Measles is continuing to spread through unvaccinated communities, confirming experts' fears

Measles has no direct cure and
can spread easily.
(Photo by Kristine Wook, Unsplash)

The number of confirmed measles cases in the United States so far this year has reached 712, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The resurgence of the virus is cause for concern as “it is preventable … and has been considered eliminated from the U.S. since 2000,” according to Devi Shastri in an article for the Associated Press.

Measles is a viral infection that has no direct treatment. The illness can be indicated by a fever, runny nose, cough, watery eyes and a rash.

While Texas has the majority of cases at 505, there have been reports of measles in 25 states, according to the CDC.

“The multi-state outbreak confirms health experts’ fears that the virus will take hold in other U.S. communities with low vaccination rates and that the spread could stretch on for a year,” wrote Shastri.

According to Shastri's report, cases spread easily in communities with low vaccination rates and that the best way to avoid measles is to get vaccinated.

Even though the disease doesn’t have a direct cure, the article explains that most children do recover. However, “infection can lead to dangerous complications such as pneumonia, blindness, brain swelling and death.”

So far, three people have died from measles this year, according to the CDC.

Bayer threatens to end Roundup production, but American farmers depend on it. They may have to get it from China.

A farmer spreads pesticide on a field.
(Adobe Stock photo)

Despite its long run as many farmers' first choice for an effective weedkiller, Roundup's time on the market may be almost over. "Pharmaceutical and agriculture conglomerate Bayer said it could stop producing the world’s most popular weedkiller, unless it gets court protection against lawsuits blaming the herbicide for causing cancer," reports Patrick Thomas of The Wall Street Journal.

Roundup was patented by agriculture and science research giant Monsanto in 1971, and the company began marketing the glyphosate-based herbicide in 1974. Over time, Roundup made billions of dollars in sales for Monsanto and later for Bayer, which acquired Monsanto in 2018. Thomas writes, "Bayer currently produces about 40% of the world’s glyphosate, which farmers spray across fields to tame crop-threatening weeds."

Over the past 10 years, Roundup has had strong U.S. sales; however, Bayer is now drowning in "waves of litigation," Thomas explains. The suits caused Bayer's stock price to plunge and cost the company roughly "$10 billion in payouts to plaintiffs. In early March, Bayer told farmers, suppliers and retailers that it may stop selling Roundup, which would leave U.S. farmers reliant on imported glyphosate from China."

While some Americans may question the use of glyphosates, American farmers depend on it. "American farmers apply almost 300 million pounds of glyphosate, the main ingredient in Roundup, to their fields each year," Thomas reports. Stu Swanson, who is president of the Iowa Corn Growers Association, told Thomas, “Roundup [glyphosate] helps us produce in an economic way and for products we raise to be cheaper.”

Given production costs and lawsuits, producing Roundup is no longer profitable for Bayer. Some state legislatures are "discussing Bayer-supported bills that would protect pesticide companies from claims that they failed to warn that their product allegedly causes cancer if their product labels have been approved by the EPA without such designation," Thomas explains. "Plaintiffs’ attorneys have vowed legal challenges to such laws, if passed."

If Bayer stops producing Roundup, it's unlikely that another company would be willing to replace it and accept the product's ongoing and future liability.

Foreign businesses have replaced textiles in Upstate South Carolina. Residents are 'baffled' and worried by tariffs.

BMW employs 11,000 people at its 8 million square-
foot campus in Spartanburg, S.C. (BMW photo)

Upstate South Carolina was once known as the country's textile hub until the 1990s when "automation and cheaper labor overseas took the industry away from the state," reports Eduardo Medina of The New York Times. President Trump's new tariffs aim to revive the industry, but some people who used to work at the old mills don't know why anyone would want to bring that work back because of the low wages and often unpleasant working conditions. Much of the region has new industrial partners that have improved the overall quality of living for many residents.

Adolphus Jones worked at a mill in the small town of Union, S.C. Medina writes, "Jones, now 71 and retired, scoffed at President Trump’s vision of an American manufacturing revival through tariffs. The mill work had paid little, Jones recalled, and upward mobility was nonexistent." Jones told him, “The textile industry is dead. Why would you want to bring it back here? Truthfully, why would the younger generation want to work there?”

The Trump administration's push to bring back an industry few residents miss represents a mismatch between current economic realities and the limits of what tariffs can accomplish. "Today, companies like BMW and Michelin — from Germany and France — are the economic engines of the region," Medina explains. "Now, leaders say that waging a trade war could undermine future recruitment of international investments and risk losing the jobs that are already in the region."

BMW alone "has invested more than $14.8 billion into its South Carolina operations" and has created "most than 11,000 jobs." BMW's suppliers have created thousands of additional jobs in the region. 

So, local residents were baffled "when the White House’s top trade adviser, Peter Navarro, attacked BMW’s manufacturing process in an interview . . .," Medina reports. "He told CNBC that 'this business model where BMW and Mercedes come into Spartanburg, S.C., and have us assemble German engines and Austrian transmissions — that doesn’t work for America. It’s bad for our economics.'"

Even in Union, a rural area with 8,000 residents, a recovery from textile's downfall has slowly evolved. Medina writes, "Union County has successfully recruited renewable power companies, bioscience and medical employers, and a Dollar General distribution center that employs nearly a thousand people."

Some Union residents think a more modern mill might further improve Union's economy. Leroy Spencer, a retiree in Union, told Medina, "If Trump can bring that back, it would be amazing, and I think the economy would pick up around here and get better." However, building new mills with automation and modern equipment would mean ordering machinery and supplies from overseas, which will likely face higher tariffs and thereby increase construction costs.

Jones sees the "whole tariff back and forth as baffling," Medina writes. "When he worked in a plant decades ago, he made tassels for graduation caps. Now, he says, more of Union’s next generation should be wearing those caps — not making them."

Congress considers cutting billions in Medicaid spending by eliminating reimbursements to states for 'provider taxes'

The provider tax helps most states fund their
Medicaid programs. (Adobe Stock photo)

Congressional budget hawks could trim billions in federal Medicaid spending by restricting the use of a state tax on medical providers, reports Joseph Walker of The Wall Street Journal. "The levies can lead to higher federal spending on Medicaid."

