Politics

March 31, 2017 - The main contractor for four nuclear reactors under construction in Georgia and South Carolina declared itself broke this week due to massive cost overruns on the projects. Ratepayers have already forked over billions of dollars for the long-delayed reactors, but their future is now uncertain.

March 31, 2017 - Immigrant-welcoming local governments in the South are navigating a challenging political terrain as states in the region adopt bans on so-called "sanctuary" policies and as the federal government also moves to crack down on sanctuary communities. 

March 29, 2017 - Following Congress's failure to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal announced he was exploring Medicaid expansion under the law while Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe renewed his expansion quest. They join North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, who announced earlier this month that he'd seek to join the four other Southern states that have already expanded the program.

March 24, 2017 - Florida has the harshest felon disenfranchisement law in the country, but it's now being challenged by a ballot initiative campaign led by a former felon as well as by a class-action lawsuit.

March 24, 2017 - Though death sentences and executions have decreased nationally in recent years, the South continues to execute people at a disproportionate rate — but the movement to end the death penalty is picking up momentum there.

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.