Fact-check: Last night's Republican presidential nomination acceptance speech

History in HD photo

This week Milwaukee, Wisconsin's Fiserv Forum played host to the Republican National Convention. The packed event highlighted the party's unilateral support for Former President Donald Trump, who took the stage last night and gave his nomination acceptance speech. Trump's speech was longer than most and filled with his past accomplishments and claims about President Joe Biden's poor performance.

CNN reporters fact-checked several points from Trump's acceptance speech, a few of which are highlighted below. For CNN's complete fact-check story, click here. The Rural Blog will run a CNN fact-check story after the Democratic National Convention in August.

Trump claimed that there is record inflation under President Joe Biden.
Facts First: "Trump’s claim is false. The current inflation rate, 3% in June 2024, is nowhere near the all-time record of 23.7%, set in 1920," reports Daniel Dale. "Trump could fairly say that the inflation rate hit a 40-year high in June 2022, when it was 9.1%, but it has since plummeted."

Trump claimed that the success of his trade deal with China resulted in China purchasing $50 billion in American goods.
Facts First: "The claim that China bought $50 billion worth of American products as a result of a trade deal is false," reports Katie Lobosco. "Trump is referring to what is known as the Phase One deal he struck with Beijing in December 2019. . . .While the deal required China to buy $50 billion worth of American agricultural products by the end of 2021 – Beijing did not live up to its commitment."

Trump claimed that U.S. gas prices were up 60%.
Facts First: "The average price of a regular gallon of gasoline nationwide is $3.51 as of Thursday, according to AAA," reports Bryan Mena. "That’s up about 47% from the day President Joe Biden was inaugurated when the average was $2.39 . . . ."

Trump claimed that Biden plans to quadruple U.S. taxes.
Facts First: "This is false," reports Daniel Dale. "The nonpartisan Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center think tank, which analyzed Biden’s never-implemented budget proposals for fiscal 2024, found this: 'His plan would raise average after-tax incomes for low-income households in 2024.' . . .The very biggest burden under the Biden plan would have been carried by the very richest households."

Trump stated that during his administration, the world was at peace.
Facts First: "Trump’s claim about world peace under his presidency is false. There were dozens of unresolved wars and armed conflicts when Trump left office in early 2021," Dale reports. "The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, which tracks armed conflict in countries around the world, said in a June email that it estimates there were active armed conflicts in 51 international states in 2020 and again active armed conflicts in 51 international states in 2021."

A Minnesota town goes 'green' for rural independence and to save residents money; 'It was never about climate.'

Wind turbines help Morris residents save money on
their electrical bills. (Photo by Bastian Pudill, Unsplash)

When economic vision was paired with resource conservation in Morris, Minn., the small town accidentally went "green." Its success serves as a model for other rural places.

Seen from a distance, the Morris landscape is dotted with wind turbines, which create "cheap electricity. . .providing energy to make carbon-neutral fertilizer. Cows graze next to solar panels that provide them with shade," reports Edward Humes of The Wall Street Journal. "A county-wide compost operation disposes of food and agricultural waste, electric buses take kids to school, the public library relies on geothermal heating and even a city-owned liquor store has rooftop solar panels."

The small Stevens County town boasts 5,206 citizens and skews Republican. In establishing their green mecca, Morris residents focused on "rural self-sufficiency. . . saving tax dollars and eliminating costly inefficiency and waste," Humes adds. "When Troy Goodnough, the director of sustainability at the local campus of the University of Minnesota, arrived more than 15 years ago and asked how he could help address those economic concerns, a partnership emerged that has made Morris one of the most sustainable farm towns in America — even though that was never the town’s goal."

Blaine Hill, the recently retired city manager, told Humes, "We never made it about climate. We just did it because it makes sense. And the more we did, the more we wanted to do.” Humes reports, "The result has been dubbed 'the Morris Model' by its participants: the town, the school district, Stevens County and the campus of 1,500 students. They are making their data and blueprints available to other communities interested in trying something similar."

Location of Stevens County
(Wikipedia map)

The town's model had the humblest of beginnings -- garbage. "For generations, farm and food waste had gone to the dump. In 2012, a group of students at the university launched a for-profit compost operation so successful that it soon expanded beyond the campus to accept drop-offs county-wide," Humes explains. "Eventually the students donated the whole operation to a grateful Stevens County. From the farmers’ perspective, those 'kids next door' helped them turn trash into cash."

With an independent spirit as their guide, the town's practical efforts transformed waste into savings and produced a domino effect of residential participation. "By 2018, the Morris Model had 100 projects underway," Humes reports. "It set out to end the landfilling of waste by 2025 and to produce 80% of the county’s energy and reduce energy consumption by 30% by 2030. . . . The common thread in these projects is that they have been promoted as a way to cut waste and costs and to create local independence — which has helped them win support in states both red and blue."

Cases of bird flu in cattle and humans are on the rise; researchers disagree on vaccinations for farmworkers

Dairy cows or milk could infect humans
with bird flu. (Photo by A. Kipp, Unsplash)

As cases of bird flu increase in cattle, some experts believe the United States should follow Finland's example and offer vaccinations to workers who are likely to be exposed. "Veterinarians and researchers have taken note of Finland’s move to vaccinate farmworkers at risk of infection. They wonder why their government doesn’t do the same," report Amy Maxmen and Arthur Allen of KFF Health News.

Many farmworkers may handle infected birds or raw milk products, which could leave them vulnerable to catching the virus. Kay Russo, a livestock and poultry veterinarian in Fort Collins, Colorado, told KFF Health News, "Farmworkers, veterinarians, and producers are handling large volumes of milk that can contain high levels of bird flu virus. . . . If a vaccine seems to provide some immunity, I think it should be offered to them.”

