Newsrooms in Kentucky discuss using artificial intelligence in local reporting

Marlowe's opinion on using AI to help with reporting 
has changed. (Photo by Lily Burris, WKMS)

News organizations in Western Kentucky are looking for ways to use artificial intelligence to improve reporting without sacrificing audience trust. 

Journalists at WKDZ, which is a part of Edge Media Group along with stations in Hopkinsville, Madisonville, Princeton and Elkton, are "figuring out how to integrate the newer technology into their workflow," reports Lily Burris of WKMS in Murray, Kentucky.

Edge Media Group’s CEO and owner, Beth Mann, told Burris, "AI is a technology that's changing. … We discuss AI every single day, and it is part of our conversation and training in all of our weekly meetings.”

Mann isn't alone in her search for the proverbial where, when, how and why of AI implementation in community reporting. Chris Evans, publisher and editor of the Crittenden Press in Crittenden County, regularly uses AI to get his job done. Burris reports, "A series of Associated Press webinars about AI usage in journalism made Evans feel more comfortable with the tool and helped him establish his 'guardrails.'"

Alex Mahadevan, director of the AI Innovation Lab at the Poynter Institute, "advises newsrooms on the ethics of implementing AI," Burris writes. "He said the big question in journalism is how much AI-generated content audiences should see and how to disclose when it’s used to maintain trust with them."

Over time, some reporters have changed their minds about using AI. "Edward Marlowe, a reporter at WKDZ since mid-2021, said two years ago he would’ve told someone it was out of the question if they’d asked him about AI. … Now [he] uses it for certain tasks," Burris adds. 

Evans thinks that as smaller news outlets get used to AI alongside their audiences, it may help local news services stay afloat. "Cost is a major factor in why Evans believes smaller newspapers could benefit from AI, especially those that can’t afford another employee," Burris adds. 

Private equity investments in public safety software leave rural fire departments with few affordable options

Fire department software may become too expensive 
for rural communities to buy. (Adobe Stock photo)

Rural fire departments have long relied on affordable software to track incidents and operations. But because of changes in software company ownership stemming from a flush of private equity investment "fire chiefs around the country are scrambling to manage shrinking options and soaring costs," reports Mike Baker of The New York Times.

Over the past decade, a handful of private equity firms have backed companies that are "aggressively investing in public safety systems, where tax dollars provide a steady source of revenue," Baker explains.

The fire-software services company, ESO, serves as an example. Investor dollars enabled ESO to buy up its competitors, shut them down, and push fire chiefs with few options to purchase ESO systems, which are priced significantly higher.

When the Norfolk Volunteer Fire Department in northern Connecticut learned ESO had acquired its former software system and was shutting it down, ESO offered Norfolk an alternative system that "would raise the community’s costs from $795 per year to more than $5,000," Baker reports. Norfolk Fire scrambled and found a cheaper competitor, but shortly thereafter, ESO bought that company, too.

Volunteer fire departments are common, comprising 85% of the roughly 30,000 fire departments across the U.S., and many already struggle to maintain staffing and equipment standards. Norfolk's fire department has turned to using "silent auctions and karaoke fund-raisers to help sustain operations," Baker reports.

ESO maintains that its cost increases support innovation. But ESO improvements may never reach most rural fire departments; in fact, climbing costs could push some back to using paper records.

The Rush at Rush Pond

Lunch on Rush Pond from left to right: Bruce Van Allen, Jeff Kann, Allen Starr and Michael Cosgrove.
(Photo by Tom Cosgrove)

By Tom Cosgrove
The Daily Yonder

Starr Lodge

Four of us sleep in borrowed beds at Starr Lodge; the fifth, our host — the one who left our Pennsylvania town decades ago for northern Maine — sleeps in his own with his wife.

Before the alarm rings, the truck is already loaded: two canoes strapped down, chairs wedged in, decoys packed, guns cased, a cooler full of food.

Up at 3:30 a.m., we move through the familiar motions.

No matter how many times we’ve done this, or how old we’ve become, there’s still a charge in the air. A quiet boyishness. A flicker of anticipation we pretend we’ve aged out of, but haven’t.

It’s the same energy we felt at twelve, finally old enough to hunt with our fathers — only now with the weight of time. We know these trips aren’t endless. We know how many parents we’ve buried. We know each other’s triumphs and losses. We know the years ahead are fewer than the ones behind.

Climbing into the truck, we recognize something sacred: we don’t assume we’ll all be here next year. 

Bruce Van Allen in the bow of a canoe paddling 
toward the take out. (Photo by Tom Cosgrove)

First Light

By 5:30 a.m., the five of us are at Rush Pond.

Two canoes — one with two of us, one with three.

Never perfectly balanced, but always enough.

We push off in the dark.

The sky is a deep, endless gray.

Headlamps off, eyes adjusting. 

Paddles dipping in and out: the only melody for miles.

We glide upstream, almost silently. The cold air stings just enough to remind you you’re alive.

We split into two spots, set the decoys, and settle into chairs.

And then, a miracle modern life almost never allows:

We sit still.

No notifications.

No meetings.

No cell phone calls.

Just breath, water, woods.

The rush at Rush Pond isn’t adrenaline.

It’s presence — the clarity that comes when nothing competes for your attention except your own heartbeat and the friends sitting ten yards away, doing exactly the same thing. 

This Year, Nothing Happens

No ducks committed.

No geese.

No shots fired.

