June 6, 2018 -
At the same time President Trump is appointing federal judges with a history of opposing equal rights for LGBTQ people, national conservative groups are spending big to elect LGBTQ-hostile judges to state supreme courts.
June 1, 2018 -
This November, voters in Alabama and West Virginia will weigh in on ballot questions about adding anti-abortion provisions to state constitutions. The legislatively-placed measures are part of a broader effort to limit women's access to reproductive health care that's made dramatic headway in Southern states in recent years.
May 25, 2018 -
Because 90 percent of those who fall in the Medicaid coverage gap reside in the South, thousands of Southerners have already died because of a lack of health care access. Now Southern states are beginning to adopt Medicaid work requirements that will strip many of their health care coverage.
May 24, 2018 -
A key permit voided. An environmental justice complaint. Accusations of fraud. In recent weeks, Dominion and Duke Energy's proposed pipeline to carry fracked gas from West Virginia at least as far south as North Carolina has faced several setbacks. But the developers plan on moving ahead with the $6.5 billion project anyway — and they're investing in creating a political climate favorable to those plans.
May 22, 2018 -
Speaking at a protest in North Carolina this week as part of the new Poor People's Campaign, Zainab Baloch juxtaposed her Islamic faith tradition's teachings about empathy with the violence and poverty experienced by her fellow Muslim Americans and North Carolinians.
May 18, 2018 -
An Arkansas judge blocked an election ad by the conservative Judicial Crisis Network attacking a state Supreme Court judge, citing libel concerns. If the group, which spends millions to influence state and federal courts, appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court, its spending would present an ethical dilemma for Justice Neil Gorsuch.
May 17, 2018 -
The state's public schoolteachers held a historic march to the legislature this week to demand higher pay and per-pupil spending — the latest in a series of teacher revolts that have won policy changes in states including Kentucky and West Virginia.