Both of California's legislative leaders hail from rural backgrounds -- it's a first in more than 50 years

Coast Redwood Forest
(Wikipedia photo)

Rural people and issues often get politically sidelined, but some of that dynamic has changed in California. "It's the first time in more than 50 years that both of California's legislative leaders hail from rural districts," reports Camille Von Kaenel of Politico. "Rural interests accustomed to being on the outskirts of Sacramento policymaking are enjoying the view from the inside and are hoping to make a mark — particularly on climate and environmental policies."

North Coast California
(Wikipedia map)

Senate leader Mike McGuire from Healdsburg, pop. 11,300, represents the state's North Coast district, which is replete with redwood forests, salmon fisheries and Sonoma County wineries. Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas' district covers the Central Coast, also known as the "salad bowl" of America, where he grew up in farmworker housing. Von Kaenel notes, "The last time both leaders hailed from rural districts was in 1969, when Democrat Hugh Burns of Fresno County led the Senate and Republican Bob Monagan of San Joaquin County led the Assembly."

Central Coast California
(Wikipedia map)

For Chris Lopez, the chair of the Rural County Representatives of California, which includes 40 of California's 58 counties, "The representation alone is powerful," Von Kaenel reports. Lopez told her, "When Robert was sworn in as speaker, having a mariachi on that floor playing music spoke to my heart. It wasn't just about having a Latino, but having a Latino who grew up rural in farmworker housing."

Von Kaenel writes, "They're careful to emphasize they're representing everyone, including their urban counterparts." McGuire said in a recent statement: "No matter if you live in Eureka or Encino, the priorities are similar. While I'll always have country roots, I'm going to fight like hell to lift up every Californian, no matter if you live in the big city or a one-traffic-stop-light town."

Landline use might be fading, but many rural residents still rely on it during power outages and emergencies

Landlines don't go down during power
outages. (Photo by A. Spratt, Unsplash)

When emergencies strike in remote areas, the unreliability of cell phone and broadband services can become a stark reality, which is why many rural residents want to keep their landlines. "The number of landline users has plummeted, and providers are looking at transitioning customers to cellphones or home telephone service over broadband connections," reports Heather Kelly for The Washington Post. "But for millions of people, newer alternatives are either unavailable, too expensive, or are unreliable when it matters most: in an emergency."

Because landline phones use copper lines to transfer electricity, "as long as a phone is corded or charged, it will work during a power outage," Kelly explains. "Landlines are unaffected by power outages, making them a necessary backstop in rural areas. Many of those same areas have inadequate cellular or internet coverage."

Enumclaw in King County, Wash., sits in
the shadowof Mt. Rainier. (Wikipedia map)

About a quarter of Americans still have a landline, but far fewer rely on it for daily use. "The largest group of people holding onto their landlines are 65 and older," Kelly reports. "Susan Reiter has had a landline in her Enumclaw, Wash., home since 1978. The power goes out multiple times a year, says Reiter, usually caused by fierce wind and other weather events. But the landline always works, she says, making it her best option if there's an emergency and she needs to call 911."

AT&T is one company looking to cut costs by cutting landline service. It asked the California Public Utilities Commission to "end its obligation to provide landline service in parts of the state," Kelly adds. "Hundreds of California residents called into CPUC public meetings. . . .The vast majority said maintaining landline service was a safety issue, citing power outages, wildfires and floods as times when their landlines are the only way to reach 911 or get information on evacuations."

As calling options evolve, replacing landlines as an emergency stopgap seems possible; however, getting people to trust newer technology may be tricky. "Apple added a satellite-connected emergency response service to the iPhone 14 in 2022," Kelly reports. "For people with a landline they've had for decades, the promise of new technology doesn't compete with the security of something that has worked for so long."

Home septic systems need regular care and maintenance to prevent 'seriously unpleasant' and expensive problems

Protozoa, rotifers, and other microorganisms work in
septic systems. (Image via Southern Sanitary Systems)

People who migrate from the city to more remote areas are wise to learn what many rural dwellers already know -- taking care of your home's septic system is serious business.

"You may want to ignore it," writes Kris Frieswick of The Wall Street Journal. "But there is only one thing worse than personally interacting with your septic system and its parts — the septic tank and leach field— and that is ignoring it. . . . [It] demands little except your consideration and maintenance, without which it will make your life seriously unpleasant."

While waste management discussions may feel unseemly, the topic is so essential that even the Old Testament gives instructions. Frieswick explains, "Deuteronomy 23:12-13 commands: 'Designate a place outside the camp where you can go to relieve yourself. As part of your equipment, have something to dig with, and when you relieve yourself, dig a hole and cover up your excrement.'. . . Bet you didn't know you had a big old hunk of Moses-approved engineering history buried next to your rhododendron."

