More than 340 rural leaders from across the country gathered in St. Paul, Minnesota, in late June for the 2011 Gathering of the National Rural Assembly. Participants networked and discussed a wide array of rural – and more broadly American – issues: education, green energy, socioeconomic development, and many topics of rural policy.

A documentary film follows three friends from rural Michigan to Afghanistan and home. The Rural Assembly June 29 focused on youth and new FCC rules that will extend broadband.

With ingenuity and smart application of Internet-marketing, a couple in rural Virginia has managed to stay on the farm, and get away from it occasionally too.

Can the unmanned aircraft industry invigorate North Dakota? Grand Forks' Air Force base gets a reprieve and neighboring towns hope to get aboard the new mission.