Quick hits: 3G phones will die next year; legal battles have little impact on N.C. hog farms; Wisconsin wolf hunt halted

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 heather.chapman@uky.edu.

Phones on 3G networks will stop working next year, which will disproportionately affect rural Americans. The Washington Post has the rundown of what will happen, when it will happen, and what consumers need to know. Read more here.

Years of legal battles over hog-farm pollution in North Carolina has changed little for nearby residents. Read more here.

A Wisconsin judge issued a temporary injunction to block the state's fall wolf-hunting season, agreeing with advocacy groups that holding the hunt would be unconstitutional. A judge presiding over a similar lawsuit at the federal level declined to issue an injunction because the first one is already in place. So the details of the hunt, meant to start tomorrow, are still up in the air. The state held a wolf-hunting season in January with a limit of 119 kills, but hunters killed 218 in just four days. 

The National Park Service could soon have its first Native American director, if Charles "Chuck" F. Sams III is confirmed. Read more here.

The Biden administration has promoted Fish & Wildlife Service principal deputy director Martha Williams to head the agency. Read more here.

Vultures descended on a North Carolina town a year ago. They won't leave. Read more here.

The South Dakota Department of Education has resumed its review of social-studies curriculum standards after protests that a local Native American tribe's history was deleted. The department will review the new standards over three years, providing more chances for the public to weigh in, and will publish lesson plans on the Oceti Sakowin tribe for teachers who want to use them. Read more here.