Septic systems are more complex than a hole in the ground, but the idea is the same. Frieswick reports, "Your effluent flows through pipes into your oxygen-free septic tank, where bacteria (most of which is thoughtfully provided by your gut) eats undigested material, explains Robert Rubin, emeritus professor of biological and agricultural engineering at North Carolina State University. . . . Once those little bacterias in the tank get to work, the solids float or drop and the watery part drains off via pipe to a leach field." The leach field is the magical place where bacteria work pays off.

But things can go awry. "Septic tanks can get cracks in them. . . . Or they can back up if the pipes get clogged with grease," Frieswick writes. Inorganic material flushed accidentally can wreak havoc as well.

Before buying a new home, have the system separately inspected. Remember that tanks are built for bedroom capacity of a home. Capacity could be an issue if bedrooms are added to a house after its septic system. Use liquid detergents instead of powder, and fix water leaks that could stress the system. Plan on regular maintenance to avoid blockage headaches and pricey repairs.

      Knowing how a septic system works helps inform homeowners and renters on how to care for it.

Opinion: Further buffalo restoration in the American West should be all about 'integrity' -- not adding to the economy

Writer Elsie DuBray argues that integrity in relationship is the only path forward for the
 healthy return of more buffalo to the American West. (Photo by E. Dubray via The Daily Yonder)

The American buffalo embodies the mystique of the nation's West — bold, massive and distinct. Despite its near extinction in the 1800s, the return of buffalo to western lands has been slow but steady. The buffalo restoration movement now rests on a precipice between deep respect and planning for buffalo to roam as they once did and capitalistic interests.

Writer Elsie M. DuBray, in her commentary for The Daily Yonder, argues that it is at this unique place and time where Indigenous people must focus on integrity in action and legal advocacy to light the way for buffalo's best chance at dignified survival. An edited version is shared below.

Over the past several decades, buffalo restoration has become part of an emerging national conversation. "According to the Fish and Wildlife Service, 20,500 buffalo exist within U.S. conservation herds and 450,000 in commercial herds," DuBray writes. "PBS reports that 82 Tribes manage 65 buffalo herds and programs, and there is even a federal working group under the Department of the Interior dedicated to buffalo restoration, funded by the March 2023 Inflation Reduction Act as part of a 'restoration and resilience framework.'"

Buffalo restoration means more than numbers.
(Photo by E. DuBray via The Daily Yonder)

While buffalo restoration has come a long way through the incredible efforts of Indigenous people and advocates, some problems have emerged. Dubray explains, ". . . in many instances, these successes have cast a shadow under which a complacency within the larger buffalo restoration movement has developed. The optical 'wins' of X many buffalo here and Y over there, for example, may overshadow the way a buffalo program began answering the calls of capitalism as opposed to the calls of our ancestors' prayers. Or the way we brush aside the moral calamity of a feedlot for buffalo when it means a grocery store thousands of miles away may be able to carry a bison tenderloin."

"When done 'in a good way,' as my people like to say, revitalizing ancestral Indigenous food systems has an almost unparalleled potential to heal," Dubray adds. "But there are consequences when values are compromised, as is seen in recent disease outbreaks that once again threaten the hard-fought buffalo herd numbers to a severe degree not seen since the 1800s. We must make a decision about how we are going to carry ourselves forward within this work, and we must make the right one."

Integrity offers a way forward that is both clear and decidedly tough to follow. It includes "our shared and unique cultural values that define our kinship to the buffalo and, inextricably, our responsibility as their kin to protect, honor, and uphold the integrity of the buffalo themselves," DuBray writes. "What exactly are we restoring if we fail to answer this question of integrity? Buffalo must not become solely about numbers – numbers of buffalo or numbers of zeros they add to a Tribe's economy.

"Buffalo restoration, at its core, is about relationships. I ask, how are we going to honor ours?"

Uvalde Leader-News publisher receives 2023 Tom and Pat Gish Award at Texas event focusing on local journalism

Craig Garnett, middle, accepts the Tom and Pat Gish Award alongside Al Cross, left, and Benjy Hamm from the Institute for Rural Journalism. (Texas Center for Community Journalism photo)

The Uvalde Leader-News owner and publisher Craig Garnett accepted the Tom and Pat Gish Award for courage, integrity and tenacity in rural journalism on Feb. 29 during a Texas Center for Community Journalism event, which included panel discussions on community reporting needs and challenges. The Community News in Aledo editor and publisher Randy Keck and the University of Kentucky’s Institute for Rural Journalism director Benjy Hamm participated in leading the discussions alongside Garnett.

The Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues first announced Garnett as honoree in 2023. The annual award is named for the couple who published the Mountain Eagle in Whitesburg, Kentucky, for more than 50 years.

Garnett was unable to attend the original award ceremony, set last October in Lexington, and offered remarks by video. “What happened in Uvalde was crushing. It continues to be an enormous weight on many of our shoulders, especially the families of the victims, and we have endeavored to cover every aspect of that shooting,” Garnett said at the time.

