Local newspapers may have only a few employees doing most of the work. PBS report focuses on one example.

Eads, Colo., mural on the side of the Kiowa County Independent
building. (Photo by Chase McCleary, Rocky Mountain PBS)

As many newsroom staffs shrink across the nation, some independent rural newspaper owners are working almost every job in the shop to maintain local news coverage with integrity and avoid the possible pitfalls of outside ownership. Reporter Chase McCleary from Rocky Mountain PBS met with Betsy Barnett, the owner, publisher, editor, ad-sales rep, designer and only full-time reporter of the Kiowa County Independent newspaper in Eads, Colorado. Because of other newspaper closures, Barnett's paper is reporting on five counties.

"In a span of about two weeks at the end of July and in early August, five local newsrooms in Colorado shuttered, all of them were located in the eastern Colorado plains: the Plainsman Herald, the Burlington Record, the Lamar Ledger, the Fort Morgan Times and the Brush News-Tribune," McCleary writes. "The Herald was independently owned and operated, as it had been since it opened in 1887, nearly 140 years ago. . . . " 

Barnett is wearing so many work hats to keep her paper open and community-centered. McCleary explains, "Barnett has been running the Kiowa County Independent since 2016. She intends to retain full ownership and independence to avoid the fate of some neighboring publications that sold, and were subsequently shuttered by larger media conglomerates." Barnett told McCleary, "They don’t have that community understanding of what a newspaper means in a community. To them, it's just a purchase. And if you don’t have your finger on the pulse of the community, you’re done.”

As local and more rural newspapers have closed in Colorado, news deserts have emerged, and like many places in the United States, regions with no news outlets are more likely to fall victim to misinformation or gossip mills. "According to a 2023 study from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Colorado newspapers had declined by over 20% in the last five years," McCleary reports. "Barnett noticed that areas without news sometimes became 'rumor wells,' where competing voices began spreading mis- or disinformation."

For smaller papers to survive several avenues can be explored. Corey Hutchins, a professor at the Colorado College Journalism Institute, "noted a few alternative business strategies newsrooms might take to stay alive, including exploring non-profit and public benefit corporation status and chasing alternative sources of funding," McCleary explains. "He noted that some newsrooms are also, perhaps surprising to some, focusing less on digital and more on print."

Smaller papers rely on community support and letting readers know their contributions are needed and appreciated can provide additional income. Hutchins told McCleary, "People should care about what’s happening to their own local source of news and information. How are you supporting news where you live?”

Farmers and food production voters weigh in on their choices for U.S. president n November

Graphic by Adam Dixon, Ambrook Research

The folks at Ambrook Research wanted to know who farmers are voting for this November. The publication boasts some 80,000+ subscribers who are either farmers or individuals working in the U.S. food industry. To find out "how food producers are feeling on the eve of a historically monumental election," writes Ambrook's editor, Jesse Hirsch, "Ambrook put out a call" for its readers to complete a "wholly unscientific survey." . . .Their readers' responses "give some compelling insight into the varied feelings at play right now," a few of which are shared below. Hirsch notes: "We’ve included first names, professions, and states for some respondents. Others preferred full anonymity."

I am very disappointed with the U.S. presidential election. I remember a quote from Jim Hightower that represents my sentiments about this year’s election, 'If the Gods Had Meant Us to Vote They Would Have Given Us Candidates.'
-Rick, farm lobbyist, Wisconsin

If Trump is elected again, our country will be subjected to what it does not deserve: loss of freedom and democracy as we have worked to preserve. The word “compromise” will disappear from the dictionary.
-William, agriculture professor, Florida

Frankly, I don’t understand why any small business, rancher or farmer would not vote for TRUMP!!! A vote for the other is a vote for socialism, anti-American and anti-agriculture end of story!
-Leslie, cattle rancher, Texas

I have been a Republican for most of my life, but I have not and will not vote for Donald Trump. I will be voting for the Harris/Walz ticket.

