USDA says Covid era is 'over' and cuts $1 billion program connecting schools, food banks and local farmers

Awarded USDA LFS funds for 2025 were canceled.
(Adobe Stock photo)

The Department of Agriculture has cut $1 billion in pandemic-era funding that helped schools and food banks purchase fresh food from local farmers. "About $660 million went to schools and childcare centers to buy food for meals through the Local Foods for Schools program," reports Annie Ma of The Associated Press. "A separate program provided money to food banks."

The USDA explained the cuts as a move away from pandemic-era programs that "no longer support the agency’s priorities," Ma explains. "A USDA spokesperson said in a statement, 'The Covid era is over — USDA’s approach to nutrition programs will reflect that reality.'"

Regardless of why the funding has been cut, schools, children and farmers will now do with less. "The cuts will hurt school districts with 'chronically underfunded' school meal budgets, said Shannon Gleave, president of the School Nutrition Association," Ma writes. Gleave told Ma, “In addition to losing the benefits for our kids, this loss of funds is a huge blow to community farmers and ranchers."

With student lunch money drastically cut, some school districts will have to scramble to feed hungry students. Beyond that problem, the USDA's new priorities have left some teachers and administrators frustrated and disappointed. Patrick Tutwiler, Massachusetts state’s education secretary, told AP, "There’s a clear misalignment around what is important and what matters. We are seeing this cut of the LFS program as a first step towards deeper cuts.”

Some Washington lawmakers have proposed restricting free school meals. Ma reports, "Proposed spending cuts to fund Republican’s tax bill include raising the poverty level needed for schools to provide universal free meals without an application," Ma adds. "Restricting eligibility for food assistance programs and requiring income verification for free or reduced-price school meals, two proposals for cutting costs, would also likely cut out eligible families from accessing food."

Alaska's rural schools funding requests are often ignored, leaving children in crumbling schools

Some Alaskan schools are only accessible by air, boat
or dog sled. (Photo by Drew Dempsey, Unsplash)

Alaska is the largest state in America, more than twice the size of Texas. Most of Alaska’s school districts are located in hard-to-access places. 

Getting to these schools means travel by air, boat, dog sled or all-terrain vehicles, according to the University of Alaska. Some of these schools have fewer than 25 students.

“Just under half of Alaska’s rural schools are owned by the state, which is required by law to pay for construction and maintenance projects,” wrote Emily Schwing from Alaska’s KYUK in partnership with NPR and ProPublica. She said that every year Alaska’s rural schools put in more than 100 maintenance requests which are largely ignored.

Most of the students in the rural school districts are Alaska Native children. Schwing wrote that these Indigenous children suffer the greatest and are a population that has been “long forced to attend separate and unequal schools.”

Schwing reported that some Alaska Native parents sued the state in 1997. They argued that “the funding system violated Alaska’s constitution and the federal Civil Rights Act. State Superior Court Judge John Reese agreed.”

The judge wrote an order in 1999 saying, “Because of the funding system, rural schools are not getting the money they need to maintain their schools.

“Deficiencies include roofs falling in, no drinkable water, sewage backing up, and enrollment up to 187% of capacity. Some rural schools have been at the top of the priority list for a number of years, yet have received no funding.”

Even though it seemed like changes might be made in 1999, the article's investigation found, “Alaska’s education department has received 1,789 funding proposals from rural school districts since 1998. But only 14% of them have received funding. This year, requests from rural school districts to the state’s construction and maintenance program stand at $478 million.”

A program to expand broadband services in U.S. faces review; many state and local leaders want it to be 'left alone'

Providing every American with broadband access 
is the BEAD program's goal. (Adobe Stock photo)

After Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick committed to a 'rigorous review' of the country's $42 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program, or BEAD, last week, House Republicans lined up at a House subcommittee meeting to complain about the program's failure to provide "internet for all," reports Chris Teale of Route Fifty. Despite those complaints, the program still has solid bipartisan support from those who want BEAD to continue to evolve.

When it comes to congressional calls to scrap the program, state and local leaders have a simple "message for the federal government, Washington, D.C. and Congress: 'Leave it alone; let the states do what they've done,' Missouri State Rep. Louis Riggs, a Republican, told Teale. "'The feds could not do what the states have done. . . . Trying to claw that funding back and stand up a new grant round is the worst idea I've heard in a very long time, and that's saying a lot coming out of D.C.'"

