Rural News Clips, Sept. 4, 2024
Country Queers book spreads the love in rural America; Tornado Alley shifting east, hitting unprepared areas; swing state voters say they don't want to criminalize abortion
CAMPAIGN FOR RURAL PROGRESS
NPR
In a rural small town, a group of locals steps up to support senior health
Sept. 4, 2024
“Rural health care has been facing a crisis for years. But in rural towns … older adults are getting help to manage, thanks to the handful of community members working to fill the gaps.”
“Each person plays a separate role — from keeping lonely older adults company to springing into action when a health emergency arises. In rural towns experiencing a loss of people, jobs and resources, this network of support can make a big difference.”
The Aging in Community program “is a pilot program at North Dakota State University Extension to support older people living alone in rural areas. The idea behind the initiative is that older adults living alone are at the greatest risk of struggling under the radar. They are also the most likely to move out of town to be closer to resources.”
POLITICS AND ELECTIONS
New Hampshire Bulletin
Harris unveils tax cut proposal for small businesses at New Hampshire rally
Sept. 4, 2024
“In Kamala Harris’ first appearance in New England as the Democratic nominee, she spoke to thousands of voters in New Hampshire about her proposed tax cut for small-business owners, highlighting their contributions to the economy.”
“During the speech, she detailed her vision for America’s economy and tax code, and contrasted her proposal to strengthen the middle class to former President Donald Trump’s plan to offer tax cuts to billionaires.”
“Harris and the other speakers stressed the initiatives under the Biden-Harris administration that led to doubling of small-business loans and broke the record for the number of small-business applications, and Harris revealed a new promise to expand the tax deduction from $5,000 to $50,000 for business start-ups.”
“Harris outlined her goal to receive 25 million small-business applications – there were 19 million under the Biden-Harris administration – during her first term if elected, which she said could be made possible through the tax benefit she promised.”
“The country’s tax code is passed by Congress, so it will depend on which party wins control of the U.S. House and Senate in November to determine whether the tax proposal will pass.”
Stateline
Swing states prepare for a showdown over certifying votes in November
Sept. 4, 2024
“Stateline crisscrossed Michigan and Wisconsin — two states critical in the race for the presidency — to interview dozens of voters, local election officials and activists to understand how the voting, tabulation and certification processes could be disrupted in November.”
“There is broad concern that despite the checks and balances built into the voting system, Republican members of state and county boards tasked with certifying elections will be driven by conspiracy theories and refuse to fulfill their roles if former President Donald Trump loses again.”
“Last month, the Georgia State Election Board passed new rules that would allow county canvassing boards to conduct their own investigations before certifying election results. State and national Democrats have sued the state board over the rules.”
“The fear that these efforts could sow chaos and delay results is not unfounded: Over the past four years, county officials in the swing states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada and Pennsylvania have refused to certify certain elections. After immense pressure, county officials either changed their minds, or courts or state officials had to step in.”
Pennsylvania Capital-Star
Walz meets with volunteers in Lancaster in first solo campaign trip to Pennsylvania
Sept. 4, 2024
“During his first solo visit to Pennsylvania since joining the Democratic presidential ticket, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz campaigned in Lancaster County on Wednesday, visiting a campaign office to speak with volunteers and make some calls to voters.”
“In addition to Wednesday being Walz’s first solo campaign trip to Pennsylvania, it is the first time that a candidate from either the Democratic or Republican ticket has made an appearance in Lancaster County in 2024.”
“Lancaster County has traditionally been safely conservative, but Democrats see an opportunity to make gains in the 2024 election there.”
“Gov. Josh Shapiro and U.S. Sen. John Fetterman both reduced Republicans’ margins of victory in the county for the 2022 election and statewide judicial candidates continued to close the margins in 2023.”
The Harris-Walz campaign “recently opened a campaign office in Ephrata, which is in a more rural region of Lancaster County.”
Oregon Capital Chronicle
National GOP group begins airing anti-Hoyle ads on Eugene TV stations
Sept. 4, 2024
“A national Republican group will start running ads attacking first-term Democratic U.S. Rep. Val Hoyle on Eugene TV stations on Wednesday, the latest signal that the GOP faithful view Hoyle as an easy target in their efforts to keep control of the U.S. House.”
“The National Republican Congressional Committee spent $200,000 to reserve the ads in Eugene, after staying off the airwaves in the 4th Congressional District in 2022, when Hoyle handily defeated Republican Alek Skarlatos.”