Garnett, who earned an economics degree from Southern Methodist University, joined the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in 1977 and moved to the Kansas City Star in 1978. He became general manager of the Leader-News in 1982 and owner and publisher in 1989.

The newspaper has won many awards under his ownership. Earlier in 2023, the Texas Press Association honored Garnett with the Frank W. Mayborn Award for Community Leadership. He has won dozens of TPA and South Texas Press Association awards for editorial and column writing.

The Institute for Rural Journalism exists to sustain rural journalism and help rural journalists define the public agenda in their communities.

Coal markets remain robust as Asia increases reliance on coal to fill supply gaps; output set a record in 2023

Coal will remain an energy source for many decades
to come. (Photo by Dominik Vanyi, Unsplash)

Despite coal's reputation as the "dirtiest fossil fuel," it is still considered a reliable form of energy, and its removal from global energy systems looks to be a slow ride. "Thanks to a combination of China’s energy insecurity. . . and rising Indian demand, the continued fallout from the war in Ukraine and faltering international programs to wean developing economies off fossil fuels, coal is proving remarkably resilient," reports Bloomberg News. "Output hit a record last year."

Coal prices remain steady as the Asian market returns to coal as a more reliable energy source. "By 2026, China and India will comprise more than 70% of global coal use," Bloomberg reports. Those two countries, along with Indonesia, which opened new coal power plants last year, use about 93% of the world’s coal power, according to Global Energy Monitor.

Rob Bishop, chief executive officer of Australian miner New Hope Corp., told Bloomberg, "You look at Asia, the demand and the build-out of coal-fired power plants, particularly in India — coal’s not going anywhere anytime soon." Bloomberg reports, "In 2022, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and blackouts during heatwaves in India further bolstered coal demand. By last year, output had risen to a record 8.7 billion tons, according to the International Energy Agency."

As nations work to transition from coal to renewables, coal will play a vital role. Global change to cleaner sources depends on multiple variables, particularly in countries such as China and Indonesia. Bloomberg reports, "Coal phaseouts, however, have proved far more challenging than anticipated. . . .The transition tests years-long expectations of rapid peaks and subsequent steep declines." Bishop told Bloomberg, "We see that the world needs more operators to mine coal and support the transition over many decades to come."

USDA has new rules for organic food suppliers, but many in its complex distribution chain may not be ready

Complex organic food chains needed updated
regulation. (Photo by nrd, Unsplash)

The certification of the U.S.'s organic food supply faces its first big change in 30 years, and many food companies may not be ready. The Department of Agriculture launched its Strengthening Organic Enforcement regulations on March 19, and some experts are waiting to see "if unprepared companies will get left behind," reports Lydia Noyes of FoodDive. "The new rule is the most significant change to organic certification since the program's start. . . . There's growing concern that large portions of the food industry. . . haven't made the necessary compliance changes."

The organic food industry has grown exponentially since the 1990s and has "out-scaled its initial regulations. That's led to gaps in enforcement that allowed for loopholes and outright fraud," Noyes writes. The SOE rule is designed to address the sector's growth and complexity, but has been largely ignored. Nate Ensrud, an executive with FoodChain ID, one of the largest organic certifiers in the U.S., told Noyes he has "noticed little action across the industry to meet SOE's changes."

The failure to address the new rule may come from a lack of information and a historical lack of oversight requirements. Ensrud told Noyes, "Some organic suppliers are still unaware of the March 19 compliance requirements. Because importers, exporters, brokers, traders, and storage facilities have not historically been required to be certified, we believe there will be an increase in last-minute organic certification applications."

When a supplier is not SOE compliant, production may suffer. Ensrud told Noyes: "Suppose a manufacturer of organic breakfast cereals finds that a handler of organic raisins in their supply chain hasn't pursued certification in light of SOE. Now the manufacturer must find a replacement, and it might suffer production disruption in the meantime."

Rural residents often have limited retail choices for groceries and staples; when dollar stores close, they have even less

In some small towns, dollar stores add grocery and staple options in remote areas with few or no alternatives. In other cases, dollar stores were built right next to the local grocery store, slowly chipping away profits and eventually closing the local business. In both scenarios, rural residents rely on dollar stores for affordable staples. When they close, rural people have fewer options.

"Even though inflation is cooling, prices are still higher than they were pre-pandemic. They've hit low-income consumers the hardest, which is why many shop at dollar stores," report Bianca Facchinei and Emily Grossberg of Scripps News. "Dollar stores aren't just about saving money; sometimes, they're the only option." Consumer Reports deputy editor Brian Vines told Scripps News, "So many smaller mom-and-pop and independent stores have had to shutter because of competition from dollar stores, and those very communities now are faced with the very real threat of having no retail."

