Rivian Automotive forges onward and breaks ground on its $5 billion electric vehicle plant in a small town in Georgia

Rivian builds electric in Georgia.

Despite the downturn in electric vehicle sales and enthusiasm, Rivian Automotive overcame delays and broke ground last week on its $5 billion plant in Social Circle, Georgia, a town with a population of 5,415.

"It seems like a terrible time to build an electric vehicle plant in the U.S., but Rivian Automotive leaders say they’re confident," report Jeff Amy and Alexa St. John of The Associated Press. Since its public offering, the company's stock has dropped "by more than 80%. . . . Rivian lost $1.66 billion in 2025’s first half."

The Georgia plant will make truck models that are smaller and less expensive than Rivian's current offerings, which feature high-end electric trucks that start at $70,000. The smaller models will start at $45,000, which the company predicts will enable it to sell to a much broader market and turn a profit.

While some state and local governments have resisted the push to go electric, Georgia is welcoming the change. "Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp says he wants to make Georgia 'the electric mobility capital of America,'" AP reports. "Georgia has pledged $1.5 billion of incentives to Rivian in exchange for 7,500 company jobs paying at least $56,000 a year on average."

Not everyone in Social Circle supports Rivian building in the small, bucolic town about 45 minutes from Atlanta. According to the AP article, "Some residents say the plant is an inappropriate neighbor to farms and will pollute the groundwater."

What's for lunch? This year's school lunches include restrictions that challenge cafeterias and budgets

'Woodles' are a versatile school lunch favorite.

Estimates on how many rural children rely on school lunches for at least one nutritionally balanced meal to fill their bellies each weekday hover around five million. Nationwide, school cafeterias in America "serve 45 million meals a day," reports Kim Severson of The New York Times. "If they were a restaurant chain, it would be the largest in the country."

Besides the sheer number of meals that need to be served, school cafeteria planners and workers are managing "tighter nutritional standards, and limits on food purchased from other countries, like bananas, to 10% of what’s served," Severson explains. "School nutrition directors are bracing for the impact of federal budget cuts and updated federal dietary guidelines."

Some schools have already implemented some of the new guidelines, which include less sugar, fewer food dyes and more scratch-made entrees. But upgrading lunches while reducing costs will be tough on school cafeteria budgets. Severson adds, "And then there is the biggest challenge of all: How to satisfy the fast-changing tastes of a generation of food-savvy children."

Severson outlines what's new on the menu for 2025-26 school meals; a few are shared below.

• Sugar reduction and "cultural-club" food: Lunch favorites such as yogurt, milk and cereal are limited by grams of sugar. "A cup of chocolate milk, for example, can have only 10 grams or less of added sugar," Severson writes. Schools can opt to use "more culturally inclusive [ingredients], or swap out meat with legumes, tofu and other alternative protein sources."
• Make it from scratch, like they did before the 1980s, which saves money and is generally healthier. "Cooking from scratch is one way to make school food healthier," Severson reports. "More districts are trying to bring it back after economic pressures and looser federal standards in the 1980s resulted in an era of heat-and-eat meals."
• Bring on the noodles and 'Woodles': "Woodles are the most exciting new thing to hit the cafeteria this year," Severson explains. "The dried ramen noodles, made by a South Carolina company, were created specifically for school food service, with enough whole wheat to satisfy federal nutrition requirements."

Former 'city dweller' explores rural-urban divide in new graphic novel

Mahadavian reflects on rural life and the rural-urban 
divide in his new novel, This Country. (Yonder photo) 

In his new graphic novel, cartoonist Navied Mahadavian reflects on rural life, the rural-urban divide and the political divisions between “city dwellers” and “rural folk,” Myat Theingi of The Daily Yonder reported.

Searching for affordable living and what Mahadavian described as the “allure of possibility,” he and his wife moved to rural Idaho from the San Francisco Bay area.

Despite some unpleasant encounters due to his race, his interactions with people in the town opened his eyes to the emotions and pride of people who live in rural places, the complexities of their political beliefs, and their reasons for distrusting people who come from the city.

“So, after reading my book, I hope that city dwellers will gain some insights into rural life and vice versa. I also hope they see that there are divisions and different cultures. But there are also friendships that I forge, that show that it is possible to bridge those divides in a meaningful and lasting way,” Mahadavian said in an interview with Theingi.

Parents who skip or postpone vaccines for their kids are more concerned about vaccine safety, a new poll finds

 Photo by Mika Baumeister, Unsplash

Parents who skip, avoid or postpone standard vaccinations for their kids often share vaccine safety concerns and other attributes, a new poll from The Washington Post and KFF Health News shows.