Testing results from Colorado may support the move to vaccinate workers who could be in contact with cows, raw cow milk or chickens. Amy Maxmen of KFF Health News reports, "Five people who work at a poultry farm in northeastern Colorado have tested positive for the bird flu, the Colorado public health department reported July 14. (One of the cases awaits confirmation by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.) This brings the known number of U.S. cases to nine."

Extreme heat may have played a role in the virus' spread in Colorado because farmworkers' protective gear, such as goggles and masks, makes the work even hotter. "Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Pandemic Center at Brown University, posted on X, 'You don’t send farm workers in to cull H5N1 infected birds without goggles and masks. Period,' Maxmen reports. "If it’s too hot to wear those protections, it’s too hot to cull. We need vaccines to be made available to farm workers. We have to stop gambling with peoples’ lives.'"

So far the CDC has remained reluctant to pursue bird flu vaccinations. "Some researchers side with the CDC recommending against vaccination for now," Maxmen and Allen write. "There’s no evidence that this year’s bird flu virus spreads between people or causes serious disease in humans. And it’s unclear how well the available vaccine would prevent either scenario. . . . In considering vaccines, the agency takes a cue from a 1976 outbreak of the swine flu."

So far, it has been difficult to gauge how many people have been infected with H5N1, but some researchers in Michigan are working on testing for it. "To understand whether cases are going undetected, researchers have sent the CDC blood samples from workers on dairy farms," Maxmen reports. 

What is "climate-smart" agriculture and how do we know if it works? Report authors call for a CSA framework.

U.S. farmers have their hands full amid increased production demands, climate change management and working to use fewer environmentally harmful practices. In response to those needs, a new agricultural strategy known as "climate-smart agriculture" has evolved; however, the concept lacks a prescribed model. In their article for the Prairie Research Institute, Olivia Messerges and Trent Ford "call for developing a consistent, widely applicable, and standardized framework to assess what makes a specific agricultural system or practice 'climate-smart' and analyzes agroforestry and prescribed grazing within said framework."

At this time, CSA is broadly defined with a three-pillar structure, which includes: increasing agricultural productivity, enhancing agricultural resilience and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Beyond those requirements, more specific guidance is needed. Messerges and Ford explain: "A standardized framework would also enable producers, policymakers and researchers to consistently compare the effectiveness, tradeoffs and implementation barriers of various CSA systems and practices. The framework will result in improved implementation of CSA goals, better policy development, and more informed decision-making processes on a national scale. . . . This article subsequently provides examples of such an assessment using examples of agroforestry and prescribed grazing systems, which are often referred to as 'climate-smart.'"

In its simplest terms, agroforestry means farming with trees, and its use is divided into four methods including silvopasture, riparian forest buffers, forest farming and alley cropping. Each implementation practice comes with a complex set of positives, negatives and "we don't know yet" results. "Alley cropping can support soil stabilization, bioremediation, and biodiversity, which are important for climate change adaptation and emission reduction," Messerges and Ford note. "However, root competition with grain or horticulture crops may hinder production benefits. Riparian forest buffers are effective at helping farmers to become more resilient. . . but productivity and emission benefits are not well-known."

Prescribed grazing is another farming practice considered "climate-smart," but once again without a structure the term and use of grazing as a method that delivers on the three pillars is hard to measure. "In the context of the three-pillar framework, the CSA benefits of prescribed grazing are less clear than for agroforestry," Messerges and Ford report. "While prescribed grazing offers many benefits, there is substantial uncertainty in its effectiveness in achieving CSA objectives."

To read Messerges and Ford's full report, sources and descriptive graphs, click here.

Some solar companies are offering jaw-dropping rates for land leases; prices are a source of profit and concern

A solar company's 'pitch' letter to a farmland
owner. (Farm Journal)

The U.S. eastern corn belt is one of the most popular regions for solar energy companies to vie for land contracts. To convince farmers to negotiate leases, solar companies are offering increasingly high rental rates. Their high-dollar offers can add to land competition and local conflicts, reports Tyne Morgan of Farm Journal. "Todd Janzen, an agriculture lawyer based in Indiana, says solar leasing started in the Hoosier state five years ago. Today, such leasing is gaining traction and some controversy."

U.S. farmland is predicted to decrease in value by 2025, but solar energy leases may change that. "In Illinois, farmers are reporting eye-popping offers that are well above $1,500. One farmer near Morton, Ill., shared with U.S. Farm Report some information regarding an offer he received via an unsolicited letter," Morgan writes. "The company offered him a rate of $3,200 to $4,500 per acre. The company offered an additional $1,000 if the farmer signed a letter of intent, plus $3,000 more upon signing the cash lease."

Most sources say that current solar energy leases range from $500 to $4,000 per acre, which even with a 50-acre lease, is a chunk of money; however, the length of those leases may cause some family farmers to balk. Janzen told Morgan, "Farmers are used to one-, two-, maybe five-year cash rent leases, and these are for 20, 30 or even 40 years. So, they're really a generational decision that needs to be made.”

Despite potential monetary gains, solar contracts come with risks. Jazen told Morgan, “I think there's some risk on a personal level. These are becoming somewhat controversial at the county level. And so it can divide neighbors and counties, which is unfortunate, but it's also a reality.”

Reviving a native coastal hay could be the solution for farmers experiencing saltwater intrusions on their land

Salt hay is naturally weed-free and rot resistant.
(Graphic by Adam Dixon, Ambrook Research)

As saltwater intrusion occurs more frequently along U.S. coasts, regional farmers are losing part of their livelihoods to ground that is too salty for many traditional crops. In seeking out a solution, some farmers are working to bring back a native hay species that thrives in salt. "Farms at the low, marshy edges of the East Coast are rapidly losing ground as rising sea levels push salty water further into the fields, reports Kate Morgan of Ambrook Research. "American growers are beginning to see their own opportunities in reviving a historic salt hay industry."

