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A Georgia Election Official’s Months-Long Push to Make It Easier to Challenge the 2024 Results

Julie Adams quickly ascended from a little-known conservative activist to a surprise appointee on the Fulton County board of elections. She has used her new perch to carry out the efforts of players seeking to tilt the election in Trump’s favor.

Reporting From the South

ProPublica’s seven-person reporting unit, based in Atlanta, covers North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee. The region plays a pivotal role in national issues including political representation, racial equity and environmental justice.

An 11-Year-Old Denied Making a Threat and Was Allowed to Return to School. Tennessee Police Arrested Him Anyway.

A state law makes threats of mass violence at school a felony, even if they’re not credible. Judges and school officials say the law unnecessarily traumatizes kids.

The New Immigration

When a Florida Farmer-Legislator Turned Against Immigration, the Consequences Were Severe. But Not for Him.

For a lawmaker’s political career and his farm, a federal visa program was a lifeline. For a young father trying to meet his son’s mounting medical needs, that same lifeline failed him.

Charleston Unveils Historical Marker at the Site of Firm That Held the Largest Known U.S. Slave Trade

As a graduate student at the College of Charleston, Lauren Davila found an ad for the auction of 600 enslaved people. A ProPublica story last year revealed her discovery and unearthed the identity of the family responsible for the sale.

Local Reporting Network Partners

ProPublica is supporting local and regional newsrooms as they work on important investigative projects affecting their communities. Some of our past and present partners in the region:

MLK50: Justice Through Journalism
Memphis, Tennessee
Mountain State Spotlight
West Virginia
Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal
Tupelo, Mississippi
Sun Herald
Biloxi, Mississippi
AL.com
Birmingham, Alabama
The Palm Beach Post
Palm Beach, Florida
Miami Herald
Miami, Florida
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Richmond, Virginia

Un inmigrante murió construyendo un barco para el gobierno de EE. UU. Su familia no recibió nada.

Elmer De León fue uno de muchos inmigrantes contratados por astilleros estadounidenses para cubrir la urgente necesidad de mano de obra calificada. Estos trabajadores hacen las mismas tareas y corren los mismos riesgos que sus contrapartes estadounidenses, pero no cuentan con apoyo cuando las cosas salen mal.

An Immigrant Died Building a Ship for the U.S. Government. His Family Got Nothing.

Elmer Pérez was one of many immigrants hired by U.S. shipbuilders to fill the urgent need for skilled labor. These workers do the same jobs and take the same risks as their American counterparts, but are left on their own when things go wrong.

Georgia Judge Rules Election Officials Must Count All Votes and Certify Results

The judge ruled that “Georgia voters would be silenced” if county election board members were “free to play investigator, prosecutor, jury, and judge” and refuse to certify election results.

Election Skeptics Are Running Some County Election Boards in Georgia. A New Rule Could Allow Them to Exclude Decisive Votes.

An examination of a new election rule in Georgia suggests that local officials in just a handful of rural counties could exclude enough votes to affect the outcome of the 2024 presidential race.

A Law Was Meant to Target Teen Violence. Instead, 17-Year-Olds Are Being Charged as Adults for Lesser Offenses.

Louisiana’s criminal justice system now treats all 17-year-olds as adults. Lawmakers lowered the age from 18 to curb teen violence, but nearly 70% of the 17-year-olds arrested in the state’s three largest parishes aren’t accused of violent crimes.

Did a Georgia Hospital Break Federal Law When It Failed to Save Amber Thurman? A Senate Committee Chair Wants Answers.

Thurman died after waiting 20 hours for emergency care under the state’s abortion ban. Sen. Ron Wyden demanded records his committee could review to determine whether the hospital violated the law. “It’s not even a question,” one expert said.

Afraid to Seek Care Amid Georgia’s Abortion Ban, She Stayed at Home and Died

Candi Miller’s family said she didn't visit a doctor “due to the current legislation on pregnancies and abortions.” Maternal health experts deemed her death preventable and blamed Georgia’s abortion ban.

