Bringing back U.S. manufacturing jobs would take 'years, if not decades'

The U.S. produces domestic clothing on a smaller
scale. (Hybrid Storytellers photo, Unsplash)

Part of the driving force behind President Donald Trump's far-reaching tariffs is to push American businesses and consumers to make and purchase U.S.-manufactured goods. While American production and purchasing appeals to many Americans, the question remains: Is America up to the task?

"In many industries, the undertaking would take years, if not decades. The United States lacks nearly every part of the manufacturing ecosystem — the workers, the training, the technology and the government support," reports Alexandra Stevenson of The New York Times.

Trump's made in America push opens up a bigger trade discussion about where products are made vs. where they are sold. The logistical and financial effort required to re-shore all the moving parts, which are often produced across the globe, would present a challenge.

Sailex, a fabric and clothing manufacturer, is an example. The company has a jean-making facility in Los Angeles that produces roughly 70,000 pairs of pants per month. But that comes with a tradeoff. Stevenson explains, "The operation works only because Saitex runs a much bigger factory and fabric mill in southern Vietnam where thousands of workers churn out 500,000 pairs of jeans a month."

Sailex owner Sanjeev Bahl believes the U.S. "can make stuff again . . . . But his experience highlights how hard it would be," Stevenson reports. "There are no mills in America on the scale of what the industry needs, nor major zipper and button suppliers. The cost of running a factory is high. Then there is the labor problem: There just aren’t enough workers."

If the U.S. wants to revive its manufacturing powerhouse status, that goal "would have to include immigrants seeking that same opportunity in the United States," Stevenson explains. "At Saitex’s Los Angeles factory, most of the workers come from countries like Mexico, Guatemala and El Salvador."

Even if the U.S. could find enough workers, the cost of labor is a barrier. Stevenson reports, "It is hard to make things in great volume in America. . . .For Bahl, it boils down to the cost of a sewing machine operator. In Los Angeles, that person gets paid around $4,000 a month. In Vietnam, it is $500."

National Weather Service hiring to cover field offices left shorthanded after DOGE cuts

The NWS was understaffed as spring storms hit towns in
the central-eastern U.S. (Photo by G. Johnson, Unsplash) 

After facing public backlash over unstaffed or understaffed field offices, the National Weather Service is back in hiring mode. "Erica Grow Cei, a National Weather Service spokesperson, says the new hires will fill positions at field offices where there's 'the greatest operational need,'" reports Greg Allen of NPR. The National Weather Service has been short-staffed since the Trump administration terminated 600 NWS employees in early 2025.

The NWS plans to hire around 125 people to fill positions that will help rebalance workloads and return some services to the field. Tom Fahy, legislative director with the union that represents NWS employees, told Allen, "The positions' categories are meteorologist, hydrologist, physical scientist and electronic technicians." Electronic technicians maintain and repair the sensitive radar equipment used to predict severe weather.

Following the staffing cuts, some NWS field offices "were no longer staffed around the clock," Allen reports. "Some also cut back on weather balloon launches, critical tools in gathering data needed for local and national forecasts, according to the National Weather Service."

The loss of vital employees throughout tornado season and heading into hurricane season left the NSW scrambling to cover high-risk areas. Mary Glackin, a former undersecretary at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told Allen, "We're in the middle of a severe weather season, and I know that's put quite a strain on the system. It's not a good time to be understaffed."

Filling the NWS positions will take time. Allen writes, "Glackin expects it will be September at the earliest before many of the positions are filled. And she notes, after the cuts earlier this year, NWS is short several hundred positions."

WSJ EDITORIAL: Ukraine's drone attack is a 'wake-up call' to U.S. about potential vulnerability

Will an increase in defense spending enable the U.S. to close 
the gap in the drone market? (WSJ video snapshot)

Ukraine's recent drone strike battering of some 40 Russian aircraft, sitting unprotected deep inside that country's borders, serves as a warning to the U.S. about the vulnerability of American military bases and the homeland, writes The Wall Street Journal editorial board.

At least 77 U.S. military installations are strategically placed in rural towns and more are in cities with less than 40,000 residents. The editorial suggests that rural communities may want to pay particular attention to military discussions about international drone warfare, domestic missile protections and U.S. drone production problems.

"The details about Ukraine’s daring operation are few, but Kyiv managed to sneak cheap drones across the border and use them to destroy costly Russian military assets," the editorial states. "The bang for Ukraine’s buck was considerable. You don’t have to be a fan of thrillers to imagine a similar scenario in the United States."

In light Ukraine's drone attack success, President Trump’s Golden Dome missile-defense shield idea doesn't sound so outlandish, the WSJ board concluded. "The headlines are preoccupied with space-based interceptors. But the U.S. is exposed to many threats besides ballistic missiles — from drones and spy blimps to cruise missiles launched off submarines."

In 2023, the bipartisan Strategic Posture Commission "warned that the U.S. needs better integrated air and missile defenses against 'coercive attacks' from Russia and China, and such an attack could come from conventional weapons," writes the board. "In a crisis over the Taiwan Strait, Xi Jinping might threaten the Commander in Chief: Stay out of the Western Pacific or you never know what might happen to your pricey F-22s in Alaska."

The editorial cites a January report from Thomas Shugart and Timothy Walton at the Hudson Institute that criticized Air Force plans to protect new B-21 bombers with what they referred to as "sunshades." The report points out that a lack of structural protection "could leave aircraft 'exposed to threats, including lethal' unmanned aerial vehicles," the board adds.

