New World Screwworm inches closer to the Texas border; flesh-eating larvae can be deadly to cattle

Brahman cows graze near Mercedes, Texas, about 11 miles 
from the Mexico border. (Photo by J. Carrico, Farm Journal)

After a few months of reduced sightings, the New World Screwworm is making news again. "Mexican authorities confirmed an NWS case in a seven-year-old bovine and a 6-day-old calf both on Jan. 5," reports Jennifer Carrico of Progressive Farmer. Both infected animals were less than 220 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border.

Despite efforts by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Mexican authorities, NWS has inched closer to the Texas border. The parasite has spread north even as Mexico has strictly limited cattle movement across the country.

Texas Agricultural Commissioner Sid Miller told Carrico, "The screwworm now may be moving closer on its own, with no apparent link to commercial animal movement. Texas producers must act now -- stay informed, stay vigilant, and prepare immediately. We cannot drop our guard for even a moment."

NWS flesh-eating larvae can be deadly to cattle and other warm-blooded animals, including sheep, horses and dogs. Female NWS deposit their eggs in an animal's open wound, and once the larvae hatch, they eat away at the host's flesh, which can cause infection and decay. "The larvae can kill an animal in just four to seven days if not quickly detected and treated," reports Stump Denton of Farm Journal.

Since female NWS mate only once in a lifetime and store their fertilized eggs, releasing millions of sterile male NWS has been the best way to eradicate harmful larvae production. Carrico explains, "The USDA eradicated NWS from the United States in 1966 using the sterile insect technique, and it was used successfully again in 2016 in the southern Florida Keys when found in deer."

A sterile fly distribution facility at Moore Airbase in Edinburg, Texas, is expected to be up and running early this year.

States work to prepare for Rural Health Transformation Program funding, which varies 'wildly' by state

In late December, rural hospitals in all 50 states learned how much funding they would receive from the federal Rural Health Transformation Program.

Now, the race is on for hospitals to "submit revised budgets, begin spending, and show the money is going to good use," reports Sarah Jane Tribble, Arielle Zionts and Maia Rosenfeld of KFF Health News. "Federal officials will begin reviewing state progress in late summer and announce 2027 funding levels by the end of October."

The overall RHTP includes $50 billion in federal funds, with $25 billion allocated in different amounts based on a "complicated formula" and the robustness of state applications. For instance, Texas received the largest award at $281 million, while New Jersey received the smallest allotment at $147 million. The initial $25 billion is divided equally among the states.

After state allocations were announced, researchers "began to parse the awards to better understand why some states received more than others, including whether the awards reflected any partisanship or political favoritism," KFF News reports. Although at least one researcher found that higher dollar awards went to Republican states, overall the awards vary "wildly. . . with almost a hundredfold difference between the top and bottom."

State applications consistently included the Trump administration's fitness and nutrition goals, with half promising to "mandate the presidential fitness test," Tribble explains. "Many states also proposed food waivers under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP, which would limit low-nutrition items such as soda."

Before any RHTP money is spent, states must set up program infrastructure to manage funds and collaborate with rural hospitals. KFF News reports, "Many state legislatures must pass laws to distribute the funding to their state offices. Meanwhile, state officials are hiring staff, organizing advisory committees, and preparing to dole out money."

Study: How independent pharmacy challenges and closures impact rural pharmacists

Harris Pharmacy serves Rocky Ford, Colorado.
(University of Colorado photo)

Many studies on the closure of independent pharmacies focus on what happens to patients when a pharmacy closes. A new study by Michael J. DiStefano, PhD, at the University of Colorado, examines how those closures impact pharmacists. The study also explores how independent pharmacists navigate the current reimbursement model and what some states are doing to help them stay solvent. 

In interviews with pharmacists, DiStefano and his colleagues "heard palpable frustration, stories of mental health impacts and examples of how pharmacy closures touch entire communities," reports Matthew Hastings for the University of Colorado. 

DiStefano told Hastings, “It’s a series of ripple effects. When a pharmacy closes, not only do you see the impacts to medication access and job losses in that community; surrounding pharmacies will experience a series of stressors. All those patients impacted by the closure need to be added to your system, with new patient histories and records.” 

