As domestic water wells run dry in California, many rural individuals cannot afford to drill another well
Legal Ruralism Blog
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2d ago
Access to water is becoming more of a challenge in California, especially for rural communities in the Central Valley. Many rural families across California get water from domestic wells that tap into groundwater. However, many of these wells are drying up due in part to climate change and the overconsumption of groundwater resources. This sets the stage for many political and legal battles across California. Many households across California, particularly those in rural areas, rely on domestic wells for water. My family was one of them. When my family and I lived in Mount Shasta, California ..read more
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Rural Flanders questions reformed property law
Legal Ruralism Blog
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3d ago
In February 2020, the Belgian federal government reformed property law, more specifically, Book III of the Civil Code on goods. Later, Landelijk Vlaanderen, an organization that promotes the entrepreneurship of landowners in rural Flanders, asked for clarification from the government as the law allows people to access one’s property in special circumstances, such as to retrieve balls or pets.  Article 3.67, §3 of the Civil code struck confusion across the country and had farmers questioning the interpretation regarding people’s right to access “unused” or “undeveloped” land. The paragraph ..read more
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Public land access for those who can buy it
Legal Ruralism Blog
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4d ago
This (public) land is your land - or is it? That is the question in a dispute between a group of hunters and a wealthy landowner in Wyoming that might be heading to the Supreme Court soon. One normally understands public lands to be open to all. Yet some in the rural West, like the plaintiff in this case, Fred Eshelman, would like to keep access to the public lands to themselves. In Wyoming and other parts of the West, federal lands intersect private ones in a checkerboard pattern that dates to the construction of the transcontinental railroads. In order to limit access to these public lands ..read more
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In California’s Inland Empire, a complex battle for groundwater rages: if the wells go dry, there are no winners.
Legal Ruralism Blog
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4d ago
The Indian Wells Valley sprawls across Inyo, Kern, and San Bernardino county lines in the northwestern Mojave Desert. Beneath it lies the Indian Wells Aquifer, a major groundwater deposit upon which the local communities rely. In the dry Mojave, groundwater is the primary source of water for domestic and agricultural purposes; few aquifers in California have been as significantly depleted as Indian Wells.  When former Governor Jerry Brown signed the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) into law, the Department of Water Resources identified Indian Wells Valley as one of many "crit ..read more
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RFK Jr. promotes AI nurses as a solution to the rural health care crisis
Legal Ruralism Blog
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6d ago
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an environmental lawyer, has spent his career spreading health misinformation and conspiracy theories. Some of his most popular (often baseless and debunked) claims include that vaccines cause autism; Wi-Fi causes cancer and "leaky brain"; school shootings are attributable to antidepressants; chemicals in water can lead to children becoming transgender; and drinking raw milk is advisable. His views on these issues and others have fostered great concern among the healthcare community, especially in the time since his nomination to lead the Department of Health and Human ..read more
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Diversity, equity, and inclusion is not just for urbanites: how Trump’s war on DEI will harm rural communities
Legal Ruralism Blog
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1w ago
Since his inauguration, President Trump has made it no secret that he intends to go after programs supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion ("DEI"). In the span of only a few weeks, Trump has repealed a handful of executive orders promoting DEI in the workplace. Notable among these is Executive Order 11246, signed by President Lyndon Johnson in 1965, which required federal contractors to "take affirmative action" to ensure that their employees were treated without regard to "race, creed, color, or national origin."  To further his anti-DEI mission, President Trump has issued a sle ..read more
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Cowboy boots & Carhartt: The revitalization of cowboy couture
Legal Ruralism Blog
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1w ago
I bought my first pair of cowboy boots when I was in the first grade. I wanted to be like Jesse from Toy Story, I told my parents. Fast forward to my freshman year of high school, I found myself buying a new pair from Ariat when we went to visit my grandparents in Houston, Texas. I wore them proudly to country concerts at the Shoreline Amphitheatre and “ironically” to Outside Lands music festival in Golden Gate Park.  My infatuation with “cowboy couture” took a hiatus until college. During my sophomore year, I came home for break one year wearing a green Carhartt hoodie. My dad, born and ..read more
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How marijuana funds schools in rural Colorado
Legal Ruralism Blog
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1w ago
Colorado in 2012, via state-wide referendum, voted to legalize recreational-use marijuana, becoming (alongside Washington) one the first states to do so. One of the campaign promises of legalization in Colorado was the promise that the excess tax revenue generated by legalization would be used to help fund construction projects in public school districts. Most of these extra funds are distributed through BEST grants (Building Excellent Schools Today) which are used on these construction projects. While the tax breakdown changed in the initial years following legalization, in 2019 the Colorado ..read more
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The value of a rural life
Legal Ruralism Blog
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1w ago
What is the worth of a life? Are some lives more valuable than others? Weeks after beginning law school, I received a call that my grandmother had woken up paralyzed on her right side--the cause of her ailment--a baseball-sized tumor growing on her brain. Sadly, my grandmother lived only months before passing away from Stage III brain cancer. Having been quite close to my grandmother and having lived with her for most of my childhood, the speed and suddenness of her death left me with questions. Did something cause her cancer? How did the cancer come on so quickly? Unfortunately, I learned th ..read more
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1956 article recognizes still existing barriers to rural practice and accidentally makes a good point
Legal Ruralism Blog
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1w ago
It should perhaps surprise no one that many of the systemic barriers that plague rural lawyers are long standing. Many rural lawyers charge less for their services (in order to ensure that local residents can actually afford their services). But yet, young rural lawyers still have to contend with student loan payments, and if they decide to start their own firms, the cost of overhead expenses such as rent, wages, cost of legal databases, insurance...etc. And in many rural communities, starting your own firm might be the only way to actually get legal work. Rural America is dominated by small f ..read more
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