Every week, we round up news and talk to interesting people doing important things across the Southern U.S.
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Headlights Ep. 43: The ICE Prison Profiteers
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. We listen in on the company’s most recent quarterly earnings call, full of rising revenue numbers and rosy projections — and we annotate it with context and background that…
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Headlights Ep. 42: The ‘Ministry of Truth’ Brings Back Coal
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…
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Headlights Ep. 41: Trump’s EPA in the South
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…
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Headlights Ep. 40: The High Cost of Alabama Power
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…
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Headlights Ep. 39: New Orleans vs. ICE
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…
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Headlights Ep. 38: Affordability in Kentucky
“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…
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Headlights Ep. 37: Listening to MLK
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,…
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Headlights Ep. 36: A Tar Heel Fight for Democracy
Democracy is hard. As John Adams said, “It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself.” It’s even harder when governments are corrupted by money and partisan chicanery. Which is why the nonprofit group Democracy North Carolina has been fighting for truly representative government in the state for more than 30 years. Jesse talks with Marques Thompson,…
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Headlights Ep. 35: The 2026 Battlegrounds
The political map of the South is full of interesting questions in 2026, some of which will be answered at the ballot box. In this preview of the new year, Jesse looks at some of the highest-profile races and the contenders facing off in them: Contests for governor and senator in Texas, a fascinating rematch…
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Headlights Ep. 34: A Year in the Progressive South
2025 has been a tumultuous and difficult year across the United States, and certainly here in the South. In a year-end episode, Jesse looks back at some of the major issues we’ve covered on Headlights, from immigration enforcement to redistricting battles to labor rights and electoral contests — with help from a selection of voices…
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Headlights Ep. 33: ‘Can’t Win’ in North Carolina
What do you do if you have to run for office in a district that was drawn so that your political party can’t possibly win it? That was the situation Kate Compton Barr faced in a North Carolina state Senate race in 2024. Her solution: radical honesty. She told voters she couldn’t win, and instead…
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Headlights Ep. 32: Inroads in Tennessee?
All eyes were on Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District last week, where Republicans held onto what has been a safe GOP seat in a special election — but Democratic state Rep. Aftyn Behn cut the Republican margin of victory from 22 points in 2024 to under 9 points. We talk with Tennessee-based political writer and strategist…