The poll found that one in six parents have delayed or skipped some vaccines for their children, with most reporting "concerns about the vaccines themselves," report Lauren Weber, Scott Clement, Emily Guskin, and Lena H. Sun of The Washington Post. "About half of parents overall lack faith in federal health agencies to ensure vaccine safety, mirroring the findings of other surveys."

While the poll revealed that the majority of parents support child vaccinations, it also showed that "skipping or delaying vaccines is more common among parents who homeschool children, are Republicans, are young, or are White and religious," the Post reports.

Some polled parents believe in the effectiveness and necessity of childhood vaccinations -- just not on the schedule set by the federal government, which favors multiple shots in a single visit, rather than a more graduated immunization schedule.

Most interviewed parents did not support claims about vaccines causing autism or chronic disease. The Post reports, "But at least 4 in 10 parents say they don’t know enough to say whether those claims are true or false."

Poll results do seem to indicate some level of distrust in how the government manages vaccines. The Post explains, "Six in 10 Democrats are confident in federal health agencies overseeing vaccine safety, compared with 48% of independents and 41% of Republicans."

"Despite Republican parents being more likely to skip vaccines, 77% still follow vaccine recommendations," the Post reports. "Most of President Donald Trump’s voters believe vaccines save lives."

Fund with $50 billion for rural hospitals got off to a rough start; experts predict the money won't be enough

Delays, last-minute changes and a poor rollout have already plagued the newly created $50 billion rural hospital fund GOP lawmakers put together to pass the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. But analysts predict the "money to be spent over five years is less than the estimated $137 billion in cuts to rural health systems over 10 years," reports Aneeta Mathur-Ashton of U.S. News & World Report.

The Rural Health Transformation Program was designed to help rural hospitals weather Medicaid cuts included in the GOP's package and support longer-term cybersecurity and infrastructure improvements hospitals need to stay afloat; however, fund critics say the program is a short-term solution for a long-term problem.

States that receive RHTP grants must use the funds for at least three purposes outlined by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), including "promoting care interventions, paying for health care services and expanding the workforce," Mathur-Ashton explains.

As rural hospitals receive funds, they will need to apply them carefully. Alan Morgan, chief executive officer of the National Rural Health Association, "praised the fund as a 'fabulous program that hopefully, if done correctly, can transform rural health going ahead, to a sustainable model,'" Mathur-Ashton writes.

Some Democrats consider the $50 billion to be a slush fund with unclear guidelines that can't undo the harm planned cuts will cause. "The bill gives [CMS] the authority to determine which applications to approve and deny, but does not spell out the criteria it should be using to do so," Mathur-Ashton reports. 

Rural health advocates say they want states to apply for RHTP, but many are pushing to have the $150 billion in Medicaid cuts rescinded. Morgan told U.S. News, "Congress either later this year or next year, is going to have to repeal those cuts for rural hospitals, or you're just going to see hundreds of rural hospitals close. It's non-workable.”

Ozarks duo share vocals and instruments that 'reflects layers of history ... and the recognition that rural voices are important'

Cindy Woolf and Mark Bilyeu perform at the Library of Congress in August.
(Photo by Kaitlyn McConnell, The Daily Yonder)

Since the 1800s, music from the American Ozarks has combined instrumentation and vocals from northern Europe, West Africa and German traditions. The region's rugged topography and relative isolation helped its music develop a distinct and often haunting musical style.

While the Ozarks are no longer as isolated as they were more than 200 years ago, its talented musical artists, including the married duo of Cindy Woolf and Mark Bilyeu, known as The Creek Rocks, are determined to keep the musical heritage alive, reports Kaitlyn McConnell for The Daily Yonder.

When The Creek Rocks play, their music draws from "folk tunes and ballads, passed down from other continents and cultures before finding their way to the Ozarks," McConnell writes. The duo's sound ultimately reflects "layers of history... and the recognition that rural voices are important. . . .They are the voices of lived experience, linking generations and stories."

When the couple performed at the Library of Congress in August, the "echoes of generations of Ozarkers reverberated through the auditorium," McConnell adds. The Creek Rocks were "chosen as the library’s American Folklife Center’s inaugural Artists in Resonance, a fellowship founded to 'support artists in creating new musical works inspired by and sourced from collection materials in the Center’s archives.'"