Spartina patens -- more commonly known as "salt hay" -- was grown along U.S. coastal borders beginning during colonial times through the end of the 1900s. The perennial cordgrass hay can be "used for animal fodder, as a building insulator, packing material, or turned into paper," Morgan explains. "It’s incredibly easy to grow, but equally difficult to harvest. It performs best in marshy areas close to the water, which meant farmers had to cut it by hand, using horses and oxen to haul it out, or loading it onto rafts. By 1945, tractors had officially overtaken horsepower on American farms, and marshes and machinery don’t mix."

While farmers love a crop that is naturally weed-free, self-seeding and rot resistant, not being able to harvest it with modern equipment presents a challenge. Atlantic-coast farmer John Zander, whose Cohansey Meadows Farms has some significantly salty soil, has been experimenting with salt hay production methods. "His fields, planted just a bit further inland than the grasses might typically grow, are producing prolifically," Morgan writes. "He cuts, bales, and sells some for mulch, bedding, and fodder, and he hopes increased supply will help reinvigorate the various markets for salt hay. But his main goal is to sell transplants to other coastal farmers."

Zander noticed his salt hay crops had added benefits. He told Morgan: “The root mass is just so dense and thick. It just really grips on. I think if we can get some of that into places where we’re having erosion problems, it might be pretty beneficial to some of these coastal farms and towns.” 

An Oregon Democrat won working-class votes in a 'red' U.S. House district; she wants more 'normal people' to be elected

Gluesenkamp Perez would like more 'normal people' elected
into Congress. (Marie Gluesenkamp Perez press photo)

As Democrats look for ways to regain footing with working-class voters, Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, a Democrat from a previously red district in Oregon, is a living example of changes her party may need to embrace if it wants to gain votes from people who "work for a living," writes Jason Zengerle for The New York Times. "Before she was elected to Congress, in 2022, Gluesenkamp Perez ran an auto-repair shop with her husband; her professional and personal acquaintances still largely consist of people who work in the trades — construction, carpentry, woodworking."

Gluesenkamp Perez doesn't think or act like many other politicians. Zengerle explains, "She hired her legislative director, in part, because the woman drove a Toyota Camry with 200,000 miles on it. 'That says a lot,' Gluesenkamp Perez explains. But what really sets her apart is the way she thinks about the federal government itself — which she believes is woefully out of touch with the needs of working-class Americans."

She has given voice to issues that reflect the needs of those who voted her into office. "While her opponent [Joe Kent] asserted that the 2020 election was stolen and that Dr. Anthony Fauci belonged in prison, she focused on the concerns of the community she knew," Zengerle adds. "Her biggest issue was pushing for 'right to repair' laws, which mandate that consumers have access to repair tools for everything from their smartphones and home medical devices to their cars and tractors." Gluesenkamp Perez told Zengerle: “We’re more and more surrounded by these black boxes that we have no influence over. I think it’s the American ethos that we know how to fix [expletive].”

While working-class connections got her into Congress, Gluesenkamp Perez found it hard to connect with her fellow politicians. "One of the few friendships she did strike up was with Jared Golden, a third-term Democratic representative from Maine," Zengerle writes. Golden's history included becoming leader of the Blue Dog Coalition when only seven members remained. "As the head of the Blue Dogs, he recruited Gluesenkamp Perez and Mary Peltola, who represents Alaska’s lone House district, to be his co-chairs. . . .The new Blue Dogs wanted to make it possible for more people like themselves ('normal people,' Gluesenkamp Perez calls them), from more districts like theirs, to get elected to Congress."

But standing up and speaking her mind has yet to have the legislative impact Gluesenkamp Perez wants. "The signature bills she has introduced or supported — table saws, right to repair, one to expand Pell grants to cover skills training at community colleges — are stuck in legislative purgatory," Zengerle explains. Her "biggest problem at the moment is Joe Kent, who is running again. This time, of course, Trump will also be on the ballot, which means Gluesenkamp Perez will need a good number of ticket-splitting voters to stay in office."

Some say she can't win re-election. To that end, she said: “All of the eggheads and all of the economists and all of the statisticians said we couldn’t do what we did. But you all showed up, and you believed it. Nobody saved us but us.”

Closing rural labor and delivery units poses problems for women, babies and rural population growth

Addie Comegys travels 45 minutes for her prenatal visits. 
(Photo by Tony Leys, KFF Health News)

As rural women have fewer babies, hospitals that once served more remote locations have closed their labor and delivery units, which leaves rural pregnant women facing maternity care deserts, reports Tony Leys of KFF Health News. In many areas, women leaving or not wanting to relocate to smaller towns with limited obstetric care has contributed to rural population loss.

Rural areas surrounding Oskaloosa, Iowa, population 11,558, illustrate how obstetric care has become long-distance care for some pregnant women. "At least 41 Iowa hospitals have shuttered their labor and delivery units since 2000," Leys writes. "Those facilities, representing about a third of Iowa hospitals, are located mostly in rural areas where birth numbers have plummeted."

Addie Comegys, who lives in southern Iowa and is expecting a baby in August, has spent part of her summer driving "45 minutes each way for prenatal checkups at Oskaloosa's hospital," Leys writes. "Oskaloosa's hospital has kept its labor and delivery unit open, partly by pulling in patients from 14 other counties." Not every smaller hospital has that geographical benefit.

For women who don't have reliable transportation or flexible work schedules, longer travel to see an obstetric provider becomes a barrier to care. Declining births have accelerated the problem. "Katy Kozhimannil, a University of Minnesota health policy professor who studies rural issues, said declining birth numbers and obstetric unit closures can create a vicious cycle," Leys reports. "Fewer babies being born in a region can lead a birthing unit to shutter. Then the loss of such a unit can discourage young people from moving to the area, driving birth numbers even lower."

