The Yonder Report

Bidding begins soon for Wyoming's elk antlers, Southeastern states gained population in the past year, small rural energy projects are losing out to bigger proposals, and a rural arts cooperative is filling the gap for schools in Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

The urban-rural death divide is widening for working-age Americans, many home internet connections established for rural students during COVID have been broken and a new federal rule aims to put the "public" back in public lands.

Rural Wyoming needs more vocational teachers to sustain its workforce pipeline, Ohio environmental advocates fear harm from a proposal to open 40-thousand forest acres to fracking and rural communities build bike trail systems to promote nature, boost the economy.

Housing advocates fear rural low-income folks who live in aging USDA housing could be forced out, small towns are eligible for grants to enhance civic participation and North Carolina's small and Black-owned farms are helped by new wind and solar revenues.

Rural populations have bounced back for two years running, more jobs are causing growing pains in Montana, Colorado wants school kids to eat better and boost rural ag communities, and Saint George, South Carolina is "Puttin' on the Grits."

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

A labeling change could pay off for small farmers and ranchers who raise livestock and poultry, pandemic-related rural job loss bounced back but progress has stalled and rural housing is scarce for younger generations as older homeowners stay put.

California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains, what's known as Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken.

Kentucky environmentalists tackle zombie mines, stereotypes of rural voters are debunked and despite a messy start, some say rural students bound for college should benefit from the simplified FAFSA.

Hard times could be ahead for rural school districts that spent federal pandemic money on teacher salaries, a former Oregon lumber community drafts a climate-action plan and West Virginians may soon buy raw milk from squeaky-clean cows.