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The Rural Blog

What makes the nation's upper Midwest different is what makes it an election-year game-changer. "While many other parts of the country have sorted into neat red and blue columns, the big upper Midwestern states continue to sit on the dividing line between the two parties.
Establishing community trust in election officials and reminding voters how the democratic process happens in their neck of the woods can help counties counter election deniers, conspiracy theorists and overall election intrusions.
The rural community of Kingsville, Texas, developed a task force of combined support from law enforcement, courts and local businesses to help domestic violence victims safely ask for and receive help.
The heat is on cities to do something about sweltering and unhealthy urban temperatures. Researchers looked at the problem and said, "Rural can cool," and began work on configurations where city heat could be mitigated by country cool.
After serving rural Martin County, N.C., for 73 years, Martin General hospital closed its doors, leaving the community's 22,000 residents without a medical care center. Like many rural hospitals across the United States, Martin General had faced shrinking profits and bankruptcy before it closed. But that's not the end of Martin General's story.
As U.S. inflation slowly tracks downward, some painful increases remain difficult for Americans to afford. "Prices for many of the things that are hard to do without are still posting eye-watering increases. Rent and electricity bills are up 10% or more over the past two years, and car-insurance costs are up nearly 40%."
In the not-so-distant past, county election officials could expect to register voters and repair voting machines. But in more recent election years, including 2024, their jobs have become overwhelming and at times, dangerous.
Taking fracking wastewater and injecting it miles underground is the cheapest and most common way to get rid of Texas oilfield used or "produced water," but a new study from Southern Methodist University found that the toxic water may not be staying underground. 
This opinion piece by Art Cullen, editor of the Storm Lake Times Pilot in Iowa, has been gently edited for Rural Blog brevity. "Kamala Harris and the Democrats do well to have Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on their national ticket as the vice-presidential nominee. He’s rural, for real. Walz has broad appeal in Upper Midwest battleground states, is well-versed in the you-betcha vernacular, and is well-suited in Carhartt with a camo cap. . . "

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