Category: Rural Headlines

EXCERPT: “Area lawmakers say broadband funding will be a crucial issue in this year’s legislative session, but no one is certain just how much the state will spend. COVID-related regulations and lockdown efforts exacerbated Greater Minnesota’s need for better internet access over the past year, giving urgency to the Capitol’s annual debate over broadband infrastructure. ...

EXCERPT: “Unemployment rates have risen in rural Minnesota due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but they mask a bigger challenge. A decade-long worker shortage continues to persist in many industries in rural Minnesota, according to new research conducted for the Center for Rural Policy and Development by Kelly Asche and Marnie Werner. Asche presented the findings ...

EXCERPT: “Getting shots into arms in rural Americans, most of whom see getting the vaccine as a personal choice and not a social responsibility to protect others, is a problem that will require tailored outreach and messaging. It underscores that a cookie cutter approach to vaccine hesitancy campaigns will not work. Even as coronavirus surges in ...

EXCERPT: “After nearly a year of modified instruction in many school districts across the state, some Minnesota students are not giving distance learning high marks. More than a half-dozen students representing various communities shared their frustrations over the learning model during the House Education Finance Committee’s first meeting of the session. They all agreed the ...

EXCERPT: “A strong majority of farmers/farmworkers say the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted their mental health, and more than half say they are personally experiencing more mental health challenges than they were a year ago, according to a new American Farm Bureau poll . . . The results of the new poll clearly demonstrate that the ...

EXCERPT: “A new study has found that while the prevalence of neurologic conditions like dementia, stroke, Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis (MS) is consistent across the U.S., the distribution of neurologists is not, and people in more rural areas may be less likely to receive specialty care for certain neurologic conditions. The study, funded by ...

EXCERPT: “Two of 13 projects that have received funding to improve Minnesota’s freight transportation network are in McLeod County. The first project, which is to construct a roundabout at the intersection of U.S. Highway 212 and Morningside Drive in Glencoe, is slated for 2024. The second project, which is to construct a roundabout at the ...

EXCERPT: “Legislators from the Moorhead area discussed their plans to assist border cities and their businesses in advance of the legislative session which begins Monday, Jan. 4. Sen. Kent Eken, D-Twin Valley, Rep. Paul Marquart, D-Dilworth, and Rep.-elect Heather Keeler, D-Moorhead, joined Department of Transportation Commissioner Margaret Anderson Kelliher in the roundtable discussion, which was ...

EXCERPT: “The Federal Communications Commission announced on Monday that more than $408 million of a $9.2 billion national broadband grant program would be spent over 10 years on developing high-speed internet in rural Minnesota. That $408 million is the fourth largest sum for any one state, putting Minnesota behind only California, Mississippi and Arkansas. While local broadband ...