Politics

January 25, 2022 - As Republican state lawmakers across the South pass laws restricting how public school teachers can talk about racism with their students, a new national poll of teachers finds that over a third say the surge in such classroom speech bans makes them more likely to leave the profession at the end of this school year.

January 24, 2022 - Drug overdose deaths are climbing nationally and across the South, driven in large part by street drugs contaminated with fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid. Many of these deaths could be prevented by allowing drug users to test their supply for fentanyl's presence, but some states still ban testing strips as paraphernalia.

January 19, 2022 - Since a strict anti-abortion law went into effect in Texas in September, many Texans seeking abortion care have gone to Louisiana, even though that state also has severe abortion restrictions and only three clinics offering abortion services. State Reps. Mary González of Texas and Mandie Landry of Louisiana write about the ongoing fight to defend bodily autonomy in states that are especially hostile to women.

January 13, 2022 - A Republican justice on the North Carolina Supreme Court will hear a lawsuit filed against his father, the leader of the state Senate, over whether a racially gerrymandered legislature can amend the constitution. The decision came after his colleagues decided not to disqualify him, amid a pressure campaign by powerful conservative forces that accused the court of engaging in a coup and threatened justices with impeachment.

January 13, 2022 - As Martin Luther King Jr. Day nears, Democratic lawmakers have renewed their efforts to advance two major voting rights bills that have been blocked by the Senate filibuster. Voting rights advocates are angry over the lack of progress and are demanding immediate action from elected officials.

January 12, 2022 - Over 80 cities, counties, and states will raise their minimum wage this year, thanks to the Fight for $15 movement. But only two of those jurisdictions are in the South. 

January 6, 2022 - A text sent to the Trump White House the day after the 2020 election outlining a strategy to have the Supreme Court decide the outcome of the presidential race reportedly came from the phone of former Energy Secretary and Texas Gov. Rick Perry. Championing the election's overthrow didn't dim Perry's job prospects, though: He resigned his Trump administration post that December and the following month became a director for the general partner of Energy Transfer, the Dallas-based pipeline company led by billionaire Trump backer and longtime Perry associate Kelcy Warren, whose interests Perry profitably championed in Washington.