-Anonymous, North Dakota

Trump is the only option for president for any sound-minded, USA-loving, God-fearing, American. Respectfully, a 4th generation farmer/rancher, entrepreneur, and business woman, of mixed race from around the world.
-Krista, farmer/rancher

About the upcoming election, what I feel is absolutely terrified. I voted for one of the candidates in the last election, but I will not vote for him again. The thing is, it doesn’t matter which candidate wins. I think we’re going to have major problems.
-Anonymous, produce and livestock farmer, South Carolina

To read more survey answers, click here.

In a first, the Conservative Energy Network hosts a national conference to promote 'eco-right' agenda

Participants at this year's Conservative Energy Summit.
(CEN photo via USA Today)

These "going green" supporters aren't touting climate change as their reason for supporting renewable energy. Instead, they are making a case for solar, wind and nuclear power because they believe those energy sources will help make and save Americans money, reports Elizabeth Weise of USA Today. "Conservative voices have never been absent from discussions around clean energy, but the Conservative Energy Network is part of a new 'eco-right' that's emerged."

The CEN sponsored the Conservative Energy Summit in Houston, Texas, this month, which was the first time "it brought together more than 200 people from around the country to discuss how best to champion energy sources they believe will restore American energy leadership, save people money, create jobs and secure the power grid," Weise explains. "That doesn't necessarily mean believing in climate change, speakers said. Anyone who supports free markets can see that cheap, renewable energy is the future."

Pat Wood of the Hunt Energy Network in Dallas told Weise, "We need to get the politics out of the energy business." Weise reports, "Speaker after speaker argued that free market competition, consumer choice, private property rights and cutting government overregulation are fundamentally Republican values. If those principles prevail, clean energy will thrive in the U.S., they believe."

Marshall Conrad, vice president of government relations at Strata Clean Energy in North Carolina, told Weise, "In rural, red areas, we’ve got to repudiate the feeling that Democrats are trying to force clean energy projects down our throats." Weise adds, "The Conservative Energy Network came into existence to help provide an alternative view of renewable energy at the state and county level."

Some of the CEN and its offshoots efforts include "championing the property rights of farmers and ranchers to build solar or wind on their property, fighting over-regulation and getting power projects built that bring significant revenue to rural communities without raising taxes, said Bradley Pischea, national director of the Land & Liberty Coalition," Weise explains. "They also spend a lot of time fighting misinformation about new kinds of energy."

Weather reports in the future could be faster and more accurate with the help of AI forecasting tools

More accurate weather forecasts could save lives.
(NOAA photo, Unsplash)

Heading into a holiday weekend, many people will check the weather forecast to see if outdoor plans are possible. And while most of us know weather reports are predictably unpredictable, we look at them anyway. But what if AI did some of the predicting? Labor Day weekend forecasts in the future might be more accurate.

Over the past five years, "using AI to predict weather has evolved from an academic notion to operational tests at weather agencies in the U.S. and Europe," reports Eric Niiler of The Wall Street Journal. "In time, AI-based programs could calculate forecasts faster and at a lower cost than existing methods, scientists say."

This year, "Microsoft released a forecasting tool called Aurora that produces five-day global air-pollution predictions and 10-day weather forecasts 5,000 times faster than existing models run by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration," Niiler writes. As the weather has become more severe and dangerous, faster and more accurate predictions are more important and could save lives.

To train Aurora, Microsoft researchers used "huge amounts of historical weather data so it could make those predictions," Niiler reports, "about 16 times more data than the amount used to train the latest version of the AI-powered chatbot ChatGPT, according to Paris Perdikaris, the project's principal researcher. . . . Microsoft expects to make Aurora publicly available in coming months to allow more people, including researchers at weather-forecasting agencies, to give it a test drive."

Other weather forecasting businesses and meteorology academics are working to develop their own AI tools. "The Weather Channel app and Weather Underground recently signed a deal with chip maker Nvidia to develop a global AI weather forecast program that can predict extreme weather events such as tornadoes, hurricanes and thunderstorms," Niiler adds. And groups of researchers are focusing on "developing AI forecasts to extend the warning time for tornado and hail warnings to an hour from the current 15 minutes."

Taking the rural stop train tour: 'There’s something remarkable about everywhere.'

