and ‘acknowledged that she failed to canvass the election as required by law,’ according to a news release from Attorney General Kris Mayes.”
“Judd will be sentenced to at least 90 days’ unsupervised probation, and will pay a maximum $500 fine, according to the release.”
“Judd insisted she has always trusted the county’s elections, but delayed certifying to try to get more information for members of the public who were concerned about the machines the county uses to count ballots. While she said she wasn’t proud of her actions, she added that she ‘lost no sleep over this’ and said Mayes’ investigation was politically motivated and the attorney general was using her as an example.”
“She has previously told Votebeat that she felt bitter that some of those who pressured her did not help with her legal defense.”
The Copper Courier
Opinion: Rural communities deserve an administration that will invest in and fight for us
Oct. 22, 2024
Mila Besich, the mayor of rural Superior, Arizona, details in an op-ed about how investments from the Biden-Harris administration have overwhelmingly benefitted her town.
For example: “To be prepared for the ever-evolving workforce, our residents deserve to access training close to home, and funding from the Biden-Harris administration helps us provide that. This training will make Superior residents competitive applicants for the thousands of new jobs coming to Arizona through sites funded by the CHIPS and Science Act. Our community’s progress is just beginning. Soon, we’ll use Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act funding to begin the Queen Creek restoration project to update our waterways and better protect our environment.”
DISASTERS
The Washington Post
How a conspiracy-fueled group got a foothold in this hurricane-battered town
Oct. 23, 2024
A group called Veterans on Patrol descended on a supermarket parking lot in Lake Lure, N.C., after Hurricane Helene, promising to help organize supplies. Two locals said the group’s “leader, Lewis Arthur, came with a lot of promises and a big vision, which he said was sent from God: a three-year plan to help this lakeside community and others around here bounce back.”
But “Veterans on Patrol is an anti-government group steeped in conspiracy theories and that it has a well-documented history of embedding in communities to launch missions related to migrants or purported child trafficking.”
“The group was motivated to come to this small town because its members believed that the government was using the hurricane to move people here off lithium-rich land and stop them from getting it back.”
“In addition to Veterans on Patrol, members of more than a dozen other extremist, white-nationalist and militia organizations also came to some hard-hit western North Carolina towns for disaster response.”
The politicization has “had consequences. Armed threats at the Ingles parking lot and elsewhere caused snags in FEMA’s work and that of other federal agencies on the ground.” Threats have forced FEMA to sometimes stop or delay vital work and adjust its security practices in some locations.”
The New York Times
The Toxic Sludge That Ate Tennessee
Oct. 15, 2024
“The 2008 coal ash spill was among the biggest industrial disasters in U.S. history. In a new book, Jared Sullivan recounts the accident, the lawsuits and the lasting damage.”
Nebraska Examiner
Efforts to relocate eastern Nebraska village away from frequent floods appear stalled
Oct. 22, 2024
In 2019 the nearby Elkhorn River flooded the rural community of Winslow, Nebraska.
“So many homes in the town of then-140 residents were inundated, and flooding had become so commonplace, that federal officials offered homeowners a buyout for their property, and town leaders voted to pursue moving the town to higher ground.”
“But plans to rebuild the town on higher ground, adjacent to Logan View High School along U.S. Highway 77, have stalled, and some community leaders figure that five years after the flood, the move is never going to happen.”
DRUGS AND ADDICTION
Kaiser Health News and The Daily Yonder
Mothering Over Meds: Docs Say Common Treatment for Opioid-Exposed Babies Isn’t Necessary
Oct. 22, 2024
“Amid what has been called the fourth wave of the opioid epidemic, doctors and researchers are walking back medication-heavy methods of treating babies born experiencing opioid withdrawal symptoms, replacing the regimen with the simplest care: parenting.”
EDUCATION
The Daily Yonder
Medical Academy Serves High School Students and Their Communities
Oct. 22, 2024
Montevideo Medical Academy in rural Minnesota “provides high-school students with medical training to give them a leg up when it comes to getting jobs.”
“For rural hospitals and healthcare providers in the area, it provides a pipeline of talent from which to choose. And, [the superintendent] said, it provides an incentive to keep young people in the small town, which has just over 5,000 residents and is located in the western part of the state.”
South Carolina Daily Gazette
Rural SC school district regains some control 6 years after state takeover
Oct. 23, 2024
“The Williamsburg County school board will be able to start making decisions again with oversight from the state Department of Education, marking the first move toward regaining local control in six years.”
