http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/rural/ en-us Mon, 4 Jan 2010 19:54:56 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2420783/posts Wisconsin's rural hospitals hope to offset a state Medicaid cut with a tax that would bring more federal money to the hospitals. The proposed tax on the state's 59 "critical access" hospitals, all in rural areas, would prevent the hospitals from closing important services, officials say. The tax would be similar to a tax adopted in February on the state's 72 non-rural hospitals, said Eric Borgerding, a lobbyist with the Wisconsin Hospital Association. The proposed rural hospital tax, in a bill to be introduced in the Legislature soon, would make up for a 10 percent Medicaid cut that started Friday,... Wisconsin State Journal http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2420783/posts#comment Mon, 4 Jan 2010 19:54:56 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2406927/posts Norma Clark, 80, slipped on the ice out by the horse corral one afternoon and broke her hip in four places. Alone, it took her three hours to drag herself the 40 yards back to the house through snow and mud, after she had tied her legs together with rope to stabilize the injury. A dutiful farm wife, Ms. Clark somehow even got to her feet to latch the gate. And her first call when she got to the house was not to 911, but to a daughter 30 miles away. “I told her she’d better come feed the horses,”... New York Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2406927/posts#comment Mon, 14 Dec 2009 03:40:52 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2399429/posts In June, 40-year-old Shane Dawley and his 36-year-old wife, Rhonda, uprooted themselves and their four boys from their suburban Atlanta rental home and bought an old five-acre farmhouse in Ogdensburg, Wisc. Their goal: Flee the rat race and adopt a more self-reliant lifestyle amid the troubled economy. While urban and suburban real estate is still generally under pressure, the rural market is holding up better in many areas, thanks in part to buyers such as the Dawleys. Sometimes dubbed "ruralpolitans," these city and town dwellers are looking at land as their new safe investment, one they hope could prove more... WSJ http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2399429/posts#comment Thu, 3 Dec 2009 16:51:57 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2355621/posts They represent a migration that turns conventional wisdom on its head. Urban planners have until now proceeded on the assumption that retiring baby boomers will downsize to a high-rise and spend their days lapping lattes and taking the streetcar to the art museum. A lot of them will. But new data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture says baby boomers will head to the country in big numbers, in the Northwest changing the face of rural Oregon, Washington and Idaho. And it's not just because the 83 million boomer generation is the largest in U.S. history and all of their... The Oregonian http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2355621/posts#comment Tue, 6 Oct 2009 00:57:56 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2349078/posts Most of the mobile homes in the U.S. are located in the south, where land is more plentiful, the weather is warmer, and rural poverty is higher. The region is home to over 56% of the mobile housing units in the U.S., according to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2008 American Community Survey data released Monday. Specifically, two cities outside of Jacksonville, Fla., had the country's highest concentration of mobile homes, which are generally about 12-feet wide and include a kitchen, a living and dining area, and one or two smaller bedrooms. While mobile homes make up only 6.17% of the... CNN Money http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2349078/posts#comment Sat, 26 Sep 2009 23:12:59 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2306117/posts WALSENBURG, Colo.-Don't tell Dorothy J. Tenorio that Washington is nearing a deal to improve her health care. A former grocery clerk, Tenorio's been scraping by on disability benefits for more than a decade. The 60-year-old, and many of her neighbors, are skeptical health care overhauls pending in Congress will change much in Colorado's rural San Juan Valley. "I would tell Congress, they need to get out here to Huerfano County and see how bad it is, see what we're living with," said Tenorio, who suffered a neck injury in 1979 and hasn't worked since 1996. In rural America, many like... ABC News / The Associated Press http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2306117/posts#comment Sat, 1 Aug 2009 20:37:27 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2286198/posts The Crab Orchard Museum and Pioneer Park in the small town of Tazewell, Virginia, sponsors a July 4 festival every year, filling the Park area with displays, demonstrations, and re-enactors. For those who prefer the traditional ways, pictures have been posted. Backcountry Notes http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2286198/posts#comment Mon, 6 Jul 2009 00:58:33 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2273434/posts Angered by White House decisions on everything from greenhouse gases to car dealerships, congressional Democrats from rural districts are threatening to revolt against parts of President Barack Obama’s ambitious first-year agenda. “They don’t get rural America,” said Rep. Dennis Cardoza, a Democrat who represents California’s agriculture-rich Central Valley. “They form their views of the world in large cities.” Cardoza’s critique was aimed at Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency, but it echoes complaints rural-district Democrats have about a number of Obama administration decisions. “I wouldn’t say it’s a complete strikeout, but they’ve just got a few more bases to it when it... Politco.