While many Republicans bemoaned the program's red tape and slow roll-outs as failures, others saw opportunities to allow the program to adapt along a learning curve. "In a statement after Lutnick’s announcement, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, a West Virginia Republican, said she favors 'improving the program,' but does 'not want to see West Virginia wait longer than is necessary or have to redo their proposals and application,'" Teale reports. 

Accurate mapping has slowed BEAD disbursements; however, "there has been more movement in several states as Delaware, Louisiana and Nevada have started making grant awards," Teale explains. "Others are hesitant amid the federal uncertainty, however, including Texas, which paused its digital equity program early this month."

Changes at the VA cause chaos and confusion. Some VA officials are scrambling to roll back cuts.

The VA treats 9.1 million veterans, and almost a quarter
live in rural America. (Adobe Stock photo)

A ripple effect from staff firings and hiring freezes at the Department of Veterans Affairs has already impacted veteran care and medical research. Some worry what deeper cuts could bring, report Roni Caryn Rabin and Nicholas Nehamas of The New York Times. The swift changes pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency have "disrupted studies involving patients awaiting experimental treatments, forced some facilities to fire support staff and created uncertainty."

Despite the Trump administration's promise to "preserve core patient services," DOGE fired employees who provide basic services, including "workers who purchase medical supplies, schedule appointments and arrange rides for patients to see their doctors. Many are veterans themselves," the Times reports. "All were 'probationary' employees, meaning they were relatively new on the job and had fewer legal protections."

The promised "much deeper round of cuts — eliminating some 80,000 jobs and reviewing tens of thousands of contracts" has some Republicans worried, Rabin and Nehamas explain. "The V.A. is one of the most politically sensitive departments in the government, serving a constituency courted heavily by Republicans, including Trump." Almost a quarter of the 9.1 million veterans the VA serves live in rural America, a segment of the population that also favored Trump in the 2024 election.

The VA's long history of waste and questionable spending make it an unsurprising DOGE target. "A report by the agency’s inspector general’s office noted 'improper and unknown' payments totaling $3.2 billion in fiscal year 2023," the Times reports."In an initial push, the V.A. tried to cancel roughly 875 contracts [which included] services like sterilizing medical equipment, maintaining boilers and generators, filling prescriptions. . . .V.A. officials were soon making frantic appeals to roll some of [the cuts] back."

Steel and aluminum tariffs may price the Ford F-150, America's No.1-selling vehicle, out of reach for many people

The sticker price for a 2025 Ford F-150 is $38,810.

Ford proclaims its F-150 truck as "The Future of Tough," but newly announced 25% metal tariffs could dent Ford F-150 purchases and profits.

The F-150 is not only the country's number-one selling vehicle, it's also Ford's' main money maker and "one of the industry’s biggest users of aluminum," report Mike Colias and Bob Tita of The Wall Street Journal. "The Trump administration reinstated a blanket 25% tariff on steel imports and boosted the levy on aluminum made outside the U.S."

The sticker price of new vehicles is already a stretch for many Americans and an increase in tariffs could put a new auto purchase out of reach. "The tariffs are the latest Trump administration trade barrier that threatens to inflate already-high car prices," the Journal explains. "The aluminum tax in particular presents a problem for automakers: They are using more of the lightweight metal in cars, but the U.S. has been producing less of it" when measured over the past 30 years. 

Colias and Tita write, "Even though Ford gets most of its aluminum sheet from rolling mills in the U.S., those suppliers rely on smelters in Canada to provide much of the aluminum they roll."

In the past five years, though, domestic investment in aluminum production has increased. Even with that growth, "a Ford spokesman said it would take many years to rewire its supply chains to get more automotive-grade aluminum from the U.S," the Journal reports. "He declined to comment on the potential effect on prices should the tariffs last."

The steel tariff is easier for U.S. automakers to avoid because "companies source most of their steel from U.S. suppliers and have more domestic options," Ford has said it gets 90% of its steel from U.S. sources," Colias and Tita add. 

Even if U.S. tariffs remain in place, new auto purchase prices could remain unchanged for a little while. The Journal reports, "Many automakers have fixed-price metals contracts, and any effect on car prices would likely be delayed for a few months as suppliers and carmakers negotiate over who will absorb the added costs."

Suffering from news overload? This six-step plan outlines how to avoid exhaustion while staying engaged.