“The rural, county-wide district of 2,800 students — located halfway between Sumter and Georgetown — has been under the state’s control since 2018, meaning the district Board of Trustees can meet but can’t make any decisions for the district. The return of some power is the first step in returning control to the locally elected board members, according to a Tuesday news release.”
“A report on the district’s improvements, which a state budget clause requires the state education agency to produce, could offer other poor, struggling school districts some insights into how they might boost performance and avoid a state takeover.”
Chalkbeat Tennessee
Tennessee is gearing up for another private school voucher debate. Here’s what we know.
Oct. 22, 2024
“A new universal school voucher proposal will be the first bill filed for Tennessee’s upcoming legislative session, signaling that Gov. Bill Lee intends to make the plan his No. 1 education priority for a second straight year.”
“Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson said this week that he’ll file his chamber’s legislation on the morning of Nov. 6, the day after Election Day. He expects House Majority Leader William Lamberth will do the same.”
“The big question is whether House and Senate Republican leaders will be able to agree on the details in 2025. The 114th Tennessee General Assembly convenes on Jan. 14 as Lee begins his last two years in office.”
“During the 2024 session, the governor’s Education Freedom Scholarship proposal stalled in finance committees over disagreements about testing and funding, despite a GOP supermajority, and even as universal voucher programs sprang up in several other states.”
“Sponsors in the Tennessee House, where voucher programs have had a harder time getting support from rural Republicans and urban Democrats, attempted to woo votes with an omnibus-style bill that included benefits for public schools, too. But Senate Republican leaders balked at the scope and cost of the House version.”
HEALTH CARE
Harvard Public Health
Could worker cooperatives be a fix for the home care worker shortage?
Oct. 16, 2024
“Demand for home care workers is soaring, and the industry is struggling to keep up.”
“Worker cooperatives— a business model in which workers share in decisions and profits—are emerging as a promising solution to the problem.”
WABE
Rural Georgians face long distances to maternity care — community clinics can help fill the gaps
Oct. 21, 2024
“The state has seen a wave of hospital closures over the last decade and rural areas have been hard hit.”
“More than 40% of Georgia counties don’t have childbirth facilities or OB-GYN providers, according to the March of Dimes — and the number is growing.”
“Middle Georgia has some of the worst rates of pregnancy-related death in the state. Policymakers say limited access to health care is one of the major reasons.”
“About 60% of maternity care deserts nationally are in counties that are classified as rural.” People in maternity care desrts are 13% more likely to have a baby born preterm.
Federally qualified health centers can help meet many patients’ needs. They’re nonprofit, federally funded clinics that provide primary care regardless of insurance or ability to pay in medically underserved areas. Service fees are on a sliding scale based on your ability to pay.
The story is the seventh in a series about Georgia’s maternal mortality crisis.
Iowa Capital Dispatch
Legal battle escalates over pathologists’ ‘monopoly’ and its impact on patients
Oct. 23, 2024
“A lawsuit in which Iowa pathologists are suing their former colleagues is escalating, with one side accusing the other of self-righteously attempting to maintain a monopoly at the expense of patients.”
“The lawsuit is one of three involving allegations of unfair competition, harassment, retaliation and discrimination among central Iowa pathologists.”
One group claims the others charged “above-market fees for their services” to small Iowa hospitals, increasing the cost of health care for rural Iowans.” By “above-market,” they mean a 400% markup on Medicare services.
HOUSING
The Daily Yonder
Northern Forest Center Focuses on Rural Middle-Income Housing Needs
Oct. 23, 2024
“The nonprofit organization is strengthening communities and fostering economic and environmental resilience across the Northern Forest region, which spans northern Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and New York.”
IMMIGRATION
Chicago Tribune
As Trump threatens mass deportations, some rural areas that back him rely heavily on immigrant labor
Oct. 22, 2024
“Immigration is one of the largest issues shaping the campaign between Trump and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris. Both are promising tighter controls at the country’s southern border, but Trump has vowed to undertake an unprecedented effort to deploy the National Guard to send back millions of unlawfully present immigrants.”
“Dairy farms may be among the hardest hit if mass deportations happen.”
“The work, which is usually in rural areas that have been losing population, is grueling and requires long hours. The National Milk Producers Federation says dairy farmers find it challenging to recruit and keep native-born employees, and immigrants account for half of all workers.”