The pond offered itself, nothing more.

But nothing is ever nothing.

This “uneventful” day will outlast most of the “important” ones because it held: 

hours of quiet company,

old stories retold and new ones added,

proof our bodies can still do this,

updates on family and friends,

honest conversations that stay on the pond,

silences that don’t feel empty,

the rare sense of being exactly where you’re meant to be.

Eight hours slipped by in a way modern hours never do.

Time didn’t race or drag.

It simply moved with us. 

The Photograph

Jeff Kann towing Michael Cosgrove and Allen 
Starr to the pull out. (Photo by Tom Cosgrove)

On the paddle back, Bruce and I reached shore first. 

Jeff, without a word, stepped into the water and began towing Michael and Allen’s canoe toward land.

I snapped the picture: one man, boot-deep in the river, rope in hand, pulling friends who’ve been part of his life for more than half a century.

It could have been any of us.

On a different day, it would’ve been.

That’s what decades do — they rotate the burden.

No drama.

No complaints.

Just selflessness.

The photograph captures what the hunt was never about — not ducks, not sport, not success — but friendship in its simplest form: someone stepping in to pull the load. 

The Real Rush

There’s always a moment on these trips when the truth hits:

We don’t get this forever.

We don’t get each other forever.

We don’t get mornings like this forever.

The rush at Rush Pond isn’t the hunt.

It’s the awareness:

We are here.

Today, all five of us are here.

No one is sick.

No one is grieving.

No one is missing.

No one is gone.

In a country where loneliness has become an epidemic — especially among men — showing up for each other isn’t nostalgia.

It’s survival.

It’s medicine.

It’s meaning.

Friendship isn’t the garnish.

It’s the meal. 

Rush Pond (Photo by Tom Cosgrove)

What We Bring Home

By late afternoon, we reach the take-out.

We load the boats.

Peel off waders.

Toss the gear into the truck.

Head to the house — still connected, still talking, just warmer.

No ducks.

No tailgate trophies. 

Nothing to freeze or brag about.

What we bring home is different: 

Five men still able to gather,

decades of shared history,

the memory of a quiet pond,

the comfort of presence,

the joy of not being alone in the world.

No guarantees for next year.

No guarantees for tomorrow.

Just this day, this year, this trip, this moment. Maybe that’s the real rush —

the rare awareness that today was enough, and you lived every second of it.

This article first appeared on The Daily Yonder and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Opinion: Bear camp illuminates wildlife and wild politics in this purple state

The American black bear is one of the largest and most
elusive animals in Pennsylvania. (Pennsylvania Game photo)

In Potter County, Pennsylvania, the resurgence of the state's black bear population and the legal means to hunt them helped build the region's reputation as a hunting mecca since the 1980s. The county became home to "bear camp," which serves to tell a deeper story about politics and life in this wildly purple state," writes Salena Zito in her opinion for The Washington Post.

"Bear camp is about much more than hunting, and for anyone trying to understand Pennsylvania politics, it’s essential," Zito explains. "It sits at the crossroads of rural and urban, illuminating Pennsylvanians’ sense of place and their traditions that transcend profession and party."

Bear camp is emblematic of how Pennsylvania folk see themselves — it isn't predictable, and "the core principles animating bear camp are not political," Zito writes. "Democrats, Republicans and independents can all gather at one camp — and not only get along but also work toward a common goal."

Bear camp participants come from a wide range of ages, professions and educational backgrounds. "When they arrive, they bond as a community to hunt the American black bear," Zito explains. "Keeping the camp thriving and attracting younger hunters is a testament to their unwillingness to let this tradition slide as so many others have in the digital age. For 40 years, this camp has not only survived, it has grown and prospered."

David Cunningham, one of Bear camp's founders, told Zito, "A lot of times, we don’t realize that our traditions — like the bonds that are formed here — shape us more than what is consuming the rest of the world in politics."

Collaboration, camaraderie and adaptation are hallmarks of Bear camp. When a bear is harvested, it is processed from "nose to tail," Zito writes. Little goes to waste, and family pantries are filled.

Pennsylvanians' resourcefulness and ability to shift to meet shared goals and uphold traditions are alive at bear camp. The state's swing-vote history speaks to a region and a people that aren't predictable — just like an election and just like a hunt.

Quick hits: Cold Case Card Deck to solve crimes; USPS podcast; Walmart's new milk plant; states snip SNAP snacks

Maine State Police hope their card deck 
will generate tips on unsolved cases. 
(Maine State Police photo via Midcoast Villager)

The Maine State Police are launching a Cold Case Deck of Cards initiative to generate leads for unsolved cases. "The deck features 52 of Maine State Police’s unsolved homicides and suspicious missing person cases and will be distributed to inmates in correctional facilities across the state," reports Jim Leonard of the Midcoast Villager. "This marks the first time the concept has been implemented in Maine. Similar initiatives in more than two dozen states have been credited with helping solve multiple homicide investigations."

Just because cranberries are tart doesn't mean they require a ton of sugar to become tasty. "Diabetics or anyone who wants to reduce the added sugars they’re consuming can try a few culinary tactics to lower their sugar intake while still enjoying this holiday treat," writes food scientist Rosemary Trout for The Conversation. "Don’t cook your cranberries much longer after they pop. You’ll still have a viscous cranberry liquid without the need for as much sugar. … For a richer flavor and a glossy quality, add butter. … Adding chopped walnuts, almonds, or hazelnuts can slow glucose absorption, so your blood glucose may not spike as quickly."

