Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Friday signed into law a bill that bars local governments from establishing so-called right-to-work zones, another rebuke to his Republican predecessor, who blocked similar legislation as he battled with Democratic lawmakers over his pro-business, union-weakening agenda. [node:read-more:link]
As a top agent with North Carolina’s Bureau of Investigation, Donnie Varnell had tried everything to stop people from fatally overdosing on opioids, from arresting more low-level drug users to talking with doctors. Nothing worked. In 2014, he heard a former SWAT commander speak to law enforcement officers about carrying the opioid antidote naloxone.“I’ve arrested more people than you can put on a cruise ship,” Varnell said, recalling the speech. “But the message — and the messenger — resonated with me. He spoke cop. But he also had ideas, programs and studies. [node:read-more:link]
For the first six years of this decade, rural America experienced overall population loss for the first time in history. New Census Bureau estimates suggest that last year overall growth accelerated in nonmetropolitan America where 46.1 million people reside. The population gain was small, just 37,000 (.1 percent), but it contrasts with a loss of 32,000 just two years ago and to a modest population gain last year. Population growth was fueled by renewed net migration coupled with a surplus of births over deaths, though this natural increase is dwindling. [node:read-more:link]
Recovery continues in and along the Missouri Valley in Iowa. [node:read-more:link]
At an afternoon press conference at the White House, flanked by tower linemen and ranchers, the president and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Ajit Pai announced the agency’s largest-ever auction of wireless spectrum—that is, the radio frequencies over which wireless communications signals travel—for the purpose of deploying fifth-generation wireless (5G) technology. As Mashable explains, wireless networks run on radio waves that FCC controls and opens up to private carriers through an auction process. In other words? [node:read-more:link]
That experience underscores the complexity of defining what constitutes a rural community for the purposes of qualifying for rural-specific federal programs — a question that has plagued Congress, USDA officials and researchers for decades. Communities looking to qualify for rural development programs must first prove that they meet the government's definition of “rural” before they can be considered for assistance. But there’s no one-size-fits-all definition, and population thresholds vary from program to program. [node:read-more:link]
But the mountain lions know that something is wrong. A number of years ago, Swanson and her colleagues studied which deer mountain lions prefer to attack. “The mountain lions were definitely preferentially selecting deer that had chronic wasting disease over those that were negative,” she says. “And for most of the ones that they had killed, we had not detected any chronic wasting disease symptoms yet. So certainly the lions were able to key in on far more subtle cues than we were.” [node:read-more:link]
Co-ops offer several advantages for rural communities attempting to improve broadband connectivity. But large telcos don’t like them. North Carolina has loosened its restrictions on co-ops. Will other states follow? [node:read-more:link]
Oregon wildlife regulators would be required to consider elk overpopulation when issuing tags to curb property damage under a bill approved for a vote in the Senate. Senate Bill 301, which would add the overpopulation provision, cleared the Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources on April 8 with a unanimous “do pass” recommendation.Farm and ranch organizations that support SB 301 say the additional consideration is needed because the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife currently issues tags based on historical and active damage rather than herd size. [node:read-more:link]
The digital divide between urban American and farmers, businesses and communities in rural America is widening, partially because the Federal Communications Commission uses flawed mapping tools to define who has good internet access. Members of the U.S. Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee on Wednesday heard from the president of the Mississippi Farm Bureau and others about mapping problems with FCC that make it more difficult to know exactly where internet coverage holes actually exist. [node:read-more:link]
