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  31. <title>Missouri OATS Transit Offers Transit and Social Connection for Rural Residents </title>
  32. <link>https://dailyyonder.com/missouri-oats-transit-offers-transit-and-social-connection-for-rural-residents/2025/04/18/</link>
  33. <comments>https://dailyyonder.com/missouri-oats-transit-offers-transit-and-social-connection-for-rural-residents/2025/04/18/#respond</comments>
  35. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Kaitlyn McConnell]]></dc:creator>
  36. <pubDate>Fri, 18 Apr 2025 10:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
  37. <category><![CDATA[Travel & Recreation]]></category>
  38. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://dailyyonder.com/?p=227661</guid>
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  40. <description><![CDATA[<figure><img width="1024" height="683" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-2-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" fetchpriority="high" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-2-scaled.jpg?w=2560&amp;ssl=1 2560w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-2-scaled.jpg?resize=760%2C507&amp;ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-2-scaled.jpg?resize=1296%2C864&amp;ssl=1 1296w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-2-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-2-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-2-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-2-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-2-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-2-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1333&amp;ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-2-scaled.jpg?resize=780%2C520&amp;ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-2-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C267&amp;ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-2-scaled.jpg?resize=706%2C471&amp;ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-2-scaled.jpg?w=2340&amp;ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-2-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1&amp;w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure>
  41. <p>The rolling rural Ozarks offers scenic beauty and a sense of solitude – great things, I bet most would agree, except when transportation is an issue.&#160; Without a vehicle, driver’s license, or strong network of family support, challenges can quickly arise for folks in rural areas – both in the Ozarks and elsewhere – about [&#8230;]</p>
  42. <p>The post <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/missouri-oats-transit-offers-transit-and-social-connection-for-rural-residents/2025/04/18/">Missouri OATS Transit Offers Transit and Social Connection for Rural Residents </a> appeared first on <a href="https://dailyyonder.com">The Daily Yonder</a>.</p>
  43. ]]></description>
  44. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<figure><img width="1024" height="683" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-2-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-2-scaled.jpg?w=2560&amp;ssl=1 2560w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-2-scaled.jpg?resize=760%2C507&amp;ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-2-scaled.jpg?resize=1296%2C864&amp;ssl=1 1296w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-2-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-2-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-2-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-2-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-2-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-2-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1333&amp;ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-2-scaled.jpg?resize=780%2C520&amp;ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-2-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C267&amp;ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-2-scaled.jpg?resize=706%2C471&amp;ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-2-scaled.jpg?w=2340&amp;ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-2-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1&amp;w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure><p>The rolling rural Ozarks offers scenic beauty and a sense of solitude – great things, I bet most would agree, except when transportation is an issue.&nbsp;</p><p>Without a vehicle, driver’s license, or strong network of family support, challenges can quickly arise for folks in rural areas – both in the Ozarks and elsewhere – about how they can accomplish basic tasks like grocery shopping and medical appointments, and care.&nbsp;</p><p>More than 50 years ago, a nonprofit called OATS Transit began<strong> </strong>to help with those challenges in Missouri. Today, it has grown into one of the nation’s largest and longest-running rural transportation providers, according to its leaders.&nbsp;</p><p>Anyone is able to reserve a ride via the transit system, which picks up people at their home and takes them directly to where they need to go for a subsidized rate. Low-cost fares are supplemented by grants, donations, and government funding.&nbsp;</p><p>The latter is currently an area of concern. Funding at the state level – often used to “match” federal dollars – has been identified for reduction in Missouri’s 2026 fiscal year. Other concerns on the federal level have OATS leaders keeping a careful eye on changes, particularly with Medicaid.&nbsp;</p><p>“I worry about our dialysis patients because many of them ride under the Medicaid transportation program,” said Dorothy Yeager, executive director of OATS Transit. “When you hear about the federal government looking at possibly reducing Medicaid funding, I hope that they recognize the value the Medicaid transportation program brings to rural areas. Because many of our dialysis patients ride under that program.”&nbsp;</p><p>In the case of someone going to dialysis, transportation can be the difference between life and death. But true for anyone, one could potentially lose independence, community, and autonomy without reliable means of travel.</p><p>It’s about more than “just” a ride.&nbsp;</p><div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignleft size-large"><img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" width="780" height="1170" onerror="if (typeof newspackHandleImageError === 'function') newspackHandleImageError(this);" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-3-1.jpg?resize=780%2C1170&#038;ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-227671" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-3-1-scaled.jpg?resize=864%2C1296&amp;ssl=1 864w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-3-1-scaled.jpg?resize=507%2C760&amp;ssl=1 507w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-3-1-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C1152&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-3-1-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C1536&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-3-1-scaled.jpg?resize=1365%2C2048&amp;ssl=1 1365w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-3-1-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C1800&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-3-1-scaled.jpg?resize=683%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 683w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-3-1-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C3000&amp;ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-3-1-scaled.jpg?resize=780%2C1170&amp;ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-3-1-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C600&amp;ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-3-1-scaled.jpg?resize=706%2C1059&amp;ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-3-1-scaled.jpg?w=1707&amp;ssl=1 1707w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-3-1-scaled.jpg?w=1560&amp;ssl=1 1560w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-3-1-864x1296.jpg?w=370&amp;ssl=1 370w" sizes="(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Driver Sandy Schultz helps OATS passenger Lark Newell onto the van’s motorized lift. (Photo by Kaitlyn McConnell)</figcaption></figure></div><h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Understanding the Need</strong></h3><p>I’ve long seen the OATS-branded buses and vans traverse the rural Ozarks landscape as I make my own travels through the region. The nonprofit began in the early 1970s after a group of Missouri Volunteers attended a White House conference on aging in Washington, D.C.&nbsp;</p><p>When its first three buses rolled out in 1971, its focus was older adults, but many years ago the service opened to all: The original name Older Americans Transportation Service shifted to the current Operating Above the Standard. Folks still generally think it’s for older people.<strong> “</strong>We’re continually trying to get the word out that in rural Missouri, anyone of any age can ride the OATS bus,” Yeager said.</p><p>I myself jumped on the bus a while ago as I set out for a ride-along with Sandy Schultz, a cheerful driver-turned-trainer who has worked for OATS for years. As I prepared to write this column, I wanted to see firsthand how the system worked and to meet a few of the folks who utilized its services.&nbsp;</p><p>We rolled out at about 7:30 a.m. from Branson, the nationally known hub for glittery country music shows and family-friendly vacation activities. Our first stop was in a nearby village about ten miles away, a start that would ultimately take us through the rural countryside.&nbsp;</p><p>“It’s a rewarding job – very rewarding,” Schultz told me as we drove along. “And that makes all the difference for me – to see what you can do for people.”</p><p>Schultz said that a core part of OATS is door-to-door service. This means that the drivers know for sure that someone got inside OK. It also means that they can help carry items to – but not inside – the person’s home.&nbsp;</p><p>“We help them with their groceries. We can’t go into their house, but we can drop (the groceries) right inside the door – and a lot of elderly people appreciate that because they can’t carry their groceries,” Schultz said. “We do not accept tips, although they try to give you that. They’re always trying to do something, or make you cookies.” (They can accept the sweet treats, she said with a smile.)&nbsp;</p><p>Our first stop was at a small white house with a plethora of pots for plants and windchimes in a village called Merriam Woods. It’s where we picked up Sharon Jones, who, after settling into her seat, told me that she is legally blind. For about five years, she’s relied on OATS several days each week for transportation to places like the senior center. That’s where she’s headed on this sunny, chilly morning.</p><p>For her, it’s beyond the trips to the doctor and exercise class. It’s also the friendships, she said.</p><figure class="wp-block-image"><img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" width="780" height="520" onerror="if (typeof newspackHandleImageError === 'function') newspackHandleImageError(this);" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-1-scaled.jpg?resize=780%2C520&#038;ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-227663" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-1-scaled.jpg?w=2560&amp;ssl=1 2560w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-1-scaled.jpg?resize=760%2C507&amp;ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-1-scaled.jpg?resize=1296%2C864&amp;ssl=1 1296w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-1-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-1-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-1-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1366&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-1-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-1-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-1-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1334&amp;ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-1-scaled.jpg?resize=780%2C520&amp;ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-1-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C267&amp;ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-1-scaled.jpg?resize=706%2C471&amp;ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-1-scaled.jpg?w=2340&amp;ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-1-scaled.jpg?w=370&amp;ssl=1 370w" sizes="(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Charles Cutler and Sharon Jones ride the OATS bus in March 2025. (Photo by Kaitlyn McConnell) </figcaption></figure><p>Along the way, we pick up Charles Cutler, who is also headed to the center. He’s lived in the Ozarks for decades but began utilizing OATS several years ago after losing his driver’s license. He’s still trying to get it back, but for the past five years or so, OATS has been his set of wheels.&nbsp;</p><p>As the two passengers banter and chat between themselves and with Schultz, I see that not only does OATS provide a means of travel – it also delivers a sense of community, another desperately-needed commodity in rural areas where traditional social structures appear to be fading as communities shrink in size.&nbsp;</p><p>“You meet a lot of people on the bus – I’ve met a lot of good friends on the bus,” Cutler told me. “Also, it gets me over to the senior center so I can paint over there and have social interactions.</p><p>“If I don’t have a ride to get around, I don’t get a chance to see any people.”&nbsp;</p><p><a href="https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/surgeon-general-social-connection-advisory.pdf">We know that loneliness is considered an epidemic in the United States</a>. And while personal relationships most definitely still exist in rural areas, the bonds at the local general store and church aren’t quite the same as when people lived and died in small pockets of our rural landscape.&nbsp;</p><p>By having providers like OATS, riders not only have the chance to visit places where they can find connections, like at the senior center, but also build friendships with fellow riders. (Like the couple on one route, Schultz told me, who fell in love.)</p><figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" width="780" height="520" onerror="if (typeof newspackHandleImageError === 'function') newspackHandleImageError(this);" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-5-1.jpg?resize=780%2C520&#038;ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-227667" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-5-1-scaled.jpg?resize=1296%2C864&amp;ssl=1 1296w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-5-1-scaled.jpg?resize=760%2C507&amp;ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-5-1-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-5-1-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-5-1-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1366&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-5-1-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-5-1-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-5-1-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1334&amp;ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-5-1-scaled.jpg?resize=780%2C520&amp;ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-5-1-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C267&amp;ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-5-1-scaled.jpg?resize=706%2C471&amp;ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-5-1-scaled.jpg?w=2340&amp;ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-5-1-1296x864.jpg?w=370&amp;ssl=1 370w" sizes="(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">OATS driver Sandy Schultz walks Lark Newell to her door after returning home from a doctor’s appointment. (Photo by Kaitlyn McConnell)</figcaption></figure><p>After rolling down the road from the senior center, Schultz picked up Lark Newell, who needed a ride to a doctor’s appointment. She doesn’t drive any longer. Stricken with foot troubles, she used the bus’s motorized lift, and Schultz secured her walker so it wouldn’t roll. </p><p>“I no longer drive, and otherwise I wouldn’t be able to get to doctor appointments or do whatever I need to do,” Newell said. “I’m very, very grateful for this service.”</p><p>In Newell’s case, the doctor’s office is just a few miles away – but even short distances are insurmountable when walking is the only option. We dropped her off and Schultz handed her a card with a phone number so she could call when she was done to get an ETA on our return. Next, we headed to other folks out in the rural Ozarks.&nbsp;</p><p>Lee Nagel lives on the edge of Taneyville, a village of about 275 people very few services other than its post office, a Dollar General, and a school. It’s also about 20 miles one-way from the local hospital where he receives dialysis multiple times a week.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>Amid details of military service and local history – his family has been here for generations – Lee shared about the kidney failure that changed his life in 2020. An episode landed him in the hospital and forced him to begin dialysis. And that led to OATS support when his truck stopped working.&nbsp;</p><p>“I would have to depend on friends,” he said. If OATS weren’t available, “(I) wouldn’t last long.”&nbsp;</p><p>As with every organization, there are staffing shortages and stress. Things don’t always go as planned – like on the day I rode along, when we faced a couple of roadblocks and delays. This isn’t taken lightly. Reliability is something that is considered such a priority that the promise is written on the side of OATS buses.&nbsp;</p><p>Yet even if there are hiccups, it’s clear the service makes a significant difference – for the riders, as well as the drivers.&nbsp;</p><p>“It’s like getting to know them, they become family, too,” Schultz said. “I think that’s what keeps the drivers staying in this job so long – because they do like the people and they like what they can do for them.</p><p>“If I hadn’t gotten this job, I’d never get to meet these wonderful people.”</p><p>Along the way, we stopped to pick up William Van Kirk, who also needed to get to dialysis treatment. He uses a motorized wheelchair to get around. He, too, benefited from the lift at the back of the van to get inside.&nbsp;</p><p>The morning proceeded with similar stories. At one point, we delivered Newell home from her doctor’s appointment. We later headed deep into the hills to pick up a woman headed to the dentist.&nbsp;</p><p>“I don’t like to drive,” the rider said. “I gave that up when I got Sandy.”&nbsp;</p><figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" width="780" height="520" onerror="if (typeof newspackHandleImageError === 'function') newspackHandleImageError(this);" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-8.jpg?resize=780%2C520&#038;ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-227668" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-8-scaled.jpg?resize=1296%2C864&amp;ssl=1 1296w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-8-scaled.jpg?resize=760%2C507&amp;ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-8-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-8-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-8-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-8-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-8-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-8-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1333&amp;ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-8-scaled.jpg?resize=780%2C520&amp;ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-8-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C267&amp;ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-8-scaled.jpg?resize=706%2C471&amp;ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-8-scaled.jpg?w=2340&amp;ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-8-1296x864.jpg?w=370&amp;ssl=1 370w" sizes="(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">William Van Kirk arrives at Cox Medical Center Branson for his dialysis appointment in March 2025. (Photo by Kaitlyn McConnell)</figcaption></figure><h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>The Looming Cuts</strong></h3><p>Just like the song says, money makes the world go round – and it also helps the OATS buses roll down the road.&nbsp;</p><p>The very low fares – a sign inside the bus I’m riding notes a round-trip fare within the county is just $5 – keep the transportation accessible. Much bigger bucks come from that state funding, as well as contracts OATS has with companies, Medicaid, and other insurance.</p><p>When contracts’ funding is affected, it can cause issues for OATS and its riders. For example, in late March of 2025, <a href="https://www.ky3.com/2025/03/26/many-southwest-missouri-seniors-may-soon-be-temporarily-without-oats-transit/">local news outlets reported that dwindling funding from one partner agency</a> would cause a temporary pause of some routes.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>The current concerns focus primarily on state funding, which is one source of money that allows OATS to offer its low-cost fares. That funding was bumped in recent years, and the increase was a “godsend” for OATS and other transportation providers, said Yeager.&nbsp;</p><p>“It’s my understanding that the governor is recommending reducing that by $5 million,” she said. “I argue that they should not reduce it because an investment in transit is a return on investment. It’s a good investment. With that money, we’re able to bring in federal dollars so that $5 million actually equals $10 million.”</p><p>“It did not help OATS expand, but what it did do is help us stabilize what we charge local contracts,” she said. “We didn’t have to charge as much because the state was helping. And the state, along with the federal grants, helped us keep what we charge – our hourly rate – at an affordable rate for many of our funding partners.”&nbsp;</p><p>It also helped OATS maximize funding to replace aging vehicles, which have rapidly increased in price in recent years.&nbsp;</p><p>I reached out to the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) for some information about the reduction. There are few details about the “why” so far, but a reduction in general revenue was confirmed.&nbsp;</p><figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" width="780" height="520" onerror="if (typeof newspackHandleImageError === 'function') newspackHandleImageError(this);" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-10.jpg?resize=780%2C520&#038;ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-227669" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-10-scaled.jpg?resize=1296%2C864&amp;ssl=1 1296w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-10-scaled.jpg?resize=760%2C507&amp;ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-10-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-10-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-10-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-10-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-10-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-10-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1333&amp;ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-10-scaled.jpg?resize=780%2C520&amp;ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-10-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C267&amp;ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-10-scaled.jpg?resize=706%2C471&amp;ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-10-scaled.jpg?w=2340&amp;ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OATS-Transit-10-1296x864.jpg?w=370&amp;ssl=1 370w" sizes="(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Lee Nagel arrives for his dialysis appointment in March 2025. (Photo by Kaitlyn McConnell)</figcaption></figure><p>“MoDOT’s budget each year is determined by the state’s legislative process and ultimately approved by the governor,” wrote Taylor Brune, assistant director of MoDot’s communications department, via email. “Unfortunately, we cannot comment much further until that legislative process concludes.”</p><p>Whatever happens with the state budget, the bottom line is that rural options for transportation are important. They provide a crucial resource if we want to help keep people at home in rural parts of the country, whether that’s the Ozarks or another region. And they’re important to have in place before they’re needed.&nbsp;</p><p>“Even if you think transit doesn&#8217;t matter because you don&#8217;t need it – you’re able to get where you need to go – it still impacts everyone because you probably know someone or have a family member that needs transportation,” Yeager said. “Especially in rural areas where people may not have access to rideshare programs like Uber or Lyft or there might not be other taxi providers, companies like OATS provide a lifeline to people.”</p><hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-dots"/><p>The post <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/missouri-oats-transit-offers-transit-and-social-connection-for-rural-residents/2025/04/18/">Missouri OATS Transit Offers Transit and Social Connection for Rural Residents </a> appeared first on <a href="https://dailyyonder.com">The Daily Yonder</a>.</p>
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  53. <title>Q&#038;A: Romanticizing Rural Desert Life, with Michael Branch</title>
  54. <link>https://dailyyonder.com/qa-romantacizing-rural-desert-life-with-michael-branch/2025/04/18/</link>
  55. <comments>https://dailyyonder.com/qa-romantacizing-rural-desert-life-with-michael-branch/2025/04/18/#respond</comments>
  57. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Claire Carlson]]></dc:creator>
  58. <pubDate>Fri, 18 Apr 2025 09:59:00 +0000</pubDate>
  59. <category><![CDATA[Arts & Culture]]></category>
  60. <category><![CDATA[Path Finders]]></category>
  61. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://dailyyonder.com/?p=227954</guid>
  62.  
  63. <description><![CDATA[<figure><img width="768" height="526" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Michael-Branch-e1744904487875.jpg?fit=768%2C526&amp;ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Michael-Branch-e1744904487875.jpg?w=768&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Michael-Branch-e1744904487875.jpg?resize=760%2C521&amp;ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Michael-Branch-e1744904487875.jpg?resize=400%2C274&amp;ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Michael-Branch-e1744904487875.jpg?resize=706%2C484&amp;ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Michael-Branch-e1744904487875.jpg?fit=768%2C526&amp;ssl=1&amp;w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure>
  64. <p>Editor’s Note: This interview first appeared in Path Finders, an email newsletter from the Daily Yonder. Each week, Path Finders features a Q&#38;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. [&#8230;]</p>
  65. <p>The post <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/qa-romantacizing-rural-desert-life-with-michael-branch/2025/04/18/">Q&amp;A: Romanticizing Rural Desert Life, with Michael Branch</a> appeared first on <a href="https://dailyyonder.com">The Daily Yonder</a>.</p>
  66. ]]></description>
  67. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<figure><img width="768" height="526" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Michael-Branch-e1744904487875.jpg?fit=768%2C526&amp;ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Michael-Branch-e1744904487875.jpg?w=768&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Michael-Branch-e1744904487875.jpg?resize=760%2C521&amp;ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Michael-Branch-e1744904487875.jpg?resize=400%2C274&amp;ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Michael-Branch-e1744904487875.jpg?resize=706%2C484&amp;ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Michael-Branch-e1744904487875.jpg?fit=768%2C526&amp;ssl=1&amp;w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure><p><em>Editor’s Note: This interview first appeared in <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/path-finders/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Path Finders</a>, an email newsletter from the Daily Yonder. Each week, Path Finders features a Q&amp;A with a rural thinker, creator, or doer. Like what you see here? You can <a href="#signup">join the mailing list at the bottom of this article</a> and receive more conversations like this in your inbox each week.</em></p><hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/><p>Living in the desert is no easy feat, much less the rural desert on 49 hilly acres at the end of a 2.3-mile-long dirt road. But that’s exactly what environmental writer and humorist Michael Branch, his wife Erin, and his two daughters Caroline and Hannah did for over a decade outside of Reno, Nevada.</p><p>From his time living on so-called “Ranting Hill,” Branch wrote a number of books, including Rants from the Hill, a 2017 collection of essays on his “fascination with the durability of pastoral fantasy.” Branch moved to the rural desert with idyllic dreams of retreat, and came out the other end with a more, er… realistic sense of what it means to live miles away from urban splendors like a grocery store or a gas station.</p><p>I caught up with Branch earlier this year during the <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/nevadas-cowboy-poetry-gathering-attracts-western-romanticists-from-near-and-far-away/2025/02/05/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">National Cowboy Poetry Gathering</a> in Elko, Nevada, over picons (a Basque cocktail Elko is famous for) and talked about how easy it is to idealize rural living, and our mutual love of the Silver State.</p><p>Enjoy our conversation, below.</p><hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/><p class="has-text-align-center"><em>This interview has been edited for length and clarity.</em></p><p><strong>Claire Carlson, The Daily Yonder:</strong> <strong>I feel like I see this a lot, where people will move to rural areas and not really realize what that actually means, they just want to romanticize the whole experience. So I&#8217;m curious, do you feel like you did that and then were slapped in the face with reality?</strong></p><p><strong>Michael Branch:</strong> You know, I didn&#8217;t really set out to be a humor writer, but I have become one. And I would say the three biggest influences on that choice were, first of all, just feeling that my environmental activism was often leading to despair. And that humor helped me to be more resilient and hopeful. But really, the two real-world experiences that made all the difference for me, one was becoming a father because you have all these ideas about yourself that a kid can detonate with a single question. So when your kid gets old enough to say, “Dad, why do you say you believe this, but you do this other thing?” and you&#8217;re like, ah, it&#8217;s true. I&#8217;m a hypocrite. There&#8217;s a lot of humor that arises in that incongruity between who you think you are and who your kids teach you that you actually are.</p><p>And that dynamic is at play in just the same way with rural living. I came up reading Emerson and Thoreau and kind of fantasized about this retreat from the vices of overcivilization to the wilderness. And then our dream came true. We got property in the middle of nowhere, we planned our own house and we got to live the dream. But it&#8217;s such an unforgiving landscape that all of those romantic notions about both children and the landscape are challenged every single day. So yeah, you&#8217;ve really hit it on the head. I romanticized it because I didn&#8217;t grow up [rural] and I came to it through a kind of literary dream world. I was going to be Thoreau heading for the pond or Huck Finn lighting out on the raft. And I got out there and it was <a href="https://extension.unr.edu/publication.aspx?PubID=2346&amp;" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Mormon crickets</a> and flash floods and wildfires and blizzards.</p><div class="wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex"><div class="wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow"><figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" onerror="if (typeof newspackHandleImageError === 'function') newspackHandleImageError(this);" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Michael-Branch.jpg?w=780&#038;ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-227773"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Environmental writer and humorist Michael Branch fell in love with the high desert of Nevada, despite the real-world difficulties of living there. (Photo by by Kyle Weerheim, provided by Michael Branch.)
  68. </figcaption></figure></div>
  69.  
  70. <div class="wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow"><p>I’ve got a buddy who says, “you have to always reckon the relationship between the real self and the ideal self.” And my ideal self was going to retreat to the wilderness and have these Thoreauvian epiphanies. And my real self was like, shit, I can&#8217;t even maintain my own driveway. And this place is going to burn down. So you learn to laugh at it because you&#8217;re laughing at yourself for these often kind of silly, idealized notions you had.</p>
  71.  
  72. <p>And yet at the same time, it&#8217;s still amazing to be out there.</p></div></div><p><strong>DY: It’s one thing to move to a rural place, but it’s another thing for that place to be Nevada, which as you just said can be a hard place to live with fires and drought and extreme cold and extreme heat. And you grew up on the East Coast – so what made you decide on Nevada?</strong></p><p><strong>MB: </strong>I moved to Nevada because I took a teaching job at the University of Nevada, Reno, and came out to start a graduate program in literature and the environment. I had offers at other places including the University of Oregon, and of course Eugene is great and Oregon&#8217;s great, and that landscape is immediately easy to love. And so I came to Nevada for professional reasons, but now I am an absolutely confirmed desert rat. I&#8217;ll never be able to leave the high desert. Think of all of the tropes of looking at the stars at night or looking out across the ocean, and that feeling of feeling really small in the midst of something really big and having that make you feel both tiny and also like everything is precious. And [Nevada] is a really hard landscape to love. And that&#8217;s part of what I address in my writing is that to me, places are people, and if we get in the business of saying that some are more beautiful or more important or more valuable than others, that leads down a pretty dangerous road.</p><p>Our environmental aesthetics have been trained on European romantic paintings and writing and music. If you look at a page from a Sierra Club calendar, you have no problem saying that&#8217;s a place that should be protected. But if you look at a photograph I took in the Great Basin, maybe that&#8217;s a good place to put nuclear waste. So a lot of what I try to address in my writing is what does it mean when we stereotype a landscape, and how is that like stereotyping a person? What do we lose? What do we miss? And ultimately, I try not to be too preachy about it, but I try to help people see that if you come through a landscape and say there&#8217;s nothing there, all you&#8217;re talking about is your ability to perceive.</p><p>It just means you haven&#8217;t learned to perceive that landscape yet, because there&#8217;s never nothing there.</p><p><strong>DY:</strong> <strong>I find Nevada interesting because it&#8217;s actually the second-least rural place in the country (behind California) when you classify it by where people live – most are in the Reno or Las Vegas metropolitan areas. But when you come to an event like the Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, you realize there are so many people living here and there&#8217;s so much culture, but I feel like people overlook it, just forget about it. There are so many misconceptions about what Nevada is and that you can just store your nuclear waste here because people think there’s nothing here, but that’s so untrue.</strong></p><p><strong>MB:</strong> You&#8217;ve hit on a couple things that also fascinate me, and one way I&#8217;ve put it to people is that demographically, Nevada is one of the most rural and the most urban states in the country. We have this massive land area, and the book I&#8217;m working on now – the counties I’m writing about have an average population density of one person per square mile. In 1890, the standard for unsettled frontier wilderness was two people per square mile. So even in the 19th century, this would&#8217;ve been considered unsettled wilderness. And yet, as you say, almost everybody in Nevada – now don&#8217;t tell people on the ranches out here – but almost everybody in Nevada lives in the city. So it is a very curious relationship. And if you look at the politics of so many western states – Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada – it&#8217;s blue cities and red rurals.</p><p>There’s a lot of talk about the increasing wealth gap or political polarization, but one of the things I see happening in the country that worries me a lot is that increasingly it seems like people in cities do not understand what life in rural places is like, and vice versa. We&#8217;re not communicating with each other anymore. And I really wonder if the polarization that we&#8217;re suffering from politically, whether we can ever address it without also addressing this rural-urban divide.</p><hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/><div id="signup" class="wp-block-group is-style-default has-light-gray-background-color has-background"><div class="wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow"><div style="height:1px" aria-hidden="true" class="wp-block-spacer"></div>
  73.  
