Politics

January 18, 2013 - Much of the impetus for the civil rights movement came from students who led marches, took beatings, sang freedom songs, and went to jail. James Orange organized schools in Birmingham, Ala. and recounted his experiences in a 1981 interview in Southern Exposure, which we share in honor of the magazine's 40th anniversary.

January 18, 2013 - Southern states with weak gun laws are a major source of weapons used to commit crimes in other states -- but some of the region's political leaders say they plan to resist new federal initiatives to curb gun violence.

January 17, 2013 - In 2012, 41 percent of Southern voters chose a Democrat for Congress. But this month, less than a third of U.S. Representatives from the South will be Democrats. Welcome to the world of gerrymandering, Southern-style.

January 17, 2013 - Already the least-unionized state in the nation, North Carolina will become even more hostile to labor if its current political leaders have their way. But despite the anti-union onslaught, public workers scored a key win this week in the state's biggest city.

January 15, 2013 - Corporate polluters are taking aim this year at states with renewable energy laws, starting with an attack on North Carolina's law by a corporate front group supported by Duke Energy, ExxonMobil, and Koch Industries.

January 11, 2013 - The new year promises lots of action on the labor front -- and as always in the South, it comes with heavy baggage from the past.

January 11, 2013 - The Koch brother from another mother overseeing the state budget. A man found guilty of assaulting children running the Department of Public Safety. A science skeptic chosen to protect the environment. What is Gov. Pat McCrory thinking?