Kirk Sigler
👤 SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
Scott Socha runs one of the biggest concessionaires for the National Park Service, Delaware North, which operates cafes and hotels and tours inside and near parks like the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone.
Former Park Service employees had pointed to Socha's ties to interests pushing for more privatization of national parks, but sources tell NPR his nomination had also been on hold for weeks due to other ethics and conflict of interest concerns.
It is unusual, though not unprecedented, for the Park Service to be without a Senate-confirmed director.
The agency operated with all acting directors during the first Trump administration.
The withdrawal of SOCIA comes as many national parks are seeing record visitation while dealing with billions of dollars in maintenance backlogs and about 25 percent less staff since President Trump's doge cuts last year.
Geopolitics is just the latest stress for farmers like Justin Sherlock, who grows soybeans and corn in North Dakota.
He's going into his fourth straight spring planting season in the red.
The only way most farmers are still able to get a loan from the bank is because land prices are still high, and that's collateral.
High diesel and fertilizer costs due to President Trump's Iran war capping what's been a slow burn in the heartland since COVID.
And then tariffs with soybean prices staying flat and inflation rising.
Sherlock says something's got to give soon.
Kirk Sigler, NPR News, Fargo, North Dakota.
Geopolitics is just the latest stress for farmers like Justin Sherlock, who grows soybeans and corn in North Dakota.
He's going into his fourth straight spring planting season in the red.
The only way most farmers are still able to get a loan from the bank is because land prices are still high, and that's collateral.
High diesel and fertilizer costs due to President Trump's Iran war capping what's been a slow burn in the heartland since COVID.
And then tariffs with soybean prices staying flat and inflation rising.
Sherlock says something's got to give soon.
Kirk Sigler, NPR News, Fargo, North Dakota.