Project 2025 Rural Press Clips, April 11, 2025
Trump administration axes EPA center that helps rural and tribal communities; How food banks are coping with $500 million funding cut; Farmers ‘strapped to the missile’ of tariff talks
POLITICS AND ELECTIONS
NPR
Trump's election order could jeopardize 'hundreds of thousands' of future mail ballots
April 8, 2025
“The state of Washington has been allowing election officials to count mail ballots that don't make it to their office until after Election Day for more than a hundred years now. It's a practice that could be prohibited in upcoming elections, thanks to a sweeping executive order signed by President Trump last month.”
Stuart Holmes, the director of elections for Washington's Secretary of State's Office, “said he and other officials in the state do not want their voters to lose access to voting because of issues with the post office.”
“He said he anticipates that if Trump's order stands, it would disproportionately affect rural voters across the country, as well as busy people who remembered to put their ballots in the mail closer to Election Day.”
“Six states — Alaska, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, Ohio and Oregon — plus Washington, D.C., counted more than 170,000 mail-in ballots in total during the last presidential election that were received after Election Day. In California — where more than 13 million mail-in ballots were cast last year — voters have a week-long grace period.”
AGRICULTURE
Politico’s Weekly Agriculture
Farmers ‘strapped to the missile’ of tariff talks
April 7, 2025
“Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and other Trump allies aren’t clarifying if the president’s tariffs are a negotiating tool or a permanent change — and it has farmers on edge.”
“Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and top trade adviser Peter Navarro spent last week insisting the tariffs were not a negotiating tactic but the start of a permanent effort to bring back domestic manufacturing. But Trump allies are privately confused about the president’s intentions.”
“Meanwhile, farmers are “hoping” that Rollins is right in that the duties are a negotiation tactic, according to one agriculture advocate.”
AVIAN FLU
CBS News and Kaiser Health News
Trump’s Immigration Tactics Obstruct Efforts To Avert Bird Flu Pandemic, Researchers Say
April 10, 2025
“Aggressive deportation tactics have terrorized farmworkers at the center of the nation’s bird flu strategy, public health workers say.”
“Dairy and poultry workers have accounted for most cases of the bird flu in the U.S. — and preventing and detecting cases among them is key to averting a pandemic. But public health specialists say they’re struggling to reach farmworkers because many are terrified to talk with strangers or to leave home.”
“Outreach workers who teach farmworkers about the bird flu, provide protective gear, and connect them with tests say they noticed a dramatic shift … after immigration raids beginning on Jan. 7, the day after Congress certified President Donald Trump’s election victory.”
DISASTERS
The Associated Press
National Weather Service no longer translating products for non-English speakers
April 7, 2025
“The National Weather Service is no longer providing language translations of its products, a change that experts say could put non-English speakers at risk of missing potentially life-saving warnings about extreme weather.”
“The weather service has ‘paused’ the translations because its contract with the provider has lapsed, NWS spokesperson Michael Musher said. He declined further comment.”
“Translated weather alerts saved lives during a deadly tornado outbreak in [rural] Kentucky in 2021. A Spanish-speaking family interviewed afterward said they got a tornado alert on their cellphone in English but ignored it because they didn’t understand it, he said. When the same alert came in Spanish, they quickly sought shelter.”
Spanish-speaking immigrants are responsible for a lot of the population growth in rural areas.
The Washington Post
In the rain-soaked South, storms portend future ‘generational’ floods
April 8, 2025
“After a four-day bombardment of storms, many areas along this stretch of the lower Mississippi Valley absorbed as much as 15 inches of rain.”
That has “spurred concerns about growing risks of extreme rainfall … across the South. Some preparations done after past storms may have helped lessen the impact of the most recent disaster, but experts know more will be needed.”
“Tennessee is part of a swath of the South experiencing wetter storms fueled by rising temperatures and moisture from warming water in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea.” That increases the risk of flooding and other kinds of damage.
It’s part of a larger trend where climate change is making the U.S. wetter east of the Mississippi and drier west of it, both fueling their own kinds of disasters.
The Washington Post
States caught unprepared for Trump’s threats to FEMA
April 7, 2025
Since the devastating floods in Eastern Kentucky in 2022, “the state has been trapped in a cycle of seemingly never-ending disasters, exhausting storm-weary residents in impoverished small towns.”
“During Donald Trump’s first presidency, the Federal Emergency Management Agency launched a program to break this cycle, awarding billions of dollars to states to repair levees, elevate flood-prone homes and shore up drinking water systems.”
“The program was built on research showing it is many times less expensive to protect against future damage from natural disasters than to pay for repairs and rebuilding afterward.”
“FEMA is now canceling plans to award these grants for the 2024 fiscal year.”
“As Trump’s second administration looks to slash federal spending, money given to states by the federal government after disasters strike could also be in jeopardy. The president has said he wants to eliminate FEMA and shift responsibility for disaster response to the states — which experts said are unprepared to respond to catastrophic disasters without federal assistance.”