“This time around, Republicans are more optimistic about their chances of defeating Hoyle with a new candidate, Air Force veteran Monique DeSpain, and a rash of headlines related to Hoyle’s relationship with La Mota, a cannabis company under federal investigation.”
“The 4th District includes the Democratic strongholds of Eugene and Corvallis, as well as more conservative rural areas in the southern Willamette Valley and along the coast. Nonaffiliated voters make up about 35% of the district; Democrats, 32% and Republicans, 25%.”
Michigan Advance
Swing state voters say they don’t want to criminalize abortion
Sept. 4, 2024
“This summer, thousands of voters were taken through an online policymaking simulation produced by the University of Maryland, in which they were briefed on very specific policy questions that get to the heart of what it means practically to ban abortion.”
“At the end of it, majorities of both Democrats and Republicans across the nation — and in six key swing states — said they oppose criminalizing abortion before fetal viability and favor access to birth control.”
“Released Wednesday, this study is the fifth in the Swing Six Issue Surveys that the university has been rolling out in the run-up to the November election.”
“The survey involved nearly 5,000 adults, including around 600 in each state of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, and another 1,200 nationally.”
Louisiana Illuminator
Harris campaign reacts to Louisiana hospitals pulling life-saving drug from post-delivery access
Sept. 3, 2024
“The campaign of Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris has waded into Louisiana’s reproductive health debate, criticizing Republican Donald Trump for restrictive policies that states have approved since the U.S. Supreme Court reversed its stance on legal abortion in 2022.”
“Let’s be clear: Donald Trump is the reason Louisiana women who are suffering from miscarriages or bleeding out after birth can no longer receive the critical care they would have received before Trump overturned Roe,” Harris-Walz spokeswoman Sarafina Chitika said in a statement to the Illuminator.
“Chitika’s comments came after the Illuminator reported earlier Tuesday that Louisiana hospitals are preparing to remove misoprostol from their obstetric hemorrhage carts now that the medicine has been reclassified as a controlled dangerous substance.”
“The new law goes into effect on Oct. 1, and health care providers are scrambling to come up with new protocols for a medication they have relied upon to save women with life-threatening hemorrhages after delivery.”
“Misoprostol is prescribed for a number of medical reasons, one of which is to prevent and treat postpartum hemorrhaging.”
“Misoprostol will still be available in Louisiana hospitals, but it won’t be able to be easily accessible on the rolling carts and in-room kits that OB-GYNs typically use if a patient starts bleeding profusely after childbirth. This could mean a delay in care. Some hospitals have already started preemptively removing the medication from their obstetric carts.”
“The drug, along with mifepristone, is being targeted because it is also used for abortion. Gov. Jeff Landry signed the law in May, despite more than 200 doctors sending him a letter of concern that the law could have unintended medical consequences.”
Wisconsin Examiner
Advocates team up to highlight ‘care economy’ investments in this fall’s campaigns
Aug. 26, 2024
“A campaign to elevate the importance of caregiving to the U.S. economy kicked off Monday with a stop in Wisconsin, aiming to throw the weight of care providers and the families who depend on them into the fall elections.”
“Groups in the Care Can’t Wait coalition and campaign are highlighting the high cost of care — whether child care or care for people who are aging or who have disabilities — as well as the lack of paid leave for workers who are sick or who need to provide care for family members.”
“The campaign is led by Caring Across Generations, a nonprofit advocacy group, and is a joint project with several other groups focused on health care, child care, family leave and related issues.”
“It also includes the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), among whose members are long-term care health workers and, in some states, child care workers and home health workers.”
“Advocates in early education and health care have been calling attention to the need for care and for ways to better support caregivers for several years, particularly in child care and long-term health care. Now they’ve brought together those varied kinds of care into a single concept: the care economy.”
AGRICULTURE
Investigate Midwest, Tennessee Lookout, Mississippi Free Press, and Arkansas Times
As climate threats to agriculture mount, could the Mississippi River delta be the next California?
Aug, 21, 2024
Small local farms that sell fruits and vegetables “make up just a sliver of roughly 10.7 million acres of Tennessee farmland largely dominated by hay, soybeans, corn and cotton.”
“Specialized machines help farmers harvest vast quantities of these commodity ‘row crops,’ but [small-scale farmer Michael Katrutsa] said the startup cost was too steep for him. While specialty crops like produce are more labor-intensive, requiring near-constant attention from early July up until the first frost in October, Katrutsa said he takes pride in feeding his neighbors.”
