Rural News Clips, Aug. 11, 2026

Wisconsin Examiner
Rebecca Cooke wins 3rd CD primary to set up rematch against Derrick Van Orden
August 11, 2026

• Rebecca Cooke won the Democratic primary in Wisconsin’s rural 3rd District, setting up a rematch with Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden after her narrow 2024 loss. Democrats see the western Wisconsin seat as a top target to flip the House.

• Cooke beat former Eau Claire City Council President Emily Berge by a wide margin, closer than the 40-point lead her campaign’s spring polling claimed. AP called it at 9:21 p.m. with 64% counted.

• Cooke, named to the DCCC’s inaugural “Red to Blue” list in February, raised $8.6 million since early 2025, topping Van Orden’s $7.5 million. That national investment likely helped power her win, though the primary drained her cash, leaving her $1.8 million on hand to his $4.6 million.

The New York Times
Opinion: He’s not a Democrat. Democrats love him anyway.
August 11, 2026

• Nebraska Democrats are backing independent Senate candidate Dan Osborn against Republican Pete Ricketts, a red-state strategy that could resonate with disaffected rural voters, argues Michelle Cottle, a New York Times Opinion writer on national politics.

• Osborn, a Navy veteran and union mechanic running on a populist economic platform, lost to Deb Fischer by seven points in 2024, an overperformance that convinced Democrats to go all in this cycle.

• Similar independent bids are underway in Montana, Idaho and South Dakota. The Nebraska Farmers Union, which backed Fischer in 2024, now supports Osborn, citing a farm crisis under Trump.

Midcoast Villager
Guns and the ballot in Maine’s Second District
August 11, 2026

• The NRA’s endorsement of Republican Paul LePage puts gun rights at the center of Maine’s rural 2nd District race, but Democrat Matt Dunlap’s own hunting and firearms credentials scramble the usual partisan divide as both seek to replace Rep. Jared Golden.

• LePage vowed no compromise on the Second Amendment, while Dunlap, a hunter and former Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine director, argues gun owners needn’t vote Republican and points voters toward health care and cost of living.

• Maine’s gun politics shifted after the 2023 Lewiston mass shooting that killed 18, which pushed Golden to back an assault weapons ban. The race tests whether the pro-gun rural Democrat can still win.

WWLP
Federal judge blocks USPS from enforcing Trump order restricting mail voting
August 11, 2026

• A federal judge temporarily blocked the Postal Service from enforcing part of Trump’s executive order restricting mail voting before the November midterms. The ruling protects rural voters, who often depend on mail ballots where polling places are distant.

• U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani found the executive branch has no authority to regulate elections and that the order caused irreparable harm by creating ballot confusion. The suit was brought by the League of Women Voters and other groups.

• The decision expands a June ruling that had covered only 23 mostly Democratic-led states, extending the block nationwide. The administration is expected to appeal.

The Daily Yonder
Commentary: Will the real USDA reorganization plan please stand up?
August 10, 2026

• A March 2025 USDA reorganization plan, made public only in July 2026 through a lawsuit, would sharply cut or eliminate rural housing and nutrition programs, though the department now says the plan doesn’t reflect its current thinking, leaving rural families uncertain. (No author named in the text provided.)

• The plan would slash Rural Development staff 47% and Food and Nutrition Service staff 46%, the deepest cuts among 18 subagencies, and overall eliminate or consolidate 41 programs and over 23,000 positions.

• It would convert the 76-year-old Section 502 direct home loan program, which has helped over two million rural families buy homes, into a guaranteed program and possibly shift Rural Development loans to HUD or the SBA.

Politico’s E&E News
‘Frightening’ cyberattacks on water utilities renew calls for regulations
August 10, 2026

• Coordinated cyberattacks have hit at least 30 water systems across 12 states since late July, reviving a push to mandate cybersecurity standards. Small rural utilities, which dominate the sector, are the most exposed and least equipped to respond.

• Democratic Sens. Adam Schiff of California and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota introduced a bill giving the EPA authority to require fixes. It revives an approach that Republican states and industry blocked three years ago.