Despite delivering far fewer babies, some rural hospitals have kept their units open, but that choice has posed care challenges. "A study published in JAMA in 2023 found that women were more likely to suffer serious complications if they gave birth in rural hospitals that handled 110 or fewer births a year," Leys writes. "The authors said they didn't support closing low-volume units because that could lead more women to have complications related to traveling for care. Instead, they recommended improving training and coordination among rural health providers."

Flooding, broken dams and Hurricane Beryl damage prompt discussions on how rural places can protect themselves

Tornadoes can rip across farmland and homes
in rural places. (Photo by N. Noonan Unsplash)

Extreme weather is often associated with flooded, wind-flattened or burned-to-the-ground homes and businesses. Rural areas have an added exposure to big losses that other areas don't have -- crops, animals and farm equipment can be damaged or annihilated during weather events.

Given those significant exposures, rural areas need to work on building or replacing support mechanisms and buckle down on wild weather preparedness, reports Chris Clayton of Progressive Farmer. "Rural America is learning the hard way that more investment is needed to protect rural infrastructure from catastrophic storms. . . . That includes Iowa, which is now coping with catastrophic damage in the northwestern part of the state following two April tornadoes that also ripped through communities." More recently, Vermont's Winooski River flooded roads, train tracks and homes after Hurricane Beryl's extreme rains filled it to bursting.

Kevin Paap, a commissioner for Blue Earth County, Minnesota, "testified at last week's U.S. Senate hearing for the National Association of Counties. Paap's county was on the national news during last month's flooding as the 100-year-old Rapidan Dam failed," Clayton explains. "Recovery is harder for small towns that don't have the funds for cost-share or even to write grants to help receive aid dollars, said Ted Brady, executive director of the Vermont League of Cities and Towns. Most towns simply don't have the professional staff to help recover quickly."

In Iowa, flooding completely submerged some crops, and other farms were ravaged by tornadoes. Government officials "rolled out a series of new disaster programs -- including a low-interest loan program for farmers -- as communities grapple with at least 2,000 destroyed homes and another 3,000 damaged," Clayton explains. "In some towns, nearly every single downtown business was wiped out, along with an estimated $130 million in damaged public infrastructure to the state."

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is changing some of its requirements to prevent extreme weather damage. "FEMA announced that public infrastructure rebuilt with FEMA money will have to be built to be more resilient from flooding," Clayton reports. "In the Senate hearing, Paap and others called for a more rapid response to help rural areas." Town mayors are calling for more financial flexibility "to ensure communities can spend disaster money in ways that will help mitigate long-term flood risks."

Flora & Fauna: Delightful fireflies may decline; a donkey's tale; cats chose people; still time to plant; reuniting horses

Fireflies can make an evening forest magical.
(Photo by Tony Phan, Unsplash)

One of the most beguiling insects in the United States very well might be the firefly. Bright, blinking and full of light, the males put on a show hoping to win a mate. For humans, the creatures' harmless nature and luminous joy make them irresistibly charming. But their existence is threatened. "Researchers found that climate change is among the most serious threats to firefly populations in the United States," reports Kiley Bense for Inside Climate News. Darin McNeil, the study’s lead investigator, told Bense, "What we were really surprised to find is it’s also long-term weather patterns, like averages and things that are expected to change with climate change, that are actually the number one drivers of firefly populations." Bense adds, "As some places become hotter and drier, their firefly populations could disappear."

Once upon a time, Diesel the Donkey ran away from home and joined an elk herd in Northern California. He had always longed to live free. "Diesel’s story has made headlines for years. It first did so in 2019, when he ran away from Terrie and her husband, Dave, who after months of searching for their new pet, gave him up for dead," reports Jonathan Edwards of The Washington Post. "Five years later, a video of Diesel roving the California wilderness as a fully enmeshed member of an elk herd [surfaced]. . . . The video, taken by a hunter, shows Diesel turning, trotting and running with his more graceful-looking herd mates." Some of us are born to be wild. Watch the video here.

Driscoll's has worked for years to breed the
perfect berries. (Photo by Maksim Shutov, Unsplash)

Sumptuous and sweet -- it's hard to resist the delights of fresh berries. From the lush decadence of strawberries and cream to the perky freshness of a juicy blueberry in a warm muffin, America's berries have never tasted so good, reports Ben Cohen of The Wall Street Journal. "Driscoll’s had to figure out how to breed, produce and sell its most flavorful strawberries and raspberries. . . . [It's] is now selling those ultraflavorful strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries under a fitting label: "Sweetest Batch." . . . They’re expensive and available only in limited quantities. . . but Americans are stretching their berry budgets to buy them."

Why cats decided to befriend humans isn't clear.
Maybe it's the beds. (Photo by K.S. Matheson, Unsplash)

In terms of evolution, people didn't choose to hang out with other people. Instead, survival mandated that humans stay together in groups. That's not true for felines. Solitary and smart, cats decided to live among people, "domesticate themselves," and even fine-tune their meows to communicate with humans, writes Grace Carroll for The Conversation, a journalist platform for academics. "Originally, cats were solitary creatures. Most of their social behavior was restricted to mother-kitten interactions. Outside of this relationship, cats rarely meow at each other. . . . However, as cats began to live alongside humans, these vocalizations took on new meanings. . . . Over time, cats have evolved to use vocal signals that resonate with our nurturing instincts."

In the American West, many wild mustang herds are rounded up each year to be divided and sold at auction. Clare Staples is working through her sanctuary to return horses to their long-lost herds, reports Cathy Free of The Washington Post. "Staples began purchasing the horses and working to reunite as many of them as possible with members of their original herds at her 9,000-acre ranch in Bend, Ore. She also rescued wild donkeys from kill pens and took in horses that had been relinquished to other animal rescue agencies."

