Rural
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Good News Friday: North Carolina moves to protect kids from addictive social media apps
A bipartisan plan to save kids from the algorithm. Plus: A summer food program for low-income families.
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Pete Buttigieg packs barn for rural Democrat Jamie Ager in competitive NC congressional district
Pete Buttigieg offers the highest-profile endorsement yet for Jamie Ager in the campaign for North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District.
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NC farmers are facing a severe financial squeeze in 2026. Here’s why
NC farmers are facing rising costs, extreme weather, and global trade pressures—making 2026 one of the toughest years in recent memory.
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From Minneapolis to your block: Real people are proving politics isn’t just for watching
Consuming political news isn’t the same as building political power. From Minneapolis to small-town America, rural organizer Gwen Frisbie-Fulton writes that real change starts with local organizing and civic engagement. Someone once told me this story: Anthropologists visiting an Aboriginal village showed them a newspaper clipping about an earthquake that destroyed a town halfway across…
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Trump tariffs could cause ‘real harm’ to NC farms, new study shows
The study by the conservative John Locke Foundation shows how Trump’s tariffs could start a widespread trade war that devastates farms and the rural communities that depend on them.
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Millions could go hungry in NC if SNAP benefits are paused during government shutdown
Kids, seniors, and veterans are among those who rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to eat. The Trump administration has warned it will discontinue the program’s payments in November.
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Opinion: From firehouses to schools, North Carolina’s small towns run on local elections
Millions of Americans turn out to vote in presidential elections, but most of us don’t engage in the local elections that have an outsized impact on our everyday lives. Here’s why we need a change in North Carolina.
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OPINION: We need to rethink disaster recovery in North Carolina
This Saturday—Sept. 27, 2025—marks one year since Hurricane Helene flooded Western North Carolina with five months of rain in just three days.
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A year after Helene devastated their towns, western NC leaders discuss the road to recovery
Local leaders face significant challenges and argue Washington and Raleigh could do more to help them recover from the $60 billion storm.
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One year after Helene, western NC residents reflect on what their communities have been through
Hurricane Helene left at least 108 people dead, over 100,000 homes damaged or destroyed, and over $60 billion in total costs. A year later, communities across western NC are still picking up the pieces.
