Younger people left metro areas for smaller cities during the Covid era, and many aren't going back 'anytime soon'

University of Virginia graph, from Census Bureau Annual
Age Estimates

The population of some bigger U.S. cities is shrinking as younger residents move to smaller towns and cities even as Covid-era worries wither, reports Paul Davidson of USA Today. "Since the pandemic, cities with more than 1 million residents have lost adults ages 25 to 44 while towns with smaller populations have gained young people, after accounting for both those moving in and leaving, according to a University of Virginia analysis of Census Bureau data."

Hamilton Lombard, the study's author and a demographer at the University of Virginia’s Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service, told Davidson, "Younger adults have driven most of the shift. . . since the pandemic. . . . The migration of younger adults into small towns and rural areas picked up last year rather than returning to pre-pandemic trends."

The age group's surprising shift in geography and lifestyle preferences has some experts scratching their heads. "The migration of young adults to small towns unexpectedly accelerated last year. From 2020 to 2023, young people comprised 54% of population gains in areas with fewer than 250,000 residents," Davidson reports. "Since 2020, areas with fewer than 1 million residents have added 25- to 34-year-olds in large numbers while more densely populated areas have lost them."

"Those in the 25 to 44 age bracket may not come back to large metro areas anytime soon," Davidson reports. Remote work options have "allowed more young Americans to live in smaller towns with more open spaces, natural beauty and low costs. . . . As large-city home prices and rents have soared, young people have flocked to smaller, more affordable markets."

Grocery store chains still use 'old-school' spying to out-price competitors. The practice has piqued antitrust interests.

Kroger ads provide competitors price information, but
"spies" also visit stores in person.

When big grocery stores battle for market share, most chains deploy old-timey spies who sleuth prices, quality and customer behaviors. The "old-school tactics are fueling the government’s case against Kroger-Albertsons deal," reports Patrick Thomas of The Wall Street Journal. "Grocery-store operators scrutinize the websites and promotions of rivals and send managers to walk through competitors’ stores to help establish what shoppers will pay for items."

In the case of the proposed $20 billion merger between Kroger and Albertsons, how grocery stores compete matters. Government antitrust lawyers seek to block the merger because grocery companies "commonly use rivals’ prices as a benchmark in setting their own," Thomas explains. "Federal Trade Commission attorneys argued that Kroger won’t have the same incentive to lower prices in its stores without Albertsons. Price checks can provide a ceiling for what grocers charge shoppers."

While antitrust lawyers say competition between big grocery store chains helps keep prices down, attorneys for Kroger say merging with Albertsons will enable them to compete with Walmart. Thomas adds, "Kroger and Albertsons also said they price check against a number of different competitors in a given area, including Walmart, Target, and Amazon.com’s Whole Foods Market, not just each other."

Still, the active competition between grocers demonstrates how prices can be affected by grocery store sleuthing. James McCann, the former chief executive of grocery chain Ahold USA, told Thomas, "It’s about the perception of price in your store. If you are expensive, a lot of customers will migrate to other places." Thomas reports, "McCann said it is common to send an employee across the street to a competitor three times a week to check prices on about 30 items."

Even though Walmart is the world's largest retailer, it also uses old-school spying to gain market knowledge, and in turn, the company uses that on-the-ground information to squeeze cheaper prices out of suppliers. Thomas adds, "The retailer also has regional managers visit competitors and its buyers pressure suppliers to offer lower wholesale prices if managers find items sold cheaper elsewhere, people familiar with the process said."

Rural Wisconsin communities face division and racism fueled by immigration concerns as presidential race tightens

Sauk County is as diverse as its voters. The community includes
farms, outdoor and natural attractions, arts and a robust tourism sector.

As both presidential campaigns vie for votes in Wisconsin, some of the state's rural voters say election rhetoric has become harmfully divisive and tinged with racism, reports Dionne Searcey of The New York Times. In Sauk County, Wisconsin, residents can see their community's partisan divide by tallying neighborhood political yard signs. The heated debates even moved owners of the Square Tavern in Baraboo, the county seat, to "post handwritten notes admonishing customers along the giant mirror behind the bar: 'No Politics and No Religion.'"

While Trump and Harris court all Wisconsin residents to swing to their side, winning over Sauk County voters may be the jewel in the battleground state's rural crown. "Sauk County has been a presidential bellwether in recent years, voting for the winner in the past four elections," Searcey explains. "Sauk County, which is mostly white with a small but growing nonwhite population, has been roiled by its own racial skirmishes in recent years."

Like many Americans, Sauk County voters want the next president to address crime, abortion "and especially immigration," Searcey writes. 

Some Harris supporters "complain that much of Trump’s message is aimed at stoking racist attitudes to earn him votes. Their chief example: Trump’s proclamation from the debate stage that Haitian immigrants are eating cats and dogs." Searcey explains. While Trump's claim is false, it resonates with some Sauk County voters who may fear immigrants. "This summer, a county board meeting turned hostile over worries that refugees might someday settle nearby."

As Harris and Trump stump in pivotal states, how racial and migrant conflicts will be dealt with by the next commander-in-chief matters. Searcey reports, "Trump’s backers say it is Democrats who are using race to win votes, tossing around accusations of racism as a cudgel. His supporters say they are tired of being labeled racist or xenophobic for complaining about urgent issues, in particular immigration."

