Renee Good's death and the rural-urban divide

Many rural Minnesotas see the state's bigger cities as dangerous and 
'out of control.'

The shooting death of Renee Good by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Minneapolis, Minn., sparked outrage among the state's urban residents and precautionary warnings from the state's more rural citizens. The fissure between the two creates a "story about America’s urban-rural divide," report Sheila M. Eldred, Elizabeth A. Stawicki, Ann Hinga Klein, and Kurt Streeter of The New York Times.

In Nisswa, a rural, red-voting Minnesota town roughly 150 miles North of Minneapolis, residents at the local pub,"Ye Old Pickle Factory," acknowledge the tragedy of Good's death but still point to the care U.S. citizens should take with law enforcement. The Times reports, “'You obey the law officer,' a man in a veteran’s ball cap said, 'and question it later.'"

"This is the divide, in a single sentence," the Times reports. "In Minneapolis, protesters saw an innocent woman killed by a federal agent and took to the streets. At 'the Pickle,' the regulars saw a woman who should have complied."

Location of Nisswa, Minn., left, Minneapolis, right

The responses to Good's death highlighted another common and increasing difference between rural and urban Americans, where rural residents "see the city as dangerous, out of control and something to flee," Eldred explains.

Rural residents in Minnesota and across the country often see big cities as epicenters of power and money that care little for rural residents. The Times reports, "This sense of alienation is not new. But in recent years it has become tightly bound to Republican partisanship."

Not all of rural Minnesotans see Good's death as a horrible, but justified death of a U.S. citizen by an ICE agent. Trever DePoppe from Pine City, Minn., considers himself an ICE supporter and solid Republican, told the Times, "I think it’s great to start to get some of the illegal immigrants out of the state, [but] I think it’s bad how they are going about it.”

Study: Gen Z journalists may be avoiding rural newsrooms

Some younger journalists worry that rural newsrooms
might be too conservative for them. (Adobe Stock photo)

Gen Z journalists may be steered away from rural newsrooms due to a lack of knowledge in jobs available, as well as concerns of salary, politics, social life and career advancement potential, according to a new study involving students in the United States and Canada.

To examine why students in their late teens to early 20s are not attracted to working in rural areas, journalism professor Teri Finneman of the University of Kansas and instructor Tyler Nagel of Southern Alberta Institute of Technology surveyed 183 of their local mass communication students to ask how they felt about the possibility of reporting in rural communities, writes Tandy Lau for E&P Magazine.

Shared below is a Q&A on why some students who were surveyed find reporting in rural areas to be unappealing and what newsrooms may be able to do to attract younger journalists.

Q: Why aren’t more journalist students aware of available jobs in rural areas?
A: Some journalism schools are only teaching their students about journalism at a national level and not providing the context of journalism at a rural level. Eighty percent of Kansas respondents said they had not been taught about rural journalism in their classes at all, so they didn’t know what jobs there are available.

Q: Why are students concerned about salary?
A: While rural newsrooms often have a lower cost of living, students still have financial concerns. The Kansas respondents said they face student debt while the Canadian respondents face a current housing crisis.

Q: Why might students be concerned about politics?
A: Kansas students, particularly those with diverse backgrounds, responded they fear not being welcomed in rural communities due to polarizing politics and rural areas leaning red.

Q: How can rural newsrooms combat concerns of a lack of social life and career advancement opportunities?
A: Communicating with young journalists still in school is key in opening rural opportunities for them. Modernizing job descriptions, communicating opportunities to grow into leadership roles, creating a network for young journalists to socialize, and incentivizing the possibility of taking over a rural paper are a few of the recommendations by Finneman and Nagel after conducting their study.

Specialty crop farmers and corn growers urge lawmakers to make needed changes to upcoming bills

U.S. specialty crops include fruits and vegetables.
(Adobe Stock photo)

U.S. farmers and farming advocates are pushing lawmakers to draft bills that include additional aid for specialty crop growers and include wording that allows for the year-round use of 15% ethanol-blended gasoline (E15), write Pro Farmer editors for Farm Journal.

Many specialty crop growers were disappointed with the Trump administration's 2025 aid package, which allocated $11 billion for row-crop farmers and $1 billion for specialty crop farmers. Specialty crops include fruits, veggies, nuts, nursery crops, Christmas trees and maple syrup.

Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance co-chair Cathy Burns told Nicole Heslip of Brownfield Ag Network, "Specialty crops account for one-third of crop sales in the U.S., and we have the same harmful headwinds that the rest of agriculture is experiencing."

Burns suggested "5 billion in relief would help alleviate some of the unprecedented economic challenges facing growers from labor, input costs, lost markets, and unfair competition from competitors," Heslip writes.

Allowing year-round sales of E15 gasoline has been on farmers' wish lists for years. Michelle Rook of Farm Journal reports, "Analysis from the National Corn Growers Association indicates that it would boost corn use by approximately 2.4 billion bushels annually and be one of the quickest ways to increase demand and chew through the record pile of corn in the U.S."

In the past, states had to apply for waivers to extend E15 sales into the summer months. 

Opinion: Rural communities need younger residents to become leaders, but some changes may have to come first

Calendars and contact information
can be shared multiple ways.

Older Americans often dominate positions in local government and social circles that influence a rural area's civic activism. While it benefits the "Old Guard" to remain active, their resistance to inviting a younger, more "techy" cohort of residents into their ranks has led to a decline in community engagement and volunteerism, writes Donna Kallner in her opinion piece for The Daily Yonder. 

"Rural communities need younger people to step up into leadership roles in local government, volunteer organizations, churches, schools, and families," Kallner explains. "But too often those younger people run up against ways of doing things. . . .The Old Guard in the other group shuts down any idea or strategy that isn’t a legacy from the 20th century. . . . And then people moan about how you can’t get anyone to volunteer, or run for office, or call to engage."

