virginia

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 - 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 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 - Transgender women — and especially trans women of color — face disproportionate violence, with at least seven murders in the U.S. so far this year. Most of these occurred in the South, where state hate crime laws don't cover gender identity, and where lawmakers are stirring up transphobia with so-called "bathroom bills."

February 24, 2017 - Recently published academic research into the effects of strict voter ID laws offers new details into how they depress turnout by African Americans, Latinos and Asian Americans.

February 22, 2017 - What's being billed as "Resistance Recess" is drawing vocal protesters to public meetings with members of Congress to express their opposition to President Trump and the Republican agenda — and some meetings are going ahead even without lawmakers there.

February 17, 2017 - Georgia will have to do away with its exact-match voter registration verification scheme thanks to a lawsuit filed last year by voting rights advocacy groups. The program resulted in the disenfranchisement of some 42,000 people, disproportionately people of color — but now it's being considered by other states including Florida, Virginia and West Virginia.