Barn Raiser

Barn Raiser is dedicated to delivering independent news, insights, and information that empower diverse and actively engaged rural and small-town communities. We support open public discussions by highlighting underrepresented voices and viewpoints on the complex challenges that these communities and their leaders encounter. Our goal is to create a platform where important questions and innovative ideas spark meaningful connections. We promote thoughtful criticism, constructive debates, and empathetic dialogue to rejuvenate social creativity, foster common understanding, enhance democratic involvement, and inspire positive transformation.

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In Times of Trouble, My Mother’s History Tells Me We Shall Overcome

2 weeks ago | barnraisingmedia.com | Winona LaDuke

Our lives are marked by our creative journeys, both inward and outward Betty LaDuke, left, with her daughter Winona and her artwork. (Courtesy of Winona LaDuke) This story was originally published by Minnesota Women’s Press. “Your mother’s art is so direct, so full of hard lessons and stories, and so full of love.
This Year, Flag Day Is ‘No Kings Day’

3 weeks ago | barnraisingmedia.com | Marc Edelman

They didn’t take his bombast and grandiose promises seriously. Like establishing high tariffs. Abolishing the Department of Education. Arresting diverse “enemies,” including , a congressional representative, a mayor and a student journalist. Or slashing funding for Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (food stamps) and the National Institutes of Health.
Clean Energy Workforce Hub a ‘Game Changer’ in This Struggling Factory Town

1 month ago | barnraisingmedia.com | Kari Lydersen

Honorable, now 41, was encouraged by support “from around the world,” but he says the incident was traumatizing and he continued to struggle academically and socially. Over the years, he dabbled in illegal activity and was incarcerated, most recently after a 2017 conviction for accepting a large amount of marijuana sent through the mail.
Will Leo XIV Be the Labor Pope?

1 month ago | barnraisingmedia.com | Frederick Clarkson

There has been an explosion of media coverage of what the new pope may mean for global Catholicism. But there was little reporting about the meaning of his papal name, until he explained it to cardinals on May 10. Like his predecessors, Pope Leo XIV has reasons for his papal name. The late Pope Francis, for example, was honoring the widely venerated Saint Francis of Assisi, the founder of the Franciscan order.
Beyond the Ivy League, International Students at Rural Colleges Are Being Detained by ICE

1 month ago | barnraisingmedia.com | Rachael Hanel

At a student housing complex near the university, residents went about their business. Bright moods matched the weather: the weekend neared and there were just a few more weeks to go before summer break. But it wasn’t just students at the housing complex that day. Right before lunch, plainclothes agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) pulled up in unmarked cars and took 20-year-old international student Mohammed Hoque into custody.
Trump Cuts Threaten Invasive Species Comeback in Great Lakes

1 month ago | barnraisingmedia.com | S. Nicole Lane

About 75 years ago, Great Lakes fish were nearly wiped out and the fishing industry as we know it completely eradicated. A so-called vampire was lurking, overpopulating and infiltrating the waterways of the region, putting the lakes at risk of becoming a graveyard of what once was. In the 1830s, a parasitic fish, called the sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus), found its way into the Great Lakes and latched onto helpless native fish, depleting them of life.
From Frying Pans to ‘Teflon Flu’: How One Scientist’s Discovery Changed the World Forever

2 months ago | barnraisingmedia.com | Sharon Udasin

In 1938, Roy was seeking out an alternative for the hazardous refrigerants that were used to keep food cold at the time. As part of this process, he stored a gas called tetrafluoroethylene (TFE) in cylinders at very low temperatures—assuming that he would still find a gas afterwards. Yet when he sawed open the cylinder, he found a white powder instead. Roy’s initial reaction was one of disappointment; Now we’ll have to start all over again! he thought.
Why the Greenpeace Trial Is a Lesson for Us All

2 months ago | barnraisingmedia.com | Winona LaDuke

On March 19, a jury in Mandan, North Dakota, in Morton County, leveled a blistering $660 million verdict against Greenpeace for its part in the Standing Rock resistance against the Dakota Access Pipeline. Anyone who was at Standing Rock knows that Greenpeace was barely there, but they have a name, and Energy Transfer, the pipeline’s owner, made an example out of them. I was in the courtroom when the verdict came in. It was sickening.
A Primer for Home Gardeners to Keep Your Garden Free from PFAS

2 months ago | barnraisingmedia.com | Bill Pluecker |Ames Alexander

Slick marketing and the ubiquity of misleading “eco friendly” products at big box and local gardening supply stores could lead to unwitting contamination in your home garden. Here are a few tips to help you reduce the risk to your plants and soil. PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are a large family of chemicals with extremely strong carbon-fluorine bonds that are virtually impossible to break.
Can Democrats Stop the GOP From Taking a Chainsaw to the Farm Bill?

2 months ago | barnraisingmedia.com | Bryce Oates

The first weeks of President Donald Trump’s second term have fundamentally shaken up U.S. politics and the federal agencies. Trump has issued numerous executive orders and proclamations designed to cancel and obstruct much of the Democrats’ agenda implemented during the Biden Administration, particularly the Inflation Reduction Act, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act and anything related to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) or climate.