Kallner encourages more senior members of rural communities to develop relationships with younger residents that welcome, respect, and promote their voices and contributions -- even if that means changing the way things "have always been done" and using some technology to lighten everyone's loads. A few of her lightly edited suggestions are shared below.

Respect everyone's time. Show up on time, knowing what needs to be accomplished and get to it. That’s baseline respect for people who, in order to be there, have made child care arrangements, rushed from work with maybe a bun-and-run for supper, and still have to clear snow from their driveways when they get home. 

Be open to using technology. Today’s cell phones put remarkable tools in our pockets. Tools like calendar apps with a handy, customizable feature called Notifications that can give a heads up the evening before and/or day of an event or when a task needs to be done. Trying to be respectful of other people’s time? Set repeating alarms for monthly meetings to sound early enough to get there on time. 

Share contact information, courtesy and grace. A text group can alert a dozen people before they even leave home when a power outage or plumbing issue closes the coffee shop where you expected to meet. . . . Especially if you’re an event organizer, be sure to share and re-post your cell number. Remember to check your messages and voice mail so you can relay information to those unable to attend. 

Quick hits: Yosemite's 'firefall' is coming; high school newsroom produces this town's paper; give blood before the storm; buying American

Yosemite's 'firefall' only happens once a year. 
(Photo by Leo Visions, Unsplash)

It's almost here, and it's not to be missed. "Every year from mid-to-late February, the setting sun hits Yosemite’s Horsetail Fall along the eastern edge of the soaring El Capitan at just the right angle, creating the illusion that the 1,575-foot waterfall is on fire," reports Lyndsey Matthews for Afar. This Yosemite National Park phenomenon, aka 'firefall,' is ultra-popular, and this year is expected to be even more crowded."

In rural Pulaski, Wisconsin, a high school newsroom has produced the area newspaper for the past 83 years. "Pulaski News remains the community’s primary news outlet, and high school students still staff the newsroom," reports Bob Sillick for Editor & Publisher. "Published every two weeks, Pulaski News is the product of Pulaski High School’s journalism course. . . The content of the 12- to 20-page newspaper is community-focused, sharing the information and news important to the local populace."

Americans who want to buy American-made goods may struggle to find them, but U.S. manufacturers are working to change that experience. "Right now, though, the Buy American movement faces stiff headwinds. Inflation has raised prices dramatically over the past five years, making cheap imports look all the more appealing," report Daniel de Visé and Veronica Bravo of USA Today. "Gallup polling suggests only about 40% of Americans consistently know where their toasters and T-shirts are made. . . American manufacturers want attitudes to change." USA Today includes a list of still-thriving U.S. manufacturers and where to find them.

Marty Durlin (Writers on the Range photo) 

For community journalists new to their rural community, covering local government may seem like an onerous evening beat. But as Marty Durlin shares, there's a lot to be learned from covering city councils in small-town America. "For the past year and a half, I’ve been reporting weekly on municipal government in three rural Western Colorado towns. . . .I’ve come to understand that the job of a council member is challenging and important. The task demands attention to detail and a grasp of everything from high finance and road repair to solutions for the unhoused. It’s also time-consuming and basically unpaid."  

Giving blood before a major weather event can
save lives. (Axios graphic)  

Milk, bread and blood are all in demand before blasts of snow, ice and bitterly cold temperatures hit the U.S. "The Red Cross said blood donations were already down 35% nationally in the past month and asked people to donate to boost the supply before the winter weather hits," reports April Rubin of Axios. "Extreme weather affected about 400 blood drives in December — more than three times the number during that same period in 2024."

As residential electricity costs climb, big users pay less

Between 2022 and 2024 residential electricity costs 
increased by 10%. (Photo by J. Maculan, Unsplash)

After years of wallet-draining food inflation, many Americans must now contend with soaring home electric bills. "Since February 2020, electricity prices have increased by an average of 40% across the country," reports Shannon Osaka of The Washington Post. Overall, the brunt of the increased costs is being paid by residential customers even when they aren't the biggest users.

Many utilities have increased rates to fund needed infrastructure builds, but residential customers are paying more than commercial users. Osaka writes, "Residential electricity costs rose by 10% between 2022 and 2024. Commercial users, spanning everything from small corner stores to giant, energy-sucking data centers, have seen rates increase just 3%."

Building and repairing the poles, wires and transformers required for residential electricity delivery is costly and isn't generally needed by large commercial users, which is one reason many residential customers pay higher rates. Oska notes, "The average electricity price at the end of 2024 was 16 cents per kilowatt-hour for homes and apartments, and just 13 cents for commercial customers."

While infrastructure costs explain some of the difference in electrical prices, a complex system of lobbying goes on behind the scenes to determine how much a business will pay for electricity. Osaka reports. "In theory, each group is supposed to pay an amount that aligns with the cost to bring them power — but in practice, different groups can lobby for lower prices."

Charles Hua, executive director of PowerLines, a group that works to lower electricity costs for consumers across the country, told Osaka, "Residential consumers feel like they don’t have a voice in our utility regulatory system." Osaka adds, "Utilities often sign special contracts with data center customers that place them outside standard pricing agreements."

Some states are working to prevent data centers from shifting their expansion costs onto residential customers. Osaka reports, "Virginia recently established a new class for data centers and other huge users of electricity, with agreements in place to make sure the data centers pay for more of the grid upgrades required."