Carrots can be grown the in the spring and fall.
(Photo by Julian Hochgesang, Unsplash)

It may be mid-July, but there's still time to grow your own produce or herbs. "It is never too late to start a garden," writes Nicole Burke, owner of the Gardenary. "Don't believe me? I'll explain. First, let's talk about what your first frost date means (and doesn't mean) because most of us have the completely wrong idea about the 'end' of gardening season. . . . You can absolutely continue to garden after your first frost date in the fall or winter and then begin to plant before your last frost date in the late winter or spring. The only thing your first frost date tells you is when your warm season ends and your cool season begins." Hoping to plant this month or in the fall? Click here.

'On the Front Porch' discussion on July 22 takes a look at the limits of government-sponsored support

The next 'On the Front Porch' conversation will be on July 22 at 4 p.m. E.T. Event hosts Tony Pipa and Brent Orrell will be joined by Kevin Kosar, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, who wrote the foreword for the new edition of Edward C. Banfield’s Government Project, which was first published in 1951.

Register here.

Banfield’s book explores the history and ultimate failure of Casa Grande Valley Farms, a 1937 New Deal farming cooperative established in Pinal County, Arizona, which aimed to help some of the poorest people in the country.

In his forward for the book, Kosar writes, "For five years, the farm succeeded. The revenues from the sale of its crops gave the Casa Grande settlers material comfort and wealth far beyond what they had ever possessed. But in the farm’s seventh year of operation, the inhabitants shuttered it and walked away with hardly anything, to the shock and dismay of the government officials overseeing it."

The discussion will center on what went wrong at Casa Grande and examine the complexities and challenges of government-sponsored social and economic development programs, especially in the context of rural America.

Registrants can submit pre-event questions to: Hunter.Dixon@aei.org

Previous On the Front Porch conversations can be found here.

National program wants to help newsrooms add more than 50 positions; news organizations can apply for help now

Report for America, a national service program, wants to help newsrooms across the United States -- and particularly in rural areas -- add more than 50 positions next summer. Applications are open for newsrooms interested in hosting journalists for up to three years, with part of the salary paid by the Report for America program.

According to Sam Kille, vice president of communications for Report for America, the program is designed to help newsrooms report on under-covered issues and communities.

Kille writes, "Through the program, host newsrooms receive:
-- Diverse, talented slate of candidates to choose from
-- Subsidized salary support for up to three years
-- Local fundraising coaching and resources, including the opportunity for no-cost fiscal sponsorship to accept donations
-- Extra training and mentoring for journalists

“We recognize the difficulties modern newsrooms encounter, from recruiting skilled journalists to offering the necessary mentorship and support,” said Earl Johnson, vice president of recruitment and alumni engagement at Report for America. “Partnering with Report for America enables local newsrooms to address critical news gaps, diversify their staff, and foster sustainable local backing within their communities.”

The application deadline is Sept. 13. More information about how the program works can be found here.

Report for America wants to expand its reach into rural areas where news gaps are prominent, and newsrooms owned or led by journalists of color. 

Kille specifies that newsrooms must demonstrate the following to Report for America:

Need — "Explain why the beat you’re proposing is vital to your audience and the community. We’re particularly interested in important beats that no other newsroom in your area is covering, or covering well. Also, why do you need our help to support this position?"
Support — "We look for newsrooms where corps members will receive good editing and mentoring, so they can do their best work."
A commitment to inclusion — "Newsrooms demonstrating a commitment to inclusion and supporting a diverse staff are important in our selection process."
A commitment to fundraising — "Where applicable, we ask our host newsrooms to try to raise money from local funders to pay for part of their corps member’s salary. Our development team can help you do this. We believe local philanthropy is key to strong local newsrooms and want to work with partners that believe this, too."

Report for America will help to provide up to half of the journalist’s salary and offer newsrooms tools to raise funds to support their share. Nearly $30 million has been raised by local newsrooms with Report for America’s assistance.

Report for America has matched more than 650 corps members with hundreds of local newspapers, public radio stations, digital platforms and television outlets since its launch in 2017.

Report for America will hold online information sessions with newsrooms and partner organizations throughout the application period. For more information, visit www.reportforamerica.org or send an email to: recruitment@reportforamerica.org.

Dairy farmers and livestock veterinarians face the stresses of bird flu virus' surprising transmission to cattle

Dairy farming is already a stressful profession. Bird
flu in cattle has increased tensions. (Adobe Stock photo)

Razor-thin profit margins and see-saw market prices already make the life of U.S. dairy farmers tough. Farmers must now contend with the unknowns of an evolving bird flu virus, which could infect herds and farm workers. "Avian influenza has hit dairy farms in at least 12 states after being confirmed in March to have jumped to cattle, reports Victor Stefanescu of The Wall Street Journal. "The malady, which can curb cows’ milk production and upend dairy farms’ operations, is the latest curveball for an industry that has grappled with low-profit margins, drought and shifting consumer tastes."

This version of bird flu, or H5N1, has been reported in 136 herds nationwide. The highly contagious virus is a stressful wildcard for dairy farmers because it slows milk production and some cows will not survive the infection. Stefanescu explains, "The virus has reached at least 26 herds in Idaho, where affected farms are losing up to a fifth of their milk production for three to four weeks. It is costing the average producer in the state $10,000 a day in lost revenue, said Idaho Dairymen’s Association Chief Executive Rick Naerebout."

One way dairy farmers are working to fight the introduction or spread of H5N1 is through biosecurity measures. "In Michigan, third-generation dairy farmer Ashley Kennedy is trying to boost biosecurity by limiting visitors’ access to her cows and logging the people who enter and exit the farm, as the state requires," Stefanescu writes. Some farmers in Wisconsin are deploying drones to chase away wild birds that may carry the virus.