Last week, Dollar Tree said, "It plans to close 600 underperforming Family Dollar locations between now and June," Facchinei and Grossberg add. "An additional 370 Family Dollar and 30 Dollar Tree stores will close at the end of each store's current lease term."

Vines hopes the closures may offer opportunities for new growth. Vines told Scripps: "We're thinking about independent grocery stores or other folks who can really provide robust offerings. They see fertile ground now that those value retailers who've undercut them in the past aren't operating in the space."

Larger retailers used their dominance to push suppliers and squeeze competitors during pandemic, FTC report shows

Larger retailers used the pandemic to 'come
out ahead.' (Photo by S. Lee, Unsplash)

American grocery prices remain usually high, and many smaller-scale grocers still struggle to recover from pandemic setbacks. A new Federal Trade Commission report sheds some light on how larger retailers used their power to push suppliers to deliver to them first, which caused more struggles for smaller competitors and may be partially to blame for why grocery costs have remained high even as overall inflation has cooled.

"Federal regulators said large grocery chains used their size and scale to keep shelves stocked during the pandemic, edging out smaller rivals when most stores struggled with product shortages and distribution bottlenecks," reports Liz Young of The Wall Street Journal. Many larger retailers put "stricter delivery requirements into place and fined vendors that didn't comply. . . The demands led many suppliers to route more goods toward those retailers to avoid the fines."

FTC Chair Lina Khan told the Journal, "Dominant firms used this moment to come out ahead at the expense of their competitors and the communities they serve." Young reports, "The agency said revenue growth at grocers outpaced the cost increases many of them faced from suppliers, suggesting that higher profits 'warrant further inquiry by the commission and policymakers.'"

While supply bottlenecks thwarted smaller grocers during the pandemic, "Some of the largest U.S. retailers, including Walmart, Home Depot, Costco and Target, chartered their own cargo ships in 2021 to import goods and get around the chokepoints," Young writes. "Small grocers say the pandemic exacerbated their longtime struggles to compete with bigger retailers." Robert Buche, chief executive of South Dakota grocery chain G.F. Buche, told Young, "Covid just made it more obvious what's been happening for years with us independents."

Looking for a fresh way to look at common community coverage? Check out Solutions Journalism support.

If you're a community journalist who wants to add solution-seeking depth to your reporting tools, consider joining the Solutions Journalism Network's next Rural Cohort. The deadline to apply has been extended to April 2.

Journalists from any rural-serving news organization are welcome to apply to be part of this year's cohort, which will teach participants how to incorporate solutions journalism into regular practice. All cohort members will receive professional development from the Solutions Journalism Network and support from each other.

Solutions Journalism training includes two-hour monthly meetings that focus on how journalists can find meaningful solutions to journalism stories in coverage such as county board meetings, press releases and regular beat coverage. Training will show editors and journalists how to evaluate story ideas, spot solutions opportunities, and effectively execute solutions stories while meeting deadlines.

Solutions Journalism isn't a program designed to add work to a newsroom's already full plate. Instead, cohort members will learn how to convert some of the vital and valuable coverage they're already doing into a solutions framework.

The initial application takes less than two minutes to complete and is due by April 2. Click here to explore.

For additional information, please contact Rural Media Manager Melissa Cassutt at melissa@solutionsjournalism.org

Nominations sought for the Tom and Pat Gish Award for courage, integrity and tenacity in rural journalism by April 15

Tom and Pat Gish, about 20 years ago

Each year the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, publisher of The Rural Blog, presents the Tom and Pat Gish Award for courage, tenacity and integrity in rural journalism, named for the couple who exemplified those qualities as publishers of The Mountain Eagle in Whitesburg, Ky., for 52 years.

Nominations for the Gish Award may be made at any time, but the deadline for new nominations to be considered for this year's award is April 15. To make a nomination, send a detailed letter with some documentation explaining how the nominee shows the kind of courage, tenacity and integrity that Tom and Pat Gish demonstrated at their weekly newspaper in the Central Appalachian coalfield. They withstood advertiser boycotts, business competition, declining population, personal attacks, and even the burning of their office to give their readers the kind of journalism often lacking in rural areas, and were the first winners of the award named for them. Tom died in 2008 and Pat in 2014; their son Ben is editor and publisher of the Eagle and serves on the award selection committee.

Additional documentation may be submitted after the nomination, and may be requested or required. Send your nominating letter, initial documentation and any questions to Institute Director Benjy Hamm at benjy.hamm@uky.edu.

