Since signing on for the Affordable Connectivity Program last year, Myrna Broncho’s internet bill has been fully paid by the discount. The program provided $75 discounts for internet access in tribal or high-cost areas like Broncho’s, but it is out of money. Sarah Jane Tribble/KFF Health News hide caption
DocGo, a New York-based medical company, has partnered with Dollar General to test whether patients will use urgent and primary care from a van parked in the retail giant's parking lots. Sarah Jane Tribble/KFF Health News hide caption
More than half of U.S. states saw a decline in licensed foster homes from 2021 to 2022. In Nevada, the decline was nearly 18%. In South Carolina, it was a 61% decline, the largest of any state. Getty Images hide caption
Reagan Gaona stands beside the Unfillable Chair memorial in front of Santa Fe High School in Texas. The memorial is dedicated to the eight students and two teachers killed in a May 2018 shooting. To the left is a sign displaying solidarity with Uvalde, Texas, a city that experienced a similar school shooting in May 2022. Renuka Rayasam/Kaiser Health News hide caption
A combination of factors is pushing some people in rural areas to consider moving closer to cities. Spencer Platt/Getty Images hide caption
A Viasat internet satellite dish is seen in the yard of a house in Madison, Va., on March 31. Al Drago/Bloomberg/Getty Images hide caption
John Calhoun of Flathead County has diabetes and was convinced by an old friend to get vaccinated, through he suspects the coronavirus isn't as dangerous as health officials say it is. He's hoping vaccination will ease divisions over masking. Katheryn Houghton/KHN hide caption
Vice President Harris talks to reporters Tuesday as she leaves Milwaukee, a stop on her tour to promote President Biden's $2 trillion infrastructure proposal, which includes expanded broadband. Susan Walsh/AP hide caption
A nurse administers a COVID-19 vaccine in Ridgeway, Va., in March. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Political divisions over the pandemic are creating a wedge and splitting off health care workers from small communities that desperately need them. Charlie Riedel/AP hide caption
In Bucksport, Maine, the smokestack of a closed mill can be seen in this waterfront view along the Penobscot River. Molly Haley/The Hechinger Report hide caption
"There's this sense that decisions about the pandemic are being made in cities and kind of imposed on rural spaces," said Kathy Cramer, an expert on the rural-urban divide at the University of Wisconsin. JamesBrey/Getty Images hide caption
Rural communities across the country, places largely spared during the early days of the pandemic, are now seeing spikes in infections and hospitalizations. Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images hide caption
The U.S. Postal Service warned states in late July that it might not be able to deliver mail-in ballots in time to be counted. Amid a growing outcry from rural leaders, the agency's director has backed down from planned broad cuts and changes. Paul Weaver/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images hide caption
In recent years, former coal miners were retrained to work with fiber optics, expanding high-speed Internet — and possible economic opportunities — to rural areas. Meredith Rizzo/NPR hide caption
The recently closed Pickens County Medical Center in Carrollton, Ala., is one of the latest health care facilities to fall victim to a wave of rural hospital shutdowns across the U.S. in recent years. With hundreds of hospitals endangered, residents are worried about getting health care amid the coronavirus outbreak. Jay Reeves/AP hide caption
Coplan and Vierkandt catch up outside the Kids Plus office. Vierkandt calls Coplan her second mother. They have remained in touch over the years. Meredith Rizzo/NPR hide caption
Located between Capitol Reef and Bryce Canyon and Zion national parks, the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument has become a big tourist draw since its designation in 1996. Kirk Siegler/NPR hide caption
Leitha Dollarhyde, a retired caregiver who lives in a rural town near Whitesburg, Ky., says she could not afford an unexpected $1,000 expense. Sydney Boles for NPR hide caption
A new study finds that up to 20 percent of the LGBT population in this country live in rural America. For the most part, they chose that life for the same reasons others do: tight-knit communities with a shared sense of values. Roy Hsu/Getty Images/Uppercut RF hide caption
Among at least some rural Americans, pragmatism may now be superseding traditional disdain for government and the prizing of rugged individualism. Angela Hsieh/NPR hide caption
Houses lie at the base of Colorado National Monument. The school district in Grand Junction knows it could take years to see whether their efforts towards suicide prevention have worked. Meredith Rizzo/NPR hide caption
Drug addiction is a big concern to rural Americans, according to a new poll from NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Alice Goldfarb/NPR hide caption