Economy
November 16, 2021 -
The 2020 census undercounted the overall U.S. population by just 0.5%, but much bigger undercounts in Southern states will cost them millions of dollars in federal health care funding for low-income communities, according to a new report from the Urban Institute.
October 28, 2021 -
Effective climate action should center the priorities of those first and most impacted, write Judy Anne Asman of the Just Transition Alliance and Jonathan Alingu of Central Florida Jobs With Justice. Their groups are leading a delegation of frontline workers and community organizers to participate inside and outside the upcoming 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland.
October 12, 2021 -
The Southern Economic Advancement Project is helping local governments plan how to spend funds they're getting from the COVID-19 economic stimulus bill in a way that promotes equity in disaster recovery. It's also tracking innovative efforts to stretch ARP funds to their full potential in cities including New Orleans; Durham, North Carolina; and Mobile, Alabama.
September 24, 2021 -
Earlier this year, Congress approved expanding the child tax credit and paying it out in advance as part of the American Rescue Plan economic stimulus bill. As Democrats discuss extending the credit, advocates argue that making it permanent would slash child poverty rates, which are especially high across the South.
September 21, 2021 -
Chapel Hill has a reputation as a liberal town, but it's always been a racially unjust society — in large part because of the actions of the University of North Carolina, the nation's oldest public university. The same school that once denied clean water to its Black workers and their families now dumps toxic coal plant pollution on them.
September 10, 2021 -
Hurricane Ida's devastation of Louisiana's electric grid and the deadly power outages that resulted show the risk that highly centralized generation systems present in an era of increasingly destructive climate change-driven weather events. Yet Entergy — a Fortune 500 company that's the main power provider for the hard-hit southeastern part of the state, including New Orleans — has fought plans to move toward cleaner community-based generation. Will Ida mark a turning point?
September 1, 2021 -
The same North Carolina law firm that successfully took on Smithfield Foods' hog farm pollution is now representing a group of plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit against Tennessee-based hospital company HCA, owner of Asheville's Mission Health System. The suit — which claims the company has monopolized the regional health care market in a way that's hurting patients and caregivers — comes amid heightened scrutiny of health care monopolies.