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2273434/posts#comment Wed, 17 Jun 2009 10:40:03 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2271188/posts As goes Michigan's crumbling economy, so go some once-paved rural roads now being turned back into gravel. About a quarter of the state's county road agencies largely left out of the federal stimulus package, which focuses on highways and other major thoroughfares, say they can't afford some costly repaving projects and have crushed up deteriorating roads. Montcalm County alone estimates it saved nearly $900,000 by converting almost 10 miles of pothole-plagued pavement into gravel this spring. Reverting to gravel on low-traffic roads has been done to some degree for years and long-term savings and maintenance costs vary widely. But it... Chicago Tribune http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2271188/posts#comment Sat, 13 Jun 2009 19:18:43 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2261315/posts THE RULES OF RURAL N.B. ARE AS FOLLOWS Listen up City Slickers & out of province Tourists 1. Pull your droopy pants up. You look like an idiot. 2. Turn your cap right, your head isn't crooked. 3. Let's get this straight; it's called a 'dirt road.' I drive a pickup truck because I want to. No matter how slow you drive, you're going to get dust on your Lexus. Drive it or get out of the way. 4. They are cattle. They're live steaks. That's why they smell funny to you. But they smell like money to us. Get... E-mail http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2261315/posts#comment Sat, 30 May 2009 19:13:46 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2238408/posts Doug King publishes his keyboard music online and his wife, Marjorie, sells home-made pottery to customers in Iceland, China and New Zealand. But doing business from their rural Dane County house is virtually impossible without high-speed Internet. "We got to the point where we’re simply unable to do business" using the dial-up Internet their phone company provides, King said. The couple finally signed up for a wireless modem from Verizon, which in the last year has sought to build nine cell towers in rural Dane County to keep up with growing demand. But wireless service isn’t available everywhere, either, leaving... Wisconsin State Journal http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2238408/posts#comment Mon, 27 Apr 2009 00:25:32 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2190653/posts http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/President-Obama-Selects-Top-Rural-Health-Care-Advocate-to-Oversee-Key-HHS-Agency/ Note: The following text is a quote: THE BRIEFING ROOM Friday, February 20th, 2009 at 3:45 pm President Obama Selects Top Rural Health Care Advocate to Oversee Key HHS Agency THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary ________________________ For Immediate Release February 20, 2009 President Obama today announced the appointment of one of the nation’s top rural health care professionals as Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). Dr. Mary Wakefield, Director of the Center for Rural Health at the University of North Dakota, will oversee this critical agency, which helps to deliver health care to... WHITEHOUSE.gov http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2190653/posts#comment Sat, 21 Feb 2009 11:40:49 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2165864/posts BRINKLEY, Ark. - Wayne Loewer's truck reveals a lot about his life. A 12-gauge shotgun for duck hunting rests on the floorboard. A blue thermal lunch bag containing elk meat is shoved under the seat, left in haste that morning by his teenage son rushing to catch the school bus. Binoculars in the console help Loewer scan his 2,900 acres of rice, soybeans and corn. The dashboard radio is set to classic rock, playing the same Lynyrd Skynyrd tunes from Loewer's high school days, when Brinkley was still a thriving small town with stores and a movie theater. His muddy... MSNBC http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2165864/posts#comment Fri, 16 Jan 2009 18:03:32 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2124461/posts On election eve I re-post my personal analysis and prediction for the 2008 election. The Steady Drip http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2124461/posts#comment Tue, 4 Nov 2008 06:57:05 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2110089/posts CARLISLE, Ky. -- Tabbatha Tubbs laughs at the thought of Washington politicians decreeing her hometown Appalachian. After all, there's not a mountain in sight from this gently rolling countryside best known for its thoroughbred horse farms. This is picturesque Bluegrass country: Black wooden fences surround grazing thoroughbreds. Golden stalks of tobacco hang from tiered barns. And herds of fat beef cattle mow their way across fields of green grass. It's hardly the heart of Appalachia, the rugged hills where President Lyndon B. Johnson declared war on poverty some 44 years ago. But like it or not, Tubbs and her neighbors... AP (APPALACHIAN PRESS?) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2110089/posts#comment Mon, 20 Oct 2008 12:53:29 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2041391/posts While millions of American families struggle with falling house prices, soaring gasoline costs and tightening credit, some environmentalists, urban planners and urban real estate speculators are welcoming the bad news as signaling what they have long dreamed of -- the demise of suburbia. In a March Atlantic article, Christopher B. Leinberger, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution and a professor of urban planning, contended that yesterday's new suburbs will become "the slums" of tomorrow because high gas prices and the housing meltdown will force Americans back to the urban core. Leinberger is not alone. Other pundits, among them author... LA Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2041391/posts#comment Sun, 6 Jul 2008 11:43:26 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2031117/posts CHESTER, Ill. -- The rookie state senator from Chicago had driven 340 miles to explore southern Illinois, but Barb Brown could muster only 20 Democrats in this small town on the Mississippi River to have breakfast with him. She asked her niece and sister-in-law, who were helping in the kitchen, to come out to pad the audience. "We tried to convince people that they needed to come out and meet with this senator from Chicago, who on top of everything else