rural issues

Newly-Confirmed Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack Outlines His Priorities

By Seth Bodine & Harvest Public Media • Feb 26, 2021

After a majority Senate vote, Tom Vilsack is now reprising the role of U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. He said during a news conference that one of his biggest priorities is responding to the pandemic.

Listen To The Second Episode Of Focus: Black Oklahoma

By KOSU • Feb 24, 2021

Focus: Black Oklahoma is a one-hour news and public affairs program on various topics relevant to Oklahomans across the Black diaspora that airs on KOSU monthly. Listen to February's episode now.

Rural America Needs High-Speed Internet For More Than Just Netflix

By Harvest Public Media & Jonathan Ahl • Feb 3, 2021

Donald Trump won two-thirds of the vote in rural areas in the last two presidential elections — highlighting what some see as a growing divide between rural and urban America.

Now, a Washington, D.C., based think tank suggests the Biden administration look to expand broadband internet access in rural areas to help bridge the economic divide.

Practice Of Four-Day School Weeks In Oklahoma Will Likely Continue, For Now

By Robby Korth • Jan 29, 2021

The practice of four day school weeks will likely continue widely during the 2021-22 school year in Oklahoma. On Thursday, the state’s Board of Education approved a waiver to rules that would’ve limited the number of districts who could cut days from their school calendar.

COVID-19 Deaths Continue To Mount In Rural Oklahoma

By Seth Bodine • Jan 28, 2021

More than 300 rural Oklahomans have died from the coronavirus since the first of the year, as the gap between rural and urban deaths from the virus continues to widen.

2021 Legislative Preview: Oklahoma Senate Leader Answers StateImpact's Questions

By Ryan LaCroix • Jan 28, 2021

The state Legislature’s session was badly disrupted last year by the pandemic. It’s back starting Monday, and faces a long list of pressing issues and unfinished work from 2020.

Beyond COVID-19: 4 Other Key Health Issues Congress Recently Addressed

By editor • Jan 28, 2021

Late last month, before President Biden took office and proposed his new pandemic relief plan, Congress passed a nearly 5,600-page legislative package that provided some pandemic relief along with its more general allocations to fund the government in 2021.

While the pandemic funding got most of the attention, some even bigger changes for health care were buried in the other parts of that huge December package of laws.

Building Trust Is Key To Ensuring Farmworker Access To COVID Testing, Vaccine

By Christine Herman, Dana Cronin & Harvest Public Media • Jan 25, 2021

The rollout of the coronavirus vaccine provides hope that the end of the pandemic is near. But it’s not over yet. And in some parts of the country access to COVID-19 testing is still a problem.

For more than a decade, Saraí has been a farmworker, cultivating corn and soybeans in the fields of central Illinois. She moved to the U.S. from Mexico to find work that would allow her to better support her family.

Oklahoma Officials Celebrate State Health Pandemic Center Opening, Public Health Lab Relocation

By Catherine Sweeney • Jan 21, 2021

Gov. Kevin Stitt and top state officials held a ribbon cutting Thursday for the newly relocated Public Health Lab and new Oklahoma Pandemic Center for Innovation and Excellence (OPCIE) in Stillwater, Okla.

Officials announced in October they would be moving the Public Health Laboratory away from Oklahoma City’s biomedical hub to a more rural area for improved focus on rural and animal health.

Listen To The First Episode Of Focus: Black Oklahoma

By Arielle Davis & Kolby Webster • Jan 19, 2021

Focus: Black Oklahoma is a one-hour news and public affairs program on various topics relevant to Oklahomans across the Black diaspora that airs on KOSU monthly. Listen to the first episode now.

rural issues

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