Analysis: Nursing home patient capacities have shrunk, with rural areas posting the greatest decreases

Rural areas had the greatest declines in available nursing
home beds since 2019. (Pixabay photo via Medical Express) 

Despite the rapidly aging U.S. population, nursing home capacity has shrunk nationwide since 2019. According to Sadie Harley for the University of Rochester Medical Center, a recently published study in JAMA Internal Medicine showed that 25% of U.S. counties "experienced decreases in the number of supported nursing home spots by 15% or more," with rural areas reporting the greatest declines.

The dwindling number of nursing home placements for older Americans translates into "nearly 4,000 fewer beds available for new patients each day," Harley writes. "But this decline was not felt by all communities equally. It varied widely across geographic regions, with rural counties more likely to face declines of 25% or more."

Rural communities are already grappling with fewer physicians, hospital closures and strained emergency medical services. The loss of nursing home spots presents another challenge, leaving more rural residents with few other options than to travel farther for ongoing care.

Within the U.S. medical system, nursing homes provide vital care to seniors who need regular medical treatment but don't require the expertise of hospital services. They also offer interim care for patients leaving the hospital who aren't yet ready to care for themselves at home. Harley explains, "The reduction in nursing home capacity was linked to longer hospital stays, especially extended stays of 28 days or more."

The decline in nursing home care spots isn't a reflection of the number of beds a facility has. Harley adds, "This study estimated nursing homes' operating capacity by taking other resource constraints into account." Study author Brian McGarry, told Harley, "The facility may not have the staff or other resources to fill every bed."

With too few employees and rangers, Yosemite National Park hosts visitors with the 'wrong kind of wildness'

Yosemite's iconic rock face, the Half Dome.
( Photo by J. Andersson, Unsplash)

National Park staffing reductions have left Yosemite's increasing number of visitors to their own devices. Park guests "were far less supervised than they normally were, which had led to the wrong kind of wildness — littering, cliff jumping, drone-flying," reports Soumya Karlamangla of The New York Times. Since 2025, the National Park Service staff has shrunk by 25%.

Meanwhile, Yosemite's visitor numbers have increased, and last summer was one of the park's "busiest summers in recent years," Karlamangla explains. "October was unusually packed because the park was left open and free during the federal government shutdown."

Without enough park rangers and staff, scientists working in Yosemite have taken to picking up trash and cleaning the bathrooms. Mark Ruggiero, a retired Yosemite ranger who still does part-time work in the park, told Karlamangla, "It’s really disheartening to see the direction we’re going."

Elisabeth Barton, a co-owner of a Yosemite guided tour company, explained how the lack of park rangers can mean visitors -- mostly unintentionally -- are seen doing things that could harm themselves, others or park land. The Times reports, "She has  noticed more visitors driving the wrong way down one-way roads, parking on sensitive meadows and BASE jumping off cliffs, which is not allowed."

Before the staffing cuts, park employees were stationed at Yosemite's entrance to collect entrance fees and explain the park rules and guidance. Park rangers also supervised the trails to ensure the safety and care of visitors and wildlife. 

"It was the vistas of Yosemite. . .that helped inspire the creation of the entire national park system," Karlamangla adds. "President Abraham Lincoln in 1864 made the Yosemite Valley federally protected land designated for public use."

Right now, Yosemite's staff is struggling to maintain the most basic services. Barton told Karlamangla, "I struggle to see the long game here.”

Small-town governments can intentionally build 'local patriotism' to combat voter and citizen apathy

Graph by Sean Richey, The Conversation

Despite the direct impact local governments have on public safety, taxes and schools, only a fraction of voters cast ballots in local elections, and many residents don't know their elected officials' names.

"Turnout in local elections regularly falls below 20%, often leaving critical decisions in the hands of small, unrepresentative groups, creating an electorate that’s disproportionately white, elderly and affluent," writes Sean Richey for The Conversation.

Richey's more recent research explored what factors influence why some voters become more engaged in their communities, and others don't. He notes, "An overlooked factor explains why some people engage with their communities while others tune out: local patriotism, or how they feel about their town."

Residents who "love their town" were far more likely to participate in activities that impact it. Richey explains, "Even after accounting for factors such as age, education, income and general interest in politics, loving one’s town strongly predicted participation in local politics. . . . Local patriotism also correlated strongly with trust in local government."

For smaller governments, encouraging local patriotism can open up dialogues with potential voters and volunteers who have different needs and hopes for their town. When citizens care, they are more likely to chime in and participate. On a broader scale, when Americans love their towns, their social and political activities support democracy.

Farmers markets can help residents build a sense of hometown 
pride. (Photo by Thomas Barwick, Getty via Conversation CC)

"Local patriotism appears to address a fundamental puzzle in political science: why anyone participates in local politics at all," Richey explains. "The time and effort required almost always exceed any tangible benefit an individual would receive."

Richey's study shows that whether starting a local farmers market, celebrating a new school building or encouraging nature walks that highlight a town's most celebrated wildlife or landscapes, local patriotism can be intentionally fostered. His complete list of suggestions is here.

South Dakota lawmakers grapple with Rural Health Transformation funding and sustainability

Monument Health in Rapid City, S.D., will receive RHTP funding.
(Photo by Seth Tupper, South Dakota Searchlight)

Legislative and practical worries about staffing and sustainability have some South Dakota lawmakers worried that the $189.5 million the state received from the Rural Health Transformation Program won't be enough to strengthen its rural hospitals in the long term, reports Makenzie Huber of South Dakota Searchlight.

Sen. Taffy Howard, R-Rapid City, has "questions and frustrations about the funding," Huber writes. Because of the way RHTP is structured, if South Dakota lawmakers don't spend the money, "another state will spend it instead."

South Dakota's RHTP application targeted 10 initiatives, including "creating a 'data atlas' for providers and facilities to share local and state agency data, improving the rural health care workforce, improving chronic disease management, establishing regional maternal and infant health care hubs, and regionalizing behavioral health care," Huber explains. 