Beyond the tragedy of Sept. 11, Americans are used to wars "fought far from home. . . but everyone in the U.S. will be on the front lines of the next conflict," the editorial states. "Political leaders could be doing much more to educate the country about this vulnerability, rather than boasting that the U.S. military is the best it has ever been. It isn’t."

Watch the entire WSJ video on China's drone dominance, here.

Green 'hackers' rescue, repost environmental research data tools for public use

A screenshot of a rescued EPA data mapping tool.  
(PEDA website image via SEJ Toolbox)

Green geeks deploy their techy-search-and-rescue powers to help environmental science research get back online.

"As environmental data goes missing, these are times when hackers can be heroes to journalists. Meet Public Environmental Data Partners," writes Joseph A. Davis of SEJ Toolbox. "It’s a loose coalition of programmers and developers who are reversing the Trump administration’s removal of politically inconvenient data from the internet. . . . Once the data is rescued, they put it into usable form — searchable, visible, map-formatted and downloadable."

Where did the data come from? The content was originally on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency website, but a few months ago, it disappeared. That helpful EJScreen data tool? Gone. "Well, gone from the website of the but not from the web," Davis adds. "A group called the Environmental Data & Governance Initiative, better known as EDGI, preserved the data before it vanished, and Public Environmental Data Partners set up the interface for using it. Toolbox applauds."

Public Environmental Data Partners has worked on several data rescue missions. Their growing list is here. Davis writes, "The list includes lots of Energy Department data: the Energy Justice Dashboard, the Wind Energy Community Benefits Database, etc. It includes pipeline data from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. . . . And more. Not all are gone yet and not all are back online yet, but they are working on it."

Groups contributing to the Public Environmental Data Partners include:
The CAFE Research Coordinating Center at Harvard and Boston University
The Catalyst Cooperative
Earth Hacks
The End of Term Web Archive
Environmental Policy Innovation Center
Fulton Ring
Internet Archive (Wayback Machine)
Open Environmental Data Project
Rooted Futures Lab

"A lot of things containing the word climate are disappearing," Davis writes. "But they do not sleep silently with the fishes. Data wants to be free."

Helene flooded an Appalachian town’s Post Office; residents are fighting to get it reopened.

Swannanoa residents started a mail campaign to reopen
their P.O. (Photo by Anne Vilen, The Daily Yonder)

Residents from flood-torn Swannanoa, N.C., might be down, but they're not out. When Hurricane Helene pummeled western Appalachia in the fall of September 2024, it flooded the town's Post Office, grocery store and hardware shop, reports Anne Vilen for The Daily Yonder. 

More than six months later, all three businesses remain closed, leaving residents driving longer distances for pretty much everything. For many Swannanoans, living without a Post Office is unacceptable, so they're fighting to get it reopened.

In May, the town's brewery, Terra Nova, doubled as an activist meeting room where long-time Swannanoa resident Cynthia Hollar and "more than 50 of her neighbors gathered," Vilen writes. "To write hundreds of postcards to postal officials as well as state, local, and federal representatives who might sway postal service decision makers to bring the Swannanoa Post Office back home."

Dan Slagle, a former post office employee, explained the impact of not having a post office can have on rural residents. He told Vilen, "People have to drive 26 miles round trip to get their mail, their prescriptions, their social security checks, or packages.”

Vilen adds, "The Swannanoa Post Office and its PO boxes served hundreds of folks who live miles up steep mountain roads or on properties where mailboxes, bridges, and access roads went down the river the night of the hurricane."

Swannnanoa residents fear their Post Office won't reopen because the federal government doesn't have to reopen it. Vilen explains, "Under normal circumstances when the U.S. Postal Service decides to close a post office, it must allow for a public comment period and a possible appeal to the Postal Regulatory Commission. However, after a natural disaster, the emergency suspension of service can be extended to a permanent closure."

In Swannanoa, the Post Office was "the starting point for directions to houses without numbers and the water cooler for neighbors eager to swap news," Vilen writes."Town residents claim bureaucracy and red tape are the worst part of disaster recovery."

Slagle told Vilen, "You’re really not a town without a post office. It’s kind of a community hub."

The cicadas are here. Their emergence is the 'biggest insect event on the planet.'

                  Emerging from underground, cicadas march toward metamorphosis. (BBC Video)

A familiar song of summer buzzes from trees, echos from backyards and reverberates through forests. It's cicada Brood XIV's emerging and living above-ground tune traveling across sound waves from "northern Georgia up into Indiana and Ohio and eastward through the mid-Atlantic, extending as far north as Long Island, N.Y. and Massachusetts," write Chris Simon and John Cooley for The Conversation.

As evolutionary ecologists, Simon and Cooley study periodical cicadas to "understand questions about the natural history, genetics and geographic distribution of life," they write. While each cicada species has a different "song," all their vibration-lad "singing" is part of the insect's mating ritual.

Female cicadas from Brood XIV "will lay hundreds of eggs inside small tree branches. Then the adult cicadas will die," they explain. "When the eggs hatch six weeks later, new cicada nymphs will fall from the trees and burrow back underground, starting the cycle again."

