News from rural America.

Texans have agreed to spend billions to improve their water systems, ICE appears to be readying a detention center along Oregon's picturesque coast and a Georgia community echoes a familiar refrain with concerns about massive AI data centers.

TRANSCRIPT

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

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

Texas will make its biggest ever investment in its water system, after voters approved a constitutional amendment earmarking $20 billion for infrastructure.

Currently, Texas loses almost two billion gallons of water annually just from leaky pipes.

The influx of money should especially benefit rural communities with limited tax dollars.

Cody Ackerman is with the Texas Hill Country Conservation Network.

This investment would help bridge that gap and allow rural communities to make infrastructure improvements.

The state will offer low interest and forgivable loans to ease the burden on smaller rural water systems.

Sarah Roundtree Schlesinger leads the Texas Water Foundation.

She says when rural communities face population changes and aging infrastructure, they want to prioritize conservation and efficiency.

I think that rural Texans are going to have higher water risk.

Oregon Coast residents are alarmed that ICE may be pushing the Coast Guard out from the Newport Municipal Airport.

Alana Newman has more.

The small seaside community suspected something when the Coast Guard helicopter used for ocean rescues was moved 100 miles down the coast, with ICE seemingly taking its airport space to detain migrants.

Tawna Dixon with advocacy group Newport Fisherman's Wives says helicopter rescues are vital and time sensitive.

Our Coast Guard air rescue station is in our community.

If it is an hour away, it won't be rescues, it will be recovering bodies.

Homeland Security refuses to give details to local officials or Congress members.

Local pilot Jeff Shapiro says from what he's seen, ICE has already moved in.

I've come to the airport almost daily and in the last couple of weeks, I've seen containers brought in.

They just disassembled the Coast Guard sign.

I'm Ilana Newman.

AI data centers are spreading fast across Georgia, and communities question how the massive facilities will affect water, power and nature in rural Twiggs County.

Longtime resident Nancy Lubbock says they've gotten few answers about what a planned project will mean for their quality of life.

Nobody really seems to know the impact of the water and the electrical.

Lubbock and her neighbors want county officials to slow the approval process and require independent studies.

She worries the noise, lights and constant activity may kill off nearby wildlife, including the nation's most isolated black bear population.

This may be the beginning of the end for the bears.

Amy Sharma with Science for Georgia says most counties are caught off guard by how much data centers can reshape entire neighborhoods.

They usually need a new substation nearby and they usually need new high power transmission lines.

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

For more rural stories, visit dailyyonder.com.