Justice
July 3, 2019 -
An unprecedented number of African-American sheriffs were elected across North Carolina last year after promising to end their county's partnership with ICE. Now the Republican-controlled legislature is challenging their authority — and similar policies have been adopted in other Southern states.
June 21, 2019 -
Most of the states still refusing to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act are in the South — and the advocates pressing for expansion there are not giving up.
June 18, 2019 -
The man who gunned down his three Muslim neighbors in Chapel Hill in 2015 has pleaded guilty to their murders, but he couldn't be charged under North Carolina's hate crime law because it doesn't cover felonies. That's just one of many weaknesses in those state laws, which advocates are trying to strengthen.
June 14, 2019 -
Rev. Dr. William Barber, head of the Poor People's Campaign, was recently sentenced to a year of probation for trespassing after refusing orders to leave a protest at the North Carolina legislature. Barber plans to appeal — and to continue pressing for Southern legislatures to be open to their citizens.
June 7, 2019 -
We recently spoke with Amanda Reyes, executive director of Alabama's Yellowhammer Fund that helps women in need access abortions, about how her organization is carrying out its mission after the state passed the most restrictive abortion ban in the country.
June 4, 2019 -
While the U.S. has the highest maternal mortality rate among the developed nations, Southern states have the highest rates in the U.S. — and black women are at dramatically higher risk of complications than white women. A congresswoman from North Carolina is taking action to tackle the problem.
May 24, 2019 -
As the movement for criminal justice reform takes center stage ahead of the 2020 elections, governors and legislators in the South are offering reforms to create a more welcoming reentry process after prison and to restore rights stripped from ex-felons — though progress on that front faces backlash in Florida.