To support its initiatives, the state's plan includes numerous incentives designed to attract and keep needed medical staffing, such as "sign-on bonuses, relocation assistance, and rural service stipends," Huber writes. Medical professionals who accept incentives must work in their assigned rural community for at least five years.

In reviewing all the initiatives, several lawmakers "asked questions about workforce needs and how those would be addressed outside of the incentives mentioned," Huber reports. "Howard told officials that she’s skeptical about the proposal and its sustainability." Howard pointed out that infant care hubs and mental health treatment may need more than "one-time funding to operate in financially strapped rural communities."

While state lawmakers are hopeful RHTP funding can sustainably improve rural health care, many remain concerned about what the loss of federal Medicaid dollars will mean for many rural patients and hospitals. 

Rep. Erik Muckey, D-Sioux Falls, told Huber, "This still doesn’t answer the question about how to sustain quality health care going forward because of massive cuts to Medicaid.” 

New World Screwworm inches closer to the Texas border; flesh-eating larvae can be deadly to cattle

Brahman cows graze near Mercedes, Texas, about 11 miles 
from the Mexico border. (Photo by J. Carrico, Farm Journal)

After a few months of reduced sightings, the New World Screwworm is making news again. "Mexican authorities confirmed an NWS case in a seven-year-old bovine and a 6-day-old calf both on Jan. 5," reports Jennifer Carrico of Progressive Farmer. Both infected animals were less than 220 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border.

Despite efforts by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Mexican authorities, NWS has inched closer to the Texas border. The parasite has spread north even as Mexico has strictly limited cattle movement across the country.

Texas Agricultural Commissioner Sid Miller told Carrico, "The screwworm now may be moving closer on its own, with no apparent link to commercial animal movement. Texas producers must act now -- stay informed, stay vigilant, and prepare immediately. We cannot drop our guard for even a moment."

NWS flesh-eating larvae can be deadly to cattle and other warm-blooded animals, including sheep, horses and dogs. Female NWS deposit their eggs in an animal's open wound, and once the larvae hatch, they eat away at the host's flesh, which can cause infection and decay. "The larvae can kill an animal in just four to seven days if not quickly detected and treated," reports Stump Denton of Farm Journal.

Since female NWS mate only once in a lifetime and store their fertilized eggs, releasing millions of sterile male NWS has been the best way to eradicate harmful larvae production. Carrico explains, "The USDA eradicated NWS from the United States in 1966 using the sterile insect technique, and it was used successfully again in 2016 in the southern Florida Keys when found in deer."

A sterile fly distribution facility at Moore Airbase in Edinburg, Texas, is expected to be up and running early this year.

States work to prepare for Rural Health Transformation Program funding, which varies 'wildly' by state

In late December, rural hospitals in all 50 states learned how much funding they would receive from the federal Rural Health Transformation Program.

Now, the race is on for hospitals to "submit revised budgets, begin spending, and show the money is going to good use," reports Sarah Jane Tribble, Arielle Zionts and Maia Rosenfeld of KFF Health News. "Federal officials will begin reviewing state progress in late summer and announce 2027 funding levels by the end of October."

The overall RHTP includes $50 billion in federal funds, with $25 billion allocated in different amounts based on a "complicated formula" and the robustness of state applications. For instance, Texas received the largest award at $281 million, while New Jersey received the smallest allotment at $147 million. The initial $25 billion is divided equally among the states.

After state allocations were announced, researchers "began to parse the awards to better understand why some states received more than others, including whether the awards reflected any partisanship or political favoritism," KFF News reports. Although at least one researcher found that higher dollar awards went to Republican states, overall the awards vary "wildly. . . with almost a hundredfold difference between the top and bottom."

State applications consistently included the Trump administration's fitness and nutrition goals, with half promising to "mandate the presidential fitness test," Tribble explains. "Many states also proposed food waivers under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP, which would limit low-nutrition items such as soda."

Before any RHTP money is spent, states must set up program infrastructure to manage funds and collaborate with rural hospitals. KFF News reports, "Many state legislatures must pass laws to distribute the funding to their state offices. Meanwhile, state officials are hiring staff, organizing advisory committees, and preparing to dole out money."

Study: How independent pharmacy challenges and closures impact rural pharmacists

Harris Pharmacy serves Rocky Ford, Colorado.
(University of Colorado photo)

Many studies on the closure of independent pharmacies focus on what happens to patients when a pharmacy closes. A new study by Michael J. DiStefano, PhD, at the University of Colorado, examines how those closures impact pharmacists. The study also explores how independent pharmacists navigate the current reimbursement model and what some states are doing to help them stay solvent. 

In interviews with pharmacists, DiStefano and his colleagues "heard palpable frustration, stories of mental health impacts and examples of how pharmacy closures touch entire communities," reports Matthew Hastings for the University of Colorado. 

DiStefano told Hastings, “It’s a series of ripple effects. When a pharmacy closes, not only do you see the impacts to medication access and job losses in that community; surrounding pharmacies will experience a series of stressors. All those patients impacted by the closure need to be added to your system, with new patient histories and records.” 

Study interviewees stressed that independent rural pharmacists should always have a succession plan that ideally includes a younger pharmacist who could take over the business, rather than a rural community having to recruit a new pharmacist who may not have the experience to navigate the financial demands of running a rural pharmacy. 

At Harris Pharmacy in Rocky Ford, Colorado, which serves a rural southeastern part of the state, owner Ky Davis believes running his pharmacy is all about problem-solving because there isn't another nearby pharmacy to refer patients to if his pharmacy runs out of a particular medication.

The current insurance reimbursement model for medications also means rural pharmacists can lose money caring for their patients. Davis told Hastings, "You're losing $80 to fill a prescription, and there's definitely a temptation to be like. We're not going to do that. We're not going to stock this drug."