The tax, which is commonly known as the "provider tax," is levied by states on hospitals, nursing homes and other facilities that provide medical care. When medical providers pay the provider tax, states funnel the payments into their Medicaid budgets. Because federal Medicaid dollars often match state dollars, the tax increases federal Medicaid costs.

If Congress ended the ability to use the provider tax to "finance Medicaid contributions entirely, it could save more than $600 billion over a decade," Walker explains. "That would go a long way toward achieving House Republicans’ plans to reduce federal spending by as much as $2 trillion to help offset the impact of extending President Trump’s income-tax cuts."

But the change could prove devastating for medical providers and Medicaid recipients. Walker reports, "Hospitals often tend to get back more in payments than they shelled out for the original tax, which shores up their ability to care for Medicaid patients. . . . Nearly every state uses provider taxes to raise money to finance their Medicaid health insurance programs for low-income people and the disabled."

Republican budget cutters have "turned the provider taxes into a prime target.. [They say] states are gaming the system to artificially boost their Medicaid contributions and enrich politically powerful hospitals," Walker adds. "Defenders say cash-starved hospitals need the extra payments financed by provider taxes, because Medicaid reimbursement isn’t enough to cover costs."

President Trump promised during a February interview that there will be no cuts to Medicaid. Some lawmakers see the elimination of the provider tax as a possible go-around to cut Medicaid spending by more indirect means.

Medicaid decisions matter for small-town America where in 2023, 40.6% of children were enrolled in Medicaid/CHIP compared to 38.2% in metro areas. Any reductions would also hurt rural non-elderly adults covered by Medicaid.

Funding system for rural schools that overlap with national forests is 'brutal.' Advocates seek a new solution.

Trinity Alps office building in Weaverville, California, pop. 3,667.
(Trinity Alps Unified School District photo via The Daily Yonder)

A lack of support for the 20-year-old Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act program has rural schools in 41 states preparing for a possible loss of vital funding. Leaders of those rural schools are advocating for a renewal of funding and a better plan for more secure funding in the future. 

"The law was up for re-authorization in 2024 but died last December without a vote from the House of Representatives," report Claire Carlson and Lane Wendell Fischer of The Daily Yonder. "The Senate had already voted unanimously to approve it."

The federal program provides money to counties that include National Forest land. "Because public land cannot be used or taxed for local interests, the SRS program offsets this loss of local revenue by allocating federal funds to support essential community infrastructure like roads and schools," Carlson and Fischer explain. "SRS requires regular re-authorization, typically every three years, and is often accompanied by reductions in funding."

In 2016, SRS funding wasn't approved in time, and schools missed a year of needed funding. The same thing may happen in 2025. Jamie Green, superintendent of Trinity Alps Unified School District in rural Trinity County, California, told the Yonder, “This every three-year thing, it’s brutal. Absolutely brutal.”

In 2023, Trinity Alps was allotted $600,000 from SRS. "These funds accounted for 5% of the district’s budget and were essential in paying for teachers, programming, and maintenance work," the Yonder reports. "With no clear path toward re-authorization, Green’s current goal is to do what he can to cushion Trinity Alps for the looming shortfall."

With the ongoing potential for funding gaps or reductions within the program, advocates want a longer-term solution. Mark Haggerty, a senior fellow at the independent nonprofit research institute Center for American Progress, favors establishing a trust. He told the Yonder, "A trust makes sure that communities have the resources they need. . . . It’s not asking the taxpayers for permanent appropriations, and it’s not adding to the debt. But it gives counties and schools predictable payments that they can rely on."

To read about obstacles a trust faces, click here. 

U.S. trade policies are giving China a 'rare and unprecedented strategic opportunity'

Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump 
(Photo by T. Peter-Pool, Getty Images via The Conversation)

In the trade war between the U.S. and China, China may have some key advantages to stymie U.S. businesses -- including farmers -- while developing new trading partners. "The two economies are now locked in an all-out, high-intensity trade standoff," writes Linggong Kong for The Conversation. "As an expert on U.S.-China relations, I wouldn’t expect China to [back down]. Unlike the first U.S.-China trade war, when Beijing eagerly sought to negotiate with the U.S., China now holds far more leverage."

Dynamic shifts in China since 2018 make this round of tariffs different. "The importance of the U.S. market to China’s export-driven economy has declined significantly," Kong explains. "At the start of the first trade war, U.S.-bound exports accounted for 19.8% of China’s total exports. In 2023, that figure had fallen to 12.8%."

Overall, the U.S. is more dependent on Chinese goods. "By 2022, the U.S. relied on China for 532 key product categories – nearly four times the level in 2000 – while China’s reliance on U.S. products was cut by half in the same period," Kong writes. "Beijing believes Trump’s tariffs risk pushing the previously strong U.S. economy toward a recession."

China has a set of retaliation tools to use against the U.S. that the U.S. does not hold over China. Kong adds, "It dominates the global rare earth supply chain – critical to military and high-tech industries – supplying roughly 72% of U.S. rare earth imports."

U.S. farmers are also a target for China. Kong writes, "China accounts for about half of U.S. soybean exports and nearly 10% of American poultry exports. On March 4, Beijing revoked import approvals for three major U.S. soybean exporters."

Beyond financial targets, China is using the U.S. trade policies as an opportunity to rebuild its stressed trade relations in Asia and Europe. "After Trump had first raised tariffs on Beijing – China, Japan and South Korea hosted their first economic dialogue in five years and pledged to advance a trilateral free trade agreement," Kong writes. "On April 8, the president of the European Commission held a call with China’s premier, during which both sides jointly condemned U.S. trade protectionism and advocated for free and open trade."

Despite the harm Trump’s tariffs will "inevitably do to parts of the Chinese economy, Beijing appears to have far more cards to play this time around," Kong explains. "It has the tools to inflict meaningful damage on U.S. interests – and perhaps more importantly, Trump’s all-out tariff war is providing China with a rare and unprecedented strategic opportunity."

Trump pitches plan to help undocumented farmworkers avoid deportation and become legalized to work in the U.S.

Roughly 500,000 undocumented workers fill labor positions
on American farms. (Photo via Progressive Farmer)

Since President Trump took office, many farmers have worried about the deportation of valuable, but undocumented, farm workers. Discussions yesterday suggest a go-around could be in the works. "Trump suggested a new program will be set up to help legalize farm workers and reduce the risk of farmers losing undocumented workers to mass deportations," reports Chris Clayton of Progressive Farmer.