The Institute seeks nominations that measure up, at least in major respects, to the records of the Gishes and other previous winners. Other winners have been the Ezzell family of The Canadian Record in the Texas panhandle; Jim Prince and Stanley Dearman, current and late publishers of The Neshoba Democrat in Philadelphia, Miss.; Samantha Swindler of The Oregonian for her work at The Times-Tribune in Corbin, Ky., and Jacksonville Daily Progress in Texas; Stanley Nelson and the Concordia Sentinel in Ferriday, La.; Jonathan and Susan Austin of the Yancey County News in North Carolina; the late Landon Wills of the McLean County News in Kentucky; the Trapp family of the Rio Grande Sun in northern New Mexico; Ivan Foley of the Platte County Landmark in northwestern Missouri; the Cullen family of the Storm Lake Times-Pilot in northwest Iowa; and Les Zaitz of the Malheur Enterprise in eastern Oregon. In 2019, the award went to three reporters whose outstanding careers revealed much about the coal industry in Central Appalachia: Howard Berkes, retired from NPR; Ken Ward Jr., then with the Charleston Gazette-Mail; and his mentor at the Gazette, the late Paul Nyden. In 2020 the award went to the late Tim Crews of the Sacramento Valley Mirror; in 2021 to the Thompson-High Family of The News Reporter and the Border Belt Independent in Whiteville, N.C.; in 2022 to Ellen Kreth and the Madison County Record of Huntsville, Ark.; and in 2023 to Craig Garnett of the Uvalde Leader-News in Texas.

California prosecutors charge fentanyl suppliers with murder. The legally unsettled approach is catching on.

Prosecutors in California are forging a path to make fentanyl dealers accountable for their part in overdose deaths by filing homicide charges against them. In Riverside County, California, county district attorney Mike Hestrin "has charged 34 suspected fentanyl suppliers with murder and is said to be the first prosecutor in California to achieve a guilty verdict from a jury in a fentanyl-related homicide trial," reports Michael Corkery of The New York Times. Some critics fault the prosecution of street dealers "as a misguided return to the aggressive approaches of the 1990s, which failed to curb drug use and swelled state prison populations."

But even in boldly liberal parts of the state, murder investigations of fentanyl overdoses are being used to discourage fentanyl sales and provide some level of justice for families. Corkery writes, "Some other counties — like San Diego and Placer, near Sacramento — that have also brought murder charges against fentanyl suppliers have sizable numbers of conservative-minded voters who tend to favor more punitive approaches to crime." Even in San Francisco, the district attorney's office is planning to prosecute fentanyl dealers for overdose deaths.

While prosecutors pursue murder charges against fentanyl dealers, their cases are on murky legal ground. "Prosecutors have been working around the fact that California does not have a law that specifically allows fentanyl deaths to be charged as murders," Corkery explains. 

Defense attorneys have responded to the prosecutions as "overbroad and unconstitutional," Corkery reports. But their complaints are being drowned out. "Parents whose children died from fentanyl are a driving force behind new laws and stepped-up prosecutions just as the parents of drunken-driving victims swayed the nation to crack down on alcohol-fueled traffic deaths decades ago."

To read more on how California prosecutors are using the Watson murder rule to prosecute fentanyl suppliers, click here. 

Drug Enforcement Administration statistics draw a startling picture of fentanyl's lethal power: It is the leading cause of death for Americans ages 18 to 45, and it's responsible for nearly 70 percent of the United States' 107,000+ drug overdose deaths in the past year. A educational warning video is shared below.

Finally Friday musings: When only big sky and great open spaces feel like home, visiting can be a bittersweet journey

View of the Snake Range inside Great Basin National Park, Nevada. (Photo by Claire Carlson, The Daily Yonder)

A Love Letter to Nevada’s Wide Open Spaces

by Claire Carlson, The Daily Yonder

---

One of my favorite places in the world is a small town called Baker west of the Nevada-Utah border where weird sculptures made of rusting car parts border the road and a joint general store-motel offers anything you might need, including obscure books on the American West and artisan beer and coffee, depending on the time of day and your mood.

Perhaps best known as the gateway to Great Basin National Park (one of the country’s least crowded national parks and my personal favorite), Baker is also at the beginning – or the end, depending on which way you’re driving – of the “Loneliest Road in America,” i.e. the section of Highway 50 that stretches from Baker to Dayton, Nevada.

But this road is far from lonely: small towns like Ely and Austin provide excellent stops for the intrepid road tripper looking to see an abandoned silver mining-era castle or eat at a retro diner that’s retro because it’s been in business since the 1950s, not retro because they decorated it that way. For me, the sagebrush and red-tailed hawks offer more than enough company for the six-hour drive across the state. 

Rural Nevada is a place unlike anywhere else I’ve been. The seventh biggest-by-land state in the country, Nevada boasts an enormous amount of open space once you get outside the metro-areas of Reno or Las Vegas, and it’s one of the only places I’ve been where you could get pulled over for driving under 80 miles per hour. And with the way I like to drive through the state, getting pulled over for being too slow is a real risk, but I can’t help it: rural Nevada is a place I want to linger.

I was born and raised in Nevada, first in Carson City and then Reno. I moved away from home five years ago now, and at best I return once a year to visit. I know I will visit less often as the people I know there move away for their own big adventures. 