“The preparedness grant program, known as Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities, had made more than $5 billion available since 2020 to help local projects that reduce the impact of disasters. The agency plans to review earlier grants and claw back funding for those that have not yet been paid out.”
EDUCATION
Chalkbeat
Trump moves to strip Maine of federal education funding in unprecedented tactic
April 11, 2025
“The U.S. Department of Education said it is moving to strip federal K-12 education funding from Maine due to what it called the state’s refusal to comply with Title IX, the law that bans sex discrimination in education.”
“The Friday announcement followed a department investigation into the state’s policies governing transgender athletes. Those investigations determined that the state was in violation of Title IX, which the state has denied.”
“Earlier on Friday, the Maine state attorney general’s office told the federal Education Department that the state would not sign a resolution agreement drafted by the Trump administration in the wake of the investigation.”
“That proposed agreement features several pages of demands, including that Maine must strip any trans girl who’s ever placed in a Maine girls sports competition of her title and give it to the athlete behind her, along with an apology letter.”
Rural schools will be among the most hard-hit without federal funding.
Trump has had it out for Maine’s governor, Janet Mills, ever since she refused to back down on transgender athletes’ rights a few weeks ago. Since then, the state has lost funding and been investigated in ways no other state is seeing.
The New York Times
Attorneys General Sue Over Access to $1 Billion in Federal School Aid
April 10, 2025
“Sixteen attorneys general and a Democratic governor sued the Trump administration on Thursday to restore access to over $1 billion in federal pandemic relief aid for schools that was recently halted, saying that the pullback could cause acute harm to students.”
Losing that funding has hurt countless rural school districts.
Border Belt Independent
Schools in rural Robeson County, NC, abruptly lose $14.6 million in federal funding
April 9, 2025
“Robeson County schools planned to use $14.6 million in federal money to make much-needed upgrades at some of its buildings: Replace the heating and air system at Lumberton High, add classrooms at two other high schools and replace the windows at three elementary schools.”
“So school leaders were shocked when the U.S. Department of Education said late last month the promised money, which had been part of COVID-19 relief funds, was canceled.”
“Three other North Carolina school districts—Halifax, Lenoir and Richmond counties—are also affected by the abrupt cuts to the Education Stabilization Fund created in 2020. Together, those districts are set to lose more than $1.1 million.”
Oregon Public Broadcasting
Loss of federal funding could devastate rural schools and counties
April 8, 2025
“Rural school districts and counties are preparing for the potential loss of funding from the Secure Rural Schools program.”
“The Secure Rural Schools Act was passed in 2000 to help support rural counties that have a lot of federal land, which is exempt from taxes. Last spring, the Forest Service, which runs the program, issued over $230 million to 41 states.”
“The federal program provides financial support for rural county services, like schools and roads. But this year, the legislation still hasn’t passed Congress.”
“That could devastate rural school districts, especially smaller ones.”
Rural superintendents from across the country share in the article what they need the funding for and the consequences their districts face without it.
Georgia Recorder
Kennesaw State students say anti-DEI from state and feds already sapping campus support
April 9, 2025
“Some Kennesaw State University students say they will lose access to things like free menstrual products, foods from their home country or a sense of belonging at their university if the school follows through with plans to shut down student resource centers, apparently as part of an anti-diversity, equity and inclusion push.”
“Grace Blomberg, a student and organizer, said some students feel like they’ve been subjected to a bait and switch.”
“Students coming from rural parts of Georgia who in their schools had never seen a pride flag, had experienced lots of aggression, came and did tours and saw a center with pride flags up, and they immediately felt welcome, they immediately felt safe,” Blomberg said. “So that, I think, is a major factor in why students might choose KSU, and students are on tours currently right now, KSU may not be disclosing that the centers that they’re passing by won’t be here in the fall when they come to school.”
Barn Raiser
Opinion: Public Schools Build Connections in Rural Communities. Vouchers Tear Them Down.
April 7, 2025
Rural public schools often function as vital community hubs, fostering local engagement and unity in small towns, writes Melissa Cropper, the president of the Ohio Federation of Teachers.
Voucher programs divert funds away from these schools, straining already limited budgets and potentially reducing educational opportunities in remote areas.
As public schools lose resources, they may struggle to maintain essential programs, further disadvantaging the tight-knit rural communities that rely on them.
Cropper cautions that weakening local schools could erode key social and economic connections that keep rural towns vibrant and sustainable.
ELECTRIC VEHICLES
The Associated Press
Schools lined up for help getting cleaner school buses. Then came the EPA freeze”
April 11, 2025
“More than 500 districts nationwide are still waiting on around $1 billion from the EPA to cover more than 3,400 electric buses.”
“That’s sparked panic and confusion in districts that must find other ways to cover the cost or delay or cancel their purchases. It’s also hitting companies building the buses, those selling them and companies that oversee districts’ transportation.”
