CAMPAIGN FOR RURAL PROGRESS
Wahoo Newspaper
A rural Nebraska city is getting a solar energy facility with help of $3.6 million federal loan
June 29, 2024
Madison, a community of about 2,400, “will be getting a solar energy facility with the aid of a federal loan program.”
“Bluestem Energy Solutions has been selected to receive about $3.6 million to help build the 2-megawatt community facility.”
“Headquartered in Omaha, Bluestem is a developer, owner and operator of renewable energy resources.”
“The money will come from the federal government’s Powering Affordable Clean Energy Program.”
POLITICS AND ELECTIONS
Ohio Capital Journal
Commentary: Rural identity emerging as key factor in politics
July 1, 2024
“Most observers link identity politics with Democrats, as underrepresented groups have used their common fate as a vehicle for political action since the movement politics of the 1960s & 70s.”
“The political science literature has highlighted another key identity emerging in politics in recent years: rural identity.”
“We have always had a rural/urban divide … but recent work by Katherine Cramer as well as Nicholas Jacobs and Daniel Shea highlights how a growing common identity, even across varied and far-flung rural America, adds to our political cultural divide.”
“Jacobs and Shea pinpoint the 1980s as when this identity began to crystallize. In different regions, cost pressures on family farms and ranches, suburban sprawl, or water inaccessibility squeezed rural communities economically, which coincided with terrible depictions of country life in popular culture.”
“Just as national news outlets emerged through cable and the internet, regional papers closed, and divisive national narratives enveloped local political context. Separate localized identities merged into a national common rural identity.”
This blogger would also note that the FCC abolished the fairness doctrine in 1987, which essentially led to Rush Limbaugh being one of the loudest voices in rural America without meaningful competition for years.
Montana Free Press
Can Dems Keep Winning in Indian Country?
June 14, 2024
“Tribal communities have for decades been an essential part of the voter base that gives Montana Democrats the ability to make competitive bids for statewide office.”
“A close look at turnout figures for June 4 party primaries in the state’s eight majority-Native districts, however, indicates there may be cracks in that coalition, with voter turnout in those districts’ Republican primaries outstripping the number of Democrats who cast ballots.”
AGRICULTURE
The Week
Bayer lobbies Congress to shield the company from legal action
July 1, 2024
“Bayer wants to stop being sued for claims that its weed killer Roundup causes cancer.”
“Certain versions of the herbicide have glyphosate as its active ingredient, which some studies have found can lead to debilitating and deadly diseases including non-Hodgkin's lymphoma,” but the EPA doesn’t consider this a carcinogen.
The article doesn’t go into this, but these pesticides can hurt rural residents living near farms; Bayer’s popular dicamba pesticide is particularly prone to aerosolize upon application and drift to nearby people, homes, and sustenance gardens. All can be damaged by this
“The company claims that the lawsuits are posing a significant threat to business. Bayer inherited a vast number of lawsuits once it purchased the agricultural giant Monsanto in 2018.”
“Bayer has been lobbying to advance bills in Idaho, Iowa and Missouri that would ‘effectively immunize the company against allegations that its chemicals can cause cancer.’”
“While the bill was shot down in Idaho, the bills in both Iowa and Missouri are still up in the air.”
CHILDREN AND FAMILIES
Iowa Capital Dispatch
Reynolds, Congress members protest federal child labor law enforcement
July 1, 2024
“Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and the state’s all-Republican congressional delegation sent letters Monday to the U.S. Department of Labor, criticizing its enforcement of federal child labor laws on Iowa businesses following a state law change.”
“A 2023 Iowa child labor law loosened some restrictions on minor workers, despite warnings from the Department of Labor that the changes would conflict with federal law.”
“Changes include allowing 14- and 15-year-olds to work later shifts and more hours a week, letting 16- and 17-year-olds seek exemptions through work-study program or employer training to work in restricted fields, and permitting workers over age 16 to sell and serve alcohol in restaurants while kitchens are open.”
Republicans say it would unfairly burden small businesses and that restaurants would go out of business if they couldn’t work teens at night like they already can’t now.
DRUGS AND ADDICTION
CentralMaine.com
In rural Maine, efforts to provide drug treatment often met with resistance, despite high demand
June 30, 2024
There are mamy challenges in “combating the opioid crisis in Maine, an epidemic that has cut short nearly 4,000 lives over the past decade, half of them in just the last three years.”
