While COVID-19 has devastated parts of the U.S., including hot spots like New York, New Jersey and Louisiana, many counties in Western states have few cases and no deaths. Some officials and residents in those areas feel that pandemic restrictions…

By Stephanie Sy, Lena I. Jackson, Casey Kuhn

Dr. Karen Kinsell is the only physician in Fort Gaines, Georgia, a town of 3,000 people, where 40 percent of residents live below the poverty line. Some of her patients can’t afford to pay her, but she says her office…

The financial problems — and wholesale shutdowns — affecting an escalating number of colleges and universities touch not only students, faculty and staff but also local economies, often in rural places where they are among the most important employers and…

By Elizabeth Hewitt, The Hechinger Report