SYNOPSIS: Everyone knows the air around Louisiana's Cancer Alley is bad. But how bad? And what's actually in it? That's what two scientists at Johns Hopkins University set out to understand. Their work so far has shown the air in the communities around massive petrochemical plants has as much as 10 times higher levels of toxins than was previously known. This week, we talk to Peter DeCarlo and Keeve Nachman about their findings and the technology they used to do the research. In the news: Florida sheriffs call for a different approach on immigration enforcement; several Southern legislators fan anti-Muslim bigotry; and a data dashboard illustrates the economic impacts of gun violence in Tennessee. Plus: the Big Ears Festival returns to Knoxville.

SHOW NOTES: "Scientists Uncover the Truth in Cancer Alley" The YEARS Project "Florida Sheriffs rebel against Trump's, DeSantis' mass deportation efforts" Florida Phoenix "Sheriff Judd answers questions about Immigration Enforcement Council" Polk County Sheriff "Islam in the United States" Wikipedia "Tuberville shares social media post suggesting Muslims are 'the enemy'" Politico "'Unabashed bigotry': GOP's Tuberville sparks backlash with anti-Muslim messages" MS NOW "'It Doesn't Need to Be Here': The Right Vilifies a Muslim School in Alabama" The New York Times "Doug Jones calls Tommy Tuberville's anti-Muslim rhetoric 'vile'" Alabama Reflector "Nashville leaders demand Rep. Ogles resign after he calls for deportation of all Muslims" Nashville NewsChannel 5 "House GOP leadership silent as more members post anti-Muslim statements" NPR Tennessee Firearm Fatality Dashboard The University of Tennessee Voices for a Safer Tennessee Big Ears Festival The Pilot Light

CONTACT: Jesse Mayshark [email protected] (865) 214-7764

SYNOPSIS: As minority whip for the Georgia state Senate Democrats, Senator Kim Jackson helped lead the fight in this session for a package of bills aimed at reining in aggressive immigration enforcement in the state. Republicans have blocked them, but this week Jesse talks to Jackson about the proposals and the public outcry that led to them. She also talked about her perspective and role as an Episcopal priest, a farmer, and a queer person of color in the Legislature. Also: Overt racism and ethno-nationalism are surging on the right. We take a look at leaked chat messages from young conservatives in Miami, the popularity among young Florida voters of far-right gubernatorial candidate James Fishback, and the efforts by the Texas-based Center for Baptist Leadership to push the Southern Baptist Convention into full embrace of white Christian nationalism. Plus: A preview of upcoming shows in Texas by Ballet Leplanta, which fuses classical ballet with Mexican folkloríco.

SHOW NOTES: State Sen. Kim Jackson "'Nazi heaven': Inside Miami campus Republicans' racist group chat" Miami Herald "'I love Hitler': Leaked messages expose Young Republicans' racist chat" Politico "Remember the hateful Young Republicans group chat? It's the tip of the iceberg." Eli Thompson, USA Today "I Went to Florida to See the 31-Year-Old Candidate Thrilling Gen Z. We're in Trouble." Michelle Goldberg, The New York Times "SBC influencer William Wolfe wants an America of white people" Rick Pidcock, Baptist News Edinburg Dance Theatre Ballet Nepantla Tour

CONTACT: Jesse Mayshark [email protected] (865) 214-7764

SYNOPSIS: A raft of primaries and one special election in the South last week brought some fresh faces into the spotlight and offered tantalizing clues about this fall's midterms. This week we take a look at the high-profile Democratic and Republican contests for U.S. Senate in Texas, as well as a slate of anti-establishment votes in both parties in North Carolina. Plus, an Arkansas state House district flips blue. In part 2 of our look at ICE incarceration in the South, we drop in on a packed meeting in heavily Republican Wilson County, Tennessee — where nobody, Democrats or Republicans, wanted a massive new detention center. It's part of a bipartisan wave of resistance to the facilities across the country, which is complicating the federal government's plans for massive warehousing of immigrants. And we check in on an exhibit of the Kentucky photographer Ralph Eugene Meatyard's work, at Atlanta's High Musuem.

