Politics

June 7, 2022 - Daniel Defense is the Georgia-based company that manufactured the AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle used in the massacre that left 19 schoolchildren and two teachers dead in Uvalde, Texas. The private company is a major federal contractor, inking its latest deal to provide arms for the U.S. Marshals Service 10 days after the Uvalde shooting. It's also been a generous contributor to Republican candidates and a pro-gun political action committee.   

June 6, 2022 - With the U.S. Supreme Court expected to soon overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion, we are republishing a 1977 Southern Exposure report delving into the backlash against abortion rights that was already taking shape across the region.

June 3, 2022 - The recent National Rifle Association convention in Houston took place just days after a gunman with an AR-15-style rifle killed 19 students and two teachers at an elementary school in the Texas city of Uvalde. Some politicians scheduled to address the gathering canceled even before the shooting, some canceled afterwards — and some showed up anyway.

May 26, 2022 - Republicans and corporate interests spent large sums on recent appellate court elections in Arkansas and North Carolina. Incumbents fended off the challenges, but the results set the stage for multimillion-dollar judicial elections this fall as the GOP and its business backers prepare to spend unprecedented amounts on crucial court races.

May 24, 2022 - A U.S. House subcommittee recently held a hearing into ongoing efforts to limit discussion in public school classrooms on American history, race, and LGBTQ+ issues — and to punish teachers who broach those topics. Among those who testified was James Whitfield, a high school principal from North Texas who lost his job after sending students an email in response to killings of Black people by police and white vigilantes that acknowledged systemic racism and called education "a necessary conduit to get liberty and justice for all."

May 19, 2022 - The racist and antisemitic conspiracy theory that claims elites are trying to replace the current electorate with immigrants has been tied to numerous domestic U.S. terror attacks, including the recent massacre of Black people inside a grocery store in Buffalo, New York. We look at some of the elected officials who promote the idea — and the corporate contributions flowing to their campaigns.

May 13, 2022 - With almost 20 new natural gas projects slated to open this year alone in Louisiana and Texas, environmental health and justice activists in the region say the Biden administration's recent restoration of transparency provisions in the National Environmental Policy Act, rolled back by its predecessor, will provide a critical shield for them in their battle with the industry.