“The money is part of a Clean School Bus Program, which was part of Biden’s infrastructure law and provided $5 billion over five years to help districts replace polluting school buses with cleaner, electric buses.”
“So far, the program has gone through three rounds. Nearly $1 billion was issued in the first round of rebate funding to 400 schools for 2,500 buses; the second round, issued in the form of grants also totaling nearly $1 billion, funded more than 2,700 school buses at 275 districts.”
“The long list of delays is hitting districts of all sizes, both rural and urban.”
Ditching renewable energy in favor of petroleum interests is a major goal of Project 2025.
ENVIRONMENT
Colorado Public Radio News
Trump administration axes EPA center that helps rural and tribal communities
April 9, 2025
“The Trump administration has terminated a $10 million center that helped rural and tribal nations in the western United States apply for federal funds, in its effort to roll back climate and environmental justice spending.”
“The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency terminated funding for the Mountains and Plains Thriving Communities Collaborative, known as MaPTCC, on February 21. The center, based at Montana State University but with staff throughout the region, served 28 tribal nations and six states including Colorado.”
“The Inflation Reduction Act, a landmark Biden-era climate law, provided $177 million to the EPA and the Department of Energy to set up 18 technical assistance centers like MaPTCC throughout the country. Those centers aimed to help communities apply for federal, state and private funds for a range of infrastructure, clean-energy or other projects.”
FOOD AND HUNGER
Today
The USDA cut $500 million in funding to food banks. Here’s how they’re coping
April 9, 2025
“A pair of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs — one that funds the purchase of local farm-fresh foods for school cafeterias and another that funds much of the product available in food banks — were cut for 2025, amounting to more than $1 billion in purchasing.”
“In addition to the $660 million slashed from school food programs, the USDA cut $500 million specifically intended to help food banks and domestic agriculture.”
“Food banks around the country had been counting on that $500 million to feed millions of families and individuals experiencing hunger this year. They use these funds to make purchases within the domestic food supply chain, and many months' worth of orders already placed by food banks have now been canceled.”
“TODAY.com spoke with nine regional food banks, as well as a representative from Feeding America, to understand how these changes are affecting those relying on this food across the country.”
“Vince Hall, chief growth revenue officer of Feeding America, says that while hunger affects such a large portion of Americans, it does disproportionately affect children and those in rural areas.”
“Nine out of the 10 U.S. counties experiencing the highest rates of hunger are rural.”
HEALTH CARE
Kaiser Health News and InvestigateTV
Rural Hospitals and Patients Are Disconnected From Modern Care
April 9, 2025
“More than 200 counties [have] some of the nation’s worst access to not only reliable internet, but also primary care providers and behavioral health specialists, according to a KFF Health News analysis. Despite repeated federal promises to support telehealth, these places remain disconnected.”
“During his first term, President Donald Trump signed an executive order promising to improve ‘the financial economics of rural healthcare’ and touted ‘access to high-quality care’ through telehealth. In 2021, President Joe Biden committed billions to broadband expansion.”
“KFF Health News found that counties without fast, reliable internet and with shortages of health care providers are mostly rural. Nearly 60% of them have no hospital, and hospitals closed in nine of the counties in the past two decades.”
FOX9
EMS emergency widens despite millions invested in 2024
April 8, 2025
“Rural emergency medical services in Minnesota have announced their own emergency, saying they need $120 million to fix it and keep ambulances running in Greater Minnesota. They got about $30 million.”
So this year, “lawmakers are getting urgent requests for money to keep Minnesota's EMS system from folding.”
“Instead of asking for the $90 million EMS directors didn’t get last year, they’re now asking for $50 million every year.”
“They want the workforce investment to continue, and they want the state to fix as much of the Medicare-Medicaid reimbursement as they can. Right now, they only get reimbursed if they drop off a patient at the E.R.”
They say federal cuts to Medicare or Medicaid would devastate them.
CBS News
House Speaker Johnson is eyeing big cuts to Medicaid. In his Louisiana district, it's a lifeline.
April 7, 2025
When Desoto Regional Health System took out $36 million in loans last year to renovate a rural hospital that opened in 1952, officials were banking on its main funding source remaining stable: Medicaid, the joint federal-state health program for low-income people and the disabled.”
“But those dollars are now in jeopardy, as President Trump and the GOP-controlled Congress move to shrink the nearly $900 billion health program that covers more than 1 in 5 Americans.
Desoto CEO Todd Eppler said Medicaid cuts could make it harder for his hospital to repay the loans and for patients to access care.”
IMMIGRATION
Wisconsin Examiner
Trump end to humanitarian parole hits Wisconsin town where Haitians are part of the community
April 10, 2025
“In 2023 a group of Haitian immigrants began arriving in the central Wisconsin community of New London, … admitted to the U.S. through a humanitarian parole program in response to lawlessness and deadly violence in their homeland. The newcomers became part of the community, said immigration attorney Marc Chistopher, a New London resident whose law offices are in Appleton and Milwaukee.”