At least in Colorado, lawmakers have eased some burdens on rural pharmacists, allowing them to approve prescriptions remotely. Davis told Hastings, "The bill passed this year has helped a lot. I’m able to leave the pharmacy open and remotely verify or have another one of our pharmacists remotely verify a prescription if I step away.” 

Hunter program provides food for local food banks in Georgia

Donated deer meat feeds thousands of Georgians through the 
Hunters for the Hungry program. (Photo by E. Jones, Grist)

By participating in Hunters for the Hungry, Georgia hunters use their harvested deer to feed their own families and help local food banks address food insecurity, which is often concentrated in the state's rural counties.

Sponsored by the Georgia Wildlife Federation, the program allows hunters who harvest more meat than they need to donate the extra. Emily Jones for Grist reports, "This year, the program has set a goal of collecting 140,000 pounds of donations, which the state Department of Natural Resources estimates can feed 560,000 people."

While not all donated meat is used to feed rural residents, a large percentage stays in the rural community where the deer were harvested. "Across Georgia, nearly 15% of families are food insecure," Jones explains. "Rural Hancock County, nestled between Atlanta and Augusta, has the highest rate in the country of children facing food insecurity, at 47%."

Many people outside of rural systems tend to think that because rural areas have large farms, everyone has plenty of food. But that isn't how the U.S. food industry works. Most of the peanuts, chickens and eggs produced on Georgia farms supply "the wider U.S. food system. . . which means the majority of people who grow food and farm animals have to rely on grocery stores to buy their food just like people in big cities."

So far, the Hunters for the Hungry program has proved successful, and its state-sponsored support is growing. Jones reports, "The state recently increased funding to $350,000 annually, allowing the program to expand from six processors to 56 and add freezer trailers to store additional meat."

States work on their own solutions to address shortages of rural child care providers

In-home child care businesses often don't provide 
caregivers with a livable wage. (Adobe Stock photo)

When it comes to accessing quality, affordable child care, rural parents face a unique set of challenges, among which finding a nearby child care provider can be the most difficult.

The reasons rural child care providers remain scarce include licensing fees and paperwork confusion, costly governmental ordinance requirements, rigid educational demands and an overall inability to make a livable wage. The list makes opening a home daycare an unrealistic small-business option.

In an effort to address the dearth of child care providers, "some states are implementing their own novel solutions to address the shortage," reports Anne Vilen for The Daily Yonder.

Child care operators in Junction City, Kansas, were limited by "contradictory state and city statutes," Vilen explains. "Ultimately, the city eliminated its local zoning fees and aligned local statutes with state licensing requirements."

Along with licensing fees and zoning stipulations, potential home child care owners must meet specific state educational benchmarks. "In rural Alaska, for example, where few communities have access to colleges and where many homes lack reliable internet, obtaining the credentials to get licensed can be especially onerous," Vilen writes.

To help child care workers meet their educational certifications, an Alaska task force developed a program that allowed caregivers "alternative pathways that recognize a provider’s experience," Vilen writes.

Even with other obstacles reduced or removed, making a livable wage with home child care remains elusive. Vilen reports, "In rural areas, where wages are already low, parents working in agriculture or manufacturing often cannot afford higher childcare fees."

Some rural communities also are "testing guaranteed-income programs that boost childcare wages," Vilen explains. "Kansas’s Baby Steps program provides quarterly stipends specifically to providers caring for infants."

The day a letter is mailed at a U.S. Post Office may no longer be the day it is postmarked

A USPS postmark is now stamped at regional facilities.
(Adobe Stock photo)

Few ink stamps are as crucial to meeting modern deadlines as the U.S. Postal Service postmark; however, at the end of last month, USPS changed its transportation and stamping processes, potentially delaying when mail is physically postmarked.

Beginning on Dec. 24, a postmark "no longer shows the date you deposited a piece of mail with the U.S. Postal Service," reports Esther Fung of The Wall Street Journal. Instead, mail will be postmarked when it's processed at a regional facility, which could be days after it's mailed locally.

The USPS changed its postmark rule "as part of long-running efforts to modernize and cut costs," Fung writes. "Reducing postal-truck runs between processing facilities and local post offices can cut costs and emissions."

While the USPS doesn't classify postmarking as part of "its services," many systems and people, including the Internal Revenue Service, legal professionals, election officials and health insurers, use postmarks as evidence that something mailed met a set deadline.

The best way to ensure an important piece of mail gets postmarked on time is to go to the post office where it can be manually stamped. Fung adds, "Yet, that could be hard for people living in rural areas far from a post office."

For deadline-mandated postmarks on items such as taxes, college applications, and health insurance appeals, experts recommend mailing documents several days in advance, so the mail has time to reach the processing facility for its official postmark.

Analysis: College degrees remain good investments, but universities need to foster job preparedness and creativity

On average, college graduates earn $30,000 more salary per year than
high school graduates. (Getty Images photo via The Conversation CC)

Even as more Americans believe that earning a college degree isn't worth the time and expense, research shows that college degrees still offer multiple benefits, including higher lifetime earnings and greater job security.

In her newly released book, Invent Ed, professor and global strategist, Caroline Field Levander argues that "people have lost sight of two factors that made universities great to begin with: invention and creativity," writes Amy Lieberman, an education editor, at The Conversation U.S.

Lieberman asked Levander to share her breakdown on why graduating from an American college or university still benefits degree earners throughout their lifetime. An edited version of Lieberman's Q & A with Levander is shared below.

Lieberman: How can we measure the value of a college degree?
Levander: The average high school graduate over a 40-year career earns $1.6 million, according to 2021 findings by Georgetown University. The average college graduate earns $2.8 million over this same 40-year period. That $1.2 million difference amounts to around $30,000 more salary per year.

