Rivian Automotive forges onward and breaks ground on its $5 billion electric vehicle plant in a small town in Georgia

Rivian builds electric in Georgia.

Despite the downturn in electric vehicle sales and enthusiasm, Rivian Automotive overcame delays and broke ground last week on its $5 billion plant in Social Circle, Georgia, a town with a population of 5,415.

"It seems like a terrible time to build an electric vehicle plant in the U.S., but Rivian Automotive leaders say they’re confident," report Jeff Amy and Alexa St. John of The Associated Press. Since its public offering, the company's stock has dropped "by more than 80%. . . . Rivian lost $1.66 billion in 2025’s first half."

The Georgia plant will make truck models that are smaller and less expensive than Rivian's current offerings, which feature high-end electric trucks that start at $70,000. The smaller models will start at $45,000, which the company predicts will enable it to sell to a much broader market and turn a profit.

While some state and local governments have resisted the push to go electric, Georgia is welcoming the change. "Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp says he wants to make Georgia 'the electric mobility capital of America,'" AP reports. "Georgia has pledged $1.5 billion of incentives to Rivian in exchange for 7,500 company jobs paying at least $56,000 a year on average."

Not everyone in Social Circle supports Rivian building in the small, bucolic town about 45 minutes from Atlanta. According to the AP article, "Some residents say the plant is an inappropriate neighbor to farms and will pollute the groundwater."

What's for lunch? This year's school lunches include restrictions that challenge cafeterias and budgets

'Woodles' are a versatile school lunch favorite.

Estimates on how many rural children rely on school lunches for at least one nutritionally balanced meal to fill their bellies each weekday hover around five million. Nationwide, school cafeterias in America "serve 45 million meals a day," reports Kim Severson of The New York Times. "If they were a restaurant chain, it would be the largest in the country."

Besides the sheer number of meals that need to be served, school cafeteria planners and workers are managing "tighter nutritional standards, and limits on food purchased from other countries, like bananas, to 10% of what’s served," Severson explains. "School nutrition directors are bracing for the impact of federal budget cuts and updated federal dietary guidelines."

Some schools have already implemented some of the new guidelines, which include less sugar, fewer food dyes and more scratch-made entrees. But upgrading lunches while reducing costs will be tough on school cafeteria budgets. Severson adds, "And then there is the biggest challenge of all: How to satisfy the fast-changing tastes of a generation of food-savvy children."

Severson outlines what's new on the menu for 2025-26 school meals; a few are shared below.

• Sugar reduction and "cultural-club" food: Lunch favorites such as yogurt, milk and cereal are limited by grams of sugar. "A cup of chocolate milk, for example, can have only 10 grams or less of added sugar," Severson writes. Schools can opt to use "more culturally inclusive [ingredients], or swap out meat with legumes, tofu and other alternative protein sources."
• Make it from scratch, like they did before the 1980s, which saves money and is generally healthier. "Cooking from scratch is one way to make school food healthier," Severson reports. "More districts are trying to bring it back after economic pressures and looser federal standards in the 1980s resulted in an era of heat-and-eat meals."
• Bring on the noodles and 'Woodles': "Woodles are the most exciting new thing to hit the cafeteria this year," Severson explains. "The dried ramen noodles, made by a South Carolina company, were created specifically for school food service, with enough whole wheat to satisfy federal nutrition requirements."

Former 'city dweller' explores rural-urban divide in new graphic novel

Mahadavian reflects on rural life and the rural-urban 
divide in his new novel, This Country. (Yonder photo) 

In his new graphic novel, cartoonist Navied Mahadavian reflects on rural life, the rural-urban divide and the political divisions between “city dwellers” and “rural folk,” Myat Theingi of The Daily Yonder reported.

Searching for affordable living and what Mahadavian described as the “allure of possibility,” he and his wife moved to rural Idaho from the San Francisco Bay area.

Despite some unpleasant encounters due to his race, his interactions with people in the town opened his eyes to the emotions and pride of people who live in rural places, the complexities of their political beliefs, and their reasons for distrusting people who come from the city.

“So, after reading my book, I hope that city dwellers will gain some insights into rural life and vice versa. I also hope they see that there are divisions and different cultures. But there are also friendships that I forge, that show that it is possible to bridge those divides in a meaningful and lasting way,” Mahadavian said in an interview with Theingi.

Parents who skip or postpone vaccines for their kids are more concerned about vaccine safety, a new poll finds

 Photo by Mika Baumeister, Unsplash

Parents who skip, avoid or postpone standard vaccinations for their kids often share vaccine safety concerns and other attributes, a new poll from The Washington Post and KFF Health News shows.

The poll found that one in six parents have delayed or skipped some vaccines for their children, with most reporting "concerns about the vaccines themselves," report Lauren Weber, Scott Clement, Emily Guskin, and Lena H. Sun of The Washington Post. "About half of parents overall lack faith in federal health agencies to ensure vaccine safety, mirroring the findings of other surveys."