“The legal refugee program through which they were admitted includes a work authorization. More than 100 of the new immigrants ended up working at a Tyson Foods plant in New London, processing and packaging chicken. Others went to work at stores in the community or in other jobs.”
In late March, however, the Trump administration revoked humanitarian parole for about 532,000 refugees from Haiti, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela.
“Since the notices arrived, Christopher has been scrambling, trying to help a handful of people who hope they might qualify to stay in the U.S. Other New London residents have been organizing on behalf of their new Haitian neighbors.”
On Wednesday, “about 40 residents of New London gathered across the street from the local Tyson plant, carrying signs advertising their support for the Haitian workers there and hoping to send a message to the community.”
“Community volunteers have been offering financial help with bills and groceries as the immigrant families grapple with the sudden command to go or face deportation.”
The New York Times
Trump Administration Aims to Spend $45 Billion to Expand Immigrant Detention
April 7, 2025
“The Trump administration is seeking to spend tens of billions of dollars to set up the machinery to expand immigrant detention on a scale never before seen in the United States, according to a request for proposals posted online by the administration last week.”
“The request, which comes from the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement, calls for contractors to submit proposals to provide new detention facilities, transportation, security guards, medical support and other administrative services worth as much as $45 billion over the next two years.”
New prisons and detention centers tend to be built in rural areas and are pitched to local leaders as money-makers.
The New York Times
In Washington, a Rural County Sheriff Fights His State’s Immigration Law
April 9, 2025
Washington State’s new immigration law aims to protect undocumented workers, a move with profound effects on rural communities reliant on seasonal labor.
But Sheriff Dale Wagner of Adams County publicly criticizes the legislation and claims it restricts his ability to collaborate with federal authorities.
He testified as much this morning before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement.
“Nick Brown, Washington’s attorney general, has accused Sheriff Wagner in a lawsuit of sharing inmate information with federal immigration agents in defiance of a state law meant to limit collaboration between Washington’s law enforcement officers and federal immigration agencies.”
“Wagner defended providing inmate information to federal agents, saying he was within his authority and that he was doing what he needed to do to protect his constituents.”
Many farmers in remote areas support the law, citing fears that immigrant workers will avoid seeking help or reporting abuses if they lack legal protections, while some local residents back Wagner’s concerns about resources and crime.
Advocacy groups argue that resolving the standoff with Wagner is essential for safeguarding farmworker rights and ensuring communities in rural Washington can thrive.
Wagner is known for being a “Constitutional sheriff,” a fringe legal theory that asserts that county sheriffs have more say-so than the federal government. It’s popular among conservative small-town sheriffs in blue states who don’t want to enforce state laws they disagree with.
New York Focus
‘An Open Secret’: Sackets Harbor ICE Raid Shows the ‘Reality’ of New York Dairy Country
April 9, 2025
“The detention of three children and their mother shocked the town. It also highlighted just how much the region’s key industries depend on immigrant workers.”
Politico
Texas county that swung to Trump grapples with immigration crackdown after bakery is targeted
April 6, 2025
“Homeland Security Investigations agents showed up at Abby’s Bakery in February and arrested the owners and eight employees.”
The reaction in Los Fresnos, a “town of 8,500 residents, may show the limits of support for President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown in a majority Hispanic region dotted with fields of cotton, sugarcane and red grapefruit where Republicans made gains in last year’s elections.”
INFECTIOUS DISEASES
The Washington Post
RFK Jr. visits rural Texas after second child dies of measles amid outbreak
April 6, 2025
“A second child has died of measles amid an outbreak in West Texas, prompting Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to meet with the family of the deceased 8-year-old girl in rural Gaines County, where most of the cases have clustered.”
“The child had no known underlying health conditions and was not vaccinated against measles.”
“Public health experts have expressed concern that Kennedy has not addressed the outbreak with what they consider to be sound guidance.”
“Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana), a medical doctor who voted to confirm Kennedy to lead HHS but who has asked him to stop linking vaccines to autism, called Sunday for more overt support for measles vaccinations.”
Some children hospitalized for measles have shown signs of vitamin A toxicity; Kennedy has promoted vitamin A as an alternative to vaccination, against medical advice.
CIDRAP
Indiana reports measles outbreak as cases rise in Ohio and Michigan
April 10, 2025
“Just days after reporting its first measles case of the year, in a child, the Indiana Department of Health (IDOH) yesterday reported five more related cases.”
“Elsewhere, measles cases are rising steadily in Ohio, which in late March reported 10 cases centered in Ashtabula County, with exposures in [rural] Knox County.”
ProPublica
“Not Just Measles”: Whooping Cough Cases Are Soaring as Vaccine Rates Decline
April 11, 2025
“Texas’ measles outbreak has been blamed on vaccine hesitancy. But parents are not getting their children other vaccines as well.”
