Rural white people have long held disproportionate power in US politics. But polls suggest their commitments to the American political system are eroding.
Seeking greenhorns with green thumbs.
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The Pulitzer Prize-winning author is just one of many artists from Appalachia who are probing the crisis in their work, while taking pains to ensure that it doesn’t define the region and its people.
Small-scale farmers, organic producers and local markets receive a tiny fraction of farm bill funding.
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If the EV transition focuses exclusively on drivers in privately owned cars, it won’t meet many Americans’ mobility needs, particularly in underserved communities.
Calculating the cost of living in the country.
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The rising cost of living doesn’t hit all Americans equally. Yet the benchmark figure for charting the rising cost of living excludes people in rural areas.
Young queer people growing up in rural areas don’t necessarily need to flee their communities to find safety and acceptance.
Rural students who grow up with strong ties to their schools are more likely to return to their hometowns after they graduate from college.
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While many students who grew up in rural communities leave for good after going off to college, some are returning to their rural roots. A scholar who studies education and small towns explains why.
A prairie strip filled with flowers and wild rye grass between soybean fields on Tim Smith’s farm near Eagle Grove, Iowa, reduces greenhouse gases and stores carbon in the soil.
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Farmers can help slow climate change by mixing native grasses into croplands, restoring wetlands and raising perennial crops. These strategies also conserve soil and water and build new markets.
Lawrence, Kan., is one of the communities that would go from being considered urban to rural.
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A federal proposal could effectively reclassify the homes of millions of Americans as rural, not urban – without anything actually changing about their communities.
Not all gay people enjoy big cities, but pop culture has little to say about rural LGBTQ life.
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Stereotypically, gay, queer and trans kids flee small towns to find acceptance in big, diverse cities like New York or Chicago. But evidence shows many will eventually return to rural areas.
High-speed internet is harder to come by in the country.
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Americans depend more than ever on high-speed internet to connect to jobs, get health care and socialize. What policies really work to close the rural-urban digital divide?
The USPS has suffered delays in recent months.
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
The Postal Service plays a critical role in the supply chains of small businesses and in keeping rural America connected. There’s no reason it can’t continue to do so despite its financial woes.
Patrons eat outside at a small cafe in West Reading, Pennsylvania, as the community begins to reopen.
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Emily Costello, The Conversation e Aviva Rutkin, The Conversation
African Americans, young children and rural Americans are a few of the groups at risk of being undercounted in this year’s census.
In the rural South, chronic illnesses are common, the population is older and health care options have been declining as hospitals close. All put the population at higher risk from COVID-19.
AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis
Rural America has special problems as it copes with the COVID-19 pandemic.
High-tech tools can help African American children avoid drugs and alcohol, honor their racial heritage, and remain optimistic.
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