“The World Wildlife Fund sees farms in the mid-Mississippi delta as ripe with opportunity to become a new mecca for commercial-scale American produce. California currently grows nearly three-quarters of the nation’s fruits and nuts and more than a third of its vegetables.”
“But as climate change compounds the threats of water scarcity, extreme weather and wildfires on California’s resources, WWF’s Markets Institute is exploring what it would take for farmers in West Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas to embrace — and equitably profit from — specialty crop production like strawberries, lettuce or walnuts.”
CHILDREN AND FAMILIES
The Daily Yonder
Grant Funds Support for Breastfeeding at Rural Oklahoma Hospitals
Sept. 4, 2024
“Ten rural Oklahoma hospitals will be selected to receive additional support for breastfeeding thanks to a new grant to the Oklahoma Breastfeeding Resource Center.”
“The center at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences campus in Oklahoma City received the three-year grant from the Oklahoma Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust. The grant provides $250,000 per year for three years.”
“The Resource Center will use the grant to provide training and resources to hospitals to become “baby-friendly,” an international designation that focuses on breastfeeding support and mother-baby bonding.”
COVID-19
Kaiser Health News
As Interest From Families Wanes, Pediatricians Scale Back on Covid Shots
Sept. 4, 2024
“Pediatricians across the country are pre-ordering the updated and reformulated covid-19 vaccine for the fall and winter respiratory virus season, but some doctors said they’re struggling to predict whether parents will be interested.”
Providers “don’t want to waste money ordering doses that won’t be used, but they need enough on hand to vaccinate vulnerable children.”
This year “was the first time the federal government was no longer picking up the tab for the shots, and providers had to pay upfront for the vaccines. Parents would often skip the covid shot, which can have a very short shelf life compared with other vaccines.”
“Insurance doesn’t necessarily cover vaccine storage accidents, which can put the practice at risk of financial ruin.”
DISASTERS
Inside Climate News
As Tornado Alley Shifts East, Bracing for Impact in Unexpected Places
Sept. 4, 2024
“New research suggests that tornadic activity may be shifting east and north, away from Tornado Alley, which traditionally runs through Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas.”
“A 2018 study … found there was an upward trend in tornado frequency across parts of the Northeast, the Southeast and the Midwest, and a decrease in tornadoes in some parts of Texas, Oklahoma and Colorado.”
“Activity is becoming more concentrated, with more tornadoes occurring on fewer days, and there are also changes in the seasonality of tornadoes: less frequent in the spring and summer and more frequent in the fall and winter.”
“In places not typically associated with tornadoes, like West Virginia, Alabama and New York, longtime residents are” wondering whether climate change has anything to do with it.
“Scientists who study tornadoes say the answers to those questions are evolving and complex.”
“Tornadoes are rare, especially in the Northeast, but they can happen anywhere if the circumstances are right. They have been documented in every U.S. state. Since 2004, tornadoes have caused roughly $90 million in property damage in Pennsylvania alone.”
EDUCATION
The Texas Tribune
Texas schools are hiring more teachers without traditional training. They hope the state will pay to prepare them.
Sept. 4, 2024
“When Texas lawmakers passed legislation in 2015 that created a pathway for public schools to hire more teachers without formal classroom training, one goal was to make the profession more attractive to individuals from different paths who could offer hands-on learning to students.”
“Some school administrators made it clear they intended to place these so-called uncertified teachers in positions where they could leverage their fields of expertise and keep them away from core areas like math, reading and special education, which would remain under the care of their most seasoned educators.”
“That was before the COVID-19 pandemic, which left many longtime educators worried about their health and feeling underappreciated, underresourced and burnt out. They walked out of the classroom in droves, accelerating teacher shortages at a time when students were returning to in-person learning and schools needed them the most.”
“Now some school districts are hiring uncertified teachers — some to provide instruction in core subjects — at an extraordinary pace.”
“In almost a decade since the law was passed, the number of uncertified teachers in the state’s public schools ballooned by 29%, according to a Texas Tribune analysis of state data. Uncertified teachers, many of whom are located in rural school districts, accounted for roughly 38% of newly hired instructors last year.”
“Some academic experts are dubbing the state’s growing reliance on uncertified teachers a crisis. A recent Texas Tech University study highlighted that kids lose three to four months of learning when they have a new teacher who is both uncertified and lacks experience working in a public school.”
