west virginia

February 22, 2013 - North Carolina banned payday lending in 2001 over concern about usurious interest rates. But now some lawmakers want to bring back the industry, which new research finds often leads to snowballing financial trouble for desperate consumers.

February 14, 2013 - Once known as the "most aggressively conservative" federal appeals court and the "black hole of capital litigation," the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond has shifted to the center, thanks to six appointments by President Obama.

January 18, 2013 - Southern states with weak gun laws are a major source of weapons used to commit crimes in other states -- but some of the region's political leaders say they plan to resist new federal initiatives to curb gun violence.

January 15, 2013 - Corporate polluters are taking aim this year at states with renewable energy laws, starting with an attack on North Carolina's law by a corporate front group supported by Duke Energy, ExxonMobil, and Koch Industries.

December 21, 2012 - Dec. 22 marks four years since a coal ash impoundment collapsed at a TVA power plant in Tennessee, inundating a community and two rivers. As EPA drags its feet over issuing federal coal ash rules, politicians backed by industry interests are maneuvering to block the agency's ability to protect people and the environment -- even though their states have been adversely affected by poor regulation.

December 14, 2012 - The economic downturn is pushing more U.S. children into poverty, and it's no longer a problem limited mostly to Southern states.

November 7, 2012 - Republicans won control of the Arkansas Senate and House for the first time since Reconstruction, while strengthening control in many other Southern statehouses. The "Solid South" is increasingly looking solid red.