Debbie Elliott

Spoken Dish Asks Southerners: What Is Your Food Identity?

Debbie Elliott — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 15:57:00 +0000

Does cast-iron skillet cornbread, hot and crispy from the oven, transport you back to your grandma's kitchen? Do you cook with certain ingredients as a link to your roots in the South? If so, "A Spoken Dish" wants to hear your story.

The Southern Foodways Alliance is teaming up with Whole Foods Market and Georgia Organics in this video storytelling project as a way to celebrate and document food memories and rituals of the American South.

The goal is "to document the palate of a changing South," says A Spoken Dish producer Kate Medley.

Fifty Years After Medgar Evers' Killing, The Scars Remain

Debbie Elliott — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 10:11:00 +0000

For Myrlie Evers-Williams, the widow of slain NAACP leader Medgar Evers, the memories of 1963 are still raw.

Her family lived in terror behind the locked doors of their Jackson, Miss., home — a modest, three-bedroom, ranch-style house in one of the first new subdivisions built for African-Americans in Mississippi's segregated capital city.

Gulf Coast States Get Creative With BP Oil Spill Money

Debbie Elliott — Tue, 28 May 2013 22:38:00 +0000

Gulf Coast states are lining up to spend $1 billion from BP on coastal restoration. The money is part of BP's legal responsibility to restore the Gulf of Mexico's natural resources in the aftermath of the worst oil disaster in U.S. history.

But the nature of some of the state projects, including boat ramps and a beachfront hotel, is raising questions about just what counts as coastal restoration.

Earlier this month, Alabama's Gov. Robert Bentley stood on a sugar white state park beach to announce plans for an $85 million lodge and conference center.

Massive Sinkhole In Louisiana Baffles Officials

Debbie Elliott — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 20:58:00 +0000

Louisiana officials are grappling with a giant sinkhole that's threatening a neighborhood. A salt mine collapsed last year, creating a series of problems regulators say they've never seen before, including tremors and oil and gas leaks and a sinkhole that now covers 9 acres.

Residents have been evacuated for more than seven months now and are losing patience.

Ernie Boudreaux lives in a trailer on Jambalaya Street in Bayou Corne, La. Strange things have been happening to his home, he says.

"It cracks. You can hear it.

Alabama Divided As Court Prepares To Hear Voting Rights Challenge

Debbie Elliott — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 22:01:00 +0000

This week, the U.S. Supreme Court takes up a challenge to the 1965 Voting Rights Act.