“Vaccine rates for other childhood diseases have fallen, contributing to rising cases of whooping cough and other illnesses.”
“The Trump administration’s cuts to public health jobs and funding make it harder for agencies to fight outbreaks and prevent disease with vaccines.”
“Cases of pertussis have skyrocketed by more than 1,500% nationwide since hitting a recent low in 2021 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Deaths tied to the disease are also up, hitting 10 last year, compared with about two to four in previous years. Cases are on track to exceed that total this year.”
Project 2025 calls for slashing funding for vaccines, including no-cost vaccines for Medicare recipients.
LAYOFFS AND FUNDING
Agri-Pulse
Fifteen USDA programs under review, Klobuchar says
April 10, 2025
“The Agriculture Department is reviewing 15 of its programs amid ongoing Trump Administration scrutiny over spending, according to a list provided to Agri-Pulse on Thursday by Senate Ag Committee ranking member Amy Klobuchar's office.”
“Among the programs that have been affected by the freeze are the Regional Conservation Partnership Program, the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities Program and the Farm Loan Borrower Relief Program.”
“Also listed is the Rural Energy for America Program, though the USDA on March 26 alerted awardees that it would lift its freeze on REAP and give grant recipients 30 days to voluntarily modify their proposals to better align with Trump administration policies.”
The article has the full list.
MILITARY AND VETERANS
WOSU
‘The black hole of southern Ohio’: how cuts to the VA could impact a small Ohio community
April 8, 2025
“The Trump Administration plans to cut more than 70,000 workers from the Department of Veterans Affairs — reducing staffing to 2019 levels, before the federal PACT Act expanded benefits for many veterans.”
“In February, it fired around 2,400 probationary employees, including seven” at the Chillicothe VA Medical Center in rural Ohio. “Since then, a federal court ordered those employees to be reinstated. In Chillicothe a few have returned, but others chose not to come back.”
“The Chillicothe VA isn’t just a major health care facility in the region, serving more than 22,000 vets annually. It’s one of the city’s biggest employers, with around 1,600 workers.”
Though the Trump administration said the cuts would not come at the expense of veterans’ care, Chillicothe veteran Dan Ramey Jr. said he’s already feeling the impact of the cuts. He and many others prefer not to get treatment at the local hospital because they feel the VA staff (many of whom are veterans themselves) better understand what their patients are going through. And the next-closest VA centers are at least an hour away.
MINING AND DRILLING
Inside Climate News
As Trump Promotes ‘Clean Beautiful Coal,’ a Lit Cigarette Above a West Virginia Coal Mine Leaves a Woman Fighting for Her Life
April 11, 2025
“West Virginia regulators require methane remediation from a coal company following a blast that severely burned a woman in her home.”
The New York Times
Trump Signs Orders Aimed at Reviving a Struggling Coal Industry
April 8, 2025
“President Trump signed a flurry of executive orders Tuesday aimed at expanding the mining and burning of coal in the United States, in an effort to revive the struggling industry.”
“One order directs federal agencies to repeal any regulations that ‘discriminate’ against coal production, to open new federal lands for coal mining and to explore whether coal-burning power plants could serve new A.I. data centers.”
“Trump also said he would waive certain air-pollution restrictions adopted by the Biden administration for dozens of coal plants that were at risk of closing down.”
“In a move that could face legal challenges, Mr. Trump directed the Energy Department to develop a process for using emergency powers to prevent unprofitable coal plants from shutting down in order to avert power outages. Mr. Trump proposed a similar action in his first term but eventually abandoned the idea after widespread opposition.”
“Flanked by dozens of miners in white hard hats at the White House, Mr. Trump said he was also instructing the Justice Department to identify and fight state and local climate policies that were ‘putting our coal miners out of business.’ He added that he would issue ‘guarantees’ that future administrations could not adopt policies harmful to coal, but did not provide details.”
Kentucky Lantern
Coal miners could pay for savings if inspectors lose offices on DOGE list, advocates warn
April 7, 2025
Coal mine “inspections could become less frequent if the Trump administration carries out a plan to terminate the leases of dozens of mine safety field offices, warn advocates for miners.” The article has a nationwide map showing where the offices are.
“Closing those offices … could turn a 30-minute drive to inspect a rural coal mine into a three- or four-hour round trip,” according to an analysis of federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) data by the nonprofit Appalachian Citizens’ Law Center.
“It’s especially worrying that inspectors would no longer have time to conduct inspections that are classified as discretionary but are ‘critical’ to worker safety in one of the country’s most hazardous occupations,” according to Rebecca Shelton, the center’s director of policy.
According to a related article, “Advocates for the mining industry argue that state government is up to the task of keeping mines safe, although some lawmakers in West Virginia’s Republican majority have used the existence of federal inspectors as justification for curtailing the state inspectors’ enforcement power. They also point to the dwindling number of mining fatalities — and mines in general.”
