Most 2019 Report for America grant winners announced; many will focus on rural areas and issues

The nonprofit journalism funder Report for America has announced 40 winners of its 2019 newsroom grants. The grants will cover half the salaries for 50 emerging journalists to report on under-covered topics in communities across the country. The winning newsrooms span 26 states and Puerto Rico, and include nonprofits, daily and weekly newspapers, and public radio stations. The grant application deadline has been extended to February 8, so another five to 10 newsroom winners will be announced in the coming weeks, supporting another 10 reporter positions.

Here are a few winners that pitched projects with a rural angle:

• Buffalo Bulletin in Wyoming: the energy production industry in Johnson County
• Charleston Gazette-Mail: poverty in southern West Virginia
• Chico Enterprise-Record and Ukiah Daily Journal in California: wildfire recovery in Northern California
• Desert Sun, Palm Springs, Calif.: Native American issues in the Coachella Valley
• KUER-FM in Utah: two reporters, one focusing on Native American populations in southern Utah and the other on Washington County, location of Zion National Park
• Lexington Herald-Leader in Kentucky: health care in Appalachian Kentucky
• Malheur Enterprise, Vale, Oregon: Latinx issues in rural Oregon
• News & Observer in Raleigh: watchdog reporting on Hurricane Florence recovery
• Spokesman-Review in Spokane: public health in Eastern Washington
• The Sun-Gazette, Exeter, Calif.: agriculture in the San Joaquin Valley
• West Virginia Public Broadcasting: state government's effect on southern West Virginia

Report for America will also renew some reporters' 2018 contracts in at least eight newsrooms. Here are those with rural resonance:

• Victoria Advocate in Texas: rural public health (Ciara McCarthy)
• Mississippi Today: criminal justice and photography (Michelle Liu and Eric Shelton)
• Mississippi Public Broadcasting: Mississippi Delta (Alexandra Watts)
• Lexington Herald-Leader: Eastern Kentucky (Will Wright)
• Charleston Gazette-Mail: southern coalfield of West Virginia (Caity Coyne)