Category: Rural Headlines

EXCERPT: “Allison Roderick has a warning and a pledge for rural residents of her county: The water from their wells could be contaminated, but the government can help make it safe. Roderick is the environmental health officer for Webster County in north-central Iowa, where a few thousand rural residents live among sprawling corn and soybean ...

EXCERPT: “Blandin Foundation has awarded a $1 million, three-year grant to the Greater Minnesota Housing Fund to launch a comprehensive rural housing project designed to address the Grand Rapids and Leech Lake areas’ acute housing challenges. The project will build or preserve more than 400 units and address the entire housing system, from updating all ...

EXCERPT: “The city of Marshall’s aquatic center has long been a go-to place for swim lessons and family fun, but the center’s 1930s-vintage main pool and supporting facilities have been showing their age. The bath house and concessions building have code compliance issues, mechanical systems are deteriorated, plumbing systems need regular repairs and water line breaks ...

EXCERPT: “Matt Varilek is fortunate as the new commissioner of Minnesota’s Department of Employment and Economic Development to have internet that is fast enough for him to have remote meetings at home in rural Benton County. But not everyone in Greater Minnesota has that ability, which is why delivering broadband across the state is a passion ...

EXCERPT: “Gov. Tim Walz has announced that 36 cities, townships and counties across Greater Minnesota will receive nearly $24 million in Small Cities Development Program grants, with Bagley, Fosston and Kelliher on the list of recipients. The grants will be used for residential and commercial property rehabilitation, upgrading public facilities and other economic development projects. Bagley will ...

EXCERPT: “As this summer has shown, the massive smoke plumes generated by wildfires can dirty the air of regions many miles away. Now a new study is raising the question of whether that pollution is contributing to suicides in rural America. Researchers found a correlation between air pollution from “drifting” wildfire smoke and a rise in ...

EXCERPT: “In rural areas where hospitals have shuttered, like Pickens County, the nearest surviving facilities are long drives away, ambulance coverage is sparse, and residents in the throes of medical emergencies often find their situations even more precarious. In May, the rural health research and policy centers released the results of an effort by the Maine ...

EXCERPT: “On the outskirts of Plainview in southeastern Minnesota, a cornfield that sits next to a golf course could be a crucial part of the small city’s future. In theory, it will become a housing development with single-family homes, commercial property and a 43-unit apartment building on 10 acres. The city has a population of about 3,500, ...

EXCERPT: “A new study from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health (SPH) State Health Access Data Assistance Center (SHADAC) shows that vaccination rates for some racial and ethnic groups lagged behind rates for the state’s white population. The study calculated ‘time-to-vaccination’ outcomes — estimates of the length of time it took to vaccinate ...