The artists have dedicated part of their life's work to "research and document local folk culture," McConnell explains. "As part of the fellowship, Bilyeu and Woolf traveled to D.C., where they conducted research in the library’s archives."

As part of their fellowship, they focused on a musical collection by Sidney Robertson Cowell, who "visited the Ozarks in the mid-1930s," McConnell reports. Cowell's collection includes recordings from "local musicians in Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina."

The Cowell collection helped Bilyeu and Woolf hear and feel the distinct difference in Ozark music from this time period. McConnell writes, "'Ozarks folk music, as revealed by these collections, is all about the voice,' Bilyeu said – a key difference is in the way the songs sound. The tunes Cowell collected seemed even more 'ancient,' as Woolf put it, due to their musical structure."

Hear The Creek Rocks perform at The Library of Congress here.

U.S. ranchers finally see profits: Thin herds and high demand have beef prices climbing

There's no quick fix for low herd numbers pushing beef prices higher.
(Graph by Derrell Peel, Oklahoma State University)

After years of hard work and economic struggle, U.S. ranchers are making bank on beef.  "Business hasn’t been this good for cattle ranchers in decades, maybe ever," reports Patrick Thomas of The Wall Street Journal. "Cattlemen are now making a record profit of more than $700 per animal, up from $2 five years ago, according to some industry estimates."

Demand for beef is high and herd counts are at historic lows, creating a market where prices have surged for "everything from ground beef to steaks," Thomas explains. "Retail ground-beef prices set a record in August, up about 13% from the same month last year."

U.S. beef cattle numbers began shrinking during recent droughts that decimated grazing lands, and pandemic-era meatpacking backups. Ranchers couldn't afford their herds and opted to thin them to stem their losses.

Farmers are using their new income to reinvest in their herds, pay off debts and purchase more sophisticated equipment. But no one knows how long higher prices will continue. Thomas reports, "Executives of Tyson Foods and JBS — two of the world’s largest meat companies — have projected that cattle supplies could tick up in 2027 or 2028."

Some ranchers don't think increasing herd size is a good business model and are choosing to invest in better genetics instead of more cattle. Thomas writes, "The idea is to produce cattle that can yield juicier steaks — and fetch higher prices."

Mobile home dwellers in rural desert towns face extreme temperatures

Photo by Patrick Reichboth,Unsplash

Extreme heat in the summer and cold in the winter pose risks for mobile home residents in Madras, a rural desert town in Oregon, Claire Carlson of The Daily Yonder reported. 

Data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) shows that 15% of houses in rural areas are manufactured or mobile homes.

Because many of the homes are old, they are often “less energy efficient and can have issues like mold and other dangerous health hazards,” Carlson wrote.

These poor living conditions can be deadly: 20% of deaths during the 2021 heat dome in Oregon were among mobile home residents. And it is only expected to get worse with climate change.

Nonprofits such as the Energy Trust in Oregon help to replace old, manufactured homes with new ones built to withstand the extreme temperatures.

However, according to Professor Patricia Solís from Arizona State University, “there are probably around 175,000 mobile and manufactured homes that are older in the state that need to have some kind of weatherization done to it.”

She believes the solution lies in tackling two issues: the affordable housing crisis and climate change. But it would require government investment in building more manufactured homes. 

Solís’ reasoning is that manufactured homes are less expensive, would provide affordable housing and can be outfitted with energy-efficient technology to adapt to the climate. 

Tribal radio stations in rural Alaska are hubs of culture that may not survive federal cuts

 The Anchorage skyline is dwarfed by the bold Chugach Mountains. The city is surrounded 
by more than five million remote acres. (Photo via Nieman Laboratories)

After Congress voted to pull back billions in funding, tribal radio stations in Alaska are exploring how they can continue to serve Native Americans across a massive state that can routinely lack highways and cell phone service.

Indigenous radio stations are different than those in the lower 48 states. Neel Dhanesha for Nieman Laboratories reports, "While many are part of the NPR and PBS networks, they are mostly staffed by Indigenous reporters and producers and primarily serve audiences in tribal nations around the U.S., many of which lack broadband or cell service."

Loris Taylor, president and CEO of Native Public Media, told Dhanesha, "The information environment in Indian Country is often fragmented, underfunded. . . . Tribal stations fill this gap. Without these stations, many tribal citizens, especially elders, low-income families, and those without broadband, would lose essential access to news and public discourse."