Each color on this map represents a different periodical cicada brood. Brood XIV is darker green extending from the Midwest to eastern Mass. (University of Connecticut map via Conversation, CC BY-ND)

Cicada brood documentation dates back to entomologists from the mid-1800s. Simon and Cooley have been tracking and "verifying periodical cicada records and updating maps since the late 1980s," they add. "We listen for species-specific songs and then record the cicada species identity on computers, with their GPS locations. Often we’ll stop to examine a patch of forest. If the cicadas are singing, we note whether the chorus is light, moderate, loud or distant."

Simon and Cooley think cicadas have information to share about our changing planet. They write, "Our research suggests that climate warming has resulted in more four-year-early straggling events that are increasingly dense, widespread and likely to leave offspring. . . . Understanding how these four-year shifts are encoded in cicadas’ genes is a mystery that remains to be solved."

Farmers worry about labor shortages as migrants hide from threats, deportation confusion

A large, dedicated work force is needed to pick the more than 1.2 billion pounds of apples New York farms can produce. (Adobe Stock photo)

Migrant farm workers across rural northern New York are reportedly hiding to avoid being picked up, harassed and possibly shipped out of the U.S. by immigration police. American farmers, who often rely on migrant workers to keep their farms profitable, are in an uncomfortable spot. Many voted for Trump but now "feel anxious about the prospect of losing a crucial labor force," reports Anan Ley of The New York Times. 

For migrant workers, hiding is one of the few ways to avoid "what they describe as cruel and chaotic deportation efforts," Ley explains. "In rural New York, some immigrants have been briefly detained and then released, while others with legal papers languish in custody, leaving many confused about who is being forced out of the country and who gets to remain."

If immigration police continue to round up and deport undocumented farm workers, farmers say they will be in a bind. David Fisher, the president of the New York Farm Bureau, a nonprofit industry group, told Ley, "Local sources of labor are simply not available in most cases."

Regardless of the national tension surrounding immigration, undocumented workers fill many U.S. agriculture jobs. "About 42% of farm workers are not legally authorized to work in the country," Ley reports. "In New York State, experts at Cornell University estimated in 2019 that about half of all farm workers were undocumented."

The loss of migrant workers could alter how much of a product a state can produce and ship nationwide. For New York, that means apples. Ley writes, "It is famous for producing more apples than any other state except for Washington — supplying the nation with one of its most-consumed fruits."

Farmers like Robert J. Colby, who runs Colby Homestead Farms just outside the small town of Spencerport, N.Y., advocate for a quick, no-nonsense approach to immigration. He told Ley, "The Congress and Senate [need] to get to work and get an immigration program together . . . . We should be able to vet people’s backgrounds and process them within six months in order for them to be able to come and become citizens."

Save the date: On Sept. 17, Rural Assembly Everywhere will focus on abundance during scarcity.

Ready to rumble for rural communities?

Grab a pen or your electronic calendar and save Wednesday, Sept. 17, for attending the virtual Rural Assembly Everywhere. Formal registration is in June.

The day will be a time for rural residents, advocates and friends to learn how to stop asking ourselves, "What now?" and, instead, ask, "What if?" The event will show participants how to promote mutual flourishing and abundance — even during days marked by scarcity.

"Training ourselves to think in this way is challenging when we are surrounded by cultural messages to the contrary. For people in rural communities, scarcity mindset is a common way of life, because resources are often limited," writes Rural Assembly Executive Director Madeline Matson. "Scarcity is real, but how can abundant thinking lead to other gains?"

Everywhere 2025 will highlight stories, tools and resources designed to help rural people counter fears and scarcity mindsets, so they continue to grow their families, farms, vocations, jobs and businesses with renewed and resilient spirits.

Some Everywhere 2025 content is still under construction, and they'd like to hear more rural voices chime in with thoughts, advice, challenges and successes. Matson asks, "Have you encountered zero-sum thinking in your community? How does it show up?" Email Matson at: assembly@ruralstrategies.org and describe what's happening in your rural space, ask questions or submit a discussion topic.

Grassroots efforts give rural W. Va. residents a transportation solution

Monroe County residents ride the new MTA bus route to
Walmart. (Photo by T. Spencer, Mountain State Spotlight)

Residents in Monroe County, West Va., now can take a bus to school, work or doctor's appointments, thanks to the efforts of the county's transportation committee.

Tre Spencer reports in the Mountain State Spotlight that the committee negotiated a deal to get new bus routes from the Mountain Transit Authority.

Like many rural people across the U.S., Monroe County residents have struggled to get to work or care for themselves because of poor transportation options. Spencer explains, "Jeana Carr is the county’s Head Start director and has worked directly with families and parents since the late 1990s. She said most families either relied on one car or didn’t have one at all." Carr told Spencer she spent years listening to community assessment results that listed transportation as the number one need. 

Carr's hope for providing a county transportation plan gained traction when Beth Massey, the threat preparedness coordinator at the Monroe County Health Department, got on board, and the two women joined forces. Spencer reports, "Massey and Carr approached the county commission with their concerns, and the commission formed a transportation committee, appointing Massey to lead it."

Members of the transportation committee knew that to get state help, they would have to prove the community had a viable need. So they decided to deploy a solid, community research project that included help from a local grocery store, residents who needed transportation, and the county's 911 service.

Once research results were completed, "the committee approached the state’s public transit authority, the Division of Multimodal Transportation Facilities," Spencer adds. "State officials directed them to the Mountain Transit Authority. . . . and Tim Thomas, MTA’s general manager, had been looking to expand to Monroe County for a while."

