U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee used this week's Republican radio address to belittle renewable power and call for more nuclear plants à la France -- the opening salvo in the coming fight over energy subsidies. More...

Unions spent millions of dollars to help elect Southern Democrats like Sen. Kay Hagan of North Carolina. But Jordan Green finds labor is still having trouble getting them to support a union-friendly agenda, especially the Employee Free Choice Act. More...

Facing South writers Desiree Evans and Sue Sturgis weigh in on Obama's record on two critical issues for the South: energy policy and Gulf Coast recovery. More...

What does today's right-wing secessionist movement have in common with 1934's planned fascist coup against FDR? John Sugg with the Georgia Online News Service explores the connection. More...

The Supreme Court yesterday heard the most important challenge to the Voting Rights Act since its passage in 1965. Will the case involving a small Texas utility district mean the end of this landmark piece of civil rights legislation? More...

From Mexico to the U.S. South, industrial hog farms are associated with serious environmental health problems. So why do we keep subsidizing them? More...

The long-term success of Obama's presidency might depend on his administration's actions on the controversial corruption conviction of the former Alabama governor, says Roger Shuler. More...

The current outbreak of swine flu originated in a Mexican community where a Smithfield Farms subsidiary operates a massive hog-raising operation. More...

Hear one of the authors of a report critiquing the official account of the 1979 meltdown at the Pa. nuclear plant -- which we reported on earlier this month in our special investigation into the disaster -- interviewed on a San Francisco talk radio show. More...

A state task force is holding a public hearing today on permitting offshore drilling for oil and gas. But what about offshore wind power? More...

A spokesperson for the North Carolina company recently called a sustainable energy advocate a "lying son of a bitch." Will CEO Jim Rogers keep his composure when he goes up against leading NASA climate scientist Jim Hansen on "60 Minutes" this Sunday? More...

Virginia-based D & P Creative Strategies trades on its image as a liberal, Democratic lobbying firm with a mission to "elevate the communities we come from." Then why is it taking money from Wal-Mart to fight a key labor bill supported by unions and Democrats? More...

For poor Latinos life in the South is like living in a "war zone" as they face growing levels of widespread hostility, discrimination and exploitation in communities and workplaces across the region. More...

Douglas A. Blackmon's Slavery by Another Name won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction Monday, but the journey to writing this book began in 2001. More...

After a rush of optimism, labor's hopes for passing the Employee Free Choice Act are fading. Major Democratic lobby firms and dozens of former Democratic aides have led the fight on businesses' behalf to defeat the bill. More...

Southern leaders have revived talk of "state sovereignty," with Governor Rick Perry even evoking Civil War-era rhetoric about Texas having the right to secede from the United States. Nathan Newman of the Progressive States Network says it's time to move on. More...

The Florida press is rallying against a last-minute push by state Republicans to legislate a massive re-write of the election code and restrict voting. And GOP Gov. Charlie Crist -- looking to a future Senate run -- isn't happy. More...

A new report from the federal government's bank bailout watchdog warns that the complicated program lacks adequate safeguards against fraud. Phil Mattera reports. More...

Maria Gunnoe of West Virginia is among the recipients of this year's Goldman Environmental Prize, which honors grassroots leaders working for a more sustainable future. More...

The 2010 Census will determine who gets new Congressional seats and billions in federal dollars. But tight budgets and major social dislocations have states worried they won't be able to get an accurate count. More...

A landmark civil suit began in federal court this week to consider claims by New Orleans-area property owners that the Army Corps of Engineers failed to properly maintain the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet -- a case that could result in settlements for hundreds of thousands of Katrina victims. More...

While immigrant rights advocates welcome the Obama administration's promise of comprehensive immigration reform, state and local authorities are stepping up efforts to help Immigration and Customs Enforcement identify, arrest and deport undocumented immigrants. More...

After limiting debate to six minutes, Florida Republicans pushed an 81-page bill proposing a host of new voting restrictions out of a House committee last week. A similar bill is coming to the Senate floor -- and with big majorities in both chambers, will the GOP succeed in changing Florida elections? More...

Environmental activists are increasingly engaging in Gandhian-style nonviolent resistance to dirty power, with a coalition of public-interest groups engaging in civil disobedience Monday outside Duke Energy's North Carolina headquarters to protest a massive new coal-fired power plant and others launching a hunger strike for federal climate legislation. More...

A judge in Brownsville, Texas has granted the federal government's request to take over ancestral Lipan Apache land along the U.S.-Mexico border. More...

A by-the-numbers look at corporate tax-dodging. More...

The U.S. boycott of an international conference on racism is a major setback for efforts to overcome racial inequality both domestically and around the world. More...

In contrast to the drumbeat of anti-immigrant attacks in past legislative sessions, this year has seen states across the country proposing in-state college tuition rates for undocumented students. More...

