Locally sourced, collaborative reporting from and for rural America.
Featured Story
John Chadwell for BenitoLink
Rural schools: Valued community anchors in remote locations
Unique opportunities, challenges face rural educational institutions.
LATEST NEWS FROM THE NETWORK
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Listen to 911 calls from inside an immigration detention center: “We just need to take him to the hospital”
Reporters don’t have access to Camp East Montana, one of the largest immigration detention centers in the country. Emergency calls from the Texas facility offer a glimpse of unfolding crises faced by those locked inside, with few ways to get help.
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‘It will make an impact’: Amid literacy push, teachers receive special summer training
Roughly 450 teachers from 250 Oklahoma school districts spent part of their summer participating in reading instruction training to earn a micro-credential in early childhood literacy.
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ICE arrests in Wisconsin hit a new peak. Follow what happens next.
Federal immigration authorities are ramping up operations nationwide to meet new daily arrest quotas. ICE agents in Wisconsin have turned to prisons, jails and — increasingly — street arrests to make their numbers.
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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Hawaiʻi Knew Neglected Streams Could Wreak Havoc For 60 Years
September 01, 2026
Little was done to tame some of the waterways and flood areas that caused the most damage earlier this year.
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Fact brief: Do SD voters become ‘inactive’ after not casting a ballot for 4 years?
September 01, 2026
Absentee voting in South Dakota for the Nov. 3 general election begins Sept. 18, and the deadline to register or change registration is Oct. 19.
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New green Hood River power source sits inside a water main
August 31, 2026
The Dee Hydro project takes advantage of infrastructure that the city already owns, a main line bringing water to town from three springs on Mount Hood.
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A Data Center Promises Jobs in This Black Town, but Residents Aren’t Convinced
August 31, 2026
At the center of the debate in Clarksdale, Mississippi, one question lingers: What’s the right development for a dying town?
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$50 and a Bus Ticket
August 31, 2026
A small payment and a one-way ticket can have very different meanings for Oklahomans trying to find a way forward.
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How Kaua‘i’s Mayoral Candidates Plan To Tackle Trash
August 31, 2026
Boosting recycling and other diversion efforts are top priorities while the Garden Isle gets its new landfill up and running.
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Wells drying up at homes and ranches due to heat and drought
August 31, 2026
Long-term drought conditions have forced rural West River residents and ranchers who rely on wells to scramble to find water to keep their families and livestock alive.
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Flock cameras ditched in Christiansburg and Giles County as opposition grows
August 28, 2026
“We’re obviously in tune with public sentiments and the overwhelming sentiment is that Flock cameras are becoming a concern about being a violation of privacy,” said one official.
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In Wisconsin Rapids, data center objections include developers’ Russian connections
August 28, 2026
Residents have the usual environmental concerns, but they also question the backgrounds of two men involved.