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The Daily Yonder
A Son’s Eulogy: Rosalynn Carter’s ‘Life of Adventure’ Included Her Return to Hometown
Chip Carter, the son of Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, delivered this eulogy for his mother November 28, 2023. I want to welcome all of you here and thank you for coming to help my family and to mourn with my family and, mostly, to celebrate a life well lived. My...
N.C. Hospital Administrators Talk Innovations to Create Healthier Rural Communities
Hospitals must look to and work with their rural communities in order to create healthier outcomes, concluded a panel of rural hospital executives at the “Creating Healthier Communities” webinar from the North Carolina Healthcare Association on Wednesday, October 11, 2023. Panelists included John Green, president and CEO of...
Opinion: While Some Towns Lose Their Hospitals, Others Are Piling on Luxurious Extras
Editor’s Note: Since 2010, 149 rural hospitals have closed or been converted to facilities that no longer provide in-patient services. In the meantime, some urban hospitals have started offering amenities more akin to seven-star hotels than healthcare facilities, according to Elisabeth Rosenthal, a senior contributing editor for KFF Health News. Next time you have to drive to a big city for hospital care, you might want to ask about thread count and Michelin ratings. Ed.
Research and Analysis: Rural Internet Subscribers Pay More, New Data Confirms
Broadband access continues to be a hot topic for Daily Yonder readers, as state broadband offices work to get access to the first chunk of the $42.5 billion that will be doled out over the next 5+ years as part of the Infrastructure Act’s Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program.
An Unlikely Coalition to Protect Colorado’s Dolores River
The Dolores River winds north out of Dolores, Colorado, starting in the ponderosa forests at 7,000 feet and meandering its way through red rock layers until it reaches the Colorado River, east of Moab, Utah. But in dry years, there is barely any water in the river. Most of the...
Help Us Support the Pillars of Small-Town Life
Working as a Rural Reporting Fellow with the Daily Yonder gave me an opportunity to explore my passion for rural storytelling. When I began college, I felt lost and alone. I had left behind the only place I ever called home — a family cattle ranch and small hometown in western Kansas — to attend Yale University in a crowded New England city.
Opinion: Making a Choice to Fight Antisemitism
My family lived on a small working farm in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Father had a job off the farm and he came home to hard work every evening and every weekend. Mother was a homemaker; she sold cream from the milk cow. I milked the cow after father taught me how, and all children hand churned the butter out of the milk. I chopped wood for the stove that heated much of the house (and before we had an electric stove, mother cooked and baked with a wood-fired stove and oven).
More Folks Are Falling in Love with the West Texas Desert. Will There Be Enough Water to Sustain Them?
Editor’s Note: This article was produced with funding from the Frank Allen Field Reporting Grant from the Institute for Journalism and Natural Resources. Many rural desert towns in West Texas rely on tourism to fuel the economy, but the associated growth in development means that more people need access to a limited amount of water. This is a contentious issue in a community where traditional infrastructure – like municipal water – is not always a given. But local leaders have implemented creative solutions that seem to be helping.
‘Nothing’s Predictable’: Extreme Weather is Ruining Farmers’ Crops and Finances
This story was originally published by Grist in partnership with the Economic Hardship Reporting Project. When David Marchant looked at the weather forecast in early July, he had a bad feeling. His 50-acre farm sits in the bend of the meandering Lamoille River in northern Vermont. He watched its banks warily as a steady downpour soaked the landscape. Soon, the river began to rise. By 7:30 the next morning, he and his crew were out in the mud, trying to harvest all they could save.
45 Degrees North: Sending Holiday Cheer
This time of year, many rural homes become part of the global network of Santa’s helpers. There’s a whole lot of baking going on, plus knitting, quilting, making of candy, toys, soaps, fishing lures, tulle tutus and corn hole boards. A surprising number of your neighbors moonlight as purchasing agents on behalf of North Pole Intl. We don’t talk about how some products are magically transported into Santa’s sleigh for Christmas Eve delivery via chimney. For other items, the jolly old elf outsources to the same carriers that rural homes rely on year round for package shipping and delivery.
Q&A: The Movement to Save the Cherokee Language from the Brink of Extinction
Editor’s Note: This interview first appeared in Path Finders, an email newsletter from the Daily Yonder. Each week, Path Finders features a Q&A with a rural thinker, creator, or doer. Like what you see here? You can join the mailing list at the bottom of this article and receive more conversations like this in your inbox each week.
Philanthropists Invest in Rural Workforce Training Programs
Editor’s Note: A version of this story first appeared in Mile Markers, a twice monthly newsletter from Open Campus about the role of colleges in rural America. You can join the mailing list at the bottom of this article to receive future editions in your inbox. Mike Feigner, the...
Why Do Older, White, Rural Residents Have Slower Broadband Speeds?
Editor’s Note: Over the past 15 years, Roberto Gallardo has authored or co-authored more than 70 articles for the Daily Yonder. His primary concentration has been on rural broadband. In this submission, Gallardo looks at a finding from his last Daily Yonder article: that rural whites tend to have slower broadband access than people of color. It’s a counterintuitive fact, given that people of color generally tend to have less access – not more – to basic services.
Commentary: In the Face of Disaster
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. This edition of Keep It Rural has a little bit of...
Expanding Medicaid to Help Rural Hospitals a Priority for Kansas Governor
Kansas Governor Laura Kelly dedicated this year’s fall to traveling around her state and talking with constituents and community leaders about expanding Medicaid. In a state where 60 rural hospitals are at risk of closing, forcing the legislature to expand Medicaid would be a lifeline, she said in an interview with The Daily Yonder. Her new campaign, “Healthy Workers, Healthy Economy” aims to help residents understand what Medicaid expansion could mean for rural hospitals, rural residents, and the state’s economy.
Video: In This Small Town, Volleyball Gets the Crowd Roaring
It’s hard to get a better bang for your entertainment buck than a small town gymnasium on a Friday night. I traveled to La Jara, Colorado not only to showcase how awesome any rural gym can be on any given weekend, but also for a sport that’s often overshadowed by the likes of football and basketball. Which, to me, is surprising because volleyball begets as much, if not more, nail-biter excitement than any other sport.
Public Payment of Dialysis Treatment Has Changed the Rural Healthcare Marketplace
Rural residents as a group live farther from dialysis treatment facilities than their urban counterparts. Given that rural America generally scores lower on healthcare access, that’s not a surprise. But there is some unexpected news in a new study of dialysis access. One of the chronically medically underserved populations...
Osage History Comes to Hollywood in ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’
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.
No One Does Rural News Like the Yonder
We began the Yonder in 2007 because nobody else was doing the job of telling the news of rural America. It was coming up on a Presidential election year and we figured without some effort rural places would just disappear from the picture. It seemed like a unique time and a particularly important election.
Finding Sanctuary in Rural Oregon
This story was originally published by Oregon Humanities. Like all other living things, humans move beyond borders to find refuge. Migration has always played, and will continue to play, a role of utmost importance on this earthly plane. We migrate for survival and to overcome poverty, hunger, fear, and violence. These reasons for migration cannot be denied or hidden. We move beyond borders as seekers and time travelers, imagining a better future. In our seeking, we are accompanied by dreams, faith, and hope. Each of our decisions entails risk—sometimes many risks, some of them extreme—but the risk is worth taking to have better living conditions, safety, and shelter.
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