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Baton Rouge is the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. Located in East Baton Rouge Parish, the city is the second largest in the state, and has a population of 229,553 people as of the 2010. Baton Rouge is a major industrial, petrochemical, medical, and research center of the American South. The Port of Baton Rouge is the ninth largest in the United States in terms of tonnage shipped, and is the farthest upstream Mississippi River port capable of handling Panamax ships. In addition to this natural barrier, the city has built a levee system stretching from the bluff southward to protect the riverfront and low-lying agricultural areas. The European-American history of Baton Rouge dates from 1699, when French explorer Sieur d'Iberville leading an exploration party up the Mississippi River saw a reddish cypress pole festooned with bloody animals that marked the boundary between the Houma and Bayou Goula tribal hunting grounds. They called the pole and its location le bâton rouge, or the red stick.

Shreveport-Bossier City serves as the economic and cultural center of a 200-mile radius extending into Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas, known as the Ark-La-Tex. Home to six riverboat casinos as well as a racetrack casino, Shreveport-Bossier is known to many as a regional destination for gaming and nightlife. Shreveport-Bossier’s Mardi Gras season is one of the largest in Louisiana, drawing crowds estimated to total more than 400,000 each year. Louisiana is known for its incredible food, and Shreveport-Bossier is no exception. From traditional Cajun and Creole favorites like crawfish étouffée, gumbo, po-boys and jambalaya to global cuisines including Italian, Mexican, Chinese, Vietnamese, Indian and more, Shreveport-Bossier’s food scene is a unique blend of many cultures that could only be found in Louisiana.

Jackson is the capital of the U.S. state of Mississippi. Located south of the Yazoo River, it is considered to be the southern border of the Mississippi Delta. Jackson is the most populous city in Mississippi, and is one of two county seats of Hinds County, with the town of Raymond being the other. The population of the city declined from 184,256 at the 2000 census to 173,514 at the 2010 census. The 2010 census ascribed a population of 539,057 to the five-county Jackson metropolitan area. Jackson is ranked 3rd out of America's 100 largest metro areas for the best "Bang For Your Buck" city according to Forbes magazine. The study measured overall affordability, housing rates, and more. The city is named after Andrew Jackson, who was a general at the time of the naming but later became president of the United States. The city is the anchor of the Metro area. USS Jackson will be the first ship of the United States Navy to be named in honor of the city.

Tuscaloosa is a city in and the seat of Tuscaloosa County in west central Alabama. Located on the Black Warrior River, it is the fifth-largest city in Alabama, with an estimated population of 93,357 in 2012. Founded in 1819, the city was named after Tuskaloosa, the chieftain of a Muskogean-speaking people who battled and was defeated by Hernando de Soto in 1540 in the Battle of Mabila, and served as Alabama's capital city from 1826 to 1846. Tuscaloosa is the regional center of industry, commerce, healthcare, and education for the area of west-central Alabama known as West Alabama. It is the principal city of the Tuscaloosa Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes Tuscaloosa, Hale and Pickens counties and has an estimated metro population in 2012 of 233,389. Tuscaloosa is also the home of the University of Alabama, Stillman College and Shelton State Community College. While the city attracted international attention when Mercedes-Benz announced it would build its first automotive assembly plant in North America in Tuscaloosa County, the University of Alabama remains the dominant economic and cultural engine in the city.

Tupelo is the county seat and the largest city of Lee County, Mississippi. It is also the seventh-largest city in the state. It is situated in northeast Mississippi, between Memphis, Tennessee, and Birmingham, Alabama, and is accessed by U.S. Route 78. As of the 2010 census, the population was 34,546, with the surrounding counties of Lee, Pontotoc and Itawamba supporting a population of 138,976. The city is best known as the birthplace of Elvis Presley. As an infant in Tupelo in 1936, Presley survived a tornado that was ranked as the fourth deadliest in United States history and killed more than 230 people.

Oak Brook was incorporated as a village in 1958, due in large part to the efforts of Paul Butler, a prominent civic leader and landowner whose father had first moved to the vicinity in 1898 and opened a dairy farm shortly thereafter. Prior to incorporation, the name Oak Brook was used by local residents to distinguish their community from neighboring Hinsdale and Elmhurst, going back to the founding of the Oak Brook Civic Association almost two decades earlier. The original boundaries were smaller than the present extent of the village, but a considerable amount of land was acquired soon after the founding of the village, including the land that is now the site of the Oakbrook Center shopping mall, which opened in 1962. According to the 2010 census, the village has a total area of 8.28 square miles. Oak Brook is located about 19 miles west of the Chicago Loop. Although Oak Brook is not directly served by any CTA or Metra trains, the commercial corridor along 22nd Street is served by several Pace bus routes, and train stations in neighboring villages offer commuter train access to downtown Chicago.

Grand Rapids is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. The city is located on the Grand River about 25 miles east of Lake Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 188,040. In 2010, the Grand Rapids metropolitan area had a population of 1,005,648 and a combined statistical area, Grand Rapids-Muskegon-Holland, population of 1,321,557. It is the county seat of Kent County, Michigan, second largest city in Michigan, and the largest city in West Michigan. The city and surrounding communities are economically diverse, and contribute heavily to the health care, information technology, automotive, aviation, and consumer goods manufacturing industries, among others. Grand Rapids was the hometown of Gerald Ford, the 38th President of the United States. He, along with his wife, former First Lady Betty Ford, is buried on the grounds of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids. Grand Rapids is home to five of the world's leading office furniture companies.