The Yonder Report

The midterms are fast approaching and research shows Native voters can expect significant barriers, rural hospitals struggle to keep up with electronic record keeping, Banned Books Week comes as Congress debates censorship, and the Headless Horseman rides again!

An Idaho county's ban on wind and solar energy may soon be overturned, some of Virginia's money for healthcare is instead going to ICE, conservation is the focus of next year's planting season in Iowa, and bikers cruise into autumn.

A growing number of rural communities are calling for local bans on data centers, the fear of ICE agents is keeping some employees from harvesting crops and New Mexico's famous chile peppers vault into American history.

Money from the Rural Health Transformation Program is rolling out, the closure of a Michigan hospital is worrisome as massive 2027 Medicaid cuts loom, producers are squeezed but the Farm Bill remains stalled and America's Grange halls are hosting harvest potlucks.

Dolly Parton’s legacy lives on through books, Texas health workers want relief from cuts to Medicaid and CHIP while Virginia health advocates urge lawmakers to restore Medicaid and ACA tax credits and finding a lawyer in rural Alabama just got easier.

The sticker price is higher, but EVs are cheaper once your gas-powered car has 18,000 miles, as wildfires rage in Oregon, community groups are getting food, water and more to farm workers and Oklahoma’s libraries are closing the broadband gap.

Americans love burgers, but currently they’re busting the budget, a Colorado ranch is demonstrating cattle grazing and prairie conservation are simpatico, Illinois is trying to restore rain to parched parcels, and Congress considers cracking down on misleading recycling practices.

A Trump executive order to overhaul childhood vaccines plus proposed alterations to Head Start mean big changes for America’s rural kids, not everyone likes Georgia’s data centers but the state’s folk-art garden is a must-see, and its “mooing” time in America.

August offers one of nature’s most awe-inspiring sights, food insecurity hits hardest in rural communities and the South, Oregon is training responders to support aging populations amid extreme weather and a new mosaic commemorates a devastating flood in Whitesburg, Kentucky.

Economic challenges roil America’s farmers, slashed Medicaid is hitting some states harder than others, Washington has joined a lawsuit fighting federal cuts to school-based mental health grants, and libraries help families reduce the high cost of living.

Community Works aims to reduce rural polarization, the U.S. is losing frontline workers to DACA renewal delays while ICE raids increasingly target young people in small towns and Alaska’s oldest lighthouse shines again.

A free Central Texas transportation program allows seniors to reconnect with friends and doctors, a 30-city nurses tour is calling attention to GOP Medicaid cuts, more states are imposing climate-driven water restrictions, and tips for a corny vacation.

A population boom in Bastrop County, Texas has increased mental health needs, the changing climate is doing the same nationwide, Americans’ preference for mega cars and trucks is deadly for pedestrians, and dinosaurs rule in rural South Dakota.

U.S. Supreme Court rulings are applauded and criticized as the nation celebrates 250 years, an Idaho group ramps up help for those in need, extreme cuts to SNAP are coming into focus, and robots could revolutionize agriculture.

The frontline for voting rights is the rural south, colleges are working harder to recruit rural high school students, an ancient grain called sorghum could help fight hunger caused by climate change and pandowdy is the perfect July 4th dessert.

Illinois residents say data centers should be regulated, but lawmakers haven’t acted, a farm group wants voters to back candidates who understand rural America, health advocates encourage rural men to visit their doctor and a 12-state concert tour is celebrating rural roots.

The well-being of children has declined in multiple states, Ho-Chunk tribes are honored at Nebraska’s Winnebago Public Schools, solar isn’t just for homeowners in Colorado and despite a lack of data on rural LGBTQ populations, Pride Month is celebrated.

A border wall through Texas’ Big Bend National Park gets pushback after local news coverage, advocates for small growers in Iowa argue the current Farm Bill favors big ag and doctors tracking Salmonella outbreaks say don’t kiss your chickens.

Illinois farmers and landowners are pushing back against the use of eminent domain for private carbon pipelines, Nebraskans say climate change is affecting their mental health, Utah parents can’t find childcare and its rhubarb season across the rural Midwest.

A planned high-voltage line in Texas is proving divisive, a new poll shows North Carolinians are pessimistic about the economy, the Trump administration’s next budget could devastate tribal higher ed and a tall ship flotilla sails the Eastern Seaboard.

Affordable housing in Wiscasset, Maine is stalled after a proposed data center disrupted plans, farms and ranches now account for 83 percent of solar projects and Colorado farmers turn to rye after a record-setting dry winter.

A dialysis unit has closed in rural Nebraska due to lower Medicare reimbursement rates, “deaths of despair” are slowly declining nationwide but still more common in Appalachia and a South Dakota rancher plants native grasses to fight drought.

A record wildfire season is predicted for parts of the U.S., An Illinois researcher says the Farm Bill is an opportunity to address more than just agriculture and one group is turning surrendered guns into garden tools and artwork.

Political attitudes among rural voters are shifting, maternity care is complex – and becoming more so in rural Illinois communities where demographics have changed and Minnesotans vow to fight efforts overturning a ban on mining in the Boundary Waters.

A loophole in reimbursement rates is partly to blame for rural hospitals closing, Maine may become the first state to ban large-scale data centers and farmers’ financial woes are made worse by laws that prevent them from fixing their farm equipment.