Category: Rural Headlines

EXCERPT: “The differences in survival rates between rural and urban cancer patients are significantly reduced when patients are enrolled in a cancer clinical trial, a study published in JAMA Network Open found. CDC statistics show a significant disparity in cancer deaths. Between 2011 and 2015, 180 people out of 100,000 died of cancer in rural areas, compared to ...

EXCERPT: “The Federal Communications Commission is putting its money where its mouth is when it comes to ensuring that rural Americans are able to connect to quality healthcare through the deployment of high-speed broadband. Earlier this month, the FCC unanimously approved a new $100 million Connected Care Pilot Program designed to provide access to telemedicine for ...

EXCERPT: “Dollar General is opening stores at the rate of three a day across the US. It moves into places not even Walmart will go, targeting rural towns and damaged inner-city neighbourhoods with basic goods at basic prices – a strategy described by a former chief executive of the chain as ‘we went where they ...

EXCERPT: “Working to bridge gaps in understanding between residents of urban and rural areas of Minnesota, Melissa Wray is passionate about finding the humanity in all of us . . . While she currently lives in Minneapolis, Wray grew up in Caledonia on a sheep farm. After hearing a continuous narrative in the news of the ...

EXCERPT: “In four of the past five statewide primaries, greater Minnesota voters were more likely to participate than residents of the seven-county Twin Cities area. In three of those contests, the sheer number of greater Minnesota voters was greater than in the Twin Cities. That dominance comes even as greater Minnesota has fewer registered voters (1.4 ...

EXCERPT: “The tendency of young people to leave small-town America for the big city isn’t new. But for the past few decades, more and more of us have been doing it. As Alana Semuels pointed out in an article for The Atlantic a couple years ago, ‘Over the past two decades, as cities have become job centers that attract ...

EXCERPT: “When the Lake County Board of Commissioners voted last week to approve a $3.5 million purchase agreement for Lake Connections, the county’s municipal broadband Internet project, there were some gasps that the federal government and taxpayers could lose up to $45 million in the deal. Pinpoint Holdings in Lincoln, Neb., submitted the bid for the ...

EXCERPT: “Talk about unfair. Millions of broadband customers in rural and underserved urban markets are paying nearly identical prices for slower DSL service as customers who have access to high-speed fiber services. That’s the conclusion from a report published this week by the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA), which advocates for more equitable broadband deployment. In places where AT&T ...

EXCERPT: “The Minnesota Public Facilities Authority (PFA) approved $7.06 million in loans and grants for water infrastructure projects in six Minnesota communities. Funding was approved for projects in Lowry, Eden Valley, Rice Lake, Mankato, Courtland and Pemberton. ‘Communities across Minnesota face serious water-quality challenges,’ said Governor Mark Dayton. ‘This funding supports improvements that will give residents ...