• An industry-backed alternative from Rep. Rick Crawford, an Arkansas Republican, would set standards through an independent body but exempt systems serving under 3,300 people, the communities experts say are least prepared.

The Washington Post
Rural Texas conservatives love free markets but not when it comes to data centers
August 11, 2026

• In deep-red rural Texas, lifelong Republican voters are mobilizing against data centers their pro-business GOP leaders first welcomed. Some say they’ll back a Democrat for the first time, a sign the backlash could reshape rural politics.

• In Leon County, where 88% chose Trump, commissioners say limited zoning authority leaves them nearly powerless to block Crusoe’s proposed $34 billion project. Nearly half of the state’s 248 proposed data centers target unincorporated rural areas.

• Facing pressure, Gov. Greg Abbott now requires grid audits and says centers must pay their own infrastructure costs. Critics call the moves vague pandering and demand a special session to pause development.

The Houston Chronicle
Greg Abbott is cracking down on data centers. Some rural Republicans say they still don’t trust him.
August 11, 2026

• Abbott has moved to curb data centers to calm a rural backlash ahead of the midterms, but many rural Republicans distrust him, noting his major donors are tied to the boom. How those voters react could shape a firewall the GOP needs.

• Some organizers are building anti-data center voting blocs and may back a Democrat, write in a candidate or stay home. GOP county chairs urged Abbott to call a special session; Democrat Gina Hinojosa wants a moratorium.

• Abbott ordered a permitting audit and told regulators centers can’t pass infrastructure costs to ratepayers. Meta and OpenAI agreed to comply, though Trump called the crackdown a mistake.

Kentucky Lantern
TeraWulf tells investors it could double the size of one of its KY data center projects
August 10, 2026

• TeraWulf told investors it may double its planned Muskie campus in eastern Kentucky to 2 gigawatts. The growth could raise bills for rural Kentucky Power customers, who already pay among the state’s highest.

• Combined with a 500-megawatt center in Hancock County, it would be Kentucky’s largest data center footprint. Both projects need state regulators to approve utility contracts.

• Kentucky Power parent AEP said it will buy a 710-megawatt West Virginia coal plant as residents worry about rising electric bills.

Georgia Recorder
Lawmakers say data loss is keeping hurricane-harmed Georgia farmers from insurance payments
August 10, 2026

• Nearly two years after Hurricane Helene, some rural Georgia farmers still haven’t received federal wind-damage insurance payments they bought, leaving communities struggling amid the worst farm economy growers say they’ve seen.

• Lawmakers blame storm damage to NOAA equipment for faulty wind data that misplotted Helene’s path, disqualifying east Georgia counties. Ossoff’s office estimates up to 85 farmers were affected; unpaid claims could reach $10 million.

• A bipartisan bill from retiring Rep. Buddy Carter would let USDA use alternate data, but it’s stalled with little time left. The USDA says the policy pays only on sustained winds, not gusts, and all eligible farmers were paid.

Cardinal News
Opinion: Spanberger booed in Galax. Then the online chatter bashed Southwest Virginia schools.
August 11, 2026

• After Gov. Abigail Spanberger was booed at Galax’s Old-Time Fiddlers Convention, online critics used it to smear rural Southwest Virginia as poor and poorly schooled, a portrayal the column pushes back on with data, writes Dwayne Yancey, Cardinal News founding editor.

• Galax had the state’s lowest median income from 2020 to 2024, and 13 of Virginia’s 20 poorest localities are in Southwest Virginia. But the region stopped hemorrhaging jobs two decades ago and now sees steady employment.

• On 2025 SOL tests, Southwest Virginia’s Region 7 ranked first in reading and writing and second in history and math, often matching wealthy Loudoun County despite lower school funding.

Politico
Amazon in Texas: It’s all about the gas
August 11, 2026

• Amazon confirmed plans for a West Texas AI hub tied to a gas plant that could be the nation’s single largest greenhouse gas source. It signals a broader industry pivot to building off-grid power rather than waiting in grid-connection queues.

