Rural News Clips, March 4, 2025
Microwave-size bird flu detector invented for poultry farms; Why virtual care Is crucial for rural providers; Rural housing affordability approaches crisis
POLITICS AND ELECTIONS
Oregon Live
‘If you just came here to yell, I can leave,’ Trump-supporting Oregon congressman tells crowd of angry rural voters
March 4, 2025
“Oregon’s only Republican member of Congress, Rep. Cliff Bentz, stood before a town hall of more than 400 of his constituents in deeply red eastern Oregon and faced a barrage of jeers. Many attendees were upset with the first month of cuts by the Trump administration and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, as well as Bentz’s staunch defense of them.”
“Emotions are running high because cuts to federal employment, grants and social welfare programs threaten to run deep in rural Oregon.”
“Some loyal Republicans living in Trump strongholds are feeling shell shocked.”
“Turnout to question Bentz at a series of recent town halls was as much as five times the usual.”
“Howls of protest were so frequent that the otherwise unflappable lawmaker reached a breaking point. ‘If you just came here to yell, I can leave — do you want me to do that?’ Bentz asked the crowd.”
“Later, in another apparent attempt to calm attendees, Bentz reminded them that at least he was willing to show up and take the heat.”
“Bentz is one of a league of Republican representatives across the nation who received a verbal lashing in their overwhelmingly conservative districts during their first town halls since Trump retook office.”
Florida Phoenix
Florida’s 2025 legislative session, opening today, could prove a bruising one
March 4, 2025
“The Florida Legislature for the past few years worked hand-in-hand with Gov. Ron DeSantis … This year’s regular session, however, could feature a less malleable Legislature following a bruising battle this year between legislative leaders and the Republican governor over immigration.”
“DeSantis for his part has played down talk that the tug-of-war over immigration with Senate President Ben Albritton and House Speaker Daniel Perez will spill into this year’s session.”
Albritton will be focusing on big-ticket items “including his ‘rural renaissance’ package, a nearly $200 million effort to help economic development in the state’s less-populated counties. The proposal targets improved broadband access, roads, schools, and health care facilities.”
AGRICULTURE
The Washington Post
China, Mexico and Canada to retaliate after Trump imposes new tariffs
March 4, 2025
“The nation’s top three trading partners are rolling out levies on a wide range of products – including soybeans, meat and grains – in the escalating trade war.”
The tariffs are designed to target Republican and rural areas.
Broadband Breakfast
Congress Revives Effort to Expand Satellite Connectivity for Farmers
March 3, 2025
“A bill revived Wednesday would require the Federal Communications Commission to assess its existing satellite rules to enhance farmers’ ability to utilize precision agriculture technologies.”
“The Precision Agriculture Satellite Connectivity Act, sponsored by Reps. Bob Latta, R-Ohio, and Robin Kelly, D-Illinois, would direct the FCC, working with the Task Force for Reviewing the Connectivity and Technology Needs of Precision Agriculture, to review regulations governing fixed satellite service, mobile satellite service, and earth exploration satellite service.”
“The FCC would be required to submit a report to Congress within 15 months outlining its findings and any recommended rule modifications to improve agricultural connectivity.”
“While the bill aims to improve connectivity, some farmers took to Latta’s social media to voice concerns that it misses the mark. Critics argued that the legislation focuses on satellite-based solutions, which could primarily benefit companies like Elon Musk’s Starlink, rather than addressing more immediate challenges such as market access and financial stability.”
AVIAN FLU
St. Louis Public Radio
WashU engineers make microwave-size bird flu detector amid outbreak
March 4, 2025
“Engineers at Washington University have built a sensor that can detect the presence of bird flu particles within minutes.”
“The mini fridge-size machine sucks in air, spins it in liquid to trap particles and sends an alert when it detects the virus.”
“The researchers say the biosensor machine could keep farmers from having to cull their flocks when they detect the contagious virus, which has affected more than 5 million birds in Missouri since 2022.”
“Farmers could place the machines near air vents in poultry sheds or in other spaces where animals are kept … The sensors not only detect the virus, but also show approximately how much of it is in the air.”
CHILDREN AND FAMILIES
Show Me Mizzou
New research sheds light on breastfeeding barriers in rural communities
March 3, 2025
“Breastfeeding can be a challenge for many new moms, regardless of where they live. However, a new study from the University of Missouri highlights a unique struggle faced by mothers in rural America.
Researchers “discovered several factors that led rural moms to discontinue breastfeeding after a short period of time. Those factors include a lack of practical knowledge on what to expect, feeling overwhelmed, a lack of access to lactation consultants in rural areas and a lack of community support.”
“As a result, rural moms are more likely to stop breastfeeding within the first few days or weeks compared to their urban and suburban counterparts.”