In a tribute to snail mail and history buffs, a new podcast, "People of Agency," offers listening excursions into "the stories of individuals who have shaped USPS over its 250-year history," reports Sean Michael Newhouse of Government Executive. The show is co-created and co-hosted by Aileen Day, a political communications consultant, and Maia Warner-Langenbahn, who co-hosts the "Well, I Laughed" podcast. In the show's first episode, the duo recount the story of Mary Katherine Goddard, who was "put in charge of Baltimore’s mail in 1775 and printed the first copy of the Declaration of Independence that listed all of its signatories."

In a bid to have more control over production and supply, Walmart recently opened its "second U.S.-owned milk processing facility in Valdosta, Ga., a $350-million plant supplying milk to more than 650 Southeast stores," reports Taylor Leach of Dairy Herd. While the company does purchase milk from local farmers, "some critics have warned Walmart buys milk from only a handful of large farms, putting smaller farms under further pressure. … The opening also follows Walmart’s recent investments in case-ready beef plants in Thomasville, Ga., and Olathe, Kansas."

Shaking your real Christmas tree before bringing it 
into your home can keep bugs from coming inside.

The holidays can be full of surprises, but discovering six-legged stowaways in your freshly cut Christmas tree shouldn't be one of them. "Bringing a real Christmas tree into your warm living room can accidentally wake up thousands of dormant bugs, turning your cozy holiday into a surprise visit from nature," reports Jenn Jordan of The Weather Channel. To prevent insect or spider visitors from entering your home, while your tree is still outside, give it more than one seriously hard shake. Many tree farms use mechanical shakers, which can also do the trick.

From the bubonic plague to cholera pandemics to deadly staph infections, bacterial illnesses often pose one of the biggest challenges to human survival. But with innovation, microorganisms can also help humans do remarkable things. "In the boulder-strewn desert east of Tucson, Arizona, miners are using sulfuric acid and bacteria to bring online the first new U.S. copper production in more than a decade," reports Ryan Dezember of The Wall Street Journal. Advances in technology are key to how this copper is mined. The enterprise uses "microbes to strip copper from ores that are otherwise uneconomical to mine." The Grand Canyon's state motto just happens to be Ditat Deus, which is Latin for "God Enriches." Last year, 70% of U.S. copper came from Arizona.

A total of 18 states have banned some non-nutritious foods from SNAP purchases. 
(Axios graph, from USDA data)

More states are restricting junk food purchases with Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits to increase the federal funding they receive. "Six more states agreed to ban the use of SNAP benefits for junk food under new deals with the Trump administration," reports April Rubin of Axios. "The new waivers restrict the purchase of non-nutritious items like soda, energy drinks, certain juices, prepared desserts and candy." While which foods and drinks are restricted varies by state, all states with added nutritional restrictions will all receive more federal dollars to support their SNAP programs.

Mental Health First Aid for Rural Communities trains laypeople to be the first line of help

Rural residents can help one another work through
mental crisis or illness by learning MHFA.

Mental health care in rural America has always been more challenging to ask for, find and afford than in more populated parts of the country. A program that trains laypeople may offer rural residents in mentally stressful situations or suffering from untreated mental illness the best path toward getting the help they need.

The National Council for Mental Wellbeing’s Mental Health First Aid for Rural Communities works with "people not necessarily in the health professions to give them the tools they need to recognize and respond to the signs of mental health or substance use challenges," reports Liz Carey of The Daily Yonder. The training teaches participants that while they are not there to treat or diagnosis mental health problems, they are equipped with the skills and knowledge to support a family or friend until professional care is available.

A community that adds this training to its safety net toolbox is spending time incorporating a process that makes a difference. Carey writes, "Studies have consistently shown that it works — more than 90 peer-reviewed studies over the past 15 years have shown that MHFA has a lasting impact."

Jamie Hagenbuch, program manager at the Mental Health First Aid at Madison County Rural Health Council in Cazenovia, New York, told Carey, "I think rural communities definitely don’t have the resources that cities and urban communities do, so having the initial skills to be able to recognize if somebody’s becoming unwell and how to approach them and know what resources do exist, as well as being able to navigate them to those resources, is critical."

Mental Health First Aid training can help "anyone in a rural community to spot the signs of someone struggling with a mental health issue and to be able to step in to help," Carey explains. "A study in 2021 of Cooperative Extension agents in Mississippi found that 62.5% of the participants in the MHFA training programs used their skills six months after training."

Individuals interested in getting training can find more information at https://mentalhealthfirstaid.org

The price of hospital services is driving health care costs and insurance premiums to climb nationwide

Patients and employers are impacted by increases health premiums. 
(Graphic by wildpixel/iStock/Getty+ via Conversation CC)

The American public may perceive hospitals as part of their community’s care network, but in reality, many hospitals and specialty clinics are businesses that strive to make a profit. 

As more medical systems in communities of all sizes have consolidated, hospital pricing has become the biggest driver of rising medical costs and steep health care insurance premium hikes.

“Health insurance premiums in the U.S. significantly increased between 1999 and 2024, outpacing the rate of worker earnings by three times, according to our newly published research in The Journal of the American Medical Association Network Open,” write economic experts Vivian Ho and Salpy Kanimian from Rice University in Houston, Texas, for The Conversation. 

Using federal information and data from the Kaiser Family Foundation, Ho and Kanimian found that “the cost of hospital services increased the most, while the cost of physician services and prescription drugs rose more slowly.”