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  76. <div class="wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow" style="flex-basis:66.66%"><p>This interview first appeared in <strong>Path Finders</strong>, a weekly email newsletter from the Daily Yonder. Each Monday, Path Finders features a Q&amp;A with a rural thinker, creator, or doer. Join the mailing list today, to have these illuminating conversations delivered straight to your inbox. </p></div></div>
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  105. </div></div></div><hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/><p>The post <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/qa-romantacizing-rural-desert-life-with-michael-branch/2025/04/18/">Q&amp;A: Romanticizing Rural Desert Life, with Michael Branch</a> appeared first on <a href="https://dailyyonder.com">The Daily Yonder</a>.</p>
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  114. <title>Homemade Easter Eggs Are a Beloved Treat–and a Big Moneymaker–for Rural Congregations</title>
  115. <link>https://dailyyonder.com/homemade-easter-eggs-are-a-beloved-treat-and-a-big-moneymaker-for-rural-congregations/2025/04/17/</link>
  116. <comments>https://dailyyonder.com/homemade-easter-eggs-are-a-beloved-treat-and-a-big-moneymaker-for-rural-congregations/2025/04/17/#respond</comments>
  118. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Zack Harold]]></dc:creator>
  119. <pubDate>Thu, 17 Apr 2025 10:01:00 +0000</pubDate>
  120. <category><![CDATA[Rural Life]]></category>
  121. <category><![CDATA[Living Traditions]]></category>
  122. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://dailyyonder.com/?p=227879</guid>
  123.  
  124. <description><![CDATA[<figure><img width="1024" height="768" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/North-View-eggs-7-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&amp;ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/North-View-eggs-7-scaled.jpg?w=2560&amp;ssl=1 2560w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/North-View-eggs-7-scaled.jpg?resize=760%2C570&amp;ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/North-View-eggs-7-scaled.jpg?resize=1296%2C972&amp;ssl=1 1296w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/North-View-eggs-7-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C576&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/North-View-eggs-7-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1152&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/North-View-eggs-7-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1536&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/North-View-eggs-7-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C900&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/North-View-eggs-7-scaled.jpg?resize=800%2C600&amp;ssl=1 800w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/North-View-eggs-7-scaled.jpg?resize=600%2C450&amp;ssl=1 600w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/North-View-eggs-7-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C300&amp;ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/North-View-eggs-7-scaled.jpg?resize=200%2C150&amp;ssl=1 200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/North-View-eggs-7-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/North-View-eggs-7-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1500&amp;ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/North-View-eggs-7-scaled.jpg?resize=780%2C585&amp;ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/North-View-eggs-7-scaled.jpg?resize=706%2C530&amp;ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/North-View-eggs-7-scaled.jpg?w=2340&amp;ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/North-View-eggs-7-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&amp;ssl=1&amp;w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure>
  125. <p>When pastor John Langenstein found out he’d been assigned to North View United Methodist Church in Clarksburg, West Virginia, everyone he talked to had the same response: “‘Oh, you’re going to the egg church.’ Didn’t matter who I was talking to, ‘You’re going to the egg church,’” Langenstein remembers. “I said ‘OK, well, that will [&#8230;]</p>
  126. <p>The post <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/homemade-easter-eggs-are-a-beloved-treat-and-a-big-moneymaker-for-rural-congregations/2025/04/17/">Homemade Easter Eggs Are a Beloved Treat–and a Big Moneymaker–for Rural Congregations</a> appeared first on <a href="https://dailyyonder.com">The Daily Yonder</a>.</p>
  127. ]]></description>
  128. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<figure><img width="1024" height="768" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/North-View-eggs-7-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&amp;ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/North-View-eggs-7-scaled.jpg?w=2560&amp;ssl=1 2560w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/North-View-eggs-7-scaled.jpg?resize=760%2C570&amp;ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/North-View-eggs-7-scaled.jpg?resize=1296%2C972&amp;ssl=1 1296w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/North-View-eggs-7-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C576&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/North-View-eggs-7-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1152&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/North-View-eggs-7-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1536&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/North-View-eggs-7-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C900&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/North-View-eggs-7-scaled.jpg?resize=800%2C600&amp;ssl=1 800w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/North-View-eggs-7-scaled.jpg?resize=600%2C450&amp;ssl=1 600w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/North-View-eggs-7-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C300&amp;ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/North-View-eggs-7-scaled.jpg?resize=200%2C150&amp;ssl=1 200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/North-View-eggs-7-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/North-View-eggs-7-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1500&amp;ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/North-View-eggs-7-scaled.jpg?resize=780%2C585&amp;ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/North-View-eggs-7-scaled.jpg?resize=706%2C530&amp;ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/North-View-eggs-7-scaled.jpg?w=2340&amp;ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/North-View-eggs-7-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&amp;ssl=1&amp;w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure><hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-dots"/><figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-spotify wp-block-embed-spotify wp-embed-aspect-21-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
  129. <iframe title="Spotify Embed: LIVING TRADITIONS-Homemade Easter Eggs Are a Beloved Treat–and a Big Moneymaker–for Rural Congregations" style="border-radius: 12px" width="100%" height="152" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture" loading="lazy" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/episode/6WnRSK68sFapqdpem0ABIg?si=1ece1dc4cf19479d&#038;utm_source=oembed"></iframe>
  130. </div></figure><hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-dots"/><p class="has-drop-cap">When pastor John Langenstein found out he’d been assigned to North View United Methodist Church in Clarksburg, West Virginia, everyone he talked to had the same response:</p><p>“‘Oh, you’re going to the egg church.’ Didn’t matter who I was talking to, ‘You’re going to the egg church,’” Langenstein remembers. “I said ‘OK, well, that will be interesting.’ And then (they said), ‘Oh, you’re not ready.’”</p><p>Langenstein knew all about hard boiled Easter eggs, plastic Easter eggs and the candy versions from Cadbury and Reese’s. But the eggs for which North View was famous were something much more special.</p><p>For nearly three decades, the church has been cranking out shiny chocolate Easter eggs decorated with delicate sugar flower petals. They are available in three generous sizes and six flavors: coconut, cherry nut, maple nut, solid chocolate, peanut butter, and butterfinger.&nbsp;</p><p>The eggs are hand-made in North View’s basement. Langenstein might run the show upstairs in the sanctuary, but down here he’s just another volunteer.&nbsp;</p><p>The kitchen is Serena Ashcraft’s domain.</p><p>“The molds are double-coated and ready to go,” she explained during a recent visit. “We’ll put filling in them. And we’re doing maple nut this morning.”</p><figure class="wp-block-image alignwide"><img decoding="async" onerror="if (typeof newspackHandleImageError === 'function') newspackHandleImageError(this);" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXcStM3bzm94p1rjZoMpOo8nwDxcL7J5fH3bA0UhbXqNxqlGL5spEYo06AtclKyjgfypAP3fPjG_XxbUFLOSDyU5x9OODfcZMYXRjumPqjRmVduYUmr37nXfsXsv4bVOS0Su2VPfssGy3fQL3bkNkA?key=qat7LGioiHrMPcYYqtr1EFuI" alt=""/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Serena Ashcraft and her husband Danny coat eggs in North View’s basement kitchen. (Photo by Zack Harold)</figcaption></figure><p>Ashcraft and fellow member Janet Shanholtz run North View’s egg brigade. Ashcraft&nbsp; handles the daytime and Shanholtz&nbsp;handles the evening crew. Together the women order supplies, organize sales and manage five shifts of volunteers each week: two on Mondays and Tuesdays, plus a Saturday shift.</p><p>That’s necessary — because North View cranks out between 6,000 and 8,000 eggs in a typical year. Each one contains filling made by 87-year-old Nadene Holt. She has held that job since the very first Easter egg sale at North View, in 1997.</p><p>“The people are dead now that I started with,” Holt said. “They said ‘We’re going to do Easter eggs. Nadene, do you want to help?’ I said, sure. And here I am.”</p><figure class="wp-block-image alignwide"><img decoding="async" onerror="if (typeof newspackHandleImageError === 'function') newspackHandleImageError(this);" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXdhe0hX9SDxf04fgJ-J3xi6ZIHPpIgqrAwiqA5sRtXRrkqMyccKjMXN_sDeYQVQ55Bwj8YIMHt0In29BoTErhuk1HWbeYaGPK2JicQdl9t-FodkjJRqMVnRWVJns_wk-vhHtNgVZ_kczous-BEqYHs?key=qat7LGioiHrMPcYYqtr1EFuI" alt=""/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Nadene Holt mixes egg filling while fellow volunteer Nancy Bain stuffs it into coated egg molds. (Photo by Zack Harold / Daily Yonder)&nbsp;</figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/digest/article/view/30218/34793"></a>The origins of the church-made chocolate Easter egg are kind of hazy.&nbsp; <a href="https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/digest/article/view/30218/34793">According to research by folklorists Mira Johnson and David J. Puglia</a>, these delicacies appear to have first shown up in the mid-20<sup>th</sup> century in central Pennsylvania. Today, the eggs seem to be largely a central Appalachian phenomenon — showing up in Pennsylvania as well as Ohio, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina and, of course, West Virginia.</p><p>The history of North View’s eggs is easier to track. In the late 1990s, church member Ruth Jaumot helped out with an egg fundraiser at nearby Bridgeport High School. That gave the church’s pastor an idea. He asked Jaumot to make them for the church as well.</p><p>“So the recipes were copied down. These are the same recipes we’ve been using for 26 years. But the flavors have really not changed throughout that time,” Langenstein said.</p><p>There has been one change, actually. The church added Butterfinger after a few years and it is now a customer favorite.</p><p>“You’d be surprised what it is,” Holt said. “It’s peanut butter and candy corn, melted.”</p><p>Since candy corn is difficult to source in the spring, the church makes sure to purchase an ample supply after Halloween.</p><p>“We get a call from Serena and she says ‘Y’all better be out there. It&#8217;s a dollar for a big bag,’” Langenstein said. “We get all we can.”</p><p>The recipes are typed out on a well-worn, stained sheet of copy paper. But Holt doesn’t need that. She knows all the recipes by heart, scooping and mixing the ingredients in her worn KitchenAid mixer.</p><figure class="wp-block-image alignwide"><img decoding="async" onerror="if (typeof newspackHandleImageError === 'function') newspackHandleImageError(this);" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXcPd1d7fG_0axiPOBvLcJwp0NBqkJ5AZD2JLRQ5ZI1AT8Jm0ECJbTEMY8sGfuZ0nUrgjWPSjVIoB_86I1i-ZlbE_Od__clIjzlRaDbUTN7MHOSDW8ZXJt3lsWQI9FPPMWvFwCD4fVrsVMMqDmpE1jw?key=qat7LGioiHrMPcYYqtr1EFuI" alt=""/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">North View’s original recipe sheet, with the Butterfinger recipe scribbled on the bottom. (Photo by Zack Harold / Daily Yonder)&nbsp;</figcaption></figure><p>She knows exactly how to get the dough to the perfect consistency: not too sticky, not too dry.</p><p>“See how it lines up around the beater? It’s pretty much ready to come off,” Holt said during a recent production day. “It still looks sticky so I need to add a little bit more sugar.”</p><p>Once the filling is ready, volunteers ball it up and stuff it into the chocolate-coated egg molds. After the eggs are filled, they put&nbsp;one final layer of melted chocolate across the bottom to seal everything up.</p><p>It looks easy, but North View volunteers say this is the trickiest part. Too little coating and the filling will dry out and get crumbly. Too much and the egg will be difficult to remove from the mold, potentially ruining the whole thing.</p><p>Doing it right requires lots of practice, a steady hand and the help of a secret weapon: North View’s collection of vintage 1970s hot plates.</p><p>Like Holt, the hot plates have been part of the fundraiser from the very beginning. Volunteers use them to keep the chocolate flowing while they coat the molds. By chance, they proved perfect for the job.</p><p>“Without trying, these hot plates keep it where the chocolate tempers,” Langenstein&nbsp;said.&nbsp;</p><p>Tempering is a delicate process where chocolate is heated to right around 110 degree Fahrenheit before cooling. This stabilizes the crystals in the cocoa butter, creating that shiny, smooth — and shelf-stable — look that you see in commercially made candies.</p><p>“We’ve just not found anything as good as these 1970-whatever hot plates,” Langenstein said.</p><figure class="wp-block-image alignwide"><img decoding="async" onerror="if (typeof newspackHandleImageError === 'function') newspackHandleImageError(this);" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXeA_MAgmoKynXOYwnn0OR5io6AUvC3gkmxe9xGwokLedioaKIVOFAfI1ewMNr08Zns1XgX5NAiyS48aIRpFdcrfVPkhJ2v35pUdd5fqCBY8NaBVcAM7qrPxYBoZDy_D95ptPPSCanCAgR8L24S91iM?key=qat7LGioiHrMPcYYqtr1EFuI" alt=""/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Well worn but still working, North View’s hot plates are the secret to the eggs’ shiny, snappy chocolate coating. (Photo by Zack Harold / Daily Yonder)</figcaption></figure><p>Now stuffed and coated, the eggs go into the freezer to set up. They emerge after 20 to 30 minutes, ready to receive the finishing touch: a tiny, handmade flower made from egg whites and more powdered sugar. Church member Andrea Fazzalare makes them at home on wax paper.</p><p>“She starts before Christmas on these,” Ashcraft said.</p><p>Andrea had 6,000 ready when the church started egg production in January.</p><p><em>“</em>And she’s probably going to make another thousand before we’re done,” Langenstein&nbsp; said.</p><figure class="wp-block-image alignwide"><img decoding="async" onerror="if (typeof newspackHandleImageError === 'function') newspackHandleImageError(this);" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXelsW57lme33jr36T3IsPKg_jTny8UVNyXQegLtKRiWOxImmNC7q4dHcCQWkTYp64n2smsRy3jnLxlcEMN9mr12LkObbNZU8rhikC80_EMwAAsKemfapSqCFDu3nYgBvuEwxHvoGrgsVQKNY7lXhg?key=qat7LGioiHrMPcYYqtr1EFuI" alt=""/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Flowers made of egg whites and powdered sugar adorn North View’s eggs. (Photo by Zack Harold / Daily Yonder)</figcaption></figure><p>Completed eggs go just across the hall to a storage room. It’s aptly called “the egg room.”</p><p>&#8220;This is a sacred spot, locked up all year just in preparation for when it can be filled,” Langenstein said. “We have … five shelves here. They will all be filled by the end of the season.”</p><p>This is where the eggs are packaged and labeled, ready to go to local beauty parlors, tire shops and car dealerships. Local small businesses sell the eggs and collect the money for the church.</p><p>“Babies,” which are about the size of a Reese’s egg, cost $3. The church charges $7 for a half-pound “medium” egg. Full-pound large eggs — which look like something a chocolate emu might lay — sell for $9.</p><figure class="wp-block-image alignwide"><img decoding="async" onerror="if (typeof newspackHandleImageError === 'function') newspackHandleImageError(this);" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXdWbYxiVpoiWaDIcBPL_2MtJmKd8oqulwTbivtkosBO_3QgBh_fZmjnVLDMXOaM-XVr9cP83dEISz9zqJ4DyzP37mZQ37qMsSpRRfl9zXPbWzGNy5PFQENVzS5HFD2-aNRDxxim_PfFJjXSMOIzwdo?key=qat7LGioiHrMPcYYqtr1EFuI" alt=""/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Church volunteer Pat George puts flowers on completed eggs. (Photo by Zack Harold / Daily Yonder)</figcaption></figure><p>North View also sets up its own sales at the courthouse, the local VA hospital, the mall and other locations around town.&nbsp;</p><p>“Last year they set us up by Hallmark, and Hallmark didn’t want us down there because we were competition to them,”&nbsp;Holt said.</p><p>North View eggs are renowned well beyond the Clarksburg area, too.</p><p>“I’ll go to a meeting up in Wheeling or down in Charleston and somebody will say, ‘Oh is it egg season? Medium cherry nut, small coconut, make the medium a white chocolate, I want milk chocolate for the other,’” Langenstein said. “People are ready. They have their order. Sometimes before they say ‘hello.’”</p><figure class="wp-block-image alignwide"><img decoding="async" onerror="if (typeof newspackHandleImageError === 'function') newspackHandleImageError(this);" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXdcUZXNxL4H4lqXYe2iTA8RnCDwy3uhp_-F7ZFIDgSXqilMWnQth8cFZtw1AuHN6kOIApqppySE51xnycN03Nc4CSvEP5uDJAxhDbnVlf7gefN9g0Z9l0DOkrla4JdN2AQ0FUdzVmd6ShkZ3GozqLA?key=qat7LGioiHrMPcYYqtr1EFuI" alt=""/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">North View pastor John Langenstein surveys the available supply in the “egg room.” (Photo by Zack Harold / Daily Yonder)&nbsp;</figcaption></figure><p>The church also ships eggs all across the country. The sale generates tens of thousands of dollars for the congregation each year. Over the years, North View has used that money to purchase everything from new carpet to a new organ.</p><p>But Langenstein says the biggest benefit of the church’s annual egg campaign is the way it brings the congregation together.</p><p>“Easter is a long season here. One of the best parts of this whole process, other than that it helps support the work of the church, is it’s just fun. For as much work as it is, and as much of a taskmaster Serena can be, we get all generations coming in. Last year our youngest person helping out with eggs was six years old,” he said.</p><p>That’s the kind of legacy that will outlive even a 1970s hot plate.</p><p><em>CORRECTION: A previous version of this article misspelled Nadene Holt&#8217;s first name.</em></p><hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-dots"/><p><em>&nbsp;Zach Harold is a ninth-generation West Virginian, foster dad, bluegrass musician and an award-winning freelance writer, radio producer and documentary filmmaker based in Charleston, West Virginia.&nbsp; In his spare time, he continues his quest for the perfect hot dog.</em></p><hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-dots"/><div id="signup" class="wp-block-group has-white-color has-dark-gray-background-color has-text-color has-background has-link-color wp-elements-a48dcccf63e2f20b994c107a5362419e"><div class="wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow"><div style="height:1px" aria-hidden="true" class="wp-block-spacer"></div>
  131.  
  132. <div class="wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex"><div class="wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow" style="flex-basis:40%"><figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" width="780" height="780" onerror="if (typeof newspackHandleImageError === 'function') newspackHandleImageError(this);" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/LT_Color_Square-scaled.png?resize=780%2C780&#038;ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-227984" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/LT_Color_Square-scaled.png?w=2560&amp;ssl=1 2560w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/LT_Color_Square-scaled.png?resize=760%2C760&amp;ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/LT_Color_Square-scaled.png?resize=1296%2C1296&amp;ssl=1 1296w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/LT_Color_Square-scaled.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/LT_Color_Square-scaled.png?resize=768%2C768&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/LT_Color_Square-scaled.png?resize=1536%2C1536&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/LT_Color_Square-scaled.png?resize=2048%2C2048&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/LT_Color_Square-scaled.png?resize=1200%2C1200&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/LT_Color_Square-scaled.png?resize=800%2C800&amp;ssl=1 800w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/LT_Color_Square-scaled.png?resize=600%2C600&amp;ssl=1 600w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/LT_Color_Square-scaled.png?resize=400%2C400&amp;ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/LT_Color_Square-scaled.png?resize=200%2C200&amp;ssl=1 200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/LT_Color_Square-scaled.png?resize=1024%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/LT_Color_Square-scaled.png?resize=2000%2C2000&amp;ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/LT_Color_Square-scaled.png?resize=780%2C780&amp;ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/LT_Color_Square-scaled.png?resize=300%2C300&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/LT_Color_Square-scaled.png?resize=706%2C706&amp;ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/LT_Color_Square-scaled.png?resize=100%2C100&amp;ssl=1 100w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/LT_Color_Square-scaled.png?w=2340&amp;ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/LT_Color_Square-scaled.png?w=370&amp;ssl=1 370w" sizes="(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px" /></figure></div>
  133.  
  134. <div class="wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow" style="flex-basis:60%"><p>This article is part of the <strong>Living Traditions</strong> project, featuring an assortment of stories and podcasts about folklife in central Appalachia, both time-honored and emergent.</p>
  135.  
  136. <div class="wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex"><div class="wp-block-button has-custom-width wp-block-button__width-100"><a class="wp-block-button__link has-white-color has-primary-variation-background-color has-text-color has-background wp-element-button" href="https://dailyyonder.com/living-traditions/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read More Living Traditions</a></div></div></div></div></div></div><p></p><p>The post <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/homemade-easter-eggs-are-a-beloved-treat-and-a-big-moneymaker-for-rural-congregations/2025/04/17/">Homemade Easter Eggs Are a Beloved Treat–and a Big Moneymaker–for Rural Congregations</a> appeared first on <a href="https://dailyyonder.com">The Daily Yonder</a>.</p>
  137. ]]></content:encoded>
  139. <wfw:commentRss>https://dailyyonder.com/homemade-easter-eggs-are-a-beloved-treat-and-a-big-moneymaker-for-rural-congregations/2025/04/17/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  140. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
  143. <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">227879</post-id> </item>
  144. <item>
  145. <title>“High Speed, Horse-Powered Chaos”: Inside Colorado’s Annual Skijoring Event</title>
  146. <link>https://dailyyonder.com/high-speed-horse-powered-chaos-inside-colorados-annual-skijoring-event/2025/04/17/</link>
  147. <comments>https://dailyyonder.com/high-speed-horse-powered-chaos-inside-colorados-annual-skijoring-event/2025/04/17/#respond</comments>
  149. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Jared Ewy]]></dc:creator>
  150. <pubDate>Thu, 17 Apr 2025 10:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
  151. <category><![CDATA[Travel & Recreation]]></category>
  152. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://dailyyonder.com/?p=227777</guid>
  153.  
  154. <description><![CDATA[<figure><img width="1024" height="670" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP24068062214099-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C670&amp;ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP24068062214099-scaled.jpg?w=2560&amp;ssl=1 2560w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP24068062214099-scaled.jpg?resize=760%2C498&amp;ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP24068062214099-scaled.jpg?resize=1296%2C848&amp;ssl=1 1296w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP24068062214099-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C503&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP24068062214099-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1006&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP24068062214099-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1341&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP24068062214099-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C786&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP24068062214099-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C670&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP24068062214099-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1309&amp;ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP24068062214099-scaled.jpg?resize=780%2C511&amp;ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP24068062214099-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C262&amp;ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP24068062214099-scaled.jpg?resize=706%2C462&amp;ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP24068062214099-scaled.jpg?w=2340&amp;ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP24068062214099-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C670&amp;ssl=1&amp;w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure>
  155. <p>Jason Decker wrecked the other day. It wasn’t a big deal, he says, as he’s been doing this for forty years. His prescription for being attached to a horse and flung to the ground is ibuprofen and rest, by the way. You never know when the fever might get a hold of you and you [&#8230;]</p>
  156. <p>The post <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/high-speed-horse-powered-chaos-inside-colorados-annual-skijoring-event/2025/04/17/">“High Speed, Horse-Powered Chaos”: Inside Colorado’s Annual Skijoring Event</a> appeared first on <a href="https://dailyyonder.com">The Daily Yonder</a>.</p>
  157. ]]></description>
  158. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<figure><img width="1024" height="670" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP24068062214099-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C670&amp;ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP24068062214099-scaled.jpg?w=2560&amp;ssl=1 2560w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP24068062214099-scaled.jpg?resize=760%2C498&amp;ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP24068062214099-scaled.jpg?resize=1296%2C848&amp;ssl=1 1296w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP24068062214099-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C503&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP24068062214099-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1006&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP24068062214099-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1341&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP24068062214099-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C786&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP24068062214099-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C670&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP24068062214099-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1309&amp;ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP24068062214099-scaled.jpg?resize=780%2C511&amp;ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP24068062214099-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C262&amp;ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP24068062214099-scaled.jpg?resize=706%2C462&amp;ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP24068062214099-scaled.jpg?w=2340&amp;ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP24068062214099-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C670&amp;ssl=1&amp;w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure><figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
  159. <iframe title="“High Speed, Horse-Powered Chaos”: Inside Colorado’s Annual Skijoring Event" width="780" height="439" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fyiBdo7U3tc?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
  160. </div></figure><p>Jason Decker wrecked the other day. It wasn’t a big deal, he says, as he’s been doing this for forty years. His prescription for being attached to a horse and flung to the ground is ibuprofen and rest, by the way. You never know when the fever might get a hold of you and you find yourself in Leadville, Colorado, during one of their biggest days of the year.&nbsp;</p><p>It’s called skijoring, and it’s nothing new. For centuries, the Sami people of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia harnessed themselves to skis and then to reindeer for faster transportation. By 1928, skijoring even made an appearance as an exhibition sport in the Olympic Games. What is new, according to the history section of the Leadville Skijoring website, is how fast they go.&nbsp;</p><p>“They’ll get up to forty miles an hour,” announced the Leadville skijoring emcee about the skiers pulled down the street by local horses and riders. It’s a bright spring day. The sun sparkles off the snow and welcomes thousands of people to the annual winter event.&nbsp;</p><p>“It’s high-speed, horse-powered chaos,” says Stephanie Weber. She hopes to make up some seconds from her runs on the previous day. She missed a couple of rings, and that means penalties added to her overall time. The Sami people may not have ring gathering as part of their skijoring, but many Western United States have popularized the skiers carrying a baton and gathering hoops as they navigate the track.&nbsp;</p><p>On this day in March, Leadville’s course features multiple jumps, several rings, and snow that’s melting too quickly during one of Colorado’s many false Springs. This causes delays as officials groom the course and move snow into place.&nbsp;</p><p>The crowd is patient and does their best to fund the businesses up and down Harrison Street. Early estimates say there are about 5000 people in attendance. According to the Census Bureau, Leadville’s population is just over 2600. What’s remarkable is the mix: cowboys, cowgirls, and the rare Leadville natives blending with suburban families, college kids, and representatives of Colorado’s massive outdoor sports scene.&nbsp;</p><p>There’s been much written about tensions between the people who’ve been here and those who are moving in. Not today, though; not with the cooperation required to have someone tether their wellbeing to a speeding equine. As one woman says from the snow she shoveled into a viewing perch: “It was worth the effort!” From what I can see on this spectacular day on a crowded street in a Colorado mountain town, it certainly seems to be.</p><hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-dots"/><p>The post <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/high-speed-horse-powered-chaos-inside-colorados-annual-skijoring-event/2025/04/17/">“High Speed, Horse-Powered Chaos”: Inside Colorado’s Annual Skijoring Event</a> appeared first on <a href="https://dailyyonder.com">The Daily Yonder</a>.</p>
  161. ]]></content:encoded>
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  164. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
  167. <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">227777</post-id> </item>
  168. <item>
  169. <title>Big Trouble in &#8216;Banshee&#8217;</title>
  170. <link>https://dailyyonder.com/banshee-big-trouble-small-town-max-streaming-success/2025/04/17/</link>
  171. <comments>https://dailyyonder.com/banshee-big-trouble-small-town-max-streaming-success/2025/04/17/#respond</comments>
  173. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Keith Roysdon]]></dc:creator>
  174. <pubDate>Thu, 17 Apr 2025 09:59:00 +0000</pubDate>
  175. <category><![CDATA[Arts & Culture]]></category>
  176. <category><![CDATA[The Good, the Bad, and the Elegy]]></category>
  177. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://dailyyonder.com/?p=227780</guid>
  178.  
