Rural

“In these rural areas, it’s a great challenge to cover distances with people and get people to where they need to be,” Black said. But rural communities also have their advantages. Karen Wiggins, director for the Guernsey County Alcohol and Drug Services, said rural communities have the advantage of “working together” and being able to give people battling addiction “a personal touch.”“We can’t lose sight of the clients we’re working with,” said Wiggins. [node:read-more:link]

Tyler and Alissa Hodge, two of the hundreds of young professionals who have moved here in recent years, noticed that despite the influx there was not a single city-style coffee shop downtown. So the couple opened one in May, with sofas, baked goods and local micro-roaster beans, adding a play area as a nod to the family-friendly culture of this southern Indiana city and their own three children.“The 18- to 35-year-olds expect something like that, but they just didn’t have it,” said Tyler Hodge, 32, who used crowdfunding to help finance the shop. [node:read-more:link]

The parasites that deer carry into the North Woods prove fatal, but hunters resist thinning the herd. After spending millions of dollars and tracking hundreds of moose with GPS collars, scientists have pinpointed the primary culprit behind the animal’s ever-shrinking numbers in Minnesota.It’s the deer. [node:read-more:link]

Breed-specific laws ban or restrict ownership of dog breeds believed to be responsible for the most serious attacks on people. Pit bull–type dogs are the poster child of breed laws, but they can also apply to Rottweilers, Doberman Pinschers, and other large breeds. The American Kennel Club explained in a statement to JAVMA News that "pit bull" is a term commonly used to describe a particular type of dog—many being of mixed breeding—that has some ancestry relating to breeds in the United States, such as Staffordshire Bull Terriers and American Staffordshire Terriers. [node:read-more:link]

The averages may say that Virginia’s job growth almost tracks the nation’s recovery. But those overall numbers are driven by large urban counties, especially in the northern suburbs of the District. Across Virginia, as voters decide the nation’s most-watched election this year, most areas had fewer jobs in 2016 than in 2007.This uneven economy could impact the governor’s race between Republican Ed Gillespie and Democrat Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam. Of the 133 counties and cities in Virginia, 85 have lost jobs since 2007. [node:read-more:link]

The Georgia House and the Senate have appointed study committees to examine issues in rural development. Attendance at the meetings has been strong. Rural hospitals top the list. Communities with no healthcare facilities are pretty much dead in the water for economic development.There’s the fear that an existing hospital will close its doors and a community will be perceived as without a future.This has caused local governments to support their hospitals with local tax dollars. [node:read-more:link]

The opioid epidemic is affecting more than just people. "They're not just dogs I mean the dog lives with me, he's my partner, he's with me 24/7," Deputy Chad Beasley, with the Champaign County Sheriff's Office, says. "I always jokingly say, 'he's with me more than my wife' which is probably true."Arco is Deputy Beasley's partner. He is a 5 year old Dutch Shepherd."I've had him on the street for about 4 years now," Beasley says.Arco helps with tracking people, finding weapons, and seeking out heroin. [node:read-more:link]

Crushing regulations are driving small banks to sell out to the megabanks, a consolidation process that appears to be intentional. Publicly-owned banks can help avoid that trend and keep credit flowing in local economies.The number of US banks with assets under $100 million dropped from 13,000 in 1995 to under 1,900 in 2014. The regulatory burden imposed by the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act exacerbated this trend, with community banks losing market share at double the rate during the four years after 2010 as in the four years before. [node:read-more:link]

President Trump’s commission on combating the opioid epidemic plans to encourage the federal government to establish drug courts in every federal judicial district, adjust reimbursement rates for addiction treatment, and streamline federal funding used by state and local governments to implement drug treatment and prevention programs, according to a draft of the panel’s final report. [node:read-more:link]

 The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Wednesday proposed lifting a mining ban on land near Grand Canyon National Park as part of the Trump administration’s broader effort to sweep away regulations impeding development.“Adoption of this recommendation could re-open lands to mineral entry pursuant to the United States mining laws facilitating exploration for, and possibly development of, uranium resources,” the department wrote in a report to the White House seen by Reuters.The area potentially affected by the reopening is managed by the department’s Forest Service. [node:read-more:link]