Atlanta’s ‘Cop City’ Makes a Black Neighborhood a Testing Lab for AI Policing In America’s most surveilled city, a community loses forest land and gains a network of AI-enabled cameras.

NEW: Atlanta now has more surveillance cameras per person than any city on Earth outside a few in China. The densest grid is over Black neighborhoods.

To grow that AI-fueled network, the city decided to raze a part of its most important infrastructure: the forest.

capitalbnews.org/atlanta-cop-...

In New Orleans, Black Cowboy Tradition Collides With Prison Rodeo Spectacle As Angola’s prison rodeo debuts in the Superdome, Black riders in the city fight to preserve a tradition free from cages, cotton, and coerced labor.

For the first time ever, the Angola Prison Rodeo—where incarcerated men have been trampled by bulls since 1965— left the former slave plantation turned biggest U.S. prison and entered the heart of New Orleans, the city most tied to its legacy. So

So I went.

STORY: capitalbnews.org/angola-priso...

Residents Say Musk’s AI Supercomputer Is a ‘Death Sentence’ for Memphis Communities A federal lawsuit claims xAI secretly fired up dozens of gas turbines, pumping smog and cancer‑linked chemicals into Black neighborhoods to fuel its growth.

NEW: Residents Say Musk’s AI Supercomputer Is a ‘Death Sentence’ for Memphis Communities

The fight over who gets poisoned so Silicon Valley can train smarter chatbots has landed in federal court. 

capitalbnews.org/elon-musk-xa...

In a First for the U.S., Renewables Generate More Power Than Natural Gas In March, for the first time, renewables supplied more power to the U.S. than natural gas, a milestone in the transition to clean power. However, rising power demand is complicating the shift away from fossil fuels by extending the lives of many aging coal power plants.

In a first last month, renewables supplied more power to the U.S. than natural gas, a milestone in the shift to clean energy.

NEW: Officials said there was no “imminent threat” after an oil explosion.

An internal EPA memo said it was a “grave threat to human health.”

Residents in Roseland have been living in the gap between those two sentences.

I went to hear them out.

STORY: capitalbnews.org/roseland-tox...

Some Black Women Say the Best Thing They Did for Their Health Was Leave America Germany’s universal health care system, though far from perfect, has become a refuge for those seeking care and stability.

Germany’s universal health care system, though far from perfect, has become a refuge for those seeking care and stability.

capitalbnews.org/black-americans-germany-...

A ditch in Roseland, Louisiana, seven months after an oil facility exploded here.

An Oil Explosion in a Black Texas Town Traces Back to Trump's Iran and Venezuela Crises “The chickens have come home to roost,” one resident said. “Our exact fears have come true.”

In Jan, Black residents in TX reached out to me w/ a new fear: the invasion in Venezuela would lead to an oil disaster in their backyard

Their fears became reality. As oil prices spike from the Iran war, this facility refining Venezuela oil exploded
capitalbnews.org/port-arthur-...

After publication, the EPA said it “takes all water quality concerns seriously” and that their recent samples showed no coliform or E. coli. The agency says it’s now seeking consent to test inside affected homes but emphasized that sampling has "consistently met state standards."

U.S. Votes No as UN Calls Slave Trade ‘Gravest Crime’ and Backs Reparations Global leaders are moving toward reparations, but U.S. opposition leaves Black Americans fighting that battle largely on their own.

Only three countries voted against the UN resolution recognizing the transatlantic trafficking of enslaved Africans as the “gravest crime against humanity” and calling for reparations: the U.S., Israel, and Argentina.

capitalbnews.org/us-votes-aga...

This Black Town Has E. Coli in Its Drinking Water, but Feds Just Cut Support Cahokia Heights, ​a Black Illinois community, was already drowning in sewage. Now it faces the loss of crucial federal repair money.

NEW: Imagine your water runs brown, smells like poop, your yard floods with sewage every time it rains — and the government still says your water “meets standards”

That’s life in Cahokia Heights, a Black town where Congress just cut infrastructure funding
capitalbnews.org/cahokia-heig...

Georgia Lawmakers With Real Estate Ties Are Writing the State’s Housing Laws As corporate investors snap up Atlanta homes and drive up prices, nearly two-fifths of state legislators meant to regulate them are personally invested in the state’s housing market.

NEW investigation: Georgia families are being outbid by Wall Street for starter homes. Lawmakers promised to help. Instead, key bills keep dying. One reason why?

We found that nearly 40% of Georgia state lawmakers are invested in the real estate industry

capitalbnews.org/georgia-lawm...

After FAMU Signed ICE Deal, Students Demanded Answers, and Were Met With Silence The school is one of more than a dozen Florida colleges that have partnered with ICE amid a statewide push for closer immigration enforcement.

The school is one of more than a dozen Florida colleges that have partnered with ICE amid a statewide push for closer immigration enforcement.
https://capitalbnews.org/famu-ice-student-protests/

Are there organizations or people providing support for those who can't afford to pay for gas? If so, send me an email aallyah.wright@capitalbnews.org or DM.

Insurance Crisis Leaves Black Homeowners One Disaster Away From Homelessness From Altadena to Alabama, Black families learn the real catastrophe starts after the disaster, when insurers decide who is worth saving.

NEW: 5 Black family homes worth $2.1M burned to the ground
The insurance check? $297,000
One sister dead
Investors circling the ashes
This is what “disaster capitalism” looks like
Read what they did to Altadena’s Black families & what that signals for all of us: capitalbnews.org/housing-insu...