The last time I was in Reno, the most noticeable change was the sprawl. The cookie cutter houses and roads spewing all directions felt unbearably suburban. The new Starbucks and Cracker Barrel and In-N-Out burned big on the landscape. It felt unoriginal, overdone, and a little bit lonely. All I could think about was how desperately I wanted to drive east until I made it to the Loneliest Road in America, where maybe, finally, I could recognize the state I so love. 

Suburban sprawl is a dilemma in many cities, not just Reno. I also know that romanticizing small towns, like I am wont to do in Nevada, can detract from the real issues facing rural America. But in Nevada, the difference between urban and rural is stark, and more and more, the places that feel most like home in Nevada aren’t the cities but the wide open spaces outside of them. 

This article first appeared on The Daily Yonder and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

As the U.S. faces an ongoing mental health crisis, 988 call centers look to add geolocation services

In 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention verified 45,979 suicides; in 2021, the numbers increased to 48,183. Added together, the number of people lost to suicides could fill the Rose Bowl Stadium. When the CDC's provisional suicide counts from 2022 and 2023 are tacked on, the death toll reaches 172,520. 

With those tragic numbers in mind, in 2022 the Biden administration transitioned the country's 10-digit suicide hotline to the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, which provides an easy-to-remember three-digit number for 24/7 crisis care. But the 988 program has a gaping problem: It lacks geolocation service, reports Kery Murakami of Route 50, which "means callers are being sent to call centers thousands of miles away from where they actually are. . . People dialing into the hotline are sent to a call center based on their area code, not on where they are physically calling from."

The lack of geolocation means 988 counselors lack the capacity to connect a caller with services and follow-up support in another state. Murakami explains, "The issue, according to Rob MacDougall, director of emergency services for Johnson County, Kansas, is that a call center in Kansas isn't equipped, for instance, to connect someone in Florida to the services and help they need." The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the Federal Communications Commission are working with cellphone carriers to "test routing calls based on where a person in crisis is generally located." To ensure a level of privacy, call centers don't receive a caller's exact location.

While adding geolocation information will help 988 be more effective, some areas are still working to implement basic 988 services. "Many states are still working out technical kinks or struggling with staffing, which can lead to wait times or not reaching a counselor at all," Murakami reports. "In Florida, a distraught caller may have to sit on hold for 32 seconds, according to SAMHSA data. 

Despite struggles, the lifeline is making progress. "Before 988 was implemented, it might take several minutes to reach someone. Now the average response time has decreased from 2 minutes and 39 seconds to 41 seconds, according to SAMHSA," reports Christina Caron of The New York Times. 

Quick hits: Calamity-predicting maps; rural areas grow; check out this freezer; are there ghosts in your kitchen?

First Street aims to predict natural calamities.
(First Street aerial photo)

As home insurance rates continue to spike upward, many insurers, home buyers and owners want more accurate, detailed information on how likely a climate catastrophe is in their region. The climate and tech non-profit First Street is "building up-to-date flood maps to estimate what could happen to homes and businesses in an era of rising sea levels and more frequent, stronger storms," reports Leslie Kaufman of Bloomberg News. The company uses advanced climate science and engineering to identify the risk for every property in the country.

As some Americans choose to leave urban hubs, rural America is growing. "In 2020–21 and 2021–22, rural areas experienced an increase in population because more people moved from urban to rural areas than in the opposite direction, a reversal of domestic migration trends from the previous decade," reports the Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service. "Net domestic migration in rural areas jumped from near zero in 2019–20 to more than 0.35 percent in the last two years."

Wilkinson's book celebrates the magical connection
between food and family. (Courtesy photo via UKN)

Family food traditions and recipes are often seen and shared as treasures. Crystal Wilkinson, a Kentucky author and poet, sees her cooking as a path to channeling with her Black Appalachian ancestors, report Lindsey Piercy and Kody Kiser for the University of Kentucky News. "Raised by her grandparents in the hollers of Indian Creek, Kentucky, Wilkinson vividly remembers the dishes that were commonplace in her childhood." Wilkinson calls on cooking memories as a way to reconnect with those she has lost. Her new book is Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts.

A farm's value can be based primarily on the land, but what happens to land values when the property is used for solar? In his commentary for Farm Progress, Michael Lauher reviews two land sales for a look at the outcomes. "Professional farm managers have fielded questions about how a solar lease might affect farmland values — or even the option to lease. . . Two sales do not make a trend. But we can make interesting observations from them." Read his thoughts and advice here.

In 2023, Oreo cookie lovers accused its maker of putting less creamy filling in their beloved cookies. The snack maker denied the allegations. Scripps News reports a new cookie conflict: Chips Ahoy! is boldly changing its cookie recipes. Foodmaker Mondelēz International said different chocolate chips will be in the mix along with a higher-concentrate Madagascar vanilla extract. "An official for Chips Ahoy! said developers spent more than 5,000 hours in the kitchen and tested more than 60 recipes before getting the desired result."

