EXCERPT: “The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services today released a notice of funding opportunity for rural communities across the country. Under the Community Health Access and Rural Transformation Model Community Transformation Track, CMS will award grants to up to 15 rural communities to work with healthcare providers and payers. The goal of this initiative is to ...

We wanted to get to know more about the Citizens League, a Twin Cities nonpartisan, nonprofit think tank that has led discussions and developed solutions to policy questions in areas like transportation, education, and infrastructure for more than sixty years. Now they would like to expand their volunteer-based model for solving problems into rural Minnesota, too, ...

EXCERPT: “State health and safety officials are stepping up efforts to ensure all bars and restaurants are safe for customers and employees. Compliance teams from the Minnesota Departments of Public Safety (DPS), Health (MDH), Labor and Industry (DLI) and Agriculture (MDA) visited more than 150 bars and restaurants in several communities over the past two ...

EXCERPT: “The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced that they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to work together on the Rural Telehealth Initiative, a joint effort to collaborate and share information to address health disparities, resolve service provider challenges, and ...

Tourism makes up a significant piece of rural Minnesota’s economic pie. Our guest on this episode is Cynthia Messer, the director of the Tourism Center at the University of Minnesota Extension. She talked with CRPD president Julie Tesch about the research they do at the Tourism Center, the role tourism spending plays in Greater MN, ...

EXCERPT: “White House coronavirus advisor Dr. Deborah Birx traveled through rural Minnesota on her way to St. Paul to meet with Governor Walz and other local health and policy leaders. And she says she noticed a difference in who’s wearing masks and taking other COVID-19 precautions. ‘There is a real attention to these mitigation efforts ...

EXCERPT: “Don Tschida grows corn, beans and small grain on land that his father and grandfather farmed before him. On his central Minnesota farm, he also raises a small herd of beef cattle and two barns of broiler chickens . . . Starting this week, farmers in parts of Minnesota, including in Morrison County, will face ...

EXCERPT: “The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency says it will fund 38 new electric vehicle charging stations along four corridors in the state. The 38 new stations will expand the electric vehicle charging network by more than 2,500 miles in greater Minnesota, the MPCA says. Between 2018 and 2019, the number of electric vehicle registrations nearly doubled, ...

EXCERPT: “As COVID-19 spread in Minnesota and Gov. Tim Walz shut down public life, the child care industry struggled from lack of income as children stayed home with their parents. But even during rocky economic times, which have led businesses of all stripes to close their doors over the last five months, some Minnesotans have managed a ...

By Whitney Oachs, Research Intern As discussed in our recent 2020 State of Rural Report, most farmers were barely getting by before the onslaught of COVID-19. While agricultural land values have remained at historic highs, low commodity prices and increased costs of production have resulted in negative net income, contributing to declining mental health for ...