  179. <description><![CDATA[<figure><img width="1024" height="682" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/MV5BMTQxMDEzMTA2NF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwMTUwMTkzMTE%40._V1_.jpg?fit=1024%2C682&amp;ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure>
  180. <p>"Banshee," which recently got a second wind on Max, exposes the seamy side of small town life.</p>
  181. <p>The post <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/banshee-big-trouble-small-town-max-streaming-success/2025/04/17/">Big Trouble in &#8216;Banshee&#8217;</a> appeared first on <a href="https://dailyyonder.com">The Daily Yonder</a>.</p>
  182. ]]></description>
  183. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<figure><img width="1024" height="682" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/MV5BMTQxMDEzMTA2NF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwMTUwMTkzMTE%40._V1_.jpg?fit=1024%2C682&amp;ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure><p style="font-size:14px"><em>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 </em><a href="#signup"><em>join the mailing list at the bottom of this article</em></a><em> to receive future editions in your inbox</em>.<br></p><p>The television series “Banshee” is a bit like “The Andy Griffith Show” — if Andy Taylor was fresh out of prison, assumed the identity of a slain sheriff, and was mixed up with crime bosses and a bounty of stolen diamonds.</p><p>“<a href="https://www.cinemax.com/banshee">Banshee</a>” first ran on Cinemax from 2013 to 2016, an eon ago in modern entertainment terms. But it’s found a second life streaming on Max, becoming one of the service’s most-watched shows, right up there with “The Righteous Gemstones” and “The White Lotus.”</p><p>One reason for that is fans of “The Boys,” curious to see what actor Antony Starr was up to before he began playing the star of that series, the anti-superhero Homelander.</p><p>Starr, a New Zealand actor who had a fruitful film and TV career before “The Boys,” made an impression with “Banshee.” His lead character is a thief and ex-con who assumes the identity of a newly-hired Pennsylvania sheriff, Lucas Hood, after the real Hood is killed in a bar by a couple of criminals.</p><p>Since the mayor and officials in the town of Banshee hadn’t yet met the real Hood, the ex-con can easily slip into the role. Why would a career criminal, who’s just done 15 years in prison for stealing millions in diamonds, want to play-act the sheriff? Maybe because his ex-girlfriend and ex-partner in crime, Ana, is in Banshee, and she has the diamonds. So he’s staying close to the loot – and the woman he loves.</p><figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
  184. <iframe title="Banshee: First Official Trailer for Banshee on Cinemax" width="780" height="439" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lE5CMog-Opk?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
  185. </div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">An official trailer for &#8220;Banshee&#8221; (via Cinemax on YouTube). </figcaption></figure><p>It’s a clever premise that lets “Banshee” play with the conventions of small-town life, from the Pennsylvania Dutch furniture makers to the town festival. There’s also the local crime kingpin, Kai Proctor, who immediately recognizes the ersatz Hood as a force to be tamed or eliminated.</p><p>Hood’s main ally is Sugar, owner of the local hole-in-the-wall bar. Sugar is a former champion boxer who tries to temper Hood’s violent tendencies. </p><p>Just how violent and explicit is “Banshee?” The opening episode features close-ups of brutal gunshot wounds and graphic sex scenes. There’s a lot of that in “Banshee” — and in the town of Banshee, apparently.</p><h2 class="wp-block-heading has-text-align-left">Echoes</h2><p>If you’re not old enough to remember when Cinemax, the sister network to HBO, was jokingly referred to as “Skinemax” for its racy late-night fare, then “Banshee” will introduce you to the concept. We’re talking hard-R stuff here, with lots of nudity and gore.</p><p>Intentional or not, “Banshee” is very much in line with the kind of action-packed, rough around the edges exploitation movies that played at drive-in theaters in the 1970s. There’s a formula: a scene of brutal violence is followed by a scene of sexual adventure, briefly interrupted by some small-town politics, like whether the festival will be canceled when a motorcycle gang attacks.</p><p>Back in the day, the “Walking Tall” movies, about real-life Sheriff Buford Pusser, set the standard for this formula. More recently, small-town crime TV series like “Ozark” and <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/looking-back-on-the-rich-rural-backdrop-of-tvs-justified-before-city-primeval/2023/07/27/">“Justified”</a> followed the same backwoods cops-and-criminals blueprint – while being a bit safer for basic cable and general audiences.</p><p>Small-town noir is a trendy thing in novels and TV series right now, but “Banshee” got there more than a decade ago.</p><p>Starr is a wild card as the imposter sheriff and the show explores his character with some nuance. Based on the circumstances of any given episode, viewers can guess if he is acting out of greed, vengeance, or a duty to protect the locals. As the series progresses, the contrasts in Hood’s actions – cleaning up the town or robbing an armored car, for example – get more pronounced.</p><figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" width="780" height="520" onerror="if (typeof newspackHandleImageError === 'function') newspackHandleImageError(this);" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/MV5BMTU1OTM2MDQzMV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwOTcyODM2ODE%40._V1_.jpg?resize=780%2C520&#038;ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-227828" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/MV5BMTU1OTM2MDQzMV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwOTcyODM2ODE%40._V1_-scaled.jpg?resize=1296%2C864&amp;ssl=1 1296w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/MV5BMTU1OTM2MDQzMV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwOTcyODM2ODE%40._V1_-scaled.jpg?resize=760%2C507&amp;ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/MV5BMTU1OTM2MDQzMV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwOTcyODM2ODE%40._V1_-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/MV5BMTU1OTM2MDQzMV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwOTcyODM2ODE%40._V1_-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/MV5BMTU1OTM2MDQzMV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwOTcyODM2ODE%40._V1_-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/MV5BMTU1OTM2MDQzMV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwOTcyODM2ODE%40._V1_-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/MV5BMTU1OTM2MDQzMV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwOTcyODM2ODE%40._V1_-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/MV5BMTU1OTM2MDQzMV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwOTcyODM2ODE%40._V1_-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1333&amp;ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/MV5BMTU1OTM2MDQzMV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwOTcyODM2ODE%40._V1_-scaled.jpg?resize=780%2C520&amp;ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/MV5BMTU1OTM2MDQzMV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwOTcyODM2ODE%40._V1_-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C267&amp;ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/MV5BMTU1OTM2MDQzMV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwOTcyODM2ODE%40._V1_-scaled.jpg?resize=706%2C471&amp;ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/MV5BMTU1OTM2MDQzMV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwOTcyODM2ODE%40._V1_-scaled.jpg?w=2340&amp;ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/MV5BMTU1OTM2MDQzMV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwOTcyODM2ODE%40._V1_-1296x864.jpg?w=370&amp;ssl=1 370w" sizes="(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Ivana Milicevic and Eddie Cooper in &#8216;Banshee&#8217; (2013) (Credit&#8221; Cinemax via IMDb).</figcaption></figure><p>Hood has a pair of good antagonists. Ulrich Thomsen plays Kai Proctor, the aforementioned town baddie, and Ben Cross is Rabbit, a Ukrainian crime boss who wants to bring down Hood for stealing his diamonds 15 years earlier.</p><p>In Starr’s corner are Frankie Faison as Sugar and Hoon Lee as Job, Hood’s longtime criminal associate.</p><p>Ivana Milicevic, a Bosnian-American actress, plays Ana, Hood’s former lover and accomplice, who has a lot to lose when Hood follows her to Banshee. Ana, now under the name Carrie, is married to the local prosecutor and has two children. Complicating matters is that Hood suspects he may be the father of Ana’s oldest daughter (played by Ryann Shane). </p><p>There’s a good supporting cast and some surprising guest stars who pop in over the course of four seasons. This includes some with relevant experience dealing with small-town menaces, such as David Harbour, who played Police Chief Hopper in “Stranger Things,” and Eliza Dushku, who played Faith the Vampire Slayer in “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.”</p><h2 class="wp-block-heading has-text-align-left">Wild Things</h2><div class="wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex"><div class="wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow"><p>Again, be warned that there are some pretty steamy sex scenes in “Banshee” as well as some very bloody bouts of violence. Many episodes feature both, like when a traveling MMA fighter assaults a local woman and Hood confronts him, or when a prison flashback ends with the kind of dismemberment we’ve not seen since the days of <a href="https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/june-23/lorena-bobbitt-cut-husband-john-penis">Lorena Bobbitt</a>.</p>
  186.  
  187. <p>You may find yourself saying, “Did I just see what I thought I saw?” after scenes like that prison one.</p></div>
  188.  
  189. <div class="wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-center is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow"><figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" width="612" height="612" onerror="if (typeof newspackHandleImageError === 'function') newspackHandleImageError(this);" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/MV5BMTM5MTA0MjUwM15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNzg3MDE4OQ%40%40._V1_.jpg?resize=612%2C612&#038;ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-227829" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/MV5BMTM5MTA0MjUwM15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNzg3MDE4OQ%40%40._V1_.jpg?w=612&amp;ssl=1 612w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/MV5BMTM5MTA0MjUwM15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNzg3MDE4OQ%40%40._V1_.jpg?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/MV5BMTM5MTA0MjUwM15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNzg3MDE4OQ%40%40._V1_.jpg?resize=600%2C600&amp;ssl=1 600w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/MV5BMTM5MTA0MjUwM15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNzg3MDE4OQ%40%40._V1_.jpg?resize=400%2C400&amp;ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/MV5BMTM5MTA0MjUwM15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNzg3MDE4OQ%40%40._V1_.jpg?resize=200%2C200&amp;ssl=1 200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/MV5BMTM5MTA0MjUwM15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNzg3MDE4OQ%40%40._V1_.jpg?resize=300%2C300&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/MV5BMTM5MTA0MjUwM15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNzg3MDE4OQ%40%40._V1_.jpg?resize=100%2C100&amp;ssl=1 100w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/MV5BMTM5MTA0MjUwM15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNzg3MDE4OQ%40%40._V1_.jpg?w=370&amp;ssl=1 370w" sizes="(max-width: 612px) 100vw, 612px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">(Credit: Cinemax via IMDb)</figcaption></figure></div></div><p>I enjoyed that “Banshee” reveals early on that Ana is not the type of criminal’s ex-girlfriend to wilt from danger. Milicevic is nearly as believable a battler as Starr and has as brutal an episode-long fight as anyone in the series.</p><p>And there’s some fairly sharp humor in “Banshee” too. Hood and Deputy Emmett (played by Demetrius Grosse), the department’s only Black officer, go to confront some racist skinheads. Showing Hood around the area, Emmett notes, “This is where the master race collects their unemployment checks.” The white supremacists snarl and curse when they see the deputy, and Hood replies, “It’s OK guys. His wife is white.”</p><p>Rural crime shows like “Ozark” and “Justified” have enthralled viewers for years. “Banshee,” with its mix of small-town secrets, sex, and violence, just might have mastered the formula. Thanks to the greater fame of its star, people are discovering that appeal now, nearly a decade after the show ended.</p><p><em>Banshee is <a href="https://www.max.com/shows/banshee/f4f7e7d4-eb0f-45f9-824f-539e80f47c4a">streaming on Max</a>.</em></p><p><em>Keith Roysdon is a Tennessee-based writer of fiction, true crime, and pop culture.</em></p><div id="signup" class="wp-block-group is-style-default has-light-gray-background-color has-background"><div class="wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow"><div style="height:1px" aria-hidden="true" class="wp-block-spacer"></div>
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  191. <div class="wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex"><div class="wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow" style="flex-basis:25%"><figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://dailyyonder.com/contact-us/subscribe-daily-yonder/#good-bad-elegy"><img data-recalc-dims="1" height="984" width="780" decoding="async" onerror="if (typeof newspackHandleImageError === 'function') newspackHandleImageError(this);" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/the-good-the-bad-and-the-elegy-1027x1296.png?resize=780%2C984&#038;ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-86113"/></a></figure></div>
  192.  
  193. <div class="wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow" style="flex-basis:75%"><p>This article first appeared in&nbsp;<strong>The Good, the Bad, and the Elegy</strong>, an email newsletter from the Daily Yonder focused on the best, and worst, in rural media, entertainment, and culture. Every other Thursday, it features reviews, recommendations, retrospectives, and more. <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/contact-us/subscribe-daily-yonder/#good-bad-elegy">Join the mailing list</a> today to have future editions delivered straight to your inbox.</p></div></div>
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  225. <div style="height:10px" aria-hidden="true" class="wp-block-spacer"></div></div></div><hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-dots"/><p>The post <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/banshee-big-trouble-small-town-max-streaming-success/2025/04/17/">Big Trouble in &#8216;Banshee&#8217;</a> appeared first on <a href="https://dailyyonder.com">The Daily Yonder</a>.</p>
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  232. <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">227780</post-id> </item>
  233. <item>
  234. <title>Uncertainty Around USDA’s Rural Development Funding Continues Amidst Staffing Cuts and Office Closures</title>
  235. <link>https://dailyyonder.com/usda-rural-development-uncertainty-amid-firings-office-closures/2025/04/16/</link>
  236. <comments>https://dailyyonder.com/usda-rural-development-uncertainty-amid-firings-office-closures/2025/04/16/#comments</comments>
  238. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Julia Tilton]]></dc:creator>
  239. <pubDate>Wed, 16 Apr 2025 16:45:32 +0000</pubDate>
  240. <category><![CDATA[Energy]]></category>
  241. <category><![CDATA[Environment]]></category>
  242. <category><![CDATA[Government & Policy]]></category>
  243. <category><![CDATA[The Yonder Report]]></category>
  244. <category><![CDATA[Yonder Report]]></category>
  245. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://dailyyonder.com/?p=227907</guid>
  246.  
  247. <description><![CDATA[<figure><img width="1024" height="683" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP25100537141146-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP25100537141146-scaled.jpg?w=2560&amp;ssl=1 2560w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP25100537141146-scaled.jpg?resize=760%2C507&amp;ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP25100537141146-scaled.jpg?resize=1296%2C864&amp;ssl=1 1296w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP25100537141146-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP25100537141146-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP25100537141146-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP25100537141146-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP25100537141146-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP25100537141146-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1333&amp;ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP25100537141146-scaled.jpg?resize=780%2C520&amp;ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP25100537141146-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C267&amp;ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP25100537141146-scaled.jpg?resize=706%2C471&amp;ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP25100537141146-scaled.jpg?w=2340&amp;ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP25100537141146-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1&amp;w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure>
  248. <p>Reductions in staff and office closures loom at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) as the agency has opened a ‘path’ to release $10.8 billion, which includes $2.5 billion in loan subsidies, between grant awards and obligated congressional funding for three rural energy programs funded by the Inflation Reduction Act.&#160; On March 25, 2025, Secretary [&#8230;]</p>
  249. <p>The post <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/usda-rural-development-uncertainty-amid-firings-office-closures/2025/04/16/">Uncertainty Around USDA’s Rural Development Funding Continues Amidst Staffing Cuts and Office Closures</a> appeared first on <a href="https://dailyyonder.com">The Daily Yonder</a>.</p>
  250. ]]></description>
  251. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<figure><img width="1024" height="683" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP25100537141146-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP25100537141146-scaled.jpg?w=2560&amp;ssl=1 2560w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP25100537141146-scaled.jpg?resize=760%2C507&amp;ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP25100537141146-scaled.jpg?resize=1296%2C864&amp;ssl=1 1296w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP25100537141146-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP25100537141146-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP25100537141146-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP25100537141146-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP25100537141146-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP25100537141146-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1333&amp;ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP25100537141146-scaled.jpg?resize=780%2C520&amp;ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP25100537141146-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C267&amp;ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP25100537141146-scaled.jpg?resize=706%2C471&amp;ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP25100537141146-scaled.jpg?w=2340&amp;ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP25100537141146-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1&amp;w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure><p>Reductions in staff and office closures loom at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) as the agency has <a href="https://www.usda.gov/about-usda/news/press-releases/2025/03/25/usda-delivers-rural-energy-commitments-provides-path-applicants-support-us-energy-independence">opened</a> a ‘path’ to release $10.8 billion, which includes $2.5 billion in loan subsidies, between grant awards and obligated congressional funding for three rural energy programs funded by the Inflation Reduction Act.&nbsp;</p><p>On March 25, 2025, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced that the USDA would release funding that was previously obligated to recipients under REAP, New ERA, and PACE. Funding that has been obligated carries a <a href="https://www.cbo.gov/publication/57660">legally-binding commitment</a>, according to the Congressional Budget Office.</p><p>Last month’s announcement also said that recipients of the funding will have 30 days to revise their project plans to align with President Donald Trump’s Unleashing American Energy <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/unleashing-american-energy/">executive order</a>, which, among other actions, revokes Biden-era clean energy executive orders and calls for energy production and exploration on federal lands and waters. The USDA has set up a <a href="https://www.rd.usda.gov/reap-newera-pace-notification">website</a> for funding recipients to submit their proposed project changes before the end of April.&nbsp;</p><p>Funding for such programs was <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/farmers-still-owed-hundreds-of-millions-in-reap-payments-because-of-the-federal-freeze/2025/03/07/">previously frozen</a> by the Trump administration. On April 15, 2025, a federal judge <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.rid.59116/gov.uscourts.rid.59116.45.0.pdf?utm_source=newsletter&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=newsletter_axiosgenerate&amp;stream=top">ruled</a> that the USDA, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and Director of the National Economic Council (NEC), among several other federal agencies and high-level administrators, were unlawful in their actions freezing federal funding.&nbsp;</p><p>“The broad powers that OMB, the NEC Director, and the five Agencies assert are nowhere to be found in federal law,” wrote Judge Mary McElroy of the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island. McElroy was nominated for her current position by President Donald Trump in 2019.&nbsp;</p><p>The order instructs the USDA and other agencies to take “immediate steps” to resume the processing, disbursement, and payment of already-awarded funding under the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. McElroy gave the Trump administration until 5:00pm EST on April 16, 2025 to file a status report with information on how they will comply with the order’s directives.</p><p>Funding for the three rural energy programs—the Rural Energy For America Program (REAP), Empowering Rural America (New ERA) program, and Powering Affordable Clean Energy (PACE) program —is managed by the USDA’s Rural Development arm. The department provides grants and low-cost loans to farmers, small businesses, and rural electric cooperatives to expand electrification and clean energy.&nbsp;</p><p>New ERA and PACE were both established by the Inflation Reduction Act after the climate legislation passed in 2022. REAP, which has been around for decades, received an injection of funding from the law.&nbsp;</p><p>Jeremy Fisher, a senior strategy and technical advisor with the Sierra Club’s Environmental Law Program, said it is unclear whether or not it will be necessary for recipients to change their projects in order to receive funding.</p><p>“I think an optimistic read of this would be that awardees are actually not expected to make changes to their projects and just continue on forward,” said Fisher. “This is opening the opportunity to change narratives.”</p><p>The March 25 announcement describes the 30-day revision process as an opportunity for rural electric providers and small businesses to “refocus” their projects while eliminating “far-left” Biden-era climate features and DEIA—Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility—from their projects. Fisher said that for most awardees, such elements are not a key part of the work that was proposed.</p><p>“I think there’s not really much for a farmer or a rural business that said, ‘We intend on achieving savings for our business by putting in this solar panel’ to say about DEI or ‘far-left’ climate initiatives,” Fisher said. “They’re pretty clear it’s about cost savings and affordability.”&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>For Keith Dennis, who works as the president of the Beneficial Electrification League and helps rural electric cooperatives navigate funding opportunities, the announcement represents a determination on behalf of the Trump administration that the three rural energy programs are “good to go.”&nbsp;</p><p>This comes after funding had been paused by the Unleashing American Energy executive order on January 20, 2025, after which time the programs were subject to review.&nbsp;</p><p>“I think going into the program, folks knew that at a minimum, there were going to be three different administrations,” said Dennis. “It could be the same president for eight years, but there’s no way you could have the same president for 10 years, so I think they made pretty durable projects that would withstand political changes.”</p><p>Reading through the language in the policy section of the Unleashing American Energy executive order, Dennis said that some of the points align with those of the rural energy programs, which he called “bread and butter” projects that make the grid more secure and lower costs for consumers.</p><p>“That section could be written about the New ERA program, to make sure there’s ‘reliable energy readily accessible in every state and territory’—that’s essentially what the program does,” Dennis said.&nbsp;</p><p>Even as Dennis and Fisher agree that funds are likely to start flowing when the 30-day revision period ends at the end of the month, concern lingers that staffing changes at USDA could impact the money’s disbursement.</p><h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>On the Chopping Block</strong></h3><p>At the same time as the funding for Rural Development’s energy programs is set to be released, a <a href="https://www.eenews.net/articles/around-12k-take-usda-buyout-as-mass-firings-loom/">second</a> “deferred resignation” offer has been sent to USDA employees. Further job cuts are expected to follow later this spring via a “reduction in force”, or <a href="https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/reductions-in-force-rif/">RIF</a>. This comes as plans circulate to <a href="https://farmpolicynews.illinois.edu/2025/03/100-usda-offices-face-lease-termination-from-doge/">close</a> and <a href="https://www.govexec.com/workforce/2025/04/usda-slash-headquarters-other-staff-and-relocate-some-new-hubs-around-country/404371/">relocate</a> USDA office space in Washington, D.C., and around the country.&nbsp;</p><p>Farah Ahmad, former Deputy Under Secretary for Rural Development under President Joe Biden, said that changes in staffing could pose challenges for the department’s operations.</p><p>“You can’t control in a deferred resignation who’s accepting it, and so there could be a really lopsided way of who’s left,” said Ahmad. “It&#8217;s going to be very hard for Rural Development, not only with a lack of capacity, but actually that uneven capacity and expertise I think will result from the mass reduction that is expected.”</p><p>The USDA’s Rural Development arm has about 4,800 employees between the agency’s Washington, D.C. headquarters and 400 field offices at the state and local levels across the country. Typically, over half of the department’s staff are based at field offices, Ahmad said. This is one of the department’s biggest strengths, she said.</p><p>“USDA really is seen as that trusted government partner in these communities,” Ahmad said. “A good share of the staff live and work in the communities they serve, meaning they&#8217;re from the rural communities that they&#8217;re helping, or they&#8217;re nearby, and have strong and deep connections.”</p><p>Ahmad said a “large chunk” of Rural Development staff is likely to take this voluntary buyout. That could bring the department’s numbers down to 3,000 employees, which Ahmad said would be a “massive loss.”</p><p>After the Inflation Reduction Act passed, $100 million was <a href="https://iratracker.org/programs/ira-section-22005-usda-rural-development-administrative-costs/">appropriated</a> to Rural Development to cover administrative costs and salaries, including for employees and contractors brought on to assist with managing programs like REAP, New ERA, and PACE.</p><p>That money has been fully allocated, but Fisher said the current status of the jobs it funded is unclear, given the changes at the agency under the Trump administration.&nbsp;</p><p>“We understood during statements from USDA in the past that they were bringing on contractors in order to be able to accelerate the process of being able to get these loans and grants out the door,” Fisher said.&nbsp;</p><p>As of April 4, 2025, at least six contracts with USDA Rural Development have been <a href="https://www.usda.gov/about-usda/presidential-actions/spending-transparency">terminated</a>.</p><p>Ahmad said that at the state level, some Rural Development offices are operating at half the staffing levels of a few months ago. Farmers, small businesses, and others who rely on services from Rural Development are likely already feeling the impact of this reduced capacity in the form of slower response times to email inquiries and in-person appointment requests, she said.&nbsp;</p><p>“My guess is they’ve already been feeling it for weeks, and that’ll just continue down the road,” Ahmad said.</p><hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-dots"/><p>The post <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/usda-rural-development-uncertainty-amid-firings-office-closures/2025/04/16/">Uncertainty Around USDA’s Rural Development Funding Continues Amidst Staffing Cuts and Office Closures</a> appeared first on <a href="https://dailyyonder.com">The Daily Yonder</a>.</p>
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  255. <slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
  258. <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">227907</post-id> </item>
  259. <item>
  260. <title>Rural and Tribal Residency Program Hopes to Compel More Young Doctors to Practice in Rural</title>
  261. <link>https://dailyyonder.com/rural-and-tribal-residency-program-hopes-to-compel-more-young-doctors-to-practice-in-rural/2025/04/16/</link>
  262. <comments>https://dailyyonder.com/rural-and-tribal-residency-program-hopes-to-compel-more-young-doctors-to-practice-in-rural/2025/04/16/#respond</comments>
  264. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Taylor Sisk]]></dc:creator>
  265. <pubDate>Wed, 16 Apr 2025 10:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
  266. <category><![CDATA[Health]]></category>
  267. <category><![CDATA[Indigenous Affairs]]></category>
  268. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://dailyyonder.com/?p=227632</guid>
  269.  