Levander points out that U.S. college graduates tend to remain employed and replace a lost job more quickly than high school graduates. "The unemployment rate for people with a high school degree was 4.2% in 2024, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. By contrast, 2.5% of people with a bachelor’s degree and 2.2% of people with a master’s degree were unemployed in 2024."

Lieberman: Do any of these benefits extend beyond individual students?
Levander: Colleges and universities are major employers in their communities – and not just professors and administrators. Higher education institutions employ every trade and kind of worker.

Lieberman: Some people are questioning the value of a degree. What role can universities play in reassuring them of their relevance?
Levander: I believe universities need to teach something else [beyond job force preparation] that is equally valuable: They also need to build creative capacity and an inventive mindset into undergraduate education, as a fundamental return on the investment in education. . . . Employers report that creativity is the top job skill needed today."

Lieberman: What can faculty and students easily do to encourage creativity and innovation?
Levander: Professors can build what I call a 'growth mindset' in the classroom by focusing on success over time, rather than the quick correct answer. . . . Students could also consider committing to trying new courses in areas where they haven’t already been successful. They could approach their college experience with the idea that grades aren’t the only marker of success.

Long Canadian Pacific trains bring a small town's busy Main Street to a standstill each day

A westbound Canadian Pacific train makes its way into Jackman, Maine.
(Photo by Linda Coan O’Kresik, Bangor Daily News)

In Jackman, Maine, drivers waiting to cross Main Street can spend 30 minutes idling as Canadian Pacific Kansas City trains pass through the heart of town. Daniel O’Connor for The Maine Monitor reports, "More than 3,000 cars and trucks pass through the railroad crossing every day."

Doubling as U.S. Route 201, Jackman's Main Street and the railroad that divides it connects Quebec with "southern Maine and the rest of the Northeast," O’Connor explains. "Trains passing through town sometimes exceed 200 railcars, stretching for more than two miles in length. . . .That’s longer than 90% of North American freight trains operated by companies like CPKC." Some of the wait time can be blamed on aging rail lines and increased traffic.

Jackman, Maine, is 16 miles from the Canadian
border. (Northern Outdoors map)

Locals tried to avoid Main Street during the hours when trains were scheduled to cross, but train schedules varied too much. Waits can be extended when an international border scanner, which checks trains for illegal goods from Canada, notifies Customs and Border Protection that additional scanning is needed.  

For Jackman residents and Route 201 travelers, the long and unpredictable daily train waits are frustrating and pose a potential danger. O'Connor explains, "With the town split in half for part of the day and ambulances on one side of the track, trains could delay responses during an emergency."

Maine’s border shares seven rail crossings with Canada, but Jackman’s border crossing "is the only one to see a clear increase in shipping year-over-year," O'Connor reports.

CPKC has made rail improvements to "upgrade the rails in the area since it acquired the route in 2020, but said border security caused slowdowns in Jackman," O'Connor adds. "Many in town seemed to accept that the long trains were just part of life up north."

Southern Florida orange farmers turn to other tropical fruit trees to diversify crops

U.S. grown mangoes may taste better.
(Graphic by Adam Dixon, Offrange)

Florida's famed orange production started in the 1830s, when farmers began shipping their citrus nationwide by rail. The state's orange industry continued to flourish until the mid-2000s, when Huanglongbing, a bacterial disease, decimated groves throughout the state. Since then, orange growers have been working to diversify their crops by replacing orange trees with other tropical fruits that thrive in the region's hot, humid climate.

The work of botanists at the University of Florida's Tropical Research and Education Center (TREC) is helping citrus growers go beyond oranges by teaching farmers how to grow other tree crops. "South Florida can support the kinds of fruits usually only found in the tropics," reports Diana Kruzman for Offrange. Consumer interest and advances in plant breeding have the region's tropical fruit business "booming."

Even with the steep dip in crop yields, oranges remain Florida's top fruit crop, but the "tropical fruit industry, which consists of higher-value crops like avocados and mangoes, as well as more niche fruits like starfruit and guava, isn’t far behind," Kruzman explains. TREC researchers are "working to introduce other varieties of tropical fruits, such as papayas and dragonfruit."

Meanwhile, farmers are tasked with developing bigger consumer markets for their growing list of exotic fruits. "So far, many customers have come from immigrant communities around the U.S. who already know about niche tropical fruits and are willing to pay a premium to ship them quickly," Kruzman adds. 

Domestic mango growers already have one marketing advantage -- their mangoes are likely to taste better because they aren't subject to USDA fruit screenings. Kruzman explains, "All mangoes shipped into the U.S. must be disinfected to prevent foreign pests or diseases from entering the country. . . .That process involves either boiling the fruit or zapping it with radiation, which tends to leach out nearly all of its flavor."

Get ready for the 2026 bird-counting party! The annual Great Backyard Bird Count is coming up Feb. 13-16

Northern Cardinal, Red-vented Bulbul, Black-capped Chickadee (Macaulay Library photos)

Feathers, beaks, chirps, songs and plenty of bird community fun return during the 2026 Great Backyard Bird Count Feb. 13–16.

Participation can take just 15 minutes: Open a window or step outside, and spend some time counting and trying to identify your feathered friends. Then, submit your counts using one of the tools on the GBBC website to tally all the birds you see or hear. Backyard birders help scientists better understand and protect birds all around the globe.

If you're new to bird watching and have a smartphone, GBBC experts recommend using the Merlin Bird ID app to enter your first bird. It is free and considered easy to use. For more experienced bird lovers, using the free eBird Mobile app is a fast way to enter your bird lists in real time.

