Alex Milan Tracy for Underscore
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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.
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LATEST NEWS FROM THE NETWORK
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A regional network is racing to save the Midwest’s native seeds
March 02, 2026
As climate change intensifies wildfires and other extreme weather events, demand for native seeds is surging.
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Did the USDA just forget about $400M in drought aid for farmers?
February 23, 2026
More than a year later, not a dollar has been spent — and no one knows what happened to the money.
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What happens when a neighborhood is built around a farm
February 06, 2026
Urban planners are borrowing rural principles like integrating food production into daily life. Instead of isolation between farms and cities, agrihoods blend both.
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How a billionaire’s plan to export East Texas groundwater sparked a rural uprising
November 19, 2025
The citizens of six East Texas counties where Trump took around 80 percent of the vote last November are now turning to their state government to protect them from billionaires.
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Who pays for wildfire damage? In the West, utilities are shifting the risk to customers
September 19, 2025
Utah laws cap wildfire damages and let utilities pass the cost onto customers. Utility lobbyists are pushing the model in other states.
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As the Trump administration shrinks the USDA, rural farming communities are left to pay the price
August 27, 2025
Inside the program cuts, workforce purges, and secretive reorganization of the Department of Agriculture.
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Two years after a wildfire took everything, Maui homeowners are facing a new threat: Foreclosure
August 12, 2025
A Native Hawaiian mother’s fight to keep her family in Lāhainā despite soaring costs, mortgage limbo, and land-hungry investors eager to own a piece of Hawaiʻi.
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Tribal nations scramble to save clean energy projects as federal support vanishes
August 11, 2025
The current number of impacted projects run by tribes is unknown. According to the Alliance for Tribal Clean Energy, at least 100 tribes they have worked with have received funds from federal agencies and the Inflation Reduction Act; however, those figures could be higher.
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After Texas’ catastrophic floods, families face a daunting question: Rebuild or let go?
August 07, 2025
More than 2,000 structures were damaged by the July 4 floods in Kerr County, which suffered the brunt of the floods that devastated the Texas Hill Country, killing at least 138 people and causing an estimated $1.1 billion in damage.
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USDA abruptly cancels rural energy grant application window
July 17, 2025
It’s the latest setback for the longstanding REAP program, casting uncertainty over the future of a resource that helps farmers save on energy and install solar.
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A tribe in Florida joins the fight against the ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ immigrant detention center
July 15, 2025
The Miccosukee, who make their home in the Everglades, said authorities didn’t do an environmental review.
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Drought is draining water supplies and driving up food costs where you’d least expect
July 09, 2025
From Mexico City to the Mekong Delta, increasingly severe droughts caused by climate change are laying waste to ecosystems and economies everywhere.
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As temperatures rise, the US Corn Belt could see insurance claims soar
May 14, 2025
Crop insurance is a lifeline for farmers. But research shows it’s not ready for climate change.
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Millions of Americans don’t speak English. Now they won’t be warned before weather disasters.
April 14, 2025
An internal memo reviewed by Grist showed the National Weather Service has stopped translating radio alerts in the southern region, a move that has enraged workers in the local offices.
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‘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.
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