• Rural Pecos County would host the 8,000-acre site, cleared by regulators to emit over 33 million tons of greenhouse gases yearly, more than the nation’s dirtiest power plant in 2024. Amazon says it will pay its own costs and won’t raise residents’ bills.

• Developers have announced 90 gigawatts of behind-the-meter gas projects since 2025. The trend could grow after Gov. Greg Abbott’s de facto halt on grid-connected data center approvals.

Inside Climate News
US Senate committee advances bill exempting Montana coal company from environmental standards
August 11, 2026

• A Senate committee advanced the Crow Revenue Act, a coal land swap backed by Montana’s Crow Tribe that would let Signal Peak Energy skip federal environmental review. It could reshape economies in rural Musselshell County and on the reservation.

• The bill gives the Crow coal reserves beneath their land while the Hope family gets federal reserves expected to be leased to Signal Peak, freeing the company’s permit from NEPA and a lawsuit that could shut it down.

• Democrats opposed the 6-5 party-line vote, citing missing appraisals and unclear benefits. Sen. Brian Schatz said lawmakers were approving a major land transfer without basic data.

Broadband Breakfast
The Farm Bill fight that will shape rural broadband
August 11, 2026

• The stalled Farm Bill will decide the future of USDA’s ReConnect program, which funds broadband in remote rural areas. A Senate committee failed to advance its version August 6, leaving rural connectivity in limbo.

• ReConnect has provided over $4.4 billion since 2018. The House bill would make it permanent but set low speed floors critics say would lock rural areas into slower service; the Senate version sets higher speeds and broader eligibility.

• The bill deadlocked 10-11 as Democrats held together and two Republicans, Alabama’s Tommy Tuberville and Kentucky’s Mitch McConnell, were absent. A SNAP funding fight remains the biggest obstacle.

Flatwater Free Press
The grocery cart divide: How rural and urban America sort themselves
August 11, 2026

• What people search for, eat and wear maps the rural-urban political split nearly as cleanly as voting does, suggesting rural culture is an identity to court on its own terms, not a problem to fix, writes David Schultz, a Hamline University political science professor.

• Testing 21 consumer measures against 2024 returns, 19 were significant. Tofu-versus-pork-rind searches alone explained 72% of the vote variation. Shelf-stable foods and Wranglers tracked rural, brie and Levis tracked urban.

• College-degree share was the strongest demographic predictor. Chains follow graduates into metros, leaving rural counties with dollar stores, a sorting that shapes campaign microtargeting and which businesses invest.

KFF Health News
Patients wary of governments, companies pushing AI as a rural healthcare solution
August 11, 2026

• Top health officials and states are steering some of the $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program toward AI tools, despite scant evidence AI improves rural access or outcomes. Many rural patients interviewed said they distrust it for personal care.

• The fund was added to Trump’s law to offset rural fallout from Medicaid cuts of more than $900 billion over a decade. States plan AI for charting, triage, diagnosis suggestions and patient chatbots.

• Tools tested in urban hospitals may not fit rural patients, researchers warn, and many facilities lack the IT staff, hardware or fast internet to run them. Few states plan to track patient outcomes.

Louisiana Illuminator
With Medicaid cuts ahead, Louisiana’s rural health providers battle over payments
August 10, 2026

• Louisiana boosted Medicaid rates for independent rural clinics just as federal cuts loom, sparking a fight with rural hospitals over a shrinking funding pool. The clash could reshape which providers survive in poor rural parishes.

• Act 859 raises independent clinic payments by $41.50 this year and again next year. Hospital owners say it gives those clinics an edge, while hospital-affiliated clinics already draw far higher Medicaid rates, up to $587 a visit.

• Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act brings Medicaid cuts expected to hit rural hospitals hardest. Louisiana has already dropped about 200,000 people from its rolls under Gov. Jeff Landry.

