2/2: SELC ranks South's top threatened natural places

Daily Progress: SELC ranks South's top threatened natural places

The Southern Environmental Law Center released its top ten places in the South it believes are facing immediate peril. The sites noted are in Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama.

"The major environmental threats we face in this country are playing out in the Southeast," said Jeff Gleason, SELC’s deputy director. "Our region is contributing disproportionately to global warming, and, in fact, our six southeastern states, if viewed as a single country, would be the world’s seventh largest source of heat-trapping carbon dioxide emissions."

In the Carolinas, the Catawba-Wateree waterway (NC & SC), Cape Fear River (NC), and freshwater wetlands near Charleston were named. Georgia's Ogeechee River and right whale calving grounds made the list. Alabama's Black Water River, the Ocoee Region in Tennessee, the Chesapeake Bay and Roanoke River Basin in Virginia, and Southern Appalachian Mountains in Virginia and Tennessee also made the list.

Also in the South:

ALABAMA: Opinion: Alabama's gambling situation is a mess, and this must not be allowed to continue

ARKANSAS: Juvenile detention facilities overcrowded in state

FLORIDA: Lawmakers asked by environmental group to ban plastic shopping bags

GEORGIA: Legislators again push to drop annual property tax on autos

KENTUCKY: New initiative covers birth-to-graduate learning

LOUISIANA: Analysis shows that casinos are not recession-proof

MISSISSIPPI: Lawmakers vote on pseudoephedrine prescriptions law

NORTH CAROLINA: Civil Rights museum opens in Greensboro in famous Woolworth's building

SOUTH CAROLINA: Court ruling to protect state's wetlands

TENNESSEE: Gov. Bredesen delivers final state of the state address

VIRGINIA: State Senate bills say 'no' to requiring health insurance

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10/9: Nobel Peace Prize goes to President Obama

New York Times: Nobel Peace Prize goes to President Obama

President Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize for Diplomacy just nine months into his presidency. The award committee noted "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.”

In particular, Obama's effort to reduce the world's nuclear arsenal was noted. However, the announcement still stunned everyone. "There has been no discussion, nothing at all,” said Rahm Emanuel, the president’s chief of staff, in a brief telephone interview.

And in the South:

ALABAMA: Vaccine for swine flu arrives in Alabama

ARKANSAS: State's lethal injection rules considered by Supreme Court

FLORIDA: Gov. Crist draws in millions for Senate race

GEORGIA: SBA disaster loans to be key to flood recovery

KENTUCKY: Anti-price gouging law upheld in Kentucky

LOUISIANA: Big-chain restaurant commits to sell Louisiana shrimp

MISSISSIPPI: State hospitals reject swine flu nasal spray

NORTH CAROLINA: Gov. Perdue says state will keep offering incentive packages

SOUTH CAROLINA: Smart growth conference set for October 20-21 in Columbia

TENNESSEE: State ranks 48th for childhood health

VIRGINIA: Prison magazine sues state

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