was African American," Brown, a circuit court clerk, said of the 1997 gathering. "We had people looking at us... Washington Post http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2031117/posts#comment Sat, 14 Jun 2008 18:10:07 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2028233/posts TCHULA, Miss. — Gasoline prices reached a national average of $4 a gallon for the first time over the weekend, adding more strain to motorists across the country. But the pain is not being felt uniformly. Across broad swaths of the South, Southwest and the upper Great Plains, the combination of low incomes, high gas prices and heavy dependence on pickup trucks and vans is putting an even tighter squeeze on family budgets. Here in the Mississippi Delta, some farm workers are borrowing money from their bosses so they can fill their tanks and get to work. Some are switching... New York Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2028233/posts#comment Mon, 9 Jun 2008 11:37:47 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2020408/posts Driver's would love these pumps if gas goes through the roof, except human ingenuity has trumped technology. Junek's has the pumps set for half the price you'll actually pay, so if the meter reads you've filled up $20-worth, you'll still have to pay $40. duh http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2020408/posts#comment Fri, 23 May 2008 20:30:36 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2014530/posts Texas Gov. Rick Perry wants to build a big highway through the Lone Star State. No, make that a really big highway, as in a monstrously big highway. The exact route hasn't been determined. The mega-highway would run roughly from Laredo on the Rio Grande River through the Hill Country and the Piney Woods and then through Texarkana in that tiny portion of the state that borders Arkansas. Imagine for a moment if that thoroughfare would be pointed in the other direction - from the Valley, through the South Plains and then through the heart of the Panhandle, right past... Amarillo Globe-News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2014530/posts#comment Sun, 11 May 2008 21:38:48 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2014172/posts As Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., avoids any real campaigning in West Virginia, the former president of the United States is out there ginning up resentments. Bill Clinton has the right to say whatever he wants, of course. But he's a smart man. Brilliant, even. He can do the math. He must know that it's quite improbable that his wife, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., will be the Democratic presidential nominee. So what purpose does it serve for him to barnstorm a state like West Virginia and tell rural voters that Obama and his elitist political/media cabal allies are mocking Appalachia? He's... ABC News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2014172/posts#comment Sat, 10 May 2008 20:28:14 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2007823/posts Killing Local America by Donald Devine Issue 106 - April 23, 2008 So it is a conservative canard that government aid means government control? Liberal New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine is out to prove the conservatives right. He recently announced in his state budget message that he would drastically cut or eliminate state aid to its 323 towns with populations of fewer than 10,000 if they did not consolidate themselves into larger, more “efficient” units. There is not much greater control than elimination. Gov. Corzine won his reputation as a mergers and acquisitions chairman of the investment banking firm Goldman... American Conservative Union Foundation http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2007823/posts#comment Mon, 28 Apr 2008 00:51:12 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2006438/posts Before the Second World War, American Westerns presented what later came to be seen as a "naive" view of what might be called white borderer culture and conflicts. The "good" of the Scots-Irish based and European immigrant and settler population was not just an underlying assumption but a central and explicit thesis in the Westerns, most of which were made by “poverty row” studios and distributed to rural and small-town theaters—and seen by the grandchildren of the very people portrayed. By the 1950s, this was no longer the case. The movie Western had moved from “poverty row” (abetting the demise... ePluribus Media http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2006438/posts#comment Thu, 24 Apr 2008 18:34:26 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2003584/posts NARROWS, Va. (AP) -- Allen Neely eases his Chrysler Pacifica onto the bridge named in honor of Jarrett Lane, who grew up in this tiny town near the West Virginia state line. Mr. Lane, Mr. Neely says quietly, always wanted to build a bridge. Under the back seat are two pistols. Mr. Neely keeps them close these days. He and his construction crew were in Virginia Tech's Norris Hall a year ago this week when a mentally ill student went on a rampage, killing Jarrett Lane and 31 others. Since then, Mr. Neely feels safer if his guns are within... The Washington Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2003584/posts#comment Fri, 18 Apr 2008 18:20:23 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2003174/posts The dirty little secret about Barack Obama's indictment of flyover country is that he said what liberals, including Hillary Clinton, believe. Sufficient proof of this can be found in the liberal outrage at Wednesday night's Democratic presidential debate, where Obama was pressed both by the moderators and Clinton to explain Bitter-gate, Wright-gate, Ayers-gate and Flag pin-gate. Consider the uncannily similar reactions of columnists Tom Shales and Stephen Silver. Shales expressed indignation that ABC News moderators Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos would dare ask Obama to justify his insulting remarks about small-town Americans and his relationships with certain anti-American people. Shale's... davidlimbaugh.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2003174/posts#comment Thu, 17 Apr 2008 23:56:42 GMT