Trump floated the idea during a Cabinet meeting, marking the first time he has shown "willingness to temper his mass deportation plans to help protect the labor pool for industries such as agriculture," Clayton writes. "Undocumented workers will be given a chance to self-deport and return to the country legally, Trump said. That should be an incentive for people in the country illegally to identify themselves under the Alien Registration Act with U.S. Customs and Border Patrol."

The plan would allow farm workers who register to "remain working on a farm -- at least for a temporary period," Clayton explains. "The president told Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins in the Cabinet meeting that her department would work with farmers to help verify worker status on farms."

Trump explained the process at the meeting, saying, "A farmer will come in with a letter concerning certain people saying they're great, they're working hard. We're going to slow down a little bit for them, and then we're going to ultimately bring them back. They'll go out, they're going to come back as legal workers, OK?"

Zippy Duvall, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, responded to Trump's comments, saying: "We heard President Trump's comments about farm labor during his cabinet meeting. We thank the president for recognizing the importance of farmworkers and for considering the impact of the labor crisis in agriculture. We look forward to learning about the specifics of his plan. Every American is dependent on these workers to keep their families fed and pantries full."

The mass employment of migrant farmworkers by American farmers is real. Clayton adds, "A USDA Farm Labor Survey pegged the percentage of undocumented agricultural workers at around 42%, or roughly 500,000 people, working in crops. . . . To fill the void of assuring they have legal labor, farmers' H-2A programs have grown in recent years and now fill more than 384,000 job positions."

As U.S. cotton farmers continue to lose money, some may 'lose the farm.' A 2025 Farm Bill could help.

Cotton has lost market share relative to man-made fibers.

(National Cotton Council graph via Farm Journal)

A sour market and steep input prices may put some U.S. cotton farmers out of business. "Cheap cotton prices and dwindling demand are just part of the problem," reports Tyne Morgan of Farm Journal. "Input costs have climbed and there’s no safety net to be found from a new farm bill."

In decades past, farmers would often choose cotton over food production crops, but overall changes have made the crop an unprofitable investment. "With cotton prices falling below farmers’ breakeven, that crop is causing financial pain to even grow," Morgan explains. Franz Rowland, who grows cotton in Boston, Ga., told him, “There’s no farm bill to support us, and the reference price is so low that it’s not anything that we can depend on."

While cotton is a dependable crop, it's expensive to produce and harvest. "Cotton is a high input crop that requires a heavy dose of fertilizer and intensive pest and weed management," Morgan adds. "But in addition to that, today’s cotton farmers are dealing with the rising cost of equipment." A used cotton picker can cost around $585,000, but a new one retails for roughly $1 million.

The outlook for 2025 cotton crops is negative. The president and CEO of National Cotton Council, Gary Adams, told Morgan, "We’ve gone beyond just losing money now that we’re to the point of losing the farm. Unfortunately, where the industry is, that’s what it looks like as we’re going into 2025." Morgan adds, "There’s a lot to unpack in explaining why cotton prices are so low, but the biggest reason is dwindling demand."

Cotton's biggest competitor is man-made fibers such as polyester. "At the same time, big cotton producers, such as Brazil and Australia, are staring at big crops, which is helping global competition for the smaller market that’s left," Morgan reports. "China is still a larger buyer of U.S. cotton."

For now, U.S. cotton farmers are pushing for a 2025 Farm Bill that offers support. Adams told Morgan, “I just can’t state this strongly enough: We have to have a farm bill done by Congress this year that applies to the 2025 crop."

Without key personnel, dam safety may falter. Watchdogging reporters can help protect their communities.

Part of Oroville Dam broke allowing water to the right 
of main spillway to flow downstream. (Wikipedia photo)

The Trump administration fired the entire National Dam Safety Review Board, which provided federal oversight to ensure U.S. dams remain structurally sound and functional. Without key employees to inspect, maintain and run dams, they could pose a risk to surrounding lands and communities.

"When a major dam fails, people’s lives could be lost and property destroyed, writes Joseph A Davis for the Society of Environmental Journalists. "Right now the best hope many residents in harm’s way have for staying safe is watchdogging by environmental journalists."

Some dam details:

• The 2017 Oroville Dam crisis is an example of what can happen when a dam is compromised.
• The National Dam Safety Review Board is only one part of the federal dam safety program, which is administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
• States regulate roughly 70% of the country's dams.
• Most U.S. dams are privately owned and state-regulated.

Story ideas:

• Take a look at the National Inventory of Dams and locate any “high hazard” dams in your state. What populated areas would their failure threaten?
• Find out what condition those dams are in. This may be harder. When were they last inspected and what was their rated condition? Can you get the inspection report? Try your state engineer.
• Do the high-hazard dams in your area have “emergency action plans?” Can you get a copy? Will the plan keep people safe? Who’s in charge of notification and evacuation?
• Who regulates and inspects the dams in your area? Talk to your state engineer.
• Are any of your area’s dams in line to get federal money via the Inflation Reduction Act, Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, etc.? Is it being held up?

Reporting resources:

U.S. Society on Dams: A professional organization, nonprofit and nongovernmental, that shares knowledge about engineering.
Association of State Dam Safety Officials: A good access point to the many state-level officials, often engineers, who work on the problem of dam safety.
American Society of Civil Engineers: A professional organization of engineers working on all kinds of civil works, including dams.
Interagency Committee on Dam Safety: ICODS is “the permanent forum for the coordination of federal activities in dam safety and security.”

Even with tariff pause, plans to increase costs for shrimp imports give small coastal communities hope

Last year most U.S. shrimpers lost money.
(Adobe Stock photo)

Despite shrimp's jumbo appeal to U.S. consumers, American shrimpers have struggled to compete with imported, farmed shrimp. Tariffs and renewed trade negotiations with foreign shrimp importers may help revive American shrimping.

As this week began, shrimpers in tiny Bayou La Batre, Alabama, celebrated President Trump’s new round of tariffs, which "included countries that export most of shrimp Americans consume," reports Rachel Wolfe of The Wall Street Journal. "That included rates of around 26% on India, 10% on Ecuador, 32% on Indonesia and 46% on Vietnam. . . . More than 90% of the millions of pounds of shrimp consumed annually in the U.S. is imported."