Many hospitals, including those with nonprofit designations, often aggressively price their services and care well above their costs, Ho and Kanimian point out.

“One study found that for nonprofit health systems, the greatest pay increases between 2012 and 2019 went to hospital CEOs who grew the profits and size of their organizations the most,” Ho and Kanimian explain. In contrast, any emphasis on charity care by those systems was not linked to CEO pay. 

Ho and Kanimian suggest a way to help “ensure that nonprofit hospitals make the health of their local communities a top priority by requiring their boards to disclose their executive compensation guidelines for salary and bonuses, similar to the information that for-profit health care companies disclose to their stockholders.” Such a shift could help communities push for better care and lower costs for patients as determinants of executive pay and bonuses. 

Some economists suggest that “hospital prices should be regulated. This approach involves capping prices for health care services at the most expensive hospitals and restricting price growth for all hospitals,” Ho and Kanimian write.

Somalis found refuge in a small Minnesota town, but now they're afraid to leave their homes

A Somali grocery store sign in Willmar, Minn.
(Photo via Federal Reserve Bank of Minnesota)

Over the past 30 years, the small farming town of Willmar, Minnesota, has become home to Somali families fleeing civil war and famine. The community of roughly 20,000 residents has welcomed so many Somalis that "a lively stretch downtown is called 'Little Mogadishu' because Somalis run more than a dozen storefront businesses," reports Joe Barrrett of The Wall Street Journal.

Despite their dedication to family and entrepreneurial contribution, many Willmar Somalis are afraid to leave their homes after "President Donald Trump lashed out against immigrants from Somalia, calling them 'garbage' and saying he doesn’t want them in the U.S.," Barrett writes. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have reportedly intensified raids in Minnesota after Trump's comments. 

Somalis across Minnesota have already been "shaken by a sprawling fraud scandal that has put the state’s Somali community in the national spotlight and drawn Trump’s ire," Barrett explains. Federal prosecutors say dozens of people -- almost all of whom are from the Somali community -- used fake businesses to steal millions from the Federal Child Nutrition Program, beginning in April 2020.

Location of Willmar within Kandiyohi 
County (Wikipedia maps) 

Willmar leaders don't see the scandal as a fair representation of the Somali population living in the U.S. Willmar's mayor, Doug Reese, told Barrett, “I can honestly say I haven’t encountered any bad Somalis. I mean, there’s probably some, but by and large, they’re good people.”

If Willmar's Somalis were forced to leave, it would deeply wound the town's economy. Rollie Nissen, a 79-year-old Willmar Republican leader, told Barrett, "I don’t think [Trump] should be painting with a broad brush. We should get rid of the people who are here illegally, not ship everybody back to Somalia or Mexico or Venezuela.”

After pandemic supply troubles left tribes without meat, some decided to invest in their own slaughterhouses

Workers cut steaks at Three Rivers Meat Company, whose majority 
owner is the Choctaw Nation. (Photo by Todd Price, Offrange)

U.S. meat supplies for Indian populations were unreliable during the pandemic, which led at least 18 Native American tribes to invest in building their own slaughterhouses, reports Todd Price for Offrange.

The Osage Nation in northern Oklahoma was one of the first tribes to decide that "they would build their own USDA-inspected meat processing plants," Price explains. Other Oklahoma tribes, including the Cherokee Nation, Choctaw Nation, Miami Nation, and Muscogee Nation, have also invested in their own meat plants.

Before the pandemic, many tribes owned land, raised livestock, or oversaw marine tracks. Following the pandemic-era slaughterhouse closures and meat supply bottlenecks, "Many tribes recognized the urgency of taking control of their food supply so they could always ensure their people would be fed," Price reports. "An estimated 18 tribes now operate plants that process meat and seafood."

Although slaughterhouses are expensive to build and have slim profit margins, Native tribes use "vertical integration" to leverage benefits. Price explains, "They own the animals and then sell the meat to their casinos or food assistance programs. And they do not always define success in dollars like a private business. Bringing good jobs to rural areas and meat to food deserts is part of the goal."

For tribes, being able to raise and process enough food to feed their people isn't just about making sure no one goes hungry. "It is also an important step towards food sovereignty — controlling the food supply and deciding what they will eat," Price reports. "And sovereignty, the power to govern themselves, is a right that tribes have long fought to preserve."

Flora & Fauna: Masked bandits evolve; 2-purpose turkeys; foraging stats; whales' aging secrets; birds can help farmers

Perhaps one day, urban raccoons will be pets.
(Adobe Stock photo)

Racoons are masked, cute, and affectionately known as "trash pandas," and they are proving to have a real knack for evolving to live alongside humans, reports Axios. "The same evolutionary forces that turned wolves into domesticated dogs over thousands of years may now be reshaping urban raccoons, recent studies suggest." Marcie Logsdon, who works closely with wildlife rehabbers, told Axios, "Raccoons have adapted incredibly well to our presence. . . [They are] bold enough to raid garbage cans but polite enough" to avoid altercations with people.

An agrivoltaic 'trial flock' enjoys solar panel shade.
(Photo by Evan Carpenter, Offrange)

These turkeys have it made in the shade as they peck and strut under solar panels, unwittingly being prepared as a holiday dinner while also participating in a "dual-use agrivoltaic system," reports Jake Zajkowski for Offrange. Evan Carpenter, who is raising the "trial flock," will share bird and energy outcomes with "project collaborators United Agrivoltaics and Cornell University, to study the feasibility and business model of Carpenter’s project to scale dual-use income land."