  270. <description><![CDATA[<figure><img width="1024" height="768" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Cherokee-hospital1-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&amp;ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Cherokee-hospital1-scaled.jpg?w=2560&amp;ssl=1 2560w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Cherokee-hospital1-scaled.jpg?resize=760%2C570&amp;ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Cherokee-hospital1-scaled.jpg?resize=1296%2C972&amp;ssl=1 1296w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Cherokee-hospital1-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C576&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Cherokee-hospital1-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1152&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Cherokee-hospital1-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1536&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Cherokee-hospital1-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C900&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Cherokee-hospital1-scaled.jpg?resize=800%2C600&amp;ssl=1 800w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Cherokee-hospital1-scaled.jpg?resize=600%2C450&amp;ssl=1 600w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Cherokee-hospital1-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C300&amp;ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Cherokee-hospital1-scaled.jpg?resize=200%2C150&amp;ssl=1 200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Cherokee-hospital1-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Cherokee-hospital1-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1500&amp;ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Cherokee-hospital1-scaled.jpg?resize=780%2C585&amp;ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Cherokee-hospital1-scaled.jpg?resize=706%2C530&amp;ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Cherokee-hospital1-scaled.jpg?w=2340&amp;ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Cherokee-hospital1-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&amp;ssl=1&amp;w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure>
  271. <p>An interest in different cultures led Matthew Mahar to pursue an anthropology minor in college and to subsequently travel extensively. More recently, it’s led him to a hospital in the mountains of Western North Carolina. Cherokee Indian Hospital sits on the Qualla Boundary, home to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, a 57,000-acre land trust [&#8230;]</p>
  272. <p>The post <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/rural-and-tribal-residency-program-hopes-to-compel-more-young-doctors-to-practice-in-rural/2025/04/16/">Rural and Tribal Residency Program Hopes to Compel More Young Doctors to Practice in Rural</a> appeared first on <a href="https://dailyyonder.com">The Daily Yonder</a>.</p>
  273. ]]></description>
  274. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<figure><img width="1024" height="768" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Cherokee-hospital1-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&amp;ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Cherokee-hospital1-scaled.jpg?w=2560&amp;ssl=1 2560w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Cherokee-hospital1-scaled.jpg?resize=760%2C570&amp;ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Cherokee-hospital1-scaled.jpg?resize=1296%2C972&amp;ssl=1 1296w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Cherokee-hospital1-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C576&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Cherokee-hospital1-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1152&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Cherokee-hospital1-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1536&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Cherokee-hospital1-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C900&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Cherokee-hospital1-scaled.jpg?resize=800%2C600&amp;ssl=1 800w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Cherokee-hospital1-scaled.jpg?resize=600%2C450&amp;ssl=1 600w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Cherokee-hospital1-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C300&amp;ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Cherokee-hospital1-scaled.jpg?resize=200%2C150&amp;ssl=1 200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Cherokee-hospital1-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Cherokee-hospital1-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1500&amp;ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Cherokee-hospital1-scaled.jpg?resize=780%2C585&amp;ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Cherokee-hospital1-scaled.jpg?resize=706%2C530&amp;ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Cherokee-hospital1-scaled.jpg?w=2340&amp;ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Cherokee-hospital1-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&amp;ssl=1&amp;w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure><p>An interest in different cultures led Matthew Mahar to pursue an anthropology minor in college and to subsequently travel extensively. More recently, it’s led him to a hospital in the mountains of Western North Carolina.</p><p><a href="https://cherokeehospital.org/">Cherokee Indian Hospital</a> sits on the <a href="https://visitcherokeenc.com/about-us/">Qualla Boundary</a>, home to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, a 57,000-acre land trust owned by the tribe. The hospital is designed to echo Cherokee history and culture. This is immediately apparent as you enter its main concourse: Imbued with natural light, it depicts a river walk, lined with scenes of Cherokee legend intended to convey a cultural continuum, a source of strength.</p><p>In this spirit, a holistic continuum of care is practiced here.&nbsp;</p><p>In addition to primary care, pediatrics, and a specialty clinic, the hospital offers dental care, physical and occupational therapy, behavioral health services, nutritionists, and a pharmacy, all within these walls. Each patient’s care is overseen by a case manager.</p><p>Cherokee Hospital operates under three guiding principles. “<em>U wa shv u da nv te lv</em>” translates to “The one who helps you from the heart.”<strong> “</strong><em>To-hi</em>” is “A state of peace and balance.” And “<em>Ni hi tsa tse li</em>” means “It belongs to you.”</p><p>The focus is on community health, toward assuring “the prosperity of the next seven generations of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.”</p><p>Mahar was drawn to his current position on the Qualla Boundary by both its culture and this approach to health care. He’s a primary care physician and a faculty member in an <a href="https://mahec.net/im-rural-track/program">internal medicine rural and tribal residency track</a> co-administered by the Cherokee Indian Hospital Authority and the <a href="https://mahec.net/">Mountain Area Heath Education Center</a> (MAHEC).&nbsp;</p><p>Much of rural America is confronted with a critical shortage of healthcare professionals, such as in rural Western North Carolina. The rural and tribal residency track was launched to address that shortage. It offers comprehensive training and the opportunity to experience what it’s like to practice in rural and historically marginalized communities, and in a model outside the Western tradition.</p><p>Mahar certainly knows rural – he was raised in a Nebraska town of 1,000 residents – and the challenges and rewards of practicing medicine there. His experience at Cherokee Hospital has been fascinating. “It keeps me growing and learning,” he said.&nbsp;</p><p>He’s now helping impart the virtues of that experience to a new generation of health care professionals.</p><p>Residents in the rural and tribal residency track are mentored to gain “an enhanced recognition of the importance of cultural humility and awareness,” said Stephanie Call, director of MAHEC’s Internal Medicine Residency Program, through which the rural and tribal track is offered.&nbsp;</p><div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignleft size-full is-resized"><img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" width="385" height="512" onerror="if (typeof newspackHandleImageError === 'function') newspackHandleImageError(this);" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/image-2.png?resize=385%2C512&#038;ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-227637" style="width:385px;height:auto" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/image-2.png?w=385&amp;ssl=1 385w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/image-2.png?resize=300%2C400&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/image-2.png?resize=150%2C200&amp;ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/image-2.png?w=370&amp;ssl=1 370w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/image-2.png?w=400&amp;ssl=1 400w" sizes="(max-width: 385px) 100vw, 385px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The river walk on the hospital floor, lined with scenes of Cherokee legend intended to convey a cultural continuum, a source of strength. (Photo by Taylor Sisk)</figcaption></figure></div><p>Cherokee Hospital’s values and vision align nicely with MAHEC’s, Call said: an interdisciplinary, comprehensive approach to sustainable quality health care in the region. This partnership, she said, was a natural fit.&nbsp;</p><p>“I&#8217;m so proud of it,” Call said. “I’ve learned so much.”</p><h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Those ‘Smaller-Area Vibes’</strong></h3><p>The Qualla Boundary is a unique pocket of rural America. Adjacent to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, it’s an outdoorsperson’s paradise. It’s also home to Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort: 150,000 square feet of gambling action and a 21-story hotel. The casino’s opening in 1997 was transformative for the tribe’s economy.</p><p>But the Qualla Boundary faces many of the same challenges as the majority of rural America in attracting health care providers: its remoteness, limited housing options, few big-city amenities. A primary objective of the rural and tribal track, Call said, is “to retain at least 50% of our graduates to stay here and work to improve the health of Western North Carolina.”</p><p>Sarah Bogan is a resident in the program. She grew up in the small town of Sanford, in North Carolina’s Piedmont region, and has always intended to practice in a like environment. “I enjoy the smaller towns,” she said. “I like the smaller-area vibes, getting to know everybody.”&nbsp;</p><p>The rural and tribal track offered a unique experience.</p><p>“I think residents having the opportunity to work in a rural area and learn the culture of [the Cherokee people] is so valuable,” said Amy Parker, the track’s site administrator.&nbsp;“They become absorbed in a community unfamiliar to anything most of them have known.&nbsp;Once they get over not having a Trader Joe’s within 60 miles, they find things to love here – hiking, fishing, biking, and maybe even a little gambling.”</p><p>But, Parker added, “Getting to know the people is the best bonus.”</p><p>Residents are urged to gain insight into what’s important to their indigenous patients. “That can be ceremonies,” Mahar said, “it can be herbal medicines.” They’re urged to encourage their patients “to talk a little bit about their family history and how they were raised.” Such an understanding fosters more comprehensive care.</p><p>Bogan’s patients sometimes share their home-remedies, “and it’ll be things that I haven’t heard of before.” She tells them, “‘I should actually do my own research and try out some of this stuff myself.’”</p><p>Sarah Taws, another rural and tribal track resident, appreciated the <a href="https://cherokeehospital.org/careers/the-right-way/">Right Way training</a> she received, in which residents learn of the tribe’s past traumas – most notably, forced removal from their ancestral lands.</p><p>Program residents are also trained at the 800-bed Mission Hospital in Asheville, allowing for a rounded workplace experience.</p><h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>‘Truly Invested’</strong></h3><p>A second important objective of the rural and tribal track is to instill in its residents the conviction that “selfcare is not selfish,” Call said. “That it is part of our responsibility for making sure that we’re taking care of our strengths, talents, and skills so we can contribute to our communities in a sustainable manner.”</p><p>“Our goal is to keep people in this profession by putting a strong emphasis on structures, systems, and training around well-being,” she said.&nbsp;</p><p>That emphasis was a major selling point for Taws. “MAHEC advertised a program of wellness,” she said. Its residency programs report a burnout rate 40% below the national average. “That was attractive,” she said.&nbsp;</p><p>Practicing in a rural environment, Call said, is a very different experience. “There are different barriers, there are different structures that need to be set up, there are different skill sets for a rural-based internist.” It’s not for everyone.&nbsp;</p><p>Taws is from Florida. She initially had some trepidation about Cherokee Hospital’s remoteness. But there was, too, plenty of allure. The mountains beckoned. She and her husband want a small farm; they’re off to a great start: 17 chickens, two ducks, and some bunnies. The idea of staying on post-residency to practice on the Qualla Boundary is enticing, but she acknowledges that a particular specialty, or a fellowship, could take her family elsewhere.&nbsp;</p><figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" width="780" height="585" onerror="if (typeof newspackHandleImageError === 'function') newspackHandleImageError(this);" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Sarah-Taws4.jpg?resize=780%2C585&#038;ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-227638" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Sarah-Taws4-scaled.jpg?resize=1296%2C972&amp;ssl=1 1296w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Sarah-Taws4-scaled.jpg?resize=760%2C570&amp;ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Sarah-Taws4-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C576&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Sarah-Taws4-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1152&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Sarah-Taws4-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1536&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Sarah-Taws4-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C900&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Sarah-Taws4-scaled.jpg?resize=800%2C600&amp;ssl=1 800w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Sarah-Taws4-scaled.jpg?resize=600%2C450&amp;ssl=1 600w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Sarah-Taws4-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C300&amp;ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Sarah-Taws4-scaled.jpg?resize=200%2C150&amp;ssl=1 200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Sarah-Taws4-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Sarah-Taws4-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1500&amp;ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Sarah-Taws4-scaled.jpg?resize=780%2C585&amp;ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Sarah-Taws4-scaled.jpg?resize=706%2C530&amp;ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Sarah-Taws4-scaled.jpg?w=2340&amp;ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Sarah-Taws4-1296x972.jpg?w=370&amp;ssl=1 370w" sizes="(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Sarah Taws, a rural and tribal track resident, appreciates the programs particular focus on combatting resident burnout. (Photo by Taylor Sisk)</figcaption></figure><p>“Time will tell,” Taws said. Regardless, “I hope to work in a rural place.”</p><p>Mahar trusts that after having spent a chunk of time on the Qualla Boundary – the residency is a three-year program – many will “fall in love with it and see that there’s a small-town charm and a vision of community that’s a little bit different.”</p><p>“The Cherokee people have learned to trust these residents, and welcome them,” Parker said, “and they are rewarded with great care from young doctors truly invested in the community.”</p><hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-dots"/><p>The post <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/rural-and-tribal-residency-program-hopes-to-compel-more-young-doctors-to-practice-in-rural/2025/04/16/">Rural and Tribal Residency Program Hopes to Compel More Young Doctors to Practice in Rural</a> appeared first on <a href="https://dailyyonder.com">The Daily Yonder</a>.</p>
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  277. <wfw:commentRss>https://dailyyonder.com/rural-and-tribal-residency-program-hopes-to-compel-more-young-doctors-to-practice-in-rural/2025/04/16/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
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  282. <item>
  283. <title>Government Transparency Is Essential to Democracy. DOGE Doesn’t Care.</title>
  284. <link>https://dailyyonder.com/government-transparency-is-essential-to-democracy-doge-doesnt-care/2025/04/16/</link>
  285. <comments>https://dailyyonder.com/government-transparency-is-essential-to-democracy-doge-doesnt-care/2025/04/16/#respond</comments>
  287. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Sarah Melotte]]></dc:creator>
  288. <pubDate>Wed, 16 Apr 2025 09:58:00 +0000</pubDate>
  289. <category><![CDATA[Government & Policy]]></category>
  290. <category><![CDATA[Data]]></category>
  291. <category><![CDATA[Rural Index]]></category>
  292. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://dailyyonder.com/?p=227856</guid>
  293.  
  294. <description><![CDATA[<figure><img width="1024" height="831" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/9NgZA-federal-grants-terminated-by-doge-1.png?fit=1024%2C831&amp;ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/9NgZA-federal-grants-terminated-by-doge-1.png?w=1240&amp;ssl=1 1240w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/9NgZA-federal-grants-terminated-by-doge-1.png?resize=760%2C617&amp;ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/9NgZA-federal-grants-terminated-by-doge-1.png?resize=768%2C623&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/9NgZA-federal-grants-terminated-by-doge-1.png?resize=1200%2C974&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/9NgZA-federal-grants-terminated-by-doge-1.png?resize=1024%2C831&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/9NgZA-federal-grants-terminated-by-doge-1.png?resize=780%2C633&amp;ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/9NgZA-federal-grants-terminated-by-doge-1.png?resize=400%2C325&amp;ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/9NgZA-federal-grants-terminated-by-doge-1.png?resize=706%2C573&amp;ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/9NgZA-federal-grants-terminated-by-doge-1.png?fit=1024%2C831&amp;ssl=1&amp;w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure>
  295. <p>Editor’s Note: This post is from our data newsletter, the Rural Index, headed by Sarah Melotte, the Daily Yonder’s data reporter. Subscribe to get a weekly map or graph straight to your inbox. Federal data transparency helps hold politicians accountable by revealing inequalities in how funding is distributed across different geographies and demographics. I’ve used [&#8230;]</p>
  296. <p>The post <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/government-transparency-is-essential-to-democracy-doge-doesnt-care/2025/04/16/">Government Transparency Is Essential to Democracy. DOGE Doesn’t Care.</a> appeared first on <a href="https://dailyyonder.com">The Daily Yonder</a>.</p>
  297. ]]></description>
  298. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<figure><img width="1024" height="831" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/9NgZA-federal-grants-terminated-by-doge-1.png?fit=1024%2C831&amp;ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/9NgZA-federal-grants-terminated-by-doge-1.png?w=1240&amp;ssl=1 1240w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/9NgZA-federal-grants-terminated-by-doge-1.png?resize=760%2C617&amp;ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/9NgZA-federal-grants-terminated-by-doge-1.png?resize=768%2C623&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/9NgZA-federal-grants-terminated-by-doge-1.png?resize=1200%2C974&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/9NgZA-federal-grants-terminated-by-doge-1.png?resize=1024%2C831&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/9NgZA-federal-grants-terminated-by-doge-1.png?resize=780%2C633&amp;ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/9NgZA-federal-grants-terminated-by-doge-1.png?resize=400%2C325&amp;ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/9NgZA-federal-grants-terminated-by-doge-1.png?resize=706%2C573&amp;ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/9NgZA-federal-grants-terminated-by-doge-1.png?fit=1024%2C831&amp;ssl=1&amp;w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure><figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" width="780" height="688" onerror="if (typeof newspackHandleImageError === 'function') newspackHandleImageError(this);" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/9NgZA-federal-grants-terminated-by-doge-2.png?resize=780%2C688&#038;ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-227858" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/9NgZA-federal-grants-terminated-by-doge-2.png?w=1240&amp;ssl=1 1240w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/9NgZA-federal-grants-terminated-by-doge-2.png?resize=760%2C671&amp;ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/9NgZA-federal-grants-terminated-by-doge-2.png?resize=768%2C678&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/9NgZA-federal-grants-terminated-by-doge-2.png?resize=1200%2C1059&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/9NgZA-federal-grants-terminated-by-doge-2.png?resize=1024%2C903&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/9NgZA-federal-grants-terminated-by-doge-2.png?resize=780%2C688&amp;ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/9NgZA-federal-grants-terminated-by-doge-2.png?resize=400%2C353&amp;ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/9NgZA-federal-grants-terminated-by-doge-2.png?resize=706%2C623&amp;ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/9NgZA-federal-grants-terminated-by-doge-2.png?w=370&amp;ssl=1 370w" sizes="(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px" /></figure><p><em>Editor’s Note: This post is from our data newsletter, the Rural Index, headed by Sarah Melotte, the Daily Yonder’s data reporter. </em><a href="https://dailyyonder.com/contact-us/subscribe-daily-yonder/"><em>Subscribe</em></a><em> to get a weekly map or graph straight to your inbox.</em></p><hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/><p>Federal data transparency helps hold politicians accountable by revealing inequalities in how funding is distributed across different geographies and demographics.</p><p>I’ve used it to report on where <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/where-do-broadband-deserts-overlap-with-healthcare-provider-shortages/2025/03/21/">high-speed internet infrastructure</a> is most needed, where <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/federal-layoffs-will-hurt-rural-counties/2025/02/21/">government layoffs will hit rural communities hardest</a>, and how <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/2025-farm-bill-advocates-prioritize-anti-hunger-policies-while-republicans-push-budget-cuts/2025/02/06/">Census data shows rural households are especially vulnerable to cuts to anti-hunger programs like SNAP</a>.</p><p>Recently, I tried to use the <a href="https://doge.gov/">Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) database</a> of federal spending cuts to do something similar but found it unusable.</p><p>When I have a difficult time deciphering a dataset, I can usually find an expert who has either already cleaned and organized the data, or who can give me pointers on how to do it myself.&nbsp;</p><p>A group of data experts from the<a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/"> Center for American Progress (CAP)</a>, a nonpartisan policy research organization, established a <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/article/doge-cuts-by-city-state-and-congressional-district/">dataset</a> earlier this month that aims to capture how Elon Musk’s DOGE cuts are affecting communities by terminating federal funding.</p><p>But even their expert dataset comes with serious limitations. <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/article/doge-cuts-by-city-state-and-congressional-district/">The CAP website warns data users</a> that “it’s impossible to understand the full picture of cuts to grants and leases terminated based on the information DOGE provides.” That’s because the DOGE website is full of errors, with data being constantly deleted and reuploaded, according to a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/13/upshot/musk-doge-changes-deletions.html">New York Times analysis of the website</a>.</p><p>As an example of the wonderful data work CAP has performed, I’ve included a map of their state-level analysis which, although insightful, should be taken with a grain of salt, given the problems in the source data on DOGE’s website.</p><p>(Click on <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/article/doge-cuts-by-city-state-and-congressional-district/">CAP’s interactive dataset</a> to follow cuts in your congressional district. Although the database may not be comprehensive, it does shine some light on what agencies and offices have been affected in your area).</p><p>Amidst the recent slew of<a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/04/14/nx-s1-5345870/trump-doge-students-disabilities'"> federal cuts to government programs</a>, I would have liked to use this edition of the Rural Index to analyze those cuts, spatially. I would especially like to examine whether there are differences in how those cuts are affecting rural and urban areas. But in the absence of reliable data, I’m using DOGE as an entry point to talk about the importance of data transparency more generally.&nbsp;</p><h2 class="wp-block-heading">The Importance of Data Transparency</h2><p>I’m probably biased, given my job as a data reporter. I’m the map girl, after all, and I don’t have a whole lot more going for me! But I believe data transparency is one of the pillars of a healthy democracy.</p><p>Representation in Congress, for example, is based on Census data, which the U.S. Constitution requires the federal government to make publicly available. I won’t bore you with the nerdy details, but equal apportionment in federal elections wouldn’t be possible without the Census. And perhaps more importantly, public accountability for that apportionment, or representation, wouldn’t be possible without it either.</p><p>That’s a long way of saying that managing federal data is a serious responsibility, one that Elon Musk and his minions are apparently ill-equipped to handle.</p><p>In an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBEoqiZRIvg&amp;t=939s">interview with Austin-American Statesman at the Conservative Political Action Conference</a> (CPAC) in February, Musk explained his plans, or lack thereof, regarding government cuts.&nbsp;</p><p>“It’s like being in a room and the wall, the roof, and the floor are all targets,” said Musk in the interview at CPAC 2025. “So it’s like, you’re going to close your eyes and go shoot in any direction. You see, because you can’t miss, you know?”</p><p>Shooting blindly from the hip, Musk took aim at some of the essential programs that keep rural places and other under-resourced communities afloat. One particularly harmful cut for rural communities was the termination of <a href="https://appvoices.org/2025/04/03/msha-niosh/">Mine Safety Administration office leases in 19 states</a>, including Kentucky, where coal miners often suffer from black lung.</p><p>DOGE’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/13/upshot/musk-doge-changes-deletions.html">&nbsp;“wall of receipts”</a>, the site meant to keep track of federal spending cuts, is just as chaotic and indecipherable as Musk’s blind-firing method of killing essential programs. Since Musk and his team launched the DOGE site in February, they have altered, deleted, and reuploaded faulty data on budget cuts so many times that it’s been hard for data journalists to keep track.&nbsp;</p><p>One contract that was listed as $8 billion in federal spending was actually worth $8 <em>million</em>, for example. <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/doge-data-transparency?srsltid=AfmBOooPdE8hhikaYDkABsCopejxDXFFPBxtZqcsMPrzq-jB_dn-31vs">DOGE also claimed government savings</a> on projects that ended years ago.</p><p>Federal data isn’t always easy to access or clean, but this level of incompetence is certainly not the norm. When I work with federal data, I can always download a file that includes standardized codes matching fields to economic industries or various geographies, like counties, along with documentation that explains the meaning of every variable.</p><p>Thanks in part to legislation like the<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/4174"> Evidence Act</a> and the <a href="https://www.foia.gov/">Freedom of Information Act</a> (FOIA), the federal government is required to make data available to the public in a reasonable format, with a few exceptions for privacy.</p><p>But Trump and Musk insist that much of their operations are beyond the scope of these pieces of legislation. <a href="https://ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show_public_doc?2025cv0511-18">U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper</a> released an opinion urging DOGE to make mass firing records available to the public, a move the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/11/judge-orders-doge-document-release">Trump Administration fought</a>.&nbsp;</p><p>Government data transparency isn’t just about knowledge for its own sake—it’s about accountability. Knowing where our taxpayer money is going (and where it’s not) helps us highlight geographic inequality and advocate for disinvested, marginalized, and underserved communities. That’s what I aim to do through my data reporting. But to do that work, reporters and researchers need access to reliable data—something only those in power can provide.</p><p>The post <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/government-transparency-is-essential-to-democracy-doge-doesnt-care/2025/04/16/">Government Transparency Is Essential to Democracy. DOGE Doesn’t Care.</a> appeared first on <a href="https://dailyyonder.com">The Daily Yonder</a>.</p>
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  301. <wfw:commentRss>https://dailyyonder.com/government-transparency-is-essential-to-democracy-doge-doesnt-care/2025/04/16/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
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  305. <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">227856</post-id> </item>
  306. <item>
  307. <title> Election 2024: The Big Pout</title>
  308. <link>https://dailyyonder.com/election-2024-the-big-pout/2025/04/15/</link>
  309. <comments>https://dailyyonder.com/election-2024-the-big-pout/2025/04/15/#respond</comments>
  311. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Bill Bishop, Robert Cushing and Sarah Melotte]]></dc:creator>
  312. <pubDate>Tue, 15 Apr 2025 10:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
  313. <category><![CDATA[Rural Voters & Elections]]></category>
  314. <category><![CDATA[Data]]></category>
  315. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://dailyyonder.com/?p=227708</guid>
  316.  