Abortion Bans Have Delayed Emergency Medical Care. In Georgia, Experts Say This Mother’s Death Was Preventable.

At least two women in Georgia died after they couldn’t access legal abortions and timely medical care in their state, ProPublica has found. This is one of their stories.

Georgia’s Top GOP Lawmaker Seeks Tougher Action Against Students Who Make Threats. But It May Not Make Schools Safer.

To deter violence, research suggests the best strategy is not harsh punishment for threats but a different tactic, one based on decades of interviews with mass shooters, political assassins and people who survived attacks: threat assessments.

Medical Examiner, Whose Testimony Helped Convict a Man in 2004 of Killing His Baby, Now Says He Was Wrong

The former Nashville medical examiner has recanted his testimony that Russell Maze’s son had died of shaken baby syndrome, joining the DA’s office in now saying a crime never occurred. Yet Maze could still spend the rest of his life in prison.

The Accelerationists’ App: How Telegram Became the “Center of Gravity” for a New Breed of Domestic Terrorists

From attempting to incite racially motivated violence to encouraging attacks on critical infrastructure, the alleged crimes planned and advertised by extremists on Telegram go far beyond the charges facing CEO Pavel Durov.

Officials Voted Down a Controversial Georgia Election Rule, Saying It Violated the Law. Then a Similar Version Passed.

The rule, which was pushed by nationally prominent election deniers, only changed in minor ways between being voted down in May and approved in August. Those adjustments made it even less compliant with existing law, experts say.

A 10-Year-Old Pointed a Finger Gun. The Principal Kicked Him Out of His Tennessee School for a Year.

A 2023 state law requires a yearlong expulsion for any student who threatens mass violence on school property. But some students have been kicked out even when school officials determined that the threat was not credible.

Cookie & Zo’e: A Georgia Family Wrestles With School Choice 60 Years After the Start of Desegregation

In a new ProPublica short documentary, Samaria “Cookie” Mitcham Bailey and her great-granddaughter Zo’e Johnson reflect on their experiences in a town where schools are still largely segregated.

In a Town Full of Segregation Academies, One Black Family Grapples With the Best School Choice for Their Daughter

Schools in Macon, Georgia, are still largely segregated. Zo’e Johnson’s family is torn over whether they can afford for her to stay at her mostly white private school — and whether the cost makes sense.

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    An Idaho Baby’s Unexplained Death Got No Autopsy and a Scant Coroner’s Investigation. State Law Says That’s Fine.

    With a lack of regulation for coroners, a child who dies unexpectedly or outside of a doctor’s care in Idaho is less likely to be autopsied than anywhere else in the United States.

    Life of the Mother

    A Pregnant Teenager Died After Trying to Get Care in Three Visits to Texas Emergency Rooms

    It took three ER visits and 20 hours before a hospital admitted Nevaeh Crain, 18, as her condition worsened. Doctors insisted on two ultrasounds to confirm “fetal demise.” She’s one of at least two Texas women who died under the state’s abortion ban.

    A Closer Look

    Trump Built a National Debt So Big That It’ll Weigh Down the Economy for Years

    The “King of Debt” promised to reduce the national debt — then his tax cuts made it surge. Add in the pandemic, and he oversaw the third-biggest deficit increase of any president.

    Life of the Mother

    A Woman Died After Being Told It Would Be a “Crime” to Intervene in Her Miscarriage at a Texas Hospital

    Josseli Barnica is one of at least two pregnant Texas women who died after doctors delayed emergency care. She’d told her husband that the medical team said it couldn’t act until the fetal heartbeat stopped.

    A Closer Look

    What to Expect From ProPublica in a Second Trump Administration

    We’ll be devoting a significant part of our staff to detailing what are expected to be dramatic changes in the role of the federal government in the lives of Americans.