While the poll revealed that the majority of parents support child vaccinations, it also showed that "skipping or delaying vaccines is more common among parents who homeschool children, are Republicans, are young, or are White and religious," the Post reports.

Some polled parents believe in the effectiveness and necessity of childhood vaccinations -- just not on the schedule set by the federal government, which favors multiple shots in a single visit, rather than a more graduated immunization schedule.

Most interviewed parents did not support claims about vaccines causing autism or chronic disease. The Post reports, "But at least 4 in 10 parents say they don’t know enough to say whether those claims are true or false."

Poll results do seem to indicate some level of distrust in how the government manages vaccines. The Post explains, "Six in 10 Democrats are confident in federal health agencies overseeing vaccine safety, compared with 48% of independents and 41% of Republicans."

"Despite Republican parents being more likely to skip vaccines, 77% still follow vaccine recommendations," the Post reports. "Most of President Donald Trump’s voters believe vaccines save lives."

Fund with $50 billion for rural hospitals got off to a rough start; experts predict the money won't be enough

Delays, last-minute changes and a poor rollout have already plagued the newly created $50 billion rural hospital fund GOP lawmakers put together to pass the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. But analysts predict the "money to be spent over five years is less than the estimated $137 billion in cuts to rural health systems over 10 years," reports Aneeta Mathur-Ashton of U.S. News & World Report.

The Rural Health Transformation Program was designed to help rural hospitals weather Medicaid cuts included in the GOP's package and support longer-term cybersecurity and infrastructure improvements hospitals need to stay afloat; however, fund critics say the program is a short-term solution for a long-term problem.

States that receive RHTP grants must use the funds for at least three purposes outlined by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), including "promoting care interventions, paying for health care services and expanding the workforce," Mathur-Ashton explains.

As rural hospitals receive funds, they will need to apply them carefully. Alan Morgan, chief executive officer of the National Rural Health Association, "praised the fund as a 'fabulous program that hopefully, if done correctly, can transform rural health going ahead, to a sustainable model,'" Mathur-Ashton writes.

Some Democrats consider the $50 billion to be a slush fund with unclear guidelines that can't undo the harm planned cuts will cause. "The bill gives [CMS] the authority to determine which applications to approve and deny, but does not spell out the criteria it should be using to do so," Mathur-Ashton reports. 

Rural health advocates say they want states to apply for RHTP, but many are pushing to have the $150 billion in Medicaid cuts rescinded. Morgan told U.S. News, "Congress either later this year or next year, is going to have to repeal those cuts for rural hospitals, or you're just going to see hundreds of rural hospitals close. It's non-workable.”

Ozarks duo share vocals and instruments that 'reflects layers of history ... and the recognition that rural voices are important'

Cindy Woolf and Mark Bilyeu perform at the Library of Congress in August.
(Photo by Kaitlyn McConnell, The Daily Yonder)

Since the 1800s, music from the American Ozarks has combined instrumentation and vocals from northern Europe, West Africa and German traditions. The region's rugged topography and relative isolation helped its music develop a distinct and often haunting musical style.

While the Ozarks are no longer as isolated as they were more than 200 years ago, its talented musical artists, including the married duo of Cindy Woolf and Mark Bilyeu, known as The Creek Rocks, are determined to keep the musical heritage alive, reports Kaitlyn McConnell for The Daily Yonder.

When The Creek Rocks play, their music draws from "folk tunes and ballads, passed down from other continents and cultures before finding their way to the Ozarks," McConnell writes. The duo's sound ultimately reflects "layers of history... and the recognition that rural voices are important. . . .They are the voices of lived experience, linking generations and stories."

When the couple performed at the Library of Congress in August, the "echoes of generations of Ozarkers reverberated through the auditorium," McConnell adds. The Creek Rocks were "chosen as the library’s American Folklife Center’s inaugural Artists in Resonance, a fellowship founded to 'support artists in creating new musical works inspired by and sourced from collection materials in the Center’s archives.'"

The artists have dedicated part of their life's work to "research and document local folk culture," McConnell explains. "As part of the fellowship, Bilyeu and Woolf traveled to D.C., where they conducted research in the library’s archives."

As part of their fellowship, they focused on a musical collection by Sidney Robertson Cowell, who "visited the Ozarks in the mid-1930s," McConnell reports. Cowell's collection includes recordings from "local musicians in Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina."

The Cowell collection helped Bilyeu and Woolf hear and feel the distinct difference in Ozark music from this time period. McConnell writes, "'Ozarks folk music, as revealed by these collections, is all about the voice,' Bilyeu said – a key difference is in the way the songs sound. The tunes Cowell collected seemed even more 'ancient,' as Woolf put it, due to their musical structure."

