News from rural America.

Famous for being the hometown of Bob Dylan, Hibbing, Minn., now offers transit services, a court ruling has ramifications for Alaskans dependent on healthcare provided by Tribal nations, and a Missouri group is trying to protect waterways from CAFOs.

TRANSCRIPT

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

Alaska's network of tribal health organizations is the cornerstone of care for 170,000 living in the last frontier.

But patients and employees now have to navigate the legal complexities of tribal sovereignty after the state Supreme Court overturned 20 years of precedent, ruling that THOs operate as an arm of those indigenous nations.

Indiana University law professor Alicia Haas specializes in tribal health.

That leaves the decision making within their authority and jurisdiction so that it better supports the community.

Tribal health systems fill a unique need in Alaska. 80 percent of the state is not connected to a highway or road system, which has required creativity to emphasize community care.

Shay Siegert with a native tribal health center says telehealth was used long before the pandemic.

Health is not just what happens in or adjacent to a hospital or a clinic.

It's also talking about preventative health.

A new Missouri group is dedicated to protecting state waterways from confined animal feeding operations or CAFOs.

More from Susanna Brown.

When a 2019 law ended local control of Missouri CAFOs, counties lost the ability to regulate animal waste pollution from those feeding operations.

That led Dan Childs to help launch the grassroots group Missouri Guardrails.

He says the huge portion of rural residents who drink from their own wells face a higher risk from CAFOs.

They dump their waste on private property.

They dump it in rivers and in lakes.

So if you're a small farm like we are and you absolutely depend on a domestic well for your prosperity, that well is very much in jeopardy.

And he says the sight and smell of the CAFOs affects quality of life and reduces property values.

The group wants more local control.

Let's go back and set up the laws the way they were before to protect the interests of small farms.

I'm Susanna Brown.

Bob Dillon's hometown of Hibbing, Minnesota didn't have public transportation when he was growing up, but the times they are a-changin'.

An expansion by the state's non-profit transit system includes Hibbing.

Dominick Olivanti is with Arrowhead Transit.

We are the largest rural transportation system in the state of Minnesota and the second largest in the country by land mile.

We cover over 23,000 square miles, which is larger than the state of Vermont.

Olivanti says Arrowhead delivers fixed route and on-demand services across northeastern Minnesota.

Through the state's Community Action Partnership, the transit system works with two dozen agencies and 11 tribal nations to serve 87 counties.

Partnership Executive Director Lori Schultz says for a job or medical appointment, it's a lifeline.

And then just daily basic needs that we all have, whether we have our own car or not.

For the Daily Yonder and Public News Service, I'm Roz Brown.

For more rural stories, visit dailyyonder.com.

Note: This item was updated August 2, 2024, to correct the spelling of Dominick Olivanti's name in the transcript.