Category: Rural Headlines

EXCERPT: “In early September, Pharmaceutical manufacturer Johnson & Johnson and three large pharmaceutical distributors, McKesson Corp, AmerisourceBergen Corp and Cardinal Health Inc, decided to proceed with a $26 billion settlement to resolve the claims in over 3,000 opioid crisis-related suits across the U.S. Forty-two states joined the settlement, including Minnesota. Participating states are due to ...

EXCERPT: “COVID-19 case rates increased in 59 of 87 Minnesota counties in the weekly statewide report released Thursday by the health department. County case rates are based on the number of confirmed cases in a week per 10,000 people, with the latest report representing case rates for Sept. 19-25. For context, anything over 10 is a ...

EXCERPT: “Minnesota communities, schools and their partners are invited to apply for funding on local projects that enhance transportation goals, according to the Minnesota Department of Transportation. The $6.2 million in federal funding is available through the Transportation Alternatives program in Greater Minnesota (each region has a sub-targeted fund). This program offers a competitive grant for ...

EXCERPT: “Rural Americans are dying of covid at more than twice the rate of their urban counterparts — a divide that health experts say is likely to widen as access to medical care shrinks for a population that tends to be older, sicker, heavier, poorer and less vaccinated. While the initial surge of covid-19 deaths skipped ...

EXCERPT: “Mergers and acquisitions improved patient care outcomes for rural hospitals, a new study published in JAMA Network Open suggests. For the case-control study, researchers affiliated with IBM Watson Health and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, analyzed data from 172 merged hospitals and 266 comparison hospitals that remained independent from 2009 to 2016. The researchers sought ...

EXCERPT: “The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) is now accepting applications for the Minnesota Main Street COVID Relief Grant program. A total of $64,200,000 is available in grants for Minnesotan owned and operated businesses that can demonstrate financial hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Businesses that are majority-owned by military veterans, women, and Black, Indigenous, ...

EXCERPT: “Despite decades of federal and state investments in farm programs and rural economic development, most of rural America is still losing population while urban America is gaining. There are exceptions, of course. Montana attracted so many new people that the state gained a second congressional seat. And oil rich Williams County, North Dakota, was ...

EXCERPT: “The Trump era saw Republicans tighten their grip on voters in Greater Minnesota while DFLers made huge gains in the Twin Cities and metro area suburbs. Now, eight months into Joe Biden’s presidency, Minnesota’s geographic divide remains stark. An Aug. 28-31 MinnPost poll of 1,945 Minnesota voters found that rural and urban voters in Minnesota split sharply on everything from ...

EXCERPT: “Today, the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) has launched the latest round of Child Care Economic Development Grants. These grants authorize $5 million over the next two fiscal years for grants to local communities to increase quality child care providers to support economic development across Minnesota. A total of $2.5 million will ...