Big sky and wide open spaces in Rugby, North Dakota (Photo by Travis Brown, Unsplash)

American songs are replete with tunes about trains. There's "Love Train," "Peace Train," "Girl on a Train, "Crazy Train" and "Stop This Train," to name only a few. But what about "Rural Train"? There doesn't seem to be a song about what happens to a reporter who takes an Amtrak across the United States and has some great times getting off and exploring rural stops. Luckily, there is a newspaper story on just such a journey. 

"If you ride the railroad’s Empire Builder route from Chicago to Seattle and back, as I did recently, you’ll watch the scenery evolve. . . . My pass entitled me only to one coach seat. No bed; no shower; shared bathrooms that, more often than not, looked long overdue for a cleaning," reports Richard Rubin of The New York Times. "But I also met a lot of interesting people on the train. . . . Most memorably, I visited six American places that I would never otherwise have experienced. Or even known about."

Here are a few of his favorite stops.

A view at Glacier National Park
(Photo by M. Kirchman, Unsplash)

Rugby, N.D., population: 2,509
"If the sight of endless prairie doesn’t convince you that you’ve reached the heartland, Rugby will: It is, as signs all over town will tell you, 'the geographical center of North America,'" Rubin writes. "Whether or not this is true, or whether such a status can even be mathematically determined, is disputed. . . . Down Second Street, I found the florist in the spot it has occupied since at least 1903. The 1938 WPA Guide to North Dakota notes that the shop’s founder, Nels Lindberg, is credited with coining the phrase 'Say it with flowers.'"

Cut Bank, Montana, population: 3,056
Cut Bank is the last stop before the Blackfeet Indian Reservation and Glacier National Park. The town provides "splendid vistas of the Rockies — without crowds," Rubin writes. The town includes unique lodgings, including "oil workers’ houses, a recreated homesteader’s cabin, or a genuine caboose at the Glacier County Historical Museum, . . ."

Sandpoint, Idaho, population: 8,639
"The Empire Builder stopped at 11 places in Montana, but I saw nothing at any of them that topped Sandpoint — Amtrak’s only stop in Idaho — for raw beauty," Rubin adds. "It sits on Lake Pend Oreille (pondo-RAY), which is surrounded by verdant mountains and runs 43 miles long and nearly 1,200 feet deep. 'The Navy tests stealth submarines in it,' one gentleman told me. (It’s true.)" To read Rubin's complete account of his "Rural Train" adventure, click here.

The seemingly endless coastline of Sandpoint, Idaho (Photo by Backroad Packers, Unsplash)

 

 

If he wants their votes, Tim Walz will have to dig deep to connect with the needs of rural voters and win their trust first

A Harris-Walz camo hat (Campaign photo)

Just because Tim Walz sports a camo hat and comes from a small town doesn't mean rural people will vote for him. It's "hard to deny that many rural advocates and writers genuinely feel seen and represented with the choice of Walz – a feeling not felt in quite some time," writes Nicholas Jacobs for The Conversation. "But a closer examination reveals that such expectations may be overly simplistic and optimistic."

Media coverage of Walz as a "corn dog-eating, dad-joking, 'Midwestern Nice' [guy] does little to explain the real issues that have made rural voters a sizable force in recent American elections," Jacobs explains. "Walz’s performance within his home state of Minnesota is a relevant bellwether for his national appeal among rural voters. Though Walz has deep rural roots, rural voters have not always supported him as much as his backstory might quickly suggest. . . . Walz’s performance has decreased among rural voters since he last ran for reelection to Congress in 2016."

Looking around the Midwest for Democrats that do well in rural counties, Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin and "even Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer outperformed Walz’s rural numbers," Jacobs writes. But Walz is a "clear counterbalance to the image constructed by another Midwestern, self-proclaimed spokesperson for rural America on the ballot: JD Vance." Democrats would do well to remember that Trump has never claimed to hail from rural roots, but instead, he taps into "the sentiments of rural discontent and align them with his broader political message."

To win support from rural residents, Walz will need to address deeper issues "that motivate rural voters, such as economic insecurity, perceived cultural marginalization and distrust in government," Jacobs adds. "Symbolic gestures – and camo hats – alone are not sufficient to sway their support."

