The 2024 moments that will stick with us: Reflections from the Gulf States Newsroom

Stephan Bisaha, senior reporter covering economic mobility, based in Birmingham

There's one moment that really felt like covering history for me, and that was the Volkswagen assembly plant workers in Chatanooga, Tennessee, voting to join the UAW.

I drove up to watch the results at a union watch party in a local union hall and it really leaned into the party vibe of an election watch party.

I did a lot of great interviews and had good conversations. But what really stood out was just a burst of cheers every time the count total got updated.

I have a lot of experience covering unions in the South and I've seen a lot of small union victories and very large defeats. And that was still to come for the UAW. Just a month later, Mercedes assembly plant workers in Alabama voted against unionizing.

Yet this was the first major union victory I saw in the South. And the people there felt it too — how big of a moment this was. You could hear it.

Now, we'll see what's coming next. Volkswagen and the union, they're still in negotiations and that could lead to more union interest in the South or apathy. Either way, I'm looking forward to following it in 2025.

• READ MORE: Volkswagen workers vote yes to unionizing, igniting UAW’s push to organize the South
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Drew Hawkins, health equity reporter, based in New Orleans

My name is Drew Hawkins, and I cover health equity for the Gulf States Newsroom.

I’m based in New Orleans, but I get to travel all around the region and meet all kinds of different people. And I meet people who are sometimes in really tough spots.

One of the stories I did last year was about opioid addiction in Birmingham, Alabama. The helper I found there is a woman named Suzanne Smith. She spends her nights meeting up with people living on the street who are struggling with addiction, “her people,” as she calls them.

She gives them supplies like bandages, clean syringes, clothes, food, things like that. But she also gives them inspiration. Before she leaves, she hands them one of these little blocks from the dollar store that come with motivational quotes on them, like this one she gave to a man named Roy who was living under a bridge.

“Huh. It says your greatest creation is always going to be your life story,” Roy reads to Suzanne’s delight.

“Oh, yeah!” she exclaims.

That moment is really powerful to me that even in a hard situation, there’s always hope.

And so in the news and in life in general, really, when things seem hard or hopeless or scary, look for the helpers. And as I look forward to my coverage next year, I’ll be doing the same.

• READ MORE: ‘Where’s Jeff?’: Unhoused and struggling with opioid addiction in Birmingham
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Joseph King, Gulf States Newsroom sports & culture reporting fellow, based in Birmingham

My name is Joseph King, and I cover sports and culture for the Gulf States Newsroom. I’m based in Birmingham.

I covered a lot of cool things this year, like Jon Batiste coming to Birmingham and the jazz history in the city, and Major League Baseball honoring the Negro Leagues at Rickwood Field.

But something that really stood out to me wasn’t even anything I reported on. It was when I talked to students at Huffman Middle School’s career fair back in May before summer break. I asked the students to interview each other and let them use my equipment.

These moments stood out to me because, one, that was my old middle school, and I saw myself in them, seeing them trying to get comfortable with the microphone and awkwardly asking questions. I remember that same feeling.

And who knows, maybe a few of the students walked away knowing they want to be a journalist one day.

Next year, I’m going to build off everything I accomplished and worked on in 2024 and continue to represent the community the best way I know how — with my writing and my voice.

• READ MORE: Jon Batiste reflects on the South’s musical history: ‘I’m rooted in something bigger than me’
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Danny McArthur, environmental justice reporter, based in Tupelo

My name is Danny McArthur, and I cover environmental justice for the Gulf States Newsroom. I’m based in Jackson, Mississippi.

In my reporting, I’ve ended up spending a lot of time sweating in the sun on farms across the region.

In July, I went to Iowa, Louisiana, way out in the southwest part of the state, to report a story for NPR’s Climate Solutions Week. I met up with Hilery Gobert, who is using climate-smart methods to grow his crops.

He took me and photographer Leslie Gamboni around the fields to look at the variety of crops. As we walked around, he had us try one of them.

I love that tape because it shows what it’s like to be out in the field with people when they are doing what they love. He was so proud of everything he was growing on that farm and you could hear it in his voice. And everything he did was so intentional, down to growing sunflowers to attract pests because he doesn’t believe in using pesticides.

I’m looking forward to telling more stories about climate solutions that everyday people are testing out in our region.

• READ MORE: These small Black-owned farms are growing crops with the climate in mind
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Maya Miller, community engagement reporter, based in Jackson

I’m Maya Miller, community engagement reporter for the Gulf States Newsroom, and my end-of-the-year fave is when I visited Lowndesboro, Alabama, and I ended up at a mobile food pantry at a church.

And that’s where I met Viola Loving and her three dogs. Viola Loving has been living out of her truck for over a year, and she’s been battling health issues for even longer.

And as I’m talking to her about what the food pantry means to her, I hear barking and I look and I say, ‘Oh, you have two dogs?’

And she pulls out another dog. She says, ‘No…’

“They’re my little protectors,” she says.

She refers to them as her protectors because they alert her when someone’s coming up to her truck whenever she’s trying to find a moment to rest.

• READ MORE: How Alabama food banks are keeping rural communities fed
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Kat Stromquist, senior reporter covering justice, incarceration and gun violence, based in New Orleans

My name is Kat Stromquist, and I cover criminal justice for the Gulf States Newsroom. I’m based in New Orleans.

This fall, I was visiting with some advocates at a panel in Ridgeland, Mississippi. They’re calling for the release of the Mississippi Five, a group of women who’ve been in prison for a long time.

At the panel, I hadn’t known that we were going to hear from several women who’d been locked up themselves. This is one of them, Denise Daquigan. She’s talking to the former head of the state’s parole board.

“I want to say thank you for allowing me a second chance,” she says. “I’m grateful for that. If it wasn’t against the law, I’d jump on you and just give you a big old hug.”

This moment sticks with me because you can hear the warmth of a whole room of people supporting her. And after she spent decades in prison, the joy and gratitude it’s giving her to be free.

Next year, I want to center the voices of people who’ve had the life-changing experience of being in prison and the forces that lead people there in the first place.

• READ MORE: ‘Mississippi Five’ parole issues highlight the toll of ‘graying’ in Gulf South prisons
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This story was produced by the Gulf States Newsroom, a collaboration between Mississippi Public Broadcasting, WBHM in Alabama, WWNO and WRKF in Louisiana and NPR.