Archive - South
The Scandal That Never Happened
The all-white judges of Louisiana’s 5th Circuit Court of Appeal systematically ignored thousands of claims from prisoners, most of them Black, who said they had been wrongly convicted. Efforts to expose the decadelong injustice went unheard.
The Supreme Court Will Decide if Domestic Abuse Orders Can Bar People From Having Guns. Lives Could Be at Stake.
The court’s ruling on United States v. Rahimi could clarify an earlier decision on guns. Or it could take away one of the best options to protect domestic violence victims. In states like Tennessee, the consequences could be deadly.
Secrecy Shields Powerful Adults in Our Juvenile Justice Systems. Kids Showed Me What’s Really Happening.
The three years I spent working on “The Kids of Rutherford County” podcast taught me one thing: Tennessee’s punitive policies aren’t leaving children in the legal system better off.
The Mississippi Supreme Court Moved to Ensure Poor Criminal Defendants Would Always Have a Lawyer. It’s Not Working.
Months after the state’s highest court directed judges to ensure that all criminal defendants have legal representation while awaiting indictment, one justice has acknowledged that the rule isn’t being widely followed.
Democratic Rep. Clyburn’s Role in Redrawn Congressional Maps Becomes Key in Supreme Court Redistricting Case
The court will hear a case about whether South Carolina Republicans illegally took race into account when they created the current voting districts.
A Racist Harvard Scientist Commissioned Photos of Enslaved People. One Possible Descendant Wants to Reclaim Their Story.
The images are among the oldest known photographs of enslaved people in America. Tamara Lanier’s fight to gain control of them shows there is no clear system in place to repatriate remains of captive Africans or objects associated with them.
A Lab Test That Experts Liken to a Witch Trial Is Helping Send Women to Prison for Murder
The “lung float” test claims to help determine if a baby was born alive or dead, but many medical examiners say it’s too unreliable. Yet the test is still being used to bring murder charges — and get convictions.
Louisiana Supreme Court Ruling Overturns Reform Law Intended to Fix “Three-Strikes” Sentences
The ruling was a victory for state attorney general, Jeff Landry, but defense attorneys say it could also help their clients’ requests for reduced sentences.
Virginia Law Allows the Papers of University Presidents to Stay Secret, Limiting Public Oversight
A provision in state law exempts college presidents’ “working papers and correspondence” from disclosure even after they step down — as we found out when we asked about one ex-president’s role in campus expansions that uprooted a Black neighborhood.
A Black Community in West Virginia Sues the EPA to Spur Action on Toxic Air Pollution
Institute, one of two majority-Black communities in the state, was left out of a regulatory effort earlier this year to tighten limits on cancer-causing chemicals.
Mississippi Courts Won’t Say How They Provide Lawyers for Poor Clients
Six years ago, the Mississippi Supreme Court told judges around the state to file plans showing how they meet their obligations to poor defendants. This summer, amid increased scrutiny of public defense in the state, the first one was filed.
“Where Is There to Go?” He Needs Gender-Affirming Surgery, but His State Is Fighting to Deny Coverage.
A North Carolina policy that denies state employees coverage for gender-affirming care has been on hold pending appeal. For one transgender worker still awaiting surgery, the anxiety is “like somebody has got their hands around my neck.”
Virginia’s Public Universities Have a Long History of Displacing Black Residents
Schools including Old Dominion and the flagship University of Virginia have expanded by dislodging Black families, sometimes by the threat or use of eminent domain.
“I Want the Anger to Be Your Anger”: Bringing a ProPublica Investigation From Page to Screen
For his new documentary, “Silver Dollar Road,” Oscar-nominated director Raoul Peck spent years building on ProPublica’s coverage of how Black families are dispossessed of their land. “These were people I knew, these were situations that I knew.”
He Fled a Traffic Stop in Louisiana. Now He’s in Prison for Life.
After 12 years behind bars, Markus Lanieux thought he had a deal for his release. Then Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry filed a legal challenge that could derail hope for those imprisoned under the state's "three strikes" sentencing rules.
Why the Destruction of a Black Neighborhood Matters to Me — and Should Matter to Everyone
As a teenager, I competed in track meets at Christopher Newport University. As a reporter, I unearthed the painful history behind the campus’s location.
Erasing the “Black Spot”: How a Virginia College Expanded by Uprooting a Black Neighborhood
Sixty-plus years ago, the white leaders of Newport News, Virginia, seized the core of a thriving Black community to build a college. The school has been gobbling up the remaining houses ever since.
Wealthy Family Wants to Reopen Major Industrial Polluter in Alabama Despite Mounting Debts and Proposed Regulation
A new EPA proposal could soon limit the toxic emissions that pollute Birmingham’s historically Black north side. It could also complicate plans to reopen a shuttered plant owned by the family of West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice.
He Needed a Liver Transplant. But Did the Risks Outweigh the Reward?
A transplant program in Memphis took pride in replacing the livers of patients turned away by other hospitals. One patient’s liver transplant illustrates the promise and peril of operating on people with serious risk factors.
An Experiment to Fight Pandemic-Era Learning Loss Launches in Richmond
After intense opposition and skepticism, two elementary schools opened 20 days early to help students make up for what they missed during the time of remote learning. The first question: Would kids show up in the middle of summer for extra schooling?