The decline of U.S. shrimping came bit by bit as more imported shrimp entered the U.S. market. "Fishermen unable to sell their shrimp to break even on gas, labor and supplies have had to tie up their boats," Wolfe explains. "Supply shops, seafood processors, marine technicians and others in the industry have suffered, too."

For small coastal communities like Bayou La Batre, the loss of shrimping incomes has "cratered" local economics. Wolfe reports, "Income and sales-tax revenue in Bayou La Batre plummeted around 40% between 2021 and 2024 alone, according to Mayor Henry D. Barnes." Barnes told her, "People were looking to me for answers, and I didn’t have them. The city can’t put tariffs on foreign seafood.”

Over the past 20 years, the wholesale price of shrimp in the U.S. declined, but American shrimpers were still able to eke out a small profit. "In 2021, that changed as import prices dropped sharply, making it much more difficult for domestic shrimpers to turn a profit," Wolfe explains. "In 2023, domestic shrimpers operated at a net 3.7% loss on average."

Although the tariffs may help some shrimpers clear profits again, U.S. levies on marine goods could present new challenges. "Shrimpers rely on imports for a lot of their supplies," Wolfe explains. "Jeremy Zirlott, a commercial shrimper from Bayou La Batre, buys some of the webbing for his nets from India — which runs around $22,000 each year for each of his boats."

Even as Trump set a 90-day pause on the sweeping tariffs, the Southern Shrimp Alliance's response was positive. SSA Executive Director John Williams, echoed the hope some smaller coastal towns now have: "It is encouraging that the Trump Administration’s tariffs have prompted countries to show a new willingness to address trade policies disadvantaging American producers."

Rural areas struggling to provide local Emergency Medical Services use creative solutions to fill the void

Southern Henry Ambulance Service’s new hub is a barn in
Knightstown. (Photo by Grayson Joslin, Indiana Capital Chronicle)

The safety net local Emergency Medical Services provides to rural communities has been faltering, leaving some areas without an EMS team to respond to urgent calls. The shortage has some areas creating their own EMS solutions.

Residents of Knightstown, Indiana, have lived without an ambulance service since January 2023, when the regional ambulance service closed due to financial losses and a lack of volunteers. "The town, situated in the southern portion of Henry County, is 25 minutes away from the county seat, New Castle, which has their own EMS services and hospital," reports Grayson Joslin of the Indiana Capital Chronicle. "But sometimes the New Castle EMS may have other calls to answer, so it could be anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour for EMS to get to Knightstown."

Knightstown resident and EMT volunteer Kevin Richey decided to explore how Knightstown might develop its own EMS service. Joslin writes, "Richey asked around the Knightstown community to see if there would be support to create a new nonprofit from scratch for providing EMS resources. . . . Southern Henry Ambulance Service was approved as a 501(c)3 nonprofit in early 2023, and started a fundraising effort across Knightstown and on GoFundMe to get the service off of the ground."

Just east of Henry County lies Fayetteville County, Indiana, where over half of the population lives in a rural area. The county has its own ambulance service, but still struggles to meet its call volume. "The county lost its only hospital in 2019," Joslin explains. "This has put an additional strain on its existing EMS operations. Runs that used to take two to three minutes to make now take about 30 to 35 minutes."

Increasing local taxes proved to be a solution to some of Fayetteville's staffing problems. "In 2024, both the Connersville City Council and the Fayette County Council approved a 0.25% public safety tax on income to go toward providing more funds to the county’s various public safety services," Joslin reports. "Fayette County EMS chief Clint Hardin said the funding from the tax allowed him to give his employees a $5,000 raise."

While tax increases are often unpopular, they can finance local needs that most residents support. Hardin told Joslin, "What people kinda lose sight of is property taxes is the only tax that we pay that is 99% local. That funds police, fire, EMS, your streets, your parks, your libraries, your schools. You get to see the benefit of your tax dollars.”

A cold case of cows gone missing. So many are gone and rustling doesn't fully explain it.

The Uncompahgre Plateau includes about 2,290 square miles in five counties: Delta, Mesa, Montrose, Ouray, and San Migue. The San Juan Mountains stand in the background. (PeakVisor photo)

When nearly 200 cows don't come home, ranchers expect to find evidence that points to what became of their cattle. That just isn't the case in Montrose County, Colorado, where 187 cows disappeared without a trace and a comprehensive investigation yielded only more mystery.

A week before Thanksgiving 2024, the first losses were tallied: "Twenty-nine cows and calves, a rancher told a state agriculture official, hadn’t come home," reports Karin Brulliard of The Washington Post. "One week later, three more reports from three other owners: 46, 38 and 31 head of cattle, all gone. Three days after that, rancher Kelly Burch also alerted authorities. She had counted her herd and come up 43 animals short."

All of the missing cows spent the summer grazing on the Uncompahgre Plateau, "rugged country where some animals always fall victim to predators, illness or weather," Brulliard writes. "But never this many and not without leaving lots of carcasses behind. Also unusual: The vast majority were calves."

Location of Montrose County in
Colorado. (Wikipedia map)

With the demand for U.S. beef at near-record highs, Colorado law enforcement first theorized that the missing bovines were taken by rustlers. Chuck Searcy, who is leading the Montrose County Sheriff’s investigation, "spent the winter fielding tips about suspicious characters and even theories about alien abduction," Brulliard reports. "He is convinced it’s at least partially a theft case."

The state and county responded to threat of rustlers with a rigorous investigation "involving sheriffs, a multiagency task force, search planes, a $10,000 reward and a bull rider turned cowboy who has scouted the area on horseback," Brulliard adds.

But the cow rustling theory has holes. "No semitrailer could reach the hardscrabble, unpaved altitude where these cattle were spread, the kind of range even experienced ranch hands don’t know by heart," Brulliard explains. "Typically, mother cows separated from their calves would show distress. A mass die-off, perhaps from poison weed, would produce bodies."

Whatever the cause, the missing cows "raised alarm at sale barns across Colorado. At one of the busiest, Centennial Livestock Auction in Fort Collins, the brands of the missing cattle are posted on the bulletin board of inspector Jesse Phillips’s office," Brulliard reports. "In the meantime, the case got a break of sorts. Tony Mendes, a former pro bull rider, found 17 of the missing cattle. . ." still out in the grazing area. 