For more social bird counters, communities across the world will be hosting group count events. Click here to see if there's a flock near you to join.

Illustration by Stephanie Fizer Coleman,
Peachtree Publishers

The Great Backyard Bird Count is an opportunity for parents and children to do something outside that brings joy and helps nature. To get kiddos on the path to counting greatness, many local libraries have books about the count. Other bird-oriented books for younger readers include stories about watching, drawing and feeding birds.

The count is sponsored by the ornithology lab at New York state's Cornell University, the National Audubon Society and Birds Canada. The sponsors say counting birds has become more important, and note that scientists recently reported a decline of more than one in four breeding birds in the U.S. and Canada since 1970. To sign up, click here.

The 2025 GBBC yielded some incredible results. Together, birders from 217 countries or eBird subregions found 8,078 species of the world’s known species -- 158 more than in 2024. To participate in this year's momentous count, click here.

New USDA nutritional guidance changes 30-year-old food triangle and calls for far fewer ultra-processed foods

The inverted nutritional triangle recommends Americans 
eat more dairy than whole grains. (USDA graphic)

The Trump administration rolled out new U.S. dietary guidance this week that "inverts" the 30-year-old food triangle and advises Americans to "limit highly processed foods, such as those high in added sugars and sodium," reports Rachel Roubein of The Washington Post. "The administration [used] a revised pyramid with images of steak, a block of cheese and a carton of whole milk at the top," and whole grains at the bottom.

The guidelines focus on strictly limiting ultra-processed foods, which currently make up more than 50% of the American diet. The overhaul reflects Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s opinion that processed foods are major contributors to chronic illnesses, particularly those in children, such as obesity and diabetes.

The recommendations emphasize "eating whole foods — such as fruits and vegetables in their original forms — and foods rich in protein and whole grains." Kennedy told reporters he wants Americans to “Eat real food.”

"Nutrition experts generally praised some of the main changes, such as the move away from processed foods, while a few raised concerns about promoting some fatty foods," Roubein writes. "The American Medical Association praised the dietary guidelines as offering 'clear direction.'"

U.S. nutritional guidance is developed by the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Agriculture every five years. Its goal is to promote health, and the document is "considered a cornerstone of federal nutrition policy," Roubein explains. "The guidelines influence federal nutrition programs and the foods served in school lunches and to members of the military."

Data center developments force farmers to make tough choices

Data centers can devastate nearby farmlands by depleting a
regions aquifer. (Graphic by Adam Dixon, Offrange)

Despite the financial windfall some farmers could get from selling their land to data center developers, many are rejecting those offers because they don't want the energy-sapping, water-draining structures on their land.

Lands across Indiana's farm belt have "become an especial target for hyperscale facilities," reports Lela Nargi for Offrange. The battle within the state, both for and against land sales for data centers, is "illustrative of the challenges that farmers in particular are up against."

The per-acre land payments, often in the thousands, that data center developers are paying to some farmland owners are part of the problem for active farmers. When developers pay more than market value for properties, overall property taxes rise, leaving farmers struggling to pay them.

Currently, there are roughly 40 data center proposals for land throughout Indiana. Kiley Blalock, a third-generation Indiana farmer, is "fighting a proposed 585-acre data center that abuts some of her farmland in Henry County," Nargi writes. "The facility would be built on land sold by the property’s non-farming heirs — no one knows for how much."

Even if a data center is built on uncontested property, the resources it will inevitably require can devastate surrounding farms. Data centers gobble vast amounts of electricity and water. "A hyperscale data center can use upwards of 8 million gallons of water per year, mostly for cooling its servers," Nargi explains.

Taking millions of gallons from a regional aquifer without any process to replace it could leave crops and cattle thirsty and cause local wells to run dry. Farmers fear a data center could render the surrounding farmland useless.

According to data center critics, data center developers haven't done much to address local fears beyond making promises that are "rarely backed up in clear, detailed, contractual writing," Nargi reports.

Opinion: Skip the big deals; American farmers need a better way to trade

American farmers could benefit from small trade deals
with more countries. (Adobe Stock photo)

Throughout 2025, farm journals and mainstream news outlets published commentaries and new stories outlining how many American farmers don't want bailout or rescue payments. Instead, they want more markets from more countries and a seat at the trade-making table.

"We've been getting trade backward for farmers for 30 years," writes Brian Reisinger in his opinion for The Daily Yonder. "The issue is that since the 1990s, most American trade is a product of big deals with big countries (and often multiple at once, as with the North American Free Trade Agreement)." 

These big trade deals can encompass a vast array of decisions that often go beyond farming into "manufacturing, mining, technology," Reisinger explains. The broad spectrum of deals snuffs out the voice of U.S. farmers.

While NAFTA helped some American farmers by opening foreign markets to them, its changes hurt others. Reisinger adds, "Economists debate the effectiveness of those policies, but the skewed competition [can be] devastating."

This year's bumper soybean crop did little to help many American row-crop farmers, as China avoided U.S. purchases amid U.S.-China trade conflicts. The loss of their biggest customer highlighted "American dependence on China buying soybeans, rather than selling evenly across many markets," Reisinger writes.

A way to evolve and protect U.S. farmers is to de-emphasize big deals. Stephanie Mercier, an economist with the Farm Journal Foundation, said "negotiating on individual products with individual countries — many small deals rather than a few large ones across countless economic sectors — can reduce trade-offs," Reisinger writes.

Trading with multiple smaller countries would help ensure farmers have a voice in the trade process. Reisinger explains, "This could also increase American leverage for farmers, by negotiating with a wide range of countries that need America more, rather than a few big ones like China, or blocks like the European Union."