SHOW NOTES: Wilson County Commission Feb. 17, 2026 "A Blueprint for Resistance: How Residents and Local Governments Are Shutting Down ICE Detention in Warehouses" Vera "MAP: All 23 industrial warehouses ICE wants to turn into detention 'death camps'" Courier Newsroom "'Not the right location:' Hanover supervisors, residents oppose DHS ICE facility" Virginia Mercury "Canadian company says Virginia warehouse sale to ICE won't proceed" Associated Press "Conservative Georgia town pushes back against ICE detention center: 'We are Americans after all'" The Guardian "Warnock tours Social Circle infrastructure amid concerns over proposed ICE detention center" CBS News "As ICE Buys Up Warehouses, Even Some Trump Voters Say No" The New York Times "Sen. Marsha Blackburn: ICE ends plans for Wilson County immigrant detention 'mega center'" Tennessee Lookout "Wilson County Mayor: ICE eyes immigrant detention 'mega center' in Lebanon to house up to 16,000" Tennessee Lookout "James Talarico defeats Jasmine Crockett in blockbuster Democratic primary for U.S. Senate" The Texas Tribune "Paxton says he'd consider dropping out of Senate runoff if Republicans pass voter ID bill" The Texas Tribune "He's No Beto, but Can Talarico Win? A Texas Writer Weighs In." The New York Times "What We Learned From North Carolina's 2026 Primaries" The Assembly "Arkansas Democrats just flipped a Republican seat" The Downballot "The Family Album of Ralph Eugene Meatyard" High Museum of Art

CONTACT:

Jesse Mayshark [email protected] (865) 214-7764

SYNOPSIS: As the Trump administration's aggressive mass deportation campaign has ramped up, so have the profits of private prison companies. This week, we take a look at CoreCivic, the Tennessee-based company that is one of the two largest operators of private prisons in the United States. It has been in the immigrant detention business for more than 40 years, and last year was one of its best ever thanks to its close relationship with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. We listen in on CoreCivics most recent quarterly earnings call, full of rising revenue numbers and rosy projections — and we annotate it with context and background that the executives somehow failed to mention to their investors. We also take a look at the company's history, and its direct connections to the South's ugly legacy of for-profit prisons. Plus: a preview of an upcoming tribute to Mississippi folk artist L.V. Hull.

SHOW NOTES: "The True History of America's Private Prison Industry" Shane Bauer, Time Magazine "CoreCivic Inc." American Friends Service Committee "Trump's Immigration Crackdown Is a Boom Time for Private Prisons" Mother Jones "Biden Administration Fights to Keep Private Immigration Jails Open, Despite Promises" American Immigration Council "CoreCivic Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Financial Results" CoreCivic "The Cruel Conditions of ICE's Mojave Desert Detention Center" The New Yorker "Tax Payments by Undocumented Immigrants" Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy "The Children of Dilley" ProPublica L.V. Hull Legacy Center "Mississippi Museum of Art to Present First Major Museum Exhibition of the Art and Singular World of L.V. Hull" Mississippi Museum of Art

CONTACT: Jesse Mayshark [email protected] (865) 214-7764

SYNOPSIS: On back to back days earlier this month, the Tennessee Valley Authority reversed course on plans to close two massive coal-fired power plants, and the Trump administration abandoned federal regulation of greenhouse gases. The double whammy clearly illustrated the impact of the administration's aggressive insistence on fossil fuels, regardless of the local and global cost. To get a handle on the implications, this week we visit again with Steve Smith of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. He accuses the administration of an Orwellian denial of the reality of climate change. Also: Attacks on tenure in Tennessee, a move to restore voting rights to people convicted of felonies in Kentucky, and a remembrance of the Reverend Jesse Jackson's South Carolina roots. Plus: a historical exhibit of Black Southern crafts at the International African American Museum in Charleston, S.C.

SHOW NOTES: Southern Alliance for Clean Energy Compass Points podcast "Coal Reversal" Compass "How reaction to Charlie Kirk's death led to Tennessee bill targeting tenure" The Knoxville News Sentinel "Restoration of Voting Rights for Felons" National Conference of State Legislatures "KY Senate committee backs bill to restore voting rights to some with felony convictions" Kentucky Lantern "Jesse Jackson: A voice that rose from Greenville and echoed across America" South Carolina Daily Gazette "Middle of Somewhere" International African American Museum

