South Dakota State

Clear Lake, SD

Columbus, OH

TravelNoire

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has reached a historic $2.2 billion settlement to compensate Black and other minority farmers who faced years of systemic discrimination in farm lending programs. This landmark agreement will address decades of unfair treatment. It will also provide financial assistance to those affected by discriminatory practices before January 2021.

USDA Announces $2 Billion Settlement For Black And Minority Farmers

Alabama State

Mississippi State

Reuters’ Leah Douglas reported Wednesday that “the U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Wednesday it has issued $2 billion of financial assistance to more than 43,000 farmers, ranchers and forest landowners who experienced past discrimination in the agency’s farm lending programs.”. “The Inflation Reduction Act allocated $2.2...

USDA Providing $2 Billion In Discrimination Payments

North Dakota State

North Dakota Monitor

Amid a monthslong food shortage affecting tribal food assistance programs, U.S. Senators John Hoeven and Kevin Cramer of North Dakota urged Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to swiftly and thoroughly rectify the situation. “These shortages are a gross failure of program management and the USDA needs to promptly resolve this issue,” said Cramer in a statement to […]

Tribal communities left without staple foods; legislators demand solutions

The USDA announced changes to the Farm Service Agency’s Farm Loan Programs that take effect on September 25, 2024. The changes are intended to increase opportunities for farmers and ranchers to be financially viable. These improvements are part of the Enhancing Program Access and Delivery for Farm Loans rule.

USDA Updates Farm Loan Programs

Indiana State

John Jamerson knows the value of farming land. He is one of the last remaining family members that lives on Lyles Station, the last Black farming settlement in Indiana. As Black farm land — and landowners — evaporate nationwide, Jamerson said maintaining his family’s farm, Legacy Taste of the Garden, is their way of building and continuing a legacy that has spanned nearly five generations.

The USDA Is Finally Paying Back Black Farmers. Some Say It’s Not Enough.

As a mortgage broker, you understand the limitations of traditional lending caps for ambitious businesses, particularly in capital-heavy industries. Fortunately, the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) 504 lending limits have expanded for businesses that ‘go green,’ offering new opportunities for you to support your clients. The SBA’s 504...

Grow Your Business with Green Loans￼

WashingtonExaminer

Low-income seniors and tribal populations in eight states faced food shortages when a distributor contracted by the Agriculture Department failed to make its deliveries. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told Politico that the department made mistakes when it chose just one distributor to make deliveries for the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations and the Commodity […]

USDA reliance on one food distributor causes food shortages in tribal and senior populations

The USDA is pushing for eased tax credit requirements regarding crops used as ingredients in the production of renewable fuels, according to Secretary Tom Vilsack. Current guidance on a subsidy aimed at encouraging production of sustainable aviation fuel — which can be made from ingredients including corn-based ethanol and soybean oil — requires U.S. farmers to adopt a bundling of practices that include the planting of cover crops during the off season and no-till farming. Producers say such demands are sometimes impractical.

USDA seeks easier rules for crops in green fuels

Wyoming State

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contributor

Cheyenne, WY

WyoFile

WHITE MOUNTAIN—“That’s a lot of horses,” lamented Cheyenne resident Robyn Smith from a high-desert ridgeline. It wasn’t her first exasperated exclamation. “Argh, oh crap,” was her immediate reaction to learning a federal judge had given the Bureau of Land Management the OK to proceed with plans to fully remove two wild horse herds from the landscape in southwest Wyoming.

BLM wins two lawsuits, clearing way for elimination of two Wyoming wild horse herds

North Carolina State

North Carolina officials are working to attack the state's shortage of affordable by building thousands of new affordable apartment homes. (Photo: Clayton Henkel) Federal tax credits and other financing awards will help to build $1.1 billion in affordable apartments in 25 counties this year, the N.C. Housing Finance Agency (NCHFA) recently announced.

With rents high and vacancies scarce, NC officials seek to expand affordable housing supply

Maine State

Sagadahoc County, ME

Lewiston, ME

The Maine Monitor

Editor’s note: This story contains references to suicide. When a bill to strengthen Maine’s yellow flag law went into effect earlier this month, Sagadahoc County Sheriff Joel Merry said he felt a sense of relief.

Law enforcement officers can now get a warrant to take someone into protective custody

Don Hall is an avid snowmobiler, but instead of heading for the hills each winter in search of deep powder, he takes an older snowmachine to lower elevations nearer the snow line. There’s a reason the Riverton resident prefers the lower zones despite the rocks, fences and sage most riders avoid: That’s where the coyotes are.

Wyoming allows snowmobilers to run down wildlife. Despite global outrage, it may stay legal.

Texas State

View and easily share in-depth voter guides by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit and nonpartisan news organization. View and easily share in-depth voter guides by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit and nonpartisan news organization. [ Read more ]

Texas Tribune voting resources

Hinds County, MS

Mississippi News Group

A Mississippi Attorney has been charged with multiple Counts of introducing contraband into a Correctional Facility as well as consipiracy according to a press release from Hinds County Sheriff Tyree Jones.

Mississippi Attorney Charged with 3 Counts of Introducing Contraband into a Correctional Facility

Minnesota State

Flint, MI

U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., campaigns for Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz in Flint, Mich., on Aug. 29, 2024. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance) U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) “drummed up” support for Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz in Flint on Thursday,...

Rep. Maxwell Frost talks gun violence while drumming up support for Harris in Flint

Colorado State

Savery, WY

Saddles belonging to pioneering ranchers are displayed in the Little Snake River Museum. (Angus M. Thuermer Jr./WyoFile) SAVERY—Curators at the Little Snake River Museum in Savery are saddled with history. Residents of the Little Snake River Valley on Wyoming’s southern border are proud of their agricultural heritage, which dates...

Saddled with history

The insurance industry is on the verge of a significant hiring surge, with more than half of insurers planning to increase their workforce in the coming year, according to the Q1 2024 Insurance Labor Market Survey by the Jacobson Group and Ward/STG Performance Benchmarking. The property/casualty segment is leading this trend, with 53% of companies expecting to add staff, particularly in commercial lines. The primary drivers behind this expansion are anticipated business volume growth and entry into new markets.

Insurance Industry Braces for Major Hiring Boom in 2024

Care.com will pay more than $8 million to settle claims from the Federal Trade Commission alleging that the website and app have deceived caregivers and families for years and coerced them into paid subscriptions that were difficult to cancel. The claims are part of a federal complaint filed by the...

Care.com misled caregivers and families — and made it ‘impossible’ to cancel, FTC claims

Kentucky State

Northern Kentucky Tribune

This story was produced through a collaboration between the Daily Yonder , which covers rural America, and Climate Central , a nonadvocacy science and news group. On the day he would become homeless, Wesley Bryant was awoken by his wife, Alexis.

Some Kentuckians, like many rural Americans, are too poor to qualify for federal flood protections

Brandt, SD

Gary, SD

Goodwin, SD

Toronto, SD

Kranzburg, SD

Estelline, SD

Astoria, SD

Castlewood, SD

Labolt, SD

Marietta, MN

Strandburg, SD

Canby, MN

Hendricks, MN

Bruce, SD

Revillo, SD

Watertown, SD

White, SD

Stockholm, SD

Porter, MN

Hayti, SD

NewsBreak

Day care loan celebrated as example of federal lending partnership’s rural impact

Basil Gooden, U.S. Agriculture Department under secretary for rural development, speaks Aug. 29, 2024, at Ages and Stages Daycare in Clear Lake with, from left, Rural...

Day care loan celebrated as example of federal lending partnership’s rural impact

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