- Senator Baldwin Introduces HSHS Act to Protect Communities from Hospital Closures
- What to Know about Smoke, Heat and Health
- Tribal Partnership With UW-Madison Combines Ag Research With Indigenous Food Knowledge
- The Rewards of Working as Rural Docs
- Request for Information (RFI): Evolving the Network of the National Library of Medicine
- Dental Therapists, Who Can Fill Cavities and Check Teeth, Get the OK in More States
- Colorectal Cancer Is Rising among Younger Adults. Some States Want to Boost Awareness.
- Rural Hospitals Built During Baby Boom Now Face Baby Bust
- Food Stamps Go Further in Rural Areas — Until You Add Transportation Costs
- CMS Announces Resources and Flexibilities to Assist with the Public Health Emergency in the State of Texas
- CMS Proposes New Payments for Digital Health Under CY2025 PFS Draft Rule
- Improving Public Health by Strengthening Community Infrastructure
- Biden Harris Administration Proposes Policies to Reduce Maternal Mortality, Advance Health Equity, and Support Underserved Communities
- Nearly Half of U.S. Counties Don't Have a Single Cardiologist
- Randolph County, Ill. Turns Unused Part of Nursing Home Into State-Of-The-Art Behavioral Health Center
Fentanyl and COVID-19 Pandemic Reshaped Racial Profile of Overdose Deaths in U.S.
For as long as statistics about opioid overdose deaths have been collected in the United States, white individuals have been much more likely to die than Black individuals of the same age. With the rapidly increasing rate of fentanyl overdoses in the late 2010s, that trend began to reverse — by the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, more Black Americans began to die of opioid overdoses and from drug overdoses of any kind, according to researchers at Penn State.
New research from the Penn State College of Health and Human Development examined racial and regional differences in overdose fatalities from 2012-21, capturing the periods preceding and during the COVID-19 pandemic. In most of the nation, the researchers found that younger Black individuals died of overdose at lower rates than their white counterparts, but older Black individuals — especially men in Midwestern cities — became several times more likely to die of drug overdose than their white counterparts as the COVID-19 pandemic emerged.
The study was published in The American Journal on Addictions.
Rural Prosperity Roundtable Signals A New Era for Our Planet, People in Rural Pennsylvania
On April 23, more than 70 academics, public officials, economic development, and agriculture stakeholders met at Pennsylvania State University’s Behrend Campus in Erie, Pa. The roundtable discussion – Investing in America Rural Prosperity Roundtable –highlighted the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) efforts to create additional income opportunities for producers and entrepreneurs.
Agriculture Deputy Secretary Xochitl Torres Small also highlighted other Biden-Harris Administration efforts to build a stronger, more prosperous rural America through historic investments including the American Rescue Plan Act, Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and Inflation Reduction Act. These investments are about rebuilding our economy from the middle out and the bottom up and creating new opportunities that ensure families, small businesses and family farmers throughout rural America have the opportunities and tools they need to build a good life in the communities that they love.
Among USDA’s local representatives at the event were Bob Morgan, State Director for Rural Development (RD), Heidi Secord, State Executive Director for the Farm Service Agency (FSA), and Denise Coleman, Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) State Conservationist.
Last week was Earth Week and people everywhere are looking for ways to make our world a better place. This includes rural Americans, who thanks to programs like those in President Biden’s historic Inflation Reduction Act, are leading the fight against climate change, while making their communities healthier and reducing their energy costs. USDA is highlighting our partnership with rural communities to sustainably cultivate the future here in Pennsylvania and around the country.
Just like the President, we at USDA believe that every person, no matter where you call home, has a right to breathe clean air, drink clean water, and live in a healthy community—now and into the future. Every single day, we work to ensure these things. And with historic investments like the Inflation Reduction Act, we’ve also created new programs to transform rural power production and create good jobs for people in rural areas across the country.
The President’s Investing in America agenda is creating good-paying clean energy jobs, lowering costs, meeting our climate goals, advancing environmental justice and conservation, and strengthening communities that for too long were left behind or left out. The President has given Native Americans a stronger voice in federal affairs, and USDA has built new land stewardship and food harvesting programs based on the knowledge and traditions indigenous people have passed down through generations.
Here in Pennsylvania and throughout the country, USDA will continue to play an important role in all these goals. The investments we’re making will bring wealth and resources to people in rural areas and ensure they have every opportunity to succeed right in their own communities.
USDA is proud to celebrate Earth Week to show how we are investing in locally driven solutions to expand access to renewable energy, clean water and wastewater systems, and essential services that create jobs, build critical infrastructure, and create sustainable futures for rural America. We are committed to unleashing the potential of all rural and Tribal communities to build a secure and successful future for all.
For more information and to contact your local USDA office.
FSA in Pennsylvania: https://offices.sc.egov.usda.gov/locator/app?state=pa&agency=fsa
NRCS in Pennsylvania: https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/contact/find-a-service-center
RD in Pennsylvania: https://www.rd.usda.gov/pa/pennsylvania-contacts
To learn more about biobased products, go to www.biopreferred.gov. For more information on how the Inflation Reduction Act is enhancing USDA investments in clean energy, visit https://www.rd.usda.gov/inflation-reduction-act.