Not all news sources are created equal. (Photo by Noah Berger, AP Images via The Conversation)

To avoid information overload, distress, fatigue or even exhaustion, a majority of Americans believe they need to limit their political media consumption. But how, exactly, can U.S. citizens remain engaged without falling into the overwhelming news swamp? "To stay informed while also arming yourself against misinformation, it’s crucial to practice what I call good 'news hygiene' by developing strong news literacy skills," writes Seth Ashley for The Conversation. A lightly edited version of Ashley's six-step plan is shared below.

Take note of algorithms. "Despite the illusion of neutrality, algorithms shape people’s perceptions of reality and are designed to maximize engagement," Ashley shares. Instead of reading "whatever appears in your feed. . . actively seek out a variety of sources to inform you about current events. The news shouldn’t just tell you what you want to hear. . . . People who simply understand that algorithms filter information are more likely to take steps to combat misinformation."

Consider how corporate news makes money. "For-profit newsrooms, which produce the bulk of news consumed in the U.S., rely heavily on advertising revenue, which can reduce the quality of news and create a commercial bias," Ashley explains. "Nonprofit newsrooms and public media provide alternatives that generally prioritize public interest over profit. . . . Countries with better funding for public media tend to have stronger democracies."

Create a habit of checking and verifying news sources. "Particularly with AI-generated content on the rise, source evaluation and verification are essential skills. Be cautious with content that lacks the author’s name, relies heavily on anonymous sources – or uses no sources at all – or is published by outlets with a clear ideological agenda," Ashley advises. "Watch out for news operations that routinely engage in these practices and obscure their motive for doing so."

Remember it's normal to have reactions to news, and it's equally OK to stop consuming or refrain from reposting it. Ashley writes, "When encountering content that sparks an emotional reaction, ask yourself: Who benefits from this narrative? What evidence supports it? Is this information informative or manipulative? If the answers make you suspicious, investigate further before acting or sharing."

Beware of propaganda, aka spin. Ashley explains, "Understanding the mechanics of propaganda – its use of repetition, emotional appeal, scapegoating, scare tactics and unrealistic promises – can help inoculate people against its influence."

Stay in the game, which should include time-outs. "Democracy relies on an informed and active citizenry to hold accountable their government and the officials who work in it as well as other powerful players in society," Ashley adds. "Rather than tuning out – what scholars call 'news avoidance' – you can practice critical consumption of news. . . . Look beyond headlines and short video clips, question the framing of stories. . . . Set goals for your consumption. Some experts say 30 minutes a day is enough."

Sunshine Week runs all this week: Event celebrates open government and offers plenty of free promotional materials.

Sunshine Week, an annual event highlighting the importance of open government and freedom of the press, starts on Sunday.

Now in its 19th year, this year's events run from March 16-22. National Freedom of Information Day is March 16, the birthday of James Madison, the fourth president of the United States and father of the First Amendment.



The Sunshine Week site offers free, promotional materials, including Zoom backdrops in English and Spanish, sample social media posts, op-eds, editorial cartoons, Sunshine Week logos, and a step-by-step Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) graphic. The website also features freedom of information resources with print and video explanations and the legislative history of FOIA.

Sunshine Week is coordinated by the Joseph L. Brechner Freedom of Information Project at the University of Florida’s College of Journalism and Communications. It is supported by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and a growing list of public and private endorsers.

Explore Sunshine Week here

Medicaid cuts could 'close maternity services and shutter struggling facilities' across rural America

When a rural hospital closes, it hurts the entire
community. (Adobe Stock photo)

The massive federal Medicaid cuts currently under consideration "could devastate America’s teetering rural health care system," reports Lauren Weber of The Washington Post. "Rural hospitals across the United States fear [the cuts] could decimate maternity services or shutter already struggling medical facilities in communities that overwhelmingly voted for Donald Trump."

Any significant cuts to federal Medicaid dollars will end in health care sacrifices for rural Americans. "Rural hospital leaders in Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri and Texas warned that the enormous cuts congressional Republicans are weighing could further destroy limited health care access in rural America," Weber explains. Regardless of insurance status, the loss of a rural medical treatment center or clinic hurts all rural residents.

Benjamin Anderson, chief executive of Hutchinson Regional Healthcare System, which runs a rural hospital in Kansas, told Weber, “Every nickel matters. It will cripple and close the health-care delivery systems that serve everyone.”

