Some Texas Officials Didn’t Respond to Flood Alerts, Echoing the Tragedies of Hurricane Helene
Weather warnings predicted devastation from both the Texas floods and Hurricane Helene. But in both disasters, people were left in harm’s way.
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.
States Fear Critical Funding From FEMA May Be Drying Up
Many states rely on the federal government for the vast majority of their emergency management funding. Now, local leaders are looking for clues about the money — and the future of FEMA itself.
Tennessee’s Law on School Threats Ensnared Students Who Posed No Risks. Two States Passed Similar Laws.
Despite an outcry over increased arrests in Tennessee, two states — Georgia and New Mexico — followed its lead by passing laws that will crack down harder on hoax threats.
A Tennessee School Agreed to Pay $100,000 to Family of 11-Year-Old Student Arrested Under School Threats Law
Under the settlement, the Chattanooga charter school also agreed to implement training on how to handle threats of mass violence at school, including differentiating between “clearly innocuous statements” and “imminent” violence.
South News Staff
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- Mara Shalhoup
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- Max Blau, Doug Bock Clark, Jennifer Berry Hawes, Aliyya Swaby and Amy Yurkanin
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
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- Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal
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Congress Is Pushing for a Medicaid Work Requirement. Here’s What Happened When Georgia Tried It.
GOP lawmakers want to nationalize Medicaid work requirements to offset Trump’s proposed tax cuts. Yet Georgia’s example shows that this could threaten health care for nearly 16 million Americans and cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.
“You’re Already Approved”: How One Tennessee Company Sets a Debt Trap
Borrowers say the lending company Advance Financial encouraged them to borrow back the value of almost all of the payments they made, tearing a hole in the safety net the law tried to create.
How the Head of an Embattled Tennessee Youth Detention Center Held on to Power for Decades
Richard L. Bean remained in his perch as the superintendent of the juvenile detention center that bears his name despite scandals, investigations and the use of seclusion to punish children.
The Head of a Tennessee Youth Detention Center Will Step Down After “Loss of Confidence” in His Leadership
A 2023 investigation by WPLN News and ProPublica found that Richard L. Bean was illegally locking kids up alone in cells. A new scandal has forced his resignation.
A Tennessee School Expelled a 12-Year-Old for a Social Post. Experts Say It Didn’t Properly Assess If He Made a Threat.
The way school officials handled his case also exposes glaring contradictions in two recent state laws that aim to criminalize school threats and require schools to expel students who make them — with minimal transparency or accountability.
Prescient Warnings About Helene Didn’t Reach People in Harm’s Way. Here Are 5 Lessons for the Next Hurricane.
After four months of reporting, ProPublica found that the warnings about Helene were eerily accurate. Yet, local residents remained largely unaware of the enormity of danger approaching as the storm closed in.
Helene’s Unheard Warnings
As Hurricane Helene barreled toward Yancey County in North Carolina, communities along the Cane River in the Black Mountains were particularly vulnerable. But there were no evacuation orders, and few grasped what was coming.
He Became the Face of Georgia’s Medicaid Work Requirement. Now He’s Fed Up With It.
A 54-year-old mechanic called Pathways to Coverage a “great program” at the governor’s press conference. But after getting kicked off the health insurance program for low-income Georgians twice, bureaucratic red tape has him at his wit’s end.
The Firm Running Georgia’s Struggling Medicaid Experiment Was Also Paid Millions to Sell It to the Public
Deloitte Consulting is taking in tens of millions in tax dollars to build, manage and market Georgia’s Medicaid work requirement program. Yet only 3% of eligible residents have enrolled.
This Lender Said Its Loans Would Help Tennesseans. It Has Sued More Than 110,000 of Them.
The Flex Loan, a type of payday loan pioneered by Advance Financial, has burdened low-income borrowers while generating huge profits for lenders. Tennessee lawmakers declined to rein in the lending business, even as other states did.
Louisiana Judge Nullifies Death Row Inmate’s Murder Conviction That Was Based on Junk Science
Following a Verite News and ProPublica investigation, a district judge vacated the death sentence of Jimmie Duncan, whose 1998 murder conviction was based on allegedly fabricated bite mark analysis. It remains unclear if Duncan will walk free.
Two Months After Trump’s Funding Cuts, a Nonprofit Struggles to Support Refugees and Itself
After the Trump administration cut its funding, a Nashville nonprofit is fighting to provide refugees with the support it promised, despite contending with depleted resources, layoffs and disillusionment.
“Slow Pay, Low Pay or No Pay”
Blue Cross authorized mastectomies and breast reconstructions for women with cancer but refused to pay the full doctors’ bills. A jury called it fraud and awarded the practice $421 million.
N.C. Lawmakers Move to Stop Votes From Being Discarded Based on Postelection Rule Changes
Spurred by ProPublica’s reporting, Democrats have introduced a measure designed to block a right-wing strategy to disallow ballots after they were cast. It’s being used to try to upend the results of a key state Supreme Court race.
An Algorithm Deemed This Nearly Blind 70-Year-Old Prisoner a “Moderate Risk.” Now He’s No Longer Eligible for Parole.
A Louisiana law cedes much of the power of the parole board to an algorithm that bars thousands of prisoners from a shot at early release. Civil rights attorneys say it could disproportionately harm Black people — and may even be unconstitutional.