Without federal dollars, some stations are unsure how they will stay afloat to perform basic functions, such as issuing emergency notices for severe weather, AMBER and Missing Endangered Persons alerts. Jaclyn Sallee, president and CEO of KNBA, a tribal radio station in Anchorage, told Dhanesha, "Some stations are very concerned that they won’t be able to operate starting October 1."

Meanwhile, more funding for tribal radio stations may become available through grants from the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs. "BIA will distribute $9.4 million of previously appropriated funding to 35 tribal radio stations in 11 states," Dhanesha reports. "[But] details on the deal are scant."

BIA grants won't solve funding problems for all the remote-serving public radio stations in Alaska, and residents fear what will be lost if cuts are made. Dhanesha explains, "Every person I spoke with emphasized that losing tribal stations would mean losing a key cultural touchstone in Indigenous communities across the country. . . .Tribal stations are trying to figure out the path forward."

Rural women in Colorado with 'high-risk' pregnancies often travel long distances or take helicopters for care

Women in rural Colorado who encounter pregnancy complications often face long drives for care, with some having to take helicopters to reach treatment at a larger medical center. "Every year, more than 60 air medical transfers are made for pregnant patients in Colorado’s Eastern Plains, where helicopters regularly fly in to transport them to hospitals," reports Priya Shahi of Rocky Mountain PBS.

Graph by Priya Shahi, from Prowers Medical Center data

As more rural hospitals reduce or end obstetric care, emergency transportation, such as helicopters, has become more common. Emergency air flight can be for the health of the mom, the unborn baby or for after-delivery specialty care.

In Lamar, Colo., pregnant patients can receive routine prenatal care at Prowers Medical Center; however, its obstetric care is limited and expecting moms with more "high-risk" conditions are often transferred or flown to facilities with higher levels of care. 

While some women don't need more expert care or equipment until closer to delivery, some have to travel long distances throughout pregnancy. One patient in Lamar "has to make bimonthly trips to Colorado Springs just for ultrasounds," Shahi writes. 

She told Shahi, "My husband has to take time off just to take me, so we lose income just to go that far. We’re already struggling in the economy that it is. To take me up there for a two-minute appointment, it’s rough." A one-way drive from Lamar to Colorado Springs takes roughly 3 hours.

Drugged driving is difficult to detect, but it impairs drivers and contributes to accidents and fatalities

Cannabis slows reaction time and alters spatial awareness. 
 (Jason Doiy, iStock, Getty Images via The Conversation CC)

Despite its often invisible presence, drugged driving is a developing problem in most states. On rural roads where almost half of fatal crashes in the U.S. occur, the risks posed by drugged drivers may be disproportionately higher, but difficult to detect or prove.

In 2020, roughly 12.6 million people aged 16 and up drove after using illegal drugs. "Of that total, roughly 11.7 million were under the influence of cannabis," writes Andrew Yockey, a public health expert at the University of Mississippi, for The Conversation. 

While cannabis use is often downplayed, it impairs reaction time and spatial perception. Yockey explains, "Multiple studies have found that drivers with THC, the primary psychoactive compound in cannabis, in their bloodstream are about twice as likely to be involved in a fatal crash – either as the cause or as a victim – compared with those who haven’t used drugs or alcohol."

Other drugs or any mix of drugs also play a part in devastating vehicle collisions and fatalities. "Opioids can cause drowsiness and dizziness. Stimulants like cocaine or methamphetamine may lead to overconfidence and aggressive driving," Yockey adds. "When drugs are mixed — or combined with alcohol — the risks increase dramatically."

All states prohibit drugged driving, but how they enforce those laws varies, leaving "legal gray areas in how the laws are interpreted and enforced," Yockey writes.

Despite laws designed to discourage and punish drugged driving, detecting and measuring illicit drug use in drivers is tricky. "There is no standardized way to measure drug impairment as there is with blood alcohol content," Yockey explains. "Roadside tests that cops use to spot drunk drivers don’t work as well for drug impairment."

States have increasingly turned to using roadside saliva tests, which can "detect recent drug use more quickly," Yockey writes. But again, the measurement of drugs still in the bloodstream and how that translates into driving impairment or ticketed offenses isn't clear.

After a blaze destroyed 80% of a town's homes in 2020, the community's remaining 145 residents are still recovering

Malden rebuilt its fire department, city hall and post office.
(Photo by Jesse Tinsley, Spokesman-Review)

Over Labor Day weekend 2020, an electrical fire burned through Malden, Washington, and its neighboring community, Pine City. "While no deaths were reported, the fire burned 80% of the town’s homes and multiple rail bridges," reports Monica Carrillo-Casas of The Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Wash. Malden residents are still rebuilding and healing from the fire's aftermath.

