EXCERPT: “For women in rural areas, having a baby has become more complicated than it used to be. For years, more rural hospitals have been shutting down maternity units, forcing expectant mothers in small rural and farming communities to travel longer distances to deliver their babies. It didn’t used to be this way. ‘Virtually every ...

EXCERPT: “With a number of regional highway projects — like U.S. Highway 71 north of Willmar — just finishing up, and funding approved for the state Highway 23 four-lane project between Willmar and St. Cloud, transportation officials say there’s much to be thankful for. ‘But there are ongoing needs,’ said Margaret Donahoe, executive director of ...

  Diana Anderson, president of the Southwest Initiative Foundation in Hutchinson, joins us this week to talk about a new initiative on their part to build opportunities for youth in the region, particularly for the 11,000 children who live in poverty there. 

EXCERPT: “The National Quality Forum (NQF) today released the rural health report: A Core Set of Rural-Relevant Measures. Currently, more than 59 million people live in rural areas. Rural residents are more likely to be in poor health and have higher mortality rates for chronic conditions. These disadvantages are exacerbated by poor access to care compared ...

EXCERPT: “Rural areas have not quite kept pace with metro areas following the recession, according to a new report from Trulia. According to Trulia, many metros have seen robust growth in jobs and home prices, while rural areas have stagnated. The report explains that this trend began even before the recession, but the divergence between rural and ...

  This week CRPD’s research associate Kelly Asche joins us again to talk about the workforce shortage and how it can turn out to be a positive story. Employers are starting to look at what were previously considered hard-to-employ groups, like people with criminal backgrounds and people with disabilities. There is also the work going ...

EXCERPT: “Access to high-speed internet is still a struggle in rural communities. Fifty-eight percent of rural Americans said it’s difficult to access fast internet in their communities, according to a blog post published by the Pew Research Center on Monday. Nearly a quarter (24 percent) of rural adults see this as a major problem, while 34 percent see ...

EXCERPT: “The problem of finding affordable housing in rural Minnesota has hit home for the mayor of Montevideo. Mayor Debra Lee Fader has decided to withdraw as a candidate for re-election. She hasn’t been able to find an affordable home to buy or an apartment to rent since she and her husband, Bradley, sold the ...

EXCERPT: “‘The future of the 21st century exists in the space between rural and urban,’ according to Matthew Fluharty. Fluharty is the founder of Art of the Rural, a non-profit dedicated to supporting rural culture. “Plenty of people out there have questions about the connections between rural and urban cultures, because in their own lives, ...

  An upcoming report by the Center for Rural Policy & Development shows that there is no shortage of jobs available in Greater Minnesota these days. CRPD Research Associate Kelly Asche joins Jim this week to talk about job vacancies, wages and more in part 1.