north carolina

March 27, 2012 - As North Carolina considers lifting its ban on the controversial natural-gas drilling technique known as hydraulic fracturing or "fracking," a growing body of evidence documents serious public-health threats due to air pollution from such operations, which have already been linked to water contamination.

March 21, 2012 - State regulators release a draft report for comment that says fracking for natural gas can be done safely -- but they also admit that there "is a lot of projecting going on."

March 1, 2012 - Members of the youth-led immigration advocacy group NC DREAM Team interrupted a North Carolina legislative meeting yesterday, shouting "I am undocumented, unafraid and unashamed!"

February 21, 2012 - Wake County, N.C. Commission Chair Paul Coble, who is running for Congress, led an effort to support a constitutional ban on gay marriage. He is also battling a sustainability initiative that he suggests is part of a shadowy United Nations plot to take over the world.

February 21, 2012 - Democrats and voting rights advocates successfully rebuffed an effort to pass a voter photo ID requirement in North Carolina in 2011. Now state Republicans are giving mixed signals about whether voter ID is back on the agenda.

February 20, 2012 - The largest independent convenience-store chain in the Southeast, Kangaroo is under fire for refusing to meet with advocates for the farmworkers who pick the tobacco it sells.

February 15, 2012 - Students in Raleigh, North Carolina -- the home base of top Republican donor Art Pope -- are picketing Pope's stores, hoping to highlight a disconnect between his low-income, minority shoppers and the conservative agenda his money supports.