The University of Memphis will no longer charge tuition to the children and spouses of fallen service members. The school becomes the first to offer the national Folds of Honor scholarship as a payment-in-full scholarship, The Memphis Commercial Appeal reported on Monday, Memorial Day. The university already accepts the scholarship, which provides a $5,000 per year payment to undergraduate students under the age of 24 who had a parent severely injured or killed while on active duty. Spouses of any age can also receive it if they have not remarried. [node:read-more:link]

Canada’s federal government said Tuesday it is buying a controversial pipeline from the Alberta oil sands to the Pacific Coast to ensure it gets built. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government plans to spend $3.4 billion to purchase Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline. The pipeline expansion would triple the capacity of an existing line to ship oil extracted from the oil sands in Alberta across the snow-capped peaks of the Canadian Rockies. [node:read-more:link]

By the end of 2018, natural gas could surpass coal to become the most prevalent technology for generating electricity in the United States, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration .  The agency said fossil fuel consumption in the electric power sector declined in 2017 to its the lowest level since 1994. “The declining trend in fossil fuel consumption by the power sector has been driven by a decrease in the use of coal and petroleum, with a slightly offsetting increase in the use of natural gas,” the EIA said. [node:read-more:link]

Fossil fuel consumption in the electric power sector declined to 22.5 quadrillion British thermal units (quads) in 2017, the lowest level since 1994. The declining trend in fossil fuel consumption by the power sector has been driven by a decrease in the use of coal and petroleum with a slightly offsetting increase in the use of natural gas. Changes in the fuel mix and improvements in electricity generating technology have also led the power sector to produce electricity while consuming fewer fossil fuels. [node:read-more:link]

Our overall hypothesis is that more-integrated RFNs will enhance entrepreneurship and innovation through opportunities for adaptation and increased diversity at multiple scales, which will contribute cumulatively to social, ecological, and economic resilience in the food system (Figure 1). RFNs enhance diversity by expanding the range of food marketing options. They present adaptive strategies for small and midsize farm and food businesses as they struggle to compete in the global food system. [node:read-more:link]

The Breeze Farm in Orange County, North Carolina, represents a growing trend in the United States of those without a farming or ranching background entering a career in farming (North Carolina Cooperative Extension, 2018). Started in 2008, Breeze Farm is an incubator program, supported by North Carolina Cooperative Extension and public–private collaborative funding, Breeze Farm provides a place for farm enthusiasts to test out skills and markets. [node:read-more:link]

Austin Steinbach said he was “dead set” on moving to this rural farming town for a job that offered benefits, a $500 signing bonus and a higher wage. But the 25-year-old father of two had to turn it down after a week-long search with his wife for a home failed to turn up anything livable or in their price range.“What they offered out there was great, but I can’t afford to move because I can’t afford to rent a house there,” he said. Instead, Mr. Steinbach will stay in Creston, Iowa, where he supports his family earning $2 less an hour power-washing farm equipment and has no benefits. [node:read-more:link]

The first step toward better connectivity came in 2014, when Suzanne Phillips Sims, Congress Elementary School’s technology specialist, stumbled upon a small microwave internet company that was installing equipment atop the town’s water towers. Microwave connections utilize transmission towers, which must be directly in the line of sight of a receiving antenna. Sims asked the technician installing the equipment, Wayne Markis, whether he’d provide internet at the school for an introductory rate. The school’s relationship with AZ Airnet was born. [node:read-more:link]

Southwest Virginia turned an unused railroad right of way into a critical part of a regional tourism powerhouse. Jacob Stump, a native of the region, begins a series on how those changes have affected the economy and culture of this Central Appalachian area. The Virginia Tourism Corporation’s 2014 Economic Impact Report showed that Southwest Virginia generated nearly $971 million in tourism expenditures. [node:read-more:link]

Cory Ritterbusch and Emily Lubcke sought out Shullsburg, Wisconsin (population 1,209), for the quality of life it offered them and their children. The young couple aren’t the only ones going to (or returning to) small towns. “People don’t move to your town for pity,” Winchester said. [node:read-more:link]