August 8, 2014 -
Proponents of voter ID laws say they're needed to prevent fraud, but a study of all reported cases of the kind of fraud they address found just 31 credible incidents over 14 years out of a billion ballots cast. But about 3,000 votes have been rejected for lack of ID in just four states with the nation's strictest voter ID laws, with blacks and the poor most at risk of disenfranchisement.
August 7, 2014 -
This week Gov. Pat McCrory announced that his budget director, conservative mega-donor and businessman Art Pope, will resign. The move frees Pope to resume leadership in the political influence machine he's built just in time for the fall elections.
August 7, 2014 -
A national coalition of young racial justice organizers has launched a public education campaign to change how young people think about voting and boost turnout for this year's election. The #KnowYourPower campaign will use social media to reach millennials, the demographic cohort whose starting birth year is usually identified as 1982.
August 6, 2014 -
A new national poll has found that fewer Southerners say their energy choices have an impact on the environment compared to their fellow Americans in the West, Midwest and Northeast.
August 5, 2014 -
As the EPA gets ready to release the nation's first-ever federal coal ash regulations, and while state legislatures like North Carolina's grapple with protecting waterways from the toxic power plant waste, a new report has documented another serious health problem from coal ash: airborne pollution, which can damage lungs, cause immune system problems, and lead to heart attacks and strokes.
August 4, 2014 -
Should companies that reincorporate abroad to avoid federal taxes be able to win federal contracts? A group of Democratic members of Congress has drafted legislation to halt the practice.
August 1, 2014 -
At the same time North Carolina legislators are cutting funding for programs due to a $1.5 billion budget shortfall caused by tax cuts, they want to pay for new State Board of Elections positions to investigate voter fraud -- despite ample evidence showing it's not a problem.