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INSTITUTE INDEX: Three years into the BP disaster
Saturday, April 20, marks the third anniversary of the deadly BP Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. We take a by-the-numbers look at the still-unfolding disaster...
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What went wrong in West, Texas - and where were the regulators?
Seven different agencies regulate fertilizer plants in Texas, but none of them have authority over how close they are to homes and schools.Image: (West Fertilizer explosion aftermath by Shane...
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UN human rights group calls for investigation of mountaintop removal mining...
The United Nations Working Group on Business and Human Rights recently visited West Virginia communities affected by the controversial mining practice and said allegations of health damage, water...
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More questions in NC redistricting case
The three-judge panel hearing a lawsuit challenging North Carolina's redistricting on the grounds that it dilutes the African-American vote called the attorneys together this week to discuss a few...
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Carrying water for an end to mountaintop removal
Activists hauled polluted water from Appalachia to Washington, D.C. this week to draw attention to the plight of communities affected by mountaintop removal coal mining. The action comes as legislation...
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Southern coal plants top list of worst carbon polluters targeted by Obama...
Bypassing a Congress that's failed to take action to address a worsening problem, President Obama unveiled a plan to curb climate-disrupting pollution from coal-fired power plants -- with big...
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Dark money group spent on House race, then told IRS it didn't
A Florida-based nonprofit called A Better America Now spent money on mailers linking a Texas congressional candidate to "left-wing extremists" and a controversy involving an endangered spider.Image:...
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NC redistricting decision a setback for voting rights
A three-judge panel has ruled that North Carolina's GOP-drawn voting districts should stand despite charges of gerrymandering. What does it mean for voters of color -- and for voters in general?Image:...
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Zombie voter fraud attack proved false, again
South Carolina is the latest state where politicians' tales of dead voters casting ballots have been proven false, but restrictive voting laws are still being passed in response to these myths. Perhaps...
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In effort to end prison rape, questions about a monitor's independence
After a decade of efforts to end prison rape, formal audits of prisons and jails are set to take place. But the first round will be conducted by the Virginia-based American Correctional Association --...
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INSTITUTE INDEX: Will dark money lift Gov. McCrory's sinking popularity?
A private political nonprofit that does not have to publicly disclose its donors is running TV ads across North Carolina touting the governor's agenda amid widespread criticism and slipping poll...
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INSTITUTE INDEX: The strange politics of Southern hunger
A record number of Americans receive food stamps, with residents of Southern states especially dependent on the anti-hunger program. So why are Southern politicians who in turn depend on the political...
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Federal court orders EPA to get moving on coal ash rules
A federal judge has sided with environmental and public health groups that sued to force the Obama administration to issue regulations for the disposal of the toxic waste left over after burning coal...
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Government shutdown delays Texas voter ID challenge
The Department of Justice has asked a federal judge to delay its lawsuit against Texas over its voter ID law until Congress ends the current impasse and provides the department with funding for the new...
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INSTITUTE INDEX: More pain for the poor in government shutdown
With the federal government shutdown approaching its second week, many Americans are suffering the effects -- but they're especially severe for people already living in poverty.Image: The program that...
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What happened after Congress passed a climate change law? Very little
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has failed to set up a body required by law to make recommendations on dealing with rising seas.Image: The Southeast and Gulf coasts are particularly vulnerable...
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On North Carolina's high court, corruption worse than West Virginia?
A redistricting lawsuit has landed in the N.C. Supreme Court, where plaintiffs are seeking the recusal of Justice Paul Newby because his 2012 re-election campaign got much of its support from the same...
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INSTITUTE INDEX: The War on Poverty at 50
Fifty years after President Lyndon Johnson declared the War on Poverty, the United States finds itself in the midst of an ongoing poverty crisis, with its epicenter in the South. Americans say they...
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NC NAACP threatens legal action to speed special congressional election
North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory's decision to put off a special election to fill the open 12th Congressional District seat until November has been criticized for denying representation to some 700,000...
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Demographers: The South, and its political clout, will keep rising
Projections about what the U.S. electoral map will look like in the coming decades show the nation's political gravity will continue to shift to Southern states.Image: Ravi Parikh)" itemprop="image"...
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Protests across North America aim to block 'NAFTA on steroids'
Workers across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico will unite in an Inter-Continental Day of Action this Friday to stop the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a controversial new trade agreement often referred to as...
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Showdowns loom at Southern auto plants
As workers at Nissan's plant in Canton, Miss. fight for the right to an intimidation-free union election, workers at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tenn. prepare to vote in a secret-ballot...
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Voting rights advocates try to put oversight back on the map
In June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states and local governments with a history of discrimination no longer needed to submit new voting laws for federal approval. Now, voting rights advocates...
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Coal ash polluting NC river was once Appalachian mountaintops
Before its coal-fired units were shuttered in 2012, Duke Energy's Dan River plant burned coal from mountaintop removal mines in Appalachia. The reality that the arsenic-laden ash now contaminating a...
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INSTITUTE INDEX: The refugee crisis unfolding on the U.S. border
The Central American children pouring across the U.S. border are fleeing shocking levels of violence at home -- violence that the U.S. government helped enable. The United Nations believes many of the...
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Handouts for corporate tax deserters
Should companies that reincorporate abroad to avoid federal taxes be able to win federal contracts? A group of Democratic members of Congress has drafted legislation to halt the practice.Image:...
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INSTITUTE INDEX: The government program that's equipping police like an...
