Quick hits: local investors saved two rural California papers; report showcases rural economic success stories

Here's a roundup of stories with rural resonance; if you do or see similar work that should be shared on The Rural Blog, email us at heather.chapman@uky.edu.

Local investors saved one rural California paper and then bought another. Read more here.

After the Trump administration relocated the Bureau of Land Management headquarters out West, more than 87 percent of the headquarters employees quit rather than move. Read more here.

A proposed bill aims to make sure rural critical-access hospitals are able to maintain that status to maintain access to higher Medicare reimbursements and special grant programs. Read more here.

Rural hospital closures not only hurt patients' ability to access health care, but also result in fewer providers and poorer health outcomes, according to a recent Government Accountability Office report. Read more here.

A report shows how three rural areas leaned on their strengths to survive and thrive. Read more here.

Dairy consumption is up during the pandemic. Read more here.

Data from the past three presidential elections in the Sun Belt and the Frost Belt states illustrates the widening rural-urban political gap. Read more here.

Rural communities are getting nationwide attention, but what should they do with it? Read more here.

Amazon employees in a town near Birmingham, Ala., are trying to unionize. Read more here.

While U.S. agricultural exports rose in the second half of 2020, mounting evidence suggests shipping companies are sending empty containers back to China instead of loading them up with American ag products. Read more here.

Burn Awareness Week is next week; here are some tips for parents and kids on how to stay safe around the home and the farm. Read more here.

A new non-fiction book, Big White Ghetto, takes a fairly unsympathetic tour of impoverished areas in the U.S., including many rural locales. Read more here.

An Obama fellow wants to boost the arts in small towns through theater. Read more here.

The pandemic is hurting the availability of child care, and parents are paying the price. Read more here.