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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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‘They try to keep people quiet’: An epidemic of antipsychotic drugs in nursing homes
September 19, 2024
The six homes in Mississippi with the highest rates of antipsychotic drug use are three private facilities in the Delta and three homes associated with the state’s psychiatric hospital.
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Mississippi has more rural emergency hospitals than any other state. Can the ‘lifeline’ program save rural health care?
August 07, 2024
Some have hailed the federal designation, created in 2023, as a lifeline for struggling rural hospitals at risk of closure. Others say it forces hospitals between a rock and a hard place.
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‘Goals nobody can argue with’: Mississippi universities rebrand DEI to focus on access, opportunity and belonging
August 02, 2024
The schools said the changes did not come with a reduction to any programs, scholarships or initiatives that aim to support the enrollment, retention and employment of students and faculty from historically marginalized groups
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Mississippi falls short of an eighth-grade literacy miracle
May 23, 2024
The gap between the national average and Mississippi’s eighth-grade reading score has gotten smaller over the last decade, but it hasn’t closed at the rate of fourth-grade reading.
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Company deemed ‘future of education’ for rural schools to falter without cash infusion, founder says
April 24, 2024
The Global Teaching Project that helps bring free college-level science courses to poor, rural public schools, many in the Mississippi Delta, will lose federal funding after the Biden Administration did not renew its grant last year.
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These Republicans wanted a Medicaid work requirement but couldn’t get approval. So they got creative.
April 18, 2024
Knowing the feds wouldn’t allow the work requirement, North Carolina Republicans went to the drawing board to determine if they could come up with a Medicaid expansion bill that still promoted work without requiring it.
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Marshall County’s only ER to close this month after mix-up with federal government
April 11, 2024
Rural hospitals in Mississippi are struggling to stay afloat. One report puts 29% of the state’s rural hospitals at immediate risk of closure, and 62% are losing money on patient services.
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Trouble in the wood basket: How a global push for renewable energy took advantage of rural Mississippi
April 09, 2024
In the last decade, towns like Gloster turned to what they saw as a new hope: the emerging wood pellet industry. While the industry is now grappling with a variety of environmental objections, the state and local governments have invested millions of dollars through tax exemptions and other incentives, in an attempt to stem rural disinvestment.
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‘The stepchildren:’ Community colleges struggle to fund buildings for growing workforce programs
April 05, 2024
For colleges tasked with shepherding the state’s ambitious workforce development programs, meager funding means they’re educating students in facilities that are falling behind the conditions of private industry.
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Big Companies Cashed In on Mississippi’s Water. Small Towns Paid the Price.
February 05, 2024
They vowed to fix water woes and save cities millions. But a Times investigation found the deals racked up debt and left many worse off than before.
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A small town struggles to survive in the heart of Mississippi’s hospital crisis
January 22, 2024
Hospitals keep rural Mississippi communities’ residents and economies alive. When they close, it can be devastating.
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As agriculture has evolved in Mississippi, the state is losing its ‘middle class’ of farmers
December 29, 2023
Research shows input costs – for livestock, fertilizer, pesticides, fuel and other needs – have climbed 70% since 1970 when adjusted for inflation. Land is also more expensive due to higher demand, making it harder for newer farmers to buy in.
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Who Investigates the Sheriff? In Mississippi, Often No One.
December 28, 2023
The state ignored or was unaware of allegations of jailhouse rape, brutal beatings and corrupt acts by sheriffs and their deputies, even when there was ample evidence to examine.
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‘These people were never given the chance to catch up’: Inside the diabetes belt of rural Mississippi
December 20, 2023
A lack of specialists coupled with some of the lowest social determinants in the country leave regions like the Delta prone to late detection of diabetes and a high rate of amputations.
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Falling short: 99% of Mississippi nursing homes don’t meet new staffing regs
December 13, 2023
In Mississippi, all but two of the 200 skilled nursing facilities – those licensed to provide medical care from registered nurses – would need to increase staffing levels under federal regulations the Biden administration proposed in September, according to data analyzed by Mississippi Today, USA TODAY and Big Local News at Stanford University.
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