In the Mid-Atlantic forests of the U.S., researchers Amy Wrobleski and Eric Burkhart explored regional fungi foraging and shared some of their findings with The Conversation. "We learned that harvesters use the mushrooms primarily for food and medicinal purposes. . . . Over 800 harvesters reported that, collectively, they foraged 160 species of wild mushrooms. . . . Morels and chicken of the woods were the two most popular. . . .Other popular species were hen of the woods, oysters, lion’s mane, black trumpet, honey mushroom, turkey tail, bolete, reishi, puffball, chaga, shrimp of the woods and Dryad’s saddle." Mid-Atlantic fungi can be found here. 

Bowhead whale and calf (NOAA Fisheries photo)

At full-grown, a bowhead whale can weigh 88 tons, which is roughly the weight of 15 elephants. But that's not the only outrageous bowhead fact -- the whale can live to be 268 years old. "Some whales caught in the late 1900s had old harpoon points lodged in their blubber that dated to the mid-1800s," reports Carl Zimmer of The New York Times. "A study published in the journal Nature offers a clue to how the animals manage to live so long: They are extraordinarily good at fixing damaged DNA."

K4 Ranches photo

When it comes to raising cattle, a horse is a rancher's best friend. "Using horses to check and gather cattle is typically the only option with rugged terrain," reports Maddy Rohr for Drovers. Diamond A Ranch, a division of K4 Ranch in Arizona, employs a large crew with seasonal cowboys and eight camps with full-time cowboys." Sarah Kieckhefer of K4 told Rohr, "A good horse can go where a pickup, ATV or side-by-side can’t. Horses can cover long distances and a horse allows you to move quietly, ease cattle along and reduce stress, which leads to fewer wrecks and better weight retention.”

American rice grower Mike Wagner welcomes thousands of migratory ducks, geese and shorebirds that "arrive on his farmland after harvest every autumn," writes Elizabeth Hewitt for Reasons to be Cheerful. "Over winter and early spring, the birds clean up leftovers from the growing season. Thousands of webbed feet mix up soil and water, leaving the fields ready for planting when they depart in the spring. And their droppings are so rich that Wagner has cut how much synthetic fertilizer he needs for his crop by more than a third."  

Trump announces $12 billion in farm aid, but many farmers don't think bailout checks address bigger challenges

American farmers need more markets. (USDA photo)

The Trump administration announced a $12 billion aid package for U.S. farmers hurt by the president's “long-reaching tariffs,” report Brian Schwartz, Natalie Andrews and Patrick Thomas for The Wall Street Journal. “Much of the aid —$11 billion— will be in the form of one-time payments through the Farmer Bridge Assistance program.” 

International tariff wars, particularly those between the U.S. and China, have contributed to a financially challenging year for American farmers, with soybean farmers bearing the largest losses. “Crop prices have remained low, especially after harvesting the largest crop on record this fall,” Schwartz explains. “Through the first nine months of 2025, farm bankruptcies rose by nearly 50% compared with the same period in 2024.”

Although many farmers need the additional funds to pay down debt and invest in next year’s planting, many see them as a short-term solution. Erin Ailworth, Ilena Peng and Michael Hirtzer of Bloomberg News report, “Growers who have struggled with low crop prices, rising costs, and lost markets, [have called] Trump’s farm aid a temporary fix for deeper economic challenges.”

Missouri farmer Marty Richardson told Bloomberg, “This is kind of a Band-Aid — we need more markets more than we need aid.”

While U.S. soybean farmers suffered from a summer and fall without sales to China, presumably due to Trump’s tariffs, many know the country has been working for years to reduce its dependence on American soybeans. Bloomberg reports, “Trump’s first trade war resulted in China accelerating a diversion of its supply chain away from the U.S. to places like South America. U.S. farmers have lost crucial market share to competitors, particularly Brazil.”

Some American growers don’t think 2026 will be any better than this year. Sam Taylor, a farm inputs analyst, told Bloomberg, “This time next year, we’re going to be having much the same conversation about margins for growers, about the potential need for economic support.”

Farmers can start applying for the aid package next month. WSJ reports, "Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said that the money will start going out at the end of February." 

A Medicare pilot program will use artificial intelligence for prior authorizations. Doctors and lawmakers are alarmed.

Some prior authorization requests are already decided
by artificial intelligence. (Adobe Stock photo) 

A Medicare pilot program that allows private companies to use artificial intelligence to approve or deny medical care requested by their members has some doctors and lawmakers worried. Companies included in the pilot would get paid, "based on how much money they save Medicare by denying approvals," reports Anna Claire Vollers of Stateline.

The pilot, known as the Wasteful and Inappropriate Services Reduction (WISeR) Model, will launch after Jan. 1 in six states: Arizona, New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas and Washington. WISeR is more likely to impact health care treatments for rural Americans in those states because rural populations often skew older and sicker than their suburban and urban counterparts.

At its core, the WISeR model effectively introduces a prior authorization process into traditional Medicare. Prior authorization is already unpopular with many patients and doctors because it requires members or medical providers to request an insurance company's approval for certain treatments or medications before proceeding.