The committee grappled with how federal and state transportation funding works with additional community funds. "With the federal grant requiring a 50% match, the county commission put up $30,000, and MTA is working to put up the remaining funding to expand to more routes and days," Spencer reports. "By early March, buses were carrying riders across the county three days a week."

Tre Spencer

To read the detailed account of Monroe County's grassroots busing success story, Spencer's full story is here. 

Parents revive the one-room schoolhouse in two rural Missouri communities

The Homestead School’s main room serves as the school's primary 
gathering space. (Photo by Kaitlyn McConnell, The Daily Yonder)

Ozark parents are going back in time to the old one-room schoolhouse concept, hoping that the past offers the best lessons on how to educate the hearts, minds and spirits of children.

"This seemingly old-timey form of schooling is reemerging in rural areas where families seek a different education for their children," reports Kaitlyn McConnell for The Daily Yonder. "Technology is very limited, and value is placed on personal character, work ethic, relationship building, and a foundation of faith in the primarily Christian region."

Starting around the end of the Civil War until the 1940s, the one-room schoolhouse was "the bedrock of rural Ozarks communities. Kids focused on learning basics that were taught by one teacher in one room," McConnell explains. The trend is re-emerging as "smaller – or at least more localized – is seen by some as better."

Not every new one-room schoolhouse runs exactly the way they did in earlier times; instead, their structure is meant to "channel close-knit classes, ideals, and beliefs – religious and lifestyle – that their leaders feel are important to instill in younger generations," McConnell reports.

Neighborhood Christian Schools serves about 40 kids from kindergarten through high school in Hutton Valley, Missouri, following the old philosophy. "The day is broken into periods that focus on traditional subjects," McConnell writes. "Kids from first through sixth grade are in the same room with one teacher. Like a traditional one-room school, more advanced students assist kids at lower levels."

Brenten and Kimberly Blake founded Homestead Schoolhouse about 100 miles west of Hutton Valley in rural Taney County. Their school "takes a more modern approach to 'one-room schooling,’" McConnell reports. "Instead of all being together in one room. . some core classes are broken down more into age or skill. In addition to coursework, the student’s experience includes 'life skills' training to recover rural knowledge, like animal husbandry and home economics."

"Whether it’s salvation or academics or better citizens, the long game is the goal for schools like these to have their impact be long-lasting beyond the core academic subjects," McConnell adds. Kimberly Blake told her, "Success really won’t be measured for several years – to see if you’re really instilling values in students."

Quick hits: Bakery sign debate; global cheese demand; Marlboro man's mystique; discover the Stargazer Highway

Local art students created the bakery sign, but a code enforcement 
officer said it had to come down. (Leavitt's Country Bakery reel photo)

Even in closely-knit small towns, not everyone gets along. In Conway, New Hampshire, town officials and Sean Young, a bakery business owner, have been in a legal dust-up since Young installed a front signage mural made by local high school students. "But the town of Conway told Young the painting wasn’t a mural, it was a sign that exceeded the town’s legal size limit and would need to be taken down," reports Kyle Melnick of The Washington Post. "Young left the mural up, and sued the town the following year, claiming its ordinance violates the First Amendment." In May, a judge ruled that Leavitt’s Country Bakery sign, with its giant muffins, donuts and beaming sun, could stay.

The love of cheese products is going global, which is good news for American dairy farmers. "While domestic cheese sales remain soft, global cheese demand is accelerating rapidly," reports Taylor Leach of Daily Herd Management. "Much of that growth is coming from international restaurant menus that are incorporating cheese in new and creative ways. . . . Beyond cheese, other dairy products are gaining traction in international markets as well. Whey proteins and milk proteins, in particular, are seeing increased demand across Asia."

The Marlboro man 'was always adaptable to the times.'
(Philip Morris ad via MEL magazine)

Despite the illness and death cigarette smoking has caused, the Marlboro man remains a strong, stoic, and unequivocally American icon. "The Marlboro man was something of a chameleon, in that he took on multiple meanings and was always adaptable to the times — which, more than anything else, speaks to the durability of the cowboy in American culture," reports Brian VanHooker for MEL magazine. VanHooker shares the storied history of one of the most successful ad campaigns in U.S. history. "Twenty years later, while the Marlboro Man may evoke a sense of nostalgia for some due to its beautiful imagery of the West, for so many who have had a loved one die from smoking-related illnesses, he has a much darker legacy."

Department of Agricultural Secretary Brooke Rollins announced a listing of new Farm Service Agency and Rural Development state directors tasked with implementing the Trump administration's rural agenda. During her announcement, Rollins told reporters, "Our latest additions to the USDA family are personally invested in ensuring farmers and rural America prosper." Mariah Squire of Successful Farming provides a by-state listing of new appointees, with a limited look at their professional backgrounds.

The dark night skies of the Black Canyon in Gunnison National Park, Colorado.
(Photo by G. Owens, National Park Traveler)

America's National Parks offer visual experiences rarely found in other places. A group of photographers wanted to understand more about Native American spiritual history, so they set out across the National Park's path known as the "Stargazer Highway," Eric Jay Toll writes for National Park Traveler. "More than a dozen tribes have traditional lands through which the Stargazer Highway passes, and each has sacred tribal legends explaining the stars in the skies and lessons, consequences, and morals on Earth. . . . These stories [are] along the highway, better known as U.S. 191, and many of its side roads. The road runs 1,545 miles from Mexico to Canada through Arizona, Utah, Wyoming, and Montana, passing 24 national parks, monuments, and tribal parks."