After the blaze, some Malden residents chose to leave. Chandelle Frick, treasurer for Malden, said the "town’s population has fallen from 200 to 145 people since the fire," Carrillo-Casas writes. Out of the 120 homes the fire destroyed, "at least 25 have been rebuilt, including nine of those by the Mennonite and Amish communities."

Malden resident Jessica Landry is "living in one of the houses the Amish and Mennonite communities built," Carrillo-Casas writes. "Ever since [the fire], the fear of another fire taking over the town lingers in the back of her mind."

Landry is sure some Malden residents may never get over the shock and destruction the blaze left in its wake. She told Carrillo-Casas, "There are a lot of people who still have PTSD when it comes to that. . . .We still get that heightened awareness and struggle."

Even with the emotional scars and population loss, Malden's remaining townspeople are working hard to rebuild. The town received a settlement from the electrical company involved and grant money. With those funds, Malden residents invested in "a new building that combines a fire station, post office and town hall," Carrillo-Casas reports.

The town still needs a new sewer system, and many residents still don't have permanent homes. A lack of funds has limited some recovery efforts. Carrillo-Casas adds, "An estimated 40% of the people who lost homes were uninsured."

Most community members realize they have to rely on each other. Frick told the Spokesman, "It takes a community coming together and seeking funding."

The Mountain Citizen of Inez, Ky., wins the 2025 Tom and Pat Gish Award for courage, integrity and tenacity in rural journalism

A scrappy little newspaper that has fought for more than 30 years for clean water and open government in its Appalachian county is the winner of the 2025 Tom and Pat Gish Award for courage, integrity and tenacity in rural journalism.

The Mountain Citizen is a weekly paper serving the 11,000 people of Martin County, 231 square miles along Kentucky’s northeastern border with West Virginia. For decades, the Citizen has been the key watchdog on the local water district, which has long had problems providing clean and adequate supply, and on coal companies and local government.

Tap water in Martin County often runs brown, and the Citizen’s efforts prompted state Public Service Commission investigations of the Martin County Water District in 2002, 2006 and 2016. This year, the paper revealed that a state agency had failed to correctly calculate Martin County’s scores in a water-funding competition for poor and underserved counties, and that in 2018 the county’s water was some of the most corrosive in the nation, more so than in Flint, Michigan, in 2015.

“The Mountain Citizen has spent decades overcoming obstacles and opposition to inform its community about serious problems with its water supply and other important issues,” said Benjy Hamm, director of the Institute for Rural Journalism. “Its work represents the best of rural journalism and everything the Gish Award was established to honor – courage, integrity and tenacity.”

In recounting the paper’s water work, owner Lisa Stayton wrote, “When you live here and see your neighbors carrying bottled water into their kitchens, you understand this is about survival. And you worry because you know that many of your neighbors can’t afford to buy bottled water and are drinking tap water that you wouldn’t drink yourself.”

The paper’s water reporting began in 1993, when it revealed that a coal company had so badly cracked the bed of a creek that it had to put a plastic liner in the creek to keep its water out of an underground mine. The paper reported several coal-slurry spills, then got an important scoop in 2000 when it obtained and published maps of a defunct mine that was the conduit for a massive spill from a surface-mine pond, which polluted streams and valleys with an estimated 250 million tons of waste.

When the Citizen forgot to renew its corporate charter in 2000, its corporate name was legally claimed by the water district’s board chairman, who had been the subject of critical reporting by the newspaper. The paper kept using its name, defying a court order, and was fined for contempt of court, but after two years the state Court of Appeals threw out the charge and the fine.

Though the paper’s future was in jeopardy, then-Editor Gary Ball, a former coal miner, continued its strong stances. When the state attorney general’s office announced it would have investigators in the field for the 2002 general election, he told the Lexington Herald-Leader that they were “paper tigers” who were six weeks late, since the groundwork for vote fraud is laid well before an election.

In 2003, the Citizen reported that the county schools spent nearly $250,000 on travel over four years, including airfare for spouses of board members, prompting the schools to refuse complimentary copies that the newspaper had sent to all classrooms. In 2012, the paper challenged the school board’s private discussion of the superintendent’s contract and was upheld by a binding opinion from the state attorney general. In the same year the attorney general ruled the paper was entitled to child-abuse records withheld by the state.