Read Brulliard's full story here.

Rural hospitals are receiving help from Microsoft to address cybersecurity risks

Most cyberattacks in rural hospitals are due to human error.
(Photo by the National Cancer Institute, Unsplash)

Cyberattacks are targeted at rural hospitals due to their lack of resources, old computers and a high probability of human error.

Liz Carey at the Daily Yonder reported that, according to a Microsoft study, cyberattacks are a real threat to rural hospitals. “In 2022, 44 attacks in Texas exposed nearly 6 million patient records.”

In an interview with the Daily Yonder, Alan Morgan, president and CEO of the National Rural Health Association, addressed the issue of cybersecurity costs.

“It is important to note that large, well-financed national health systems have to date failed to prevent cyber-attacks on their organizations, so for a small rural hospital, with far fewer resources, the issue is even more daunting.”

Microsoft’s Cybersecurity for Rural Hospitals Program is providing more than 550 participating rural hospitals in America with free cybersecurity assessments, training and discounts on security products.

“Officials with Microsoft said the goal of the cybersecurity program is to address not only immediate risks facing the hospitals, but to encourage broader systemic challenges as well,” Carey wrote.

U.S. dairy industry sees a positive side to new tariffs. Grain and soybean farmers share a pessimistic outlook.

Graphic by Lindsey Pound, Dairy Herd Management

The U.S. dairy industry says the new reciprocal tariffs announced by President Trump could end in a "net positive" for the sector, reports Rhonda Brooks of Dairy Herd Management.

Gregg Doud, President and CEO of the National Milk Producers Federation, issued a statement supporting the tariffs: "'Tariffs can be a useful tool for negotiating fairer terms of trade. . . .We are glad to see the administration focusing on long-time barriers to trade that the European Union and India have imposed on our exports. If Europe retaliates against the United States, we encourage the administration to respond strongly by raising tariffs on European cheeses and butter. We also appreciate the president’s recognition of the sizable barriers facing U.S. dairy exports into the Canadian market.”

Krysta Harden, president and CEO of the U.S. Dairy Export Council, "gave added perspective on the new tariffs being rolled out, " Brooks adds. Harden said, "A firm hand and decisive approach to driving changes is most needed with the European Union and India to correct their distortive trade policies and mistreatment of American agriculture."

A partial list of the countries and their tariff percentages to be levied include:

• China - 34%
• European Union - 20%
• Vietnam - 46%
• Taiwan - 32%
• Japan - 24%
• India - 26%
• South Korea - 25%
• Thailand - 36%
• Switzerland - 31%
• Indonesia - 32%

Grain and soybean farmers have a gloomier outlook on how the tariffs might alter their market share and future income. "During the 2018 trade war with China, U.S. agriculture experienced more than $27 billion in losses, according to the American Soybean Association," Brooks adds. "The association says the U.S. has yet to fully recover its former market share of soybean exports to China, the world’s No. 1 buyer of the commodity."

North Dakota farmer and rancher Chase Dewitz weighed in on the "pain" the new tariffs will cause agribusiness stakeholders. He told Brooks, "Everyone says, ‘this needs to be fixed,’ and then on the backside they say, ‘as long as it doesn’t affect me.' Well, it’s going to affect everybody.”

EPA cuts may leave rural towns with even fewer resources to combat extreme weather

Hills Creek Valley in Oakridge, Ore. EPA funds were
earmarked for wildfire smoke management. (Adobe Stock photo)

The Environmental Protection Agency cut $1.5 billion in DEI and Environmental Justice grants intended to help rural western communities combat ongoing extreme weather such as flooding, smog, drought and melting permafrost. Joshua Partlow and Amudalat Ajasa of The Washington Post report, "Residents and local organizations in these communities say the funding cuts undermine what little defense there is against growing climate threats."

The EPA initiated the cuts after President Trump "issued an executive order calling for federal grants to be terminated if they provide funding for programs that 'promote or take part in diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives' or 'environmental justice initiatives,'" Partlow and Ajasa explain. "The recipients include nonprofit organizations, Native American tribes, cities, counties and universities across the country."

Each community planned to use the funds to address a unique set of environmental challenges. Some Alaskan villages sought funding to deal with ongoing coastal flooding brought on by melting permafrost, while Native American tribes needed dollars to address pollution, and mountain towns in the Pacific Northwest looked to use the money to assist with wildfire smoke problems. The lost support means all of these regions will have fewer resources to plan for and work through climate events.

Sarah Altemus-Pope, executive director of South Willamette Solutions, a nonprofit that helps communities with forest management, told the Post, "These were dollars that were going to really make a difference to people who are financially without the means to do this work to protect their health."

South Willamette Solutions held part of a $1 million EPA grant that would have helped seal homes against wildfire smoke in tiny Oakridge, Oregon, but the grant money was terminated. The Post reports, "The money, stemming from the Inflation Reduction Act, was intended for work on about 30 homes. The work included installing grates on attic vents to keep embers out and sealing doors and windows to keep out smoke."

Extreme rain, flooding and tornadoes hit the Midwest and South. Many swollen rivers have yet to crest.

Tornadoes tore through parts of the South and Midwest.
(Adobe Stock photo)

As storm after storm hammered the Midwest and South with torrential rain and flash floods over the weekend, thousands of Americans now face homes, businesses, roads and bridges that are destroyed or underwater. "The storm is expected to move out to sea by Tuesday, leaving behind enough fallen rain to keep rivers and streams swelling for days to come," reports Patrick J. Lyons of The New York Times.

Continuous rainfall left areas unable to manage the extreme runoff. "The area around Benton, in western Kentucky, recorded more than 15 inches of rain from Tuesday morning to Sunday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service," Lyons writes. Marlene Lenthang and Kathryn Prociv of NBC News report, "Meanwhile, in Dawson Springs, Kentucky, rising waters reached a substation, causing authorities to cut power."

Much of the damage "has been caused by floodwaters that overtopped riverbanks and levees, surged through streets and inundated the basements and ground floors of buildings," Lyons reports. "Some streams and rivers were not expected to crest for several more days. Stranded residents were rescued across the region."

The storm system spawned dozens of tornadoes, which stretched across southern Arkansas all the way into northern Indiana. Lyons writes, "There were so many reports of tornadoes that some Weather Service offices delayed confirming them. . . . At least 23 deaths had been attributed to the storm system as of Sunday evening."