Source NM
Feds backtrack on mining ban in the Upper Pecos watershed
April 7, 2025
“The U.S. Forest Service has reversed a December recommendation to ban mineral mining in 165,000 acres in the Upper Pecos — a decision that threatens a sensitive watershed, said local advocacy groups.”
A USDA spokesperson wrote: “Under President Trump’s leadership, USDA is removing the burdensome Biden-era regulations that have stifled energy and mineral development to revitalize rural communities and reaffirm America’s role as a global energy powerhouse.”
PIPELINES
The Associated Press
The latest leak in the Keystone oil pipeline continues its troubled history
April 8, 2025
“The latest leak in the Keystone oil pipeline in North Dakota on Tuesday continues the troubled history of the 15-year-old pipeline.”
The leak, in a rural area near Fort Ransom, spilled an estimated 3,500 barrels of oil onto a farm field.
“There have been 23 spills along the Keystone oil pipeline, including four in North Dakota.”
“The leaks have varied in size, but in total the Keystone pipeline has spilled more than 1 million gallons of crude oil over the years.”
“One leak in 2022 in Kansas was the largest onshore oil spill in nine years. That rupture in the pipeline dumped about 14,000 barrels of crude oil into a creek running through rural pastureland in Washington County.”
POLLUTION
Inside Climate News
Trump Announces ‘Termination’ of ‘Illegal DEI’ Settlement Over Raw Sewage in Poor, Majority-Black Alabama Communities
April 11, 2025
“The Trump administration announced Friday that it was terminating a historic settlement aimed at improving wastewater treatment services for Alabamians in majority-Black communities harmed by raw sewage, calling the agreement an ‘illegal DEI and environmental justice policy.’”
“Catherine Coleman Flowers, a Lowndes County native whose civil rights complaint led to the 2023 settlement, has fought for years to help improve the lives of residents of the Alabama Black Belt. The Trump administration, in its announcement, said Lowndes County had been made a ‘target.’”
“It was not immediately clear following Friday’s announcement what impact the “termination” will have on the ground in Lowndes County.”
“The Alabama Department of Public Health, the agency required to implement the sewage improvements, said it would continue working to address the sanitation issues in the Black Belt as funding allows.”
But the state dragged its feet so much in resolving the county’s sanitation problems that Flowers and others filed a civil rights complaint, saying the state had discriminated against Black residents in failing to provide adequate sanitation services.
“In the past, state public health officials have said that sewage issues in the state’s rural areas were always on their radar—they simply didn’t have the financial ability to remedy them.”
The administration seems to be trying to thread a needle in which they acknowledge that Black Belt communities are in dire straits, but deny that racism had anything to do with it.
Inside Climate News
As Chemical Industry Seeks Exemption From Pollution Limits, Residents See Assault on Their Lives
April 7, 2025
“The Biden administration placed landmark limits on toxic pollutants from petrochemicals and other industries. Now, the Trump administration is offering to waive the requirements” after a letter to the EPA from the American Chemistry Council and American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers.
That will hurt residents of many rural communities that live near chemical and power plants, such as those in so-called Cancer Alley in Louisiana.
POSTAL SERVICE
The Daily Yonder
Privatizing the Postal Service Would Hurt Rural Americans
April 9, 2025
“The Founding Fathers knew the value of a nationalized service for mail delivery, but that priority is at risk of disappearing under Trump’s drastic budget cuts.”
POVERTY
CBS News
Trump HHS eliminates office that sets poverty levels tied to benefits for at least 80 million people
April 11, 2025
“President Donald Trump's firings at the Department of Health and Human Services included the entire office that sets federal poverty guidelines, which determine whether tens of millions of Americans are eligible for health programs such as Medicaid, food assistance, child care, and other services, former staff said.”
“The sacking of the office could lead to cuts in assistance to low-income families next year unless the Trump administration restores the positions or moves its duties elsewhere, said Robin Ghertner, the fired director of the Division of Data and Technical Analysis, which had overseen the guidelines.”
RENEWABLE ENERGY
News from the States
Trump administration funding freeze of $27B clean-energy program strands local projects
April 4, 2025
“A multibillion-dollar Environmental Protection Agency program designed to spur investment in energy-efficiency improvements nationwide is tied up in a legal battle that threatens to upend planned projects across the United States focused on affordable housing, the adoption of electric vehicles and more.”
“The EPA last month said it was terminating grants tied to the $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, a program Congress created as part of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, ‘based on substantial concerns regarding… program integrity, the award process, programmatic fraud, waste, and abuse, and misalignment with agency’s priorities.’ President Joe Biden signed the act into law.”
“Funds had already been dispersed into awardees’ bank accounts at Citibank as part of the program.”
“But the Trump administration, according to a document shared related to the lawsuit, directed Citi to freeze activity on those accounts. As a result, organizations around the country either already awarded money or in advanced talks to obtain funding are unable to access capital for planned projects.”