Medicaid may have the reputation as urban population service, but the reality is that "rural children and non-elderly adults are more likely to rely on Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program than those in metro areas," Weber reports. "Even if rural facilities manage to stay open but are forced to cut Medicaid-heavy services such as nursing homes or obstetrics care, more rural Americans — and Republican voters — will be left to deal with the consequences."

The president has "repeatedly said he will not touch Medicaid," Weber writes, "But he has also endorsed the House’s plan to find ways to cut spending across federal programs, which are expected to come out of the Medicaid program if lawmakers avoid cutting Medicare or Social Security."

Republicans have repeatedly promised Medicaid cuts that will reduce fraud and waste, but those reductions won't come close to the $880 billion in reductions Trump wants. Still, some believe that rural hospitals -- and the jobs they provide small-town economies -- will survive the cuts. Weber adds, "With broad support for rural hospitals, there are likely to be carve-outs to protect them in a Republican reconciliation bill, said Brian Blase, an influential voice in the Medicaid debate." 

China hits U.S. farmers with 15% tariff. When farmers don't make money, it 'directly ripples across the rural economy.'

Tariffs could permanently hurt U.S. farm income.
(Adobe Stock photo)

In the escalating U.S.-China trade dispute, China has issued retaliatory tariffs targeting American farm goods. "Beijing imposed the levies in response to President Trump's extra 10% blanket tariff on Chinese goods," reports Megan Cerullo of CBS News. "Under China's retaliatory action, U.S. farmers now face levies of 15% on chicken, wheat and corn, and 10% on soybeans, pork, beef and fruit."

In the immediate future, the tariffs will cost American farmers money from lost sales. In the long-term, the tariffs could do U.S. farm product sales greater harm because some vendors may decide to permanently purchase meat and fruit from other producers. Cerullo explains, "If prices of foreign-grown goods rise in China, locals will turn to less expensive alternatives either from China or other countries. American farmers that deal in chicken and more will likely lose market share as a result."

Alongside tariffs doled out by both countries, the inconsistent tariff announcements by the Trump administration have left farmers feeling like their livelihoods are on shifting sands. Virginia-based farmer John Boyd Jr., president of the National Black Farmers Association, told Cerullo, "You are really shaking at the root of all the major commodities that we produce in the U.S. because we are a market-driven industry."

Even though U.S. farmers may have "anticipated Trump would impose levies on key U.S. trade partners, there wasn't a whole lot the farmers could do to prepare," Cerullo adds. Nick Levendofsky, executive director of the Kansas Farmers Union, told Cerullo, "This trade war and these tariffs adds to that very stressful time and does not help the farm economy. When farmers aren't making money, they are not spending money, and that directly ripples across the rural economy."

U.S. DOJ begins investigating reasons behind high egg prices, and bird flu may not be the only culprit

The rise and fall of egg prices from 2015 to 2022. (Federal Reserve St. Louis graphic, Bureau of Labor data)

Bird flu may not be the only driver of historically high egg prices throughout the United States. The Department of Justice "has opened an investigation into the cause of soaring egg prices, including whether large producers have conspired to raise prices or hold back supply," report Dave Michaels and Patrick Thomas of The Wall Street Journal. "The probe comes after prices have doubled over the past year and eggs are sometimes entirely absent from grocery store shelves."

High egg prices can mean more than an expensive omelet or a surcharge on a restaurant's border scramble. Eggs are a surprisingly common ingredient in hundreds of grocery items, which can range from baked goods to salad dressings. When egg prices increase, the overall cost of multiple products increases. 

Industry producers have "attributed high egg prices to the worst outbreak of avian flu in American history. It has resulted in the death of more than 150 million U.S. chickens, turkeys and egg-laying hens since 2022," the Journal reports. Egg producers say they have struggled to reestablish their egg-laying flocks "because even young birds, known as pullets, have been killed by the flu."

Despite spiking prices, many Americans still buy eggs, which can leave the supply chain stressed. "On average shoppers are paying about $5 a dozen, according to the Labor Department," Michaels and Thomas add. "Grocers and food distributors are paying about $8 a dozen at wholesale, which makes selling them often a money-loser."

When consumers pay double for a dozen eggs and grocers still lose money, some egg producers' huge profits may appear irregular. Lisa Phelan, an antitrust partner at Morrison Foerster, told the Journal, "Antitrust authorities often open investigations when high prices appear to stem from unusual disruptions to supply chains."

