Locally sourced, collaborative reporting from and for rural America.
Featured Story
Paul Hensel for USFWS
When Forests Burn, Lakes Suffer
Severe fires can damage soils, increase runoff, and degrade water quality in remote watersheds.
LATEST NEWS FROM THE NETWORK
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A year into Missouri’s ban on cellphones in school, opinions are divided
Some appreciate the legal backup for teachers’ cellphone policies and say students are socializing more. Others think the ban goes too far.
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In Idaho, a Community Addresses a Cat-Astrophe
A trap-neuter-release program in Weiser, Idaho, addresses a rapidly increasing cat colony.
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Survey: Staff say school-based telehealth cuts behavioral issues
The new data comes from initial responses from a survey being conducted by researchers at the Cecil G. Sheps Center at UNC Chapel Hill to collect data on the impact of school-based telehealth programs.
RNN Highlights
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Rachel Livinal for The Merced FOCUS
Young Brains, Huge Stakes: How transitional kindergarten is shaping San Joaquin Valley’s youth
As California expands transitional kindergarten statewide, this four-part series examines whether San Joaquin Valley schools can meet the needs of young learners.
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Courtesy of U.S. Senate
Cardinal News 250: Virginia’s stories. A nation’s birth.
The project spotlights Virginia’s overlooked contributions to America’s march to independence ahead of the nation’s 250th anniversary, or semiquincentennial.
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Gordon Hodges for Door County Knock
Locked Out: Door County’s affordable housing shortage
An in-depth series on Door County’s affordable housing shortage, examining its causes, shrinking availability and the roadblocks to building more.
MORE NEWS FROM THE NETWORK
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Ballot provision to raise Oklahoma’s minimum wage fails
June 16, 2026
State Question 832 asked voters whether Oklahoma’s minimum wage should be decoupled from the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, bringing it to $15 by 2029. The last time the national number increased was in 2009.
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How a change to mail-in voting could impact Alaska’s most rural voters
June 16, 2026
A pending Supreme Court case could force Alaska to reject ballots that arrive after Election Day — even when weather and mail delays are beyond voters’ control.
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Law enforcement uses tear gas after hundreds in Senatobia protest following police shooting of toddler
June 16, 2026
Police and Tate County sheriff’s deputies were responding to an alleged shoplifting. State officials said the driver drove in the officers’ direction and nearly hit one, leading an officer to fire at the car.
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Hawaiʻi’s Imperiled False Killer Whales Are Going Hungry
June 16, 2026
The endangered whales’ numbers are still trending in the wrong direction. Researchers just found a new piece of the puzzle as to why.
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‘Wild West’ comes alive in annual Pawnee Bill show reenactment
June 16, 2026
Hundreds traveled to Pawnee on Saturday to watch Pawnee Bill’s Wild West Show, a reenactment of the historic 19th and 20th-century performance. Storms and a tornado warning cut the evening show short.
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A rural hospital paid for the children of 2 top executives to become doctors. It won’t say how many other people have gotten similar help.
June 16, 2026
Buchanan General Hospital’s tuition assistance program is designed to recruit clinicians to work in its rural community. The hospital declined to disclose information about other program recipients or its conflict of interest policy.
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EPA’s PFAS retreat is ‘a slap in the face,’ NC advocate says
June 16, 2026
Nine years after Cape Fear River contamination made headlines, communities say proposed federal rollbacks leave them drinking water with no meaningful protections.
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Wyoming judge strikes down ultrasound requirement, two other abortion laws
June 12, 2026
A 2012 amendment to the Wyoming Constitution continues to stymie attempts to curtail abortion in the Equality State.
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Breaking: California sues Shasta County over Measure B
June 12, 2026
The ballot initiative, which has just been approved by voters, set out to impose voter ID and eliminate mail-in voting — among other changes to local election procedures, which appear to contradict California law.