FEMA moves to close its popular Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program

BRIC grants helped communities of all sizes prepare
for natural disasters. (Adobe Stock photo)

Despite the ongoing reality of extreme weather hitting communities around the U.S., the Federal Emergency Management Agency plans to end its Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program.

"In an internal FEMA memorandum, the Trump administration announced its plans to dismantle that program — the biggest climate adaptation initiative the federal government has ever funded — even as disasters incur hundreds of billions of dollars worth of damages across the United States," report Zoya Teirstein and Jake Bittle of Grist. The billions of dollars BRIC grants provided were used to help cities, counties and states prepare for natural disasters before they strike.

BRIC was created in 2018, during Donald Trump's first term and its first round of funding was "launched in 2020, when Trump was still in office, and in 2023, the program awarded close to a billion dollars to scores of communities, states, and tribal nations across the country," Grist reports. "In January, before Trump began his second term, the agency opened its fiscal year 2024 notice of funding, with $750 million in matching grants made available to applicants from areas that received a major disaster declaration within the past seven years."

Commenting on BRIC's failure to meet the program's objectives, a FEMA spokesperson told Grist, "BRIC was yet another example of a wasteful and ineffective FEMA program. It was more concerned with climate change than helping Americans affected by natural disasters.”

BRIC's focus "on equity is what may have marked it for demolition — the Trump administration has been systematically dismantling Biden-era efforts to infuse equity into governmental programs and direct more climate spending toward underrepresented groups," Teirstein and Bittle explain.

From building culverts to protecting substations from flooding, the popular program helped communities complete practical but often expensive disaster preparation projects. Teirstein and Bittle write, "In fiscal year 2023, FEMA received more than 1,200 subapplications across all 50 states, 35 tribes, five territories, and Washington, D.C., totaling more than $5.6 billion in requests. It was able to provide less than a fifth of the money requested."

It's uncertain if current grants can be lawfully terminated. "A looming question is whether FEMA can yank grants that are being funded with money appropriated by Congress," Grist reports. "The 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also known as the bipartisan infrastructure law, allocated approximately $6.8 billion to FEMA for community-wide mitigation efforts, with a portion of this funding directed to the BRIC program."

Quick hits: The nuttiest ride on the road; be present for your neighbors; Roy the renegade farmer; heirloom seeds

The Nutty Cruiser is sharing joy and almonds as it tours the U.S. (Blue Diamond photo via Atlas Obscura)

You're driving down a lonesome stretch of American highway and there you see one of the wackiest rides ever made. It's Blue Diamond's “Nutty Cruiser” taking a road trip that celebrates everything about almonds. "This spring, a new giant food-shaped vehicle has rolled out of the shop," reports Anne Ewbank for Atlas Obscura. "The Nutty Cruiser, by the way, is a 20-foot-long almond on wheels." The Nutty Cruiser will be rolling down streets on this schedule. While you're at it, here's the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile travel schedule and the The Big Idaho Potato Truck travel plans.

The price of beef keeps climbing and meatpackers are doubling down to make sure nothing gets wasted. "U.S. meat companies are embracing 'white bone' programs, aiming to pick every carcass clean as they move down processing lines," reports Patrick Thomas of The Wall Street Journal. "America’s cattle supply is at its lowest level since 1951. . . . That has helped push cattle markets in Chicago to a record high in January, almost 20% higher than they were two years ago."

The late Imelda Gorman knew how to show up for
her neighbors. (Photo via Hoptown Chronicle)

One of the best things we can do for each other is to be present during good times and bad. In her Hoptown Chronicle essay, Jennifer P. Brown shares an inspirational glimpse of the late Imelda Gorman, a woman who excelled at the simple act of being there for others. "Imelda’s willingness to show up was the quality that I most admired in her. Over and over, she was present for her friends and for her community in small everyday moments and in big milestone events. . . . . Imelda made many of us feel like we were part of her family. She left us with an important lesson. It’s simple. Show up."

Roy Pfaltzgraff tossed conventional agriculture practices out his tractor window years ago. His non-conformist row crop operation "is set to push even further to the blade’s edge," reports Chris Bennett of Farm Journal. "In 2025, Pfaltzgraff intends to begin installation of a full-time, on-farm education center. Annually, he has six to eight research projects across his operation." Pfaltzgraff told Bennett, "We’re going to build an online community, Seeding Circles, that teaches farmers where and how to find markets and brings buyers to growers. I want to show people a way to recruit food companies and know what’s being asked for.”

Heirloom seeds can bring new joy and richness into any gardener's plot. "Heirloom seeds are fun to grow, but more importantly, these old cultivars play a role in global food security," reports Lisa Prater Foust of Successful Farming. "Seed Savers Exchange, based in Decorah, Iowa, is home to the largest non-government seed bank in the United States. Members and nonmembers of Seed Savers Exchange can participate in a seed swap program, and many varieties are available for purchase online at seedsavers.org."

As winter fades and spring emerges, all of nature begins to change. And while many people welcome the fleeting time when spring blooms all around, all changes come with some degree of tension. In her story for Hoard's Dairyman, Emily Barge reminds us to intentionally look for ways to reduce stress and increase enjoyment in daily life with these five steps:

• Take a breather outdoors and make time for mindful moments.
• Spend a few minutes just talking.
• Find ways to prioritize family time.
• Take a moment to be proud of your hard work.
• Celebrate the small victories.

HHS fires staff dedicated to helping low-income Americans pay for utilities: 'There's nobody left to do anything'

About 17% of U.S. households spend more than one-
tenth of their income on energy. (Adobe Stock photo)

A recent staffing purge of Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program employees at the Department of Health and Human Services may leave millions of low-income Americans unable to pay their utility bills. "The Trump administration abruptly laid off the entire staff running a $4.1 billion program to help low-income households across the United States pay their heating and cooling bills," reports Brad Plumer of The New York Times. The loss of assistance could burden millions of poorer rural residents who already spend a disproportionate amount of their incomes on energy bills when compared to their more urban counterparts.