Farmers aren't alone in facing additional stress brought on by bird flu's surprising transmission to cattle. Livestock veterinarians are also affected. In April when "the federal government began requiring some cows to be tested for a strain of avian flu before their herds could be moved across state lines, it seemed like an obvious step to try to track and slow the virus that had started spreading among U.S. dairy cattle," reports Andrew Joseph for STAT. "But Joe Armstrong, a veterinarian at the University of Minnesota extension school, feared the Department of Agriculture rule could lead to potential problems for his colleagues."

In practice, the USDA's rule puts veterinarians in the crosshairs between what the government demands and what the livestock owners are willing to do. Armstrong told Joseph: "There will be clients lost over this situation. That amount of stress and pressure from two directions — USDA from the top, clients from the other side — puts practicing veterinarians in a very stressful day-to-day.”

It's not an easy position for veterinarians, but their role in tempering the spread of H5N1 is vitally important. Joseph adds, "Since the outbreak in cattle was discovered earlier this year — by veterinarians themselves, — dairy veterinarians have been on the frontlines of the response. They’re testing cows. They’re teaming with farmers and dairy workers to prevent additional infections, both bovine and human. They’re using their on-the-ground experience to trace how the virus is transmitting."

Dairy farmers have been slow to allow -- or have even refused -- H5N1 testing on their farms. Keith Poulsen, a veterinarian who now spends most of his time running the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, told Joseph, "It makes it really challenging to be that veterinarian and say, I know there’s flu on this farm, but the owner won’t approve testing. That makes a pretty big ethical dilemma for veterinarians.”

Opinion: Virginia county resists growth to maintain its rural character and countryside

Civil War monuments at Culpeper National Cemetery
(National Cemetery Administration photo)

As urban sprawl and industrial developments eat up Virginia countryside, Rappahannock County turns against the tide to remain a quiet, rural area with a protected "view shed," writes Dana Milbank in his opinion piece for The Washington Post.

Culpeper National Cemetery sits on a corner of land in Culpepper, Virginia, and there you will find "the final resting place for about 1,300 Union soldiers killed in the Civil War. Stone monuments honor regiments from Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania that fought the battles of Cedar Mountain, Brandy Station and others nearby," Milbank explains. "But these hallowed grounds are about to become a monument to something else: the destruction of the American countryside.

"Look east from the cemetery, to an adjacent field where cattle graze, birds sing and a brook babbles: This will become a 116-acre data center housing 2.2 million square feet of massive structures with concrete walls up to 70 feet high. Look to the south from the cemetery at another green field: Here will rise the electrical substation powering the 600-megawatt monster."

Rappahannock County, Va.
(Wikipedia map)

While other Virginia counties take the "easy dollars" developers are waving, Rappahannock County has a different goal: To remain a part of the state's "dead zone," Milbank writes. "Its board of supervisors has for years rejected almost all development, and its population hasn’t grown at all. With 7,348 residents in the 2020 census, Rappahannock has roughly the same population it had in 2000 — and in 1920, for that matter. Rappahannock fends off development with its 25-acre minimum zoning requirement."

Keir Whitson, vice chairman of the board of supervisors, told Milbank, "I don’t even want to talk about growth. It’s not a word that should be in our active vocabulary." Milbank adds, "Whitson even torpedoed a local philanthropist’s plan to build three dozen affordable housing units in the town of Washington, Va., the county seat. He forced the already modest development to reduce its size to 18 apartments and townhouses. . . . It was a tough decision to reject what was, for the county, a gift of free affordable housing. It followed an easier decision to reject a 53-unit rental property on the approach to Shenandoah National Park."

Rappahannock's refusal of development dollars keeps the county on a meager budget, but residents are willing to bear that burden instead of managing the demands of growth. "While Culpeper and other nearby counties surrender to development, tiny Rappahannock has built a firewall to preserve its rural way of life," Millbank writes. "Similar tensions between development and rural character are playing out across the country. . . . Rappahannock has a plan: no development."

Rappahannock residents seem "content to live in a place with few amenities, few services and few jobs if it means preserving their unhurried rural life, their tightknit community, their panoramic views and their abundant wildlife."

Whitson told Milbank, “People say to me, pretty consistently, ‘Come on, buddy, get over it. You know Rappahannock County’s got to change. I’m like, ‘No, it doesn’t.’ I understand change is inevitable, but in Rappahannock County, change can be tiny, tiny change.” Milbank writes, "To save our countryside, we’re going to need a lot more such leaders with the courage to think small."

The UN pledged to reduce global production of plastic; companies prefer better recycling efforts

Adobe Stock photo

Is it possible to create a planet where plastic production and waste aren't a constant problem? Maybe. In March 2022, the United Nations "pledged to negotiate a treaty to 'end plastic pollution,' with the goal of delivering a final draft by 2025," reports Joseph Winters of Grist. One proposed solution was to negotiate with plastic makers to produce less, which hasn't happened. But, what Grist found out by motoring through petrochemical trade and industry group public statements and policies were various levels of the "industry’s desired pathway to a 'world without waste.'"

Among the various players that Grist contacted, "only two agreed to answer questions about the policies they support," Winters writes. "What we found is that, although they fall far short. . . . the industry groups’ proposals to bolster recycling and waste collection could cause a significant reduction in mismanaged plastic waste — even in the absence of a cap on plastic production."

When their proposals were entered into a policy analysis tool developed at the University of California, "the elements of the treaty that industry groups support, cobbled together, could cut global plastic pollution by 43 million metric tons annually by 2050 — a 36% reduction below business-as-usual estimates," Winters adds. "Meanwhile, a realistic production cap could cut annual pollution by 48 million metric tons all by itself."

When it comes to global garbage, the plastics industry is economically influential. Unsurprisingly, the industry does not think that the solution to plastic waste reduction is making less plastic. Instead, industry groups support a concept called "plastics circularity," which "seeks to keep the material in use for as long as possible before it’s thrown away. Generally, this means more recycling," Winters reports. 

