Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced $32 million in loans and grants that will promote economic development and provide access to broadband in more than 80 rural American communities. Vilsack, who is chair of the first-ever White House Rural Council, convened the forum with rural policy, business and nonprofit leaders to discuss pertinent issues facing rural communities, including opportunities for economic growth and strategies for improving health care and housing. [node:read-more:link]

he Effingham County Board of Education is buying a working cattle farm for $1.2 million to use as an agriculture center.  Honey Ridge Plantation is three miles south of Guyton, less than a mile off Georgia Highway 17 in Pineora, on paved Honey Ridge Plantation Road.  The 310-acre farm will be paid for with education sales tax dollars.  The board voted 4-0 on Aug. 18 to purchase the property. The school system has 60 days from the contract date to inspect it and do a new survey, title search and environmental study. Closing will take place within 30 days of the inspection period. [node:read-more:link]

There was a certain kind of quiet hopefulness when, in late April this year, the last Ebola patient of the West African epidemic -- a two-year-old boy -- walked out of a treatment facility in Monrovia, Liberia. With the smoldering embers of the outbreak fading, there was cause for celebration. But there remains the impotent fear of the unseen: Ebola is still out there, lurking. We just don't know where it's hiding or when it will be back. And if we're going to stop Ebola in the future, we have to find its hiding places. [node:read-more:link]

A new private-public partnership with USDA, private foundations, and banks will help rural community development organizations take advantage of more than $400 million in federal loans to build community facilities like health clinics, schools, and child-care centers. The Uplift America fund, which was announced today, will provide private grants to help community development financial institutions manage and invest USDA Community Facilities loans. The organizations receiving the loans via USDA will, in turn, re-lend the money locally to facilities projects. [node:read-more:link]

Animal Lib philosopher headlines HSUS conference. Peter Singer, the controversial Princeton University philosopher, will headline a conference hosted by the Humane Society of the United States.  Singer, whose book “Animal Liberation” shaped today’s animal rights movement, applauds changes in the way that livestock and poultry are being raised. But he has made it clear that he wants to see people stop consuming animal products altogether.  The conference will focus on state initiatives as well the changes in corporate policies for which HSUS has been pushing. [node:read-more:link]