The Citizen was founded in 1990 as a consolidation of the Martin County Mercury and The Martin Countian, a newspaper that had won national attention for the crusading reporting and editorial stances of owner-publisher Homer Marcum. The Citizen took similar approaches; when the school system was no longer required to publish the names and salaries of teachers, the paper did that on its own. It withstood competition from other newspapers and by 2001 was the county’s sole paper.

The award is named for Tom and Pat Gish, who published The Mountain Eagle in Whitesburg, Kentucky, for more than 50 years. Their son and successor, Ben Gish, is on the award selection committee. “I read The Mountain Citizen regularly (we trade subscriptions),” he wrote. “They do a really good job.”

Stayton and the Citizen will receive the Gish Award Nov. 13 in Lexington, Ky., at the annual Al Smith Awards Dinner of the Institute for Rural Journalism. The dinner will also include presentation of the Al Smith Award for public service through community journalism by Kentuckians to Bill Estep, who recently retired from the Lexington Herald-Leader after chronicling the stories of Appalachian Kentucky for more than 40 years.

 

The keynote speaker will be Dee Davis, president of the Center for Rural Strategies.

Other Gish Award winners have been the Ezzell family of The Canadian Record in the Texas panhandle; Jim Prince and Stanley Dearman, current and late publishers of The Neshoba Democrat in Philadelphia, Miss.; Samantha Swindler of The Oregonian for her work at The Times-Tribune in Corbin, Ky., and Jacksonville Daily Progress in Texas; Stanley Nelson and the Concordia Sentinel in Ferriday, La.; Jonathan and Susan Austin of the Yancey County News in North Carolina; the late Landon Wills of the McLean County News in Kentucky; the Trapp family of the Rio Grande Sun in northern New Mexico; Ivan Foley of the Platte County Landmark in northwestern Missouri; the Cullen family of the Storm Lake Times-Pilot in northwest Iowa; and Les Zaitz of the Malheur Enterprise in eastern Oregon.

In 2019, the award went to three reporters whose outstanding careers revealed much about the coal industry in Central Appalachia: Howard Berkes, retired from NPR; Ken Ward Jr., then with the Charleston Gazette-Mail; and his mentor at the Gazette, the late Paul Nyden. In 2020 the award went to the late Tim Crews of the Sacramento Valley Mirror; in 2021 to the Thompson-High family of The News Reporter and the Border Belt Independent in Whiteville, N.C.; in 2022 to Ellen Kreth and the Madison County Record of Huntsville, Ark.; in 2023 to Craig Garnett of the Uvalde Leader-News in Texas; and in 2024 to Eric Meyer and the Marion County Record in Kansas.

Eminent domain would allow town to take 21-acre farm

Eminent domain allows the government to seize private 
property for public use. (Photo by Richard R, Unsplash)

A 21-acre farm in Cranbury, New Jersey, is at risk of being seized by the government to develop affordable housing, Faith Bottum from The Wall Street Journal reported. 

If the government is successful, the farm, which belonged to the Henry family for 175 years, would be given to a private developer.

The township wants to seize the land to comply with the Mount Laurel doctrine, a 1975 ruling by the Supreme Court of New Jersey that required towns to provide affordable housing.

“Cranbury needs to create 265 new affordable units over the next decade,” Bottum wrote. The Henry farm would be able to house 130 of those units.

The ability for the government to take private property for public use is known as eminent domain. But under the Fifth Amendment, private property cannot be taken without just compensation.

Yet why would the sale of private property to private developers constitute public use when the affordable housing units will not be available for everyone in the town?

The precedent for this is a 2005 ruling by the Supreme Court which held that a Connecticut city’s decision to seize private property and sell it to private developers constituted public use. The rationale by the judges was that it served a larger public purpose as part of an economic development plan that would benefit everyone.

Scientists 'drill, baby, drill,' and find freshwater deep beneath the ocean floor off the North Atlantic coast

The U.S. already faces a freshwater crisis, brought on by drought, higher temperatures, overuse and pollution. But a scientific dig into the North Atlantic seafloor more than 50 years ago could offer a surprising solution. "It found, of all things. . . fresh water," report Calvin Woodward, Carolyn Kaster and Rodrique Ngowi of The Associated Press. 

Fast forward to this summer, when researchers were following up on the past discovery. "A first-of-its-kind global research expedition [is] drilling for fresh water under the salt water off Cape Cod," AP reports. Researchers pulled thousands of water samples from what is now "thought to be a massive, hidden aquifer stretching from New Jersey as far north as Maine."

