Life, Liberty & the Pursuit of Americana
Energy isn’t usually what draws people into small‑town leadership. You run for the council or join the planning commission because you care about streets and schools, housing and jobs, maybe the new playground down by the river. But sooner or later, usually at budget time, the line items for electricity, natural gas, and fuel start […]
JCShepard.com | June 2026 | Category: Policy, Economy Every comprehensive plan has a chapter that doesn’t always get the spotlight. It sits between community facilities and land use, quietly doing its job. In Thayer County, Nebraska, for example—a rural county of about 5,000 residents who I worked with on their comp plan—that chapter is titled […]
Clean energy is driving a quiet revolution in rural America—not just through wind farms and solar panels, but through a rediscovery of local power, community resilience, and land-based innovation. Is the future of rural America to be found in our past? Author L. Michelle Moore thinks there are lessons there, especially for small towns and […]
