Facing criticism from small cities that feared losing status and funding, the federal government said Tuesday that it won't raise the population threshold for what qualifies as a metro area.

Four Arizona communities may lose access to a host of federal funding if the White House changes the definition of “metropolitan statistical areas.”

To my friends and neighbors in rural communities, I would like to draw your attention to an action by the federal government that has communities like ours in its crosshairs. Federal regulators are hoping that rural communities will fail to notice what they are doing. In Arizona this list includes Flagstaff, Prescott, and Sierra Vista.