Hear The Creek Rocks perform at The Library of Congress here.

U.S. ranchers finally see profits: Thin herds and high demand have beef prices climbing

There's no quick fix for low herd numbers pushing beef prices higher.
(Graph by Derrell Peel, Oklahoma State University)

After years of hard work and economic struggle, U.S. ranchers are making bank on beef.  "Business hasn’t been this good for cattle ranchers in decades, maybe ever," reports Patrick Thomas of The Wall Street Journal. "Cattlemen are now making a record profit of more than $700 per animal, up from $2 five years ago, according to some industry estimates."

Demand for beef is high and herd counts are at historic lows, creating a market where prices have surged for "everything from ground beef to steaks," Thomas explains. "Retail ground-beef prices set a record in August, up about 13% from the same month last year."

U.S. beef cattle numbers began shrinking during recent droughts that decimated grazing lands, and pandemic-era meatpacking backups. Ranchers couldn't afford their herds and opted to thin them to stem their losses.

Farmers are using their new income to reinvest in their herds, pay off debts and purchase more sophisticated equipment. But no one knows how long higher prices will continue. Thomas reports, "Executives of Tyson Foods and JBS — two of the world’s largest meat companies — have projected that cattle supplies could tick up in 2027 or 2028."

Some ranchers don't think increasing herd size is a good business model and are choosing to invest in better genetics instead of more cattle. Thomas writes, "The idea is to produce cattle that can yield juicier steaks — and fetch higher prices."

Mobile home dwellers in rural desert towns face extreme temperatures

Photo by Patrick Reichboth,Unsplash

Extreme heat in the summer and cold in the winter pose risks for mobile home residents in Madras, a rural desert town in Oregon, Claire Carlson of The Daily Yonder reported. 

Data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) shows that 15% of houses in rural areas are manufactured or mobile homes.

Because many of the homes are old, they are often “less energy efficient and can have issues like mold and other dangerous health hazards,” Carlson wrote.

These poor living conditions can be deadly: 20% of deaths during the 2021 heat dome in Oregon were among mobile home residents. And it is only expected to get worse with climate change.

Nonprofits such as the Energy Trust in Oregon help to replace old, manufactured homes with new ones built to withstand the extreme temperatures.

However, according to Professor Patricia Solís from Arizona State University, “there are probably around 175,000 mobile and manufactured homes that are older in the state that need to have some kind of weatherization done to it.”

She believes the solution lies in tackling two issues: the affordable housing crisis and climate change. But it would require government investment in building more manufactured homes. 

Solís’ reasoning is that manufactured homes are less expensive, would provide affordable housing and can be outfitted with energy-efficient technology to adapt to the climate. 

Tribal radio stations in rural Alaska are hubs of culture that may not survive federal cuts

 The Anchorage skyline is dwarfed by the bold Chugach Mountains. The city is surrounded 
by more than five million remote acres. (Photo via Nieman Laboratories)

After Congress voted to pull back billions in funding, tribal radio stations in Alaska are exploring how they can continue to serve Native Americans across a massive state that can routinely lack highways and cell phone service.

Indigenous radio stations are different than those in the lower 48 states. Neel Dhanesha for Nieman Laboratories reports, "While many are part of the NPR and PBS networks, they are mostly staffed by Indigenous reporters and producers and primarily serve audiences in tribal nations around the U.S., many of which lack broadband or cell service."

Loris Taylor, president and CEO of Native Public Media, told Dhanesha, "The information environment in Indian Country is often fragmented, underfunded. . . . Tribal stations fill this gap. Without these stations, many tribal citizens, especially elders, low-income families, and those without broadband, would lose essential access to news and public discourse."

Without federal dollars, some stations are unsure how they will stay afloat to perform basic functions, such as issuing emergency notices for severe weather, AMBER and Missing Endangered Persons alerts. Jaclyn Sallee, president and CEO of KNBA, a tribal radio station in Anchorage, told Dhanesha, "Some stations are very concerned that they won’t be able to operate starting October 1."

Meanwhile, more funding for tribal radio stations may become available through grants from the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs. "BIA will distribute $9.4 million of previously appropriated funding to 35 tribal radio stations in 11 states," Dhanesha reports. "[But] details on the deal are scant."

BIA grants won't solve funding problems for all the remote-serving public radio stations in Alaska, and residents fear what will be lost if cuts are made. Dhanesha explains, "Every person I spoke with emphasized that losing tribal stations would mean losing a key cultural touchstone in Indigenous communities across the country. . . .Tribal stations are trying to figure out the path forward."

Rural women in Colorado with 'high-risk' pregnancies often travel long distances or take helicopters for care

Women in rural Colorado who encounter pregnancy complications often face long drives for care, with some having to take helicopters to reach treatment at a larger medical center. "Every year, more than 60 air medical transfers are made for pregnant patients in Colorado’s Eastern Plains, where helicopters regularly fly in to transport them to hospitals," reports Priya Shahi of Rocky Mountain PBS.

