Arkansas Times: “Casey Copeland, the state contractor who was fired after emailing Rep. Charlene Fite (R-Alma) to criticize her vote to deny gender-affirming care to transgender youth, has had his state contract reinstated permanently. After working as an attorney for the state on dependency-neglect cases since 2012, Copeland said he was fired on April 1 after emailing…

Old North State Politics: “There is indeed a lot of North Carolina past Asheville- hours of it, in fact. There’s a mid-sized university, part of a national park, a portion of the Blue Ridge Parkway, 8 counties, a separate nation, a ton of bears, some good flatpickers, terrific whitewater, three NC House districts, two NC…

Political Wire: “Party leaders are now rallying around Walker, a staunch ally of former President Donald Trump who is running in a race that could determine which party controls the Senate after 2022. Scrutiny of Walker’s erratic past at first led Senate Republicans to voice concern about whether the former running back can win, but…

CNN: “The Supreme Court allowed a Texas law that bars most abortions after six weeks to remain in place for now, but it agreed to hear oral arguments on the law next month.The law, banning abortions often before a woman knows she is pregnant is in stark contrast to Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark decision legalizing abortion…

NY Times: “Last year, a Delaware court dismissed Chemours’s lawsuit against DuPont. Months later, in January 2021, DuPont, Chemours and Corteva agreed to split the costs of future litigation and cleanups related to PFAS pollution that occurred before 2015. The chief executives of the three companies issued a joint statement: “The agreement will provide a measure of…

Chicken Fried Politics: “South Carolina U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace was the lone Southern Republican to vote to hold former Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon in contempt of Congress for refusing to cooperate with the panel investigating the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol. The House voted 229 to 220 on October 21 to hold Bannon in…

AR Times: “Former Faulkner County Circuit Judge Mike Maggio has been released from federal prison after serving less than half of a 10-year sentence for bribery. The development is the latest in a long-running and complex criminal case that dates back to 2014 and that has entangled a once-powerful Republican lobbyist, a wealthy nursing home…

WUNC: “Outside of Old Fort, the Western North Carolina railroad bends around Andrews Geyser.  The man-made fountain is named after the vice president of the company that owned the railroad, built in the 1870’s.  Now, the thousands of laborers who did the work are finally memorialized at the site too.   As so many places are…

NC Policy Watch: “Though Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson’s hateful attack on LGBTQ people was uttered in a Christian church, it continues to draw a growing chorus of condemnations and calls for his resignation from people of faith and religious leaders. Last week, a group of North Carolina-based church leaders issued a rebuke to Robinson in an event…

MS Free Press: “Damion Portis is a barber, marketer and graphic artist by trade, but he’s used to investigating his clients’ health. “I first started in the Healthy Heart Care Initiative,” he told the Mississippi Free Press in an Oct. 18 interview. Portis runs Klean Jokers Master Barber Art Studio in Jackson. As part of…