But that can be challenging. "The world only recycles about 9 percent of all plastic it produces; the rest gets sent to landfills or incinerators, or winds up as litter," Winters explains. Given the problem, the industry is promoting more and better recycling by supporting policies that build recycling infrastructure and placing some of the onus for recycling costs on companies that use it.

Even as the plastic waste reduction agreement takes shape, "it’s clear that self-preservation is at the heart of the petrochemical industry’s agenda for the treaty," Winters reports. "The policies it supports could have a positive impact on plastic pollution."

A prescription for rural isolation: Coffee and community that can build human connections and improve health

Coffee and community can be part of a healthy lifestyle.
(Mercantile photo via RHIH)

Part of rural living's appeal can be its wide open spaces with big skies and swaths of uninhabited land. While people may relish country living, it can be socially isolating and lonely, which isn't a healthy state for most people. In Madison, Minnesota, pop. 1,518, Dr. Hannah Fields, the town's family physician, is experimenting with a new prescription for some of her patients: "Visit the local coffee shop," reports Brendan Stermer for Rural Health Information Hub. Fields told Stermer, “It's as simple as pulling out a piece of scrap paper and writing a prescription for coffee, then texting Kris [the owner of the shop] like, ‘Hey, if someone shows up with this, put it on my tab."

Field's prescription isn't just for coffee -- it's for the community bonds the location offers alongside warm sips. "These interactions, Fields believes, amount to an intangible elixir that is healthier and more invigorating than even the Mercantile's strongest brew: authentic human connection," Stermer explains. "It's a basic — though often unacknowledged — necessity for health."

The U.S. Surgeon General's Advisory on the Health Effects of Social Connection and Community was published in May 2023, and it listed human connection “as essential to survival as food, water, and shelter." But hanging out together and connecting has become harder for many Americans.

The 2023 advisory described the problem: “Recent surveys have found that approximately half of U.S. adults report experiencing loneliness, with some of the highest rates among young adults. These estimates and multiple other studies indicate that loneliness and social isolation are more widespread than many of the other major health issues of our day, including smoking (12.5% of U.S. adults), diabetes (14.7%), and obesity (41.9%), and with comparable levels of risk to health and premature death.”

With that kind of health risk on the table, a cup of coffee or tea with other humans might be the cheapest and most effective antidote. "Fields hopes the 2023 Surgeon General's Advisory has opened the door for individuals and providers to reckon with the presence of these issues in their own lives, and in their communities," Stermer reports. "Her referrals to the Mercantile are inspired by a practice, more common in Europe, known as social prescribing. While she has heard promising patient feedback, she emphasized that formal program implementation and evaluation would be needed to draw any firm conclusions."

One lawsuit over the Marion County newspaper raid settled for $235,000, but more claims are pending

Marion County Record raid, Gruver's desk at bottom right
(Screen capture of surveillance video via Kansas Reflector)

It has been almost a year since the Marion County Record was raided by police supposedly investigating charges of identity theft and illegal use of a computer by the Kansas weekly newspaper. In the process of confiscating newsroom property, the city's chief of police, Gideon Cody, injured Record reporter Deb Gruver's hand while "forcibly obtaining her personal cellphone," reports Emmett Lindner of The New York Times. "Gruver has reached a $235,000 settlement as part of a lawsuit she filed over the search, which set off a national discussion about press freedoms."

Gruver, who resigned from the paper after the raid, "said in a letter to the editor that she 'no longer wanted to work in a town where the majority of leaders clearly don’t respect the Fourth Estate or the U.S. Constitution,” The Record reported.

Another lawsuit, filed by the Record's publisher, Eric Meyer, alleges that the raid, which included "seven law enforcement officials spending more than two hours in Meyer’s residence, where his mother was at the time" contributed to her death the next day, Linder reports. Four other Record employees also have suits pending.

While Gruver's settlement ends one chapter of the raid's fallout, the entire investigation and the later reversal of the authorized searches that allowed it are still more broadly worrisome, particularly for smaller newspapers that investigate local authorities. Linder explains, "Less than a week after the raid, Marion County’s top prosecutor, Joel Ensey, ordered officials to return the seized devices because there was insufficient evidence to justify the searches. . . .The raid also came after The Record had questioned Cody about his departure from the Kansas City Police Department, following accusations that he had made sexist and insulting comments."

The raid didn't just have negative outcomes; there was also a silver lining. Meyer told Linder, "One of the things that we’ve seen out of this is that the people who have responded to us have come from across the political spectrum. There aren’t too many things in this world right now that bring Democrats and Republicans together.”

Opinion: 'Red flag' laws help prevent firearm suicides in the U.S., but they curb gun rights. It's a balancing act of risks.

ERPOs can prevent firearm suicides, but striking a
balance with gun rights is difficult to measure. (A.S. photo)

Access to a firearm can mean a person at the crossroads of ending their own life will succeed. Even though many other means of suicide exist, almost none are more predictably final. Psychiatry researcher Jeffrey W. Swanson looks at how extreme risk protection order laws prevent suicides and how they intersect with gun rights in his opinion for JAMA Network Open. Swanson first sees the topic through the lens of his 18-year-old cousin's suicide.

"The sound of my grandmother’s trembling voice lingers from that winter morning, almost 40 years ago now, when she called with awful news. My beautiful cousin Kristin had come home from college for the holidays and killed herself with a shotgun. . . . I was a new faculty member in a psychiatry department at the time, embarking on a career in which I would spend decades researching ways to prevent death and injury from guns.

"Aunt Helen asked me what could have saved their youngest child. I suggested Kristin had succumbed to a fatal illness; it was no one’s fault. . . .Today I would give a different answer. I would say Kristin died from a preventable injury with a firearm. I would add that a law prohibiting her access to a gun might have kept Kristin alive."

