Category: Rural Headlines

EXCERPT: “The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) launched a $1.9 million test pilot that aims to improve public transportation needs across western and southern rural Minnesota. If the test pilot goes well, it could be expanded state-wide and improved upon. ‘This is a huge step forward for rural transit agencies to provide trip planning and ...

EXCERPT: “There’s great excitement as Alissa Kretsch hides purple hearts around the playroom in her home day care. Kretsch has been a child care provider in New Ulm for more than a decade and runs the business from her home. Her services are in demand, and it’s only getting busier. ‘I get calls like at least ...

EXCERPT: “According to a July 2022 report by Feeding America, rural counties make up 63% of all U.S counties but represent 87% of counties with food-insecurity rates in the top 10%. That means counties with the highest rates of food insecurity are disproportionately rural. ‘In North Dakota, 95% of the land area in the state is ...

EXCERPT: “Hibbing is something of a rarity when it comes to electricity. Since 2021, most of the city’s power has been generated by burning wood chips and mulch — up to 9,000 tons a month — largely from a local pallet manufacturer. The plant allows the small municipal utility to support northeastern Minnesota’s logging industry ...

EXCERPT: “Paul Bunyan Communications has been awarded a $10 million U.S. Department of Agriculture grant to expand its fiber optic broadband services to portions of Hubbard, Itasca and St. Louis Counties. The USDA grant will cover about 75% of the expansion costs with the cooperative investing the remainder to expand its all-fiber optic to approximately 3,500 ...

EXCERPT: “Rural childcare is an emerging issue as farm bill discussions pick up. U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee member Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota tells Brownfield she’s hosted several listening sessions across her state recently. ‘And boy did we hear a lot about childcare when we were out there in terms of the Rural Development Title of the ...

EXCERPT: “New research suggests that pregnant women and new moms in rural U.S. areas are at greater risk of adverse outcomes, including death, because they are more likely to be uninsured. Women living in rural communities had lower rates of uninterrupted health insurance before, during and after pregnancy compared to those in urban areas, a ...

EXCERPT: “The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced over $1.6 million in grants to help fight homelessness in rural Minnesota. HUD says the grants are part of a nationwide effort to address the issue of homelessness in rural areas. A total of $315 million will be given in grants to 46 communities across the country. In Minnesota, Continuums ...

EXCERPT: “For the next five years, the Minnesota State Office of Rural Health will receive federal funds to continue an initiative that expands suburban health care access to rural providers across the state. This could include telehealth, information sharing, technology assistance, staff training, and more. ‘We do utilize the state office of rural health and we’ve ...