Rural areas reap economic benefits from wind and solar projects, new Midwest study finds

Across the central U.S., more communities are passing ordinances to regulate renewable infrastructure development. A University of Missouri study examines the economic impact of renewable energy in rural areas…

 https://www.kcur.org/environment-agriculture/2026-10-05/wind-solar-energy-rural-economy-midwest

SNAP changes may make it even harder for rural Americans to get enough to eat

Nearly 16% of rural households were food insecure in 2024, 2 percentage points higher than the national average. That’s according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Household Food Security Report, which the Trump administration canceled last year. Researchers found food insecurity in rural areas is also nearly on par with the country’s largest cities...

 https://www.kcur.org/environment-agriculture/2026-09-14/rural-americans-feel-the-sting-of-sweeping-federal-food-aid-restrictions

 

Federal delays are holding up $21 billion for rural internet projects, as states wait for guidance

State officials can’t spend billions in federal funding to connect remote areas to the internet until the Trump administration provides information on how to use the money. Broadband offices are hopeful guidance is on the way – but when remains unclear...

 https://www.kcur.org/environment-agriculture/2026-09-01/federal-delays-billions-funding-rural-internet-projects-bead-guidance

 

IT’S TIME TO LOOK IN THE MIRROR RURAL AMERICA!

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lco4_2eNOyk

 

Trump admin doles out billions for rural health - POLITICO

And even fans of the program stress that it won't come close to making up for the deep cuts to Medicaid that states are bracing for in 2026...

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/12/29/trump-admin-doles-out-billions-for-rural-health-00707332 

 

Rural US town outraged as only hospital forced to shut: ‘I would have died without it’ | US healthcare | The Guardian

Nearly 28,000 people relied on Glenn Medical center for its services, but now they will have to travel more than 30 miles for care…

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/07/rural-us-town-outraged-as-only-hospital-forced-to-shut-i-would-have-died-without-it 

 

Rural Americans who rely on Head Start worry about its future: ‘Without free childcare I couldn’t work’

Many voters who voted Trump into the White House fear that the free childcare program could face a slow death…

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/28/rural-americans-head-start-childcare

 

‘Nail in the coffin for rural America’: Tester breaks down the devastating impact of trump cuts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iuzs_9ssQNE

Trump administration poised to ‘strand rural America with worse internet’ to help Musk, official warns

Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary, has said he wants to re-evaluate the Bead program and make it technology "neutral". That change is likely to favor Musk's company, Starlink, which owns about 62% of all operating satellites. It would be far less expensive for communities to be connected to high speed internet service through satellites, but most experts agree the service would not be as fast or reliable as fiber, and would cost consumers more...

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/17/trump-musk-starlink-rural-internet

 

White House targets small banks serving poor neighborhoods often in GOP states - The Washington Post

Community lenders fear cuts to a federal program that's designed to boost lending in poor areas...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/03/18/trump-targets-banks-republican-districts-crapo/

What Republicans and RFK Jr. tried to hide from you about Medicaid

B arrasso's Wyoming is one of 10 states that still refuses to accept the expansion of Medicaid that was part of the Affordable Care Act. The state's GOP-controlled government prefers to leave millions of citizens without health insurance rather than allow them to receive it from the federal government. Since the ACA passed in 2010, over 150 rural hospitals have either closed completely or eliminated their inpatient services — most of them in the South, where the refusing states are concentrated. Texas, where Republicans dominate the Legislature and control every statewide office, has seen more rural hospital closures than any other state. 