  317. <description><![CDATA[<figure><img width="1024" height="768" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/eQkYY-net-change-in-two-party-vote-2020-2024.png?fit=1024%2C768&amp;ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/eQkYY-net-change-in-two-party-vote-2020-2024.png?w=1384&amp;ssl=1 1384w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/eQkYY-net-change-in-two-party-vote-2020-2024.png?resize=760%2C570&amp;ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/eQkYY-net-change-in-two-party-vote-2020-2024.png?resize=1296%2C972&amp;ssl=1 1296w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/eQkYY-net-change-in-two-party-vote-2020-2024.png?resize=768%2C576&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/eQkYY-net-change-in-two-party-vote-2020-2024.png?resize=1200%2C900&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/eQkYY-net-change-in-two-party-vote-2020-2024.png?resize=800%2C600&amp;ssl=1 800w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/eQkYY-net-change-in-two-party-vote-2020-2024.png?resize=600%2C450&amp;ssl=1 600w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/eQkYY-net-change-in-two-party-vote-2020-2024.png?resize=400%2C300&amp;ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/eQkYY-net-change-in-two-party-vote-2020-2024.png?resize=200%2C150&amp;ssl=1 200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/eQkYY-net-change-in-two-party-vote-2020-2024.png?resize=1024%2C768&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/eQkYY-net-change-in-two-party-vote-2020-2024.png?resize=780%2C585&amp;ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/eQkYY-net-change-in-two-party-vote-2020-2024.png?resize=706%2C530&amp;ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/eQkYY-net-change-in-two-party-vote-2020-2024.png?fit=1024%2C768&amp;ssl=1&amp;w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure>
  318. <p>Trump administration policies will have an outsized impact on rural America, where the economy and demographics conspire to put rural communities at risk from potential cuts in both social programs and public investment.&#160; But it’s impossible to have a discussion about these issues without a deluge of comments that rural voters “brought it on themselves” [&#8230;]</p>
  319. <p>The post <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/election-2024-the-big-pout/2025/04/15/"> Election 2024: The Big Pout</a> appeared first on <a href="https://dailyyonder.com">The Daily Yonder</a>.</p>
  320. ]]></description>
  321. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<figure><img width="1024" height="768" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/eQkYY-net-change-in-two-party-vote-2020-2024.png?fit=1024%2C768&amp;ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/eQkYY-net-change-in-two-party-vote-2020-2024.png?w=1384&amp;ssl=1 1384w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/eQkYY-net-change-in-two-party-vote-2020-2024.png?resize=760%2C570&amp;ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/eQkYY-net-change-in-two-party-vote-2020-2024.png?resize=1296%2C972&amp;ssl=1 1296w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/eQkYY-net-change-in-two-party-vote-2020-2024.png?resize=768%2C576&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/eQkYY-net-change-in-two-party-vote-2020-2024.png?resize=1200%2C900&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/eQkYY-net-change-in-two-party-vote-2020-2024.png?resize=800%2C600&amp;ssl=1 800w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/eQkYY-net-change-in-two-party-vote-2020-2024.png?resize=600%2C450&amp;ssl=1 600w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/eQkYY-net-change-in-two-party-vote-2020-2024.png?resize=400%2C300&amp;ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/eQkYY-net-change-in-two-party-vote-2020-2024.png?resize=200%2C150&amp;ssl=1 200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/eQkYY-net-change-in-two-party-vote-2020-2024.png?resize=1024%2C768&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/eQkYY-net-change-in-two-party-vote-2020-2024.png?resize=780%2C585&amp;ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/eQkYY-net-change-in-two-party-vote-2020-2024.png?resize=706%2C530&amp;ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/eQkYY-net-change-in-two-party-vote-2020-2024.png?fit=1024%2C768&amp;ssl=1&amp;w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure><p>Trump administration policies will have an outsized impact on rural America, where the economy and demographics conspire to put rural communities at risk from potential cuts in both social programs and public investment.&nbsp;</p><p>But it’s impossible to have a discussion about these issues without a deluge of comments that rural voters “brought it on themselves” by supporting Donald Trump. (One example: the comments below<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iuzs_9ssQNE"> this MSNBC</a> interview with former Montana Senator Jon Tester and Mitch Landrieu.)&nbsp;</p><p>We know: Never read the comments. But in this case, these sorts of discussions reveal a generally accepted wisdom that rural America is solely responsible for Trump’s election.&nbsp;</p><p>Those arguments are wrong. We&#8217;ve already reported on the collapse of urban support for the Democratic presidential candidate in 2024. Our new analysis shows that this collapse was centered in urban areas that are gaining population.</p><p>Yes, Trump’s supermajority among rural voters nationally was part of his formula for victory. But our analysis shows that Democrats’ more important failure was a sharp drop in support in growing cities.&nbsp;</p><p>In these population growth centers, Democrats simply didn’t show up, and the result was a Republican victory.</p><h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Two Key Findings</strong></h2><p>Let’s look at a couple key facts from 2024:</p><p>First, the number of Democratic votes dropped dramatically from 2020 to 2024. There were 6.2 million fewer Democratic votes in 2024 than in 2020. </p><p>And, no, that is not because those voters shifted to support the Republican candidate. The number of Republican voters increased by only 2.7 million between 2020 and 2024. So about 3.5 million voters who sided with Democrats in 2024 simply didn’t show up in November.&nbsp;</p><p>Why? Were they protesting, busy or simply pouting? We don’t know.&nbsp;</p><p>Second, the decline in the number of Democratic voters was almost entirely a phenomenon found in the parts of the United States that have been gaining population. The Democratic pout was confined to larger counties that have been attracting new residents. Those cities are where Republicans won the 2024 election, not in rural America alone.&nbsp;</p><p>What do the numbers tell us? Below is the change in total votes between 2020 and 2024 by party. Yes, Republicans gained votes. But, again, that increase alone doesn’t explain the difference in Trump’s performance compared to 2020. While the GOP gained voters, nearly twice that many voters disappeared from Democratic totals. Democrats simply didn’t show up. Thus, the Great Pout.&nbsp;</p><iframe title="Change in Raw Vote by Party, 2020 to 2024" aria-label="Table" id="datawrapper-chart-N6X3c" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/N6X3c/1/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;" height="172" data-external="1"></iframe><script type="text/javascript">!function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";r.style.height=d}}}))}();
  322. </script><h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Counties that Gained and Lost Voting-Age Population</strong></h2><p>A little over 40% of the country’s 3,144 counties lost voting age population (older than 18) between 2020 and 2024. The other 60% of counties gained voting age population. In the growing counties, the voting age population increased by about 2.4%, or 3.9 million people.&nbsp;</p><p>Counties that lost voting age population between 2020 and 2024 had smaller populations, on average, than counties that gained population. In 2024, the average size of shrinking counties was 77,000 residents, compared to an average of 88,000 in counties that gained population.&nbsp;</p><p>Republicans increased their turnout in both types of counties – ones that added population and ones that lost population. And, conversely, Democrats lost total turnout in both types of counties. But the Democratic losses were not evenly distributed between growing and shrinking counties.&nbsp;</p><p>About one third of Republican raw vote gains came in counties that were growing in population. Meanwhile, more than half (3.2 million votes) of the Democratic <em>decline</em> in turnout occurred in counties that were adding population. Hence, a disproportionate share of the Democratic decline occurred in these growing urban areas.&nbsp;</p><p>The following maps show where each party gained raw votes. You’ll notice that counties where Republicans gained votes cover a lot more territory than the Democratic turnout map. (The two maps aren’t mutually exclusive. Both Democratic and Republican turnout increased in nearly 600 counties.)</p><div class="wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex"><div class="wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow"><iframe title="Change in Democratic Turnout, 2020 - 2024" aria-label="Map" id="datawrapper-chart-4zZRZ" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/4zZRZ/6/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;" height="490" data-external="1"></iframe><script type="text/javascript">!function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";r.style.height=d}}}))}();
  323. </script></div>
  324.  
  325. <div class="wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow"><iframe title="Change in Republican Turnout, 2020 - 2024 " aria-label="Map" id="datawrapper-chart-UAz2P" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/UAz2P/3/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;" height="490" data-external="1"></iframe><script type="text/javascript">!function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";r.style.height=d}}}))}();
  326. </script></div></div><p>Here are the 20 counties with the largest numerical decline in Democratic votes:</p><iframe title="Top 20 Counties with Largest Drop in Democratic Turnout" aria-label="Table" id="datawrapper-chart-0HbTY" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/0HbTY/1/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;" height="796" data-external="1"></iframe><script type="text/javascript">!function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";r.style.height=d}}}))}();
  327. </script><p>And here are the 20 counties that had the largest numerical increase in Republican votes.&nbsp;</p><iframe title="Top 20 Counties with Largest Gain in Republican Turnout" aria-label="Table" id="datawrapper-chart-Fz1I9" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/Fz1I9/1/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;" height="1034" data-external="1"></iframe><script type="text/javascript">!function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";r.style.height=d}}}))}();
  328. </script><h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>West Coast Saw Biggest Drop in Democratic Turnout</strong></h2><p>The Big Pout had the greatest numerical impact in counties of the Coastal West, which includes California, Oregon, and Washington. In those states, Democrat Kamala Harris had about 2 million fewer votes in 2024 than Joe Biden did in 2020.&nbsp;</p><iframe title="" aria-label="Table" id="datawrapper-chart-jojFg" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/jojFg/1/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;" height="352" data-external="1"></iframe><script type="text/javascript">!function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";r.style.height=d}}}))}();
  329. </script><p>In the Coastal West, about 60% of this drop in Democratic turnout happened in counties that gained voting age population between 2020 and 2024. The Coastal West gained over 117,000 people of voting age during this time period.</p><p>Support for Trump also declined between 2020 and 2024 in the Coastal West, losing about 17,500 Republican votes in the last election cycle.&nbsp;</p><iframe title="Change in Voting Age Population, 2020 - 2024" aria-label="Map" id="datawrapper-chart-Iktbz" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/Iktbz/1/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;" height="459" data-external="1"></iframe><script type="text/javascript">!function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";r.style.height=d}}}))}();
  330. </script><p>Counties in the South had the second largest drop in Democratic turnout. Here, Harris had 1.4 million fewer votes than Biden did in 2020. Over 90% of the drop in Democratic turnout in the South happened in counties that gained voting age population between 2020 and 2024.&nbsp;</p><p>Unlike the Coastal West, however, support for Trump in the South increased. In 2024, Trump saw an increase of about 1.4 million compared to his 2020 turnout.&nbsp;</p><p>The final map shows the net change in the two-party vote from 2020 to 2024. Republican gains are shown in red, Democratic gains in blue.&nbsp;</p><iframe title="Change in Democratic Turnout, 2020 - 2024" aria-label="Map" id="datawrapper-chart-FrQki" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/FrQki/1/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;" height="459" data-external="1"></iframe><script type="text/javascript">!function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";r.style.height=d}}}))}();
  331. </script><p>It wasn’t in the “left behind” counties that Democrats faltered, in other words, but in the counties that have been attracting new residents.&nbsp;</p><p>Some Democrats like to say the party appeals to people who see innovation and opportunity on the horizon. For example, Hillary Clinton <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/editors-note-clintons-red-america-comments-show-true-colors/2018/03/13/">boasted </a>that in her 2016 loss to Trump she got more votes in counties that were a bigger share of the nation’s gross domestic product. The inference is that Democrats are the future and economic progress.&nbsp;</p><p>Our analysis shows a much more complicated picture. Democrats seemed most disaffected in areas where voter rolls ought to be growing. And whatever that means, it’s nothing to boast about.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p>&nbsp;<br><br></p><p><br></p><p>The post <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/election-2024-the-big-pout/2025/04/15/"> Election 2024: The Big Pout</a> appeared first on <a href="https://dailyyonder.com">The Daily Yonder</a>.</p>
  332. ]]></content:encoded>
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  338. <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">227708</post-id> </item>
  339. <item>
  340. <title>Rural Hospitals and Patients Are Disconnected From Modern Care</title>
  341. <link>https://dailyyonder.com/rural-hospitals-and-patients-are-disconnected-from-modern-care/2025/04/15/</link>
  342. <comments>https://dailyyonder.com/rural-hospitals-and-patients-are-disconnected-from-modern-care/2025/04/15/#respond</comments>
  344. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Sarah Jane Tribble / KFF Health News]]></dc:creator>
  345. <pubDate>Tue, 15 Apr 2025 09:59:00 +0000</pubDate>
  346. <category><![CDATA[Broadband]]></category>
  347. <category><![CDATA[Health]]></category>
  348. <category><![CDATA[repub]]></category>
  349. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://dailyyonder.com/?p=227615</guid>
  350.  
  351. <description><![CDATA[<figure><img width="1024" height="683" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_02-3840-scaled.webp?fit=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_02-3840-scaled.webp?w=2560&amp;ssl=1 2560w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_02-3840-scaled.webp?resize=760%2C507&amp;ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_02-3840-scaled.webp?resize=1296%2C864&amp;ssl=1 1296w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_02-3840-scaled.webp?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_02-3840-scaled.webp?resize=1536%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_02-3840-scaled.webp?resize=2048%2C1365&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_02-3840-scaled.webp?resize=1200%2C800&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_02-3840-scaled.webp?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_02-3840-scaled.webp?resize=2000%2C1333&amp;ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_02-3840-scaled.webp?resize=780%2C520&amp;ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_02-3840-scaled.webp?resize=400%2C267&amp;ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_02-3840-scaled.webp?resize=706%2C471&amp;ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_02-3840-scaled.webp?w=2340&amp;ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_02-3840-scaled.webp?fit=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1&amp;w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure>
  352. <p>This story was originally published by KFF Health News. Leroy Walker arrived at the county hospital short of breath. Walker, 65 and with chronic high blood pressure, was brought in by one of rural Greene County’s two working ambulances. Nurses checked his heart activity with a portable electrocardiogram machine, took X-rays, and tucked him into [&#8230;]</p>
  353. <p>The post <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/rural-hospitals-and-patients-are-disconnected-from-modern-care/2025/04/15/">Rural Hospitals and Patients Are Disconnected From Modern Care</a> appeared first on <a href="https://dailyyonder.com">The Daily Yonder</a>.</p>
  354. ]]></description>
  355. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<figure><img width="1024" height="683" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_02-3840-scaled.webp?fit=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_02-3840-scaled.webp?w=2560&amp;ssl=1 2560w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_02-3840-scaled.webp?resize=760%2C507&amp;ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_02-3840-scaled.webp?resize=1296%2C864&amp;ssl=1 1296w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_02-3840-scaled.webp?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_02-3840-scaled.webp?resize=1536%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_02-3840-scaled.webp?resize=2048%2C1365&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_02-3840-scaled.webp?resize=1200%2C800&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_02-3840-scaled.webp?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_02-3840-scaled.webp?resize=2000%2C1333&amp;ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_02-3840-scaled.webp?resize=780%2C520&amp;ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_02-3840-scaled.webp?resize=400%2C267&amp;ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_02-3840-scaled.webp?resize=706%2C471&amp;ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_02-3840-scaled.webp?w=2340&amp;ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_02-3840-scaled.webp?fit=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1&amp;w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure><p class="has-text-align-center"><em>This story was originally published by <a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/dead-zone-rural-hospitals-outdated-internet-disconnect-care-disparities/">KFF Health News</a></em>.</p><figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
  356. <iframe title="Slow internet creates ‘heartbreaking’ rural hospital care" width="780" height="439" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/x8NYwHXoaV8?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
  357. </div></figure><p>Leroy Walker arrived at the county hospital short of breath. Walker, 65 and with chronic high blood pressure, was brought in by one of rural Greene County’s two working ambulances.</p><p>Nurses checked his heart activity with a portable electrocardiogram machine, took X-rays, and tucked him into Room 122 with an IV pump pushing magnesium into his arm.</p><p>“I feel better,” Walker said. Then: Beep. Beep. Beep.</p><p>The Greene County Health System, with only three doctors, has no intensive care unit or surgical services. The 20-bed hospital averages a few patients each night, many of them, like Walker, with chronic illnesses.</p><p>Greene County residents are some of the sickest in the nation, ranking near the top for rates of stroke, obesity, and high blood pressure, according to data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.</p><p>Patients entering the hospital waiting area encounter floor tiles that are chipped and stained from years of use. A circular reception desk is abandoned, littered with flyers and advertisements.</p><p>But a less visible, more critical inequity is working against high-quality care for Walker and other patients: The hospital’s internet connection is a fraction of what experts say is sufficient. High-speed broadband is the new backbone of America’s health care system, which depends on electronic health records, high-tech wireless equipment, and telehealth access.</p><figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" width="780" height="520" onerror="if (typeof newspackHandleImageError === 'function') newspackHandleImageError(this);" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_15-3840.webp?resize=780%2C520&#038;ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-227618" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_15-3840-scaled.webp?resize=1296%2C864&amp;ssl=1 1296w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_15-3840-scaled.webp?resize=760%2C507&amp;ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_15-3840-scaled.webp?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_15-3840-scaled.webp?resize=1536%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_15-3840-scaled.webp?resize=2048%2C1365&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_15-3840-scaled.webp?resize=1200%2C800&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_15-3840-scaled.webp?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_15-3840-scaled.webp?resize=2000%2C1333&amp;ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_15-3840-scaled.webp?resize=780%2C520&amp;ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_15-3840-scaled.webp?resize=400%2C267&amp;ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_15-3840-scaled.webp?resize=706%2C471&amp;ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_15-3840-scaled.webp?w=2340&amp;ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_15-3840-1296x864.webp?w=370&amp;ssl=1 370w" sizes="(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Greene County Hospital in Eutaw, Alabama, is one of Greene County Health System’s three facilities providing health care to the county’s predominantly rural population. Besides the hospital, the system features a health clinic and a nursing home. (Photo by Andi Rice / KFF Health News)</figcaption></figure><p>Greene is one of more than 200 counties with some of the nation’s worst access to not only reliable internet, but also primary care providers and behavioral health specialists, according to a&nbsp;<a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/dead-zone-sickest-counties-slow-internet-broadband-desert-health-care-provider-shortage/">KFF Health News analysis</a>. Despite repeated federal promises to support telehealth, these places remain disconnected.</p><p>During his first term, President Donald Trump signed&nbsp;<a href="https://embed.documentcloud.org/documents/25589157/annotations/2627802/?embed=1">an executive order</a>&nbsp;promising to improve “the financial economics of rural healthcare” and touted “access to high-quality care” through telehealth. In 2021, President Joe Biden committed billions to broadband expansion.</p><p>KFF Health News found that counties without fast, reliable internet and with shortages of health care providers are mostly rural. Nearly 60% of them have no hospital, and hospitals closed in nine of the counties in the past two decades, according to data collected by the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.</p><div class="flourish-embed flourish-map" data-src="visualisation/22101199"><script src="https://public.flourish.studio/resources/embed.js"></script><noscript><img decoding="async" onerror="if (typeof newspackHandleImageError === 'function') newspackHandleImageError(this);" src="https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/22101199/thumbnail" width="100%" alt="map visualization" /></noscript></div><p>Residents in these “dead zone” counties tend to live sicker and die younger than people in the rest of the United States, according to KFF Health News’ analysis. They are places where systemic poverty and historical underinvestment are commonplace, including the remote West, Appalachia, and the rural South.</p><p>“It will always be rural areas with low population density and high poverty that are going to get attended to last,” said Stephen Katsinas, director of the Education Policy Center at the University of Alabama. “It’s vital that the money we do spend be well deployed with a thoughtful plan.”</p><p>Now, after years of federal and state planning, Biden’s $42 billion Broadband Equity Access and Deployment, or BEAD, program, which was approved with bipartisan support in 2021, is being held up, just as states — such as Delaware — were prepared to begin construction. Trump’s new Department of Commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, has demanded “a rigorous review” of the program and called for the elimination of regulations.</p><p>Trump’s nominee to lead the federal agency overseeing the broadband program, Arielle Roth, repeatedly said during her nomination hearing in late March that she would work to get all Americans broadband “expeditiously.” But when pressed by senators, Roth declined to provide a timeline for the broadband program or confirm that states would receive promised money.</p><p>Instead, Roth said, “I look forward to reviewing those allocations and ensuring the program is compliant with the law.”</p><p>Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), the Senate commerce committee’s ranking minority member, said she wished Roth had been more committed to delivering money the program promised.</p><p>The political wrangling in Washington is unfolding hundreds of miles from Greene County, where only about half of homes have high-speed internet and 36% of the population lives below the poverty line, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.</p><p>Walker has lived his life in Alabama’s Black Belt and once worked as a truck driver. He said his high blood pressure emerged when he was younger, but he didn’t take the medicine doctors prescribed. About 11 years ago, his kidneys failed. He now needs dialysis three times a week, he said.</p><p>While lying in the hospital bed, Walker talked about his dialysis session the day before, on his birthday. As he talked, the white sheet covering his arm slipped and revealed where the skin around his dialysis port had swollen to the size of a small grapefruit.</p><p>Room 122, where Walker rested, is sparse with a single hospital bed, a chair, and a TV mounted on the wall. He was connected to the IV pump, but no other tubes or wires were attached to him. The IV machine’s beeping echoed through the hallway outside. Staffers say they must listen for the high-pitched chirps because the internet connection at the hospital is too slow to support a modern monitoring system that would display alerts on computers at the nurses’ station.</p><p>Aaron Brooks, the hospital’s technology consultant, said financial challenges keep Greene County from buying monitoring equipment. The hospital&nbsp;<a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25871490-greene-county-hospital-cost-report/#document/p107/a2629745">reported a $2 million loss</a>&nbsp;on patient care in its most recent federal filing. Even if Greene could afford a system, it does not have the thousands of dollars to install a high-speed fiber-optic internet connection necessary to operate it, he said.</p><p>Lacking central monitoring, registered nurse Teresa Kendrick carries a portable pulse oximeter device, she said — like ones sold at drugstores that surged in popularity during the covid-19 pandemic.</p><p>Doing her job means a “continuous spot-check,” Kendrick said. Another longtime nurse described her job as “a lot of watching and checking.”</p><h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Beep. Beep.</strong></h3><p>The beeping in Room 122 persisted for more than two minutes as Walker talked. He wasn’t in pain — he was just worried about the beeping.</p><p>About 50 paces down the hall — past the pharmacy, an office, and another patient room — registered nurse Jittaun Williams sat at her station behind plexiglass. She was nearly 20 minutes past the end of her 12-hour shift and handing off to the three night-shift nurses.</p><p>They discussed plans for patients’ care, reviewing electronic records and flipping through paper charts. The nurses said the hospital’s internal and external computer systems are slow. They handwrite notes on paper charts in a patient’s room and duplicate records electronically. “Our system isn’t strong enough. There are many days you kind of sit here and wait,” Williams said.</p><figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" width="780" height="520" onerror="if (typeof newspackHandleImageError === 'function') newspackHandleImageError(this);" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_06-3840.webp?resize=780%2C520&#038;ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-227621" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_06-3840-scaled.webp?resize=1296%2C864&amp;ssl=1 1296w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_06-3840-scaled.webp?resize=760%2C507&amp;ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_06-3840-scaled.webp?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_06-3840-scaled.webp?resize=1536%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_06-3840-scaled.webp?resize=2048%2C1365&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_06-3840-scaled.webp?resize=1200%2C800&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_06-3840-scaled.webp?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_06-3840-scaled.webp?resize=2000%2C1333&amp;ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_06-3840-scaled.webp?resize=780%2C520&amp;ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_06-3840-scaled.webp?resize=400%2C267&amp;ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_06-3840-scaled.webp?resize=706%2C471&amp;ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_06-3840-scaled.webp?w=2340&amp;ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_06-3840-1296x864.webp?w=370&amp;ssl=1 370w" sizes="(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Jittaun Williams, a registered nurse at Greene County Hospital, says that because the computer system is slow, hospital staffers first handwrite notes on paper charts in patients’ rooms, then duplicate records electronically. (Photo by Andi Rice / KFF Health News)</figcaption></figure><p>Broadband dead zones like Greene County persist despite decades of efforts by federal lawmakers that have created a patchwork of more than 133 funding programs across 15 agencies,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-23-106818">according to a 2023 federal report</a>.</p><p>Alabama’s leaders, like others around the U.S., are actively spending federal funds from the Biden-era American Rescue Plan Act, according to public records. And Greene County Hospital is on the list of places waiting for ARPA construction, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25870541-1aimm24-07-signed-agreement-fun-west-central-1a/">agreements provided</a>&nbsp;by the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs.</p><p>“It is taking too long, but I am patient,” said Alabama state Sen. Bobby Singleton, a Democrat who represents the district that includes Greene County Hospital and two others he said lack fast-enough connectivity. Speed bumps such as a need to meet federal requirements and a “big fight” to get internet service providers to come into his rural district slowed the release of funds, Singleton said.</p><p>Alabama received its first portion of ARPA funds in June 2021, which Singleton said included money for building fiber-optic cables to anchor institutions like the hospital. Alabama’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25870541-1aimm24-07-signed-agreement-fun-west-central-1a/#document/p4/a2629578">awards require</a>&nbsp;the projects to be completed by February 2026 — nearly five years after money initially flowed to the state.</p><p>Singleton said he now sees fiber lines being built in his district every day and knows the hospital is “on the map” to be connected. “This doesn’t just happen overnight,” he said.</p><p>Alabama Fiber Network, a consortium of electric cooperatives, won a total of $45.7 million in ARPA funding specifically for construction to anchor institutions in Greene and surrounding counties. James Hoffman, vice president of external affairs for AFN, said the company is ahead of schedule. It plans to offer the hospital a monthly service plan that uses fiber-optic lines by year’s end, he said.</p><p>Greene County Health System chief executive Marcia Pugh confirmed that she had talked with multiple companies but said she wasn’t sure the work would be complete in the time frame the companies predicted.</p><p>“You know, you want to believe,” Pugh said.</p><figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" width="780" height="520" onerror="if (typeof newspackHandleImageError === 'function') newspackHandleImageError(this);" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_17-3840.webp?resize=780%2C520&#038;ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-227623" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_17-3840-scaled.webp?resize=1296%2C864&amp;ssl=1 1296w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_17-3840-scaled.webp?resize=760%2C507&amp;ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_17-3840-scaled.webp?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_17-3840-scaled.webp?resize=1536%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_17-3840-scaled.webp?resize=2048%2C1365&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_17-3840-scaled.webp?resize=1200%2C800&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_17-3840-scaled.webp?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_17-3840-scaled.webp?resize=2000%2C1333&amp;ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_17-3840-scaled.webp?resize=780%2C520&amp;ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_17-3840-scaled.webp?resize=400%2C267&amp;ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_17-3840-scaled.webp?resize=706%2C471&amp;ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_17-3840-scaled.webp?w=2340&amp;ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_17-3840-1296x864.webp?w=370&amp;ssl=1 370w" sizes="(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Fiber-optic cable is buried less than a mile from residents’ homes in Boligee, Alabama. (Photo by Andi Rice / KFF Health News)</figcaption></figure><h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Beep. Beep.</strong></h3><p>Nurse Williams had finished the night-shift handoff when she heard beeps from Walker’s room.</p><p>She rushed toward the sound, accidentally ducking into Room 121 before realizing her mistake.</p><p>Once in Walker’s room, Williams pressed buttons on the IV pump. The magnesium flowing in the tube had stopped.</p><p>“You had a little bit more left in the bag, so I just turned it back on,” Williams told Walker. She smiled gently and asked if he was warm enough. Then she hand-checked his heart rate and adjusted his sheets. At the bottom of the bed, Walker’s feet hung off the mattress and Williams gently moved them and made sure they were covered.</p><p>Walker beamed. At this hospital, he said, “they care.”</p><p>As rural hospitals like Greene’s wait for fast-enough internet, nurses like Williams are “heroes every single day,” said Aaron Miri, an executive vice president and the chief digital and information officer for Baptist Health in Jacksonville, Florida.</p><p>Miri, who served under both Democratic and Republican administrations on Department of Health and Human Services technology advisory committees, said hospitals need at least a gigabit of speed — which is 1,000 megabits per second — to support electronic health records, video consultations, the transfer of scans and images, and continuous remote monitoring of patients’ heartbeats and other vital signs.</p><p>But Greene’s is less than 10% of that level, recorded on the nurses’ station computer as nearly 90 megabits per second for upload and download speeds.</p><p>It’s a “heartbreaking” situation, Miri said, “but that’s the reality of rural America.”</p><h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>The Beeping Stopped</strong></h3><p>Michael Gordon, one of the hospital’s three doctors, arrived the next morning for his 24-hour shift. He paused in Room 122. Walker had been released overnight.</p><p>Not being able to monitor a cardiovascular patient’s heart rhythm, well, “that’s a problem,” Gordon said. “You want to know, ‘Did something really change or is that just a crazy IV machine just beeping loud and proud and nobody can hear it?’”</p><figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" width="780" height="520" onerror="if (typeof newspackHandleImageError === 'function') newspackHandleImageError(this);" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_08-3840.webp?resize=780%2C520&#038;ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-227626" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_08-3840-scaled.webp?resize=1296%2C864&amp;ssl=1 1296w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_08-3840-scaled.webp?resize=760%2C507&amp;ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_08-3840-scaled.webp?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_08-3840-scaled.webp?resize=1536%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_08-3840-scaled.webp?resize=2048%2C1365&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_08-3840-scaled.webp?resize=1200%2C800&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_08-3840-scaled.webp?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_08-3840-scaled.webp?resize=2000%2C1333&amp;ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_08-3840-scaled.webp?resize=780%2C520&amp;ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_08-3840-scaled.webp?resize=400%2C267&amp;ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_08-3840-scaled.webp?resize=706%2C471&amp;ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_08-3840-scaled.webp?w=2340&amp;ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_08-3840-1296x864.webp?w=370&amp;ssl=1 370w" sizes="(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Michael Gordon is one of Greene County Hospital’s three doctors. (Photo by Andi Rice / KFF Health News)</figcaption></figure><p>Despite the lack of modern technology tools, staffers do what they can to take care of patients, Pugh said. “We show the community that we care,” she said.</p><p>Pugh, who started her career as a registered nurse, arrived at the hospital in 2017. It was “a mess,” she said. The hospital was&nbsp;<a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/news/hospital-penalties/readmissions/">dinged four years in a row</a>, starting in 2016, with reduced Medicare payments for readmitting patients. Pugh said that at times the hospital had not made payroll. Staff morale was low.</p><p>In 2021, federal inspectors notified Pugh of an&nbsp;<a href="https://embed.documentcloud.org/documents/25554357/annotations/2626337/?embed=1">“immediate jeopardy” violation</a>&nbsp;— grounds for regulators to shut off federal payments — because of an Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act complaint. Among seven deficiencies inspectors cited, the hospital failed to provide a medical screening exam or stabilizing treatment and did not arrange appropriate transfer for a 23-year-old woman who arrived at the hospital in labor, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://embed.documentcloud.org/documents/25554357/annotations/2626340/?embed=1">federal reports</a>.</p><p>Inspectors also said the hospital failed to ensure a doctor was on duty and failed to create and maintain medical records. An ambulance took the woman to another hospital, where the baby was “pronounced&nbsp;<a href="https://embed.documentcloud.org/documents/25554357/annotations/2626341/?embed=1">dead upon arrival</a>,” according to the report.</p><p>Federal inspectors required the hospital to take corrective actions and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25554356-greene-county-hospital-7282021-a/">a follow-up inspection</a>&nbsp;in July 2021 found the hospital to be in compliance.</p><p>In 2023, federal inspectors again cited the hospital’s failure to maintain records and noted it had the “<a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25017724-greene-county-hospital-8102023-a#document/p16/a2571744">potential to negatively affect patients</a>.”</p><p>Inspectors that year found that medical records for four discharged patients had been lost. The “physical record” included consent forms, physician orders, and treatment plans and was&nbsp;<a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25017724-greene-county-hospital-8102023-a#document/p20/a2571746">found in another department</a>, where it had been left for two months.</p><p>Pugh declined to comment on the immediate jeopardy case. She confirmed that a lack of internet connectivity and use of paper charts played a role in federal findings, though she emphasized the charts were discharge papers rather than for patients being treated.</p><p>She said she understands why federal regulators require electronic health records but “our hospitals just aren’t the same.” Larger facilities that can “get the latest and greatest” compared with “our facilities that just don’t have the manpower or the financials to purchase it,” she said, “it’s two different things.”</p><figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" width="780" height="520" onerror="if (typeof newspackHandleImageError === 'function') newspackHandleImageError(this);" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_10-3840.webp?resize=780%2C520&#038;ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-227627" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_10-3840-scaled.webp?resize=1296%2C864&amp;ssl=1 1296w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_10-3840-scaled.webp?resize=760%2C507&amp;ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_10-3840-scaled.webp?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_10-3840-scaled.webp?resize=1536%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_10-3840-scaled.webp?resize=2048%2C1365&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_10-3840-scaled.webp?resize=1200%2C800&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_10-3840-scaled.webp?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_10-3840-scaled.webp?resize=2000%2C1333&amp;ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_10-3840-scaled.webp?resize=780%2C520&amp;ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_10-3840-scaled.webp?resize=400%2C267&amp;ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_10-3840-scaled.webp?resize=706%2C471&amp;ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_10-3840-scaled.webp?w=2340&amp;ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/dead-zone2_10-3840-1296x864.webp?w=370&amp;ssl=1 370w" sizes="(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Greene County Health System chief executive Marcia Pugh says staff members do what they can to take care of patients despite the lack of fast-enough internet connectivity. (Photo by Andi Rice / KFF Health News)</figcaption></figure><p>Walker, like many rural Americans, relies on Medicaid, a joint state and federal insurance program for people with low incomes and disabilities. Rural hospitals in states such as Alabama that have not expanded Medicaid coverage to a wider pool of residents fare worse financially,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kff.org/health-costs/issue-brief/rural-hospitals-face-renewed-financial-challenges-especially-in-states-that-have-not-expanded-medicaid/">research shows</a>.</p><p>During Walker’s stay, because the hospital can’t afford to modernize its systems, nurses dealt with what Pugh later called an “astronomical” number of paper forms.</p><h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Later, at Home</strong></h3><p>Walker sat on the couch in the modest brick home he shares with his sister and nephew. In a pinch, Greene County Hospital, he said, is good “for us around here. You see what I’m saying?”</p><p>Still, Walker said, he often bypasses the county hospital and drives up the road to Tuscaloosa or Birmingham, where they have kidney specialists.</p><iframe title="Going the Distance for Care in Alabama" aria-label="Locator map" id="datawrapper-chart-jPdne" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/jPdne/5/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;" height="710" data-external="1"></iframe><script type="text/javascript">!function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";r.style.height=d}}}))}();</script><p>“We need better,” Walker said, speaking for the 7,600 county residents. He wondered aloud what might happen if he didn’t make it to the city for specialty care.</p><p>Sometimes, Walker said, he feels “thrown away.”</p><p>“People done forgotten about me, it feels like,” he said. “They don’t want to fool with no mess like me.”</p><p>Maybe Greene County’s health care and internet will get better, Walker said, adding, “I hope so, for our sake out in a rural area.”</p><hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-dots"/><p><em><a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/about-us">KFF Health News</a>&nbsp;is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kff.org/about-us">KFF</a>.</em></p><p>The post <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/rural-hospitals-and-patients-are-disconnected-from-modern-care/2025/04/15/">Rural Hospitals and Patients Are Disconnected From Modern Care</a> appeared first on <a href="https://dailyyonder.com">The Daily Yonder</a>.</p>
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  364. <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">227615</post-id> </item>
  365. <item>
  366. <title>Education Leaders Urge Congress to Pass Secure Rural Schools Act, But Warn It’s an Unsustainable Funding Solution</title>
  367. <link>https://dailyyonder.com/education-leaders-urge-congress-to-pass-secure-rural-schools-act-but-warn-its-an-unsustainable-funding-solution/2025/04/14/</link>
  368. <comments>https://dailyyonder.com/education-leaders-urge-congress-to-pass-secure-rural-schools-act-but-warn-its-an-unsustainable-funding-solution/2025/04/14/#respond</comments>
  370. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Claire Carlson and Lane Wendell Fischer]]></dc:creator>
  371. <pubDate>Mon, 14 Apr 2025 10:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
  372. <category><![CDATA[Education]]></category>
  373. <category><![CDATA[Government & Policy]]></category>
  374. <category><![CDATA[The Yonder Report]]></category>
  375. <category><![CDATA[Yonder Report]]></category>
  376. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://dailyyonder.com/?p=227645</guid>
  377.  