IQOS is marketed as sophisticated and 'safer' than
burned tobacco. (Adobe Stock photo)

Phillip Morris has a slick-looking new tobacco product hitting U.S. markets. "The chicly futuristic branding of IQOS, a heated tobacco product owned by Philip Morris International, is one of several things worrying researchers and anti-tobacco advocates," reports Sarah Todd of STAT. "The company is rolling out pilots of the device. . . peddling IQOS (pronounced “eye-koss”) as the 'next step in tobacco harm reduction.' The company positions the devices as a better alternative for smokers compared to cigarettes." Health advocates don't agree with the company's sales pitch and say that savvy IQOS marketing could convince some people to start an unhealthy, addictive habit. 

Ticks can transmit diseases to humans.
(CDC photo)

The problem with ticks isn't that they look creepy; they spread illnesses with alarming efficiency. Every summer it's good to review the best ways to avoid and if needed, remove hitchhiker ticks. "These vile little creatures transmit Lyme disease, babesiosis, anaplasmosis, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, and ehrlichiosis, among others, and symptoms can range from swollen joints to meat allergies," report Annemarie Conte and Doug Mahoney of Wirecutter. Click here to read "their favorite picks and the advice to keep in mind as you head outdoors this summer."

DOGE cuts and tariffs impact a small family farm in Kansas

The JET Facebook page photos give a glimpse into the farm's 
community focus. Their Facebook fans named the frog, 'Potter.'

As the new administration shifts agriculture and trade market tactics, small family farmers Jacob and Jennifer Thomas from northwestern Kansas struggle to keep their operation, JET Produce and Meats, afloat.

"The young couple took a 10% hit when the Trump administration abruptly cut $1 billion from two programs that supplied local produce and meat to schools and food banks," report Annie Gowen and Ricky Carioti of The Washington Post. "There have been other blows, too."

Cuts to Department of Agriculture funding have left the Thomases unsure of their farm's future. "They plowed up a spot for a new greenhouse only to learn that another grant for $8,000 would never come," Gowen and Carioti write. "They worry that 2,000 chrysanthemum cuttings ordered from Canada will be ensnared in the countries’ tariff dispute."

Despite the beating Kansas farmers took during Trump's first-term trade war, many voted for Trump in 2024. For some, their loyalty is teetering. The Post reports, "The consequences of his administration’s wide-ranging cuts and uncertainty over tariffs have already had a profound impact on this hilly corner of northeast Kansas."

For the most part, the Thomas family has preferred to focus on farming, not politics, but the recent cuts and confusion have made that stance impossible. "The first big blow of 2025 came right after Trump’s inauguration, when the president issued an executive order pausing billions of dollars in federal grants," Gowen and Carioti write. "The whole episode stung, particularly since they got little response when they asked for help from the Kansans in Congress."

Other USDA funding the Thomases had been relying on has been rearranged or cut, leaving them even more uncertain about their farm's future. Jacob told the Post, "Historically if you got a government contract, we’re golden, because the government always pays. . . .Today I don’t feel that way. For the first time in my life, I don’t trust the government is going to follow through on their word.”

Policy director for Rural Democracy Initiative warns of budget bill’s ‘devastating’ impacts

Members of the 119th House applaud the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. (The Hill video reel photo)

After weeks of wrangling, the U.S. House of Representatives passed President Donald Trump's "one big, beautiful bill" on May 22. The bill, which has moved to the U.S. Senate, includes massive spending cuts to support tax cut extensions and additional tax cuts.

Michael Chameides, the communications and policy director for the Rural Democracy Initiative, in an opinion piece published in Iowa's Times-Republican, points out six ways the bill could hurt rural residents. He writes, "I’ve been hearing from rural leaders across the country about the devastating impacts this bill would have. . . .The good news is it’s not too late. But there’s little time to spare." 

Here are the six concerns Chameides cited:

1. The bill "guts" rural health care. "It would take health care away from 13.8 million Americans and increase the cost for millions more. In some states, 50% of rural children get healthcare from Medicaid. Millions more rely on access to clinics and hospitals that would likely close because of these cuts."

2. It cuts federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program spending. "More than 15% of families in small towns and rural areas rely on this support to feed their families."

(The Department of Agriculture canceled "about $660 million in funding this year for the Local Food for Schools program, which is active in 40 U.S. states," reports Aimee Picchi of CBS News. The cuts were announced in March and have left schools and farmers scrambling.)

3. The bill shifts more costs onto state and local governments. "Slashing federal funding to states would create new burdens for rural states that are already struggling to provide critical public services like health care, transportation, and emergency response services to local communities."

4. It takes away local land control. "Landowners have fought to stop the use of eminent domain for carbon pipelines by passing bans and moratoria. . . .This bill would overrule state and local laws and ordinances. . . and deprive residents of a fair opportunity to evaluate the adverse impacts of pipelines."

5. The bill phases out clean energy and infrastructure spending, including tax credits. "It would also take away $262 million in funding for energy efficiency and conservation grants as well as transportation infrastructure. . . .Ending these tax credits will increase household energy costs, which are already higher in many rural communities."