Rural Vermont schools face district mergers and closures as student populations dip and per-pupil costs climb

Third and fourth grade students at Peacham Elementary School, in Peacham, Vt. The school has 60 students and is tucked in a rural northeastern part of the state. (Photo by Oliver Parini, The Hechinger Report) 

Over the past 20 years, smaller schools in Vermont have grappled with shrinking student enrollment, rising per-pupil costs, and property tax hikes. As the country's most rural state, Vermont's educational challenges are being "closely watched by rural education advocates nationwide," reports Chris Berdik of The Hechinger Report. Vermont's educational struggles mirror that of many American rural school districts. 

Across Vermont, public schools have lost 20% of their student population. That kind of steep decline has an outsized impact on rural school budgets, which must juggle increasing per-pupil costs, rising health care costs for teacher benefits and spending limited by a smaller property tax base.

Vermont lawmakers have passed a series of district consolidations to cut costs and offer students more services. "In 2015, Act 46 triggered several years of mergers — first voluntary, then required — that eliminated dozens of districts and led many small schools to close," Berdik explains.

In July, the Vermont legislature passed Act 73, which mandates "a minimum of 4,000 students per district, a threshold now met by only 1 of the state’s 119 districts," Berdick writes. The extreme educational changes Act 73 would require "ignited intense pushback from people fearing the loss of local control over education, even from a majority of the task force created to map options for bigger districts."

Supporters for consolidation "maintain that the crises of declining enrollment, falling test scores and tight education budgets demand a bold response," Berdik reports. Opponents want "any mergers and closings to be voluntary and done with a clear-eyed accounting of what’s to be gained and lost."

Vermont lawmakers will decide this month whether to proceed with Act 73 or dial back the proces to leave time and space to retool their plans.

Quick hits: Mail is one of life's constants; China buys more beans; auctioneer school, federal firefighter payments

In the U.S., mail carriers are still beloved by many
Americans. (Adobe Stock photo)

Despite the U.S. Postal Service's ongoing financial and organizational struggles, U.S. Postal carriers remain beloved by many Americans. "With the Postal Service seemingly in jeopardy, it’s worth taking a moment to reflect on the nation’s more than 500,000 postal employees," reports Steven Kurutz of The Washington Post. Stephen Starring Grant, a former postal worker, told the Post, "I was the face of the United States government for a lot of the people on my route. . . No matter what else is going wrong, you’re still getting your mail.”

As China's promised purchases of U.S. soybeans continue to be tracked, the country purchased "10 U.S. soybean cargoes this week," report Naveen Thukral and Ella Cao of Reuters. The update comes "as the world's top buyer continues purchasing from the United States following a late October trade truce. The cargoes, totalling around 600,000 metric tons, are for shipment between March and May, the traders said, which is the peak shipping season for rival supplier Brazil."

Auctioneer students come from far and wide to learn
at the Bozeman, Mont. school. (Adobe Stock photo)

It's all about pitch, tenor, cadence, body language and the ability to say "SOLD!" like you mean it. "Welcome to the Western College of Auctioneering in Bozeman, Mont., a major training ground for a profession that is critical to the sale of cars and cattle in America," reports Liza Weisstuch of The Wall Street Journal. "Since it was founded in 1948, the school has matriculated over 5,000 students, who also auction everything from real estate to farm equipment to fine art."

After years of avoiding and denying the harm toxic wildfire smoke can do to firefighters, some recompense has been made. Firefighters "will be eligible for a payment of nearly $450,000 and college tuition for their family if they die or become debilitated from a smoke-related cancer," reports Hannah Dreier of The New York Times. "The legislation, which passed as part of a larger military spending bill, requires that some 20 smoke-related cancers be automatically treated as line-of-duty injuries or deaths for all firefighters who work for public agencies."

As 2025 moves into the rearview mirror, it still warms the heart to hear all the good things that happened before 2026 came marching in. Across the globe, some wondrous stuff happened. The U.S. neared completion of the "world’s most ambitious oyster reef restoration in the Chesapeake Bay, with more than 1,700 acres of reefs now revitalized," reports Reasons to Be Cheerful. "Over 120,000 'hedgehog highways' now connect about 240,000 gardens across the U.K. . . .Yemen now has an estimated 1.3 million beehives, some 100,000 more than three years ago." Read 97 good things here.

Federal grant cuts over DEI leave rural students and teachers with few options to replace funding and its benefits

Canceled federal grant money is more difficult for rural
schools to replace. (Adobe Stock photo)

Efforts to root out inclusion and equity programming prompted the Trump administration to slash educational grants, leaving rural schools in a lurch. 

The lost grant money, which funded additions such as counselors to teach mental health education, additional academic tutoring options for students and learning initiatives for teachers, is difficult for rural communities to replace.

"Federal dollars make up roughly 10% of education spending nationally, but the percentage is significantly higher in rural districts," reports Annie Ma of The Associated Press. "When the funding is reduced, many districts have no way to make up the lost money."

Since President Donald Trump returned for a second term, his administration has cut millions of dollars earmarked for "programs supporting mental health, academic enrichment and teacher development," Ma writes. Republican lawmakers defended the cuts, saying the canceled grants focused on diversity and inclusion agendas -- not academics.

In Kentucky, the loss of grant funding means student counselors and supportive programming in rural counties will most likely come to a premature end, along with the student and staffing advantages they provided. 

In Shelby County, Ky., where federal spending "makes up about 18% of schools’ budgets," Ma reports. "The programs are not political, Superintendent Joshua Matthews said, and the funding loss only hurts students."

Matthews told Ma, "We’re not promoting anything one way or the other.”

The Department of Education recently announced a new round of mental health grants, but these funds require schools to hire psychologists, not counselors. Unfortunately, there is a national shortage of school psychologists and rural schools that attempt to recruit one will compete with larger, more urban schools.