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The Daily Yonder
Second-Hand Sales Turn into Second-Chance Grants
The first shopper arrived at 3:30 a.m., five and a half hours before the doors opened. By 9 o’clock, 202 people stood in line in front of Second Chance Emporium, a second-hand store and rural retail phenomenon in La Grange, Texas. When the doors finally cracked open, it was off to the races, as shoppers poured into the 20,000 square foot shop in search of….well, everything.
How Miners Are Still Paying the Costs of Pursuing an “American Dream”
This story was originally published by the Postindustrial. “I’ve loaded more coal in my sleep than I have in the mines,” says Terry Lilly. The words don’t come easy. Though retired, Lilly remains ever a coal miner. It’s said coal miners are a stoic sort. Inner revelations aren’t in Lilly’s nature. But it’s also physically difficult for him to share those words.
A Rural Calling: Scott McReynolds
When Scott McReynolds completed his graduate studies, he decided he’d do “one more fun thing before getting a real job.” That one fun thing became a calling and a career. McReynolds grew up in Lithonia, Georgia, just outside Atlanta. In the summer of 1990, he came to...
Rural Wyoming Is Losing OBs. Those Who Remain Are Spread Thin.
This story was originally published by Wyofile. Jan Siebersma has delivered thousands of babies during his three-plus decades in obstetrics. He’s seen it all: twins and breech babies, marathon labors, emergency cesarean sections, even the rare en caul delivery when the infant emerges in the intact amniotic sac. Working...
45 Degrees North: Home Improvement The Rural Way
There’s a whole lot of remodeling going on in rural areas. Affordable housing is in short supply and housing stock is aging. And out here we tend to stay in the same home longer than the national median tenure of 13.2 years. So rural folks are building additions to accommodate growing families, accommodations to allow aging in place, and features that make the homes we’re in more livable.
Independent Journalists Work to Fill Rural News Gaps on the Big Island of Hawai’i
Julia Neal is the backbone of the Ka’ū Calendar, a 16-page community newspaper covering local news and events in the southern portion of Hawai’i’s Big Island. Like clockwork for the past 21 years, Neal works late into the night before the first of every month to send the final draft of her independently published newspaper to the printers on the neighboring island of O’ahu.
From ‘No Resources’ to a ‘Model Program’: NM’s Behavioral Health Services Tailored to Rural Needs
When Vivian Montano was in jail, her favorite day of the week was Tuesday. That was the day she, along with a small group of other women, would be transported nearly 90 miles to the Olive Tree Creative Arts and Community Center for a day of behavioral health programming. The...
It Is, Once Again, an Election Year.
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in Keep It Rural, an email newsletter from the Daily Yonder. Like what you see? Join the mailing list for more rural news, thoughts, and analysis in your inbox each week. Happy 2024, Keep it Rural readers! In just under two weeks,...
Review: Who Is the Rural Voter? Book Builds on Old Themes to Create New Understanding
In their new book, The Rural Voter: The Politics of Place and the Disuniting of America, Colby College political scientists Nicholas F. Jacobs and Daniel M. Shea set out to describe what differentiates the politics of metropolitan and nonmetropolitan places. Drawing on the largest survey ever conducted with the specific aim of understanding rural voters, they seek to explain the recent rightward shift of the American countryside.
Thank You for Supporting Rural Journalism
We’ve officially reached the finish line of our annual donor campaign. And we owe you a huge thanks for helping us get here. With your support, we’ve tapped into more than $38,000 in match funds, for a grand total of more than $75,000 raised. This money goes directly...
New Survey Examines Motivations of Volunteers at Rural Festivals
For the past eight decades, Orange City, Iowa, has held an event recognizing and commemorating the community’s Dutch ancestry focused on the tulip. During the multi-day festival dedicated to the flower, the community of fewer than 7,000 people swells to as many as ten times that, said Mike Hofman, executive director of the Orange City Chamber of Commerce.
Last Chance to Support the Yonder in 2023
Today is your final chance to give to our annual donor campaign. If you’ve been waiting to donate, now is the time. When the clock strikes midnight, our matching challenges — which multiply every dollar we raise — will come to an end. First, thanks for staying...
The Year in Review — Our Top Stories of 2023
Just like that, another year of rural reporting comes to a close here at the Yonder. As is our custom, we’ve gathered the most popular stories of 2023 to share with all of you. These are the top original stories written and published by our staff and contributors, but...
The Price of Picking Blueberries in Rural Maine
This story was originally published by Ambrook Research. Milbridge, Maine, is pretty quiet for a lot of the year. A handful of businesses dot the downtown, which runs for less than half a mile along Route 1 as the road winds its way toward the Canadian border. With fewer than 1,400 residents, Milbridge doubles its size in the late summer and then again in the fall — first for blueberry season and then for wreath processing in October. Another key industry is the nearly year-round processing of sea cucumbers, which can help make stocks for stews.
Chickens on the Run (Again)
Editor’s Note: A version of this story first appeared in The Good, the Bad, and the Elegy, a newsletter from the Daily Yonder focused on the best, and worst, in rural media, entertainment, and culture. Every other Thursday, it features reviews, retrospectives, recommendations, and more. You can join the mailing list at the bottom of this article to receive future editions in your inbox.
Child Care Gaps in Rural America Threaten to Undercut Small Communities
This story was published courtesy of KFF Health News. Candy Murnion remembers vividly the event that pushed her to open her first day care business in Jordan, a town of fewer than 400 residents in a sea of grassland in eastern Montana. Garfield County’s public health nurse, one of few...
Digital Redlining and the Black Rural South
This story was originally published by Capital B News. Military veteran Obbie Riley is “sad, angry, and all of the above” as he thinks about the high cost and lack of broadband access in his rural Mississippi hometown. He became a Neshoba County supervisor in 2008 in the...
With Pandemic Funding Expired, Child Care Providers Seek Solutions to Shortages and Sticker Shock
As noted in our previous reporting, almost half the U.S. population is struggling to find adequate access to child care, according to a report from the Center for American Progress, and the rate is closer to 60% in rural areas. During the first two years of the pandemic almost 20,000...
Public Colleges Serving Rural Areas Especially Likely to Cut Humanities
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Taya Sullivan, 20, is a freshman at West Virginia University, double majoring in neuroscience and Spanish. She also has a campus job in a linguistics lab, building on her majors and earning money she needs to continue her studies. Next semester, both her Spanish major and...
USDA Report: Poverty Decreases for Some Nonmetro Counties
The latest “Rural America at a Glance” report – an annual reference document issued by the USDA Economic Research Service – shows that persistent poverty is decreasing in some rural areas, but experts cautioned that the changes may not be lasting. An analysis of annual county-level...
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