The Rural Blog

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

The Rural Blog

PAGES

Bee disorder got much worse in 2012; evidence still points to new class of pesticides

Economist still says Wal-Mart aids local economies

A look at school violence over 40 years shows it is least common in rural areas

Colorado gun-control bill leads gun-rights supporters to call for a hunter boycott of the state

Fear of purchasing limits and official conspiracies has ammunition flying off shelves, or even trucks

Rural counties lumped into metro areas as more of their residents commute to metros' core counties

Corn and soybeans acreage expected to reach record combined high in 2013

Ohio teachers take course in packing heat, first of its kind for U.S. educators

Polls show declining support for more gun control

Oklahoma OKs bill to allow horse slaughterhouses

Group says EPA used regulatory loophole to approve 2/3 of pesticides dangerous to humans

Writer explains problem with connecting long-distance calls to rural areas

Fracking brings money, headaches to rural places

Company offering new cell-phone technology designed for sparsely populated rural areas

Nebraska utility tries to power irrigation with solar

EPA finds more than half of streams are in poor condition; farm interests question methodology

Rural Georgia hospital fights to stay in business in a state where some others have closed down

112-year-old family farm no longer fits into ever-expanding urban area

Some states ignoring likely link between fracking waste disposal and small earthquakes

West Virginia House wants bankrupt Patriot Coal to honor promises to retired miners