EDUCATION
NPR
Rural schools in Alaska are crumbling. The state is the likely culprit.
March 4, 2025
The state of Alaska owns many of its public schools, meaning it’s “required by law to pay for construction and maintenance projects.”
“Yet over the past 25 years, state officials have largely ignored hundreds of requests by rural school districts to fix the problems that have left public schools across Alaska crumbling, according to an investigation by KYUK and ProPublica.”
Rural Alaskan “areas rely almost entirely on the state to finance school facilities because they serve unincorporated communities that have no tax base.”
Some schools have been waiting on repairs for more than a decade.
“The state's Indigenous children suffer the greatest consequences because most rural school districts are predominantly Alaska Native — a population that was long forced to attend separate and unequal schools.”
Source NM
Bid for New Mexico to join the Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact advances
March 4, 2025
“A proposal for New Mexico to join the Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact, made up of 13 states throughout the country, passed the House Education Committee unanimously Monday.”
“The compact is part of a national partnership between the Council of State Governments and the U.S. Department of Defense to establish reciprocity and make licenses transferable when a teacher moves to another compact state.”
“The idea is to help teachers who are part of military families in particular — because they move often — but all teachers moving among compact states are eligible.”
“House Bill 110 not only streamlines the hiring process, but also alleviates the critical teacher shortage many schools in New Mexico face, especially in rural areas,” Alison Riley, director of public policy for the New Mexico Chamber of Commerce, said during the meeting.
FOOD AND HUNGER
Capitol News Illinois
Trump administration ends reimbursements for Illinois food programs
March 4, 2025
“The Trump administration has stopped reimbursing Illinois for a program designed to help farmers and supply fresh food to Illinois food banks.”
“The Illinois Department of Agriculture announced Tuesday that changes to federal funding mean Illinois is missing reimbursements for costs for the Local Food Purchase Assistance Program, or LFPA, and can no longer run the Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program, or RFSI.”
“The state agency said the federal U.S. Department of Agriculture has told states it will not reimburse them for any costs for the programs dating back to when Trump took office on Jan. 20.”
The program “uses federal funding to buy fresh products from farmers at a fair market value, then distributes the food to communities via food pantries and other similar programs designed to help people in need for no additional cost. All the food produced as part of Illinois’ program comes from socially disadvantaged farmers, including those the federal government defines as ‘new farmers.’”
“More than 170 farmers have supplied food to 883 locations in Illinois through Illinois-EATS.”
HEALTH CARE AND RURAL HEALTH
MedCity News
‘Innovation Out of Necessity’: Why Virtual Care Is Crucial for Rural Providers
March 3, 2025
“Virtual care isn’t just a ‘nice-to-have’ for rural hospitals — it’s necessary to ensure patients are getting the care they need, said Dave Newman, chief medical officer of virtual care at Sanford Health.”
The article doesn’t go into this, but President Trump has declared that Medicaid will no longer allow telehealth care.
STAT
Rural-urban divide in cervical cancer means more cases and deaths
March 3, 2025
Screening tests and the HPV vaccine are effective ways to prevent and catch cervical cancer, but “those two forms of prevention are not enough if people aren’t getting them, a research letter published Monday in JAMA Network Open reports.”
“The cross-sectional study found incidence and mortality rates have been climbing in rural counties in the United States since 2012, going in the wrong direction after declining since 2001.”
“Cases were 25% higher and deaths were 42% higher in rural counties compared to urban counties through 2019.”
“Researchers said those jumps in incidence and mortality showing up in rural areas may be a result of lower screening, diagnosis, and treatment rates, all an offshoot of reduced options for care outside cities.”
HOUSING
National Association of Counties
Rural housing affordability approaches crisis
March 3, 2025
Despite “President Trump’s first-day executive order for every agency to address housing affordability,” there’s a “mismatch between national policy and rural housing stock and rural needs.”
“Rural homelessness is increasing faster than homelessness in any other geography.”
Jonathan Harwitz, the policy director for the Housing Assistance Council, discusses the particulars.
West Virginia Watch
WV House Judiciary considers statewide camping ban aimed at homeless people
March 4, 2025
“Camping and storing personal belongings on public property would be prohibited statewide under a bill the West Virginia House of Delegates is considering.”
“House Bill 2382 would impose fines of up to $500 and up to 30 days in jail for homeless people who use camping paraphernalia, including sleeping bags and blankets, on governmental or public property, grounds or lawns.”
“Following a U.S. Supreme Court decision last year upholding a camping ban in Grants Pass, Oregon, dozens of local governments around the country have passed similar laws as they grapple with record levels of homelessness amid a shortage of affordable housing.”