Barn Raiser
Maine Dems tackle immigration after local ICE murder
August 8, 2026

• Maine Democrats have fused ICE’s conduct and migrant labor into one issue after an agent killed a work-authorized Colombian man in Biddeford, a fight that resonates in rural Aroostook County, where immigrant crews sustain logging, health care and food processing.

• Immigrants are just 4% of Maine’s population but concentrate in the aging state’s worst labor shortages, a third in education and health services. ICE raids left Portland hospitals short-staffed and uncleaned, advocates say.

• Senate nominee Troy Jackson, a fifth-generation Allagash logger, backs immigration and faults ICE killings. Maine passed a law barring local help with ICE, while critics target Sen. Susan Collins, who chairs Appropriations and funded the agency.

NOTUS
An antidote to the anti-vaccine movement lives in rural West Virginia
August 10, 2026

• In rural Summersville, West Virginia, a longtime pediatrician’s personal trust with families helps sustain some of the nation’s highest childhood vaccine rates. As such independent doctors retire and hospital chains take over, that backstop against vaccine misinformation is fading.

• West Virginia has always required all public school students to be vaccinated and built its own local pharmacy network to lead COVID-19 rollout. Gov. Patrick Morrisey, an RFK Jr. ally, has tried to weaken those mandates.

• Independent practices are closing fast; WVU Medicine and Vandalia now own 70% of the state’s hospitals, and 13 of 33 rural hospitals risk closing. Patients without a trusted provider more often believe vaccine myths.

The Washington Post
Opinion: Telling the truth doesn’t win Markwayne Mullin MAGA brownie points
August 11, 2026

• DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin drew MAGA backlash for backing more work visas and immigration reform, a stance the columnist argues Trump should heed because labor shortages hit rural and red states hardest. (No author named in the text provided.)

• Mullin said the U.S. can fill labor gaps where participation lags. A North Dakota State University report found rural states would gain most from immigration-driven growth, with the Dakotas leading in job openings per unemployed worker.

• U.S. labor force participation is at its lowest since the pandemic, with health care and construction short-staffed. Mullin is still on track to meet Trump’s deportation goals, with over 350,000 removals since October.

Inside Climate News
A very American invention, pushed to an extreme
August 9, 2026

• Blackshirt Feeders is building the nation’s largest feedlot in rural Dundy County, Nebraska, for 200,000 cattle on a square mile of concrete. Ranchers there fear it will drain and pollute their groundwater amid deepening drought.

• The operation is already the district’s biggest water user, and the state cited it for nitrate violations this year, with monitoring wells showing levels two to three times the legal limit. Manure spread on nearby fields threatens drinking water.

• Nebraska has eased CAFO permitting under Gov. Jim Pillen, and federal law sets no size cap. Developers cited that regulatory certainty, plus cheap corn and nearby slaughterhouses, in choosing the site.

Kentucky Lantern
Trump announces $180M for mining education as administration recommits to coal
August 10, 2026

• Trump announced $180 million in grants for mining schools to rebuild U.S. coal, a push that could revive jobs in rural coalfield communities but may lock them into a declining industry.

• The DOE will spread $100 million across 14 accredited mining schools, while $80 million from the DOD goes to three programs. The University of Kentucky joins a South Dakota-led workforce consortium.

• Trump said half the mining workforce will retire within three years, and U.S. schools graduate fewer than 170 mining engineers yearly versus China’s 3,000.

Inside Climate News
Neighbors live in fear after pipeline leak in ‘Unleashing American Energy’ era
August 11, 2026

• An Energy Transfer pipeline leaked jet fuel into the drinking water wells of a suburban Philadelphia neighborhood, and federal regulators have stayed largely absent. Communities on private wells anywhere, common in rural areas, face the same gap since the Safe Drinking Water Act doesn’t cover them.

• Fuel components like benzene turned up in 28 homes since 2023. The EPA declined to step in, and PHMSA, which cut 17% of staff under Trump, took no enforcement action despite finding a probable violation.

