4/20: Get your appliance rebates - fast!

New York Times: Get your appliance rebates -- fast

Consumers across the country are snapping up rebates for energy-efficient appliances. In Florida, the $17.6 million allocated for the program lasted a day and a half, with more than 72,000 claims filed.

Each state has structured its own program, sometimes excluding certain appliances like air-conditioners or requiring proof that old appliances were recycled before paying out the cash.

Kateri Callahan, the president of the Alliance to Save Energy, a nonprofit coalition that promotes efficiency measures, praised the rebates as stimulating the economy while providing “an immediate, point-of-purchase incentive for consumers by ‘buying down’ the price of new, energy-efficient appliances.”

Also in the South:

ALABAMA: Editorial: Find PACT solution that will last

ARKANSAS: Non-married couples in state to be allowed to foster and adopt children

FLORIDA: House passes Medicaid measure, giving large HMOs more power than ever

GEORGIA: Hundreds of artists protest cutting of Georgia Council for the Arts at Capitol

KENTUCKY: State's Cash for Appliances program to begin Thursday

LOUISIANA: House kills bill suspending prisoners' government pension benefits

MISSISSIPPI: Judge's ruling on racial isolation in MS schools points to troubling trend

NORTH CAROLINA: Amazon files lawsuit to block NC's data request

SOUTH CAROLINA: Group says adjusting state's tax structure could return funding to schools

TENNESSEE: Most cuts to state's Medicaid program will likely be delayed for a year

VIRGINIA: Tea party influence could go two ways in Virginia

If you have a news story about public policy to suggest, send an email to info@bettersouth.org

4/16: Was the Confederacy really about slavery?

Southern Political Report: John Tures: Was the Confederacy really about slavery?

"By now, you’ve probably heard all about that fuss over Confederate Heritage Month declarations in Virginia and Mississippi. It may make you wonder why the Southern States seceded. Was it really about slavery, or was that more of a side issue? Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell declared April to be “Confederate History Month.” According to David Paul Kuhn with realclearpolitics.com. “The proclamation recognized the ‘sacrifices of the Confederate leaders, soldiers and citizens during the period of the Civil War.’ It did not mention slavery.” According to “On McDonnell’s Confederate Mistake,” Kuhn’s article, “McDonnell explained the immense omission to The Washington Post: ‘There were any number of aspects to that conflict between the states. Obviously, it involved slavery. It involved other issues. But I focused on the ones I thought were most significant for Virginia.’”

"Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour defended McDonnell, having issued a similar proclamation. And Rev. Cecil Fayard, chaplain in chief for the national Sons of Confederate Veterans said “The War Between the States was fought for the same reasons that the tea party movement today is voicing their opinion. And that is that you have large government that’s not listening to the people, there’s going to be heavy taxation…And the primary cause of the war was not slavery, although slavery was interwoven into the cause, but it was not the cause for the War Between the States.”

"So I ran a hypothesis test to determine if states left the Union to join the Confederacy over slavery, or whether that was more of a side issue. I located the declarations of secession for four different states that were available: South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, and Texas." (More)

Also in the South:

ALABAMA: Report says Alabama should stop segregating prisoners with HIV

ARKANSAS: AG says judging constitutionality of health care law is not his job

FLORIDA: Gov. Crist's veto of merit-based pay a victory for teachers

GEORGIA: Thousands attend Tea Party rally in Atlanta

KENTUCKY: Gov. Beshear 'disgusted' - Legislative session ends without a state budget

LOUISIANA: Gov. Jindal to address another budget shortfall

MISSISSIPPI: State College Board votes to increase cost of room and board

NORTH CAROLINA: State's tax revenue projection drops by $788 million

SOUTH CAROLINA: Report card on state's schools shows little improvement

TENNESSEE: Day of Prayer ruled unconstitutional by federal judge

VIRGINIA: Commonwealth Institute says state budget raises taxes on the poor

If you have a news story about public policy to suggest, send an email to info@bettersouth.org

11/4: Stimulus funds used to give raises in some cases

New York Times: Stimulus funds used to give raises in some cases

Errors in the government's latest effort to track the effectiveness of the $787 billion stimulus plan are showing that funds were used not just to create or save jobs, but to fund raises or benefits for existing employees.

In Georgia, a nonprofit, the Southwest Georgia Community Action Counciil, reported saving 935 jobs -- however, there are only 508 people working there.

The latest stimulus report, released Friday, significantly overstates the number of jobs spared with money from programs serving families and children, mostly the Head Start preschool program. The report shows hundreds of the programs used nearly $323 million to provide pay raises and other benefits to their existing employees.

The raises themselves were appropriate -- the stimulus law set aside money for Head Start salary increases -- but converting that number into jobs proved difficult. The Obama administration told Head Start officials to consider a fraction of each employee as a job saved.

Also in the South:

ALABAMA: Tea Party rally scheduled for today in Huntsville

ARKANSAS: State's tax revenue is again less than expected

FLORIDA: Sex offender restrictions in state may be flawed, says analyst

GEORGIA: Why a white woman may win the Atlanta mayoral race

KENTUCKY: State should budget $64 million more a year for college aid, says study

LOUISIANA: Gov. Jindal says resignation of justice who refused interracial marriage 'long overdue'

MISSISSIPPI: More prison cuts planned for 2010 budget

NORTH CAROLINA: New rules proposed to help homeowners avoid foreclosure

SOUTH CAROLINA: Ten candidates in running for governor's post talk energy, environment

TENNESSEE: State departments face up to 9% cuts

VIRGINIA: Analyst says policies, not parties, key to GOP win in Virginia

If you have a news story about public policy to suggest, send an email to info@bettersouth.org