It's unclear how a program that routinely helps roughly 6.1 million Americans can continue to offer assistance without any employees to administer payments. Mark Wolfe, executive director of the National Energy Assistance Directors Association, which works with states to secure funding from the program, told Plumer, “They fired everybody. There’s nobody left to do anything. Either this was incredibly sloppy, or they intend to kill the program altogether.”

While most of the 2025 funds have been paid, a remaining $378 million hangs in the balance. Plumer explains, "Congress had approved $4.1 billion for the program for fiscal year 2025, and about 90% of that money had already been sent to states in October to help households struggling with high heating costs." The $378 million could help lower-income residents pay for summer air-conditioning bills, but LIHEAP disbursements seem unlikely without program staffing.

The firings angered several Democratic lawmakers. Plumer reports, "Representative Jared Golden, a Democrat who represents a largely rural district in Maine that voted for President Trump, wrote in a social media post, 'What efficiency is achieved by firing everyone in Maine whose job is to help Mainers afford heating oil when it’s cold?'" Senator Edward Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, referred to the LIHEAP staff eliminations as "sabotage."

A study published last year in The Economic Journal "found that roughly 17% of U.S. households spend more than one-tenth of their income on energy, a threshold that researchers often define as a 'severe' energy burden," Plumer adds. "The study also found a strong relationship between energy affordability and winter mortality."

USDA cuts hit schools, farmers and food banks. The lost funding and provisions hurt rural communities the most.

Food bank reductions are tough for rural communities
to replace. (Adobe Stock photo)

In an effort to bring U.S. Department of Agriculture spending back to pre-pandemic times, the USDA terminated more that $1 billion in food support programing. The cuts are likely to leave a path of hungry Americans in their wake.

In early March, the USDA cut more than $1 billion in funding for the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement and the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement programs for 2025. "The money was designed to pay farmers to provide food to schools and food banks," reports Jeanine Santucci of USA Today. "The abrupt cancellation of government funding for programs to help food banks distribute healthy, local food is being felt across the country, as some already strapped organizations turn to their local communities for help."

Both programs helped local growers boost their incomes while providing fresh food options to local schools and food banks. 

Food banks were dealt another blow when the USDA announced it was halting or reducing deliveries from part of its Emergency Food Assistance Program. Some of those reductions significantly scaled back food bank funding. Jackie DeFusco of NBC reports, "Feeding America, a nationwide network of food banks, food pantries and local meal programs, was recently informed that the USDA is canceling $500 million in federal funding as the administration reviews spending decisions made under the Biden administration."

The losses will be especially tough for rural communities to manage "because they depend the most on USDA-funded programs for the food distributed by food banks, said Vince Hall, chief government relations officer of the nonprofit Feeding America," Santucci explains.

According to Hall, the ways food banks receive donations also will contribute to rural regions struggling more than their urban counterparts to fill gaps in USDA funding and provisions. "They include donations from the community itself or from food producers, food purchased through the USDA programs and food purchased by the banks themselves with very limited resources," Santucci reports. "With the loss of a significant amount of federal funding for food purchases, they'll have to lean heavily on donations, which are harder to come by in spread-out, rural areas, he said."

Food inflation has made it difficult for many Americans to return to life without some type of assistance. Hall told Santucci, "Folks who came to us during the pandemic have found it impossible to ease out of dependency on food banks because inflation has made so many of their monthly budget essentials more expensive than ever."

GOP lawmakers consider snipping SNAP benefits to balance tax cuts. An expert explains SNAP.

The Conversation Chart, from USDA data

Congressional Republicans are eyeing substantial cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program; however, lopping off grocery dollars from the more than 41 million low-income Americans who rely on SNAP, which includes 1 in 5 children, could prove tricky and unpopular.

To explain what SNAP benefits are, and why some GOP lawmakers want to cut SNAP spending, The Conversation asked Tracy Roof, a political scientist who has researched government food programs, to explain, "What’s going on?" An edited version of their Q&A is shared below.

Why does it look like the federal government may cut SNAP spending?
"SNAP critics believe that the U.S. spends too much on the program, which cost the federal government $100 billion in the 2024 fiscal year. . . . Federal spending on SNAP, however, has been falling since it peaked at $119 billion in 2022. Some Republican lawmakers are calling for new changes that would cut spending on the program."

Is there a SNAP budget? How do people qualify for benefits?
No, there is no limit on what the federal government can spend on SNAP. However, persons applying for benefits must meet a complex set of eligibility criteria, which varies by state. "Americans can usually qualify for SNAP benefits if their income is under 130% of the federal poverty line. In 2025, that would be $41,795 for a family of four, and they have limited savings."

Does SNAP have work requirements? If so, what are they? Can unauthorized immigrants receive SNAP benefits?
"Most adults under the age of 60 are subject to work requirements if they are 'able-bodied' and not caring for a child or incapacitated adult. If adults between the ages of 18 and 54 don’t log at least 20 hours of work or another approved activity, their benefits can be cut off. Immigrants without authorization to reside in the U.S. aren’t eligible for SNAP."

How can the federal government try to cut SNAP spending?
There are two likely ways for lawmakers to trim SNAP costs.

"One is through the farm bill, a legislative package Congress typically renews every four or five years that sets policies for SNAP and programs that support farmers’ incomes. . . .The latest [Farm Bill] extension will expire on Sept. 30, 2025.

"The other option is through the so-called budget reconciliation process underway in Congress. Right now, the primary Republican plan calls for extending $4.5 trillion in tax cuts passed in the first Trump administration and making up to $2 trillion in spending cuts over the next decade."

How popular do you think these changes would be?
Cutting SNAP benefits at a time when food inflation and food insecurity are high is unlikely to be popular. "Polls show most Americans support increasing SNAP benefits, not cutting them. . . . Food banks, already struggling to meet demand and facing federal spending cuts, have warned they will not be able to fill gaps caused by reduced SNAP spending or new limits on benefits."

To read what changes or restrictions Republicans might seek to cut SNAP spending or to read more about the political obstacles to SNAP reductions, read the full Q&A here.

Debate: Is the American Farm Bureau Federation on the side of small farmers?

Journalists debate if the Farm Bureau
Federation is on the side of farmers.
(Photo by Ainur Khakimov, Unsplash)

Ambrook Research has a debate series where two journalists each write an article arguing a side of a topic. A recent debate focused on whether the American Farm Bureau Federation is on the side of small farmers.

