Economy

March 24, 2017 - Groups representing some of the most embattled workers and marginalized communities in the South and nation have called a general strike for May 1 to send a message to the Trump administration and its corporate allies. It's the biggest effort of its kind in 70 years.

March 22, 2017 - Congress created the Appalachian Regional Commission and the Delta Regional Authority to promote economic development in two of the nation's most economically distressed regions, but President Trump has proposed ending the agencies' modest funding altogether.

March 16, 2017 - While the state has seen political battles over promoting renewable energy, voters across the partisan spectrum — including Trump supporters — agree that it should. They're also united in their objection to Duke Energy's coal ash cleanup plans and monopoly status and want to see the state's energy market opened to competition.

March 10, 2017 - President Trump is cheering Exxon Mobil's plans for a $20 billion expansion along the Gulf Coast. But what will that mean for the people who have to live with the pollution given Trump's other plans to gut the EPA and close its environmental justice office?

March 9, 2017 - An immigration raid at a Mexican restaurant in West Virginia this week led to the arrest of three men who now face deportation. While some locals cheered the action as a solution to the state's economic crisis, facts show that's a delusion.

March 7, 2017 - When it comes to pay equity between women and men, the South lags behind the U.S. overall, where women still earn just 80 cents on average for every $1 a man makes. Equal pay is one of the driving issues behind this week's A Day Without a Woman protest.

March 2, 2017 - Hundreds of workers and civil rights advocates plan to march to the Nissan factory in Canton, Mississippi, this Saturday and call on the automaker to respect employees' right to a union election free from intimidation. U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and actor and activist Danny Glover will lead the protest.

March 1, 2017 - With the Trump administration rolling out plans to round up and deport millions of undocumented immigrants, leading private prison companies — major donors to Trump — are already enjoying a big jump in stock prices.

February 9, 2017 - After a slight increase in 2015, the number of Southern workers in unions dipped last year. But the election of President Trump has created new urgency for labor to organize, including two high-profile campaigns this spring in Mississippi and South Carolina.

January 27, 2017 - Since 2005, Nissan workers in Canton, Mississippi — a city with deep roots in the civil rights movement — have been fighting for the right to unionize. This week they are taking their cause across the South with days of action in at least five cities.