tourism

USDA to use outdoor recreation to boost economy around national forests, grasslands

BY: - January 30, 2023

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Agriculture began planning this month to develop outdoor recreation opportunities near national forests and grasslands, part of a broader Biden administration push to help communities reap economic rewards from the growing recreation sector. Three USDA agencies — the U.S. Forest Service, the National Institute of Food and Agriculture and […]

Sarah Huckabee Sanders appoints Buffalo resort founder and owner as Arkansas Parks secretary

BY: - December 6, 2022

Arkansas Gov.-elect Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced Tuesday that she will nominate Mike Mills, the founder and owner of the state’s first log cabin resort, to run the Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism. Mills is Sanders’ second cabinet appointee after Capt. Mike Hagar, the State Police’s Troop A commander, whom Sanders announced Monday as her […]

A row of abandoned homes along a residential street in Cairo, Illinois, in 2021. Many small towns like Cairo have a surfeit of vacant housing, but people who need housing often don't live where the houses are. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

The nation’s vacant homes present an opportunity — and a problem

BY: - November 28, 2022

With construction costs for new homes and interest rates soaring, vacant housing is drawing more attention as a shortcut to quickly getting more units on the market. But whether vacant homes are a curse or an opportunity depends on where you live. As housing affordability plummets and rents rise, putting more families with low incomes at risk […]