Alex Milan Tracy for Underscore
Explore the Archive
The dozens of independent, nonprofit and nonpartisan news organizations that make up the Rural News Network are developing the broadest news alliance reporting on rural America. These newsrooms are pursuing coverage that provides a more complete picture of what it means to live and work in these communities.
Filter by Topic
Filter by Outlet
Search by keywords
Filter by State
LATEST NEWS FROM THE NETWORK
-
Hawaiʻi Farmers And Ranchers Face $46 Million In Federal Funding Cuts
April 23, 2025
The USDA decision has led to lost jobs, confusion and a setback on climate initiatives in the agricultural sector.
-
Planning begins for new year-round county homeless shelter
April 21, 2025
Tompkins County is seeking an outside organization to run and help design its planned homeless shelter.
-
With federal cuts looming, future of Blackfeet homeless shelter in limbo amid funding challenges
April 21, 2025
Funding challenges have crippled the Medicine Bear Lodge homeless shelter on the Blackfeet Reservation. Looming federal cuts could threaten its existence.
-
As education reform takes shape in Vermont, community members in Westford worry for their school’s future
April 20, 2025
A proposal to move sixth through eighth grade out of the Westford School is fueling fears in the rural community that the school could soon be shuttered under a push to consolidate Vermont’s school districts.
-
How will Trump’s tariffs impact local restaurants and food businesses? Owners share their thoughts
April 20, 2025
One local caterer reported that wedding clients are already reducing their commitments. She shared that the current economic situation “smells like 2020,” referring to the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on the economy.
-
Behind the Plants: Living in the Shadow of Industry on Cancer Alley
April 17, 2025
Between Baton Rouge and New Orleans lies a 150-mile stretch along the Mississippi River known as Cancer Alley. This region hosts over 150 petrochemical facilities and oil refineries—the highest concentration of such industries in the Western Hemisphere.
-
This Georgia Case Could Decide the Future of Gullah Geechee Land on Sapelo Island
April 16, 2025
Residents have been in a fight with county leaders over their voting rights and zoning changes that threaten to lead to displacement.
-
Tariff tracker: The latest moves shaking up global ag trade
April 16, 2025
The Trump administration’s trade war will have a major impact on the nation’s agriculture sector, especially as the U.S. and China have raised tariff rates against each other.
-
Trump is spending billions on border security. Some residents living there lack basic resources.
April 16, 2025
The president has reportedly urged Congress to pass $175 billion for border security. But residents of Del Rio, Texas, and Douglas, Arizona, say basic needs — like safe drinking water and hospital access — aren’t being met.
-
‘People would die’: As summer approaches, Trump is jeopardizing funding for AC
April 11, 2025
Some $380 million is now in limbo after Trump laid off staff that run a program helping low-income people pay their energy bills.
-
Revitalizing a rural downtown is difficult enough. It’s even harder when the state owns the main road.
April 07, 2025
Some Missouri towns don’t have control over their main streets because they are state highways. When they want to pursue downtown revitalization projects, not having control over the road can make things complicated.
-
‘Spinning our wheels’: As West Virginia’s housing crisis worsens, lawmakers put solutions on the back burner
April 01, 2025
As rapid growth and tourism drive up housing costs across West Virginia, lawmakers have done little to respond to the escalating crisis — and time has run out for them to take action this session.
-
Dozens of community projects halted after federal funding was omitted from Congressional stop-gap spending bill
April 01, 2025
Congress passed a continuing resolution to avoid a government shutdown in mid-March, amid a partisan fight over federal spending. That continuing resolution left out tens of millions of dollars in funding for Southwest and Southside community projects.
-
No questions asked, no judgment given; local food pantry workers rely on network of funding and donations to feed people
March 21, 2025
The nine pantries that are part of the coalition range from larger operations that receive state and federal funding and confidentially track client information.
-
Kemmerer coal mine lays off 28 workers
March 21, 2025
Cuts are due to ‘market conditions’ including ‘pending natural gas conversions’ at coal-fired power plants in the region, company says.
RURAL NEWS SPOTLIGHT
Sign up to receive our occasional newsletter, Rural News Spotlight. Read a recent issue here.