“Many West Virginia counties, particularly rural areas, do not have emergency homeless shelters. In cities like Charleston, Wheeling and Morgantown that do have services, those shelters are regularly full.”
NC Newsline
Housing advocates, providers see impending federal funding cuts as “catastrophic”
March 4, 2025
“Nonprofit housing and community development organizations face potential catastrophic funding disruptions due to the Trump administration’s efforts to reshape the federal government, a coalition of North Carolina nonprofit leaders and supporters said over two recent Zoom meetings.”
Shaun Donovan, president and CEO of Enterprise Community Partners, said in a recent statement that the targeted programs “aren’t just about affordable homes. They allow urban, rural, and Tribal communities to assess their own needs and leverage private dollars to invest in senior housing, establish local health clinics, fund child care centers, and so much more. It’s no surprise that both initiatives have long had deep, bipartisan support.”
JOBS
The Daily Yonder
Commentary: Remote Work Empowers Rural Workforce and Strengthens Federal Government
March 4, 2025
“A more dispersed and decentralized federal workforce means a more diverse and better-equipped staff that knows how to serve the locality they work for and from.”
LAYOFFS AND FEDERAL FUNDING
The Reporting Project
Rural Ohio Brewery Faces Financial Uncertainty After Promised Federal Funds for a Solar Array are Frozen
March 4, 2025
“The Wooly Pig Farm Brewery is on the hook for $292,000, half of which was to have been covered by a federal grant, and it is bracing for higher costs because of President Trump’s proposed tariffs.”
The Hill
House Republican says he ‘can’t guarantee’ staff cuts won’t impact veterans
March 3, 2025
“Rep. Greg Murphy (R-N.C.) on Monday defended the budgets and workforce cuts at the Department of Veterans Affairs, as he said he ‘can’t guarantee’ veterans’ benefits and care would be immune from cuts.”
Source NM
DOGE includes Carlsbad WIPP office on list for termination
March 4, 2025
“Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) appears to have targeted a building lease for the Carlsbad field office overseeing the country’s only underground nuclear waste disposal site, prompting immediate censure from members of New Mexico’s congressional delegation.”
“The Department of Energy Carlsbad Field Office is in the Skeen-Whitlock building, a 90,000- square foot facility that houses 200 workers who manage the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant – better known as WIPP.”
U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) said in a statement that closing the field office “would not only undermine the safety protocols at WIPP to protect the public and environment but also will put hundreds of federal jobs in one of the most rural areas of our state at risk.”
NATIVE AMERICANS
Stateline
For Indian Country, federal cuts decimate core tribal programs
March 4, 2025
“President Donald Trump’s sweeping cuts to the federal workforce and government spending have reverberated across Indian Country, leaving tribes with deep uncertainty about their health clinics, schools, police agencies and wildfire crews.”
“Native officials say the cuts could hit a vast array of core public services in tribal communities — even though the federal government is legally required to provide those services.”
“This is going to destroy whole regional economies in rural areas around the country,” said Matthew Fletcher, an Indian law professor at the University of Michigan and a member of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians.
POLLUTION
The New York Times
Trump Administration Said to Drop Lawsuit Over Toxic Chemical
March 3, 2025
“The Trump administration plans to drop a federal lawsuit against a chemical manufacturer accused of releasing high levels of a likely carcinogen from its Louisiana plant.”
“The government filed the lawsuit during the Biden administration after regulators determined that chloroprene emissions from the Denka Performance Elastomer plant were contributing to health concerns in an area with the highest cancer risk of any place in the United States.”
“The Denka plant is located in the predominantly Black community of LaPlace, La., in a region so dense with industrial facilities that it is known as ‘Cancer Alley.’” LaPlace is a rural area between New Orleans and Baton Rouge.
POVERTY
The New Hampshire Bulletin
Nearly 1 in 3 experiencing poverty in New Hampshire are disabled, NHFPI study finds
March 4, 2025
“People with disabilities make up nearly a third of New Hampshire’s impoverished, according to a new study from the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute.”
Hispanic people, Black people, families with more children, families with single mothers, and rural areas had higher poverty rates.
UTILITIES
Brookings
Millions of Americans lack affordable water access. Here’s how local utilities can help.
Feb. 27, 2025
Millions of American households “lack access to ‘affordable’ water—paying at least 3% of their income on these services.”
“This burden can be even higher for lower-income households; in some cases, they can pay up to 40% or more of their income on water bills.”
“As the primary owners and operators of the country’s pipes, plants, and other water systems, [local water utilities] often lack the fiscal or programmatic capacity to lower bills or offer other customer assistance, as they grapple with competing pressures such as infrastructure investment, regulatory compliance, and other operational costs. These rising demands leave utilities increasingly strained, forcing them to raise rates to maintain critical services.”