While some Medicare Advantage and private insurance companies have already deployed AI into some of their prior authorization processes, its use has "attracted intense criticism, legislative action by state and federal lawmakers, federal investigations and class-action lawsuits," Vollers explains. "It’s been linked to bad health outcomes. Dozens of states have passed legislation in recent years to regulate the practice."

The new program has "alarmed many physicians and advocates in the affected states," Vollers reports. In practice, the prior authorization process can create obstacles to care by requiring physicians to spend hours fighting with an insurance company to justify the care they believe their patient needs. At times, medical providers may avoid treatments that would be best because an insurance company is likely to deny them, at least initially.

Last month, congressional representatives from several states "introduced a bill to repeal the WISeR model. It’s currently in committee," Vollers reports. The program is scheduled to run from 2026 to 2031.

A small university town in southern Illinois 'leads the nation in out-of-state abortion patients'

Adobe Stock photo

Surrounded by farmland and the vast wooded expanses of the Shawnee National Forest, Carbondale, Illinois, has become a central hub for abortion access. 

The small-sized town, which is home to Southern Illinois University Carbondale, is within “driving distance of 10 states with abortion bans,” reports Elizabeth Williamson of The New York Times. “Last year, there were nearly 11,000 abortions in this city of 21,000.”

After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, 14 states have banned the procedure. Those bans made “geography an all-important factor in access to the procedure,” Williamson explains. “And placed Carbondale, a liberal enclave in a deeply conservative region, in a complicated position.”

Unlike many of its neighboring states, abortion remains legal in Illinois. Carbondale's location near the southern tip of Illinois makes travel from states such as Missouri, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi and even Louisiana possible for women seeking the procedure. Williamson writes, “Illinois now leads the nation in out-of-state abortion patients.”

Although many Carbondale residents support “its status as a safe harbor. . . the sheer number of abortions has also created some unease and worry about a backlash,” Williamson explains. 

One community member told Williamson she was concerned about the negative attention the high number of abortions could bring to the otherwise “quiet community.”

Carbondale has three women’s clinics that perform abortions, but two of the three provide other women’s health services. “Alamo Women’s Clinic only does abortions, both procedural and medication, all on-site,” Williamson reports. “Fewer than five percent of Alamo patients are from Illinois.”

While details of rural health transformation requests aren't available yet, some states are sharing their information

KFF News RHTP tracking map as of Dec. 2. Click to enlarge.

The newly formed federal Rural Health Transformation Program has $50 billion to distribute to states that met its Nov. 5 application deadline; however, a complete picture of which states applied and what they asked for isn't clear because the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services have "declined to publicly release the applications," report Sarah Jane Tribble and Arielle Zionts of KFF Health News.

CMS said it isn't allowed to "release grant applications to the public during the merit review process,” KFF News reports. "They've pledged to announce the allocations by Dec. 31."

RHTP was passed as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act in July, which drastically cut Medicaid spending and will disproportionately impact rural areas. But RHTP can't be used to "bail out" rural hospitals or clinics. KFF News explains, "The money [must] be spent on transformational ideas."

Although CMS isn't sharing application details, some states have been transparent about their applications. According to the article, a health strategy team at Princeton University tasked with tracking state application summaries found "themes including expansion of home-based and mobile services, increased use of technology, and workforce development initiatives . . ."

KFF Health News is collecting state-by-state application materials and adding them to its mapped repository, which will be updated as information arrives. 

What's on your holiday table? Americans weigh in on Thanksgiving and Christmas meals.

When it comes to holiday traditions, many Americans see special foods and meals as part of the season's delights. Agriculture researchers at the University of Illinois wanted to know if the last few years of food cost increases, inflation woes and recent tariff wars in the U.S. have changed the way Americans set their holiday tables this year. Their lightly edited discoveries are shared below.

University of Illinois graph, data from the Gardner Food and Agricultural Policy Survey, Nov. 2025

Thanksgiving marks the first of several major feasts across the country. The main attraction? Food! More precisely, for many Americans, it means eating turkey. "Of those respondents who typically celebrate Thanksgiving with a meal, the most commonly reported protein source was turkey. A whopping 86.5% of those who celebrate Thanksgiving with a meal said they planned to serve turkey," Maria Kalaitzandonakes, Jonathan Coppess and Brenna Ellison write.

Christmas dinner fare has changed throughout American history; in fact, colonial Americans considered eating turkey a luxury, and many families opted for goose, duck or rabbit. Even with inflation and tariffs, 2025 offers more options for sumptuous Christmas meals. The researchers add, "Of those respondents who typically celebrate Christmas with a meal, turkey (47.9%), pork (47.5%), and beef (39.9%) were the most common protein sources. . . . 22.8% said they planned to serve fish or seafood, 11.1% said they planned to serve lamb."

University of Illinois graph, data from the Gardner Food and Agricultural Policy Survey, Nov. 2025

Of course, price matters: Sixty-nine percent of respondents said they expect food prices to affect their meal plans. Researchers asked consumers to share their strategies for reducing food costs. "The two most commonly reported strategies were shopping for deals on ingredients (45.5%) and shopping ahead of time to spread out ingredient costs (42.1%)."

A growing company pins its success on rural workers who have 'grit, grind. . . and aptitude.'

The Provalus website boasts about the company's commitment to "revitalizing historically underutilized business zones in rural downtown communities." (Provalus graphic)

Instead of outsourcing work to other countries, big-business service partner Provalus establishes offices in rural towns in the U.S., where it "finds people who are eager for jobs that will teach them 21st-century skills but who have few opportunities," reports Lauren Weber of The Wall Street Journal. The company's unusual playbook could become a "model for creating jobs in often-overlooked pockets of the country."

