Locally sourced, collaborative reporting from and for rural America.
Featured Story
Patricio Crooker for Wisconsin Watch
Wisconsin pig farmer holds on at Wonderfarm as Washington breaks a promise
Jess D’Souza had hoped to finally turn a profit this year, aided by a federal program to bolster local food systems. The Trump administration canceled the program, upending her plans.
LATEST NEWS FROM THE NETWORK
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Are rural hospitals in Oklahoma at risk of closing?
According to the American Hospital Association, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (HR 1) would lead to a reduction of $50.4 billion in federal Medicaid spending on rural hospitals over ten years.
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North Carolina to get $150M from new opioid settlement as counties expand treatment and recovery services
Money from the latest settlement agreement with Purdue Pharma will boost counties’ efforts to curb opioid addiction and overdoses, some of which have already led to innovative programs.
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Transgender woman protests new law with visit to a Wyoming Capitol bathroom
Rihanna Kelver drove from her home in Laramie and used the women’s restroom at the Wyoming Capitol building Tuesday in defiance of a new law prohibiting transgender people’s use of public facilities.
RNN Highlights
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Bart Pfankuch for South Dakota News Watch
Powering Rural Futures
Clean energy is creating new jobs in rural America, generating opportunities for people who install solar panels, build wind turbines, weatherize homes, and more. This series led by Canary Media explores how industry, state governments, and education systems are training this growing workforce.
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Winik Sartwell for Carolina Public Press
Deserting Women
Rural North Carolina counties are seeing growing deserts of health services for women at local hospitals, with serious health implications. Multiple pressures are driving this trend. But solutions may be available.
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Alex Ip for The Xylom
“All Hell Breaks Loose”: How Big Oil Ruined a Small Texas Town
Three export terminals that captured half of the U.S. crude oil export industry have formed around Ingleside on the Bay, turning the Texas Coastal Bend town into an unlikely fenceline community. A playing field tilted towards regional officials, Texas Republicans, and foreign energy companies did residents in.
MORE NEWS FROM THE NETWORK
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Jim Kingston enters race for congressional seat with support from GOP stalwarts
June 30, 2025
Old-guard Coastal Georgia Republicans shower former congressman’s son with campaign funds.
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Kauaʻi’s Embattled Drug Addiction Treatment Center For Youth Is No Longer Empty
June 30, 2025
A new day treatment program has already graduated dozens of adolescents.
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Senate Republicans Fast Track Budget Bill With Grave Consequences for Rural America
June 29, 2025
Rural America would face deep cuts and economic damage due to reduced federal spending in Medicaid, food assistance, research, affordable housing, clean energy, local farm and food programs and other rural economic development initiatives.
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The surprising shifts climate change is bringing to Vermont farms: rice paddies, peaches and saffron
June 29, 2025
Since 1900, annual temperatures in Vermont have increased by about 2 degrees Fahrenheit, and annual precipitation has increased by 21% over the same span, according to the state.
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Georgia Power Poised To Freeze Base Rates Until 2028 — With a Catch
June 28, 2025
For the June 26th hearing, concerned groups and citizens traveled to Atlanta from as far as Valdosta in South Georgia and Bethlehem in Barrow County.
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Texas education board approves Native Studies course, skirting concerns about state’s K-12 DEI ban
June 27, 2025
The long-awaited vote survived objections from the panel’s most right-leaning Republicans, who criticized the lessons as “un-American woke indoctrination.”
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Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill would kick Kansans off food assistance
June 27, 2025
The federal proposal wants to shift the cost of the SNAP program to states. Kansas doesn’t have the money to offset losses.
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Refuerzo fronterizo bajo Trump deja sin trabajo a comunidades como Yuma
June 27, 2025
La comunidad sigue sobreviviendo en Yuma mientras la población crece y las oportunidades disminuyen.
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Tompkins County Workers’ Center holds town hall on living wage efforts
June 26, 2025
While the focus of the Town Hall was presenting data and having conversations about what increasing wages would do for the community, local leaders had opened the event for questions and direct comments from attendees — many of whom shared their own issues with working conditions in Ithaca.