A hard-hitting TV ad featuring a breast cancer survivor began airing in Louisiana today pressuring Sen. Mary Landrieu to support a public option for health insurance. Breast cancer survivors and their allies are also petitioning public option foe Sen. Kay Hagan of North Carolina. More...
FACING SOUTH - Online Magazine of the Institute for Southern Studies
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Facing South is your trusted weapon against spin, corruption deceit. This July 4th weekend, honor free and fearless media by helping Facing South raise $3,500 to double our investigative reporting and outreach programs! More...
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Daily Blog
Coal ash contamination imperils July 4 festival goers in Tennessee
FRI 7/3 | Newly released test results of samples taken from a waterway near last year's massive ash spill show dangerously high levels of toxic heavy metals. Is it really a good idea to encourage people to play in the water? More...
An open letter to Al Gore on mountaintop removal
FRI 7/3 | A resident of West Virginia's Coal River Valley, Bo Webb urges the former vice president and climate protection advocate to join the fight against the especially destructive form of mining. More...
VOICES: Time for immigration reform is now
FRI 7/3 | The White House and members of Congress must move quickly on enacting a just and humane immigration reform package that will reunite families, reinvigorate the economy, and remove the term "illegal or undocumented immigrants" from the dialogue in this country, reports New America Media. More...
Meet Gov. Sanford's other Family
THURS 7/2 | As the South Carolina governor's marriage fell apart over his Argentinian love affair, he turned for help to The Family -- a right-wing Christian religious cabal founded to oppose FDR's New Deal. Does its theory of the God-chosen leader help explain Sanford's refusal to resign? More...
Smithfield's Tar Heel workers ratify first-ever union contract
THURS 7/2 | Employees at the massive Smithfield pork plant in Tar Heel, N.C. accepted a four-year labor contract, an achievement that's been almost two decades in the making. More...
Study finds workplace immigration raids unlawful
THURS 7/2 | A new report finds that Bush-era immigration enforcement tactics routinely led to systemic abuse of workers' rights and a willful disregard for the rule of law. More...
Investigations & Reports
INVESTIGATION: Do dirty coal plants make us more vulnerable to swine flu?
JUNE 2009 | A new study has found that exposure to arsenic -- a cancer-causing element emitted in large quantities by coal-burning power plants and other industrial facilities -- made mice more likely to experience the most severe effects of swine flu. So why are some lawmakers fighting regulations that would better protect Americans from arsenic pollution? More...
Investigation: Revelations about Three Mile Island disaster raise doubts over nuclear plant safety
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...
Investigation: Are waste-coal power plants making us sick?
MARCH 2009 | The federal agency charged with protecting the public from pollution is accused of suppressing research suggesting a possible link between waste-coal-burning power plants and blood cancer. More...
Investigation: Southern states receive $15 billion in bailout money passed through AIG
MARCH 2009 | Seven Southern states received at least $100 million each thanks to taxpayer bailout money passed through insurance giant AIG. More...
Investigation: Business bankrolls study claiming job losses from Employee Free Choice Act
MARCH 2009 | A study claiming a labor bill before Congress would destroy 600,000 jobs is being seized on by business groups and the media. But few have mentioned the corporate interests backing the report -- and no one is looking at the shaky research itself. More...
Investigation: The oil money behind the anti-stimulus fight
FEBRUARY 2009 - An organization financed by the largest private oil and gas corporation in the country played a key role in the fight against the Congressional timulus plan. Why? More...
Report: Southern unions hold steady amidst economic turmoil
JANUARY 2009 | The percentage of Southern workers belonging to unions remained unchanged in 2008. Florida and North Carolina show biggest gains, Georgia and Mississippi largest losses. More...
Investigation: Toxic brew in Tennessee
DECEMBER 2008 | The Tennessee Valley Authority refused to say what was in the 1.1 billion gallons of coal ash that spilled into East Tennessee last December. Facing South looks at the company's own records and finds than 14 million pounds of health-damaging chemicals. More...
More Recent Coverage
More than 9 million people in the U.S. use TRICARE, a popular government-backed health plan for military families -- and nearly half of them live in Southern states where Congressional leaders vocally oppose government involvement in health care. More...
The second Free Minds Free People conference took place in Houston last weekend, and Melissa M. Forbis reports that the event's Gulf Coast location gave it special urgency. More...
The case of the Jena Six in Louisiana closed quietly on Friday as the remaining defendants accepted a plea deal. The case highlighted the miscarriages of justice that black youth face across the country. More...
Finally, the much-expected meeting on immigration reform between President Barack Obama and lawmakers from both parties took place Thursday. Participating legislators said the president promised to put his energy into moving forward right away. The response from some reform advocates was "Game On! More...
Two Georgia banks failed Friday, with 14 failing across the state since last August. Bad real estate lending is a major culprit, reports Jake Bernstein of ProPublica. More...
North Carolina is the state with the most sites -- a dozen -- where a failure like the recent one in Tennessee could kill significant numbers of people. Meanwhile, North Carolina-based Duke Energy has the most facilities on the list with 10. More...
Southern lawmakers demonstrated considerable hostility to the Waxman-Markey climate act in Friday's vote approving the measure. Is that simply a reflection of the conservative region's partisan bent, or is something else going on here? More...