Provalus provides insurance-claims processing, cybersecurity, IT help desk coverage and other services to larger companies that need additional support. The company is intentionally expanding into rural America, where it works to identify potential employees with aptitude rather than requiring years of experience.

Chuck Ruggiero, the company's founder, told Weber, "There is an untapped labor market in rural America. They have the grit, the grind, and many have the aptitude."

The company's fourth location in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, which opened in 2022, is an example of an area that aligns with the niche demographics Provalus seeks out. Weber explains, "No major highways or railroads run through Tahlequah. The 16,000-person town in northeastern Oklahoma has a poverty rate of 20.3%. . . . The average individual income hovers around $30,000."

As an employer, Provalus competes with area retailers and restaurants for workers and pay usually starts around $13 to $14 per hour. But unlike many hourly jobs, the "wage potential at Provalus is high for some, and the benefits package is generous," Weber reports. "Health insurance costs $1 per paycheck. For the first six months, employees receive scheduled raises every 60 days."

Provalus clients such as Chick-fil-A and the Navy Federal Credit Union have signed up, at least in part, because they like the company's commitment to rural American workers. Weber adds, "They also reap the benefits of onshore services: Time zones line up, data is easier to protect, and site visits don’t require overnight flights."

U.S. sugar farmers take a beating as price per ton tanks

A truck unloads sugar beets. (Red River Valley Sugarbeet 
Growers Association photo)

U.S. soybean and corn farmers aren't the only ones taking a beating in this year's agriculture market. Sugar beet farmers will also see abysmal payments for their record 2025 crop, report Jenny Schlecht and Kjersti Maday of AgWeek.

American Crystal Sugar announced it will pay farmers $43.85 per ton for its record 2025 crop, a "far cry from the $78 it paid last year or the $83.18 it paid for the 2023 crop," Schlecht writes.

The Minnesota-based sugar cooperative explained the lower prices, saying "net sugarbeet payments per ton for 2025 will be far less than payments in recent years due to low sugar prices blamed on sugar dumping by companies that heavily subsidize their sugar crops," AgWeek reports.

Sugar beets are white-rooted.
 (Merriam-Webster drawing)

Sugar beet growers, like other American farmers, have faced high input costs for labor, fertilizer and machinery. They are also grappling with less demand. Demand is down about 4% from a high several years ago, according to the article. Inflation, shifts in the American and even changes in SNAP allowances can all be contributors to less demand.

But Tom Astrup, the president and CEO of American Crystal Sugar, said price worries are the "greatest threat to the sugar industry since Mexican sugar dumping more than a decade ago," Schlecht explains. "The industry has been 'hammered' by the imports of world sugar, which Astrup said the Department of Agriculture has lost control of. That, he said, has led to the highest stocks of sugar in the U.S. in 25 years."

Forever chemicals in drinking water are a national problem, but smaller communities face the biggest challenge

Minnesota lawmakers learn about technology to remove PFAS.
(Photo by Tad Johnson, Dakota Tribune)

The costs of removing forever chemicals, or PFAS, from municipal water could leave smaller communities behind. Most rural utilities don't have a PFAS contaminant filtration system, nor can they afford one, a 2025 study found. "Small, rural communities are the least likely to have the advanced systems in place," reports Brian Bienkowski for The New Lede.

The technology to remove the long-lasting, human-made "forever chemicals" found in many commercial and industrial products that have been linked to a range of health risks, including several types of cancer, fertility issues and developmental delays in children, can cost millions of dollars to purchase and install.

Even smaller cities are struggling to cover the costs to remove forever chemicals. In Apple Valley, Minnesota, some of the expenses utilities are paying to bring PFAS levels in their drinking water into compliance with Environmental Protection Agency rules will "likely hike water rates [customers pay] to fund a $100 million project to rid its wells of PFAS," reports Eva Herscowitz of the Minnesota Star Tribune.

To help buffer the costs, Apply Valley is asking its legislature to "include $40 million in the 2026 bonding bill for the project that would add membrane filter technology, which would increase the treatment plant’s capacity from 18 million gallons per day to 20 MGD," reports Tad Johnson of Thisweek Dakota County Tribune.

Like many rural areas with higher levels of PFAS contaminants, Apple Valley can't trace the source of its forever chemicals, which has allowed some communities to tap lawsuit dollars from companies such as 3M that were found responsible for tainting regional wells.

The Environmental Study Group found that "just 8% of U.S. water systems are equipped with filters that can remove PFAS. And 98% of systems that have PFAS detections do not have treatment targeting the chemicals."

Dan Hartnett, the chief policy officer at the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies, cited a report that "estimated annual household cost to pay for the advanced treatment methods would average an additional $230 per household per year," Bienkowski writes. Hartnett added, “The numbers were significantly higher for the smallest water systems."

Even though more rural high schoolers graduate than their urban peers, fewer go on to college. Why?

Rural high school students might not have access to the same 
technology as their urban peers. (iStock photo via The Conversation CC)

In 2020, nearly 90% of rural high school students earned their diplomas, compared with 82% in urban areas. And yet, urban students remain more likely to attend college. Several factors, including a lack of college recruitment in rural areas, explain the disparity, writes Sheneka Williams, an education professor at Michigan State University, for The Conversation.