CONTACT: Jesse Mayshark [email protected] (865) 214-7764

SYNOPSIS: When it comes to environmental protections, the Trump administration has been on a deregulatory spree. On the front lines of fights to protect air, water and ecosystems across the South is the Southern Environmental Law Center — a nonprofit with a team of more than 100 lawyers, who are keeping busy in courts and on Capitol Hill. This week we talk to Geoff Gisler, Program Director for the SELC, about the biggest threats to Southern communities and landscapes the group saw in the first year of Trump 2.0, and what they foresee coming. Also: the election conspiracy theorists behind the FBI's seizure of Georgia ballots from 2020; allegations of censorship at the Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home National Monument in Mississippi; and Florida takes another step toward blocking any regulation of greenhouse gases. And: Alabama native Ella Langley takes the charts by storm with "Choosin' Texas."

SHOW NOTES: Southern Environmental Law Center "FBI raid in Fulton County relied on previously investigated 2020 election claims" Georgia Recorder Affidavit for Warrant for Georgia ballots "Trump's 'Stop the Steal' lawyer probing 2020 election fraud has access to sensitive US intel" Politico "Trump's Director of Election Security Is an Election Denier" The New York Tim "Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home" National Park Service "Visitor brochures are returned to Medgar Evers home" Mississippi Today "Evers National Monument Never Removed Brochures 'Not One Second,' Superintendent Says, Disputing Reports" Mississippi Free Press "Local Florida governments would be banned from enacting climate change policies under new proposal" Florida Phoenix "A Brief Inquiry Into 'Choosin' Texas'" Texas Monthly "Choosin' Texas" Ella Langley

CONTACT: Jesse Mayshark [email protected] (865) 214-7764

SYNOPSIS: Why does Alabama have the highest residential electricity rates in the country? This week, we dig into the profitable, polluting business of Alabama Power, the state's largest electrical provider. Dennis Pillion, a reporter for Inside Climate News, joins to talk about what he has found digging into the private company. Much of its decision-making is shielded from public view by Alabama law, and the state's residents are quite literally paying the price for it. Also: What does Democratic candidate Taylor Rehmet's overwhelming win in a Trump-friendly state Senate district mean for Texas? • Another generational stand-off in a Democratic congressional primary, this one in North Carolina. • Virginia looks to get strict on semi-automatic weapons. • And a new play in Miami revisits the city's language wars.

SHOW NOTES: "Wired for Profit" Inside Climate News "How Taylor Rehmet upset a MAGA candidate to flip a North Texas Senate district" The Texas Tribune "A House District Divided" The Assembly "Miami New Drama premieres 'English Only,' a play about Miami's language wars" Miami Times Herald "English Only" Miami New Drama

CONTACT: Jesse Mayshark [email protected] (865) 214-7764

SYNOPSIS: While outrage continues to mount about violent immigration enforcement in Minneapolis, ICE and the Border Patrol are active at smaller scale in cities across the South. A hearing last week in New Orleans brought together political leaders and immigrant advocates to detail the terror that Operation Catahoula Crunch has instilled in local communities, where many people are afraid to go to work or school. This week we have selected excerpts from the hearing, including statements from Congressman Troy Carter, New Orleans' new Mayor Helena Moreno, and representatives from New Orleans City Council, the ACLU, and more. Also: The FBI's alarming seizure of 2020 election ballots in Fulton County, Georgia; the impact of increasingly severe winter weather across the South; and a heartbreaking story of one young Alabama man's deportation. Plus, we pay tribute to Carter G. Woodson, the father of Black History Month.

SHOW NOTES: "Shadow Hearing on Operation Catahoula Crunch, ICE Invasion of Louisiana" Homeland Security Committee Democrats (Video link) Fulton County Commissioner Mo Ivory on FBI raid (Instagram) "FBI raids Fulton County election office seeking ballots from Trump's 2020 loss" Atlanta Journal-Constitution "Fox5: Jack Smith labels Georgia 'Ground Zero' in 2020 election probe during tense House hearing" Ga. State Rep. Lucy McBath "Winter Storm Debilitates the South, Encasing Cities in Ice and Snow" The New York Times "Situation in Mississippi Grows More Dire After Days of Ice, Outages and a Rising Death Toll" Mississippi Free Press "Football referee forced to leave Alabama for Mexico: 'How many kids would get deported for that?'" John Archibald (AL.com) Carter G. Woodson Home (National Park Service)

CONTACT: Jesse Mayshark [email protected] (865) 214-7764

SYNOPSIS: "Affordability" — the struggle many Americans face to pay for housing and food and transportation — has become a political buzzword. But what what drives it, and what can government action do about it? A recent report by the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy gathers specific data to look at the challenges in the Bluegrass State, and makes specific policy recommendations. We talk to Jason Bailey, the center's director, about their findings. Also: mounting deaths at the Camp East Montana immigrant detention center in Texas; rising pushback against the proliferation of energy-sucking data centers; and Florida considers scrapping the property taxes that support its local governments. Plus, three Oscar nominees with deep Southern roots.

