Politics

July 3, 2015 - Politics and economics helped spark the removal of Confederate flags across the South in the wake of the Charleston church shootings. But does that signal broader changes in the region's culture?

June 19, 2015 - A new study from the watchdog group Democracy North Carolina estimates that tens of thousands of would-be voters were prevented from casting ballots or having them count in last year's elections due to a restrictive voting law passed in 2013. The law is being challenged in federal court, with arguments set to begin next month.

June 10, 2015 - If the Supreme Court rules against Affordable Care Act subsidies this month in King v. Burwell, 6.4 million people could lose their health insurance tax credits — and the majority of them live in the South.

May 29, 2015 - This week the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals denied President Obama's request to lift an injunction on his executive action programs to provide temporary deportation relief to millions of undocumented immigrants. The decision could have short- and long-term political impacts in the South.

May 28, 2015 - North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory has become a leading national advocate for expanded offshore drilling — a role that builds on almost three decades of his close personal, economic and political ties to the energy industry.

May 27, 2015 - A Facing South/Institute for Southern Studies analysis finds that disclosure of more than $7 million spent in North Carolina's 2014 state-level elections was slowed due to inconsistencies in state reporting rules — including details about more than $1.6 million that were hidden from the public until after the elections had passed.

May 21, 2015 - Nine states, four of them in the South, hold judicial elections but don't ban judges from seeking campaign cash from people that could appear before them. Following a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling on a Florida case upholding such bans, judicial watchdogs are working to change the law in these outlier states.