Study interviewees stressed that independent rural pharmacists should always have a succession plan that ideally includes a younger pharmacist who could take over the business, rather than a rural community having to recruit a new pharmacist who may not have the experience to navigate the financial demands of running a rural pharmacy. 

At Harris Pharmacy in Rocky Ford, Colorado, which serves a rural southeastern part of the state, owner Ky Davis believes running his pharmacy is all about problem-solving because there isn't another nearby pharmacy to refer patients to if his pharmacy runs out of a particular medication.

The current insurance reimbursement model for medications also means rural pharmacists can lose money caring for their patients. Davis told Hastings, "You're losing $80 to fill a prescription, and there's definitely a temptation to be like. We're not going to do that. We're not going to stock this drug."

At least in Colorado, lawmakers have eased some burdens on rural pharmacists, allowing them to approve prescriptions remotely. Davis told Hastings, "The bill passed this year has helped a lot. I’m able to leave the pharmacy open and remotely verify or have another one of our pharmacists remotely verify a prescription if I step away.” 

Hunter program provides food for local food banks in Georgia

Donated deer meat feeds thousands of Georgians through the 
Hunters for the Hungry program. (Photo by E. Jones, Grist)

By participating in Hunters for the Hungry, Georgia hunters use their harvested deer to feed their own families and help local food banks address food insecurity, which is often concentrated in the state's rural counties.

Sponsored by the Georgia Wildlife Federation, the program allows hunters who harvest more meat than they need to donate the extra. Emily Jones for Grist reports, "This year, the program has set a goal of collecting 140,000 pounds of donations, which the state Department of Natural Resources estimates can feed 560,000 people."

While not all donated meat is used to feed rural residents, a large percentage stays in the rural community where the deer were harvested. "Across Georgia, nearly 15% of families are food insecure," Jones explains. "Rural Hancock County, nestled between Atlanta and Augusta, has the highest rate in the country of children facing food insecurity, at 47%."

Many people outside of rural systems tend to think that because rural areas have large farms, everyone has plenty of food. But that isn't how the U.S. food industry works. Most of the peanuts, chickens and eggs produced on Georgia farms supply "the wider U.S. food system. . . which means the majority of people who grow food and farm animals have to rely on grocery stores to buy their food just like people in big cities."

So far, the Hunters for the Hungry program has proved successful, and its state-sponsored support is growing. Jones reports, "The state recently increased funding to $350,000 annually, allowing the program to expand from six processors to 56 and add freezer trailers to store additional meat."

States work on their own solutions to address shortages of rural child care providers

In-home child care businesses often don't provide 
caregivers with a livable wage. (Adobe Stock photo)

When it comes to accessing quality, affordable child care, rural parents face a unique set of challenges, among which finding a nearby child care provider can be the most difficult.

The reasons rural child care providers remain scarce include licensing fees and paperwork confusion, costly governmental ordinance requirements, rigid educational demands and an overall inability to make a livable wage. The list makes opening a home daycare an unrealistic small-business option.

In an effort to address the dearth of child care providers, "some states are implementing their own novel solutions to address the shortage," reports Anne Vilen for The Daily Yonder.

Child care operators in Junction City, Kansas, were limited by "contradictory state and city statutes," Vilen explains. "Ultimately, the city eliminated its local zoning fees and aligned local statutes with state licensing requirements."

Along with licensing fees and zoning stipulations, potential home child care owners must meet specific state educational benchmarks. "In rural Alaska, for example, where few communities have access to colleges and where many homes lack reliable internet, obtaining the credentials to get licensed can be especially onerous," Vilen writes.

To help child care workers meet their educational certifications, an Alaska task force developed a program that allowed caregivers "alternative pathways that recognize a provider’s experience," Vilen writes.

Even with other obstacles reduced or removed, making a livable wage with home child care remains elusive. Vilen reports, "In rural areas, where wages are already low, parents working in agriculture or manufacturing often cannot afford higher childcare fees."

Some rural communities also are "testing guaranteed-income programs that boost childcare wages," Vilen explains. "Kansas’s Baby Steps program provides quarterly stipends specifically to providers caring for infants."

The day a letter is mailed at a U.S. Post Office may no longer be the day it is postmarked

A USPS postmark is now stamped at regional facilities.
(Adobe Stock photo)

Few ink stamps are as crucial to meeting modern deadlines as the U.S. Postal Service postmark; however, at the end of last month, USPS changed its transportation and stamping processes, potentially delaying when mail is physically postmarked.

