Some Election Officials Refused to Certify Results. Few Were Held Accountable.
A ProPublica review of local officials who refused to certify 2022 election results found that most did not face formal consequences. Experts explain what that means for the future of American elections.
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.
School District Pays Legal Fees After Banning Mothers From Reading Sexually Graphic Passages at Meetings
The Mama Bears, a group that seeks to ban library books it considers obscene, has settled a federal lawsuit against a Georgia school district after one of the group’s members was barred from reading explicit excerpts at school board meetings.
Federal Agency Rejects Developer’s Report That Massive Grain Elevator Won’t Harm Black Heritage Sites
For the second time, the Army Corps of Engineers has reprimanded a Louisiana developer for its failure to offer an adequate assessment of the impact that its $400 million project would have on neighboring Black communities and historic sites.
Developers Found Graves in the Virginia Woods. Authorities Then Helped Erase the Historic Black Cemetery.
The cemetery’s disappearance cleared the way for the expansion of a Microsoft data center, despite layers of federal and state regulations nominally intended to protect culturally significant sites.
South News Staff
- South Editor
- Mara Shalhoup
- Reporters
- Max Blau, Nicole Carr, Doug Bock Clark, Jennifer Berry Hawes, Aliyya Swaby and Seth Freed Wessler
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
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Fines TitleMax $15 Million for Predatory Lending
The federal consumer watchdog group says the Georgia-based company intentionally evaded laws meant to protect military families from predatory lenders.
Tennessee Lobbyists Oppose New Lifesaving Exceptions in Abortion Ban
With an amendment to Tennessee’s abortion ban on the table, a powerful anti-abortion group pushes Republican lawmakers to take the narrowest interpretation on when a doctor can legally intervene in high-risk cases.
This “Climate-Friendly” Fuel Comes With an Astronomical Cancer Risk
Almost half of products cleared so far under the new federal biofuels program are not in fact biofuels — and the EPA acknowledges that the plastic-based ones may present an “unreasonable risk” to human health or the environment.
Louisiana to Drop Lawsuits Against Katrina Survivors Over Recovery Grants
Louisiana sued thousands of homeowners for not following the rules in how they spent recovery grants. After a joint news investigation, the governor announced Thursday that the state won’t try to collect the money.
How ProPublica’s Local Stories Reach the Communities We Report On
Getting our investigation’s findings to the people we write about is just as important as reaching a large audience. Consider these two examples.
Lawmakers Attempting Takeover of Funds for Jackson’s Water System, Federal Manager Warns
Congress sent $600 million to Jackson to help fix its water system. Some are warning that new legislation could funnel the money out of the city.
Inside the Controversial Sales Practices of the Nation’s Biggest Title Lender
Former TitleMax store managers told ProPublica and The Current about how they were trained to keep customers unaware of the true costs of their title pawns. When they were more transparent, they faced repercussions.
A Sheriff in Louisiana Has Been Destroying Records of Deputies’ Alleged Misconduct for Years
A lawsuit brought by the family of an autistic teen who died while in custody found the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office destroyed the disciplinary records of a deputy involved in the case.
Muzzled by DeSantis, Critical Race Theory Professors Cancel Courses or Modify Their Teaching
As fewer faculty members are protected by tenure, they’re finding it harder to resist laws that ban certain racial topics. Their students suffer the consequences.
It Took Just Five Months to Lose Her Rights to Her Kids Forever
Twenty-five years ago, Congress passed a law aimed at speeding up adoptions of children languishing in foster care. In the process, it destroyed hundreds of thousands of families through the termination of parental rights.
A Fifth of American Adults Struggle to Read. Why Are We Failing to Teach Them?
The nation’s approach to adult education has so far neglected to connect the millions of people struggling to read with the programs set up to help them.
Behind the Key Decision That Left Many Poor Homeowners Without Enough Money to Rebuild After Katrina
National politics spawned a Hurricane Katrina rebuilding program based on pre-storm home values, leading to disparities between rich and poor.
Wealthy Governor’s Company to Pay Nearly $1 Million for Chronic Air Pollution Violations
Bluestone Coke, owned by the family of West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice, signed a consent decree that could allow its Birmingham plant to reopen under stricter oversight.
An Exodus Unlike Any Other: Why Half the People in This Community Moved Away After Hurricane Katrina
After Hurricane Katrina devastated St. Bernard Parish, many residents didn’t receive enough money from the state to rebuild. Nearly half made the difficult decision to start over somewhere else.
The Federal Program to Rebuild After Hurricane Katrina Shortchanged the Poor. New Data Proves It.
For years, low-income residents of New Orleans have said the state’s Road Home program paid them less to rebuild their homes compared to wealthier residents. They were right.