A federal program to transfer Defense Department gear to local law enforcement has led to police even in small communities looking like an occupying military force. It's now under scrutiny because of...
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Republicans make big advances thanks to Citizens United
Two election cycles after the landmark Supreme Court decision loosening restrictions on corporate money in politics, research is emerging that assesses its impact on our political system -- and it...
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INSTITUTE INDEX: The complex political calculus of immigration reform by...
President Obama reportedly plans to issue an executive order before year's end dramatically overhauling U.S. immigration policy, sparing as many as 5 million people from the threat of deportation. What...
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EPA gives weak protections to communities threatened by toxic coal ash
Environmentalists say a long-awaited federal rule governing disposal of the toxic waste left over after burning coal is "too little and too late" -- and that when the next disaster inevitably occurs...
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New IRS rules on dark money likely won't be ready before 2016 election
The IRS faces a number of hurdles before its new regulations for social welfare nonprofits can be finalized, including potential opposition from Congress.Image: via Flickr.)" itemprop="image"...
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Nationwide rallies planned as fight over Keystone XL reaches pinnacle
The choice is clear, says the climate movement: Promote the oil industry's interests, or demonstrate a commitment to addressing climate chaos by saying "No" to a dirty oil pipeline.Image: via Flickr.)"...
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Governors' Big Oil-assisted lobbying pays off in Obama's Atlantic drilling plan
The Obama administration has proposed opening Atlantic waters to offshore oil and gas drilling after years of being lobbied by a coalition of coastal-state governors that had more than a little...
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South's unique immigration trends shape region's response to deportation relief
Backlash against the South's recent rapid growth in the immigrant population may be contributing to the region's negative response to the president's executive action on immigration. But demographic...
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Koch Industries tops list of water polluters spending big on politics
With a fight underway in Congress over protecting more U.S. waterways from industrial pollution, Environment America has issued a report looking at the millions of dollars spent on politics each year...
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INSTITUTE INDEX: From immigrant deportation relief to enforcement crackdown
After a protracted political fight over immigration policy, Congress recently passed a bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security. The final bill doesn't repeal the president's recent deportation...
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The lone Southern GOP cosponsor (so far) of the Voting Rights Act restoration...
Fifty years after the Voting Rights Act was introduced in Congress with bipartisan support, House lawmakers are trying to restore a key part of the law that the Supreme Court struck down in 2013. Just...
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INSTITUTE INDEX: The fight to restore the Voting Rights Act
Passed after the infamous "Bloody Sunday" attack on civil rights protesters in Alabama in 1965, the Voting Rights Act successfully blocked hundreds of potentially discriminatory election changes --...
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'Profiting From Misery': Private prison corporations driving harsh...
Companies spent millions in lobbying on immigration issues that led to a spike in incarceration levels and, in turn, boosted corporate profits.Image: A new report by Grassroots Leadership, a group...
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INSTITUTE INDEX: Redistricting rulings renew hope for voting rights advocates
The U.S. Supreme Court sent North Carolina's redistricting challenge back to the state's high court this week, asking it to reconsider whether the legislature relied too heavily on race in drawing...
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DRIVE TO DRILL: Energy lobbyists behind governors' crusade for Atlantic oil
Five years after the BP disaster, a group of governors led by North Carolina's Pat McCrory is pushing for drilling in the Atlantic. A Facing South special investigation looks at the group's secretive...
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INSTITUTE INDEX: Will Congress restore the Voting Rights Act?
In the wake of the Supreme Court decision gutting the Voting Rights Act, a push is on for federal legislation to restore key provisions of the landmark civil rights law.Image: VRA for Today.)"...
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Stamp would honor George Henry White, NC congressman deposed by racist voting...
As a federal trial over North Carolina's racially discriminatory new voting law got underway, one of the state's congressmen introduced a bill to honor with a commemorative postage stamp a political...
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What Tennessee paid to lure lawbreaking Volkswagen to Chattanooga
Tennessee taxpayers have financed hundreds of millions of dollars in economic incentives for VW to locate and expand a plant in Chattanooga that manufactures one of the vehicles involved in the...
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As immigrants mark frustrating year for Obama's executive action, cities and...
While much attention has been paid to the fight for immigration reform at the federal level, far less attention has been paid to efforts to create welcoming and inclusive communities for immigrants at...
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INSTITUTE INDEX: As oil prices crash, a beholden Congress scrambles to aid a...
With oil prices at their lowest point in over a decade, House and Senate leaders will meet next week to discuss ways to shore up the industry, which has invested heavily in Congress.Image: via...
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Honoring voting rights heroes, blocking voting rights restoration
This week a bipartisan group of House and Senate leaders bestowed the Congressional Gold Medal on the Alabama protest marchers who helped win passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965. But there's...
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The ongoing fight over seismic testing for Atlantic oil and gas deposits
While offshore drilling in the Atlantic is canceled for now, plans are still underway to conduct seismic blasting for oil and gas reserves. As scientists, environmentalists, local communities and some...
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INSTITUTE INDEX: North Carolina's special election shows the high cost of...
North Carolina will hold a special primary election for Congress on June 7 because of a court ruling that the legislature unconstitutionally gerrymandered districts. The election is costing the state...
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INSTITUTE INDEX: How politicians helped create a climate of hate for LGBT people
After the June 12 massacre at an Orlando nightclub, some politicians refused to even acknowledge the targets were LGBT people. Could it be because of their own animus toward LGBT people, which has...
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