JAILS AND PRISONS
South Dakota Searchlight
Judge dismisses lawsuit from neighbors opposed to men’s prison site
Oct. 23, 2024
“A Lincoln County judge has dismissed a lawsuit that claimed state officials need a county permit to build a men’s prison” in a rural area outside of Sioux Falls.
“The neighbors argued that the state should not be allowed to bypass the county’s rules for conditional use permits, under which entities seek approval from county commissioners to build things that fall outside county zoning rules.”
The judge “agreed with the state, which argued, among other things, that the state is not subject to the rules of local governments.”
MANUFACTURING
Politico
Washington’s newest plan to revive coal country
Oct. 23, 2024
“President Joe Biden is offering the latest plan from Washington to help struggling coal communities: turn mining ghost towns into hubs for clean energy manufacturing.”
“The Energy Department announced $428 million in federal grants Tuesday for manufacturing projects in 15 coal communities, writes Benjamin Storrow. The grants are part of a wider effort to create jobs by greening the economy.”
“While some of the funding will go to factories planned in Michigan and Pennsylvania, critical swing states where coal was once a pillar of the economy, such projects won’t come to fruition for years.”
MINING AND DRILLING
Canary Media
A former Utah coal town could soon become a hub for low-carbon cement
Oct. 23, 2024
“The city of Magna, Utah, was once the home of a major coal-fired power plant that provided electricity for Rio Tinto’s enormous copper mine next door. But in 2019, the company shuttered the last of the four coal units, opting instead to power its mining operations with wind and solar energy.”
“Now plans are underway to open a different kind of industrial facility in the former coal community, one that will use waste rocks from the Kennecott copper mine to help make low-carbon concrete.”
“On Tuesday, Terra CO2 Technology was picked to receive a $52.6 million federal grant to build a new manufacturing plant just west of Salt Lake City. The company has devised a method that turns common minerals into additives that can help replace Portland cement — a key component in concrete, and one of the most carbon-intensive materials in the world.”
“The Utah facility is one of 14 projects provisionally selected this week to receive $428 million in total awards from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains.”
“The initiative, which is funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, aims to accelerate clean energy manufacturing in U.S. communities with decommissioned coal facilities. Officials said the projects are expected to create over 1,900 high-quality jobs across a dozen states.”
NATIVE AMERICANS
Arizona Mirror
Funding stalled for federal program that’s reducing diabetes among Arizona Native Americans
Oct. 23, 2024
“Federal funding expires at the end of the year for a program that has reduced diabetes among Native Americans. Congress has yet to act, leaving providers and patients worried.”
“Diabetes is especially prevalent among Native Americans. In Arizona, 27% of Indigenous adults have been diagnosed with diabetes, compared to 10% of the White population.”
“American Indian and Alaska Native communities experienced the first-ever decrease in diabetes from 2013 to 2017 … Public health experts credit the Special Diabetes Program for Indians, launched in 1997 with bipartisan congressional support.”
RENEWABLE ENERGY
Iowa Capital Dispatch
Rural Iowa projects get $2.2 M for clean energy; the biggest one is controversial
Oct. 22, 2024
“The U.S. Department of Agriculture is funding five clean energy projects in rural Iowa, with a $2.2 million allocation from the Rural Energy for America program (REAP).”
“The projects include solar panel installations, updating equipment to energy efficient versions and expanding ethanol production.”
“Almost half of the funding, $1 million, will go to Lincolnway Energy LLC to install a grain-to-alcohol conversion system at its ethanol plant near Nevada. The press release said the project would generate 223.7 million kilowatt hours per year, or enough to power over 20,000 homes.”
“Lincolnway Energy has been listed as a partner on the controversial Summit Carbon Solutions carbon sequestration pipeline, to which Sierra Club has also voiced opposition.”
REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS
The 19th
Missouri voters could undo their state’s abortion ban. Making abortion accessible is a different story.
Oct. 22, 2024
“Even before Roe v. Wade fell, a web of restrictions made abortion largely unavailable in Missouri. Overturning the state’s abortion ban would be the first step toward greater access.”
The New York Times
Abortions Have Increased, Even for Women in States With Rigid Bans, Study Says
Oct. 22, 2024
“In nearly every state that has banned abortion, the number of women receiving abortions increased between 2020 and the end of 2023, according to the most comprehensive account of all abortions by state since the overturning of Roe v. Wade.”
