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Posts tagged as “rural”

Rural America Declines to 46.2 Million

An eager reader points me toward a USDA analysis that should distress anyone interested in economic development in South Dakota: for the first time, non-metro countries in the United States have experienced a net population loss. 46.2 million of us…

Amid Outages, Uncle Sam Helps Improve Rural Electric System

Our April ice storm has Xcel Energy struggling to restore electricity to (as of 07:25 CST this morning) nearly 20,000 customers. The rural electric coops in southeast South Dakota are trying to get power back to another 2,700 customers. Meanwhile,…

Planned Parenthood Retreats on 72-Hour Waiting Period

Good grief—Pathfinder International can protect women's reproductive rights by setting up a women's health clinic in rural Bangladesh, but Planned Parenthood can't muster the legal resources to protect rural South Dakota women against the oppression of a 72-hour abortion waiting…

Maroney Commons: Too Big for Howard, or Victim of GOP Wind Hate?

I've spoken glowingly of Maroney Commons, the remarkable LEED-certified hotel, restaurant, and conference center built by the Rural Learning Center in Howard. So has my neighbor Ken Meyer, who wrote on the Rural Learning Center's blog last month that Maroney…

Rural Development Note: Broadband Modestly Boosts Economy, Options

Following our discussion of the merits of the FCC's Connect America Fund and Public Utility Commissioner Chris Nelson's critique thereof, I read this Atlantic article on the potential for the Internet to save small towns... or at least keep some…

PUC’s Nelson Says FCC Connect America Fund Hinders Rural Broadband

Last week I mentioned CenturyLink's receipt of $35 million from the FCC's Connect America Fund to expand rural broadband as an example of Uncle Sam fulfilling one of Adam Smith's proper roles of government: providing basic services that the private…

Uncle Sam Expands Rural Internet and Economy

In his now-famous speech about the modern economy's reliance on good government, President Barack Obama mentioned the Internet as a basic example of something we build as a community that helps every business make more money. Rural businesses understand the…