Graph by Priya Shahi, from Prowers Medical Center data

As more rural hospitals reduce or end obstetric care, emergency transportation, such as helicopters, has become more common. Emergency air flight can be for the health of the mom, the unborn baby or for after-delivery specialty care.

In Lamar, Colo., pregnant patients can receive routine prenatal care at Prowers Medical Center; however, its obstetric care is limited and expecting moms with more "high-risk" conditions are often transferred or flown to facilities with higher levels of care. 

While some women don't need more expert care or equipment until closer to delivery, some have to travel long distances throughout pregnancy. One patient in Lamar "has to make bimonthly trips to Colorado Springs just for ultrasounds," Shahi writes. 

She told Shahi, "My husband has to take time off just to take me, so we lose income just to go that far. We’re already struggling in the economy that it is. To take me up there for a two-minute appointment, it’s rough." A one-way drive from Lamar to Colorado Springs takes roughly 3 hours.

Drugged driving is difficult to detect, but it impairs drivers and contributes to accidents and fatalities

Cannabis slows reaction time and alters spatial awareness. 
 (Jason Doiy, iStock, Getty Images via The Conversation CC)

Despite its often invisible presence, drugged driving is a developing problem in most states. On rural roads where almost half of fatal crashes in the U.S. occur, the risks posed by drugged drivers may be disproportionately higher, but difficult to detect or prove.

In 2020, roughly 12.6 million people aged 16 and up drove after using illegal drugs. "Of that total, roughly 11.7 million were under the influence of cannabis," writes Andrew Yockey, a public health expert at the University of Mississippi, for The Conversation. 

While cannabis use is often downplayed, it impairs reaction time and spatial perception. Yockey explains, "Multiple studies have found that drivers with THC, the primary psychoactive compound in cannabis, in their bloodstream are about twice as likely to be involved in a fatal crash – either as the cause or as a victim – compared with those who haven’t used drugs or alcohol."

Other drugs or any mix of drugs also play a part in devastating vehicle collisions and fatalities. "Opioids can cause drowsiness and dizziness. Stimulants like cocaine or methamphetamine may lead to overconfidence and aggressive driving," Yockey adds. "When drugs are mixed — or combined with alcohol — the risks increase dramatically."

All states prohibit drugged driving, but how they enforce those laws varies, leaving "legal gray areas in how the laws are interpreted and enforced," Yockey writes.

Despite laws designed to discourage and punish drugged driving, detecting and measuring illicit drug use in drivers is tricky. "There is no standardized way to measure drug impairment as there is with blood alcohol content," Yockey explains. "Roadside tests that cops use to spot drunk drivers don’t work as well for drug impairment."

States have increasingly turned to using roadside saliva tests, which can "detect recent drug use more quickly," Yockey writes. But again, the measurement of drugs still in the bloodstream and how that translates into driving impairment or ticketed offenses isn't clear.

After a blaze destroyed 80% of a town's homes in 2020, the community's remaining 145 residents are still recovering

Malden rebuilt its fire department, city hall and post office.
(Photo by Jesse Tinsley, Spokesman-Review)

Over Labor Day weekend 2020, an electrical fire burned through Malden, Washington, and its neighboring community, Pine City. "While no deaths were reported, the fire burned 80% of the town’s homes and multiple rail bridges," reports Monica Carrillo-Casas of The Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Wash. Malden residents are still rebuilding and healing from the fire's aftermath.

After the blaze, some Malden residents chose to leave. Chandelle Frick, treasurer for Malden, said the "town’s population has fallen from 200 to 145 people since the fire," Carrillo-Casas writes. Out of the 120 homes the fire destroyed, "at least 25 have been rebuilt, including nine of those by the Mennonite and Amish communities."

Malden resident Jessica Landry is "living in one of the houses the Amish and Mennonite communities built," Carrillo-Casas writes. "Ever since [the fire], the fear of another fire taking over the town lingers in the back of her mind."

Landry is sure some Malden residents may never get over the shock and destruction the blaze left in its wake. She told Carrillo-Casas, "There are a lot of people who still have PTSD when it comes to that. . . .We still get that heightened awareness and struggle."

Even with the emotional scars and population loss, Malden's remaining townspeople are working hard to rebuild. The town received a settlement from the electrical company involved and grant money. With those funds, Malden residents invested in "a new building that combines a fire station, post office and town hall," Carrillo-Casas reports.

The town still needs a new sewer system, and many residents still don't have permanent homes. A lack of funds has limited some recovery efforts. Carrillo-Casas adds, "An estimated 40% of the people who lost homes were uninsured."

Most community members realize they have to rely on each other. Frick told the Spokesman, "It takes a community coming together and seeking funding."