SHOW NOTES: Kentucky Center for Economic Policy "Building a Kentucky Workers Can Afford" Kentucky Center for Economic Policy "Feds plan to build nation's biggest migrant detention center at Fort Bliss" The Texas Tribune "60 violations in 50 days: Inside ICE's giant tent facility at Ft. Bliss" The Washington Post "Detained Immigrants Detail Physical Abuse and Inhumane Conditions at Largest Immigration Detention Center in the U.S." ACLU "The black hole of Camp East Montana" El Pais "Immigrant's death in ICE custody ruled homicide by El Paso medical examiner" The Texas Tribune "Congresswoman Escobar Statement on Detainee Death at Camp East Montana Likely to be Classified as Homicide" Rep. Veronica Escobar "Tract details plans for 3,000-acre data center campus in Caldwell County" Austin Business Journal Headlights Ep. 20: Fossil Fuels and an AI Surge "Elon Musk's xAI faces tougher road building out data centers after EPA rule update" CNBC "Rep. Ruwa Romman introduces HB 1012 to slow the growth of data centers" The Atlanta Voice "A second proposl to eliminate property taxes in Florida is now ready for a vote by the full house" Florida Phoenix "Gov. Ron DeSantis Delivers State of the State Address" WPTV News "Counties Deliver" Florida Association of Counties "'The Alabama Solution': A Humanitarian Crisis in Grainy Detail" The Marshall Project "'The way you hold that camera': HBO doc pays tribute to slain Arkansas filmmaker Brent Renaud" Arkansas Times CONTACT: Jesse Mayshark [email protected] (865) 214-7764

SYNOPSIS: Martin King Luther Jr. Day arrives this year in the midst of an ongoing assault on his legacy and the accomplishments of the Civil Rights Movement at both the national and — in the South — state levels. So this week we spend a little time listening to MLK the man, the leader, the strategist, the philosopher and preacher, who articulated a clear vision for moral and political progress in the United States and across the globe. His work was much broader, and his goals more specific, than the small portions of the "I Have a Dream" speech that gets trotted out every year. Here are some extended excerpts from him, from across his career. Also: It's January, which means many of our state legislatures are back in session. We check in on an aggressive package of immigration enforcement bills in Tennessee, questions about school vouchers in Alabama, and electoral politics coloring things in the Georgia State Assembly. Plus: a memoriam for Claudette Colvin, who became a civil rights pioneer as a teenager and died last week.

SHOW NOTES: "Rediscovering Lost Values" MLK (1954) Audio Transcript "The Birth of a New Nation" MLK (1957) Audio Transcript KCTA Interview w/MLK (1959) The "I Have a Dream" Speech MLK (1963) Audio Transcript "Eulogy for the Martyred Children" MLK (1963) Audio & Transcript "Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech" MLK (1964) Audio & Transcript "Beyond Vietnam — A Time to Break the Silence" MLK (1967) Audio Transcript "I've Been to the Mountaintop" MLK (1968) Audio Transcript "Immigration policy fights expected to take center stage as Tennessee Legislature reconvenes" Tennessee Lookout "Tennessee GOP wants to track K-12 student immigration status" Chalkbeat Tennessee "Busy first day set to kick off 2026 legislative session in Georgia" Georgia Recorder "Georgia Democrats unveil bills designed to rein in federal immigration agents" Georgia Recorder "Alabama Legislature 2026 preview: Let's get this over with" Alabama Reflector "Judge temporarily blocks Alabama rule saying voucher students can't play sports for a year" Associated Press "Civil rights activist Claudette Colvin dies at 86" The 19th "Before Rosa Parks, There Was Claudette Colvin" NPR

CONTACT: Jesse Mayshark [email protected] (865) 214-7764