And even though rural Americans are more likely to rely on Medicaid than those who live elsewhere, Republicans in Washington are contemplating huge Medicaid cuts, partly to pay for more tax cuts for the wealthy…

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/rfk-jr-confirmation-hearing-medicaid-rcna189919

Trump is open to having his strongest supporters spend a lot more on mail - The Washington Post

Privatizing the U.S. Postal Service would mean that rural, pro-Trump areas would have to spend a lot more to send mail...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/12/16/trump-privatize-postal-service-rural-expensive/

Musk could use the ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ for self-enrichment

Musk could use the 'Department of Government Efficiency' for self-enrichment

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/nov/30/elon-musk-government-efficiency-self-enrichment

Rural students’ options shrink as colleges slash majors - The Washington Post

Many of the comparatively few universities that serve rural students are eliminating large numbers of programs and majors, blaming plummeting enrollment and resulting financial crises. Nationwide, college enrollment has declined by 2 million students, or 10 percent, in the 10 years ending in 2022, hitting rural schools particularly hard. An increasing number of rural private, nonprofit colleges are not only cutting majors, but closing altogether…

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2024/11/26/rural-colleges-cut-majors-degree-programs/

U.S. maternal health: State shares of rural hospitals without maternity care

Hospitals have been increasingly scaling back or cutting maternity services for financial reasons — while demand for obstetrics care rises as more states ban abortion…

https://www.axios.com/2024/01/23/maternity-care-rural-hospitals-states-map-cuts

Syphilis and mortality rates among US babies are on the rise, reversing years of progress - Vox

A big part of the problem is related to the hollowing out of rural health care. As rural fertility declines and rural areas lose maternity wards and hospitals — largely because of the high cost of maternity care, the difficulty of recruiting and retaining staff, and several states' refusal to expand Medicaid — pregnant people in rural areas are finding it increasingly hard to find care. According to the March of Dimes 2022 report, two-thirds of maternity care deserts are rural…

…In the wake of the Supreme Court decision eliminating the constitutional right to abortion, maternal care providers are leaving red states that have chosen to tighten abortion restrictions due to concern they won't safely be able to provide the full spectrum of maternity care. Additionally, medical trainees are avoiding these states because they know that in a state that does not permit abortion, they won't get training in a key part of pregnancy care…

https://www.vox.com/23952456/syphilis-mortality-death-infant-newborn-congenital-babies-prenatal-maternity-pregnancy-desert

WATCH: Biden touts new economic opportunity in rural America during Minnesota visit | PBS NewsHour

The president announced more than $5 billion in spending, largely in rural areas. It will go toward better adapting agriculture to climate change, as well as expanding high-speed internet access and improving local infrastructure. The funding comes from infrastructure and inflation reduction laws which Biden helped champion through Congress. 

"Instead of exporting jobs overseas for cheaper labor, now we're creating jobs here and expanding American products and selling them overseas," Biden told a cheering crowd inside a barn at Dutch Creek Farms in Northfield, about 40 miles south of Minneapolis. "We're not only transforming rural communities, we're transforming our economy."…

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-biden-touts-new-economic-opportunity-in-rural-america-during-minnesota-visit

'Deny, deny, deny': By repeatedly rejecting claims, Medicare Advantage plans threaten rural hospitals and patients, say CEOs

Last year, a federal audit from 2013 was released showing that 8 of the 10 largest plans had submitted inflated bills to Medicare. As for the quality of care, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, a non-partisan agency of Congress, said in a March report that it could not conclude Medicare Advantage plans "systematically provide better quality" over regular Medicare. Even worse, because the plans routinely deny coverage for necessary care, they are threatening the existence of struggling rural hospitals nationwide,..

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/rejecting-claims-medicare-advantage-rural-hospitals-rcna121012

Tech majors are booming, but rural students stuck in the digital divide

Rural students, however, face two pressing issues: the digital divide of internet reliability and technology access and education opportunities…

https://thehill.com/homenews/education/4052251-tech-majors-are-booming-but-rural-students-stuck-in-the-digital-divide/ 

Rural Hospitals Are Shuttering Their Maternity Units - The New York Times

Women in rural areas face a higher risk of pregnancy-related complications, according to a study by the Commonwealth Fund. Those living in so-called maternity care deserts are three times as likely to die during pregnancy and the critical year afterward as those who are closer to care, according to a study of mothers in Louisiana...

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/26/health/rural-hospitals-pregnancy-childbirth.html