A new report from FWD.us shows the positive impact that immigration could have in American rural communities that are seeing a decline of work-age people, reports Taylor Delandro of NewsNation. 

Nearly 77% of rural counties have fewer people ages 15 to 64 than 20 years ago. Population declines as more people leave for urban areas due to education and professional opportunities, Delandro notes. 

In Indiana, after successful efforts to attract big companies to settle in the area, the state is now facing labor shortages, reports Kevin Hardy of Stateline. 

"[I]t’s reached the point where I think in some areas, businesses are saying we can’t expand, we would like to expand, we would expand, but we cannot because we don’t have enough workers," said Republican state Sen. Michael Crider. 

North Dakota also has more jobs available than workers. The state is examining immigration as a potential solution, Hardy notes. 

And Ohio is facing a "red code" in its worrisome demand for nurses, writes Edward Haag in an op-ed for The Columbus Dispatch. International nurses could alleviate this shortage, but the state has another obstacle, foreign professionals such as engineers, nurses, pharmacists and dentists, cannot work in Ohio unless they return to school. 

Welcome to Wednesday’s edition of The Forum Daily. I’m Clara Villatoro, the Forum’s strategic communications manager, and the great Forum Daily team also includes Ashling Lee and Katie Lutz. If you have a story to share from your own community, please send it to me at [email protected].  

FLOATING BARRIER – U.S. District Judge David Ezra did not issue a ruling after the initial hearing on the U.S. Justice Department’s lawsuit against Texas for the floating barrier in Rio Grande, reports Sneha Dey of The Texas Tribune. Ezra made clear that his analysis will focus on the legal aspects related to navigation and not the immigration policy implications. "This is a U.S. District Court. It is not Congress. It is not the president," Ezra said. "I’m not here to engage in nor do I have any inclination to engage in any type of political comment in this decision."

‘DESPICABLE ACT’ — Texas sent its ninth bus of migrants to Los Angeles amid a tropical storm warning, reports Christian Martinez of the Los Angeles Times. The bus arrived on Monday and carried 37 migrants, including 14 children and an infant. "This is a despicable act beyond politics," said Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. A spokesman for Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R) office said on Tuesday the bus driver kept up with weather conditions and "rerouted out of an abundance of caution and took a cautious path to Los Angeles to keep all on board safe," reports Robert T. Garrett of The Dallas Morning News. 

HIGHEST PEAK – U.S. Border Patrol encounters in Tucson, Arizona, reached out 39,215 in July, the highest peak since April 2008, reports Adriana Loya of 12News. Despite triple-digit temperatures, migrants have made their way to the U.S. through a harsh route in Tohono O’odham Nation Reservation. "On the way, as we walked, we saw a dead body in the desert," said Rigoberto Abac Pelicó, a Guatemalan Migrant. "I gave myself up." The death toll in the state has been high this year, according to the nonprofit Humane Borders, 42 bodies were found in July just in the Arizona desert.

‘HUMANITARIAN WELCOME’– Camilo Montoya-Galvez of CBS News offers a recap on the challenges that some large cities are facing to house asylum seekers and the potential solutions that would require action from Congress and the Biden administration. Separately, Hannah Loss of WGBH zooms in on how some organizations are trying to offer migrants a "humanitarian welcome" in Boston. 

Thanks for reading, 

Clara