Nolan Monaghan, a graduate of the University of Missouri’s Center for Agroforestry, and Deanna Fox, journalist and former CEO of New York Farm Bureau, offered differing views.

Monaghan's article is titled, “Is Farm Bureau a Friend to Small Farmers?” Fox's article is: “American Farm Bureau Is a Lesson in Democracy.”

Monaghan delved into the history of the organization and its purpose when it was created. He wrote that the bureau wanted to “distinguish itself” by “taking a less economically ambitious position” and that according to Stewart Truelsen, author of Forward Farm Bureau, “the federation sought ‘equality’ within agriculture.” However, Monaghan wrote that the equality was not between farmers but between agriculture and other industries.

Fox wrote that 86% of the farming operations in America are small family farms, which the six million members of the bureau help develop policy to advocate on behalf of them. After explaining the start of the Farm Bureau Federation, Fox wrote, “One thing that has not changed is the grassroots policy development that defines the Bureau’s commitment to family farms.”

Monaghan argued that over time the bureau’s goals have shifted to be more business-focused instead of helping small farmers. “Instead of managing overproduction, the strategy of this era was to shove every calorie of output into any market the government could create on behalf of farmers.”

Eventually this came to hurt small farms, “Oversupply reared its ugly head, leading to millions of farm family balance sheets to tilt to the red. Rural banks and small businesses began closing as farms went bankrupt,” Monaghan wrote.

However, Fox said the farm bureau is actively trying to support farmers. “The respect of differing viewpoints is honored, and a commitment to providing sustenance for all Americans is the unifying thread.” Fox also wrote that, “diverse opinions have led to positions that address a range of environmental, climate, and social justice issues.”

U.S. farmers already had big worries. New tariffs, USDA cuts and funding freezes have hit them 'on all fronts.'

U.S. soybean farmers have yet to regain market share
with China after Trump's first-term tariffs. (A.S. photo)

 

U.S. farmers are getting squeezed from all sides by U.S. tariffs, crackdowns on undocumented workers and changes at the Department of Agriculture. Many of the new administration's policies have put farmers' livelihoods on the chopping block. Some farmers admit the pressure cooker of change and uncertain financial outlook is pushing them to reconsider their support for President Trump's policies and the actions of his appointed officials.

Before the new administration began making dramatic policy changes and cuts, farmers were "already struggling with low prices, high expenses and unpredictable — and at times, destructive— weather," reports Kristina Peterson of The Wall Street Journal. "But now, farmers — traditionally a key block of support for Trump — are also contending with USDA and foreign-aid funding that is frozen or in limbo," plus deportations "in an already tight agricultural-labor market" and the possibility of "another crippling trade war."

Jim Hartman is a military veteran turned North Carolina honey bee farmer who has already lost roughly $100,000 in expected farm revenue from USDA program cuts. The lifelong Republican voter told Peterson, “Stuff like this is pushing me left."

Caleb Ragland, president of the American Soybean Association and a soy farmer in Magnolia, Ky., told Peterson, "“It’s hitting us on all fronts. You’re talking about the potential of a flat-out crisis in rural America and the farm economy.”

A recent AgWeb poll shows that a majority of farmers do not approve of Trump's current use of tariffs. "Just over half of farmers, 54%, said they didn’t support Trump’s use of tariffs as a negotiating tool, according to a poll of nearly 3,000 farmers," Peterson reports. "Farmers accustomed to dealing with uncertainty from the weather and the markets said the federal government, which spends tens of billions of dollars to support them each year, is usually a force helping them offset that instability."

Trump's enthusiasm for using and increasing tariffs "has many in rural America nervous," Peterson writes. "Trump’s first trade war led to more than $27 billion in losses of agricultural export. In response, China started importing more soybeans from Brazil, and U.S. soybean farmers have yet to regain their market share."

Hartman believes USDA changes will cut his yearly predicted revenue in half. He told Peterson, "This has fallen on the backs of small farmers. . . . The people Trump's appointed and the way they’re going about things, it’s not OK."

Opinion: Bringing women's leadership back onto the farm could benefit the country

Malia Reisinger runs her family's farm and her house-
hold like generations of rural women before her.

For hundreds of years, American women ran or helped run family farms. The fact that they were female meant little to families who had to rely on every working hand to manage farm animals and crops. As the United States began urbanizing, women were removed from farming leadership, so much so that their decades of farming experience have been largely forgotten.

Book author and public relations consultant Brian Reisinger shares his sister's experience and why he believes revitalizing female leadership on U.S. farms could help bridge rural-urban divides while providing a more secure future for American family farms.

"My sister, Malia, was a skilled welder. . .one of the many trades a farmer picks up, to get [machinery] going again when break­downs halted work on the farm. So, when she needed a part that required going to town, she went in herself," Reisinger explains. "But when she asked a guy for help, she got a response my dad or I never would have: 'Shouldn’t a man be getting it?'"

Quips like that were "one of the countless moments Malia faced being a woman in the 'man’s world' of farming," Reisinger writes. "It was far from the only time she confronted this challenge, despite the independent women she’d grown up working alongside. Rarely, did she encounter openly hostile sexism; more often it was small indignities that piled up over time."

Rural women led social changes for
decades. (Boston Public Library photo)

For some readers, rural life and women's rights may seem at odds, but "American farming once boasted nearly 6.8 million farms, nearly all of them small operations often ran by women as much as their husbands in many ways," Reisinger writes. "For much of our history, rural women led the charge on social progress through many of our country’s biggest crises." 

The place of women as farm workers and as social leaders is marked throughout U.S. history:

• 6.8 million: Farms at America’s height in 1935, mostly small family operations where women did the work of men
• 11.8 million: Men who went off to WWII, leaving behind urban jobs rural women were ready to fill. 
• By the time of World War II, as more than 12.2 million Americans went to war, there was a legion of rural women moving to the city and handling the industrial jobs of the men.
  

Watching and learning from female farm leadership "can challenge us to change. But if we can force ourselves to stop getting rural voters — and each other — so wrong, we can craft new policies to help solve these problems," Reisinger adds. "There’s reason to believe we can do this. We still have nearly 2 million farms in this country, 96% of which are family operations. That’s nearly 2 million families, searching for a way to survive, led by people like my sister who our policymakers could do so much more to understand. . . "

 

Read Reisinger's full opinion here.