Mandatory milk testing will begin in six states on Dec. 16. (Adobe Stock photo) The Department of Agriculture has expanded its response to bird flu infections in U.S. dairy herds by ordering milk testing to begin on Dec. 16 -- "a step public health experts have clamored for following the detection of the H5N1 virus in U.S. dairy herds for the first time this spring," report Mark Johnson and Sabrina Malhiof The Washington Post. "The mandatory testing system is designed to identify which states and specific herds have been affected by the H5N1 virus."  California, Colorado, Michiga ..read more

Sen. Josh Hawley, 'hates' Dejoy's plan and vowed to try and 'kill it.' Tempers flared as the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and Postmaster General Louis DeJoy wrangled over the U.S. Postal Service's lagging delivery, expenses and DeJoy's overall postal "optimization" plan, reports Eric Katz of Route Fifty. "DeJoy vehemently defended his efforts and said the senators standing in his way would bring about the end of the Postal Service." The bipartisan pushback put DeJoy on the defensive and highlighted internal conflicts between DeJoy and Congress. "Se ..read more

Rural health includes mental health care. (Mental Health Association photo) The Mental Health Association launched a new hub with information and free resources to help rural residents access mental health treatment, reports Liz Carey of The Daily Yonder. The site also provides community members with tools for supporting mental health care in their area. MHA built its hub to help address the drastic need for improved mental health treatment and education in smaller communities. Carey reports, "About 7.7 million rural adults, or about a quarter (23%) of all nonmetropolitan adults in t ..read more

Celebrating all the holidays in November and December can be more fun when shopping rural in-store or online. When gift-givers choose to buy from small-town businesses, they support local communities and get to spend their hard-earned gift-giving dollars on delightful, original items that can't be found at larger retailers. Below are just a few stops for readers to browse and hopefully, take time to enjoy the ingenuity, resourcefulness and craftsmanship rural businesses offer. Mohr's art captures rich rural moments. The art of Bonnie Mohr captures the beauty and spirit of life lived c ..read more

Ballad Health's Indian Path Community Hospital has an average ER wait time of 43 minutes. (Ballad Health photo) A hospital monopoly in northeastern Tennessee and southwestern Virginia has left some residents fearful of getting care at its facilities, but hospital officials deny many patient complaints and tie their quality of care troubles to Covid-19 and nursing shortages, reports Brett Kelman of KFF Health News. "Ballad Health is the only option for hospital care in a large swath of Appalachia. . . .Lawmakers in both states "waived federal antitrust laws so two rival health systems ..read more

Rats learned to love driving and would opt to take longer routes to get to their destination. (Photo by Kelly Lambert, CC BY-ND) People aren't the only ones who love to go for a drive. Rats do, too. "I’m a neuroscientist who taught rats to drive − their joy suggests how anticipating fun can enrich human life," writes Kelly Lambert for The Conversation. "My colleagues and I found that rats could learn to drive forward by grasping a small wire that acted like a gas pedal. Before long, they were steering with surprising precision to reach a Froot Loop treat. . . . Unexpectedly, we found ..read more

Rural voters strongly rejected President Biden, but his administration has started programs that are already reversing the decline of rural America, says Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, a longtime politician who has given 12 years of his life to the job, more than anyone. Vilsack summoned Jonathan Martin of Politico for an exit interview, and his frustration came through. “I think the challenge that we have in rural America is that we talk a lot about programs and not about vision,” he said when Martin asked what went wrong for Democrats in rural America. “The vision is, you don’t have to g ..read more

Pew Research Center graph, from Pew's American trends panel and center phone survey data. Despite the somewhat contentious relationship many Americans have with news outlets, most citizens still agree that "media scrutiny keeps politicians from doing things they shouldn’t," reports Sarah Naseer on a Pew Research Center survey conducted and released this year. This opinion has remained a constant over the past 40 years, even as the government's majority party affiliations have changed. The Pew Research Center began "asking Americans about the news media’s role in investigating and re ..read more

Several U.S. sectors are preparing for imminent changes the transition to a Republican president and Congress promise to bring. Stories focused on upcoming changes are excerpted below. Undocumented workers make up roughly 13% of the construction industry. (Adobe Stock photo) President-elect Donald Trump's planned immigration crackdown and tariffs on Mexican and Canadian goods will hit the housing market with a "one-two punch," report Elizabeth Findell and Gina Heeb of The Wall Street Journal. "In Texas, California, New Jersey and the District of Columbia, immigrants make up more than ..read more

Bird flu H5N1 can kill chickens in 48 hours, but the infection is less severe in humans. (J. Whitt photo, Unsplash) As avian flu spreads among birds, cows, and people, understanding the virus can help lessen unnecessary worry and build support for virus containment, testing and possible vaccination efforts. David Leonhardt of The New York Times demystifies the bird flu virus through questions and answers. The answers have been lightly edited. 1. What is bird flu? It’s an influenza virus officially known as H5N1 (and sometimes called avian flu). It attracted global attention in the l ..read more