The Rural Blog

A digest of events, trends, issues, ideas and journalism from and about rural America, by the Institute for Rural Journalism, based at the University of Kentucky. Links may expire, require subscription or go behind pay walls. Please send news and knowledge you think would be useful to benjy.hamm@uky.edu.

The Rural Blog

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Opinion: U.S. educational mismatch leaves American manufacturers unable to fill 'millions of critical jobs'

If Americans are desperate for manufacturing jobs, why are so many factory jobs vacant?

Some colleges offer a 3-year bachelor's degrees to address student expenses and lower enrollment numbers

To get more teachers, some states try a new mode of training them: apprenticeships, to earn while they learn

Community-college enrollments have dropped by one-third; red tape and lack of advisers discourage those who enroll

USDA launches guide to rural workforce loan and grant programs

Applications open for paid USDA summer internships for high school and up, virtual and in-person

Trump's USDA shows pattern of making decisions based on politics, not data, say economists, scientists and former staff

Study finds that offering big tax breaks to lure businesses may not help broader economy, as local officials often say

Biden says coal miners could easily learn computer coding, but retraining programs for them can be problematic

Apply by Nov. 30 for Poynter Institute's 2020 Leadership Academy for Women in Media; scholarships available

Blackjewel miners get $3.7 million grant to go back to school

Bipartisan pressure forces Trump administration to drop plans to revamp or shutter rural Job Corps centers

Forest Service giving rural Job Corps program to Labor Dept., which will close nine centers and outsource 16

Officials: Job Corps not helping create job-ready workers

Southwestern Pennsylvania coal miners reject retraining, wait for Trump's coal comeback

Appalachian agency says E. Ky. needs 30,000 more jobs; regional group aims to help create some

Lack of education, jobs, training keep too many rural youth not in work or school

CBS uses Appalachian media-arts-education center as example of effect of Trump's proposed cuts

Immigrant farmers stand to lose loans and funds for training, under budget proposed by Trump