Vaccination rates are on the rise in Southern states
Welcome back to The American South!
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This week, we have a collection of stories on everything from vaccination distribution and food insecurity to crane populations destined to survive and the future of outdoor dining. If you're looking for a reason to smile, I enjoyed this video of a cute couple dancing in celebration of something that may or may not surprise you.
Thank you for reading. Take good care!
Ashley Hopkinson (Editor, The American South)
What's the South talking about?
- Gender-affirming care bill and Arkansas
- Why Catherine Coleman Flowers is always in 'good trouble'
- Vaccine skepticism runs deep among white evangelicals in the U.S.
- Is outdoor dining in Savannah, Georgia here to stay?
Vaccination rates are on the rise in the South
Are you traveling across the region and curious about the shift in restrictions from place to place? We compiled a state-by-state look at restrictions and vaccination rates across the South. Where does your state stand?
How Louisiana's whooping crane population survived 2020
Louisiana's whooping cranes have faced a long road back from the brink of extinction.
Then the pandemic and a historic hurricane season created a challenging year for the newly formed flock of whooping cranes and those fighting to preserve them.
“It seems they probably hunkered down, lowered themselves, faced into the wind and rode it out,” said wildlife biologist Sara Zimorski. “Although those storms were devastating, the whooping cranes came through just fine, which is pretty amazing.”
The fight to feed children in Mississippi's hungriest county
More than half of all children in Jefferson County, Mississippi live in food insecurity, making it the hungriest county in the U.S. according to an October 2020 report by Feeding America, a non-profit and national network of food banks.