In Northern Idaho, a Wealth of Silver Begets a Legacy of Lead, The Daily Yonder
When Barbara Miller was in elementary school, she covered her face while walking to class. “It hurt so bad to breathe. Your neck, your throat, your eyes,” Miller said. Doors that led to a breezeway got jammed with kids “[backing] up like cattle,” Miller said, because no one wanted to exit the school and enter the smog.
The Geography of Non-Denominational Christianity, The Daily Yonder
Non-denominational Christianity is growing nationwide, but rural areas still have lower rates compared to their urban and suburban counterparts. In this edition of the Rural Index, I’m exploring the spatiality of non-denominational Christians using data from the 2020 US Religion Census.
From Hell and Bent on Returning, The Oxford American
magine a slimy, speckled tube with four legs that appear to have been attached with spare parts. The toes—four on the front legs, five on the rear—resemble blown-up rubber gloves. The head is bumpy on top with a wide, flat mouth that curves into a smile. Hellbenders, giant salamanders that can reach more than two feet long in adulthood, have lived in Appalachia’s mountain streams for more than 150 million years. No one knows for sure how they earned their name, but folklore says early colonists believed the creatures were “from hell where they’re bent on returning.”
Limited hospital access disproportionately harms people incarcerated in rural areas, Minnesota Post
Nearly 783,200 of the total 1.3 million people who are incarcerated in this country are locked up in rural counties, areas that are more likely to face hospital closures, according to the Prison Policy Initiative, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research and advocacy organization working to expose the harm of mass incarceration.
GOP Budget Bill Will Strand Millions of Rural Americans With Outrageous Health Insurance Premiums
Rural residents are more likely to see monthly premium hikes compared to their metropolitan counterparts.
New Texas Energy Package Could Help Older Adults in Long-Term Care Facilities During Extreme Weather
by Madeline de Figueiredo, The Daily Yonder
Why Do Foreign Investors Buy American Farmland?
Foreign investors own almost 46 million acres of farm land in the United States, according to data from the 1978 Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act (AFIDA), a federal law meant to track international interest in American land. Foreign-owned farmland had a total estimated value of $82.6 billion in 2023, the last year of available data.
Home Insurers Shift Cost to Homeowners as Climate Change Exacerbates Natural Disasters
For home insurance companies, insuring properties is a gamble, and it’s increasingly not worth the risk. Sometimes, companies will decide to drop homeowners by not renewing their plans.
Climate Disasters Inflict Outsized Harm on Pregnant and Young Families, Climate Central
The howling winds of a tornado jolted Jelessica Monard awake in the early morning hours last fall. She was five months pregnant with her first child when Hurricane Helene struck her rural Georgian town of Swainsboro.
Migration to rural America results in the 4th year of population growth
Migration to rural America saw a major jump for the 4th year in a row. It marks a notable turn from a nearly decade-long trend of population declines in rural areas.
Not Just a Blue Dot in a Sea of Red: April 5th Protests Across Rural America, The Daily Yonder
On April 5th, 2025, people took to the streets across the country to protest the Trump administration’s broad actions aimed at reducing, defunding, and – in specific cases – closing entirely various federal agencies. While there were large protests in cities like New York, Washington D.C., Chicago, and more, rural communities also showed up, sometimes with significant percentages of the local population.
Inside the Newest National Park Community
We take a trip to New River Gorge National Park, the newest national park in the national park system, with Daily Yonder reporter Sarah Melotte, to learn about what Fayetteville, West Virginia is dealing with around the park designation.
GOP Cuts to Medicaid Could Threaten Rural Hospitals
On April 5th, 2025, people took to the streets across the country to protest the Trump administration’s broad actions aimed at reducing, defunding, and – in specific cases – closing entirely various federal agencies. While there were large protests in cities like New York, Washington D.C., Chicago, and more, rural communities also showed up, sometimes with significant percentages of the local population.
Commentary: The Trump Administration’s Attempt to Wipe Public Data Is Censorship. Here’s Why That’s Dangerous
On the first night of February, I tossed and turned until dawn worrying about my job. I had just seen a Reddit post warning members of a geography subreddit that the federal government was shutting down data portals in 90 minutes.
‘America’s Serengeti’: Oil, Gas, and the Fight for Native Inclusion in Alaska’s Arctic Refuge, The Daily Yonder
On January 9th, the United States Department of the Interior will hold the second of two scheduled auctions for oil and gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), a 19-million-acre expanse in Alaska’s North Slope Borough, an equivalent to a county in Alaska’s jurisdictions, that has been a focal point of drilling controversy for over six decades.
‘Churn Kills’: Eviction Threats Strain Already Limited Supply of Rural Rental Property
by Jaime Adame, The Daily Yonder
Reporting on Contentious Issues
In a presidential election year, media attention is often focused on contentious issues as they play out on the national stage. This can lead to sweeping generalizations around the way rural communities feel about issues such as abortion access, natural resource management, school choice, even the programming at their public libraries.
The Country Vote with the Daily Yonder
In the newest episode of the Backroad Ballots podcast, we asked our staff what they are paying close attention to between now and the election.