florida
May 3, 2019 -
After voters approved a constitutional amendment restoring the franchise to people with felony convictions, Florida lawmakers are trying to make it harder for citizens to put amendments on the ballot. Legislators in Arkansas, the only other Southern state that allows citizen-initiated amendments, did likewise after voters passed a minimum-wage hike.
April 26, 2019 -
Voting rights advocates offered solutions for combating discriminatory election practices and increasing voting access in the state and around the country.
April 12, 2019 -
Even as support for LGBTQ equality grows nationally, lawmakers in three Southern states are advancing legislation that would continue to discriminate.
March 29, 2019 -
Governors in Florida and North Carolina recently appointed Jewish justices to their state supreme courts — a first for North Carolina. Studies have shown that Jewish judges, as well as those who belong to other religious minorities, tend to rule in favor of religious freedom.
March 14, 2019 -
For the amendment banning sex discrimination by the federal and state governments to be enshrined in the U.S. Constitution, one more state needs to ratify it. Most of the states that haven't ratified the ERA are in the South, but ratification bills were introduced in seven Southern states this year.
March 1, 2019 -
A new coalition seeks to end Duke Energy's electric monopoly in North Carolina in hopes of hastening the shift to clean energy. There's also an effort underway to bring competition to the electricity market in Florida, where Duke operates as a regional monopoly.
February 25, 2019 -
House Democrats are traveling around the country to investigate discriminatory election practices and document the need to restore the Voting Rights Act. Events have already been held in Texas and Georgia, with the next set for North Carolina.