6. The bill favors bigger agribusiness companies and mega-farms. "Leaders in Congress are using the budget reconciliation process to give big farms a $50 billion windfall. Add the heightened pressures and instability caused by the Trump administration’s erratic trade policy and more family farmers would lose their farms — while Big Ag consolidates more of the market."

Chameides calls on rural residents and businesses to speak up: “Lawmakers have already heard from the giant corporations who helped write the bill. Now they need to hear from the rest of us. It’s up to us to alert our communities and tell our lawmakers: Don’t sell rural America out to big corporations and the wealthy.”

A longer version of the Times-Republican op-ed was originally published by Barn Raiser. To learn more about what could happen to the bill in the Senate, click here. 

Conservation pays off for Oklahoma farmers: clean streams, healthy cattle, lower costs and visiting eagles

Horse Creek Cove, Grand Lake, Oklahoma.
 (grandlake.com photo)

Making the tough decision to protect private property water sources helped Oklahoma farmers address contamination, produce healthier livestock and save money. "A big part of the solution was simple: Give cows clean drinking water and keep them out of the streams," reports Cara Buckley of The New York Times. "About 100 Oklahoman streams once polluted by runoff predominantly from farmland have been restored to health. That’s more than in any other state, according to the Environmental Protection Agency."

The choice to restrict farm animals from streams took farmers like Grant Victor, who wanted to clean up his property's creek, even if it meant breaking with ranching tradition. Buckley writes, "Working with a conservation program, he installed fencing around Horse Creek, creating a protective riparian buffer, even though it meant keeping his animals off 220 acres, about 6% of his family’s land."

He waited and nature did not disappoint. "The benefits of a healthier waterway exceeded his hopes," Buckley reports. "Within just a couple of years, the banks were transformed into verdant corridors of grasses and shrubs. Wildlife appeared, including white-tailed deer, bobcats, coyotes and bald eagles that return each year to a sprawling nest to rear their young."

But that's not all. Victor was rewarded with healthier cattle. Buckley adds, "Victor installed pipes and wells in the pastures, allowing his cattle to drink water unsullied by sediment and their own waste. They put on more weight and suffered fewer respiratory ailments, and that resulted in lower veterinary bills."

Other Oklahoma farmers have adopted methods that support nature while increasing farming profits. Steve Glasgow, a recently retired Oklahoma state resource conservationist, "estimates that nearly a third of Oklahoma’s crop farmers employ conservation practices, up from roughly one-fifth 25 years ago. . . . Conservation practices can also increase yields and reduce labor and fuel costs."

Victor knows some of his neighboring farmers remain conservation skeptics and scoff at his choices but he's OK with that. He told Buckley, "I’m sure at the coffee shop, they were all laughing at me. . . . My dad always taught me there’s some things you can’t afford to do and there’s other things you can’t afford not to do. This was one of the things I couldn’t afford not to do."

Rural communities lack resources, plans for dealing with the homeless

They may be harder to spot than their urban counterparts, but thousands of rural folks don't have a place to call home. 

"Rural America has nearly 29 million homes, but experts say that’s not enough to house the roughly 46 million people who live there," reports Kristi Eaton for Barn Raiser. A Housing Assistance Council report that analyzed data from 2010 to 2023 concluded that “rural America is losing affordable housing at an alarming rate, fueling a growing housing crisis." A lack of affordable rural rental property is adding to the problem.

Even when rural residents find a home, high mortgage or monthly rental costs can take up a big percentage of their income. Eaton explains, "The report found that over 5.6 million people, or about a quarter of rural households, pay more than 30% of their monthly income on housing costs, and less than half of rural homeowners own their houses outright."

With rural housing in short supply and home ownership or rental costs beyond the reach of many, rural homelessness has become more prevalent and its solutions harder to come by. Liam Niemeyer of the Kentucky Lantern shares the story of Mallie Luken as an example of what homelessness can look like in rural America. 

Neimeyer begins Luken's story as many homeless stories begin -- with the local police attempting to manage homelessness without needed resources. He writes, "Pastor Jennifer Banks was still a relative newcomer to this Western Kentucky town on the night in September when she watched through a security camera as a police officer brought a woman in a wheelchair to the church and 'dumped her in our parking lot.'"

Pastor Banks recognized the woman. Banks had met Luken the day before at an Arby's parking lot where she'd given Luken a plate of food and they prayed together. Now police were bringing her to her church's parking lot. Banks told Neimeyer, “I had to leave her there [in the Arbys's parking lot] because I didn’t have anywhere for her to go. And then the next day was when they dumped her in our parking lot."

Luken and her faithful dog, Blaze.
(Photo by Austin Anthony, Ky. Lantern)

Luken hadn't planned on being homeless or sleeping in parking lots. Neimeyer explains, "Luken, 70, a widow, was down to her last few dollars. She had asked her former pastor to drive her from the nearby county where she was living to Muhlenberg County because she remembered an old ad for the Central Inn, a motel in Central City, and thought she could afford a night there."

Luken didn't make it to the Central Inn and ended up sleeping in parking lots, despite several people knowing she didn't have a place to stay. Neimeyer reports, "Banks’ community was ill-prepared to respond to that kind of housing emergency. That realization has served as a catalyst for the Bankses and others in Muhlenberg County who want to fill gaps they see in services and housing. They have met resistance and support. . ."

To read more about Luken's story and how Muhlenberg County is grappling with homelessness services, click here.