🌊 TODAY Mon 3/9 6pm PT/9pm ET

Judith Enck & @adamlmahoney.bsky.social
THE PROBLEM WITH PLASTIC: How We Can Save Ourselves and Our Planet Before It’s Too Late
@thenewpress.bsky.social
@beyondplastics.bsky.social

**ONLINE ONLY**

Register for free to access the event: citylights.com/events/judit...

The Little-Known Committee That Has Cost Black Farmers for Generations County committees may not be as powerful as they were at the height of Jim Crow, but the system still has serious consequences for Black producers.

93 years ago, the USDA created county committees where farmers elect their peers to give feedback on federal programs.

This committee is powerful and makes more than recommendations. It determines who gets help and who gets left behind.

MY LATEST: capitalbnews.org/usda-county-...

Georgia Is Letting a Railroad Seize Land a Black Family Has Owned For 100 Years Descendants of enslaved people are fighting an attempt to use eminent domain to carve a spur through one of Georgia’s largest Black‑owned farms.

NEW: A Georgia railroad owned by a descendant of an enslaver is using eminent domain to take land owned by descendants of the enslaved. If you want to understand how slavery still shapes power today, start here: capitalbnews.org/georgia-rail...

100 Years After a Black Family Was Forced Out, a Descendant Sues a California City A sculpture park is being built in Piedmont, California, to honor the Dearing family, but one relative says it’s not enough.

The Dearing family became the 1st Black homeowners in Piedmont, CA. But were forced out by their white neighbors and city officials.

100 years later, the city plans to honor them. Their great-granddaughter is suing for compensation and a formal apology.

capitalbnews.org/black-homeow...

A Rural S.C. County Quietly Approved a $2B Data Center During the Winter Storm Data centers are the nation's fastest-growing energy demand driver, but developers are using nondisclosure agreements to keep projects hidden.

NEW: Developers are using NDAs to keep data centers hidden while systematically choosing communities — often majority-Black rural counties — with less organized political and economic power.

In rural SC, a $2B project got pushed through during the ice storm: capitalbnews.org/secret-data-...

For Rural Black Communities, Winter Storm Fern Hits Where Recovery Never Finished As temperatures plunge, rural Black towns face days without power. Some are still rebuilding from the last catastrophe.

One of the worst hit places in Mississippi was Rolling Fork, a small, 80% Black town. On Monday, the entire town was out of power and running water.

Just three years ago, Rolling Fork saw 90% of its buildings and structures decimated by tornadoes.
capitalbnews.org/winter-storm...

Book Review: Confronting the Bane of Plastic Pollution "The Problem With Plastic" is both a call to arms and a thorough look at the far-reaching effects of plastic production.

“'The Problem With Plastic' is both a call to arms and a thorough look at the far-reaching effects of plastic production,” says @undark.org about our new book.

undark.org/2026/01/14/b...

Weds, 1/28/26 at 7 PM ET | WEBINAR with co-authors Judith Enck, Adam Mahoney, and Melissa Valliant — Beyond Plastics - Working To End Single-Use Plastic Pollution Join co-authors Judith Enck, Adam Mahoney, and Melissa Valliant on January 28 at 7 PM ET US for a free webinar to discuss the new book, “The Problem with Plastic”.

🚨 VIRTUAL EVENT SOON 🚨 Hop on your computer and get cozy on Jan. 28 with Judith Enck, Melissa Valliant, and I, co-authors of “The Problem with Plastic” via Zoom to learn more about the plastic pollution crisis and the solutions outlined in our new book. www.beyondplastics.org/book-events/...

We're all smiles 😊 “The Problem with Plastic” just made Independent Publishers Caucus' new weekly list of the top forty non-fiction bestsellers! 📕 🏅

Get your copy now at your local independent bookstore or online at @bookshop.org bit.ly/problemwithp...

A year after the Eaton Fire, permit delays keep Black families from returning - High Country News The Eaton Fire stripped Altadena of its trees, and for some Black families, of their place in it.

The Eaton Fire stripped Altadena of its trees, and for some Black families, of their place in it.

Why Afro-Venezuelans Oppose U.S. Intervention in Venezuela More than half of Venezuelans identify as having African ancestry, the highest rate of the world’s Spanish-speaking nations.

More than half of Venezuelans identify as having African ancestry, the highest rate of the world’s Spanish-speaking nations.

capitalbnews.org/us-attack-venezuela-afro...

After a White Town Rejected a Data Center, Developers Targeted a Black Area Four million Americans live within 1 mile of a data center. The communities closest to them are “overwhelmingly” non-white.

After a white county in South Carolina rejected a data center, developers have sets their sights on a Black community for a proposed data center complex the size of 1,200 football fields

Join Judith Enck in Conversation with The Atlantic’s Senior Editor, Vann R. Newkirk II at Politics & Prose at the Wharf — Beyond Plastics - Working To End Single-Use Plastic Pollution More than a critique, The Problem with Plastic emphasizes the urgent need for action against plastic's toxic legacy. Author Judith Enck will be in conversation with Vann R. Newkirk II, a senior…

We hope to see you at 7:00PM tomorrow at Politics and Prose at the Wharf for an inspiring book talk with our president Judith Enck in conversation with Vann R. Newkirk II, a senior editor at The Atlantic, to learn how you can protect yourself and the planet from plastic pollution.

Learn more:

thank you!