  378. <description><![CDATA[<figure><img width="1024" height="529" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1b0741e3-10ba-44da-b2aa-da00eeead25f-scaled.jpeg?fit=1024%2C529&amp;ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1b0741e3-10ba-44da-b2aa-da00eeead25f-scaled.jpeg?w=2560&amp;ssl=1 2560w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1b0741e3-10ba-44da-b2aa-da00eeead25f-scaled.jpeg?resize=760%2C393&amp;ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1b0741e3-10ba-44da-b2aa-da00eeead25f-scaled.jpeg?resize=1296%2C669&amp;ssl=1 1296w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1b0741e3-10ba-44da-b2aa-da00eeead25f-scaled.jpeg?resize=768%2C397&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1b0741e3-10ba-44da-b2aa-da00eeead25f-scaled.jpeg?resize=1536%2C793&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1b0741e3-10ba-44da-b2aa-da00eeead25f-scaled.jpeg?resize=2048%2C1058&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1b0741e3-10ba-44da-b2aa-da00eeead25f-scaled.jpeg?resize=1200%2C620&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1b0741e3-10ba-44da-b2aa-da00eeead25f-scaled.jpeg?resize=1024%2C529&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1b0741e3-10ba-44da-b2aa-da00eeead25f-scaled.jpeg?resize=2000%2C1033&amp;ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1b0741e3-10ba-44da-b2aa-da00eeead25f-scaled.jpeg?resize=780%2C403&amp;ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1b0741e3-10ba-44da-b2aa-da00eeead25f-scaled.jpeg?resize=400%2C207&amp;ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1b0741e3-10ba-44da-b2aa-da00eeead25f-scaled.jpeg?resize=706%2C365&amp;ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1b0741e3-10ba-44da-b2aa-da00eeead25f-scaled.jpeg?w=2340&amp;ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1b0741e3-10ba-44da-b2aa-da00eeead25f-scaled.jpeg?fit=1024%2C529&amp;ssl=1&amp;w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure>
  379. <p>When students in rural Trinity County, California, gaze out their classroom windows, they see the tree-filled landscape of Shasta-Trinity National Forest, which spans more than 2 million acres in the northeast corner of the state. The expansive forest might inspire dreams of outdoor adventure for locals, but for Trinity County and other rural forest communities [&#8230;]</p>
  380. <p>The post <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/education-leaders-urge-congress-to-pass-secure-rural-schools-act-but-warn-its-an-unsustainable-funding-solution/2025/04/14/">Education Leaders Urge Congress to Pass Secure Rural Schools Act, But Warn It’s an Unsustainable Funding Solution</a> appeared first on <a href="https://dailyyonder.com">The Daily Yonder</a>.</p>
  381. ]]></description>
  382. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<figure><img width="1024" height="529" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1b0741e3-10ba-44da-b2aa-da00eeead25f-scaled.jpeg?fit=1024%2C529&amp;ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1b0741e3-10ba-44da-b2aa-da00eeead25f-scaled.jpeg?w=2560&amp;ssl=1 2560w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1b0741e3-10ba-44da-b2aa-da00eeead25f-scaled.jpeg?resize=760%2C393&amp;ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1b0741e3-10ba-44da-b2aa-da00eeead25f-scaled.jpeg?resize=1296%2C669&amp;ssl=1 1296w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1b0741e3-10ba-44da-b2aa-da00eeead25f-scaled.jpeg?resize=768%2C397&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1b0741e3-10ba-44da-b2aa-da00eeead25f-scaled.jpeg?resize=1536%2C793&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1b0741e3-10ba-44da-b2aa-da00eeead25f-scaled.jpeg?resize=2048%2C1058&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1b0741e3-10ba-44da-b2aa-da00eeead25f-scaled.jpeg?resize=1200%2C620&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1b0741e3-10ba-44da-b2aa-da00eeead25f-scaled.jpeg?resize=1024%2C529&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1b0741e3-10ba-44da-b2aa-da00eeead25f-scaled.jpeg?resize=2000%2C1033&amp;ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1b0741e3-10ba-44da-b2aa-da00eeead25f-scaled.jpeg?resize=780%2C403&amp;ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1b0741e3-10ba-44da-b2aa-da00eeead25f-scaled.jpeg?resize=400%2C207&amp;ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1b0741e3-10ba-44da-b2aa-da00eeead25f-scaled.jpeg?resize=706%2C365&amp;ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1b0741e3-10ba-44da-b2aa-da00eeead25f-scaled.jpeg?w=2340&amp;ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1b0741e3-10ba-44da-b2aa-da00eeead25f-scaled.jpeg?fit=1024%2C529&amp;ssl=1&amp;w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure><p>When students in rural Trinity County, California, gaze out their classroom windows, they see the tree-filled landscape of Shasta-Trinity National Forest, which spans more than 2 million acres in the northeast corner of the state.</p><p>The expansive forest might inspire dreams of outdoor adventure for locals, but for Trinity County and other rural forest communities across the U.S., it also represents a fraught cycle of inadequate public school funding.</p><p>That’s because these schools rely on the Secure Rural Schools and Communities Act (SRS), a federal program that allocates money to counties that overlap National Forest land.&nbsp;</p><p>Because public land cannot be used or taxed for local interests, the SRS program offsets this loss of local revenue by allocating federal funds to support essential community infrastructure like roads and schools. SRS requires regular reauthorization, typically every three years and is often accompanied by reductions in funding.</p><p>The law temporarily expired in 2016 and rural school districts missed out on a year’s-worth of SRS payments. At the Trinity Alps Unified School District, this budget shortfall prevented the district from fixing a dangerous outbreak of <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/sacramento/news/hidden-toxic-mold-lurking-schools-no-one-testing/">toxic mold</a>. Multiple buildings in the district were closed, disrupting school for months.</p><p>While SRS funding has served as a lifeline for school districts in forest counties, advocates and economists say the cyclical struggle for ever-shrinking funds makes SRS an unsustainable way to support rural students, especially when budget shortfalls can hurt student performance and health.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>“This every three-year thing, it’s brutal,” said Jamie Green, superintendent of Trinity Alps Unified School District, in an interview with the Daily Yonder. “Absolutely brutal.” </p><p>The law was up for reauthorization in 2024 but died last December without a vote from the House of Representatives. The Senate had already voted unanimously to approve it.&nbsp;</p><p>Advocates have continued to fight for reauthorization in the new year. But Congress’ failure to include the legislation in March’s federal spending package raises concerns about another lapse in funding, similar to 2016, that could jeopardize school budgets and leave their futures in flux.</p><p>“We can continue advocating,” Green said. “But I don’t know where it goes from here.”</p><p>In 2023, Trinity Alps Unified School District received $600,000 from SRS. These funds accounted for 5% of the district’s budget and were essential in paying for teachers, programming, and maintenance work. With no clear path toward reauthorization, Green’s current goal is to do what he can to cushion Trinity Alps for the looming shortfall.</p><p>“You don’t buy the new bus that you need. You don’t fix a leaky roof. You don’t replace people that have just retired,” Green said. If the bill isn’t passed, he said the district may have to cut seven jobs, which could lead to larger class sizes, likely hurting the students who need help the most.</p><p>“I can’t tell you how stressful it is when I go down to the elementary school and I’m looking at people that I might have to let go that we desperately need,” Green said.</p><h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>A Century-Old Promise — A Century-Old Fight</strong></h3><p>The history of federal support for rural schools in forest communities extends far beyond the SRS program’s inception in 2000.&nbsp;</p><p>In the late 1800s, large swaths of the country’s forest land were placed under reserve, later designated as National Forest land, by the U.S. government. About 80% percent of the land in Trinity County, for example, is owned by the federal government.&nbsp;</p><p>The mass federalization of forest lands prevented rural communities from developing or taxing the land to support local governments and public schools.&nbsp;</p><p>“Rural communities were pretty much up in arms…they were concerned by the federal government coming in and taking massive amounts of their land,” said Lonnie Hunt, head of the National Forest Counties and Schools Coalition, a group of community volunteers who advocate for forest counties across the country.&nbsp;</p><p>In response to these rural concerns, Congress designated a portion of these forests harvestable for timber. In 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt and chief of the Forest Service Gifford Pinchot introduced a bill that specified that 25% of the revenue raised from National Forests would be shared with the counties that overlapped this forest land to pay for local infrastructure.&nbsp;</p><p>For a few decades, this plan worked: Rural counties could fund their schools, roads, and essential services with the revenue gained from logging.&nbsp;</p><p>But by the late 20th century, the revenue share proved too volatile for local government and school budgets. Between 1985 and 2000, National Forest payments fluctuated by an average of 30% year-to-year, according to the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R41303">Congressional Research Service</a>. Regulations like the Northwest Forest Plan that were meant to protect old-growth forests from overharvesting in California, Oregon, and Washington, made it even more difficult to depend on timber revenue.</p><p>“For various reasons totally outside the control of these local communities, timber harvesting just pretty much ground to a halt for environmental reasons, challenges, lawsuits, what have you,” Hunt said. “And of course that meant that these local communities suffered a big economic loss.”</p><figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" onerror="if (typeof newspackHandleImageError === 'function') newspackHandleImageError(this);" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXfCl9nkwIO-uZiCy7pbek1YpGUN7Gz3ilmxOr7ODa0Zp2ArszkrPiS_UJP8pEipFYykkuIWCSyvLeyrU1RqxjktdNBeyh0nDpFOFpq4HFB-UYofkTV2007cFTi3IKnx22ljooo-?key=XBgEfbKpFDoOUXPISbWGD-vo" alt=""/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Graph from Mark N Haggerty / Headwaters Economics</figcaption></figure><p>This volatility led to the creation of two reforms, which are still in effect today.&nbsp;</p><p>The first, Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT), are federal payments to counties to offset the local property tax lost from nontaxable public land. PILT funding can only be used for county budgets, not for schools.</p><p>The second is a set of transition payments to help counties move away from timber-dependent economies. These payments came from the Northwest Forest Plan and the eventual SRS legislation, passed in 2000.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>SRS allocated counties payments based on the average of their three highest timber revenue years between 1986 and 1999. The law was originally authorized through 2006, at which point counties were expected to find new ways to fund their schools and roads.&nbsp;</p><p>While some counties successfully pivoted to other industries, more timber-dependent communities had a harder time transitioning, according to Mark Haggerty, a senior fellow at the independent nonprofit research institute Center for American Progress.&nbsp;</p><p>“The reason those [counties] were growing is because they were either close to a city, so they were actually participating in the new economy, or they became recreation and retirement destinations because they had a national park or some kind of amenity,” Haggerty said.&nbsp;</p><p>“But the rural, isolated timber-dependent communities effectively didn&#8217;t recover, no matter what kind of transition assistance was provided.”</p><p>This was the case in Skamania County, Washington, which saw a huge change in the amount of money made through timber-related jobs from the 1970s to the 2010s. Between 1970 and 1989, timber earnings accounted for 37% of Skamania County locals’ income, according to a <a href="https://headwaterseconomics.org/wp-content/uploads/Lessons_Timber_Transition.pdf">report</a> from the independent research group Headwaters Economics.&nbsp;</p><p>By 2014, timber accounted for just 1% of total earnings.&nbsp;</p><p>While the U.S. Census Bureau defines Skamania County as a metropolitan area because of its proximity to the large cities of Vancouver and Portland, Oregon, the county has a lot in common with&nbsp; other rural counties that have benefited from SRS. Eighty percent of the county is public land, and 90% is forested. The Columbia River borders it from the south. Its total population is just over 12,000.&nbsp;</p><figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" onerror="if (typeof newspackHandleImageError === 'function') newspackHandleImageError(this);" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXd4NcznIoCJ31ldz2UHbbKZxkeSrwyrrQya4pZYoW2DvsFnJwrmcwD9U_UdkFF8bZIYyCFOh9UJcD4Dn-zggS1X0tyJxoZywVnEGYqAeJTGccNEjg6wR4LfbV_Xidvhn_Pc9MAfFw?key=XBgEfbKpFDoOUXPISbWGD-vo" alt=""/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The last remaining Skamania County sawmill outside of Stevenson, Washington. (Photo by Claire Carlson / The Daily Yonder)</figcaption></figure><p>“The goal of [the original SRS funding] was very, very admirable,” said Tom Lannen, former Skamania county commissioner and Stevenson resident. “Depending on where you were at, some counties did a marvelous job and had all kinds of resources that allowed them to transition from a timber based county to a much more diverse one.</p><p>“Unfortunately, Skamania County and a number of other ones didn&#8217;t have that luxury,” he said.&nbsp;</p><p>Without other industries to fall back on with the decline of timber, the county could not sustain itself without help from the federal government. That means SRS payments have remained vital in paying for Skamania County’s infrastructure and schools.&nbsp;</p><p>But its year-to-year volatility has still left the county scrambling. Over the past 15 years, the amount of money has decreased precipitously, affecting the job skills training programs offered to students.&nbsp;</p><p>“We’re trying to hang onto as much of that as we can so our students can stay and have the skills and the abilities that they need to go out and have living-wage jobs in our community,” said Ingrid Colvard, superintendent of the local Stevenson-Carson School District, at a press conference about reauthorizing SRS in late February.&nbsp;</p><p>The funding pays for welding and carpentry programs, a post-high school counselor, and a therapist, among other things. “This extra money, this additional 5% – it’s in our budget, and we have to have it to continue these things,” Colvard said.&nbsp;</p><figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" onerror="if (typeof newspackHandleImageError === 'function') newspackHandleImageError(this);" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXflwYu_fl0kDK_VHpPebpr-K-ROQV9P8oC6TGetzs6QByDNGOVPeCdSq4yFWzmWPvYTdXSjTQzBmqYkkICvtTkEVA_J3QvZ3L7oTy5OIMAHfh17gE_KUZA5U9h_fWicg5A7jMt1pw?key=XBgEfbKpFDoOUXPISbWGD-vo" alt=""/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A mural in Stevenson, Washington, advocating for timber.<em> </em>(Photo by Claire Carlson / The Daily Yonder)</figcaption></figure><p>Some folks in the county say that opening up more of the National Forest to timber harvest could get the community back on the path to economic success and rid them of the need for SRS.</p><p>But that would require overturning the decades-old Northwest Forest Plan – no easy feat. And there’s no promise timber harvests would ever be as profitable as they were at the height of production in the 20th century.</p><p>And even if timber harvesting were to return, it’s a largely mechanized industry today powered by automated equipment and high-efficiency mills. Timber doesn’t provide the number of jobs that it did before automation, and companies also benefit from large state and local tax incentives.&nbsp;</p><p>A mechanized economy doesn’t work for rural places, said Haggerty from the Center for American Progress, leaving behind rural communities that no longer benefit from the timber industry.&nbsp;</p><p>“Companies are able to come in and extract wealth from the rural economy without leaving benefits behind,” Haggerty said. “The industry doesn’t support local communities or schools anymore.”</p><h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>The Search for A Permanent Solution</strong></h3><p>Haggerty <a href="https://digitalcommons.humboldt.edu/hjsr/vol1/iss40/12/">advocates for a new approach</a> — a permanent trust to stabilize funding for rural forest communities.&nbsp;</p><p>“A trust makes sure that communities have the resources they need to provide essential services and to plan for the kinds of assets and amenities that they need to help grow their economies and diversify again,” he said. For rural communities, the ability to provide basic services like public schools and nutrition programs is essential. Without it, they risk falling deeper into poverty, with less ability to escape.</p><p>An endowment model would establish a permanent trust funded by ongoing receipts from commercial activities on public lands, including the traditional revenue sharing. Under this model, the money earned from timber revenues would be held in perpetuity and invested to generate income, which would then be paid to the rural forest counties from which the resources are being extracted.</p><p>The idea behind the endowment model is simple: to invest the existing wealth from non-renewable resources in a way that continues to support these communities without further depleting the land or relying on inconsistent government funding. “It’s not asking the taxpayers for permanent appropriations, and it’s not adding to the debt. But it gives counties and schools predictable payments that they can rely on,” Haggerty said.</p><p>To guard against corruption or mismanagement, Congress could authorize an independent entity to establish and manage the trust, one managed by a board that includes the county representatives who rely on the funds, Haggerty said.</p><p>Another concern is market volatility. “If you set this thing up in 2007, you would’ve had a huge crash right away,” Haggerty said. “But that’s why you have an investment strategy and a distribution system to try to protect it.”&nbsp;</p><p>The creation of a permanent trust is not a new concept. States and counties with large national resources economies, especially those dependent on fossil fuels, have implemented similar models with success.</p><p>If Congress had established such an endowment in 1908, instead of the revenue sharing program, today it could distribute $3.2 billion to forest communities and schools, a sum three times larger than the largest distributions from revenue sharing in the 1970s — and 213 times larger than the funds distributed in 2017. Even with a more recent timeline, if an endowment had been created in 2000, instead of the SRS program, it would have been worth $1.3 billion by 2018 and would distribute $33 million to these communities.</p><p>The idea has been introduced in Congress several times, with bipartisan support from Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Mike Crapo (R-ID), as well as endorsements from the National Forest Counties and Schools Coalition and the National Association of Counties. Despite this support, the proposal has not gained enough traction to pass.</p><p>“We’re always in a reauthorization crunch [for SRS],” Haggerty said. “But by the time you actually start talking about a permanent solution, it’s time to reauthorize again.”</p><p>One of the key hurdles is Congress’ reluctance to create a solution that would reduce their control over the funding process. “Congress likes swooping in every year or two or three and saving the [SRS] program,” Haggerty said. “If you set up an endowment and have mandatory spending associated with it, Congress has less to do.”</p><p>Opposition also comes from within the forest counties themselves, some of which, like Skamania County, continue to push for increased timber harvests and a return to the old revenue sharing model. Environmental groups, too, have their concerns, as many oppose using timber revenue to fund an endowment, citing the environmental impact of incentivised logging.<br><br>Despite these challenges, the endowment model presents a promising solution to the ongoing struggle for stable, reliable funding for schools in rural forest communities. For superintendents, an alternative to the instability of SRS would be a welcome reprieve.</p><p>In the meantime, rural superintendents are <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/amid-threat-of-massive-funding-cuts-rural-school-administrators-work-overtime-to-balance-uncertain-budgets/2025/03/31/">doing what they can</a> to support their students and communities. “It’s difficult, but you signed up to lead, you didn’t sign up to be a victim. You don’t make excuses to your community,” Trinity Alps superintendent Jamie Green said.&nbsp;</p><p>“We’re working as hard as we can for our students. We cannot fail.”</p><hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-dots"/><p>The post <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/education-leaders-urge-congress-to-pass-secure-rural-schools-act-but-warn-its-an-unsustainable-funding-solution/2025/04/14/">Education Leaders Urge Congress to Pass Secure Rural Schools Act, But Warn It’s an Unsustainable Funding Solution</a> appeared first on <a href="https://dailyyonder.com">The Daily Yonder</a>.</p>
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  391. <title>USDA Cuts Hit Small Farms as Trump Showers Billions on Big Farms</title>
  392. <link>https://dailyyonder.com/usda-cuts-hit-small-farms-as-trump-showers-billions-on-big-farms/2025/04/14/</link>
  393. <comments>https://dailyyonder.com/usda-cuts-hit-small-farms-as-trump-showers-billions-on-big-farms/2025/04/14/#respond</comments>
  395. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Kevin Hardy / Stateline]]></dc:creator>
  396. <pubDate>Mon, 14 Apr 2025 09:59:00 +0000</pubDate>
  397. <category><![CDATA[Agriculture]]></category>
  398. <category><![CDATA[Government & Policy]]></category>
  399. <category><![CDATA[repub]]></category>
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  402. <description><![CDATA[<figure><img width="1024" height="768" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/USDA-farms.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&amp;ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/USDA-farms.jpg?w=1024&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/USDA-farms.jpg?resize=760%2C570&amp;ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/USDA-farms.jpg?resize=768%2C576&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/USDA-farms.jpg?resize=800%2C600&amp;ssl=1 800w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/USDA-farms.jpg?resize=600%2C450&amp;ssl=1 600w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/USDA-farms.jpg?resize=400%2C300&amp;ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/USDA-farms.jpg?resize=200%2C150&amp;ssl=1 200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/USDA-farms.jpg?resize=780%2C585&amp;ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/USDA-farms.jpg?resize=706%2C530&amp;ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/USDA-farms.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&amp;ssl=1&amp;w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure>
  403. <p>This story was originally published by Stateline. Anna Pesek saw a federal program supporting local food purchases as much more than a boost to her Iowa pork and poultry farm. The U.S. Department of Agriculture grant program that allowed schools and food banks to buy fresh products from small farms helped her forge new business [&#8230;]</p>
  404. <p>The post <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/usda-cuts-hit-small-farms-as-trump-showers-billions-on-big-farms/2025/04/14/">USDA Cuts Hit Small Farms as Trump Showers Billions on Big Farms</a> appeared first on <a href="https://dailyyonder.com">The Daily Yonder</a>.</p>
  405. ]]></description>
