News from rural America.

A majority of Americans say the current political system is “rigged”, The Nature Conservancy believes Appalachia’s Cumberland Forest is critical for weathering climate change, volunteers are in short supply at rural Indiana fire departments, and your clock needs winding, again.

TRANSCRIPT

For the Daily Yonder and Public News Service, this is the news from rural America.

As voters head to the polls, a majority of Americans say they feel shut out of the current political system.

A Frameworks Institute study shows two-thirds of residents believe the system is rigged.

Todd Lefkoe with International Business Development Company says when the ultra-wealthy have significantly more access to decision makers, others can feel helpless.

The instruments that we had from the past are basically going for the benefits of a few.

And so the question is, why doesn't anybody in government seem to understand that?

Meanwhile, research shows immigrant families are suffering from the Trump administration's crackdown.

Shadi Houshiar with the Center for the Study of Social Policy says interviews of both urban and rural Californians found parents are avoiding public assistance programs for health and food, even if their children are U.S. citizens.

It has impacted families' ability both to access care, but also their sense of vulnerability about what might happen if they were to access benefits, even when they're eligible for that.

Scientists have identified four major conservation focus areas, including the Amazon rainforest and the Appalachian Mountains.

The Nature Conservancy has made a quarter million acres of the Cumberland Forest a priority for withstanding future climate change.

Some 30,000 acres are in Kentucky's Bell County, where John Grace is the tourism director.

There's a lot of people that shot their first deer up there, that caught their first fish out of one of the ponds or the streams.

I used to grouse hunt there back in the day with my grandfather.

Purchased in 2018, the Conservancy hopes to rehabilitate tens of thousands of acres and prove that conservation can be profitable.

Grace says much of the land will be targeted for permanent conservation, along with recreation easements for things like hunting, hiking, and boating.

I think that it's possible to have that property open to several different kinds of recreation and still be good stewards of the land.

Volunteers are the backbone of rural fire departments, and Indiana is having trouble finding them.

Galeville Fire Department Chief Glenn Tomlinson says for generations, many small communities have relied on residents to answer pagers and then respond to fires and medical emergencies.

He says maintaining a pool of volunteers is difficult because fewer people have the time or energy to volunteer for unpaid public service.

There's virtually no pay.

There's long night.

There's a lot of events where they'll come in here and be in here all night long and then go right to work the next morning.

If you favor year-round daylight savings time, know it was tried 50 years ago.

Implemented in 1974 by the Nixon administration, backlash prompted President Gerald Ford to repeal it just 10 months later. longer evenings will return when clocks spring back on march 14th 2027 for the daily yonder