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The Daily Yonder
Commentary: Rural America’s Young Conservatives Support Clean Energy
With the 2024 election looking more and more like a 2020 rematch, it’s imperative that our leaders pay attention to a growing voting bloc: young voters in rural areas. In 2020, young, climate-minded voters, many hailing from major cities and big college campuses, turned the election for President Joe Biden. Moreover, their electoral power has only grown in the past four years. In fact, millennials and Gen Z voters will be the majority of eligible voters by 2028. It’s no secret that these voters typically trend liberal and progressive.
Rural Places
This story was originally published by Oregon Humanities. The first thirty-nine years of my life were spent in a small rural town, home to barely 2,000 people, tucked away at the edge of a rolling mountain plateau in the South. Growing up there as a transgender child, then a teen, and later an adult, forced me into a closet that was plenty deep. I sure didn’t have a transgender community to find solace in, so I guarded my secret as closely as the skin on my body.
With Limited Resources, One Small Town Plans for Climate Change
This story was produced through a collaboration between the Daily Yonder, which covers rural America, and Nexus Media News, an editorially independent, nonprofit news service covering climate change. One of the most iconic landmarks in downtown Grants Pass, Oregon, is a 100-year-old sign that arcs over the main street with...
Commentary: FCC Commissioner – ‘We Can’t Afford to Lose the Affordable Connectivity Program’
This commentary is adapted from the remarks of Commissioner Anna M. Gomez of the Federal Communications Commission to the 2024 State of the Net Conference in Washington, D.C. on February 12, 2024. I want to talk about our experience with the Affordable Connectivity Program and why allowing this program to...
Love and Loss in the Anthropocene
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. Hear reporter Claire Carlson narrate her column on Keep It Rural,...
Rural Americans Were Less Likely to Enroll in a Federal Broadband Assistance Program. Now It’s Too Late to Sign up
Rural households were not as likely as their urban counterparts to enroll in the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), a federal fund that is running out of money to help low income families connect to the internet. About a third (37%) of rural households that are eligible for the monthly discount...
New Black-Owned Freight Farm in Rural Minnesota to Tackle Food Insecurity, Health Inequities
A new initiative seeks to increase the number of farmers of color through a new freight farm to be placed in rural Minnesota. Route 1 is an organization focused on increasing food access, specifically by supporting Black, Brown, and Indigenous emerging farmers in the state, said Marcus Carpenter, founder of the organization.
Agriculture Built These High Plains Towns. Now, It Might Run Them Dry
This story was originally published by Stateline and the Kansas Reflector. Brownie Wilson pulls off a remote dirt road right through a steep ditch and onto a farmer’s field. He hops out of his white Silverado pickup, mud covering nearly all of it except the Kansas Geological Survey logo stuck on the side with electrical tape. Dry cornstalks crunch under his work boots as he makes his way to a decommissioned irrigation well.
The College Solution to Rural News Deserts
The most recent annual report of the State of Local News Project by Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism revealed an alarming uptick in news deserts across the country. Since 2005, the country has lost almost 2,900 newspapers and 43,000 journalists. Of the 3,143 counties in the U.S., more than...
From Couch Surfing to Sleeping in a Car: What One Teen’s Story Says about Homelessness in Rural Texas
For 24/7 mental health support in English or Spanish, call the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s free help line at 800-662-4357. You can also reach a trained crisis counselor through the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988. This story was originally published by The...
Accidental Rancher: Winter Sowing
“The sun’s rays are slanting across the gray winter grass in our yard. Beside the old shop, my son plants long nails in the dirt, carefully pretending to pound each one with a hammer. Next to him, his dad does the same, only it’s not pretend. “Clonk, Clonk, Clonk,” the heavy sound of metal on wood echoes through the cooling air, and bounces back to where I sit. Slowly, one slat at a time, a small structure is taking shape. It’s a lean-to greenhouse that the boys are building for my birthday, and I am in love.”
Q&A: Folk-Punk Meets Hollering Harmonies in The Montvales’ New Album
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.
A Former NFL QB’s Journey Into the Mushroom Industry
The story behind this story is as much of a story as the story itself. Not long ago, some people bought a farm in Fort Lupton, Colorado. On the land is a state-of-the-art mushroom grow facility. The new owners didn’t know what to do with it, but they happened to have a friend in former NFL quarterback Jake Plummer. Plummer is one of those exceptions where he left football and didn’t seem to look back. He became a professional handball player before diving into his own mushroom brand Umbo.
In ‘Echo,’ Marvel Superheroes Come to Rural Oklahoma
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.
Switching Careers, and Curricula, in Rural Montana
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. Lindsey Flather is...
Changes in Child Tax Credit Would Have Outsized Impact on Rural Children
The families of more than a quarter of all children living in rural America would benefit from a proposed expansion of the Child Tax Credit that has passed the U.S. House of Representatives and is now under consideration in the Senate. The expansion would change the credit’s eligibility criteria to...
Commentary: Broadband Subsidy Enrollment Ends Today; Millions Are at Risk of Losing Internet
The Affordable Connectivity Program will freeze enrollment today (February 7, 2024) because funds are running out for this enormously effective federal program that helps people pay their internet bills. Already, roughly 23 million low-income households across America have received notices that the price of their internet service will go up by as much as $30 in a few months—and that includes more than 8.7 million households in the United States’ heartland region.
Could Removing the House Seat Limit Solve the Electoral College Problem?
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. The United States government is built on a rather archaic voting...
Commentary: These Women Artists Want to Redefine the Voices of Country Music
2023 was the year small towns roared with discontent – in the lyrics of two of the most popular country songs, at any rate. Jason Aldean released his defiant and controversial “Try That in a Small Town.” The following month, the relatively unknown singer-songwriter Oliver Anthony released “Rich Men North of Richmond,” which topped the Billboard Hot 100.
Dude Ranches: An Outdoor Economy Based on Horses, Hats and Heritage
Republished from Western Confluence, which covers natural-resource science and management in the West. Western Confluence is published by the University of Wyoming Institute of Environmental and Natural Resources. Just before sunrise, Nine Quarter Circle Ranch wakes up. The valley is still blue with fog, and wranglers don cowboy hats and...
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