  406. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<figure><img width="1024" height="768" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/USDA-farms.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&amp;ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/USDA-farms.jpg?w=1024&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/USDA-farms.jpg?resize=760%2C570&amp;ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/USDA-farms.jpg?resize=768%2C576&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/USDA-farms.jpg?resize=800%2C600&amp;ssl=1 800w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/USDA-farms.jpg?resize=600%2C450&amp;ssl=1 600w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/USDA-farms.jpg?resize=400%2C300&amp;ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/USDA-farms.jpg?resize=200%2C150&amp;ssl=1 200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/USDA-farms.jpg?resize=780%2C585&amp;ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/USDA-farms.jpg?resize=706%2C530&amp;ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/USDA-farms.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&amp;ssl=1&amp;w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure><p class="has-text-align-center"><em>This story was originally published by <a href="https://stateline.org/2025/04/04/usda-cuts-hit-small-farms-as-trump-showers-billions-on-big-farms/">Stateline</a>.</em></p><p>Anna Pesek saw a federal program supporting local food purchases as much more than a boost to her Iowa pork and poultry farm.</p><p>The U.S. Department of Agriculture grant program that allowed schools and food banks to buy fresh products from small farms helped her forge new business relationships. It allowed her to spend more with local feed mills and butchers, and was starting to build a stronger supply chain of local foods.</p><p>But now that the Trump administration has yanked the funding, she worries that rural economic boost might end too.</p><p>“With the razor-thin margins on both sides, those partnerships are just really hard, if not impossible, to sustain,” she said.</p><p>The co-owner of Over the Moon Farm, Pesek said her operation was never entirely reliant on the local food programs; it represented about 10% of her business. While she knew the federal money wouldn’t last forever, she was planning on the funding lasting through 2028 — but then the Trump administration last month nixed more than $1 billion for local food programs.</p><p>The federally funded Local Food Purchase Assistance and the Local Food for Schools programs, both begun during the pandemic, focused on small, local farms in aims of building stronger domestic food supply chains. Grants allowed schools and food banks to buy meat, dairy and produce from small farms — including many healthy products that are often too expensive for those institutions.</p><p>USDA’s local food programs specifically aided some of the nation’s most disadvantaged farmers and ranchers, including newcomers, small farmers and those who have faced racial discrimination.</p><p>The local food programs were initially funded by 2021’s American Rescue Plan Act but were later expanded by the Biden administration. The Trump administration, though, has cut the funding that went to thousands of small farms, saying that it’s instead “<a href="https://stateline.org/2025/03/26/federal-cuts-squeeze-already-struggling-food-banks-school-lunch-programs/">prioritizing stable, proven solutions that deliver lasting impact</a>.”</p><p>Pesek noted that the federal government has subsidized commodity agriculture like corn and soybeans for more than a century.</p><p>“It’s not a novel idea, right? This is how the relationship between the federal government and farmers has looked,” she said. “And so all this program did was allocate some of the funds to go to different kinds of farmers versus just commodity farmers.”</p><p>Just after cutting the local food programs, USDA announced it was expediting $10 billion in direct payments to commodity farmers through the Emergency Commodity Assistance Program, which helps farmers offset high input prices and low sale prices for crops. The White House is<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/31/us/politics/farmers-bailouts-trump-tariffs.html"> reportedly considering billions more</a> in farm subsidies as President Donald Trump escalates global trade wars.</p><p>Andy Ollove, food access program director at Fresh Approach, a California nonprofit that works on building a healthier and more resilient food system, said the government’s long-standing farm subsidies flow to some of the nation’s biggest operators. Conversely, the local food programs benefited small farmers and communities directly.</p><p>“The economic multiplier to this program just seems way more impactful than the traditional subsidy model of the USDA that the administration is continuing to invest in,” he said. “It’s just a giveaway.”</p><p>Fresh Approach has helped administer the food bank program in California. While implementation delays mean farmers won’t lose access to the program as quickly as in other states, he expects elimination of the program to put small farmers out of business across the country.</p><p>Some states have launched their own local food programs, but nothing on the scale of the federal investment. That’s left advocates for small farmers, local foods and food banks pushing for reinstatement of the federal program or getting it included in the next round of farm bill negotiations, when Congress outlines a five- or six-year spending plan for the nation’s food policy and agriculture sector.</p><p>Ollove expects philanthropists will fund parts of California’s program after federal money is depleted. But it won’t have the same reach.</p><p>“I do feel confident that these types of programs will continue in California … sporadically and piecemeal,” he said. “But not in the way that we’re administering it, in a way that I think is changing a lot of things and improving the food system.”</p><h3 class="wp-block-heading">A Mixed Response From States</h3><p>The noncompetitive USDA local food grants allowed many new farmers to break into markets. And the aid for food hubs, which link small producers to larger markets, helped farmers distribute products to schools and food banks.</p><p>In Wisconsin, for example, more than half of the nearly 300 farmers who benefited from the food bank program were early career farmers,<a href="https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/WIGOV/bulletins/3d65c65"> according to state officials.</a></p><p>In Illinois, the state prioritized funds toward<a href="https://lrftool.sc.egov.usda.gov/SDFP_Definition.aspx"> socially disadvantaged farmers</a>, such as those who have faced racial or ethnic prejudice.</p><p>“Attacking this program was really an attack on Illinois’ most vulnerable, whether it’s a socially disadvantaged farmer or the food recipient,” said Kristi Jones, deputy director of the Illinois Department of Agriculture.</p><p>Her department administered the federal food bank program, which helped beginning farmers get their businesses off the ground.</p><p>“A lot of these farmers, they’re living their dreams,” she said. “They are living their goals because of this program.”</p><p>Illinois had been planning on nearly $15 million from the next round of funding for the food bank program. Jones said farmers already had begun planning and spending on seeds and equipment.</p><p>“You just don’t put something on the ground and have the product the next day,” she said. “ … So that uncertainty was incredibly challenging for farmers who already deal with enough uncertainty.”</p><p>Democratic leaders have bashed the Trump administration’s decision: Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, for example, called it “a slap in the face to Illinois farmers and the communities they feed.”</p><p>But conservative leaders in other states have downplayed the cuts.</p><p>In Texas, Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller characterized USDA’s decision as “a reassessment.”</p><p>He said the state was not dependent on the federal funds and would continue its Farm to School and Farm to Food Bank programs, which encourage the local purchase of Texas agricultural products.</p><p>“There’s always room for refinement, and we may see a revised version of the policy down the road that is even better for agriculture producers,”<a href="https://texasagriculture.gov/News-Events/Article/10299/STATEMENT-FROM-TEXAS-AGRICULTURE-COMMISSIONER-SID-MILLER-ON-USDA-S-LOCAL-FOOD-F"> he said in a statement last month.</a></p><p>Texas funds programs to help distribute excess food to schools, food banks and charities. But it does not have a grant program like USDA’s to help those organizations purchase local food, said Marshall Webb, spokesperson for the state agriculture department.</p><p>Iowa’s agriculture department recently started its own local food program.</p><p><a href="https://www.chooseiowa.com/how-do-you-choose-iowa#:~:text=Choose%20Iowa%20is%20a%20state,Secretary%20of%20Agriculture%20Mike%20Naig.">The Choose Iowa program</a> has made about $300,000 available to support local food purchases — though the state<a href="https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2025/03/11/usda-cuts-programs-bringing-local-food-into-schools-food-banks/#:~:text=Iowa%20farmers%20and%20institutions%20lost,U.S.%20Department%20of%20Agriculture%20programshttps://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2025/03/11/usda-cuts-programs-bringing-local-food-into-schools-food-banks/#:~:text=Iowa%20farmers%20and%20institutions%20lost,U.S.%20Department%20of%20Agriculture%20programs.'"> lost out on about $11.3 million</a> because of the federal cuts.</p><p>Don McDowell, spokesperson for the Iowa Department of Agriculture &amp; Land Stewardship, said the agency would continue to ask lawmakers to expand funding for the Choose Iowa program.</p><p>“Programs designed to forge relationships between Iowa farmers, food hubs, food banks and schools are important to our farmers and communities,” he said.</p><p>Iowa Farmers Union President Aaron Heley Lehman said his organization, which represents family farmers and ranchers, would like to see the state step in to fill the void.</p><p>“But we don’t anticipate that that’s going to be an easy thing for the state of Iowa to do,” he said. “So not only is it local farmers that are feeling like they’ve had the rug pulled out from underneath them, but the state of Iowa has, too.”</p><h3 class="wp-block-heading">Creating a New Food System</h3><p>In Southern California, Dickinson Family Farms has worked to gather produce from dozens of small farms across the region, allowing even the smallest operators without distribution capabilities to sell to local food banks.</p><p>Andrew Dickinson, who owns the farm with his father, said the federal local food program also helped reduce food waste. Farmers were able to get fair market prices for vegetables with cosmetic damage or fruits deemed too small or large for grocery store shelves.</p><p>Dickinson said the federal program has provided a reliable marketplace for small operators that otherwise depend on more inconsistent sales streams like farmers markets.</p><p>“It will create a vacuum,” he said.</p><p>About 60 miles east of Los Angeles, sixth-generation farmer Anna Knight said the federal funds were much more than a handout to farmers. To her, they were about creating a new kind of food system.</p><p>She said supporting local producers creates more supply chain resilience — something many people didn’t appreciate until the pandemic.</p><p>“We don’t want to go back to that world,” she said. “When we invest in our local food system, we’re really investing on onshoring our food production system, on making new food systems local and increasing their resiliency in moments of crisis.”</p><p>Old Grove Orange, her California farm, has been supplying citrus to some local school systems for years. But she said the federal funds were the “single biggest changemaker” for pushing schools to buy local for the first time.</p><p>To her, that’s key in promoting lifelong healthy eating: Local produce like her freshly picked oranges pack more of a nutritional punch and just taste better than produce that takes weeks to ship from abroad.</p><p>“When you are giving a child a delicious piece of fruit, you are really cultivating their palate for life,” she said. “You are setting this expectation of what a fruit is supposed to taste like, and you are sparking this love for fruits and vegetables for the rest of their life.”</p><p>Knight said the nation doesn’t have to choose between big and small farms. But small farms are vanishing all around her.</p><p>“This is a ticking bomb,” she said. “The clock is running out if we don’t really find a way to help make these small, medium-sized farms sustainable.&#8221;</p><hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-dots"/><p>The post <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/usda-cuts-hit-small-farms-as-trump-showers-billions-on-big-farms/2025/04/14/">USDA Cuts Hit Small Farms as Trump Showers Billions on Big Farms</a> appeared first on <a href="https://dailyyonder.com">The Daily Yonder</a>.</p>
  407. ]]></content:encoded>
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  410. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
  413. <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">227567</post-id> </item>
  414. <item>
  415. <title>Review: “Homestand” Makes Compelling Case for Small Town Baseball</title>
  416. <link>https://dailyyonder.com/review-homestand-makes-compelling-case-for-small-town-baseball/2025/04/11/</link>
  417. <comments>https://dailyyonder.com/review-homestand-makes-compelling-case-for-small-town-baseball/2025/04/11/#respond</comments>
  419. <dc:creator><![CDATA[John W. Miller]]></dc:creator>
  420. <pubDate>Fri, 11 Apr 2025 10:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
  421. <category><![CDATA[Arts & Culture]]></category>
  422. <category><![CDATA[Rural Life]]></category>
  423. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://dailyyonder.com/?p=227458</guid>
  424.  
  425. <description><![CDATA[<figure><img width="1024" height="683" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP25048796427345-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP25048796427345-scaled.jpg?w=2560&amp;ssl=1 2560w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP25048796427345-scaled.jpg?resize=760%2C507&amp;ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP25048796427345-scaled.jpg?resize=1296%2C864&amp;ssl=1 1296w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP25048796427345-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP25048796427345-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP25048796427345-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP25048796427345-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP25048796427345-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP25048796427345-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1333&amp;ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP25048796427345-scaled.jpg?resize=780%2C520&amp;ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP25048796427345-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C267&amp;ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP25048796427345-scaled.jpg?resize=706%2C471&amp;ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP25048796427345-scaled.jpg?w=2340&amp;ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP25048796427345-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1&amp;w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure>
  426. <p>In American towns, before air conditioning and television turned suburban homes into social coffins, minor league baseball anchored the evenings of summer. For most of the 20th century, the best place to be on a hot July night was the local ballyard. There was a cool breeze there, and at home no baseball to see [&#8230;]</p>
  427. <p>The post <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/review-homestand-makes-compelling-case-for-small-town-baseball/2025/04/11/">Review: “Homestand” Makes Compelling Case for Small Town Baseball</a> appeared first on <a href="https://dailyyonder.com">The Daily Yonder</a>.</p>
  428. ]]></description>
  429. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<figure><img width="1024" height="683" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP25048796427345-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP25048796427345-scaled.jpg?w=2560&amp;ssl=1 2560w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP25048796427345-scaled.jpg?resize=760%2C507&amp;ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP25048796427345-scaled.jpg?resize=1296%2C864&amp;ssl=1 1296w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP25048796427345-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP25048796427345-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP25048796427345-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP25048796427345-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP25048796427345-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP25048796427345-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1333&amp;ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP25048796427345-scaled.jpg?resize=780%2C520&amp;ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP25048796427345-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C267&amp;ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP25048796427345-scaled.jpg?resize=706%2C471&amp;ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP25048796427345-scaled.jpg?w=2340&amp;ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AP25048796427345-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1&amp;w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure><p>In American towns, before air conditioning and television turned suburban homes into social coffins, minor league baseball anchored the evenings of summer. For most of the 20<sup>th </sup>century, the best place to be on a hot July night was the local ballyard. There was a cool breeze there, and at home no baseball to see on TV. The biggest news in town, it was said, was if the bank was robbed, or the local nine won the pennant.&nbsp;</p><p>The peak of this trend was in the late 1940s. Attendance peaked at nearly 40 million. In 1949, there were 448 teams in 59 leagues. <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/americas-pastime-in-appalachia-remembering-kentuckys-tobacco-league-baseball-tradition/2023/07/04/">There was demand</a> because the formalized version of baseball, which evolved from ancient village ball games, was only a century old then, and it felt fresh, and vital to the American project. Young men home from fighting in Europe and Asia wanted to play, or at the very least, to watch.&nbsp;</p><p>There was supply because big league teams had embraced pioneering general manager Branch Rickey’s philosophy of “quality out of quantity,” signing as many ballplayers and supporting as many minor league clubs as they could afford, in the hopes of generating star players via a process of Darwinian evolution.&nbsp;</p><p>Much has changed since those glory days cemented minor league baseball in the American psyche. There are now only 120 professional minor league teams in the United States. The contemporary place of minor league baseball in American life has been put under a microscope in <em>Homestand: Small Town Baseball and the Fight for the Soul of America</em>, Will Bardenwerper’s charming, essential new book about the 2022 season he spent with the Muckdogs, an amateur minor league team in Batavia, a town of 15,000 in Western New York state. (Disclosure: I also write about baseball and talked to Bardenwerper for his book.)</p><p>The Batavia team is amateur because, while the demand still exists for professional minor league baseball, the supply does not. Eager to cut costs and streamline its development process, <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/small-town-teams-figure-prominently-in-major-league-baseballs-proposed-cuts/2020/10/07/">in 2021 Major League Baseball contracted the number of minor league affiliated teams to 120 from 162</a>. Instead of quality out of quantity, the guiding philosophy of big league clubs is now to sign a smaller number of players out of high school and college, and spend more resources training them.&nbsp;</p><p>One of the places to lose its affiliated minor league team in 2021 was Batavia. Teams don’t want to be shouldered with managing decaying stadiums in declining Rust Belt towns – part of the shift in America of wealth and capital away from the hinterlands to richer, more coastal cities. “This isn’t just a story about baseball,” writes Bardenwerper. “This is a story about America, and where we go from here. We have long lamented the closing of the mills and the factories in these small and midsize cities all over the country. Now the ballpark, that friendly gathering place where relationships are nourished over the course of summer in the grandstands, is under siege.”</p><p>Batavia was now faced with losing baseball. Luckily, a local entrepreneur founded a team that joined an amateur summer league. The players pay a fee to play in nice stadiums, in front of crowds and the occasional scout. If one really shines, there’s still a chance he could be signed to a pro contract. In America, from t-ball and up, there is always somebody ready to make a buck off the dreams of young athletes seeking to enter the glamorous world of professional sports. Batavia’s ballplayers, it is clear, are underdogs: one pitcher was raised by grandparents in Florida, who make sure never to miss games, which are broadcast on YouTube.&nbsp;</p><div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignleft size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" width="302" height="450" onerror="if (typeof newspackHandleImageError === 'function') newspackHandleImageError(this);" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Cover.jpeg?resize=302%2C450&#038;ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-227462" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Cover.jpeg?w=302&amp;ssl=1 302w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Cover.jpeg?w=370&amp;ssl=1 370w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Cover.jpeg?w=400&amp;ssl=1 400w" sizes="(max-width: 302px) 100vw, 302px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"><em>Homestand: Small Town Baseball and the Fight for the Soul of America </em>was published by Doubleday on March 11, 2025. (Image: Doubleday)</figcaption></figure></div><p>What makes Bardenwerper’s book special, and even uplifting, is the reporting. Hanging out at Batavia&#8217;s Dwyer Stadium, capacity 2,600, he finds a community of people who go to the ballpark to see old friends and make new ones, to gossip and eat, and to see some hardball. He finds “the real magic” in “the bleachers, among the fans … in the shared food, drink, and intimate conversation of those seemingly meaningless regular-season games of midsummer, where gathering together on a regular basis to cheer on the Muckdogs made everyone’s life just a little bit better. Those ephemeral moments, so hard to capture, are the ones that satisfy the hunger we all have for acceptance and friendship, a hunger made more acute in a lonelier and more fractious America.”</p><p>He lovingly describes people who rely on baseball for their moral and mental health. He finds a woman keeping score because “she enjoyed how methodical the ritual was, like a puzzle that kept her engaged for every pitch. Such was her devotion to scorekeeping that she used to grow anxious leaving her seats to grab something at the concession stand for fear she would miss some of the action and fail to record it in her notebook,” recounts Bardenwerper. It’s not just in Batavia. In Elmira, New York, which also has a team in the league, he meets a 93-year-old Korean War veteran named Herb Tipton, who’d been going to games since 1973. “For decades his summer evenings had revolved around Elmira baseball, and he could almost always be found quietly taking it all in, a serene smile on his face.”</p><p>As Bardenwerper reports, the survival of this ecosystem of minor league baseball, like an America which gets along because of shared ideals, is imperiled. Stadiums are managed like shopping malls. One holding company owns dozens of minor league teams. “Bottom line is this is big business,” said Yankees general manager Brian Cashman in an oft-quoted 2015 interview. “This should be run like a Wall Street boardroom where you pursue assets.”</p><p>There is an antidote to this falling apart, which Bardenwerper touches on when he describes playing catch with his son. That cure is to get involved with baseball yourself. Play. Coach. Watch. Support your local high school or college team. People have been predicting the demise of baseball since the 19<sup>th</sup> century, and, to be sure, leagues, teams and markets have moved, died, and, as in Batavia, been reborn in new ways.&nbsp;</p><p><em>Homestand</em> reminds us of the beauty of a game bringing people in small-town America together in the most hospitable of seasons. That should be enough to get you outside to play catch.</p><hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-dots"/><p><em>John W. Miller is a high school baseball coach in Pittsburgh and author of the New York Times bestseller </em><a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Last-Manager/John-W-Miller/9781668030929"><em>The Last Manager: How Earl Weaver Tricked, Tormented and Reinvented Baseball</em></a><em>.</em></p><p>The post <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/review-homestand-makes-compelling-case-for-small-town-baseball/2025/04/11/">Review: “Homestand” Makes Compelling Case for Small Town Baseball</a> appeared first on <a href="https://dailyyonder.com">The Daily Yonder</a>.</p>
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  436. <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">227458</post-id> </item>
  437. <item>
  438. <title>Q&#038;A: Author Michael Amos Cody&#8217;s New Book Takes Us to the Streets of Nashville and Beyond</title>
  439. <link>https://dailyyonder.com/qa-author-michael-amos-codys-new-book-takes-us-to-the-streets-of-nashville-and-beyond/2025/04/11/</link>
  440. <comments>https://dailyyonder.com/qa-author-michael-amos-codys-new-book-takes-us-to-the-streets-of-nashville-and-beyond/2025/04/11/#respond</comments>
  442. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Keith Roysdon]]></dc:creator>
  443. <pubDate>Fri, 11 Apr 2025 09:59:00 +0000</pubDate>
  444. <category><![CDATA[Arts & Culture]]></category>
  445. <category><![CDATA[Path Finders]]></category>
  446. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://dailyyonder.com/?p=227641</guid>
  447.  
  448. <description><![CDATA[<figure><img width="768" height="547" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Resized_20220729_194030-768x547-1.jpeg?fit=768%2C547&amp;ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Resized_20220729_194030-768x547-1.jpeg?w=768&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Resized_20220729_194030-768x547-1.jpeg?resize=760%2C541&amp;ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Resized_20220729_194030-768x547-1.jpeg?resize=400%2C285&amp;ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Resized_20220729_194030-768x547-1.jpeg?resize=706%2C503&amp;ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Resized_20220729_194030-768x547-1.jpeg?fit=768%2C547&amp;ssl=1&amp;w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure>
  449. <p>Editor’s Note: This interview first appeared in&#160;Path Finders, an email newsletter from the Daily Yonder. Each week, Path Finders features a Q&#38;A with a rural thinker, creator, or doer. Like what you see here? You can&#160;join the mailing list at the bottom of this article&#160;and receive more conversations like this in your inbox each week. [&#8230;]</p>
  450. <p>The post <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/qa-author-michael-amos-codys-new-book-takes-us-to-the-streets-of-nashville-and-beyond/2025/04/11/">Q&amp;A: Author Michael Amos Cody&#8217;s New Book Takes Us to the Streets of Nashville and Beyond</a> appeared first on <a href="https://dailyyonder.com">The Daily Yonder</a>.</p>
  451. ]]></description>
  452. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<figure><img width="768" height="547" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Resized_20220729_194030-768x547-1.jpeg?fit=768%2C547&amp;ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Resized_20220729_194030-768x547-1.jpeg?w=768&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Resized_20220729_194030-768x547-1.jpeg?resize=760%2C541&amp;ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Resized_20220729_194030-768x547-1.jpeg?resize=400%2C285&amp;ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Resized_20220729_194030-768x547-1.jpeg?resize=706%2C503&amp;ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Resized_20220729_194030-768x547-1.jpeg?fit=768%2C547&amp;ssl=1&amp;w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure><p><em>Editor’s Note: This interview first appeared in&nbsp;<a href="https://dailyyonder.com/path-finders/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Path Finders</a>, an email newsletter from the Daily Yonder. Each week, Path Finders features a Q&amp;A with a rural thinker, creator, or doer. Like what you see here? You can&nbsp;<a href="#signup">join the mailing list at the bottom of this article</a>&nbsp;and receive more conversations like this in your inbox each week.</em></p><hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/><p>Michael Amos Cody is something of a renaissance man. He’s a musician, songwriter, teacher and writer whose latest novel <em>Streets of Nashville</em> is set for April 15 publication. From Johnson City, Tennessee – more specifically, the town of Jonesborough – Cody moves easily between his vocations and avocations.</p><p>When I met him, we were both attending the 2024 Bouchercon World Mystery Convention in Nashville and, between panel discussions, Cody was getting ready to set up a sound system for an off-site reading by authors of their works. Of course, Cody just happened to have a sound system with him.</p><p>His work touches on music and murder in Tennessee and North Carolina over a 30-year-plus period. With his shaved head, full beard and piercings, he looks a little like a punk-rock, down-home Santa.</p><p>We had the following email exchange, edited for length and clarity.</p><hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/><p><strong>Keith Roysdon, The Daily Yonder: I&#8217;m really enjoying, from the book and from knowing you, how two major elements fit into your fiction: music and small-town life. Did you always know you&#8217;d infuse the two into your work?</strong></p><div class="wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex"><div class="wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow"><p><strong>Michael Amos Cody:</strong> Maybe &#8220;know&#8221; is too strong a word. The infusion of music and small-town life into my fiction writing feels like a natural part of becoming who I am – a living example, perhaps, of &#8220;write what you know.&#8221; I remember being twelve years old or thereabouts when Glen Campbell&#8217;s Greatest Hits (1971) appeared in our house. I wanted to be a drummer back then, so I set up anything that might be considered drum-like – the bottom of a laundry basket, a milk bucket, etc. – and played them with pencils for drumsticks. While I&#8217;ve blocked the memory of my limited skills as a drummer, what I easily recall is my fascination with the words and music together, especially the great Jimmy Webb songs on Campbell&#8217;s album: &#8220;Wichita Lineman,&#8221; &#8220;By the Time I Get to Phoenix,&#8221; &#8220;Galveston,&#8221; and &#8220;Where&#8217;s the Playground Susie.&#8221;</p>
  453.  
