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Merger Creates Internet Company Serving Rural Areas in Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma
Two Internet service providers are merging to cover a larger area of Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma, but an expert in community broadband networks cautions that consolidation can often hurt customer service. The two former companies – 360 Communications of Durant, Oklahoma, and 903 Broadband of Leonard, Texas – were roughly...
The Beaver State of Mind
Oregon’s state flag features a beaver on its back side in honor of the state’s nickname, “The Beaver State” – a moniker it earned when trapping beavers for the early nineteenth-century fur trade played a large role in the exploration and settlement of a territory that became a state in 1859.
Rural People Don’t Practice Religion More than their Urban Counterparts, Survey Shows
The notion of a hyper-religious rural America, one that stands in direct contrast to a modern and secularizing urban America, is pervasive. But the numbers just don’t support that stereotype. Factors like income, race, partisanship, age, and education influence religious attendance more than geography does. During my first semester...
Virginia Tech Scholars Look for Diverse Personal Stories That Discuss Queer Identities and Rural Education
Clint Whitten and Amy Price Azano, Ph.D, from the Center for Rural Education at Virginia Tech are calling for abstract proposals for their upcoming book, Rural & (Out)Rooted: Exploring the Intersection of Rural Education and Queer Identities. The pair are looking for submissions from a broad array of people, including...
Colorado’s Creative Districts Help Boost Economy, Creatively Tackle Other Problems
Twelve costumed burros (donkeys) walked down Grand Avenue in Mancos, Colorado, after participating in an obstacle course competition during the fourth annual Burrofest. The June festival brings together burros and artists to highlight their talents and contributions to the town. Each artist chooses a burro to be their muse and model and creates a representation of “their” animal in the medium of their choice.
Q&A: Carbondale, Illinois’ New Councilwoman Fits Right into this “Ungovernable” Rural Region
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.
Video: He Lost His Legs. That Hasn’t Stopped This High School Footballer.
There is a Facebook page called OTSportsChek. It’s run by the extraordinarily dedicated journalist Jerry Patterson. He covers sports from Northeastern Colorado with timely headlines and crisp photography, and it’s on that page where he posted a story in huge all-caps. It read, “AND THE CROWD GOES WILD.”
In Netflix’s ‘Sex Education,’ an Unexpected Rural Utopia?
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.
Residents of a Rural Arkansas County Grapple With Endemic Gun Violence
This story was originally published by KFF Health News. Elaine, Arkansas — On a recent September afternoon, Courtney Porter counted his losses: his mom from old age, his wife from diabetes complications, two of his brothers. While one died of an aneurysm, the shooting death last year of his younger brother, Patro, hit the hardest.
Commentary: Democrat’s ‘Uphill Climb’ to Governor’s Office Runs through Rural Mississippi
American politics are defined by the rural-urban divide. Democrats own the major cities; Republicans dominate smaller cities and the countryside. Brandon Presley aims to change that, at least in Mississippi. The 46-year-old Democrat is challenging the GOP incumbent, Tate Reeves, for the governorship. If he wins, he would be the Magnolia State’s first Democratic governor in a generation.
Progressives Hope ‘Rural New Deal’ Will Address Economic Issues and Appeal to Voters
Progressive Democrats of America and Rural Urban Bridge Initiative have co-authored a policy paper laying out a set of strategies to revitalize the economy in rural areas through “federal investment in bottom-up solutions.”. With input from rural leaders and advocates, the Rural New Deal brings together economic policies that...
Getting a Rural Perspective on the Solar Eclipse
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. If you read the Keep it Rural newsletter regularly, you’ll know...
Beekeeping Project Provides Income and Promotes Land Restoration in Southern West Virginia
Dakota Lukach and Jazzlee Molineaux work together in their bee yard, about a 45-minute drive from Bluefield, West Virginia. The couple never expected to become beekeepers but are now two of the 100 beekeeper partners in the Appalachian Bee Collective. The collective is a project of Appalachian Headwaters, an environmental...
Art Exhibit Affirms “Rural Ways”
For University of Tennessee professor Scottie McDaniel, her research is a way of unearthing the wisdom inherent in rural life. Her research and design exhibit, “Rural Ways,” recently on display in the College of Architecture and Design’s downtown Knoxville showcase, explores familiar items from her small-town, western North Carolina upbringing.
Study: Rural Communities Still at Disadvantage When Competing for Govt. Grants
Rural communities continue to be left out of federal funding opportunities even amid efforts from the Biden administration to invest in rural America, according to a new analysis. Most of the funding in a recent round of climate-change grantmaking went to high-capacity communities located in coastal states, according to a...
Broadband is Critical for Rural Education. $1 Billion Won’t Be Enough To Reach Everyone in Washington State
This story was originally published by the Spokesman-Review. Last year, Brandi Jo Desautel installed a SpaceX-powered Starlink dish in front of her trailer outside Inchelium, Washington, on the Colville Reservation. At $700 for the equipment and $120 a month for service, it wasn’t cheap. But for her, it was the only option.
Main Street Business Insights: A Podcast Celebrating America’s Small Business Owners
A new podcast, Main Street Business Insights, spotlights small business owners from around the country, highlighting their personal journeys, the innovative ways they have overcome adversity, and the advice they have for others on how to keep their businesses on track. The podcast is powered by Main Street America (MSA),...
Video: What Fest? A Rancher and a Music Festival, That’s What.
There’s a big plateau that juts out of the landscape just north of Saratoga, Wyoming. It’s called Sheep’s Head because, as the story goes, cattlemen competing for grazing space would herd sheep over the cliff’s edge. I have no idea if that’s true, but I heard it from Roger Burau, and he’s nice enough to make you want to believe anything. He’s actual living proof that people still bet on other people to do the right thing.
Q&A: Montana’s New Poet Laureate on Writing Without Rules
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.
Commentary: The Decision to Move Home
Thinking of returning to live once again in a rural area of West Virginia where I grew up, tugs at my heart repeatedly, as if to remind me of a possibility that never leaves — has not left me since I considered it a number of years ago. The reason for my indecision is not clear to me. Perhaps that’s part of the problem.
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