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Montana Tribal Citizens File Lawsuit Over Alleged Voter Suppression
Does GOP control of the U.S. Senate hinge on stopping Natives from voting in November?
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Animal Agriculture Conference Asks: What’s the Future of Our Food System?
Iowa’s environmental crisis has policy leaders and farmers challenging corporate agriculture
The Joy of Door Knocking
The BirdDogs have found a way to make political action fun and effective
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The 10 Rural Districts That Could Swing the House
Candidates in rural battleground congressional races are pivotal in deciding who controls the U.S. House
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The Christian Right’s Playbook to Elect Donald Trump in November
And how voters can use the tools of democracy to counter their plans
Politics & Policy
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Farmers Weigh Harris and Trump on Ag Policy as Candidates Vie for Rural Votes
How tariffs, climate policies and the farm bill are swaying Minnesota growers
Ana Radelat & Ava Kian, MinnPost
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GOP Election Deniers Are in Position to Subvert the 2024 Vote Tally
More than 100 election administrators across eight swing states believe the Big Lie
Mike Ludwig, Truthout
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The Dark Money Defunding Rural Schools
A network of right-wing billionaires have bankrolled a war against public education. Now they’re stepping up attacks on rural legislators—but communities are fighting back.
Native Life
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Water Protectors Use Novel Legal Tactic to Challenge the Dakota Access Pipeline
Novel anti-SLAPP laws could help uncover Dakota Access Pipeline secrets
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The Indigenous Growers Reviving Hemp’s Deep Roots
“Cannabis and hemp offer solutions to many challenges in an industrial society”
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Federal Courts Sentence Native Americans to Longer Prison Terms
How federal authority over tribes fails to provide equal justice under the law
Special Reports
New
Charting a Path of Rural Progress
Interviews with the organizers who created a rural policy platform for 2024
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Rural Communities Respond to the Long-Term Care Crisis
Rural communities come together to respond to the crisis in long-term care
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Interviews with Rural Organizers
Meet the rural organizers and changemakers working for change and justice
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Rural Libraries
Rural libraries, under threat, are finding renewed purpose
More →Food & Agriculture
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The Farm Bill Must Support Farmers Affected by PFAS Contaminated Sewage Sludge
Maine stepped up to protect its farmers. It’s time for Congress to protect farmers nationwide.
Rep. Bill Pluecker
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National Farmers Union Pushes Congress on Farm Bill
Iowa farmers warn of lost opportunities to expand the agricultural safety net
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How Harris’s Economic Strategy Could Help Farmers
Taking on monopolies and lowering consumer costs is both a winning political strategy and the right thing to do
Science & Environment
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Project 2025 and Its Plans for the Nation’s Public Lands
Native leader says massive deregulation would lead to “total desecration”
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Signs of a Ceasefire in Michigan’s Energy Wars
Rural comunities have been fighting for nearly two decades over large-scale solar and wind farms. A new law might turn down the temperature as the state seeks to reduce carbon emissions from generating electricity.
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What’s Fueling Michigan’s Green Energy Backlash?
A renewable energy push is bringing millions of dollars to Michigan’s rural communities. But not everyone is pleased.
Barn Raisers
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The Secret to Creating Vibrant Rural Economies
The USDA's Rural Development office works with nonprofit enterprises to to revitalize rural economies
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Wendell Berry: What New York Times Columnist Paul Krugman Gets Wrong About Rural America
‘Those of us who speak for the country (“rural America”) must never give up’
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Welcome to Barn Raiser: Your independent source for rural and small town news
A letter from the editors
Letters to the editor
Readers Respond to Wendell Berry
Read →Religion
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Civil Religion as a Gateway to Christian Nationalism
The inclusion of “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance was a sectarian move whose exclusionary effects are increasingly evident in today’s religious landscape
Brian Kaylor & Beau Underwood, Sightings
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The Politics of Loving Your Neighbor in Rural America
Reflections of a Lutheran pastor in Dunn County, Wisconsin
Arts & Culture
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Country Queers Spread the Love in Rural America
Rae Garringer’s new book documents more than a decade of LGBTQ+ rural life
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A Supper Club State of Mind
Wisconsin has more supper clubs than any other state. But how long will this iconic institution survive?
History
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The 19th Century Haunting that Made This Small Tennessee Town Famous
Historian sheds new light on the dark tale of the Bell Witch
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Jim Hightower Confronts the 1980s Farm Crisis
"It's the same old story—Reagan helps the rich, and Lord help the rest of us."