Opinion: Minnesotans don't all agree on which state flag should be flown. The conflicts come from many places.

The older flag (Wikipedia graphic)

Minnesota has two flags and both are flying in different parts of the state. The older banner represents the state's connection to farming, which is historically accurate. But the flag illustrates the American Indian running into the sunset, which has proved a problematic emblem for many Minnesotans. The second banner was unfurled earlier this year and features two opposing hues of blue and a bold eight-pointed white star. But even with its simplicity, the new flag has stoked controversy.

Some Minnesotans hoped a new flag would help unite the state, but some more rural counties have rejected the new flag and have stuck to flying the old version, writes Karen Tolkkinen in her opinion for The Minnesota Star Tribune. "America has been struggling with how to deal with the symbols of a past that harmed many people, and Minnesota has not been spared. . . . It’s fair to say that the old state flag reflected the reality of the 1800s. As logging and railroad barons plundered the state, and European settlers moved in, the state’s Indigenous people did lose power."

The new flag (Wikipedia graphic)

Part of the point of changing the flag was to remove a state symbol that was emblematic of Indigenous people's historical oppression and loss. "Arguably now, more than at any time in our state’s history, Minnesotans see and understand the massive loss and trauma endured by Indigenous people," Tolkkinen adds. "Simply changing a flag doesn’t fix that, but those who felt their oppression reflected in the flag no longer chafe under that demeaning symbol."

Hanging onto the old is nothing new in people or government politics, but resisting a new flag can have a deeper meaning. "It’s also easy to see the frantic rally around the old flag as the fearful acts of a majority group that is losing power as demographics shift locally and nationally. Some of that is true. But it doesn’t tell the whole story," Tolkkinen writes. "The sting, I think, is feeling like they are being erased from history."

The ancestors of many rural white Minnesotans "arrived here not speaking English, driven across the ocean by hunger or poverty or war. While hundreds of thousands of settlers got Minnesota land for free through the Homestead Act of 1864, many other immigrants bought their land from the government or the railroad, paying $1.25 an acre starting in 1841," Tolkkinen explains. "They had hard lives. . . . The farmer in the old state flag could have been an ancestor of many people in our area. . . . I can see that they might feel, like the Native man riding into the sunset, that they are being written out of history."

States that still have grocery taxes look to cut them to help residents save a bit more on food costs

Even cereal boxes look alarmed at their
prices. (Photo by G. Fryer, TRB)

After years of grocery inflation, U.S. food prices are so high that many families have tightened their food budgets. And while the average American can't do much more to fight food and staple costs, some states have cut their grocery sales tax to help ease some of the burden, reports Elizabeth Daigneau of Route Fifty. "Earlier this month, Gov. JB Pritzker signed legislation eliminating Illinois' 1% tax on groceries starting in 2026, saying the tax is regressive and hurts low-income Illinoisans."

Even as overall inflation cools "food prices are still far higher than they were pre-pandemic," Daigneau explains. "And grocery shopping is a major expense for all Americans: Food ranks as the third-largest household expenditure, following housing and transportation, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. . . Next week, Oklahoma’s 4.5% statewide grocery tax will come off the books."

Many states already eliminated grocery taxes. "With the legislation in Oklahoma and Illinois, now only 10 states impose a grocery tax. That number could soon be down to seven as Idaho is considering eliminating its 6% grocery tax in the 2025 legislative session," Daigneau reports, and Utah and South Dakota voters will decide if their grocery taxes should be nixed during November's elections.

Military community needs more access to the great outdoors; a new report explores obstacles and solutions

Yosemite National Park
(Photo by Johannes Andersson, Unsplash)

Spending time exploring nature has proven especially important for the U.S. military community's mental and physical health, which is why the Sierra Club Military Outdoors campaign and the University of Kentucky’s Community and Economic Development Initiative of Kentucky have been investigating how to make the outdoors more accessible for all armed services members, their families and veterans.

The partnership just released its initial report and will host a virtual briefing at 1 p.m., E.T., on Wednesday, Aug. 28, to go through the report, provide community reactions to the findings and offer a space for questions. Register for the briefing at https://sc.org/SCMOReportBriefing.

