nc general assembly

May 23, 2014 - After public outcry over a bill to lift North Carolina's fracking moratorium that made unauthorized disclosure of fracking chemical trade secrets a felony offense, the state Senate changed the penalty to a misdemeanor before passing the bill and sending it to the House, where it appears it might face opposition for other reasons.

May 22, 2014 - As scientists issue fresh warnings about the threat of dramatic sea-level rise over the coming centuries due to climate change, North Carolina officials in charge of ensuring the coastal state is planning adequately want to limit their forecasts to 30 years to satisfy the demands of pro-development interests.

May 20, 2014 - The same day weekly mass protests began again at the North Carolina legislature, civil rights groups filed a legal motion to block a restrictive new voting law from being enforced for this year's election.

May 19, 2014 - Legislation to open the state to oil and gas drilling would impose prison time for unauthorized individuals to disclose chemicals in fracking fluids that the industry wants kept secret. At the same time, it fails to address some of fracking's most serious environmental and public health risks.

May 12, 2014 - Democracy North Carolina has found that the lawmakers appear to have duplicate voter registrations in other states. The watchdog group says the finding challenges the claim of some of the lawmakers' colleagues that double registrations are "proof positive" of voter fraud.

April 29, 2014 - Today marks one year since 17 North Carolinians were arrested for nonviolent civil disobedience while protesting the state's hard-right political turn, sparking a movement that led to the arrests of almost 1,000 people and spread to other states. What's next?

March 28, 2014 - Civil rights groups suing North Carolina over its voter suppression law scored a victory in federal court this week with a ruling that state lawmakers must release some e-mails and other documents related to the bill's passage.