Beginning on Dec. 24, a postmark "no longer shows the date you deposited a piece of mail with the U.S. Postal Service," reports Esther Fung of The Wall Street Journal. Instead, mail will be postmarked when it's processed at a regional facility, which could be days after it's mailed locally.

The USPS changed its postmark rule "as part of long-running efforts to modernize and cut costs," Fung writes. "Reducing postal-truck runs between processing facilities and local post offices can cut costs and emissions."

While the USPS doesn't classify postmarking as part of "its services," many systems and people, including the Internal Revenue Service, legal professionals, election officials and health insurers, use postmarks as evidence that something mailed met a set deadline.

The best way to ensure an important piece of mail gets postmarked on time is to go to the post office where it can be manually stamped. Fung adds, "Yet, that could be hard for people living in rural areas far from a post office."

For deadline-mandated postmarks on items such as taxes, college applications, and health insurance appeals, experts recommend mailing documents several days in advance, so the mail has time to reach the processing facility for its official postmark.

Analysis: College degrees remain good investments, but universities need to foster job preparedness and creativity

On average, college graduates earn $30,000 more salary per year than
high school graduates. (Getty Images photo via The Conversation CC)

Even as more Americans believe that earning a college degree isn't worth the time and expense, research shows that college degrees still offer multiple benefits, including higher lifetime earnings and greater job security.

In her newly released book, Invent Ed, professor and global strategist, Caroline Field Levander argues that "people have lost sight of two factors that made universities great to begin with: invention and creativity," writes Amy Lieberman, an education editor, at The Conversation U.S.

Lieberman asked Levander to share her breakdown on why graduating from an American college or university still benefits degree earners throughout their lifetime. An edited version of Lieberman's Q & A with Levander is shared below.

Lieberman: How can we measure the value of a college degree?
Levander: The average high school graduate over a 40-year career earns $1.6 million, according to 2021 findings by Georgetown University. The average college graduate earns $2.8 million over this same 40-year period. That $1.2 million difference amounts to around $30,000 more salary per year.

Levander points out that U.S. college graduates tend to remain employed and replace a lost job more quickly than high school graduates. "The unemployment rate for people with a high school degree was 4.2% in 2024, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. By contrast, 2.5% of people with a bachelor’s degree and 2.2% of people with a master’s degree were unemployed in 2024."

Lieberman: Do any of these benefits extend beyond individual students?
Levander: Colleges and universities are major employers in their communities – and not just professors and administrators. Higher education institutions employ every trade and kind of worker.

Lieberman: Some people are questioning the value of a degree. What role can universities play in reassuring them of their relevance?
Levander: I believe universities need to teach something else [beyond job force preparation] that is equally valuable: They also need to build creative capacity and an inventive mindset into undergraduate education, as a fundamental return on the investment in education. . . . Employers report that creativity is the top job skill needed today."

Lieberman: What can faculty and students easily do to encourage creativity and innovation?
Levander: Professors can build what I call a 'growth mindset' in the classroom by focusing on success over time, rather than the quick correct answer. . . . Students could also consider committing to trying new courses in areas where they haven’t already been successful. They could approach their college experience with the idea that grades aren’t the only marker of success.

Long Canadian Pacific trains bring a small town's busy Main Street to a standstill each day

A westbound Canadian Pacific train makes its way into Jackman, Maine.
(Photo by Linda Coan O’Kresik, Bangor Daily News)

In Jackman, Maine, drivers waiting to cross Main Street can spend 30 minutes idling as Canadian Pacific Kansas City trains pass through the heart of town. Daniel O’Connor for The Maine Monitor reports, "More than 3,000 cars and trucks pass through the railroad crossing every day."

Doubling as U.S. Route 201, Jackman's Main Street and the railroad that divides it connects Quebec with "southern Maine and the rest of the Northeast," O’Connor explains. "Trains passing through town sometimes exceed 200 railcars, stretching for more than two miles in length. . . .That’s longer than 90% of North American freight trains operated by companies like CPKC." Some of the wait time can be blamed on aging rail lines and increased traffic.

