Category: Rural Headlines

EXCERPT: “Every Sunday since the coronavirus lockdown started, Stephanie Anstey drives 20 minutes from her home in Grottoes, Virginia, to sit in her school’s near-empty parking lot and type away on her laptop. Anstey, a middle school history teacher, lives in a valley between two mountains, where the only available home internet option is a satellite ...

EXCERPT: “In a conference call on Wednesday, April 22, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., spoke with area school administrators and Paul Bunyan Communications about the roll out of distance learning, technology concerns and rural broadband development. Bemidji Area Schools Superintendent Tim Lutz, Superintendent, Deer River Schools Matt Grose, Red Lake Public School District Technology Coordinator ...

EXCERPT: “The worst impact of the coronavirus as of early April has been in urban areas, but the problem is quickly spreading to less dense regions. Hospitals and public health agencies in the nation’s rural counties, many of which were already struggling before the pandemic took hold, may lack the resources to respond, in part because ...

EXCERPT: “The novel coronavirus pandemic is changing how employers and job-seekers are connecting. Finding and applying for jobs online was common before COVID-19 eliminated much of the face-to-face interaction of our society. So what’s different now? ‘What has changed is how they access our services,’ said Joan Berning, Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development Field ...

EXCERPT: “The coronavirus pandemic, and efforts to slow its spread, has shuttered many government buildings. But cities and counties need to continue providing essential services, so many local governments are moving to remote, virtual meetings. For some, that’s meant putting meetings online for the first time. Others, like the city of Moorhead, have long broadcast ...

EXCERPT: “A full quarter of rural hospitals in the U.S. are at a high risk of closing unless their financial situations improve, according to an annual Guidehouse analysis of publicly available data. The data examined by Guidehouse – formerly Navigant – was collected prior to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, meaning the situation is likely to get ...

EXCERPT: “The request has gotten caught up in a larger debate over the conversion of forests to potato fields in Minnesota’s Pineland Sands region, which covers Wadena, Cass, Becker and Hubbard counties. Nolte’s request came at a time of heightened concern over how widespread land use changes in the region — clearing forest to make ...

EXCERPT: “Martin County on the state’s southern border has more than its share of coronavirus cases. At just 20,000 residents, the agricultural region has 24 confirmed cases of the virus and two deaths, according to Martin County Sheriff Jeffrey Markquart. (The Minnesota Department of Health website posts 23 cases.) That’s more than the 22 cases ...

EXCERPT: “The six Minnesota Initiative Foundations have created an EmergencyChild Care Grant Program to provide immediate financial support to licensed child care providers in Greater Minnesota in response to the coronavirus pandemic or COVID-19. All six foundations have committed $50,000 – for a total of $300,000 dedicated for Greater Minnesota child care providers right away – ...