coronavirus
June 24, 2020 -
As novel coronavirus cases rise in poultry plants near the meat-processing giant's headquarters in Northwest Arkansas, family members of workers say the company takes better care of their chickens than they do their employees.
June 17, 2020 -
As he died at the hands of Minneapolis police, Floyd called out for his mother — rending the hearts of Black mothers nationwide and spurring many to take part in street protests. Some of those same Black mothers will also be taking part in the Poor People's Campaign's virtual mass rally on June 20, and they are drawing connections between police violence and policy violence.
May 20, 2020 -
At the state and federal level, lawmakers are pushing legislation that would prevent some people from suing their employers if they contract the novel coronavirus at work. Labor leaders call the proposals an "outrage" and an attempt by businesses to skirt responsibility.
May 19, 2020 -
A new analysis by Facing South finds that counties with prisons and meatpacking plants are particularly vulnerable to intense COVID-19 outbreaks. So are the region's majority-black counties.
May 7, 2020 -
State and federal lawmakers are erecting temporary barriers for workers and consumers sickened by the novel coronavirus to bring lawsuits against companies they hold responsible. For example, a new North Carolina law bars pandemic-related lawsuits against "essential businesses" — even if they're negligent.
April 20, 2020 -
With the COVID-19 pandemic raging through correctional facilities, many states have ordered the release of nonviolent offenders in local jails or prison inmates at greater risk from the virus. But states in the Deep South have been slow to act. Meanwhile, Louisiana is moving its COVID-19-stricken prisoners to the notorious Angola penitentiary — an hour's drive from a hospital with a ventilator.
April 17, 2020 -
Severe weather devastated communities across the South over Easter weekend. Now they're trying to figure out how to recover from a natural disaster in the middle of a pandemic — and how to prepare for future storms.