On today’s edition of “Economics on Tap,” Kimberly is joined by Anna Pope, agriculture and rural affairs reporter for KOSU and Harvest Public Media, to talk about how Oklahoma’s agricultural workers are faring amid wildfires, federal workforce reductions and shifting global trade tensions. One bright spot: beef prices! And, we’ll play a round of Half Full/Half Empty.

Here’s everything we talked about today:

• "Oklahoma fire crews battling several wildfires" from KOSU
• "Oklahoma-based federal ag workforce lost nearly 1 in 5 of its employees last year" KOSU
• "Hunger rose slightly in the U.S., a new report shows. The USDA says it will stop tracking the data" from Harvest Public Media
• "Oklahoma had a bumper wheat crop, but it's not alone. Here's what that means for producers" from KOSU
• "Beef prices keep rising. What will it take to bring them down?" from Marketplace
• "Gen Z Doesn’t Go to the Club. They Party at Coffee Shops Instead." from Texas Monthly
• "Job hunters turn to "reverse" recruiters to get an edge" from Marketplace
• "Americans drank more milk in 2024, reversing a decade-long decline" from Harvest Public Media

We love hearing from you. Leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART or email makemesmart@marketplace.org.

A $50 billion pot of money for rural health care made it into last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, President Trump’s hallmark tax and spending law. But the funding comes in tandem with massive cuts to Medicaid spending — an existential risk to many rural hospitals. On today’s show, Kimberly speaks with KFF Health News correspondent Arielle Zionts about the potential benefits of the Rural Health Transformation Program and its potential shortfalls. Plus, Congress never came to an agreement on the Obamacare subsidies at the heart of last year’s government shutdown. What does that mean for rural communities?

In December, the Department of Health and Human Services proposed a new rule that would ban hospitals from receiving any Medicare and Medicaid funding if they offer gender-affirming care for minors. Today, Kimberly checks in with Marketplace’s Samantha Fields to hear about her reporting on how this is affecting health care providers across the country. Plus, we’ll get into how the proposed rule fits into a larger wave of restrictions on transgender health care, years in the making.