VOICES: A prayer for Mother Emanuel, and for all of us
By John Cooper
June 17, 2020 - This week marks five years since the racist massacre of black worshippers at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina. The grim anniversary finds America in turmoil over police violence and a global pandemic that also reveals our racial divisions. While we tend to think our nation's story is always getting better, recent events make that hope hard to sustain, writes South Carolina native John Cooper.
Southern poverty gets the United Nations' attention
By Junior Walters
July 11, 2018 - The organization's special rapporteur on extreme poverty presented a report last month documenting his disturbing findings in states including Alabama, Georgia and West Virginia.
SOUTH RISING: Region's political clout growing under Trump
By Chris Kromm
April 21, 2017 - After helping fuel the nation's rightward shift in last year's elections, Southern conservatives find themselves in key positions of influence in both the executive and legislative branches in Washington.
With key labor drives looming, South sees slight dip in union membership
February 9, 2017 - After a slight increase in 2015, the number of Southern workers in unions dipped last year. But the election of President Trump has created new urgency for labor to organize, including two high-profile campaigns this spring in Mississippi and South Carolina.
States block public access to police camera footage
By Rossie Izlar
July 15, 2016 - This week North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory signed a bill that blocks public access to footage from body cameras worn by police. The state joins others across the South that have taken similar action.
The legislative backlash against LGBT equality across the South
By Sue Sturgis
May 13, 2016 - Announcing the U.S. Justice Department would sue North Carolina over its anti-transgender "bathroom bill," Attorney General Loretta Lynch noted there's historically been backlash to equality gains. What's been happening in Southern legislatures since the Supreme Court struck down marriage discrimination last year bears that out.
Nuclear nonproliferation deals and environmental injustice in the South
April 8, 2016 - The U.S. announced a deal last week to move weapons-grade plutonium from Japan and ship it to the Savannah River Site on the South Carolina-Georgia border, where there are longstanding concerns about the environmental health risks that low-income and African-American communities disproportionately bear.
Where do the presidential candidates stand on Atlantic oil and gas drilling?
February 18, 2016 - The first presidential primaries in the South get underway this week in South Carolina, a state embroiled in the controversy over expanding offshore oil and gas drilling to the Atlantic. While most of the Republicans support expanded drilling, the Democrats don't want to see it come to the East Coast.
INSTITUTE INDEX: The post-recession shift to low-wage jobs leaves Southern workers struggling
By Allie Yee
February 4, 2016 - Although the South has added millions of jobs in recent years, the region's low-road approach to economic development has meant many of them are low-paying jobs that leave families fighting to get by.
Nikki Haley's troubled economic record in South Carolina
January 12, 2016 - As a young, popular governor and the child of immigrants, it's easy to see why the GOP tapped Gov. Haley to rebut President Obama's final State of the Union address. But back home she's under mounting criticism for an economic development approach that gives millions in incentives to companies for low-paying jobs that trap families in poverty.