Being the first one to attend college is a tough choice -- especially if no one's encouraging students to consider it. "If these universities don’t know you exist, and if your parents haven’t gone to college and don’t know how the admission system works, you might not have help as you move closer to attending college," Williams explains. "Some rural schools also do not have college counselors."

Teacher shortages in STEM subjects are particularly tough for rural schools to overcome. Williams explains, "This lack of science course offerings can create a whole block of students who are not going to college."

Another educational drawback to living in more remote pockets of the U.S. is that it is more time-consuming and expensive for college recruiters to get students who might be considering college. Williams adds, "I think the narrative around rural students and college needs to shift – these students may want to go to college, but nobody is looking for them."

The STARS College Network is one group that has been successful in engaging rural students with colleges, but more outreach is needed.

What does it mean when cuts from the 'One Big Beautiful Bill Act' close a rural town's only health care clinic?

The OBBBA cuts billions in federal spending on rural
health care over the next 10 years. (Wikipedia photo)

After the only health care clinic in rural Churchville, Virginia, closed, residents in this 200-person community are struggling to adjust.

"Gone are the days of seniors walking down the road from their house to see the town doctor," reports Eva McKend of CNN News. "Augusta Medical Group cited the health care provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act for closing the rural clinics in Churchville and two other locations."

Even when the clinic's closure means some residents have to drive an hour to Charlottesville to see doctors, community members are reluctant to say anything negative about President Trump or his signature OBBBA legislation.

Across from the town's coffee shop, and just a few feet away from the shuttered clinic, a bold banner waves with the words "Thank you, TRUMP, Save America Again."

Democrats are planning to make health care a "defining issue nationally in next year’s midterms," McKend writes. "But the environment in Churchville illustrates the challenges the party faces, particularly in rural communities."

Dale White, a Churchville resident and church administrator, says the "concerns about the clinic are overblown," McKend writes. White told her, "These are old-time rural farming folks, and they’ve been going to get medical care in Staunton and Fishersville, Waynesboro and Charlottesville since they can remember."

Many rural hospitals, clinics and providers that serve Medicaid patients were struggling to stay afloat before the OBBBA cuts. McKend reports, "The policy research organization KFF estimates that Trump’s bill will cut federal Medicaid spending in rural communities by $137 billion over the next decade."

A rural hospital in California closes after federal officials strip 'critical access' designation it has held since 2000

Glenn Medical Center in Willows, California 
(Glenn Medical Center photo)

After more than 70 years of serving its rural community in Willows, California, Glenn Medical Center closed its doors following the loss of its "critical access" designation, which had allowed the hospital to receive higher federal reimbursements that helped it remain open.

To qualify as a "critical access" hospital, a medical center needs to be at least 35 miles from the next closest hospital. Glenn Medical Center was 32 miles from "the nearest neighboring hospital under a route mapped by federal officials," reports Jessica Garrison of the L.A. Times. "Though that distance hasn’t changed, the federal government has now decided to enforce its rules." The hospital was awarded its critical access status in 2000.

The loss of Glenn Medical Center leaves the surrounding farming community without emergency care, "eliminates 150 jobs and puts rural residents at risk of preventable deaths," Garrison writes.

Rural hospitals across the state are already at risk of closure. Peggy Wheeler, vice president of policy of the California Hospital Association, told Garrison, "It’s like the beginning of a tidal wave. I’m concerned we will lose several rural hospitals, and then the whole system may be at risk.”

Before Glenn Medical Center's designation was stripped, Glenn County officials and hospital administrators worked for months to persuade federal officials to grant an exception.

Now that the hospital is closed, many community members fear what will happen to older residents in need of immediate care, injured farm workers or victims of car accidents along nearby Interstate 5. Glenn County Supervisor Monica Rossman told Garrison, "People are going to die."

Federal funding cuts, decreased use and a sluggish U.S. economy will cost some rural towns their libraries

The Tieton Library will close later this month, leaving the town's 
1,610 residents without a library for the first time since 1946.

Libraries in rural towns provide residents with a safe community hub that offers educational materials, meeting space, and sometimes even a place to escape inclement weather. But federal budget cuts, a slowing economy and demographic changes are forcing some small-town libraries to close.

Earlier this year, President Donald Trump issued an executive order "dismantling the Institute of Museum and Library Services, which has provided around $270 million a year to public and academic libraries," reports Anna Griffin of The New York Times. Without those federal dollars, some libraries in smaller communities won't have enough funding to remain open.

While Trump's executive order faces a court challenge, some smaller libraries are already scaling back. "Some rural libraries in Florida and Mississippi, for example, have frozen inter-library loan programs, sharply reducing the range of materials available to residents in more remote areas," Griffin writes. "State libraries in Maine, Indiana, Connecticut and Washington have laid off staff members or warned that layoffs were coming."

While most U.S. library systems rely on federal and state funding and already operate within tight budgets, smaller libraries with a more limited tax base have a harder time raising funds to cover shortfalls. 

The Yakima library district in Washington state, which serves rural farming towns, is an example of a system that had to make changes to remain solvent. District leaders have already announced an increase in fees to maintain services. The fee changes, along with looming state and federal funding cuts, have already pushed a Yakima library in Tieton to schedule its closure for later this month.

Kate Laughlin, executive director of the Association for Rural & Small Libraries, told Griffin, "We had a financial model that wasn’t all that sustainable even before this administration. What you are seeing in a place like Yakima County is the start, not the end."