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Few in Number, Black Residents in Appalachia Push for Justice
Just as soon as the grand jury decision came down in the shooting death of Breonna Taylor, several people in southeastern Kentucky began organizing a candlelight vigil in her memory. Taylor was killed in March by police officers in Louisville, Kentucky, who executed a midnight no-knock search warrant, the type of which the city has […]
Rural Small Businesses Left Out of Proposed Pandemic Relief — Again
Advocates say rural small businesses such as hair salons, restaurants and retail establishments were excluded from U.S. House Democrats’ $2.2 trillion relief package that the chamber approved last night. Earlier this year, the $2 trillion CARES Act paid for a Small Business Administration (SBA) program to allow banks to waive six months of principal, interest […]
Racial Justice Push Creates Momentum to Protect Black-Owned Land
Editor’s note: This story was updated Sept. 21 with a comment from Monica Rainge. It was also updated to correct the year New York enacted the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act. In May, three sisters in Chicago got a surprise phone call: They owned 35 acres in Mississippi with a stand of mature timber worth […]
Strained Rural Water Utilities Buckle Under Pandemic Pressure
Read Stateline coverage of the latest state action on coronavirus. The months leading up to the coronavirus pandemic already spelled trouble for the Rome Water System and the tiny community it serves in the Mississippi Delta. A tornado tossed around several homes, closed roads and left the community without power for two weeks. Lightning strikes […]
Rural Officials Should Release Race-Specific COVID-19 Data, Study Says
Read Stateline coverage of the latest state action on coronavirus. A new study in The Journal of Rural Health calls on state and county health departments to release more race-specific information on COVID-19 cases to create a fuller picture of the pandemic’s impact on people of color in rural areas. The study, published September 7, […]
This Rural Town Swelled With Immigrants. But Will Census Count Them?
MILAN, Minn. — The October chill hit Gabriel Elias like a truck when he reached the airport parking lot in Minneapolis. He recalls surveying the cold, unfamiliar landscape. The trees looked near death. As his uncle drove nearly three hours across the Minnesota prairie, Elias began to worry. Why did his family live so far […]
No Fair! COVID-19 Disrupts Tradition and County Revenue
Read Stateline coverage of the latest state action on coronavirus. Percy L. Lewis III was especially looking forward to this year’s Neshoba County Fair, an annual Mississippi event where he races his horses and carries forward a family tradition. At 42, Lewis has been riding horses since he was 5 or 6 years old. Growing […]
Rural Hospitals Hang on as Pandemic Reaches Smaller Communities
Read Stateline coverage of the latest state action on coronavirus. As the COVID-19 pandemic battered large, metropolitan areas this spring, rural hospitals prepared to be next on the frontlines. But in order to ready their facilities for a potential surge in patients, those small hospitals had to forgo many of their most profitable operations. Months […]
Pandemic, China Trade Deal Fuel Farmer Doubts
Read Stateline coverage of the latest state action on coronavirus. When farmers don’t have enough money in their pockets, neither do local businessowners or other residents in their small, rural communities. “It doesn’t matter what you do in North Dakota, your income is based somehow off of agriculture,” said soybean farmer Tyler Stafslien, who lives […]
Virus Spikes While Local and State Officials Bicker Over Face Mask Mandates
Read Stateline coverage of the latest state action on coronavirus. DALLAS — Every day, Texas continues to break records in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, rivaling hotspots such as Florida and Arizona as the new center of the U.S. pandemic. As the situation escalates — spiking to a record 6,584 new cases Wednesday and adding more […]
Florida, Texas Close Bars Amid COVID-19 Surge
Read Stateline coverage of the latest state action on coronavirus. Florida and Texas are closing their bars as the states battle record surges in coronavirus cases. Both states announced the new restrictions Friday after each saw spikes of more than 5,000 new cases a day this week, roughly five times the daily figures in April […]
Mayors to Texas Governor: Let Us Require Masks
Read Stateline coverage of the latest state action on coronavirus. A bipartisan group of Texas mayors wants the governor to restore the authority to require people wear face masks to curb the spread of COVID-19. “We should trust local officials to make informed choices about health policy,” the nine mayors wrote this week in a […]