Particularly for veterans, spending time outside walking or participating in activities can supplement treatment for injuries and disabilities, including post-traumatic stress disorder. However, safely accessing the outdoors is not always easy for the military community, and barriers such as cost, transportation, experience level and mobility can interfere. These obstacles and how plans could be enacted to remove them prompted the report.

To research outdoor uses and accessibility, the SCMO conducted a series of in-person listening sessions in California, Florida and Georgia, as well as a virtual listening session for women veterans and a nationwide online survey that drew respondents from 48 states. The report combines research from the listening sessions and survey results.

Overall, the report's recommendations include improving equitable access with a new grant program supporting outdoor access programs focusing on underserved veteran populations, establishing an Office of Outdoor Recreation that would coordinate and support efforts around outdoor access for veterans and military, and expand and fund the new Military Families Outdoors Program, which generates programming and initiatives on public lands to improve the health of the military community.

Fact check at the Democratic National Convention: Harris' acceptance speech lacked detail but still strayed from facts

Photo by Nils Huenerfuers, Unsplash

Last week the Democratic National Convention rallied around Kamala Harris and her choice for vice president, Tim Walz of Minnesota. The four-day event culminated in Harris giving her 40-minute nomination acceptance speech, which included more rhetoric than checkable facts. 

Glenn Kessler of The Washington Post reviewed several claims from Harris' acceptance speech, which are edited and highlighted below. For the Post's complete fact-check story, click here.

Note: The Rural Blog previously posted a fact-check story on the Republican National Convention. 

“We are not going back to when Donald Trump tried to cut Social Security and Medicare.”
This is mostly false. . . . But that hasn’t stopped Democrats from asserting this all week. On Medicare, virtually all anticipated savings sought by Trump would have been wrung from health providers, not Medicare beneficiaries, as a way of holding down costs and improving the solvency of the old-age health program. Trump, in fact, borrowed many proposals from Barack Obama, who had failed to get them through Congress. . . . As for Social Security, Trump kept his promise not to touch retirement benefits, bucking longtime efforts by Republicans to raise the retirement age.

(Trump) doesn’t actually fight for the middle class. Instead, he fights for himself and his billionaire friends, and he will give them another round of tax breaks that will add up to $5 trillion to the national debt.
The numbers don’t tell the whole story. Harris’s $5 trillion figure reflects the cost of extending the 2017 tax cuts. (The Congressional Budget Office estimated $4.6 trillion.) Because of the way the law was written, the tax cuts expire in 2027 and, unless Congress acts, Americans would face a steep tax increase. . . . By wanting to extend some of the tax cuts, Harris is acknowledging that a good chunk — as much as half — of Trump’s tax cuts benefited the middle class.

(Trump) intends to enact what, in effect, is a national sales tax. Call it a Trump tax that would raise prices on middle-class families by almost $4,000 a year.
This is a high estimate. Trump suggested he wants to impose a 10% tax on every imported good entering the United States and a 60 percent tax on every imported good from China. The Peterson Institute for International Economics has estimated that this would cost a typical U.S. household in the middle of the income distribution about $1,700 in after-tax income. . . . Harris is relying on an estimate from the left-leaning Center for American Progress Action Fund, which calculates the cost would be $3,900.

“As commander in chief, I will ensure America always has the strongest, most lethal fighting force in the world.”
Harris. . . has not put out detailed policy papers yet, but it’s worth noting that Biden repeatedly proposed budgets that have failed to keep military spending ahead of inflation.

“He encouraged [Russian President Vladimir] Putin to invade our allies, said Russia could, quote, do whatever the hell they want.”
This needs context. Harris carefully uses the word “encouraged” in this passage. Trump did not issue an invitation to Russia to invade U.S. allies, but (in his telling) was informing the leader of a NATO member country that he would not defend that country from a Russian attack if Trump deemed the nation was delinquent on payments to the military alliance. . . . NATO figures show that the defense expenditures for NATO countries other than the United States have been going up — in a consistent slope — since 2014. . . . When NATO decided to boost spending in response to Russia’s seizure of Crimea.