Battle over four-day school week, teacher shortages is fought in rural school district

Parent Jason Breckenridge testified to stop the Florence-Carlton 
shift to a four-day school week. (The Hechinger Report photo)

Facing ongoing teacher shortages, rural Montana school districts have offered a four-day school week as a recruitment and retention tool since 2005. Most Montana schools accepted the shortened schedule without controversy, but the Florence-Carlton district became a loud exception. Community discussions about the change became fierce faceoffs about educational achievement, convenience and priorities, reports Alex Mitchell for The Hechinger Report, which covers education.

"There were standing-room-only public meetings with community members threatening not to support future budget levies. Parents filed two formal complaints," Mitchell writes. "One family sued. Some are transferring their children to districts miles away next year or will take on homeschooling out of concern their kids would otherwise fall behind."

The battle over the fifth day of school highlights a "larger divide and uncertainty around the four-day school week, even as districts in Montana and across the country continue to march toward it," Mitchell explains. "A three-part study from the University of Montana painted a grim picture of the four-day school week’s outcomes for both students and their schools."

Bill McCaw, one of the study's authors, told Mitchell, "When I look at the news reporting and schools [that] are considering the four-day, there’s all these reasons, pros and cons. Student achievement is never part of the conversation. Day care, convenience, longer vacation — all that’s being discussed. But not student achievement.”

The parent who sued the district, Jason Breckenridge, didn't want his kids to be part of an educational experiment. "He felt the school district disregarded the negative aspects of the shortened week," Mitchell adds. "Virginia Mahn, a Florence-Carlton parent and graduate, brought a complaint against the school board, alleging district leaders failed to meet their required responsibility of ensuring a quality education."

The University of Montana's study wasn't the only one to call out student learning deficits linked to four-day school weeks. Mitchell writes, "In 2014, Tim Tharp, then a doctoral student at the University of Montana, assembled academic results of all of the state’s schools from 2006, when the four-day school week was first adopted, to 2013. He found that students in four-day schools had lower test scores than peers who attended school five days a week."

Tharp told Mitchell, “If you look back at it logically, it only makes sense. After a certain period of time, you’re losing days, weeks, months of instruction over the course of years. . . . The absolute best thing would be for the students to not only go 180 days, but [for the districts to] even consider making it longer.” Mitchell adds, "Tharp concedes his opinion is unpopular among friends and colleagues."

"A community survey showing that of parents and community members who responded, 51% favored a shift to a four-day school week," Mitchell reports. "The five-person board approved the model 3-to-1 in January, with one abstention. Starting this fall, the school day will be lengthened by 45 minutes, and schools will be closed on Fridays."

Buying only U.S.A.-made goods can be 'next to impossible,' but some Americans find ways to get close to the goal

Many items are no longer made in the U.S.A. (Adobe Stock photo)

Even when consumers want to buy purely American-made products, it can be tough, if not impossible, to get everything on the list. "Many Americans say they want to buy domestic products, but global supply chains built over decades of outsourcing have made it challenging," report Natasha Khan and Rachel Louise Ensign of The Wall Street Journal. "No matter how committed these shoppers are, some products just aren’t made-in-U.S.A."

Domestic-only shoppers are tenacious about their choices and often face uphill battles to get U.S.A.-made products. "Dianna Huff has been on a decade-long quest to buy only 'Made in America' goods," Khan and Ensign write. "She recalls crawling inside her fridge in search of a manufacturer’s label only to see the tiny words 'Made in Mexico,' and returning a bathroom scale because, despite the assurance that the company made products in its U.S. facilities, it didn’t."

Huff was able to purchase linens and socks made in the U.S.; however, "for things such as her phone, glasses and weed whacker, it was next to impossible," the Journal reports. "Manufacturers moved production overseas where labor costs were much lower, spurred in part by free-trade agreements."

While many Americans would prefer to purchase U.S.A.-made products, their higher costs can be a deterrent. Khan and Ensign add, "In a May Morning Consult survey of about 1,000 U.S. adults, more than half said they intentionally bought domestically produced goods at least sometimes, but only 11% of those who were willing to pay more for U.S. goods could stomach a price increase greater than 15%."

Scouring for American-made goods has become hobby for some folks. "Anne Collins took up buying domestic after she retired," the Journal reports. To help others, she founded a Facebook group that promotes not shopping in China. She's taught group members how to sleuth for hard to find domestic products, such as, "mops, foil pans and artificial flowers."

Rural homeownership history includes Sears catalog homes. Thousands still stand today.

Modern reproduction of Sears catalog house in Battle Ground,
Indiana. (Photo by Rosemary Thornton, Wikimedia via the Yonder)

Beginning in the early 1900s, many rural Americans built their homes with construction kits from Sears, the former catalog sales giant. "Between 1908 and 1942, Sears sold some 70,000 customizable home kits across the country through the company’s Modern Home catalog," reports Pat Raia of The Daily Yonder.

Sears kit homes were particularly popular in the Midwest, including "Illinois, Ohio and Missouri, and almost all of them were located in rural or suburban areas," Raia writes. While the build-your-own-home kit appealed to consumers who wanted to save on labor costs, purchasing everything from one source was especially convenient for rural customers who could live long distances from construction suppliers.

