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July 10, 2014 - The number of full-time reporters covering state politics for newspapers has declined significantly over the past decade, even as more critical policy decisions are falling to the states. Southern states have an especially dramatic imbalance between the number of reporters and the residents they serve.

July 8, 2014 - The Virginia Supreme Court has ordered the American Tradition Institute to pay $250 to the University of Virginia and former professor Michael Mann for filing a lawsuit that sought his emails and other documents on the grounds that his climate research constituted academic fraud -- a charge repeatedly found to be without merit.

July 8, 2014 - A new Census Bureau report finds a dramatic surge in the past decade in the number of Americans living in communities with concentrated poverty, with the greatest increase in North Carolina. Other states that experienced big jumps include Tennessee, Arkansas, Georgia and South Carolina.

July 7, 2014 - Defenders of a controversial new North Carolina election law that's being challenged by civil rights groups cite statewide vote totals to argue against any racially discriminatory suppressive effect -- but local data tell a more complicated story.

July 7, 2014 - "Labor rights are civil rights" was the message of a June 27 pro-union rally attended by 400 students, activists, ministers and workers at the Nissan plant in Canton -- the culmination of the Mississippi Freedom Summer 50th Anniversary Conference in nearby Jackson.

July 3, 2014 - Political psychologists distinguish between "blind patriotism" that's intolerant and unquestioning and "constructive patriotism," which welcomes questioning with the hope of creating positive change. On this most patriotic of holidays, we share some of our favorite writings and songs in the spirit of the latter, and we invite you to do the same.

July 3, 2014 - Most Southern states have opted not to expand the Medicaid health care program for the poor and disabled under the Affordable Care Act. A new report breaks down exactly what that means in terms of the impact on Southerners' health and quality of life.