“In the 13 states that enacted near-total abortion bans, the number of women receiving abortions increased in all but three, according to the study.”
“The only states with bans where abortion fell during this period were Texas, where the decrease was small; Idaho, where it was larger; and Oklahoma, where the data showed an unusually large number of abortions in 2020.”
“The expansion of telehealth abortion has been an important factor even in states where abortion has remained legal, especially in rural areas.”
The 19th
Native women fought for years to expand Plan B access. But some tribal clinics remain resistant.
Oct. 22, 2024
“The emergency contraceptive pill Plan B, which can prevent pregnancy following unprotected sex, has been available over the counter at most American pharmacies for more than a decade. But in more than 100 federally funded clinics and pharmacies run by or on behalf of Native American tribal nations, the medication is harder to access — if it’s available at all.”
“An investigation by APM Reports, Type Investigations and KOSU found 54 tribal clinics spread across 11 states that do not provide emergency contraception. They were in Alaska, Arizona, California, Florida, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Washington.”
“Another 51 clinics impose limits on access — things such as age restrictions or needing to see a nurse or doctor first. Collectively, these clinics serve tens of thousands of people.”
“Clinics run by the federal Indian Health Service are required to offer Plan B without conditions. But tribal nations that use federal money to run their own clinics and pharmacies don’t face the same requirement.”
Some tribal officials and clinics “said there wasn’t enough demand for the medication to justify keeping perishable pills in stock just to see them go to waste.” Some other clinics said their staffers’ personal feelings were responsible.
RURAL RESILIENCE
WOSU
Discussing the resilience of rural American towns
Oct. 21, 2024
“Urban and rural Americans have more in common than people have been led to believe.”
“University of Southern California public policy professor Elizabeth Currid-Halkett takes a deep dive into rural America in her 2023 book, The Overlooked Americans: The Resilience of Our Rural Towns and What It Means for Our Country.”
“She talks about what she found in her research on” the hour-long podcast All Sides.
TECHNOLOGY
HR Executive
The new digital workplace reveals a tale of two Americas
Oct. 21, 2024
“Rural American workers face significant hurdles in career advancement in an increasingly digital workplace, according to a new joint study by the University of Phoenix Career Institute and the Center on Rural Innovation.”
“The research, comparing 1,000 rural and 986 nonrural U.S. workers surveyed in mid-2024, reveals an opportunity gap between rural and urban areas.”
“While work roles in urban areas often promote skills training, artificial intelligence and remote work opportunities, the data shows that rural communities remain largely cut off from these advances.”
“This study reveals that many benefits employees enjoy in today’s evolving workplace—including upskilling programs, AI tools and location flexibility—are primarily flowing to urban workers, leaving their rural counterparts at risk of falling further behind.”
“Three-quarters of rural workers with limited job prospects have contemplated relocating for better opportunities—a significantly higher rate than the 50% of their urban counterparts.”
“Financial pressures weigh heavily on rural communities, with 58% struggling to pay bills (compared to 49% of non-rural workers) and 40% worried about supporting their families (versus 25% in urban areas).”
WATER RIGHTS
Grist
One issue will decide Arizona’s future. Nobody’s campaigning on it.
Oct. 22, 2024
“Over the past four years, Arizona has become a poster child for water scarcity in the United States. Between decades of unsustainable groundwater pumping and a once-in-a-millenium drought, fueled by climate change, water sources in every region of the state are under threat.”
“As groundwater aquifers dry up near some of the most populous areas, officials have blocked thousands of new homes from being built in and around the booming Phoenix metropolitan area. In more remote parts of the state, water-guzzling dairy farms have caused local residents’ wells to run dry.”
“The drought on the Colorado River, long a lifeline for both agriculture and suburbia across the U.S. West, has forced further water cuts to both farms and neighborhoods in the heart of the state.”
“Arizona voters know that they’re deciding the country’s future — the state is one of just a half-dozen likely to determine the next president — but it’s unclear if they know that they’re voting on an existential threat in their own backyards.”
“The outcome of state legislative races in swing districts … will determine who controls the divided state legislature, where Democrats are promoting new water restrictions and Republicans are fighting to protect thirsty industries like real estate and agriculture, regardless of what that means for future water availability.”