4/28: Officials consider setting oil spill on fire

Wall Street Journal: Officials consider setting oil spill off La. coast on fire

Response efforts continued on offshore drilling as an oil spill off Louisiana's coast spread. The oil slick had grown Tuesday to 100 miles by 45 miles—or about the size of Jamaica. The fast-moving slick was about 20 miles off the Louisiana coast Tuesday morning and the state had activated a response plan, the U.S. Coast Guard said Tuesday.

While Coast Guard officials admit a controlled burn of some pockets of the crude sitting on the water's surface isn't an optimal solution, they say it is better than allowing the oil to hit the beaches and marshes that line the Gulf Coast, which will likely happen by this weekend if weather patterns hold.

Also in the South:

ALABAMA: State is second cheapest for home health care

ARKANSAS: Conservative activist group files lawsuit against health care plan

FLORIDA: State's budget deal avoids tax hikes, major cuts

GEORGIA: State roads considered among the best, says U.S. PIRG study

KENTUCKY: State could rekindle debate on illegal immigration following Arizona law passage

MISSISSIPPI: Storm damage in state 'well north of $50 million'

NORTH CAROLINA: Study says state has 15th worst business tax environment

SOUTH CAROLINA: Wetlands to be restored following 2002 oil spill in Charleston Harbor

TENNESSEE: Construction contracts up considerably in March

VIRGINIA: State's universities begin signing off on nearly 10% tuition increases

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3/30: TN wins "Race to the Top" education funds

Times-Free Press: Tennessee wins "Race to the Top" federal education funds

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said that the fact that every district in the state agreed to participate in "Race to the Top" is a big reason why Tennessee was awarded the $500 million for which officials applied.

Race to the Top is a federal competition designed to reward states for education reform. The $4.35 billion fund, which is part of President Barack Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, was announced about a year ago.

Georgia ranked third in the competition, but only had 23 of the state's 180 school districts signed on to participate.

Also in the South:

ALABAMA: U.S. Chamber of Commerce survey shows AL ranks 47th for 'legal climate'

ARKANSAS: State stays out of health-care fight, remembering 1957 events

FLORIDA: Appliance rebate program funds expected to run out in one day

GEORGIA: Tom Baxter: Minimalist Ga. governor going out with audacious bang?

KENTUCKY: Bill under consideration would increase income tax by 1%

LOUISIANA: Over 2,500 acres of wetlands restored and protected

MISSISSIPPI: State's meth lab busts for 2010 already surpass all of 2009

NORTH CAROLINA: Jobless rate in NC rises to 11.2%

SOUTH CAROLINA: Senators consider eliminating corporate income tax

VIRGINIA: Gov. McDonnell to launch aggressive campaign to reshape government

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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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9/15: Some governors worried about Medicaid growth

Associated Press: Medicaid growth could hurt state budgets, say some governors

Some governors worry their financial burdens could get worse as Congress works on a comprehensive health care bill, especially as states struggle with high rates of poverty and unemployment.

“If the federal government wants to expand health care to everybody in the country, they should not force the states to pay part of the bill. If they want to do that, the federal government should pay for it,” said Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, who is chairman of the Republican Governors Association.

Medicaid budgets are already strained in some states. In Georgia, Gov. Sonny Perdue ordered 3 percent funding cuts for Medicaid and public schools and 5 percent cuts for most other state programs because of weak state tax collections in late July, just three weeks into the new fiscal year.

In Mississippi, where 21.1 percent of residents live in poverty and 20 percent are enrolled in Medicaid, paying for health care has long been a struggle. Barbour said a mandate to cover more people could lead to tax increases.

Also in the South:

ALABAMA: Gov. Riley returns from Europe, says state will pursue foreign firms more aggressively

ARKANSAS: Former judge debates Sen. Baker over Employee Free Choice Act

FLORIDA: State DOT considers pay-per-mile motorists' tax

GEORGIA: Tom Baxter: Jody Powell, a true original
"In an age of instant communications and overnight campaigns, it’s hard to convey just what a revolution in political communications Jody Powell was instrumental in pulling off. But I’ll always think of it in terms of two picnics."

KENTUCKY: $10.5 million in federal stimulus funds to help Kentucky go greener

LOUISIANA: Violent crime rate down in state

MISSISSIPPI: Wetlands project approved for Mississippi Delta

NORTH CAROLINA: State's Justice Dept. supports fight against Navy's practice landing field

SOUTH CAROLINA: State Superintendent of Education Jim Rex joins gubernatorial race

TENNESSEE: Rural residents in parts of state lack safe water

VIRGINIA: NRA switches support to McDonnell in governor's race

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