Rural

One of the biggest barriers to economic growth across our country is that parts of America are overlooked economically — simply out of sight and out of mind. Coastal hubs attract billions of dollars in investment, while rural communities are... Read More

WASHINGTON — Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins told National Association of Counties members on Tuesday that help is on the way for rural communities while assuring them passage of the long-awaited Farm Bill could happen by the end of this year.... Read More

HOMESTEAD, Fla. (AP) — Jeremy Ford hates wasting water. As a mist of rain sprinkled the fields around him in Homestead, Florida, Ford bemoaned how expensive it had been running a fossil fuel-powered irrigation system on his five-acre farm —... Read More

SMITHTON, Pa. (AP) — Donald Trump sat in a large barn in rural Pennsylvania on Monday, asking questions of farmers and offering jokes but, in a rarity for his campaign events, mostly listening. The bombastic former president was unusually restrained at an... Read More

WESTBY, Wis. — President Joe Biden traveled to southwest Wisconsin on Thursday to highlight how his administration’s investments in clean energy, expanded high-speed internet and other job-creating projects have benefited rural communities. One part victory lap and one part a... Read More

MOUNT STORM, W.Va. (AP) — Down a long gravel road, tucked into the hills in West Virginia, is a low-slung building where researchers are extracting essential elements from an old coal mine that they hope will strengthen the nation's energy... Read More

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The Biden administration wants to put conserving vast government-owned lands on equal footing with oil drilling, livestock grazing and other interests, according to a top administration official who defended the idea against criticism that it would interfere with industry. The proposal... Read More

WASHINGTON — In February, Biden tapped Xochitl Torres Small, currently USDA undersecretary for rural development, to serve as the agency’s deputy agriculture secretary. As she awaits confirmation, she’s using every tool at her disposal to ensure rural America is getting... Read More

ARLINGTON, Va. — U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack urged Congress on Thursday to use the upcoming farm bill reauthorization as an opportunity to encourage America’s farmers to diversify and “create multiple profit centers” in their farming operations. Speaking at the... Read More

WASHINGTON — Adults living in rural areas of the United States have a 19% higher risk of developing heart failure compared with their urban counterparts, according to a study supported by the National Institutes of Health. The news is worse... Read More

WASHINGTON — Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., is leading a bipartisan effort to provide some regulatory relief to rural health clinics. The bill, which Barrasso introduced with Sens. Tina Smith, D-Minn., Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Michael Bennet, D-Colo., would modernize the... Read More

CHURDAN, Iowa (AP) — In the 1970s when George Naylor said he wanted to grow organic crops, the idea didn't go over well. Back then organic crops were an oddity, destined for health food stores or maybe a few farmers... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Federal Communications Commission proposed $4.35 million in fines against 73 rural broadband companies that applied and received government funding to build their rural networks but never did. The companies had all won bids in 2020 for areas... Read More

LINCOLN, Neb. — In Nebraska officials want to ensure the millions set aside for broadband buildout during the pandemic are used. However, it’s going to be hard for the rural state where one company recently declined to use $13 million... Read More

WASHINGTON — The FBI issued a warning this week to farm cooperatives that ransomware attackers are increasingly trying to disrupt their operations during the planting and harvest seasons. The FBI announcement was one of several warnings about cyberattacks that are... Read More

ALBANY, N.Y. — The New York State Board on Electric Generation Siting and the Environment authorized Excelsior Energy Center LLC to construct and manage a 280-megawatt solar farm in the Town of Byron, located in Genesee County. Following a review... Read More

WASHINGTON — Bidding will start in the next auction of 2.5 GHz band licenses for 5G wireless services beginning on July 29, the Federal Communications Commission announced Monday. The ascending clock format auction will offer approximately 8,000 new flexible-use, county-based... Read More

WASHINGTON — Former Rep. Xochitl Torres Small, D-N.M., makes no effort to hide her enthusiasm for her current job, undersecretary for rural development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Six months after her confirmation, the Democrat from Las Cruces, New... Read More

WASHINGTON — Sens. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Rob Portman, D-Ohio, joined by House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C. and Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Ky., are urging their colleagues to support a sweeping new anti-poverty bill intended, in their words, “to create... Read More

WASHINGTON — Automotive industry officials told a congressional panel Wednesday that reaching President Joe Biden’s goal of switching the U.S. transportation sector to electric vehicles is likely to be a trade-off of one set of problems for another. Electric vehicles... Read More

WASHINGTON — The World Health Organization recently hosted the third in a series of webinars on rural health equity and policies aimed at developing, attracting, and retaining health workers in rural and remote areas.  “Four out of five of the... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Federal Communications Commission announced on Wednesday it is set to approve a total of $554,150,641 for the third round of funding in deployments of the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund. The FCC previously announced over $1 billion in... Read More

The Biden Administration is investing more than $19 million to expand telehealth access to rural and underserved communities, and Mend, a telemedicine and AI-powered patient engagement platform, is looking to prioritize access in rural areas where there is less internet... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Members of Congress threw their support Tuesday behind President Joe Biden’s goal of helping small and rural businesses but with different perspectives on how to achieve it. Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, suggested that Congress provide a dedicated source... Read More

One of the nation’s leading integrated health systems serving rural America, Marshfield Clinic Health System, has banded together with multi-sided community referral platform NowPow, launching one of the country’s largest rural health equity initiatives Monday.  Along with the common social... Read More

A small community in Lincoln County, Maine, was recently denied a broadband deployment grant by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, as satellite service provider ViaSat had already won the area in a Rural Digital Opportunity Fund auction by the Federal... Read More

Rep. Tom O’Halleran, D-Ariz., has joined Rep. Jodey Arrington, R- Texas, and a bipartisan group of members in a drive to improve the performance standards for health care providers who participate in Medicare’s Accountable Care Organizations, which are part of... Read More

Rep. Derek Kilmer, D- Wash., on Thursday cheered word that the Biden administration is allocating nearly $1 billion for grants to expand broadband access on tribal lands. The anouncement of the funding was made by Vice President Kamala Harris, Commerce... Read More

WASHINGTON - House and Senate Democrats assembled at the U.S. Capitol Thursday to unveil a new $94 billion proposal to make broadband internet more accessible and affordable nationwide, striking a blow at the digital inequalities that have become all-too-apparent during... Read More

A new study published by the Alliance for Research on Regional Colleges reveals that the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on underserved rural colleges and surrounding communities could endanger the stability of local economies, health care systems and social mobility for the... Read More