“Like many states, Maine was slow to embrace and expand treatment options as the problem mounted.”
“Even though there is a better understanding of the need for treatment options, resistance persists, especially in smaller towns, where signs of drug abuse are less visible but the problem is no less acute.”
“As the state has begun distributing its share of opioid settlement funds – the result of a landmark lawsuit against pharmaceutical companies that produced and aggressively marketed addictive painkillers – bringing treatment to historically underserved areas will be a priority.”
EDUCATION
The Texas Tribune
After decades of lobbying by Christian conservative donors, school voucher legislation may finally have the votes
June 21, 2024
“As proponents of private school vouchers racked up win after win across the country in recent years, the largest Republican-led state in the nation remained stubbornly outside their grasp — until now.”
“Texas Gov. Greg Abbott succeeded in persuading primary voters to remove from office members of his party who had defied him by voting against legislation that would allow the use of state money to pay for private school tuition.”
“Abbott’s success campaigning against fellow Republicans during the primary election sent a clear message that disloyalty would not be tolerated even for those who supported other priorities he outlined.”
“The issue has generally been one that falls along partisan lines. But over the years, rural Republicans have broken with their party to vote against vouchers. Public schools, they’ve reasoned, often play a vital role in local communities where private options are limited.”
“In targeting them, Abbott and his billionaire allies didn’t make vouchers the focus of campaign advertising but rather accused them of being soft on issues like border security.”
Ohio Capital Journal
‘Extremely low pay’ cited at U.S. Senate hearing as prime reason for teacher shortage
June 21, 2024
Many teachers and advocates say abysmal pay is the main reason it’s hard to attract more people to become teachers. It’s also why nearly half of public scool teachers say they plan to quit within the next five years.
And it’s one of the main reasons teachers are more likely than other professionals to experience extreme anxiety, stress, and burnout.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) “introduced a bill in March 2023 that would set an annual base salary of $60,000 for public elementary and secondary school teachers.”
Conservatives argued it’s wrong to make states spend their money a certain way, that better resource allocation will solve the problem, and that examining the “broken policies” that led to the problem is a better way to go.
The Hechinger Report
One state radically boosted new teacher pay – and upset a lot of teachers
June 20, 2024
“In the span of 15 days in early 2023, the state legislature passed a massive education bill, which went into effect that fall … the starting salary had jumped to $50,000.”
“the new law has had a mixed reception. School leaders said the pay jump has made it much easier to attract teachers to small rural school districts … where salaries had not kept up with inflation.”
“However, the law — called the LEARNS Act — also got rid of mandated annual raises.”
It’s also “caused tension among veteran teachers, many of whom had to work for two decades to come close to making $50,000 annually.”
“Because of the new law, in more than half of the state’s school districts, every teacher made the same salary this year, regardless of years of experience.”
“The law in Arkansas is one of nearly two dozen similar measures in states around the country that have been proposed or passed in the last few years. Most, like the Arkansas law, aim to address staffing shortages.”
HEALTH CARE AND RURAL HEALTH
The New York Times
Opinion: Why Doctors Aren’t Going Into Pediatrics
July 1, 2024
“There aren’t enough pediatricians right now, and because of that, some kids are unable to get the care they need,” writes Aaron Carroll, a former pediatrician and health care policy analyst.
“Last year a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine committee published a report on the future of the pediatric work force and the issue of shortages, especially in rural areas.”
Why the shortage? Because “pediatricians earn less than specialists in almost every other medical field in the United States. A key reason is that so many children live in poverty and therefore qualify for Medicaid, which pays far less for care than private insurance and even less than Medicare.”
“Even pediatric subspecialists must deal with this reality. Medicaid isn’t any more generous when children have chronic conditions. That’s no small problem. Estimates suggest that 40 percent of American children have at least one chronic health condition.”
Alabama News Center
University of Alabama welcomes third class of rural pre-medical students
June 29, 2024
“The University of Alabama College of Community Health Sciences recently welcomed the 2024 class of the Tuscaloosa Rural Pre-Medical Internship, a summer program for college students in pre-medical studies who are interested in rural primary care.”
“The seven-week program provides opportunities for interns to learn about the health needs of rural Alabama residents, particularly in the fields of family medicine, internal medicine and pediatrics.” It’s particularly difficult to find enough practitioners in those areas.
“Participants also gain a better understanding of the day-to-day life of family medicine doctors. In addition, the program seeks to enhance their understanding of medical school and increase their competitiveness for medical school admission.”
