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August 14, 2008 - Murder and attempted-murder charges against seven New Orleans police officers-accused of shooting unarmed civilians on the Danziger Bridge in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina-were tossed out by a judge who concluded that a prosecutor violated grand jury secrecy, the Times-Picayune reports

August 14, 2008 - Fresh from his election as chair of the Southern Governors Association, Virginia Gov.

August 13, 2008 - Rural America is increasingly dependent on military dollars to keep its economy afloat, according to a new report by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City (pdf). Whether that's a good or bad thing depends on how you look at it.

August 13, 2008 - A note to Facing South readers: this week, we made our 2,500th post to the blog since launching in spring 2005.

August 12, 2008 - The Greensboro (N.C.) News & Record reports that Wal-Mart's federal political action committee, the retailer's political arm, has been expanding its donations to candidates seeking North Carolina state office, including $54,000 to state-level candidates during the current election

August 12, 2008 - The shrimping industry in the Gulf Coast continues to suffer

August 12, 2008 - The Nuclear Energy Institute, a trade group for the U.S. nuclear industry, is in the process of selecting at least two rural U.S. communities to serve as potential dump sites for highly radioactive spent fuel from the nation's nuclear power plants.