Economy
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.
August 27, 2021 -
This Labor Day weekend, people will gather in West Virginia to mark the centennial of the Battle of Blair Mountain, the largest labor uprising in U.S. history. We look at what led to the bloody battle — when 10,000 Black, white, and immigrant coal miners joined together to fight for union rights against coal companies allied with corrupt law enforcement — and how it's being commemorated.
August 20, 2021 -
A new report from the Union of Concerned Scientists finds an "alarming" level of concentration in Arkansas's chicken industry. Facing South spoke with the report's author about the implications of such high levels of concentration for farmers, workers, and consumers, and possible policy solutions.
