News from rural America.

A growing number of rural communities are calling for local bans on data centers, the fear of ICE agents is keeping some employees from harvesting crops and New Mexico's famous chile peppers vault into American history.

TRANSCRIPT

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

Leaders in artificial intelligence are voicing alarm about the technology's lack of safety measures.

At the same time, concern over data center development continues to rise in rural America.

The backlash has sparked calls for 700 local moratoriums.

While the majority of bans are in metro areas, a quarter are proposed or have been enacted in rural communities.

Stephen Smith with the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy believes it's time for national action.

People behind this technology don't fully understand it and aren't putting the proper guardrails and protections.

So you would think that the federal government would be playing a role here.

There currently are more data centers in metro locations, but the Daily Yonder found the majority of new facilities are planned for rural areas.

Tracy O'Neill with the Alliance says the natural gas plants powering AI increase air pollution, water use, and electric bills.

They're trying to put in their new power plants before anybody knows what's happening and before anyone can object.

Well, where are those new gas plants going to go?

They're going to go in the rural communities.

South Dakotans are talking about federal changes to rural health care at town halls led by the nonprofit United Today, Stronger Tomorrow.

The group's Diane Chamberlain says for many there, getting care means traveling farther and paying more.

People need to be heard.

They need to feel safe, to feel like they don't have to defend their illnesses, their need for care.

Chamberlain worries about coming changes, including Medicaid work requirements starting on January 1st.

Farmworkers nationwide are harvesting crops this fall while anxiously watching for ice.

Federal agents made a record 50,000 immigration arrests in August.

Rachel Armstrong with the legal group Farm Commons says the food production system is struggling, even as fear prevents vulnerable employees from reporting to work.

The consequences are enormous, especially for the person who is detained for the farm that loses its labor force, whether or not they have legal authorization.

Crops don't wait.

Cows don't wait to be milked.

As Skagit County, Washington Food Bank reports, the number of families using the service fell from around 80 to 15 because of patrons' fear of ice.

In New Mexico, artwork by a recent NMSU graduate was one of several items the state contributed to the 250th time capsule buried near Philadelphia's Independence Hall on July 4th.

Janelle Juarez's small ceramic tile features New Mexico's best-known symbol, Chili Peppers.

Juarez, who comes from a long line of migrant and farm workers, says her ancestors deserve credit for her achievement.

It was wonderful to see the fruit of all of their labor and the foundation that they've built for me to stand on and to have this opportunity.

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

For more rural stories, visit dailyyonder.com.