  454. <div class="wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex"><div class="wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow"><figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" width="780" height="780" onerror="if (typeof newspackHandleImageError === 'function') newspackHandleImageError(this);" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/michael-amos-cody-1.jpg?resize=780%2C780&#038;ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-227541" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/michael-amos-cody-1-scaled.jpg?resize=1296%2C1296&amp;ssl=1 1296w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/michael-amos-cody-1-scaled.jpg?resize=760%2C760&amp;ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/michael-amos-cody-1-scaled.jpg?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/michael-amos-cody-1-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C768&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/michael-amos-cody-1-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1536&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/michael-amos-cody-1-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C2048&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/michael-amos-cody-1-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C1200&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/michael-amos-cody-1-scaled.jpg?resize=800%2C800&amp;ssl=1 800w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/michael-amos-cody-1-scaled.jpg?resize=600%2C600&amp;ssl=1 600w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/michael-amos-cody-1-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C400&amp;ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/michael-amos-cody-1-scaled.jpg?resize=200%2C200&amp;ssl=1 200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/michael-amos-cody-1-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/michael-amos-cody-1-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C2000&amp;ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/michael-amos-cody-1-scaled.jpg?resize=780%2C780&amp;ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/michael-amos-cody-1-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C300&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/michael-amos-cody-1-scaled.jpg?resize=706%2C706&amp;ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/michael-amos-cody-1-scaled.jpg?resize=100%2C100&amp;ssl=1 100w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/michael-amos-cody-1-scaled.jpg?w=2340&amp;ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/michael-amos-cody-1-1296x1296.jpg?w=370&amp;ssl=1 370w" sizes="(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Michael Amos Cody grew up in a small North Carolina mountain community. His latest novel “Streets of Nashville” is scheduled to publish April 15. (Photo by Sam Barnett.)</figcaption></figure></div>
  455.  
  456. <div class="wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow"><p>As for rural life and small towns, they&#8217;re what I&#8217;ve always known. I grew up on a North Carolina mountain farm that was no longer farmed, on the edge of a village called Walnut, a community of some few hundred people, a school (grades 1-8 in my time), a couple of stores (one including the post office), and four churches (Freewill Baptist, Missionary Baptist, Presbyterian and Methodist). The nearest town was Marshall; the nearest city was Asheville. Even when I moved to Nashville in the early &#8217;80s, the city at that time didn&#8217;t feel much bigger than Asheville even though it was ten times bigger.</p></div></div></div></div><p><strong>DY: What about the small-town and rural experience has inspired generations of writers and music-makers (including but not limited to you)?</strong></p><p><strong>MAC:</strong> My take on it is that the rural and small-town experience offers a level of familiarity not available – or not available in the same way – in more urban settings. Although I frequently failed my mom&#8217;s pop quizzes about who lives where and who their folks are, that familiar knowledge of immediate surroundings and the histories of these seems more readily available to writers emerging from such settings. Urban settings can allow access to a greater variety of human nature via the warrens of the inner city. While rural and small-town existence allows access to less variety in human nature, this, to me, is made up for in readier access to the non-human nature of wild woods and water and their inhabitants.</p><p><strong>DY:</strong> <strong>You identify as a writer and a songwriter. If you had to choose one for someone to know you as, which would it be?</strong></p><p><strong>MAC: </strong>In my younger days, I identified as a songwriter. Even though I also sang, I resisted the label of singer-songwriter. I was all about the song in those days. I identify more as a writer of fiction now that I&#8217;m older. Even though songs can take anywhere from minutes to months to write, writing a song still feels like a heat-of-the-moment activity. Writing fiction feels like a steamy simmer as opposed to a boil. Even at my age, however, nothing thrills me more than picking up a guitar and playing a song that I wrote and feel like I really nailed.</p><p><strong>DY:</strong> <strong>Tell me about your teaching career, giving me some idea of where you&#8217;ve taught and what that&#8217;s meant to you.</strong></p><p><strong>MAC: </strong>When I finally faced the fact that Rock Star! wasn&#8217;t to be my future, I went back to school (at thirty-two years old), initially, I told myself, to finish the undergraduate degree my parents always wanted me to have. This was in January of 1991, and by August 2000, I had my PhD. Along the way, I began teaching during my MA program at Western Carolina University and continued in my doctoral program at the University of South Carolina. I then returned to WCU for the next couple of years and taught as a visiting lecturer while I completed my dissertation. The same month that I completed my PhD (August 2000), I began my first tenure-track teaching position at Murray State University in Kentucky. Murray is a small town, and my family and I quickly grew to love it there, but within a few months the opportunity came up to return to the mountains. I began teaching at East Tennessee State University (ETSU) in August 2001, and I&#8217;m now finishing my 24th year there.</p><p>My primary scholarly focus since my MA program has been early American literature, centered on the long period from the Puritan invasion of what they would name New England to the end of the 19th century. Soon after arriving at ETSU, I developed a course in Native American literature, which I&#8217;ve offered for many years now. Teaching early American and Indigenous literatures was gratifying from the start, but it has taken on more importance to me and has become a more urgent practice over the past few years as the powers that be would have us forget that the U.S. exists on stolen land and that for years much economic production (especially agricultural) depended on the work of stolen people. For now, at least, I can still teach these things, and I find it sadly rewarding to engage with young people who know little about the Indigenous peoples of this land (beginning with the fact that they still exist) and little about the institution of African slavery.</p><p>Teaching has exposed me to literature that ranges widely across time, geographies, and cultures. I hope that has made me a better person and a better writer.</p><p><strong>DY: Did you always want to teach? Did you have an inspiring teacher when you were young who inspired you in teaching, writing or songwriting?</strong></p><p><strong>MAC: </strong>I remember being a student of 18-years-old in my music and other classes at Mars Hill College, listening to and watching my professors teach and thinking that seemed like a pretty good gig. During my years in Nashville, I went through periods when little seemed to be happening with my songwriting aspirations (apart from the songwriting itself). I would begin to think of going back to school, but then something would happen to hint that my big break was just around the corner. So, I would put away thoughts of degrees and teaching. But I remember thinking that my Rock Star! life would probably be over by the time I was forty. I had it in mind that then I would return to school and eventually spend the rest of my working life as a teacher and writer.</p><p><strong>DY: I read the piece about Runion&nbsp;[North Carolina]</strong>&nbsp;<strong>that you wrote for your blog. Is there much left there? When&#8217;s the last time you were there?</strong></p><p><strong>MAC: </strong>I last visited the Runion area in December 2019. Only a few bits of the town remain from its life at the confluence of the French Broad and Laurel Rivers like concrete foundations of the sawmill; the concrete paymaster&#8217;s vault that stands in the woods; the chimneys and foundations of two owners&#8217; houses; a double line of jonquils that once must have lined the walkway to the front or back door of one of these residences. In spots during the summer, you can see grass that must have once been in the yards of workers&#8217; shacks along streets now no longer there. Until a few years ago, a pile of wood that was the one-room schoolhouse was still there, but it has rotted away now.</p><p><strong>DY:</strong> <strong>What about Runion inspired you to write – and include the town in your work? How&#8217;s the reaction been?</strong></p><p><strong>MAC: </strong>During my school years of reading and study, I came across literary places like Faulkner&#8217;s Yoknapatawpha County, Sherwood Anderson&#8217;s Winesburg, Ohio, and James Joyce&#8217;s Dublin. I saw Runion as a real place with a real history that had, in the present, become something of a blank slate. I realized that I could recreate it as anything I wanted. I could take the best (and worst?) of the small towns I grew up with and make a place where a variety of stories could happen and lives could be lived. At the same time, it could be surrounded by the very real geography and history of Madison County, just as Marshall, Mars Hill, Hot Springs, and my Walnut, are. Runion became my ideal small-town of both past and present.</p><p>The reaction has been good, I think. Those who read A Twilight Reel, my collection of short stories set in Runion, have gotten a good feel for the place and its people. My cousin who lives in Australia and hasn&#8217;t been in the North Carolina mountains in over half a century texted me a few nights ago to say the book makes him feel like he is in Runion and its environs. [This short story collection was published in 2021. The book won the Short Story/Anthology category of Feathered Quill Book Awards 2022.]</p><p><strong>DY: Nashville is such a strong element of your work and obviously Nashville has changed, pretty regularly, over the decades. Tell me a little about your time there and how it relates to what you&#8217;re doing now.</strong></p><p><strong>MAC: </strong>I lived in Nashville through my twenties (the 1980s), which seem to have been really formative years for me. I had a lot of good friends and did the majority of my songwriting there. My first introduction to Nashville was in January 1980, when I abandoned my music major (flute) at Mars Hill College and transferred to become a music business major at Nashville&#8217;s Belmont College. That lasted only a semester (too much business, not enough music), and I was home in Walnut by June.</p><p>Not long after this, however, I returned to Nashville with a $500-month songwriting contract and an added production contract that put me in the recording studio to record – between 1981 and 1984 – two unreleased albums of my songs. (You can read all about this in my first novel <em>Gabriel&#8217;s Songbook</em>, which I like to say is autobiographical in its bones and fiction in its flesh and blood.) When my first staff writing gig ended, I worked at Cat&#8217;s Records (a record/video store) and cleaned swimming pools. Another staff writing gig came along in 1986 or 1987, and I did that for a couple of years, during which I put together a band and made a go at that Rock Star! life.</p><p>The 1980s in Nashville became the last decade of more or less traditional music business. The digital revolution was on the horizon, and the systems of song publishing and recording would begin to change drastically as the early &#8217;90s arrived. The changing character of the music business in turn changed, for me, Nashville as a place. I left in the last months of 1989 and returned home to the North Carolina mountains, married, began a family, and started back to school.</p><hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/><div id="signup" class="wp-block-group is-style-default has-light-gray-background-color has-background"><div class="wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow"><div style="height:1px" aria-hidden="true" class="wp-block-spacer"></div>
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  458. <div class="wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex"><div class="wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow" style="flex-basis:33.33%"><figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://dailyyonder.com/contact-us/subscribe-daily-yonder/#path-finders"><img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" width="780" height="780" onerror="if (typeof newspackHandleImageError === 'function') newspackHandleImageError(this);" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/path-finders-icon-edited-1296x1296.png?resize=780%2C780&#038;ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-70866" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/path-finders-icon-edited.png?resize=1296%2C1296&amp;ssl=1 1296w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/path-finders-icon-edited.png?resize=760%2C760&amp;ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/path-finders-icon-edited.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/path-finders-icon-edited.png?resize=768%2C768&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/path-finders-icon-edited.png?resize=1536%2C1536&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/path-finders-icon-edited.png?resize=1200%2C1200&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/path-finders-icon-edited.png?resize=800%2C800&amp;ssl=1 800w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/path-finders-icon-edited.png?resize=400%2C400&amp;ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/path-finders-icon-edited.png?resize=200%2C200&amp;ssl=1 200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/path-finders-icon-edited.png?resize=1568%2C1568&amp;ssl=1 1568w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/path-finders-icon-edited.png?resize=300%2C300&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/path-finders-icon-edited.png?resize=706%2C706&amp;ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/path-finders-icon-edited.png?resize=100%2C100&amp;ssl=1 100w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/path-finders-icon-edited.png?w=1697&amp;ssl=1 1697w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/path-finders-icon-edited-1296x1296.png?w=370&amp;ssl=1 370w" sizes="(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px" /></a></figure></div>
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  460. <div class="wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow" style="flex-basis:66.66%"><p>This interview first appeared in <strong>Path Finders</strong>, a weekly email newsletter from the Daily Yonder. Each Monday, Path Finders features a Q&amp;A with a rural thinker, creator, or doer. Join the mailing list today, to have these illuminating conversations delivered straight to your inbox. </p></div></div>
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  489. </div></div></div><hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/><p></p><p>The post <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/qa-author-michael-amos-codys-new-book-takes-us-to-the-streets-of-nashville-and-beyond/2025/04/11/">Q&amp;A: Author Michael Amos Cody&#8217;s New Book Takes Us to the Streets of Nashville and Beyond</a> appeared first on <a href="https://dailyyonder.com">The Daily Yonder</a>.</p>
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  498. <title>Not Just a Blue Dot in a Sea of Red: April 5th Protests Across Rural America</title>
  499. <link>https://dailyyonder.com/not-just-a-blue-dot-in-a-sea-of-red-april-5th-protests-across-rural-america/2025/04/10/</link>
  500. <comments>https://dailyyonder.com/not-just-a-blue-dot-in-a-sea-of-red-april-5th-protests-across-rural-america/2025/04/10/#respond</comments>
  502. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Ilana Newman and Sarah Melotte]]></dc:creator>
  503. <pubDate>Thu, 10 Apr 2025 10:01:00 +0000</pubDate>
  504. <category><![CDATA[Government & Policy]]></category>
  505. <category><![CDATA[Rural Life]]></category>
  506. <category><![CDATA[Rural Voters & Elections]]></category>
  507. <category><![CDATA[Trump's Second Term]]></category>
  508. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://dailyyonder.com/?p=227684</guid>
  509.  
  510. <description><![CDATA[<figure><img width="1024" height="768" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/IMG_0039-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&amp;ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/IMG_0039-scaled.jpg?w=2560&amp;ssl=1 2560w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/IMG_0039-scaled.jpg?resize=760%2C570&amp;ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/IMG_0039-scaled.jpg?resize=1296%2C972&amp;ssl=1 1296w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/IMG_0039-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C576&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/IMG_0039-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1152&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/IMG_0039-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1536&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/IMG_0039-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C900&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/IMG_0039-scaled.jpg?resize=800%2C600&amp;ssl=1 800w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/IMG_0039-scaled.jpg?resize=600%2C450&amp;ssl=1 600w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/IMG_0039-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C300&amp;ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/IMG_0039-scaled.jpg?resize=200%2C150&amp;ssl=1 200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/IMG_0039-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/IMG_0039-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1500&amp;ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/IMG_0039-scaled.jpg?resize=780%2C585&amp;ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/IMG_0039-scaled.jpg?resize=706%2C530&amp;ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/IMG_0039-scaled.jpg?w=2340&amp;ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/IMG_0039-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&amp;ssl=1&amp;w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure>
  511. <p>On April 5th, 2025, people took to the streets across the country to protest the Trump administration’s broad actions aimed at reducing, defunding, and &#8211; in specific cases &#8211; closing entirely various federal agencies. While there were large protests in cities like New York, Washington D.C., Chicago, and more, rural communities also showed up, sometimes [&#8230;]</p>
  512. <p>The post <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/not-just-a-blue-dot-in-a-sea-of-red-april-5th-protests-across-rural-america/2025/04/10/">Not Just a Blue Dot in a Sea of Red: April 5th Protests Across Rural America</a> appeared first on <a href="https://dailyyonder.com">The Daily Yonder</a>.</p>
  513. ]]></description>
  514. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<figure><img width="1024" height="768" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/IMG_0039-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&amp;ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/IMG_0039-scaled.jpg?w=2560&amp;ssl=1 2560w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/IMG_0039-scaled.jpg?resize=760%2C570&amp;ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/IMG_0039-scaled.jpg?resize=1296%2C972&amp;ssl=1 1296w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/IMG_0039-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C576&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/IMG_0039-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1152&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/IMG_0039-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1536&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/IMG_0039-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C900&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/IMG_0039-scaled.jpg?resize=800%2C600&amp;ssl=1 800w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/IMG_0039-scaled.jpg?resize=600%2C450&amp;ssl=1 600w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/IMG_0039-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C300&amp;ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/IMG_0039-scaled.jpg?resize=200%2C150&amp;ssl=1 200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/IMG_0039-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/IMG_0039-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1500&amp;ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/IMG_0039-scaled.jpg?resize=780%2C585&amp;ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/IMG_0039-scaled.jpg?resize=706%2C530&amp;ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/IMG_0039-scaled.jpg?w=2340&amp;ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/IMG_0039-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&amp;ssl=1&amp;w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure><p>On April 5th, 2025, people took to the streets across the country to protest the Trump administration’s broad actions aimed at reducing, defunding, and &#8211; in specific cases &#8211; closing entirely various federal agencies. While there were large protests in cities like New York, Washington D.C., Chicago, and more, rural communities also showed up, sometimes with significant percentages of the local population.</p><p>According to data compiled by <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1f-30Rsg6N_ONQAulO-yVXTKpZxXchRRB2kD3Zhkpe_A/edit?gid=68180711#gid=68180711">We (The People) Dissent</a>, and analyzed by the Daily Yonder, at least 400 protests, under a collective name of &#8220;Hands Off!,&#8221; took place in rural counties on Saturday, April 5th, with almost every state having at least one protest in a rural county.</p><iframe title="Rural Hands Off! Protests on April 5, 2025" aria-label="Map" id="datawrapper-chart-dBnOK" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/dBnOK/2/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;" height="451" data-external="1"></iframe><script type="text/javascript">!function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";r.style.height=d}}}))}();
  515. </script><p>In Cortez, Colorado, a town of 9,000, an estimated 600 people showed up for a Hands Off protest organized by the local League of Women Voters. That’s six percent of the city’s population and two percent of Montezuma County’s population — in a county that voted for Trump by 21 percentage points in 2024.</p><p>Karen Sheek, president of the Montezuma County League of Women Voters, said the Cortez gathering “wound up being a really wonderful, peaceful event that I think signifies that we have a whole community that&#8217;s got some concerns and we raise those in a peaceful and respectful manner.”</p><p>The event consisted of an almost a mile march down Main Street in Cortez, which is also part of Highway 160. After the march, many participants gathered at the Cortez Cultural Center to listen to speakers, who talked about the Trump administration’s effects on local issues from agriculture to public lands to healthcare, Sheek said.</p><figure class="wp-block-video alignright"><video controls src="https://dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/IMG_0396.mov"></video><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Protesters hold signs during a march in rural Cortez, Colorado. Video by Emily Huminski. </figcaption></figure><p>“The First Amendment guarantees our right to peacefully assemble to petition our government and freedom of speech. On Saturday, 600 plus people in Montezuma County exercised that First Amendment right,” Sheek said.</p><p>In nearby Durango, around <a href="https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/hands-off-rally-in-durango-draws-out-one-thousand-protesters/">1000 people</a> gathered for another protest, in a town of 20,000. 60 miles further, in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/50501/comments/1jswyph/perhaps_insignificant_compared_to_dc_nyc_and_the/">around 300 people</a> protested in the town of 1,700 — about 17% of the population.</p><p>Booneville, Indiana, population of 6,246, had 37 people protesting on Saturday, said Laura King, who helped organize the event. Warrick County, Indiana, voted for Trump by 30 percentage points in 2024. King said the southwest Indiana community is small enough that you don’t talk about politics, in fear of ruining relationships, which makes showing up at a local protest intimidating for many.</p><p>The turnout was more than they anticipated. “It was a big deal to have that many people,” King said, “everyone was nervous at first, but surprisingly, we actually got a lot of positive feedback from the community.” Many cars driving by honked in support, and King said only a few people expressed any sort of negative feelings towards the protesters.</p><p>“The most important thing is visibility,” King said. “We have immigrants. We have people that are LGBTQ. We have people that are trans, and knowing that they have support I think is the biggest thing. People do care and people do support them even if everything you see around you says Trump, Trump, Trump.”</p><div class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow aligncenter" data-effect="slide"><div class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_container swiper-container"><ul class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_swiper-wrapper swiper-wrapper"><li class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_slide swiper-slide"><figure><img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" width="780" height="624" onerror="if (typeof newspackHandleImageError === 'function') newspackHandleImageError(this);" alt="" class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_image wp-image-227690" data-id="227690" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1743885445533.jpeg?resize=780%2C624&#038;ssl=1" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1743885445533.jpeg?resize=1296%2C1037&amp;ssl=1 1296w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1743885445533.jpeg?resize=760%2C608&amp;ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1743885445533.jpeg?resize=768%2C615&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1743885445533.jpeg?resize=1536%2C1229&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1743885445533.jpeg?resize=2048%2C1639&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1743885445533.jpeg?resize=1200%2C960&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1743885445533.jpeg?resize=1024%2C819&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1743885445533.jpeg?resize=2000%2C1600&amp;ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1743885445533.jpeg?resize=780%2C624&amp;ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1743885445533.jpeg?resize=400%2C320&amp;ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1743885445533.jpeg?resize=706%2C565&amp;ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1743885445533-1296x1037.jpeg?w=370&amp;ssl=1 370w" sizes="(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px" /><figcaption class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_caption gallery-caption">More than 75 people showed up to protest in Hays, Kansas, population 21,040. Photo by Tony Guerrero/Hays Post.</figcaption></figure></li><li class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_slide swiper-slide"><figure><img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" width="780" height="624" onerror="if (typeof newspackHandleImageError === 'function') newspackHandleImageError(this);" alt="" class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_image wp-image-227698" data-id="227698" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1743886007749.jpeg?resize=780%2C624&#038;ssl=1" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1743886007749.jpeg?w=2311&amp;ssl=1 2311w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1743886007749.jpeg?resize=760%2C608&amp;ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1743886007749.jpeg?resize=1296%2C1037&amp;ssl=1 1296w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1743886007749.jpeg?resize=768%2C614&amp;ssl=1 768w, 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https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1743886115060-1.jpeg?resize=760%2C608&amp;ssl=1 760w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1743886115060-1.jpeg?resize=1296%2C1037&amp;ssl=1 1296w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1743886115060-1.jpeg?resize=768%2C615&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1743886115060-1.jpeg?resize=1536%2C1229&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1743886115060-1.jpeg?resize=2048%2C1639&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1743886115060-1.jpeg?resize=1200%2C960&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1743886115060-1.jpeg?resize=1024%2C819&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1743886115060-1.jpeg?resize=2000%2C1600&amp;ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1743886115060-1.jpeg?resize=780%2C624&amp;ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1743886115060-1.jpeg?resize=400%2C320&amp;ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1743886115060-1.jpeg?resize=706%2C565&amp;ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1743886115060-1.jpeg?w=2340&amp;ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1743886115060-1.jpeg?w=370&amp;ssl=1 370w" sizes="(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px" /></figure></li></ul><a class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_button-prev swiper-button-prev swiper-button-white" role="button"></a><a class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_button-next swiper-button-next swiper-button-white" role="button"></a><a aria-label="Pause Slideshow" class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_button-pause" role="button"></a><div class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_pagination swiper-pagination swiper-pagination-white"></div></div></div><p>In Roseburg, Oregon, in a county that voted for Trump by 38 percentage points in 2024, around 1000 people gathered on Garden Valley Boulevard holding signs. “I&#8217;ve never seen anything like that here in Roseburg,” said Douglas County resident Audrey Squires, who attended the protest.</p><p>“The politicians at the national level have tried to divide us at the class level, and that wasn&#8217;t the case on Saturday,” Squires said. “I think there were people from a lot of different backgrounds and even different political beliefs on the street together.”</p><div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" width="780" height="1040" onerror="if (typeof newspackHandleImageError === 'function') newspackHandleImageError(this);" src="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/IMG_1101.jpg?resize=780%2C1040&#038;ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-227694" style="width:400px;height:auto" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/IMG_1101.jpg?resize=972%2C1296&amp;ssl=1 972w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/IMG_1101.jpg?resize=570%2C760&amp;ssl=1 570w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/IMG_1101.jpg?resize=768%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/IMG_1101.jpg?resize=1152%2C1536&amp;ssl=1 1152w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/IMG_1101.jpg?resize=900%2C1200&amp;ssl=1 900w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/IMG_1101.jpg?resize=600%2C800&amp;ssl=1 600w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/IMG_1101.jpg?resize=450%2C600&amp;ssl=1 450w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/IMG_1101.jpg?resize=300%2C400&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/IMG_1101.jpg?resize=150%2C200&amp;ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/IMG_1101.jpg?resize=1200%2C1600&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/IMG_1101.jpg?resize=780%2C1040&amp;ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/IMG_1101.jpg?resize=400%2C533&amp;ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/IMG_1101.jpg?resize=706%2C941&amp;ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/IMG_1101.jpg?w=1512&amp;ssl=1 1512w, https://i0.wp.com/dailyyonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/IMG_1101-972x1296.jpg?w=370&amp;ssl=1 370w" sizes="(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Signs from an April, 5th protest in Roseburg, Oregon. (Photo submitted)</figcaption></figure></div><p>In China Grove, North Carolina, Joyce Nash knew she couldn’t make it to a bigger city for a larger protest. So she posted online saying she would go out by herself with a sign and stand on the sidewalk in the nearby town of Salisbury, the county seat. Census data categorizes 42% of Rowan County’s population as rural, however, some sources categorize it as a suburb of Charlotte, North Carolina.</p><p>Nash said her last minute event brought ten other people out to hold out signs on the sidewalk, many of whom did not know each other already. “There&#8217;s a lot of value in demonstrating that we&#8217;re not alone, we&#8217;re not blue dots in the sea of red. We&#8217;re all out here together,” said Nash.</p><p>According to <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1f-30Rsg6N_ONQAulO-yVXTKpZxXchRRB2kD3Zhkpe_A/edit?gid=900753738#gid=900753738">self-reported data</a> gathered by We (the People) Dissent, thousands of people showed up across rural America. In Daleville, Alabama, population 4,926, 100 people reportedly showed up. In Cherryfield, Maine, population 1,107, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/carvingpavilion/p/DIFNZFuOHMv/?img_index=1">over 100 people</a> protested. In Gardiner, Montana, population 791, 75 people reportedly gathered. In Ephrata, Washington, population 1,276, 70 people showed up.<br><br>The commonality in all these rural communities that organized protests, no matter the size of the turnout, was a feeling of solidarity and momentum. Every rural protest organizer and attendee talked to for this story expressed their motivation to continue to gather and organize in their small towns.</p><p>These protests show the value in showing up in small towns, even when it might feel pointless. King, in southwest Indiana, emphasized how important it is to have people on the ballot in otherwise uncontested races, and she hopes that these protests and gatherings will inspire more people to get involved.</p><p>“Hopefully we&#8217;ll incentivize people to participate either by protesting or getting involved with their local party to get the vote out or get people on the ballot, get people to run and know that they&#8217;ll have support,” King said.</p><p>The post <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/not-just-a-blue-dot-in-a-sea-of-red-april-5th-protests-across-rural-america/2025/04/10/">Not Just a Blue Dot in a Sea of Red: April 5th Protests Across Rural America</a> appeared first on <a href="https://dailyyonder.com">The Daily Yonder</a>.</p>
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