“The program is part of the college’s Rural Programs and its Rural Health Leaders Pipeline. The pipeline is a sequence of programs from high school through medical school that recruits students from rural Alabama interested in working as future doctors and other health care professionals in rural communities.”
News Medical Life Sciences
Rural teens face higher obesity risk with lower alcohol consumption compared to urban peers
July 1, 2024
“In a recent study published in the journal PLOS ONE, researchers in the United States of America (US) investigated the relationship between alcohol use and obesity among US adolescents aged 12–17 years from rural and urban areas.”
“They found that adolescents from rural areas had a higher risk of being obese at lower levels of alcohol consumption as compared to those from urban areas.”
POLLUTION
Mountain State Spotlight
How West Virginia polluters want to undermine citizen efforts to better monitor the air we breathe
June 30, 2024
“Across West Virginia, several communities are starting their own air monitoring programs. The efforts focus on areas surrounded by chemical plants, natural gas operations and coal mines and in communities historically overburdened by industrial pollution.”
Meanwhile, “chemical companies are pushing legislation to bar air quality data collected by communities from being used as evidence in government enforcement actions and citizen lawsuits.”
One lobbyist said they just worried that the residents were collecting faulty data and felt an objective source should do that.
“These communities have long lacked access to quality information about the pollution in their air, largely due to the limited air monitoring networks. However, the Biden administration is looking to change that by giving money to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to help support local air monitoring efforts.”
“So far, the agency has awarded money to over 100 projects across 37 states.”
RECREATION
The Daily Sentinel
Proactive planning protects rural communities
June 30, 2024
“Studies have shown that well-maintained trails and designated campsites actually reduce environmental impact by concentrating visitor activity in specific areas, and can leverage tourism for the benefit of nearby communities.”
“Increased revenue can be directed toward park staff, habitat restoration projects and educational programs that foster a sense of stewardship among visitors and respect for local communities.”
“The net positives can be essential to sustaining communities with positive impacts on population, income and property values located close to the protected lands.”
REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS
States Newsroom
Iowa Supreme Court lifts injunction on abortion law, allowing enforcement of six week ban
July 1, 2024
“Most abortions will soon be illegal in Iowa after six weeks of pregnancy following the Iowa Supreme Court’s decision Friday to overturn a lower court’s block on the 2023 abortion law.”
“The 4-3 decision allows enforcement of the law that was previously blocked by a temporary injunction in a case challenging Iowa’s law restricting most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.”
“Abortion remains legal in Iowa for now, until the case returns to the district court for further proceedings.”
“That will take at least 21 days under Iowa court rules, according to ACLU of Iowa, and abortion will remain legal during that time.”
“The law bans abortions after cardiac activity can be detected in an embryo, with exceptions in cases of rape, incest, and when the medical procedure is necessary to save the life of the mother.”
“To qualify for an exception to the law, people must report the rape resulting in pregnancy within 45 days to law enforcement or a public health agency or doctor, and within 140 for cases of incest.”
Minors often lack the ability or knowledge of the laws to report rape so quickly, and it may take years for traumatized victims to come forward.
SENIORS
Harvest Public Media
A ‘silver tsunami’ is hitting rural America as small business owners retire without replacements
July 1, 2024
“More than half of business owners are 55 years or older.”
“With the youngest Baby Boomers set to reach retirement age in 2030, it’s clear small business ownership will undergo a major transition.”
A recent study found that “75% of business owners would like to exit their businesses within the next 10 years.”
“That wave is likely to hit rural areas especially hard.”
WILDFIRES
The Daily Yonder
What Is Your Home’s Wildfire Risk?
July 1, 2024
“A newly updated wildfire risk map could help level the playing field for rural communities who don’t have the resources to conduct their own wildfire risk assessments, according to the independent research group Headwaters Economics.”
“The map, first created by the U.S. Forest Service under the direction of Congress in 2018, shows wildfire risks at the county level and ways to mitigate those risks. Every U.S. county and tribal area is included in the map.”
“Better understanding local wildfire risk could be more important for communities than ever because of the map’s recent findings, which shows that about one-third of all Americans live in counties with high wildfire risk.”
“In many parts of the country, climate change has caused hotter temperatures and drier conditions. This exacerbates wildfire risk.”
“The Biden administration has implemented several grant programs to better equip communities with wildfire resilience tools in light of this increasing risk.”