• Energy Transfer gave $25 million to a Trump-aligned PAC weeks after the first federal notice, then negotiated a lighter consent agreement. Trump’s proposed rules would explicitly exclude groundwater from Clean Water Act protection.

Inside Climate News
Permian Basin community seeks fix for radium in its drinking water
August 11, 2026

• The rural West Texas town of Imperial has water contaminated with naturally occurring radium, and many residents drive 30 miles to buy bottled water. Small rural systems often can’t afford treatment, an inequity that leaves poorer communities more exposed.

• In 2025, 29 Texas water systems serving over 22,000 people exceeded radionuclide limits. Pecos County Fresh Water has violated combined radium standards 19 times since 2020. Long-term exposure raises cancer risk.

• Treatment is complex and costly. Brady, population 5,000, reached compliance this year using $31.4 million in state funding, but officials say tiny towns like Imperial lack the money and help.

Politico’s Energy & Environment News
EPA moves to rescind Biden-era tribal water quality rule
August 10, 2026

• The Trump administration plans to rescind an EPA rule requiring states to weigh tribes’ rights to fish, hunt and gather when setting water quality standards. Rescinding it could weaken pollution protections for rivers and lakes across rural tribal lands.

• The Biden-era rule gave tribes a way to compel regulators to account for their consumption of traditional plants and animals when setting the standards that shield water bodies from pollution.

• The EPA is close to advancing the proposal, according to an Office of Management and Budget notice Friday. The administration argues the rule exceeded the agency’s authority.

Stateline
More college students will have access to abortion medication
August 11, 2026

• Colorado became the fifth state requiring public colleges to provide or arrange abortion medication for students. Rural students, who often lack nearby clinics or transportation, could gain access they’d otherwise struggle to reach.

• Colorado’s law also covers private colleges, with exemptions for religious institutions or federal grant risks. It joins California, Illinois, Massachusetts and New York.

• California may extend its 2023 mandate to community colleges by 2029, though health center directors warn many lack the money and staff to comply.

Stateline
Anti-abortion groups urge attorney general to halt mailing of abortion pills
August 10, 2026

• Anti-abortion groups asked Attorney General Todd Blanche to enforce an 1873 anti-obscenity law against mailed abortion pills. A crackdown would hit rural patients hardest, since many rely on mail-order medication where clinics are distant or absent.

• The letter, led by Mike Pence’s Advancing American Freedom, wants the DOJ to reverse 2022 guidance that Comstock doesn’t bar mailing the drugs. Blanche has pledged to review it.

• Telehealth accounted for 27% of U.S. abortions in early 2025, over 162,000 cases. Advocates say they’d shift to misoprostol alone if mifepristone rules fall.

Politico
Trump lets Medicare drug subsidy lapse before midterms
August 11, 2026

• The Trump administration is ending a Biden-era subsidy that lowered Medicare Part D premiums, just before midterms shaped by cost-of-living anger. Rural seniors, who lean heavily on Part D and vote at high rates, could feel the increase sharply.

• The change hits roughly 20 million people in standalone Part D plans without low-income subsidies. CMS chief Mehmet Oz estimates most will pay under $10 more monthly, with some seeing lower premiums.

• The administration says the pilot funneled billions to insurers, costing $6.2 billion in 2025. KFF found it did lower premiums and stabilize plans, and warns 2027 could bring broader increases.

High Country News
Opinion: Utah is killing the Great Salt Lake
August 11, 2026

• Utah’s overuse of water, driven by cheap rates and lawn irrigation, is drying up the Great Salt Lake and pushing it toward collapse, threatening a $1.9 billion economy and rural water-district finances, argues Wade Graham, a historian and Glen Canyon Institute trustee.

• Inflows are down 40% since the late 1980s and volume 64%, exposing nearly 1,000 square miles of toxic lakebed. Dust drives 2,480 to 8,000 premature deaths yearly, one 2020 study found.

• Utah is still pushing a Bear River pipeline to divert 200,000 more acre-feet for suburban lawns. A new law lets the state judge-shop to block lawsuits from groups like the Utah Rivers Council.