Extreme risk protection order laws, also known as red flag laws, "provide a civil court process designed to prevent firearm injuries by temporarily disarming individuals who pose an imminent risk of harm to themselves or others. An ERPO also prohibits a person from purchasing or possessing a firearm while the order is in effect, typically for up to a year," Swanson explains. "With the clarity of excruciating hindsight, it seems obvious that Kristin’s ability to acquire a firearm was a decisive factor in her death."

ERPOs have gained traction across the country as legislatures search for ways to reduce firearm deaths. At the same time, gun rights matter, so where is the balance? Swanson presents the paradox: "How do we know when someone poses enough danger to justify deploying police authority to remove their firearms? Risk means uncertainty, by definition, and risk assessment will always be an imperfect predictor of rare adverse events such as suicide; the significant risk factors all apply to many more people who will not die from suicide than those who will. Thus, for every hypothetical death averted by an ERPO, there will always be some ERPO respondents who would not actually have harmed themselves, or anyone else, had they been left (literally) to their own devices. We just do not know who they are in advance."

There are statistics to back up ERPO's effectiveness. "A widely cited statistic from our group’s research studies of suicide deaths among ERPO respondents in Connecticut and Indiana is that for every 10 to 20 ERPOs issued, 1 suicide was averted," Swanson adds. "In a nation where private gun ownership is commonplace, culturally entrenched, and constitutionally protected, feasible solutions to gun violence hang in the balance of risk and rights. . . . [Yet] in a country where more than 20, 000 people every year die of suicide with firearms, it is impossible to ignore that what is too late for Kristin could save many today."

Conservation farming practices could help reduce the Gulf of Mexico's 'dead zone' that harms marine life and fishing

Agriculture's use of fertilizers without run-off prevention means chemicals along with nitrogen and phosphorus flow down the Mississippi River and into the Gulf of Mexico. (Adobe Stock photo)

When Midwestern farming states steer around conservation practices and use more synthetic fertilizer and manure, their crops' run-off flows into the Mississippi River and contributes to the Gulf of Mexico's 'dead zone,' reports Erin Jordan of The Gazette, which serves Cedar Rapids, Iowa. "There are thousands of U.S. farmers not growing cover crops or using other conservation practices shown to reduce runoff. . . thwarting plans to slash nitrogen and phosphorus washing down the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico, where excess nutrients threaten wildlife and fishing industries." Encouraging or requiring farmers to use more conservation practices could change this trend.

What is the dead zone and why should farmers care? The zone is produced by chemicals and element run-offs of nitrogen and phosphorus that flow down the Mississippi and into the gulf. Once in the gulf, "these nutrients are required for plant and crop growth, trigger algae blooms that choke off oxygen in water and make it difficult, if not impossible, for marine life to survive," reports The Nature Conservancy. "The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimates that the dead zone costs U.S. seafood and tourism industries $82 million a year. The impact could be devastating to the gulf’s seafood industry."

Originally, the United States pegged 2025 as the year for nitrogen and phosphorus flows into the gulf to be reduced by 20%. But the country is far from reaching this goal. 

Despite government subsidies for conservation projects, "many farmers just don’t want to risk reducing their short-term yields — money they use to feed their families and pay down debt," Jordan reports. "While the Midwest has seen boosts in farming practices that reduce runoff, there’s also been an increase in practices that make the problem worse."

Some states are reconsidering "the strategy of paying farmers to implement voluntary practices to reduce nutrient loss," Jordan writes, including some lawmakers in Minnesota who "pushed for a 40-cent-per-ton fertilizer tax that would raise an estimated $1.2 million a year to be used to help southeast Minnesota residents whose drinking water wells are contaminated with nitrate, which has been linked to some forms of cancer."

Parts of rural Pennsylvania paint a grim picture of dwindling populations and the loss of small-town life

When rural populations shrink, the quality of
small-town life declines. (Adobe Stock photo)

Some rural populations have continued to shrink, leaving towns that were once vibrant places facing an uncertain future. "Across rural Pennsylvania, there is a deepening sense of fear about the future as population loss accelerates. The sharp decline has put the state at the forefront of a national discussion on the viability of the small towns that have long been a pillar of American culture," reports Tim Craig of The Washington Post. Many losses stem from a rural aging population not being replaced by births and younger families moving away in search of better opportunities.

Around 10 years ago, the U.S. rural population flattened and then began to contract. In fact, 81% of rural counties "had more deaths than births between 2019 and 2023," Craig writes. "Experts who study the phenomena say the shrinking baby boomer population and younger residents having smaller families and moving elsewhere for jobs are fueling the trend."

In the 1980s, parts of rural Pennsylvania began losing people because of "job losses in the manufacturing and energy industries that prompted many younger families to relocate to Sun Belt states," Craig reports. "State lawmakers and other leaders now consider the population loss a crisis and are drawing up plans to try to reverse the trend."

When a small town has more people die than are born, and fewer people move in to fill the gaps, daily life changes for the entire community. "Already, the demographic shift is affecting where students attend school, how long residents have to wait for an ambulance and whether they can quickly see a doctor," Craig explains. "In some cases, local governments themselves are on the verge of collapse as they struggle to fill open jobs and leadership positions."

Sheffield, Pennsylvania, is one community facing the reality of "too many old people." The area began to decline about "a decade ago. . . . But it’s been only in the last decade or so that the full weight of the community’s future challenges began," Craig reports. "Sheffield’s only ambulance was taken out of service about two years ago, around the same time the community’s only daycare closed due to low enrollment. . . Residents are peeved that the local bank branch and liquor store have closed."

The community may have to close its high school because there aren't enough students. Jim Decker, chairman of the Warren County Chamber of Business and Industry, wants "local leaders to figure out a way to reinvent the community," Craig adds. "But Decker acknowledged the planning for Warren County’s recovery is 'a daunting task.'"

Kenneth M. Johnson, a demographer at the University of New Hampshire, said, "Barring some outside occurrence, it’s very unusual for counties to recover."