Category: Rural Areas

Will a Dollar General Ruin a Rural Crossroads?

A fight over a proposed chain store is also about what “country” means to different people in a small community.
An Oklahoma Town’s Rescue Plan Has a Big Name: Reba McEntire

The country-music star is trying to revive her childhood home in Oklahoma with a restaurant, concert stage and lots of Reba memorabilia.
Colleges Have Been a Small-Town Lifeline. What Happens as They Shrink?

Declining student enrollment is hitting the rural areas that rely on universities. They’re trying to adapt to survive.
Rural Hospitals Are Shuttering Their Maternity Units

Citing costs, many hospitals are closing labor and delivery wards, expanding so-called maternity care deserts.
Stag and Doe Parties: An Ontario Tradition of Raising Money for a Wedding

“Stag and does” are a largely rural Ontario tradition that help engaged couples raise money for their nuptials — and give neighbors a good reason to party.
Japan’s Business Owners Can’t Find Successors. This Man Is Giving His Away.

An owner’s struggle in Japan’s northern dairy region illuminates one of the potentially devastating economic impacts of an aging society.
A Rural Hospital’s Excruciating Choice: $3.2 Million a Year or Inpatient Care?

A new federal program offers hefty payments to small hospitals at risk of closing. But it comes with a bewildering requirement: to end all inpatient care.
In Sussex, a Floral Designer Finds New Life in an Untamed Garden

After reluctantly moving into a tumbledown 17th-century English cottage, Milli Proust has created a gorgeously unruly and varied source for her craft.