May 10, 2007 -
        
  
        Texas Gov. Rick Perry's executive order mandating that public schoolgirls receive a new vaccine against a virus that can lead to cervical cancer was rescinded this week by state lawmakers by an overwhelming vote of 181 to 3 -- a move that represents a triumph of public-health precaution over a corporate money grab.	
  
      
     
   
  
  
    
          
        
        
          
              
            
            
            
        May 9, 2007 -
        
  
        Tomorrow at noon, the popular North Carolina radio show "The State of Things" will feature a program on "North Carolina and the Military." I'll be part of the program, which will also include Lt. Governor Beverly Perdue and a spokesman from the N.C. Military Business Center.	
  
      
     
   
  
  
    
        
          
              
            
            
            
        May 9, 2007 -
        
  
        More on the Savannah River Ecology Lab pending shutdown that we mentioned here last week...		The following announcement was e-mailed to us by Joe Franke:
  
      
     
   
  
  
    
        
          
              
            
            
            
        May 9, 2007 -
        
  
        Here at Facing South, we write a lot about how the South's rising social and economic clout -- and therefore its national political importance.
  
      
     
   
  
  
    
        
          
              
            
            
            
        May 8, 2007 -
        
  
        Wildfires in drought-stricken areas of the South have forced evacuations in Florida and the largest ever wildfire in Georgia, which has consumed more than 100,000 acres, is still burning. Firefighting efforts are being hampered by low humidity and high winds.	
  
      
     
   
  
  
    
        
          
              
            
            
            
        May 7, 2007 -
        
  
        With hurricane season less than a month away, experts from the United States and the Netherlands say flaws in New Orleans' repaired levee system could leave the region vulnerable to another disastrous breach like the one that occurred after Hurricane Katrina, which was the largest civil engineering disaster in U.S. history.	
  
      
     
   
  
  
    
        
          
              
            
            
            
        May 4, 2007 -
        
  
        The South is among the regions of the United States hit hard by colony collapse disorder, in which large numbers of honeybees are dying off and disappearing, never to be seen again.