Choose your location
The Daily Yonder
A Case Study: Affordable Housing Dilemma of a Small Town
Kevin Connor spent a few months living in the Bridge Homeless Shelter transitional housing when he first moved to Cortez, Colorado, after getting out of three months in prison. The Bridge has 12 transitional housing units with most residents paying under $200 a month for housing. After leaving the Bridge,...
Election Deniers Focus Recruitment in ‘Out of the Way Places’
When people ask how Cathy Darling Allen is doing, she no longer responds with the socially-appropriate “fine” people expect to hear, because she’s not fine. For more than two years, Allen, who runs the elections office in northern California’s Shasta County, has spent much of her time fending off accusations that her office falsifies election results.
Indigenous Org. Seeks To Protect Data Sovereignty, Offers Education
Growing up on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation in South Dakota, tribal member Burt Dillabaugh didn’t see a lot of people involved and working in the sciences. “Unfortunately, in rural communities, there’s only so many different types of jobs,” he told the Daily Yonder. He added that there are largely a few types of jobs available on the reservation: teacher, medical professional, or business owner. “There weren’t always jobs in your field to come back to in which to work.”
Burning Man Was a Disaster
Nevada is basin-and-range country. Driving across the state means dipping up and down valleys and mountains, searching for antelope on the horizon while keeping one eye on the gas meter. “No services next 100 miles” is a common warning in this desert that can turn deadly in an instant. Preparing for inclement weather – scorching sun, raging winds, or torrential rain – is vital, because the desert plays no favorites.
Despite Successes, Addiction Treatment Programs for Families Struggle to Stay Open
MORA, Minnesota — Two playgrounds border the Recovering Hope Treatment Center for addiction that sits at the end of a gravel road in eastern Minnesota’s rural Kanabec County. A meeting room inside is furnished with rocking chairs and baby walkers. And there are strollers in the halls. Recovering...
Study Finds Gap Between What Rural Residents Want for End-of-Life Care and What They Receive
When it comes to end-of-life wishes, a new study has found that while most people have end-of-life wishes, only a little over a third of them actually get them fulfilled. That is even more true with rural residents, researchers said. Lula Reese said she didn’t have to ask her mother...
Recovery-Friendly Workplaces Can Help Those on the Path to Healing
Rural communities ravaged by substance misuse could benefit from people in recovery being active members of the local workforce, say experts in criminal justice, substance misuse, and labor studies. Recovery-friendly workplaces, also sometimes known as second-chance workplaces, allow people in recovery the opportunity to work. “Recovery-friendly workplaces are basically employers...
Life in a Rural ‘Ambulance Desert’ Means Sometimes Help Isn’t on the Way
This story was originally published by KFF Health News. Annie Jackson can’t know whether her sister Grena Prude might have survived had an ambulance been more readily available when she went into cardiac arrest on May 10. But Jackson is convinced her sister would have at least had a chance.
45 Degrees North: Roadkill’s Rural Realities
There’s not much that’s sweeter, after the hot, muggy dog days of summer, than opening your windows to a cool breeze of country-fresh air, except when that breeze carries the stench of carrion. Unless you’re a turkey vulture, there’s not much to love about dead stuff that’s been overcooked on hot pavement. But roadkill is a reality on country roads, so it’s good to know how to deal with it.
A Taste of Rural Road Tripping along Three of America’s Historic Highways
Route 66 will forever be the “forgotten” highway, a road that acts as a metaphor for classic America. People retrace old routes like 66 searching for an ample dose of soul retrieval. And these treks across America usually deliver, from staggering landscapes and terrain to towns so small they feel like they appeared out of nowhere.
‘Hillbilly’ Redux: Reclaiming a Word, a Region, and a People
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.
Commentary: When You Assume
By now, the chattering classes of every political stripe have been dining out for weeks on the phenomenon that is Oliver Anthony’s underground hit “Rich Men North of Richmond.” I may just be one more person making stuff up and putting it on the internet (Anthony’s words in a recent Newsweek interview), but I grew up in rural East Tennessee and I teach Appalachian and rural studies to college students. From where I sit, there’s one clear reason why both conservatives and liberals misjudged his politics. It’s not about the lyrics to the song. It’s about where he is from.
‘The Road to Nowhere’ Becomes Its Own Destination
It’s easy to tell when you’ve reached the Road to Nowhere. Even before you roll over the (crumbling) asphalt of Lakeview Drive near Bryson City, North Carolina, there’s a billboard at the mouth of the 6.5-mile road that stretches into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. WELCOME...
Nebraska’s Center for Rural Affairs Marks 50 Years of Advocacy for People and Places
LYONS, Nebraska — Lori Bergman had a dream, but like a lot of small-scale entrepreneurs, couldn’t get a bank loan to realize it. For four years, the Missouri transplant had run a successful food truck at events in and around her new home in North Platte, dishing out ice cream in homemade waffle cones, and whipping up sundaes and milk shakes.
2nd Round of Wildfire-Prevention Funding Will Have Tools to Help Rural Applicants
The second application window of a federal grant program for wildfire protection on private, public, and tribal lands is open until October 31, 2023, and rural applicants may have a better shot at the grants after a recent study showed the program’s first round of funding prioritized larger communities.
Nonprofit, Community-Owned, or Multi-Use: North Dakota Towns Get Creative to Keep Grocery Stores Going
This article is republished from the High Plains Reader, an independent news, arts and entertainment publication based in Fargo, North Dakota. North Dakota’s Commerce Committee during the legislature’s 2019 to 2020 interim session studied the decline of rural grocery stores in North Dakota. Almost 3.5 years later, Senate Bill 2273, which allocates $1 million to preserve rural grocery stores and increase food access, was signed into law April 24.
Thousands of Coal Miners Still Sick and Dying as Feds Consider Silica Dust Fix
This story was originally co-published by Public Health Watch, Louisville Public Media, and Mountain State Spotlight. The gravesite in Danny Smith’s vast and verdant yard is shaded by hulking trees. His parents’ graves are adjacent and marked by a massive headstone. In summer, crickets chirp, birds sing, and leaves rustle in the breeze. It is a peaceful spot for Smith’s final resting place. And it’s ready.
Foraging in Appalachia Brings Social Media Success
Whitney Johnson never thought people would want to watch her hunt for mushrooms in the forests near her Appalachian home. And yet, the Blaine, Kentucky, TikTok star has more than a million followers across social media channels. Having that audience has allowed her to cut back on her day job to focus on foraging and creating her mountain recipes.
Q&A: A New Book Tells the Story of Food, From the Civil Rights Movement to Now
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.
Rising Cost of Housing and Higher Education Poses Real Problems for Rural Students
She has put off thoughts of attending beautician school, instead working multiple jobs here and across the state border in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. She grew up in San Diego, and would like to move back there. “There’s more to do. But it’s expensive. It’s gotten crazy there, like everywhere,” she...
The Daily Yonder
3K+
Posts
5M+
Views
The Daily Yonder provides news, commentary, and analysis about and for rural America.
Welcome to NewsBreak, an open platform where diverse perspectives converge. Most of our content comes from established publications and journalists, as well as from our extensive network of tens of thousands of creators who contribute to our platform. We empower individuals to share insightful viewpoints through short posts and comments. It’s essential to note our commitment to transparency: our Terms of Use acknowledge that our services may not always be error-free, and our Community Standards emphasize our discretion in enforcing policies. We strive to foster a dynamic environment for free expression and robust discourse through safety guardrails of human and AI moderation. Join us in shaping the news narrative together.