A federal judge rejects the utility's argument that it's a "manifest injustice" to require it to immediately control pollution from coal-fired power plants affecting North Carolina's air, while environmentalists urge President Obama to use upcoming board appointments to transform TVA into a clean energy leader. More...

The state budget shortfall has hit food services to seniors across Georgia, with programs that feed the elderly cut by more than 30 percent in fiscal year 2009. More...

With Southern governors facing accusations of using federal stimulus money to score political points, community advocates in Mississippi are calling on Gov. Haley Barbour to stop playing partisan politics and to start helping the state's struggling residents. More...

North Carolina's ethnic media charted the state's population boom, partly fueled by immigration. Now, they're playing a watchdog role as the state clamps down on undocumented immigrants. More...

As people make that last-minute dash to file their taxes, economic justice advocates around the country are calling on federal and state leaders to restore fairness to the tax code through more progressive tax policies. More...

A spokesperson for the faculty group that sued over the Medical Branch firings called the lawsuit part of a "popular movement" and said the outcome represented "a victory for the people of Galveston." More...

Georgia lawmakers make April Confederate Heritage and History Month, leading John Sugg of the Georgia Online News Service to ponder why they want to honor a cause so un-American. More...

The investment banking giant that has received billions in taxpayer bailout money has issued a cease-and-desist letter to the person behind goldmansachs666.com. More...

Renewable energy projects are booming in one Florida city after leaders borrowed a simple policy innovation from Europe. Could the feed-in tariff cure America's dirty energy addiction? More...

As scandals plague FEMA's Gulf Coast recovery bureaucracy, the Obama administration announces plans to shut down FEMA's New Orleans-based Gulf Coast Recovery Office. More...

Ivor van Heerden, who led the state's independent investigation into Hurricane Katrina levee failures, says he was not given a reason for the school's decision. More...

Believe it or not, it's a Democratic Senator from one of the poorest states in the nation. More...

GOP Senators Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson are railing against Obama's proposed military budget -- mostly because it freezes billions in spending for fighter jets made in their home state of Georgia. More...

Facing South editor and Institute for Southern Studies director Chris Kromm joins Amy Goodman as she broadcasts her award-winning program Democracy Now! from Raleigh, North Carolina. More...

As the industry demands billions more dollars from customers and taxpayers, evidence builds showing what a poor investment nuclear power really is. More...

As the battle over the Employee Free Choice Act intensifies, groups representing African-American and Asian hotel owners announced their opposition to the bill this week -- using a disputed study warning of big job losses. More...

Louisiana residents impacted by repeated disasters stand to be the losers in an ongoing stalemate between the state and federal government. Dr. Monteic Sizer says. More...

When Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast more than three years ago, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama were hit the hardest by the storm. Guest blogger Stephen Stetson explains why Alabamians envy Mississippi and Louisiana's recovery efforts. More...

For the U.S. Census Bureau, getting everyone counted in New Orleans is far more difficult than in any other city. To do the job, they are calling for the help of the ethnic media. More...

Governors from four southern states and Alaska have said they'll refuse at least some of the $787 billion stimulus package Congress hopes will rescue the flagging economy. More...

Today, with one in five Georgians without health insurance, community health centers that provide services at reduced rates are seeing a surge in the number of patients. More...

FRI 4/3 | If you're in New Orleans this weekend, it's not too late to check out Patois, a film festival exploring social-justice issues both in Louisiana and across the nation and globe. More...

Mychal Bell, one of the young men whose case brought national attention to racial tensions in a small Louisiana town more than two years ago, talks about surviving Jena Six. More...

The opponents of workers having a real "choice" to unionize are finally letting up on the lie they have been trying to sell about unions trying to take away a worker's right to vote. More...

Today's new unemployment figures bode ill for the South, where states have seen some of the biggest gains in joblessness -- also disproving the claim that unions are at fault for rising unemployment. More...

This week Obama named Janet Woodka the new Gulf Coast rebuilding coordinator. But Woodka's insider role raises questions about the position, as well as her office's reception to anti-poverty advocates. More...

APRIL 2009 | Thirty years ago Randall and Joy Thompson were hired to monitor radiation releases after the Three Mile Island reactor meltdown. What they saw didn't match what officials say happened -- but, fearing for their lives, they gave up trying to tell their story. Now, Facing South shares their account -- and their warning about the dangers of a nuclear revival. More...

Two Louisiana lawmakers are back in the spotlight: Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal plans to reject even more federal stimulus funds, and Rep. Joseph Cao may break ranks with the Republican Party on Obama's budget. More...

Four decades after the Vietnam War, the U.S. Border Patrol intends to employ a chemical herbicide in order to eradicate Carrizo cane on the U.S.-Mexico border. More...