Washington State Standard
Opponents of repealing capital gains tax highlight its role funding schools and child care
Sept. 3, 2024
“As back-to-school season starts, opponents of a ballot initiative to repeal Washington’s capital gains tax are highlighting how losing the money could undermine school construction and child care programs.”
“Initiative 2109, which will appear on voters’ ballots in November, would repeal the 7% tax on realized capital gains over $262,000 (adjusted for inflation annually, which means the threshold likely increases with each tax year).”
“Those gains usually come from the sale of investments like stocks, bonds or business interests. The tax does not apply to real estate sales.”
“In 2023, the tax brought in about $786 million. The state collected another $433 million from it as of May of this year.”
“Estimates show eliminating the tax would drain a total of $2.2 billion over five state fiscal years.”
“Money from the capital gains tax has gone to fund 171 school construction projects across the state during the 2023-25 fiscal year.”
“Proponents of the repeal say lawmakers could find other sources of revenue and the tax is a ‘backdoor’ version of an income tax, which Washington voters have repeatedly rejected.”
“Schools in Washington are funded with state dollars and local property tax levies, but smaller, rural and poorer districts often have difficulties gaining voter approval for levy hikes and more heavily rely on state dollars.”
HEALTH CARE
Ohio Capital Journal
Health care comes up again as a defining issue for Ohio voters in November election
Sept. 3, 2024
“A new poll of Ohio voters finds health care as one of the issues determining who they will support in the November general election.”
“More than 8 in 10 Ohio voters polled in a survey conducted as part of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network’s “Cancer Votes” campaign said where a candidate stands on ‘access to affordable, comprehensive health coverage’ stands out to them, with 51% saying the position is very important as they head to the ballots, according to the survey’s key findings.”
““Majorities of Republicans (78%), Independents (89%) and Democrats (97%) say a candidate’s position on access to affordable, comprehensive health care is an important factor in their vote decision,” the study stated.”
“Medicare beneficiaries came out as the top group “most likely to say access to affordable health coverage or health plans is a problem where they live,” followed closely by Democratic voters, women, voters of color and voters ages 45-64, according to the report.”
“The research showed medical debt touches voters of all kinds, with 68% of those surveyed saying they or an immediate family member have experienced medical debt, and 75% of those polled saying medical debt ‘is experienced by many.’”
LGBTQIA+
Barn Raiser
Country Queers Spread the Love in Rural America
Sept. 2, 2024
“This October, a collection of interviews from the Country Queers oral history project and podcast will be published in a book, Country Queers: A Love Letter (Haymarket Press)”
“In the past 11 years, [West Virginia native Raw Garringer] has interviewed 90 people ages 18 to 81 in more than 20 states. These stories have taken a wide variety of forms, including a traveling gallery exhibit and the Country Queers podcast, which Garringer and the editorial advisory team (hermelinda cortés, Sharon P. Holland and Lewis Raven Wallace) debuted in the summer of 2020.”
“The book arrives at a critical time. In 2022, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) reported a ‘record breaking’ 278 bills introduced in state legislatures targeting LGBTQ+ people, with a specific focus on transgender youth. In 2023, that figure doubled to more than 510. As of this writing, 527 bills have been introduced so far this year.”
The artic Garringer about how their work has evolved over time and the process of documenting the rural queer experience in all its joy, pain and variety.”
MINING AND DRILLING
Inaide Climate News
In the First Community Meeting Since a Fatal Home Explosion, Residents Grill Alabama Regulators, Politicians Over Coal Mining Destruction
Sept. 4, 2024
“Dozens of residents expressed fear and frustration over what they call ‘mining mayhem.’ The regulators and politicians acknowledged for the first time that there may be a need for changes.”
REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS
NC Newsline
NC politicians, advocates slam Trump’s extreme abortion ban
Sept. 4, 2024
North Carolina “advocates and elected officials in a virtual press conference on Wednesday to condemn former President Donald Trump’s endorsement of Florida’s near-total abortion ban, and to raise alarms on his Project 2025 agenda that would strip away reproductive freedom.”
“Trump voiced his support for his home state’s extreme abortion ban last Friday, a measure so comprehensive that it would take effect before many women realize they are pregnant.”
“In North Carolina, abortion is illegal after 12 weeks of pregnancy due to a ban that went into effect on July 1, 2023.”
“Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed the legislation, but the Republican-controlled legislature overrode his veto.”
“Women are speaking out on the issue as the state prepares to begin mailing out absentee ballots to eligible voters for the 2024 general election.”