‘We are not immune’: Q&A with Jackson student leader on disasters while navigating college
Jackson State University resident assistant Kayla Carter is responsible for disseminating information to fellow students during disaster events. She says out-of-state students, whose families are further away, tend to be more anxious during emergencies.
Q&A: Hurricane prep with the National Weather Service
Southerly talks to Janae Elkins in Jackson, Miss. about how to best prepare for hurricane season.
Mississippians work to reduce childhood lead exposure as state, feds fail to intervene
Experts say solutions aimed at reducing lead exposure from water need to be educational and environmental. Here’s how to protect your family.
‘Hurricane fatigue’: Gulf Coast emergency managers still rebuilding as they prep for more storms
Local officials are working to inform the public while still recovering from 2020’s record-breaking season—all on tight budgets.
Love bugs
We asked readers to submit memories and reflections about what fireflies and cicadas mean to you. Here are some of them:
Tap water could be linked to dangerous lead levels in Jackson’s kids. Mississippi isn’t keeping track.
Children with dangerous levels of lead in their bodies live in parts of Jackson with documented lead-in-water spikes, a Southerly analysis shows.
Mississippi biomass facility fined for emitting three times more air pollution than permitted
Wood pellet manufacturing plants have underreported emissions at plants throughout the South, which are most often in Black and low-income communities.
How Europe’s wood pellet appetite worsens environmental racism in the South
An expanding wood pellet market in the Southeast has fallen short of climate and job goals—instead bringing air pollution, noise and reduced biodiversity in majority Black communities.
This coastal Mississippi city plagued by environmental hazards has a history of police violence
In just two decades, Moss Point has seen three high-profile cases of police brutality against Black men. Families and advocates have long demanded answers.
Replanting roots in a Southern food desert
Farmers, activists and city planners nationwide are pivoting in light of the pandemic’s impact on food access. In Mississippi, that also means restoring a fraught connection with land.