The Sears catalog offered kits that included "a sketch of the house, a floor plan, and a basic cost that ranged from $360 to more than $2,000," Raia writes. Once purchased, Sears would send an initial "boxcar containing pieces to get the kit home buyer started. Subsequent deliveries would contain materials for each remaining phase of the construction."

The kits served a dual economic function, providing a path for homeownership and boosting the local economies. Sears Homes Chicagoland blogger Lara Solonickne told Raia, "Many customers had help building the houses from local carpenters and other tradesmen. By the early 1930s, few customers were building the homes by themselves."

Despite being built in stages by people with varying degrees of home construction expertise, many Sears-kit homes are still standing. Raia adds, "Judith Chabot, a researcher who authenticates Sears kit homes, said that there are more than 18,668 on the National List of Sears kit homes still standing around the U.S., and there are likely even more."

While kit-built homes may lack some conveniences newer homes offer, today's purchasers choose them for their unique history and sound construction.

North Carolina’s losses from Hurricane Helene offer lessons on emergency planning for inland communities

Hurricane Helene pummeled counties across six
states. (Adobe Stock photo)

 

Despite weather reports giving starkly accurate descriptions of the extreme risks Hurricane Helene posed as it barreled through North Carolina toward Yancey County, many of the county's residents remained unaware of the imminent danger. Jennifer Berry Hawes and Mollie Simon of ProPublica report, "The highest per capita death toll occurred in Yancey County, a rural expanse in the rugged Black Mountains devastated by flash flooding and landslides."

Yancey County residents were in Helene's violent path but didn't know it. ProPublica reports, "No one in Yancey received evacuation orders — and many, including those living in high-risk areas and caring for young children and frail older people, didn’t flee because they didn’t see clearer signs of urgency from the county."

Helene's wrath left at least 230 people dead across six states. Its trail of destruction in Yancey County left the community in ruin, families with untold losses, and a list of hard-won lessons. If storms can "make trees grow deeper roots," ProPublica has five takeaways to help regions prepare before extreme weather strikes again.

Even if your community is inland, develop storm warning education and planning. If there are internal barriers to evacuations, discussions can happen before an emergency. "Yancey’s emergency manager, Jeff Howell, told us he doubted the county commissioners would support issuing orders or that local residents would heed them given the area’s culture of self-reliance and disdain for government mandates, especially regarding property rights," ProPublica reports. "But some Yancey residents said they would have left or at least prepared better."

Use direct and honest disaster messaging across all possible channels. "With Helene closing in, officials in rural Yancey were among those who used less-direct wording. In Facebook posts, they asked residents to 'please prepare to move to higher ground as soon as you are able,'" Hawes and Simon write. "In one post, they softened the message, adding, 'This information is not to frighten anyone.' Many [Yancey survivors] told us that in retrospect they were looking for clearer directives from their leaders."

When it comes to training local emergency managers, consider following the lead of other states. "North Carolina does not require training for local emergency managers," Hawes and Simon add. "Florida recently enacted a law mandating minimum training, experience and education for its counties’ emergency managers starting in 2026. Georgia requires its emergency managers to get the state’s emergency management certification within six months."

Build landslide awareness, even if mapping hasn't been completed. "North Carolina began examining landslide risks by county, but powerful interests stood in the way," Hawes and Simon explain. "More than 20 years ago, North Carolina legislators passed a law requiring that landslide hazards be mapped across 19 mountain counties." When real estate and land developers pushed against the mapping program, lawmakers cut its funding and staff.

Ask for a 360 review. North Carolina hasn't issued any foundational review of "lessons learned" from Helene. "As North Carolina figures out how to direct millions of dollars in rebuilding aid, there has so far been no state inquiry into the preparedness of local areas — or what could better equip them for the next unprecedented storm," ProPublica reports. For now, the state seems more focused on rebuilding.

Hurricane season officially begins June 1. Experts are planning for an active Atlantic.

NOAA experts predict a busy hurricane season that isn't as extreme as 2024.

Hurricane season 2025 officially begins June 1 and forecasters expect another active season in the Atlantic. Current predictions estimate "a 60% chance of an 'above-normal' hurricane season, with between 13 to 19 named storms," reports Emily Mae Czachor of CBS News. "Six to 10 of those are expected to strengthen into hurricanes, and three to five could become major hurricanes."

While this year's season is marked by warm ocean temperatures, they aren't as warm as last year, so forecasters "don’t think it will be as chaotic as 2024, the third-costliest season on record as it spawned killer storms Beryl, Helene and Milton," reports Seth Borenstein of The Associated Press.

Atlantic hurricane seasons have been labeled as "above normal" since 1995, "with nearly half of those considered 'hyperactive,' according to NOAA," Borenstein writes. "Last year started with a record early Category 5 hurricane in Beryl but then had a lull during the early part of peak storm season from mid-August to mid-October. But then six storms, including Helene and Milton, formed in just two weeks."

Warmer ocean temperatures are the primary catalyst for hurricanes. Kristen Corbosiero, a University at Albany tropical meteorology professor, told Borenstein, "Warmer ocean water, warmer atmosphere above it can hold more moisture, more fuel for storms.” Even with a calmer season overall, one massively destructive storm can cause havoc across a region.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has been hit by deep staffing cuts from the Department of Government Efficiency, but its acting administrator, Laura Grimm, told reporters, "The hurricane center is fully staffed up and we’re ready to go. We are making this a top priority for this administration."

The Atlantic hurricane season officially runs through Nov. 30.