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. 31: A Beer With Jim Hightower
Jim Hightower has seen Texas politics from the ground up for more than half a century. From editing the progressive Texas Observer to serving as the state’s unlikely Commissioner of Agriculture to writing syndicated columns and books, he has been both a participant and a savvy and often funny observer. And he’s still at it!
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Headlights Ep. 30: Boyce Upholt’s Southlands
Wilderness and untamed landscapes loom large in the South’s sense of itself. Southern history and folklore are full of tales of mountains and rivers, swamps and bayous. A new magazine called Southlands aims to explore the Southern outdoors, both literally and literarily. This week Jesse talks to Southlands publisher Boyce Upholt about our relationship to…
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Headlights Ep. 29: Signs at the Ballot Box
Democratic candidates romped in Virginia last week, and scored some significant wins in Mississippi and Georgia as well. What does that mean to politics in the rest of the South? It’s complicated! That’s why we asked Tennessee state Rep. Gloria Johnson, one of the “Tennessee Three,” to join us for some analysis and thoughts about…
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Headlights Ep. 28: SNAP in the South
What does it take to run an effective progressive political campaign in the South? This week, Jesse talks to political consultant Eva Posner of Evinco Strategies, who specializes in exactly that. She focuses on candidates from working-class and marginalized communities, and also helps train campaign managers and staffers — helping to build progressive political infrastructure…
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Headlights Ep. 27: Looking for Progress in Texas
What are the prospects for progress in Texas? Who better to ask than Progress Texas? This week Jesse talks to Chris Mosser, a veteran broadcaster who reports for the nonprofit media platform. They talk Lone Star politics, including this year’s redistricting fight and names to watch in next year’s elections.
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Headlights Ep. 26: Tennessee’s Gun Deaths
A new report shines light on gun deaths in Tennessee. It shows that the state has high levels of both gun homicides and suicides — and they have risen as conservative legislators have rolled back gun safety laws. We dig into the data with its lead researcher, Beth Joslin Roth, and state Senator Heidi Campbell.
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Headlights Ep. 25: The Heart of Texas
The redistricting fight in Texas set the stage for a national scramble to redraw congressional lines ahead of next year’s midterm elections. Among those at the center of the battle was Texas state Sen. Sarah Eckhardt, a leading progressive voice in the state Legislature and one of the Democrats who fled the state in an…
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Headlights Ep. 24: ‘America’s Undoing’ and the Right-Wing Message Machine
In the South, the prospects for progressive causes and candidates can be daunting. But Corbin Trent thinks the answer is not to back down or dilute their messages — it’s to take strong, bold positions on behalf of the region’s working people.
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Headlights Ep. 23: Alexis Okeowo on Alabama
Writer Alexis Okeowo grew up in Montgomery, Alabama, and then moved away from the state for college. She is a contributing writer for The New Yorker, and has reported from Africa and Mexico. She has returned to her home state as the focus of her new book, Blessings and Disasters: A Story of Alabama. In…
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Headlights Ep. 22: Rising Appalachia
Leah Song of Rising Appalachia joins us this week to talk about music, activism and bringing people together in difficult times. Leah and her sister, Chloe Smith, founded the band nearly 20 years ago and have combined an embrace of many strands of Southern music — from Appalachian string-band to Gospel and soul — with…
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Headlights Ep. 21: Guns and Sanctuary in the South
The conversation this week is with Katie Blankenship of Sanctuary of the South — a grassroots organization working across multiple states to provide legal representation for immigrants and havens for marginalized communities. She talks about the challenge of representing clients in the nightmarish ICE detention system — and about reclaiming the word “sanctuary” from right-wing…
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Headlights Ep. 20: Fossil Fuels and an AI Surge
Up until January of this year, several Southern states were among the leaders in clean energy production, with big investments in solar and wind power in Texas, Florida and elsewhere. Then came the Trump administration, with its hostility to renewable sources and championing of fossil fuels. This week, we talk to Steve Smith of the…