“The projects run the gamut, focusing on anything from installing energy-efficient technology in affordable housing units with the aim of lowering residents’ utility bills to adding solar panels to schools.”
REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS
The 19th
She was tracking post-Roe abortions. The government just pulled her funding.
April 9, 2025
“Diana Greene Foster is responsible for landmark research on the effects of abortion access — a massive 10-year study that tracked thousands of people who had an abortion or were denied one. But funding for a follow-up to her seminal Turnaway Study has just been cut as part of a wave of canceled health policy research.”
That study “helped shape public understanding of how abortion access can affect people’s health and economic well-being by finding that people who were denied abortions were more likely to experience years of poverty compared to those who could terminate their unplanned pregnancies.”
Her new study aimed to build on that research. “Though national data has shown that the number of abortions has gone up since Roe was overturned, little research has examined who is still able to access care in the face of abortion bans, or what it means for people’s health and economic well-being when they cannot.”
“Already, that research had begun to yield results. Foster’s team was about to publish data showing that in states with abortion bans, people were more likely to seek abortions in their second trimester than they had been before — possibly the result of having to navigate new, onerous restrictions.”
Rural women have a much harder time accessing abortion care than suburban and urban women.
SAFETY NET PROGRAMS
The Northern Virginian Daily
Valley Health CEO: Cutting Medicaid would endanger care for rural Virginians
April 10, 2025
“Valley Health President and CEO Mark Nantz calls the possibility of losing $91 million in Medicaid support an "existential threat" — one that would force one of Virginia’s largest rural hospital systems to reconsider its operations across the Shenandoah Valley.”
“While no closures or service cuts are currently planned, Nantz says the potential reduction in federal Medicaid funding would leave Valley Health operating at a tens-of-millions-dollar deficit and imperil its ability to serve low-income families, the elderly and disabled and children who depend on its care.”
“In the Northern Shenandoah Valley alone, Medicaid covers three in 10 children and five in eight nursing home residents, according to information provided by Valley Health.”
9 and 10 News
Rural hospitals could reduce service under potential Medicaid cuts
April 9, 2025
“Michigan healthcare experts say potential cuts to Medicaid would leave hospitals in a difficult financial situation, especially in more rural parts of the state.”
“In the most recent proposal, those cuts would come in at around $88 billion a year over the next decade.”
“About a quarter of Northern Michigan adults are covered by Medicaid, along with a third of area children.”
“Potential Medicaid cuts would impact non-Medicaid patients too” as hospitals would be forced to reduce their services or shutter entirely.
Stateline
A fifth of Americans are on Medicaid. Some of them have no idea.
April 9, 2025
“Some Americans who rely on Medicaid to pay for their health care don’t realize their insurance is funded by that very program, which congressional Republicans are looking to shrink.”
“One reason is that state programs aren’t always called “Medicaid.” Many states have rebranded their programs with consumer-friendly names such as SoonerCare in Oklahoma, Apple Health in Washington, Medi-Cal in California or TennCare in Tennessee.”
“And nearly all states now use private insurance companies such as UnitedHealth or Blue Cross Blue Shield to run their Medicaid programs. That means Medicaid enrollees may hold an insurance card and paperwork with the name of a commercial insurance company.”
“As a result, Medicaid is a sprawling patchwork of programs that can confuse lawmakers and even top health officials, not to mention the average beneficiary.”
Medical Xpress
'If they cut too much, people will die': Health coalition pushes GOP on Medicaid funding
April 7, 2025
In GOP-held swing districts nationwide, “activists have been applying political pressure to sway vulnerable House members from supporting $880 billion in cuts that health experts say would almost certainly hit safety net programs.
“Organizers are trying to highlight a thorny fact that faces many conservative members as they navigate a complex decision: The scale of spending cuts top GOP leaders are demanding is nearly impossible to achieve without slashing Medicaid funds to states, which are a lifeline for their largely poor, rural districts.”
The New York Times
The Three States That Are Especially Stuck if Congress Cuts Medicaid
April 6, 2025
“If congressional Republicans go through with some of the deep Medicaid cuts they are considering, three states would be left in an especially tight bind.”
“South Dakota, Missouri and Oklahoma have state constitutions requiring that they participate in Medicaid expansion.”
“The constitutional amendments were put on state ballots by progressive activists, who wanted to entrench the Medicaid program in places that had been hostile to that part of the Affordable Care Act.”
The Republican senators from [those states] could become an unlikely part of the firewall against big cuts to Medicaid.”
Remember: states have to balance their budgets every year, so it’s unlikely that they could make up for that funding without drastic cuts to other services. Education is often one of the first targets for cuts in a budget crunch.
SENIORS
Kaiser Health News
Federal Judge Blocks Mandate on Nursing Home Staffing
April 8, 2025
“In Texas, U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk blocked a federal rule to boost staffing at nursing homes that participate in Medicare and Medicaid,” saying that “Congress had not given the Department of Health and Human Services the authority to make such sweeping changes.”