"Egg producers were losers in one recent lawsuit that alleged they restricted the supply of eggs through a trade association program," Michaels and Thomas explain. "A federal jury in Chicago found in late 2023 that Cal-Maine, Rose Acre Farms, United Egg Producers and U.S. Egg Marketers were liable for restricting supply between 2004 and 2008 through measures such as early slaughter and henhouse density restrictions." 

A federal plan to combat avian flu has 5 parts, but scientists disagree on how effective the changes will be

Major poultry and dairy organizations back vaccine
use to control the virus. (Farm Journal photo)

The Department of Agriculture has been hard at work "hatching" a plan to contain and prevent further avian flu, also known as bird flu, outbreaks among chicken flocks. USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins "released a five-pronged strategy and investment of $1 billion to combat avian flu and reduce rising egg prices," reports Dawn Attride of Sentient Media. "The new measures focus largely on fixing on-farm biosecurity gaps as well as push for a new poultry vaccine."

A large chunk of the USDA's investment will shore up farm biosecurity by "ramping up protocols to guard against disease spillover from wildlife — at no cost to farmers," Attride explains. "The Rollins plan is light on concrete details as to what exactly the new biosecurity strategies are," but it appears the rollout will lean on a set of biosecurity protocols created in 2016 as part of the National Poultry Improvement Plan.

In her Wall Street Journal commentary, "Rollins notes that of the 150 sites that followed recommended biosecurity protocols, only one was subsequently affected by avian flu," Attride reports. The USDA plan includes using "smart perimeters" to predict and prevent the disease from infecting flocks.

Not all scientists agree that "smart perimeters" can deliver bird flu prevention. Maurice Pitesky, an associate professor and expert in poultry disease modeling at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, told Attride, "[Smart perimeters] are a pretty crude way of assessing risk." Attride adds, "What works better, according to Pitesky: accurately tracking bird movement and holistically assessing different factors — such as wind or temperature — that might drive birds into this radius."

The USDA also plans to step away from its long-held insistence that infected flocks be culled; however, experts disagree on how that change will play out. Meghan Davis, an associate professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, would like more details on which "strategies will replace depopulation," Attride reports. Davis told her, "These stamping out policies have been in place for quite some time. There’s a reason it exists and one of them is animal welfare issues –– these birds get really sick… and [rarely] recover."

The new plan looks to incorporate vaccinating chickens against the disease. "The USDA has given conditional approval to a Zoetis vaccine H5N2 for chickens, but has yet to give the go ahead for vaccinating commercial poultry flocks against avian flu," Attride adds. But "many countries won’t accept vaccinated chickens. The U.S. is the second-largest exporter of poultry and should a vaccine be rolled out, the federal government would have to negotiate agreements with its trading partners."  

"The plan’s success hinges on industry adoption and global trade acceptance," reports Jim Wiesemeyer of Farm Journal. "Balancing effective disease control with maintaining poultry exports remains a critical challenge."

The 'right-to-repair' movement continues to gain traction. Its coalition runs a know-your-rights program open to all.

Six states have passed right-to-repair laws.

Whether it's fixing a broken cell phone or a car, many Americans have been fighting for their "right-to-repair" purchased products without industry restrictions, reports Iris Kim of NBC News. Historically, manufacturers of items such as computers, cars and tractors have used copyright law to prevent consumers from seeking repairs outside of the manufacturer's "licensed or company" representatives.

As U.S. consumers became more aware of right-to-repair benefits, including cheaper and quicker repairs, more states have passed laws to "protect consumers’ ability to repair or modify their products instead of having to go through the manufacturer," Kim explains. "As of March, right-to-repair bills had been introduced in all 50 states, and 20 state legislatures are currently debating such bills."

State laws differ on right-to-repair products and allowances. "Some narrowly target automobile manufacturers while others are broad enough to cover all consumer electronics," Kim writes. "Though bipartisan federal legislation for automobile repair stalled last year, it was reintroduced last month."

The U.S. right-to-repair movement has faced staunch corporate resistance because manufacturers have capitalized on repair revenue. Kit Walsh, a director at the nonprofit rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation, told Kim, "Manufacturers will always try to figure out another means of restricting independent repair because it’s a very lucrative market for them."

The Right to Repair Coalition "runs a know-your-rights program where people can check what laws are enforced in their state," Kim reports. "If the manufacturer of a product is not in compliance with the law, consumers can fill out a form that sends a direct complaint to the state attorney general’s office."