Meanwhile in places like Baraboo, "the divisions were evident on a recent afternoon of door knocking with Karen DeSanto, a Democrat running for the State Assembly," Searcey adds. "On the same block, three residents had three different ideas about the election: one undecided, one supporting Harris and the other backing Trump. Immigration was on everyone’s mind."

FEMA maps didn't prepare N.C. homeowners for Helene; some think flood insurance model needs an overhaul

Some homes became part of mudslides and slid into Helene's
racing, torrential waters. (WHAS ABC photo via youtube)

The Federal Emergency Management Agency's flood maps don't include heavy rain and other water sources that put certain areas at risk. In regions of North Carolina, the agency's omissions left many homebuyers unaware and uninsured against the ravages of Hurricane Helene, report Kevin Crowe, Shannon Osaka and John Muyskens of The Washington Post.

The Post used an "analysis of flood risk data from First Street, a climate modeling group, and found that just 2% of properties in the mountainous counties of western North Carolina fall inside areas marked as having a special risk of flooding. . . . (a) designation, which compels homeowners to buy flood insurance if they want to get a federally backed mortgage."

Experts have long warned that FEMA's maps are lagging behind science and current weather trends, but communities often balk at mapping changes. "Local officials often resist changes that show their areas more at risk, because the designation comes with extra costs," the Post reports. "Once an area is designated in the special flood zone, buildings have to follow more stringent federal guidelines." Some experts are pushing to have the entire federal flood insurance model overhauled.

FEMA's maps underestimate flood risk because the agency fails "to take into account flooding from heavy rain, small streams and tributaries, or climate change’s future impact — and can fall short when assessing current risks in a wetter, hotter world," the Post reports. When a region's topography and current climate threats are not figured into risk equations, homebuyers are left unknowingly vulnerable to flooding.

"In Buncombe County, where rising waters swamped areas like Asheville and Swannanoa, First Street’s maps show a much larger area of flood risk than the FEMA maps do," the Post article explains. "About 2,100 properties out of about 125,000 in the county are in FEMA’s flood zone, compared with 19,500 under First Street’s model."

A young farmer and former addict offers hope for recovery: 'The only thing you’re not coming back from is death.'

Nathan Caburn, a successful Mississippi Delta farmer
and past opioid addict. (Photo by C. Bennett, Farm Journal)

Nathan Casburn could be a poster child for a drug-addicted prodigal son, who threw away his farm and family for oxycontin and heroin highs.

Casburn's story is a tale that resonates with opioid-ravaged families and reflects what the love of a father and the support of a rural community can do for addicts who want to go home and begin again, writes Chris Bennett of Farm Journal. "Casburn is a most unlikely survivor. He tells a hellish tale of loss and triumph on the farm — without a shred of blame cast beyond his own shadow."

As a teenager, Casburn obsessively played video games. He told Bennett, "I played every waking moment I could, to the point of fixation. I knew I was different from the other kids and not in a good way; I was geared toward escapes. In my case, an obsession with video games was a symptom of my unhealthy mindset.”

From video game escapes, Casburn went on to alcohol. Bennett writes, "In 2004, on backroad gravel, Casburn, a high school junior, broke two vertebrates in an alcohol-related car crash. The subsequent pain management became a party, legitimized by medical approval in the age of OxyContin. Casburn was in love. Welcome to the wonder world of opioids."

Casner wanted nothing to do with his family's Mississippi Delta farm in Tallahatchie County. He was all about the highs. "Next stop, 75 miles west to Ole Miss and Oxford, and a chain of descent in a college town: DUI’s, car wrecks, arrests, hospitalization, overdoses, academic probation, and legal woes," Bennett explains. "By 2014, with no job, no degree, and no prospects. . . . OxyContin and other legal pharmaceuticals were out of his price range. He responded with the most hellish economic decision of his life. Go home to the farm and tap the vein. Heroin."

"Rain or shine, addiction woke Casburn at dawn every day, demanding a morning fix," Bennett writes. "In 2017, at 29, Casburn’s body gave out. After two weeks in intensive care due to a heart valve infection derived from heroin use, he returned home, and checked into rehab. . . . Three weeks after rehab, Casburn was back on the needle."

Then death came knocking. Casburn told Bennett: "I had an out-of-body experience with no drugs involved. I saw everyone going on with life, and me stuck right there dying as an addict. Right then, in the library, I dropped to my knees and threw up a prayer in desperation, but I meant every word. I called out to God for mercy and forgiveness. I told Him that if He would help me, then I’d do everything He asked. That prayer was answered.”

He told Bennett, “All the people around me in our farming community came to help me in one way or another." Bennett adds, "Seven years after crashing to his knees, Casburn has earned a stellar reputation and built a thriving farm life. . . . In March 2024, he and his wife Caitlin were blessed with a baby girl — Nora." He is grateful for a "particularly stalwart source of support — his father, Rea."

Casburn wants people who are addicted to know there is always hope. He told Bennett, "Never, never believe that you can’t get out of drugs. You’re never too far gone. The only thing you’re not coming back from is death.”