A food pantry in rural Nebraska has a new hunger-fighting kitchen appliance -- a freezer that can hold an entire truckload of meat. "Simon House, a Columbus-based thrift store and food pantry, installed a walk-in freezer, with a capacity to store a truckload of frozen meat," reports Tim Trudell of the Columbus Telegram. It's the "first such freezer in rural America . . . . thousands of people can enjoy protein as part of their meals, said Lucy Lutjelusche, Simon House store manager and director."

Team of former Wall Street Journal employees help to support smaller news organizations in U.S.

Photo by Scott Graham, Unsplash

A team of former Wall Street Journal employees is helping “small legacy and start-up news organizations around the country whose news teams have been depleted by shrinking revenue and cutbacks,” reports Jeff Rowe in the Connecting newsletter, which is distributed to many former and current Associated Press employees, and other journalists.

According to Rowe’s report: “Dubbed Pro News Coaches (PNC), the WSJ alums currently are at work in eight small news organizations scattered around the nation. The Journal alums typically help young reporters and their editors plan stories, conceive and manage projects, and edit. Journal alums are coaching in, among other places, Olney, Texas, Excelsior Springs, Missouri, and Signal Hill, California.”

“PNC offers its initial coaching services free but intends to segue into collecting modest fees,” Rowe reports. “PNC is based in New York but has no connection with The Wall Street Journal or its parent News Corp. Most of the coaching is done via Zoom, phone calls or email . . . .”

The support comes at a time when the number of journalists in U.S. newsrooms is in sharp decline. According to the 2023 State of Local News Report by the Local News Initiative at Northwestern University, “Newspapers are continuing to vanish at an average rate of more than two a week. Since 2005, the country has lost almost 2,900 newspapers, including more than 130 confirmed closings or mergers over the past year. All but about 100 were weeklies, which are often the sole provider of local news in small and mid-sized communities.”

The U.S. has 100,000 fewer polling locations, which can change who votes and who wins elections.

Lack of oversight and pandemic changes have reduced
on-site voting options. (Photo by Ernie Journeys, Unsplash)

A lack of places for Americans to cast their votes adds a new wrinkle to an already challenging U.S. election year. "During the 2022 midterms, voters cast their ballots at just under 95,000 polling places across the country — half the number of locations available four years prior," reports Chris Teale of Route 50. The downward trend began after the Supreme Court's 2013 ruling against the Voting Rights Act. "In particular, justices struck down Section 5 of the 1965 law, which required certain state and local governments to obtain federal pre-clearance before making any changes to their voting laws or practices."

Once some states were no longer required to obtain permission, local offices were able to close polling places, change voting hours and create other restrictions without oversight. Teale writes, "Fewer places to cast a ballot can be a barrier to voting for many people, especially low-income individuals who may lack transportation or time off to vote." The voting rights program at the nonprofit Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights "identified 868 polling places that were closed in jurisdictions that previously were subject to Section 5."

The 2013 ruling isn't the only reason polling places closed. The pandemic fundamentally changed American voting habits. "Amid stay-at-home orders, states were forced to rethink their voting procedures," Teale reports. "Some embraced vote-by-mail and absentee options that remain in place today. As a result, some states have less of a need for physical polling places and have consolidated them."

Regardless of why there are fewer voting locations, the lack of them can profoundly change who will vote. A 2020 study by Enrico Catoni in the American Economic Journal: Applied Economics "found that an increase of one mile in the distance someone must travel to a polling location reduces turnout from majority-minority districts by 19%, compared to a 5% reduction for majority-white districts," Teale adds. "What’s more, fewer polling places can mean longer lines at those still open, which can discourage people from voting."

Despite a rural veterinary shortage, many vets 'swooped in' to help treat animals hurt in the Texas fires

The extreme losses in western Texas 'can translate into
trauma.' (Texas A & M photo via Ambrook Research)

The wildfires that decimated western Texas in late February created thousands of miles of scarred earth and dead cattle. Adding to the disaster: There weren't enough veterinarians to treat the thousands of burned and wounded livestock and farm animals.

"The overwhelming number of injuries contrasted dramatically with the number of veterinarians who could respond quickly across a vast swath of charred Panhandle ground," reports Stephanie Stephens of Ambrook Research. "With an acknowledged shortage of rural veterinarians nationally, animal specialists from outside the area swooped in to collaborate with local vets whose plates were quite full. They made the difference, in so many cases, between animal life and death."

A cattle death toll of more than 7,000 doesn't tell the story of the profound loss ranching families feel for their animals. Andy Holloway, a county extension agent for Texas A&M AgriLife in Canadian, Texas, pop., 2,500, told the story of meeting a rancher who had lost all but one of his cows. Holloway told Stephens, "He collapsed into my arms, sobbing. He lost hundreds of mother cows … only one survived."