Do these freshwater troves exist in coastal areas around the globe? Scientists agree that it's likely that the aquifers exist in shallow salt waters around the world. Even so, the "secret fresh water" comes with a litany of challenges, from how to get it to the surface without harming surrounding marine life to questions about who owns it.

As data centers and record heat in some areas rapidly slurp up fresh water, researchers and world leaders are motivated to finance a different kind of drilling. AP reports, "No one globally had drilled systematically into the seabed on a mission to find freshwater."

Under-ocean water samples are being analyzed to discover where they came from, how old they are and what microorganisms thrive in water hidden under the ocean. The discovery and sampling are so dramatic that some scientists are ecstatic. Geophysicist Rob Evans, whose 2015 expedition helped point the way, told AP, “There’s a ton of excitement that finally they’ve got samples.”

Apply by Oct. 20 to host a journalist with support from Report for America

Applications to receive support for a reporter for your local news organization through Report for America will open on Sept. 15. 

Report for America is an organization that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues and communities. 

The deadline for newspapers to apply to host a reporter is Oct. 20. You may review a sample application here: http://bit.ly/4oLOt71  

Host newsrooms receive the following benefits: 

• A reporter committed to the newsroom for two years 
• Half of the salary of the reporter will be paid during the first year and 33% of the salary the second year 
• Training and mentoring for the reporter 
• Assistance with fundraising to cover the newsroom’s portion of the reporter’s salary through Report for America’s Local News Sustainability Team 
• Access to a network of other host newsrooms for collaboration

Questions can be directed to recruitment@reportforamerica.org.

Forest Service reverses course and provides federal wildfire fighters with masks

Masks are still not allowed while wildland firefighters
do strenuous fire suppression work. (Adobe Stock photo) 

In a 180-degree turn from tradition, the Forest Service will provide wildfire fighters with personal protective equipment to guard them from toxic gases and particles found in wildfire blazes.

The change reverses a "decades-long ban that exposed workers to toxins known to cause cancer and other serious diseases," reports Hannah Dreier of The New York Times. "They were only allowed to wear bandannas, which offer no protection against toxins."

New Forest Service guidance encourages wildfire firefighters to "mask up and even suggests that they shave their facial hair for a better fit," Dreier writes. The change is the first time the Forest Service has admitted "that masks can protect firefighters against harmful particles in wildfire smoke."

The Forest Service's new stance developed following "a series of articles in The New York Times that documented a growing occupational health crisis among wildfire crews," Dreier explains. Following the Times reporting, the Forest Service, which "employs the largest share of the country’s 40,000 wildland firefighters, has come under intense scrutiny by Congress."

To that end, Forest Service chief Tom Schultz was grilled by members of the Federal Lands subcommittee "about what he was doing to protect firefighters," Dreier writes. Schultz told committee members, "We need to continue to focus on safety as we move forward, including this issue.”

Despite the new guidance, wildland firefighters are allowed to wear masks only for less laborious duties. Deier reports, "They remain banned during arduous work, like digging trenches to contain wildfires, because the Forest Service says they may cause overheating."

Local journalists who cover community planning can use EPA's 'Walkability Index' to help with stories

Visitors to wine and water tourist-haven Door County, Wis., might be surprised that the county has few sidewalks, which leaves the area with below-average walkability scores (in yellow and orange). Click to enlarge.

When local officials include walkability in their community plans, it benefits the environment, local businesses and residents. It's also an important factor for journalists to understand and explore.

To help measure walkability, the Environmental Protection Agency offers a National Walkability Index for "zoning boards, planners and public works departments [and] the reporters who cover them," reports Joseph A. Davis for the Society of Environmental Journalists. Access the index here.

The EPA's tool uses high-quality data, and "It’s mapped," Davis adds. "There’s an intuitive, searchable, zoomable online map product with an easy-to-use, fast interface."

Walkability ratings include things such as "sidewalks, crossings, transit stops, etc. Ultimately, these things are drawn from the EPA’s Smart Location Mapping database," Davis writes. "The EPA sorts places into rural, suburban, urban and downtown."

This database can help journalists report on what planners refer to as the "built environment," Davis reports. "Walkability requires good local government decisions and adequate local resources. That means money. . . . A lot of local government decisions and resources go into walkability."

Uncovering your community's walkability data is just the beginning of a story. "You still have to talk to people on the street, … er, sidewalk," Davis adds. "As always, check and groundtruth everything you can."

Quick hits: Newspaper sitcom; free child care; inspiring cave cleanup; soybean field discovery; dark sky ruminating

Can a sitcom about journalism capture its 'grit, humanity, and relentless optimism'?