Jackman, Maine, is 16 miles from the Canadian
border. (Northern Outdoors map)

Locals tried to avoid Main Street during the hours when trains were scheduled to cross, but train schedules varied too much. Waits can be extended when an international border scanner, which checks trains for illegal goods from Canada, notifies Customs and Border Protection that additional scanning is needed.  

For Jackman residents and Route 201 travelers, the long and unpredictable daily train waits are frustrating and pose a potential danger. O'Connor explains, "With the town split in half for part of the day and ambulances on one side of the track, trains could delay responses during an emergency."

Maine’s border shares seven rail crossings with Canada, but Jackman’s border crossing "is the only one to see a clear increase in shipping year-over-year," O'Connor reports.

CPKC has made rail improvements to "upgrade the rails in the area since it acquired the route in 2020, but said border security caused slowdowns in Jackman," O'Connor adds. "Many in town seemed to accept that the long trains were just part of life up north."

Southern Florida orange farmers turn to other tropical fruit trees to diversify crops

U.S. grown mangoes may taste better.
(Graphic by Adam Dixon, Offrange)

Florida's famed orange production started in the 1830s, when farmers began shipping their citrus nationwide by rail. The state's orange industry continued to flourish until the mid-2000s, when Huanglongbing, a bacterial disease, decimated groves throughout the state. Since then, orange growers have been working to diversify their crops by replacing orange trees with other tropical fruits that thrive in the region's hot, humid climate.

The work of botanists at the University of Florida's Tropical Research and Education Center (TREC) is helping citrus growers go beyond oranges by teaching farmers how to grow other tree crops. "South Florida can support the kinds of fruits usually only found in the tropics," reports Diana Kruzman for Offrange. Consumer interest and advances in plant breeding have the region's tropical fruit business "booming."

Even with the steep dip in crop yields, oranges remain Florida's top fruit crop, but the "tropical fruit industry, which consists of higher-value crops like avocados and mangoes, as well as more niche fruits like starfruit and guava, isn’t far behind," Kruzman explains. TREC researchers are "working to introduce other varieties of tropical fruits, such as papayas and dragonfruit."

Meanwhile, farmers are tasked with developing bigger consumer markets for their growing list of exotic fruits. "So far, many customers have come from immigrant communities around the U.S. who already know about niche tropical fruits and are willing to pay a premium to ship them quickly," Kruzman adds. 

Domestic mango growers already have one marketing advantage -- their mangoes are likely to taste better because they aren't subject to USDA fruit screenings. Kruzman explains, "All mangoes shipped into the U.S. must be disinfected to prevent foreign pests or diseases from entering the country. . . .That process involves either boiling the fruit or zapping it with radiation, which tends to leach out nearly all of its flavor."

Get ready for the 2026 bird-counting party! The annual Great Backyard Bird Count is coming up Feb. 13-16

Northern Cardinal, Red-vented Bulbul, Black-capped Chickadee (Macaulay Library photos)

Feathers, beaks, chirps, songs and plenty of bird community fun return during the 2026 Great Backyard Bird Count Feb. 13–16.

Participation can take just 15 minutes: Open a window or step outside, and spend some time counting and trying to identify your feathered friends. Then, submit your counts using one of the tools on the GBBC website to tally all the birds you see or hear. Backyard birders help scientists better understand and protect birds all around the globe.

If you're new to bird watching and have a smartphone, GBBC experts recommend using the Merlin Bird ID app to enter your first bird. It is free and considered easy to use. For more experienced bird lovers, using the free eBird Mobile app is a fast way to enter your bird lists in real time.

For more social bird counters, communities across the world will be hosting group count events. Click here to see if there's a flock near you to join.

Illustration by Stephanie Fizer Coleman,
Peachtree Publishers

The Great Backyard Bird Count is an opportunity for parents and children to do something outside that brings joy and helps nature. To get kiddos on the path to counting greatness, many local libraries have books about the count. Other bird-oriented books for younger readers include stories about watching, drawing and feeding birds.

The count is sponsored by the ornithology lab at New York state's Cornell University, the National Audubon Society and Birds Canada. The sponsors say counting birds has become more important, and note that scientists recently reported a decline of more than one in four breeding birds in the U.S. and Canada since 1970. To sign up, click here.

The 2025 GBBC yielded some incredible results. Together, birders from 217 countries or eBird subregions found 8,078 species of the world’s known species -- 158 more than in 2024. To participate in this year's momentous count, click here.