To treat every cow that survived the fire, including helping farmers decide which ones to cull, the Texas A&M Veterinary Emergency Team team "deployed to Canadian for 10 days as part of a seasoned group of university professionals who helped triage emergency care through five counties," Stephen reports. Some cattle were burned so badly they were euthanized. "Others were burned and could be cared for. Still others with hooves damaged by heat, and burns to lower legs and feet, sometimes showed dire injuries after four to seven days." Cows that cannot stand have to be euthanized. Some surviving cattle face smoke-induced respiratory problems.

Still, the people of western Texas are finding ways to help one another. Those who have grazable land are offering to share it. Others are donating fencing for animals and pets that survived. But for many ranchers, there are hard days ahead. Tara Haskins, a nurse practitioner focused on mental health programming, told Stephens: "The destruction of animals can translate into trauma. This is brought on by the massive depopulation, the conditions of those still suffering, the triaging of animals, removal of carcasses, and the burnout — producers manage all these moving parts, which can include financial devastation.”

"The need remains extraordinary as difficult assessments and treatment continue," Stephens writes. "For ranchers who need to find help or explore disaster relief options, or readers who want to donate money or supplies, a comprehensive list of vetted options is available at AgriSafe, Texas Farm Bureau, and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension . . . . General needs include hay and hay-hauling equipment, fencing supplies, salt blocks, and cattle cubes comprised of at least 20% protein."

U.S. beef herd hits a dramatic low as ranchers face repeated droughts and extreme weather

Graph by John McCracken, Investigate Midwest,
from USDA data

More prolonged periods of drought paired with extreme weather swings have reduced U.S. beef cattle herds to their lowest numbers since 1963. "Droughts starting in 2020 are a contributing factor in the nation's historically low beef inventory, according to Department of Agriculture research," reports John McCracken of Investigate Midwest. "Nebraska and Missouri — two of the top 10 beef-producing states — experienced the largest decline in the quality of June pastureland since 2020 compared to the other top states, according to an Investigate Midwest analysis of USDA data."

Since 1975, the decrease in U.S. beef herd numbers were attributed to "increased global beef production and cattle imports," McCracken explains. However, more recent shifts in livestock numbers have been partly caused by beef producers' response to a lack of water and grazable pasture. During droughts, livestock ranchers are more likely to wean calves off milk earlier than usual, "a common practice in dry years, but one that can also put young cattle at higher risk of dying." Ranchers also cull more cattle and spend more money on feed.

Higher costs to raise a beef herd end in fewer cattle on the market and higher beef prices. "Currently, cattle market experts report that the price paid by meatpackers to beef cattle ranchers is expected to be an all-time high," McCracken reports. "Food industry experts told various media outlets in late 2023 that this price increase would translate into sticker shock for consumers. . . . At the end of last year, the price of beef per pound peaked at $5.35, a 40-year high."

Midwestern agriculture depends on rain and groundwater. Dennis Todey, climatologist and director of the USDA's Midwest Climate Hub, noted how much "climate change has complicated the region's drought realities," McCracken reports. "Livestock producers now deal with weather whiplash — the result of climate change — of severely wet years, followed by intense, dry seasons." This past winter's snowfall across the Midwest is "expected to bring relief from the recent run of drought years," McCracken reports. "Despite forecasts of reduced drought levels for 2024, ranchers will continue to recover from previous drought years."

Some rural hospitals face a difficult choice of closing in-patient beds to focus instead on 24/7 emergency care

Hospitals with the special designation won't offer
inpatient care. (Photo by G. Rosenke, Unsplash)

Rural hospitals that are struggling financially have an option to receive more federal funding if they focus on emergency services instead of inpatient care. But less than 20 hospitals have made that switch since it became available in January 2023, reports Devna Rose for The Associated Press. 

She writes: "Rural emergency hospitals receive more than $3 million in federal funding a year and higher Medicare reimbursements in exchange for closing all inpatient beds and providing 24/7 emergency care."

There are downsides to the changes, both for rural residents and the hospitals. Rose writes, "People might have to travel further for treatments for illnesses that require inpatient stays, like pneumonia or Covid-19. In some of the communities where hospitals have converted to the new designation, residents are confused about what kind of care they can receive."

According to the AP report: “'It’s ironic' that the facilities that might need the most help can’t afford to take the risk, said Carrie Cochran-McClain, chief policy officer at the National Rural Health Association. She pointed to having to give up certain services and benefits, such as a federal discount program for prescription drugs."

Only 19 hospitals have made the change so far, according to the University of North Carolina's Sheps Center for Health Services Research. But "Brock Slabach, the National Rural Health Association’s chief operations officer, told the AP that upwards of 30 facilities are interested in converting to rural emergency hospitals this year."