Keeping a local newspaper alive is one thing, but revitalizing one staffed with employees who list texting and tweeting as their most recent writing ventures is an entirely different story. Meet Peacock's new mockumentary, "The Paper," which depicts the life and times of the struggling Toledo Truth Teller newspaper and its quirky staff. "Members of the news community weren’t sure whether to laugh or cry," writes Gretchen A. Peck of E&P Magazine. "For publishers and editors. . . the [show] raises big questions: can a sitcom capture the grit, humanity, and relentless optimism of real journalism?" The trailer is here.

New Mexico will be the first state in the union to offer free child care to all its families, regardless of income. "The state has been working to lower child care care costs since 2019, when it created the Early Childhood Education and Care Department," reports Chabeli Carrazana of The 19th. The new policy rollout in November will allow all families access to the state’s child care assistance program without meeting eligibility criteria and will remove any copay requirements. Families are expected to save an average of $12,000 per child.

Hidden River Cave's kaleidoscope-like Sunset
Dome is a popular tourist attraction.

What was once a heavily polluted cave in Horse Cave, Ky., is now a point of community pride and a tourism draw. "For generations, the cave was all but lost to the town on top of it. Miles of caverns and waterways brimmed with sewage that sent a putrid stench up from the depths and across downtown," reports Hiroko Tabuchi of The New York Times. "The restoration of Hidden River Cave is one of the most remarkable examples of a cave cleanup. . . . Last year, 30,000 people, more than 10 times the town’s population, toured the cave."

Some ranchers prefer the beaverslide for stacking hay.
(Photo by Linda Teahon, Offrange)

No need to purchase fancy machinery to stack hay bales -- a beaverslide is much cheaper and simpler to own. "The haystacking device consists of a wide, sliding fork at the base of a ramp and a cable pulley system rigged to the ramp’s underside," explains Katie Hill for Offrange. "Ranchers use a team of horses or a motorized vehicle to pull one of the cables perpendicular to the beaverslide, which in turn hoists the fork up the ramp, bringing a giant pile of hay up with it. . . .At the top of the ramp, the hay falls to the other side, forming three-story piles that can reach 25 tons in weight."

It hadn't been seen or touched by humans for 2,000 years, but this summer, artifact hunter Ben McGhee unearthed the discovery of a lifetime: "A hoard of 51 Native American blades buried in a Missouri soybean field," writes Chris Bennett of Farm Journal. "Based on the location, and the lack of percussion flakes or hammer stones within immediate proximity, McGhee believes the cache was transported to its present location, close to the water’s edge, for trade access." Native Americans traded the blades, which could be more precisely carved into arrowheads.

Glacier National Park is an International Dark Sky Sanctuary. Visitors can see the Milky Way from St. Mary’s Glacier, pictured here. (Photo by Ray Stinson, National Park Service)

In places where the cover of night is treasured, skies filled with stars, glowing planets and the Earth's solitary moon light the way. For many people, dark skies offer a window into thoughtfulness and mystery. "There is a feeling of possibility, timelessness, and, potentially, of fear, in the night sky," writes Sarah Melotte of The Daily Yonder. Some rural places "claim the preservation of dark skies as a core value. They protect a visitor’s experience of wonder and mystery. . . There are 152 dark sky 'places' in the continental United States." Find dark skies here. 

US-China trade war has hurt American soybean sales

American soybean farmers head into the harvest without
sales to China. (Photo by Daniela Paola Alchapar, Unsplash)

One quarter to a third of American soybean exports were purchased by China before the US-China trade wars began in 2018, Keith Bradsher from The New York Times reported.

Now American soybean exports to China have fallen to zero. China has boycotted buying the crop in retaliation of tariffs imposed by the Trump Administration on Chinese imports. China now buys soybeans from Brazil.

“The pain is being felt in Midwest states, especially Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, and Indiana. For the first time in many years, American farmers are preparing to harvest their crop this fall with no purchase orders from China,” Bradsher wrote.

Farmers in rural China are also facing the impact of the trade war.

Because of rising demand, soybeans can fetch higher prices, and thus some farmers in Heilongjiang Province (where the greatest output of soybeans in China comes from) are turning a profit.

However, the crop yield from Chinese soybean farmers in Heilongjiang Province is not enough to supply all of China, and many farmers in the area do not want to grow soybeans because it requires more effort and overall is less profitable than corn. At the same time, rural areas face labor shortages as the youth move to the cities for higher paying jobs.