“The rule was enacted last year by former President Joe Biden’s administration and would have been phased in starting in May 2026.”
The “regulation would have required nursing homes to have registered nurses on staff around the clock and to maintain minimum numbers of nurses and aides.”
“About 4 in 5 facilities would have had to increase staffing.”
“The nursing home industry says many homes cannot afford to increase their workforces and, even if they could, there is a scarcity of trained nurses.”
“The quality of care in the nation’s nursing homes and the lack of adequate staffing for their residents has been a concern for decades.”
“The staffing mandate isn’t dead for sure. The Trump administration could still appeal the judge’s ruling, though that seems unlikely.”
“Republicans in Congress are eyeing a repeal of the rule to pay for tax cuts they want to make, so they may want it in place a little longer.”
Rural nursing homes would be disproportionately for several reasons: they have a harder time than others attracting enough qualified staff, their patients are more likely to rely on Medicare and Medicaid, and, if a rural nursing home closes, rural residents have far fewer ones to choose from.
TARIFFS
The Washington Post
We asked 500 manufacturing workers about Trump’s tariffs
April 11, 2025
“President Donald Trump pitched sweeping international tariffs as a windfall to American manufacturers and workers who he said suffered from decades of free trade agreements. But American manufacturing workers are not sold.”
“The Washington Post asked more than 500 workers in manufacturing jobs across the country what they think about Trump’s tariffs. Most completed the survey before Trump announced he would pull back some tariffs, maintaining a 10 percent tariff on most foreign goods and raising tariffs on China.”
“More than twice as many manufacturing workers say tariffs would hurt rather than help their job and career, 57 percent versus 22 percent, while another 21 percent said they would have no impact.”
“A slim majority of workers who voted in the 2024 election backed Trump, but fewer than half of this group said tariffs will help them. Kamala Harris voters overwhelmingly say tariffs will have a negative impact on their jobs and careers.”
39% said they have “no confidence at all” that Trump will act in the best interests of American manufacturing workers, compared to 17% who had “just some confidence,” 18% who had a “good amount of confidence,” and 26% who said they had a “great deal of confidence.”
Barn Raiser
Opinion: A Wisconsin Farmer Learns First-Hand the Costs of Trump’s Tariffs
April 10, 2025
Wisconsin farmer Mark Peck shares how Trump’s tariffs on China have made it infinitely more expensive to treat his soybean seeds this year.
A domestically made seed treater was $50,000, but he was elated to find a model made in China with all the bells and whistles for only $12,810.
However, the first round of tariffs hit, and more kept coming. “Consequently, on April 9 (my birthday), thanks to Trump, the total cost of my seed treater had risen from $12,810 to $26,132.” And that was before he announced he would pause the tariffs for 90 days but raised the cumulative tariff on China to 125%.
“This kind of uncertainty and the skyrocketing costs associated with these tariffs means that it will take me an extra four years to pay for the treater, and, consequently, I will have less money to invest elsewhere in my business. Multiply this millions of times nationwide, and the result is trillions of dollars lost, with fewer jobs, products, goods and services for everyone in the country.”
TRANSPORTATION
Pennsylvania Capital-Star
Gov. Shapiro says Pa. mass transit agencies face “dire situation,” criticizes Trump tariffs
April 10, 2025
“Gov. Josh Shapiro addressed three key issues facing the state and beyond on Thursday during an appearance in Philadelphia. Two tied into the state’s response to actions made by President Donald Trump’s administration: tariffs and immigration. While the third matter emphasized the importance of funding increases for mass transit as a potential budget fight looms.”
“On the same day SEPTA announced a proposal that would lead to significant service cuts, Shapiro is urging state lawmakers to approve legislation that would fund mass transit for agencies around the commonwealth.”
“Let me just say, we face a dire situation for mass transit agencies all across Pennsylvania, from Pittsburgh to Philly and rural communities in between,” Shapiro said Thursday.
Lack of public transit in rural areas is a key barrier to employment, health care access, child care, and more.
WILDFIRES
ProPublica
Trump Said Cuts Wouldn’t Affect Public Safety. Then He Fired Hundreds of Workers Who Help Fight Wildfires.
April 7, 2025
“President Donald Trump’s executive orders shrinking the federal workforce make a notable exception for public safety staff, including those who fight wildland fires. But ongoing cuts, funding freezes and hiring pauses have weakened the nation’s already strained firefighting force by hitting support staff who play crucial roles in preventing and battling blazes.”
Wildland firefighters are already in dangerously short supply; even putting prisoners to work isn’t enough to fill the gaps.
Trump is considering creating a new federal agency that prioritizes putting out fires as quickly as possible. But critics say the plan could unnecessarily endanger aircraft that drop water or fire retardants over fires, and that it doesn’t put enough emphasis on land management techniques such as prescribed burning that can reduce the chances of huge blazes.