Locally sourced, collaborative reporting from and for rural America.
Featured Story
Alex Ip for The Xylom
“I Was Having a Good Time”: How Did a Small Town in South Texas Get Hit With Two Oil Spills?
A playing field tilted towards regional officials, Texas Republicans, and foreign energy companies did residents in.
LATEST NEWS FROM THE NETWORK
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Brunswick cyclists honor Ahmaud Arbery with remembrance ride
Organizer says ride keeps the ties to tragic death alive.
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Scathing new report details North Carolina’s involuntary commitment problem
Disability Rights NC spent a year investigating the state’s overuse of the legal procedure, which leaves patients locked up at a high cost with few rights.
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A Revolutionary War battlefield in New Jersey is geting a $5 Million restoration
The star-spangled makeover of the Princeton Battlefield aims to turn the site into an outdoor classroom and living memorial.
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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Kalany Omengkar for Honolulu Civil Beat
Hawaii Grown
This ongoing series delves deep into what it would take for Hawai‘i to decrease its dependence on imported food and be better positioned to grow its own.
MORE NEWS FROM THE NETWORK
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They once served their country; now they serve fellow veterans
May 26, 2025
The Hollister VFW Post 9242 Honor Guard remembers the fallen all year long.
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“Our Slice of Heaven That You’re Willing To Turn Into Hell for a Profit.”
May 24, 2025
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.
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Texas measles outbreak still slowing down
May 23, 2025
The tight-knit Mennonite community in Gaines County, mostly centered around the town of Seminole, have been hardest hit.
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Uncertainty About Federal Disaster Aid Looms As Storms Roll In
May 23, 2025
President Donald Trump’s administration is looking to significantly scale back FEMA and pass disaster recovery costs onto states.
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Homeless Seminole County students surge 32% in two years
May 22, 2025
‘Mama, I have trauma’: What one mother’s story shows in the world of secretly homeless students in Seminole County.
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Young food entrepreneurs are changing the face of rural America
May 22, 2025
As rural America gains younger residents, and grows more diverse and increasingly digitally connected, these dynamics are driving a renaissance in craft foods.
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Maine’s heat pump boom has been promising for rural workforce development. Can it last?
May 22, 2025
Maine has had success in adopting heat pumps across the state, and jobs have grown quickly — particularly in rural areas. But as the state approaches big deadlines for heat pump installation and bolstering its clean energy workforce, uncertainties lie ahead.
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Sonoma-Mendocino geothermal energy project could accelerate demand for clean energy workers
May 21, 2025
A plan to nearly double the amount of electricity drawn from naturally occurring heat deep below Mendocino and Sonoma counties could create thousands of new jobs in the region.
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Brighter future? Solar apprenticeships add renewable energy skills to local jobs
May 20, 2025
A regional partnership aims to train young people as they go, developing workforce skills in anticipation of increasing demand for renewable energy-focused jobs in the heart of coal country.