June 21, 2019 -
Emails from the Texas Department of Public Safety show that Gov. Greg Abbott requested a purge of more than 90,000 eligible citizens from the voting rolls. It fits with Abbott's pattern of embracing discriminatory voting policies.
June 21, 2019 -
This month Michael Bloomberg announced the Beyond Carbon campaign, which aims to permanently shift the U.S. away from coal and natural gas and toward renewable energy. The initiative dovetails with efforts in Southern states to move toward more sustainable energy options and comes as the Trump administration rolls back rules on coal plant pollution.
June 18, 2019 -
The man who gunned down his three Muslim neighbors in Chapel Hill in 2015 has pleaded guilty to their murders, but he couldn't be charged under North Carolina's hate crime law because it doesn't cover felonies. That's just one of many weaknesses in those state laws, which advocates are trying to strengthen.
June 14, 2019 -
Rev. Dr. William Barber, head of the Poor People's Campaign, was recently sentenced to a year of probation for trespassing after refusing orders to leave a protest at the North Carolina legislature. Barber plans to appeal — and to continue pressing for Southern legislatures to be open to their citizens.
June 12, 2019 -
New evidence from the files of a dead North Carolina gerrymandering expert reveals the Trump administration pushed for the addition of a citizenship question to the 2020 census to benefit the Republican Party. But the question could lead to an undercount, which would diminish the South's electoral power and cheat it of its fair share of federal funds.
June 7, 2019 -
We recently spoke with Amanda Reyes, executive director of Alabama's Yellowhammer Fund that helps women in need access abortions, about how her organization is carrying out its mission after the state passed the most restrictive abortion ban in the country.
June 6, 2019 -
North Carolina's courts have been in the crosshairs of the Republican-controlled legislature for years, with bills introduced to gerrymander judges, pack the bench, and manipulate judicial elections. But last week, lawmakers quickly restored a controversial cut to the chief justice's budget, suggesting the era of GOP judicial power grabs may be over.