Rural Minnesota students living in ‘ice castles’ to make ends meet. California administrators considered dormitory barges, sending students out to sea. And housing isn’t the only challenge. In my reporting this year, from Georgia and Kansas to West Virginia and Wyoming,…
An important email appeared in the inboxes of a small group of health care workers north of Boston as this summer started. It warned that local temperatures were rising into the 80s. An 80-plus-degree day is not sizzling by Phoenix…
Rural America’s lower rate of broadband access is interfering with the adoption of cloud computing, a major factor in business innovation, according to a new study from Penn State and the National Science Foundation. “If you don’t have broadband, you…
America is again segregated. Spaces where opponents divided by supposed geographic and political differences interact are increasingly rare. Since the 2016 election, the media’s infatuation with rifts between rural and urban voters has been ensconced into our cultural design. These…
The Biden administration wants to crack down on private arrangements among some hospitals to reimburse themselves for taxes that help fund coverage for low-income people. It contends the practice violates federal law. Federal regulators say these arrangements “appear designed to”…
Devastating wildfires swept through Maui, Hawai’i, last week, flattening the small town of Lāhainā on the western side of the island. As of August 14, almost 100 people are confirmed dead, making it the fifth deadliest wildfire in U.S. history (and the…
When Rafferty Cleary became the cultural administrator for Monterey, Tennessee, he was eager to learn about what the community stood for, who the people were, and what assets were available to promote to visitors. Cleary had earlier seen the work…
As regulators review Kaiser Permanente’s proposed acquisition of a respected health system based in Pennsylvania, health care experts are still puzzling over how the surprise deal, announced in April, could fulfill the managed care giant’s promise of improving care and…
After her teenage daughter attempted suicide and began to cycle through emergency rooms and mental health programs during the past three years, Sarah Delarosa noticed her own health also declined. She suffered from mini strokes and stomach bleeding, the mother…
Smoke permeates everything and impacts everyone. The visible stew of carbon and particulates typically from emission sources travels in the air, shrouds buildings, suffocates birds, and penetrates deep into the lungs. Now researchers believe wildfire smoke may impact the brain…