Rural America

East Palestine: “We Basically Nuked a Town with Chemicals So We Could Get a Railroad Open”

Companies should never again be allowed to do what Norfolk Southern did to this Ohio community.

Tish O'Dell and Chad Nicholson

In Coal Country, Young Workers Seek a Sustainable Future

Neither coal companies nor government have a “plan B” for many Appalachian communities. Meet the young leaders determined to find one.

Jonathan Blair

The Life-Threatening Consequences of Rural “Maternity-Care Deserts”

The number of mothers who receive no prenatal care is on the rise in North Carolina. Lack of access in rural areas is a big part of the problem.

Sarah Melotte and Shelby Harris

Roundup Caused Her Cancer, but Bayer Won’t Pay Settlement Because She’s an Undocumented Farmworker, Lawsuit Says

Elvira Reyes-Hernandez was diagnosed with cancer after working for years with the weed killer on Virginia tree farms.

Sky Chadde

Queering the Family Farm: Meet the LGBTQ Midwest Farmers Taking Food Justice Into Their Own Hands

“We’re not just raising food. We are creating safe spaces for people.”

Bennet Goldstein

Oversight Has Led to Better Housing for Migrant Farmworkers. Why Aren't Some States Doing It?

With no national regulation, employers often provide subpar housing to the migrant farmworkers who sustain the billion-dollar food industry.

Johnathan Hettinger and Sky Chadde

Oil Companies Have Plundered Louisiana's Coast. They Owe Us Reparations.

Native and Black communities suffering the most from coastal damage need reparations for past abuse while we fight for systemic change.

Courtney Naquin

These Poop Lagoons Can Poison Waterways, but Regulation Is Patchy

Concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) produce dangerous amounts of animal waste, but only one third of them have a federal permit.

Madison McVan

The Rural Vote Is Again in Play

The midterms showed that rural voters must be an integral part of the Democratic strategy if they want to win in 2024.

George Goehl

Will Lithium Mining Turn California's Salton Sea into a Green Energy Sacrifice Zone?

Once a tourist destination, the Salton Sea faces ecological collapse, toxic dust storms—and maybe a lithium boom.

Paige Oamek

After Platinum Health Took Control of Noble Sites, All Hospital Workers Were Fired

A private-equity startup acquired two rural Missouri hospitals during the pandemic. In March, it suspended all hospital services.

Sarah Jane Tribble

The 40-Year Robbing of Rural America

Since the 1980s, says Professor Marc Edelman, financial capital has developed imaginative new ways to seize assets from small towns and rural areas.

Olivia Weeks

The Working-Class Loggers Who Saved an Old-Growth Forest

Often cast as villains in the Northwest’s environmental battles, timber workers have a connection to the forest that goes far beyond jobs.

Steven C. Beda

Salmon or Dams? The U.S. Might Finally Pick Salmon.

The Biden administration has recognized that removing dams is an issue of tribal justice and the only way to save endangered salmon.

Rocky Barker

No, More Pipelines Aren’t the Solution to High Gas Prices

Reviving Keystone XL wouldn’t lower gasoline prices but it would increase carbon emissions, environmental destruction and toxic pollution.

Ted Williams

How a Small Town in Maine Stopped a Silver Mine

A Canadian company planned to mine silver nearby, so town residents used Maine's “home rule” powers to ban industrial mining and protect their water.

Julia Conley

After Yellowstone Floods, Tourism Workers Lose Their Jobs—And Their Housing

Many Yellowstone workers depend on their bosses for a place to live. When the flood washed away their jobs, they lost their housing, too.

Joseph Bullington

Meet the Appalachian Women Facing Down the Mountain Valley Pipeline

Across years and several southern states, these organizers have helped drive the massive gas pipeline to the brink of defeat.

Ben Bolling