rural

The program is meant to soften the coming cuts to Medicaid. The state health department recently announced the first round of Kansas grantees. Hospitals are using the money to increase healthcare access to rural patients.

In April, the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center and Texas A&M University Health Sciences Center hosted a tour of a clinic built in a retrofitted shipping container in Burton, Texas. It's the latest collaboration in an ongoing effort to bring community-run clinics to rural areas, where access is harder to achieve.

Rural Kansans could see longer drives to access healthcare or fewer health services because of hospital closures. A report found that Kansas has 28 rural hospitals at immediate risk of closure.

Some close watchers of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's budget aren't thrilled with the Trump administration's proposal — but they're hopeful some of the suggested cuts won't make it in the final spending plans passed by Congress.

Texas has the largest number of rural hospitals in the country. In the past decade, 14 of the state's rural hospitals have closed and another 82 are at risk of closure, according to a recent report from the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform. Despite funding challenges, some rural hospitals are continuing and even expanding services through community support.

Local leaders see data centers, which help power the world's shift to artificial intelligence, as a way to keep their towns open. Residents worry their way of life — and water — is at stake.

The Trump Administration asked states to find the lowest-cost option in the latest program to build broadband infrastructure in rural areas. That opens the door for more types of technology, which some worry could be less reliable in the long-term.

South Plains Community Action Association, Inc., or SPCAA, serves approximately 114 counties in Texas, with a focus on assisting in rural communities. It is one of many organizations whose programs are under threat in upcoming federal budget proposals.

The USDA's Rural Development agency has provided billions of dollars each year to small towns, farmers and businesses. Now staffing upheaval and budget cuts brought on by the Trump administration may be eating into the agency’s effectiveness.

An executive order calling for the reduction of a federal agency that awards grants to museums and libraries would affect Oklahoma’s urban and rural libraries differently.