north carolina

July 12, 2016 - The Baton Rouge Police Department, under fire for a militarized response to protests over last week's police shooting of Alton Sterling, is among the Louisiana law enforcement agencies that got surplus military gear through the Defense Department's 1033 program.

July 8, 2016 - With federal officials saying they've found nothing to prove the 2014 hanging death of the 17-year-old North Carolina youth was not self-inflicted, his death joins a list of other hangings of black men that have been ruled suicides despite suspicions of foul play. Another happened just this week in Atlanta.

July 8, 2016 - Since the U.S. Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act in 2013, states have made a slew of changes to election laws. A new report documents how these changes could impede Latino voters' access to the polls in a critical presidential election year.

July 7, 2016 - The utility initially requested a $50 million bond from two climate watchdog groups challenging the planned construction of a $1 billion gas plant near Asheville. Now Duke is asking for almost triple that amount in a move with serious implications for democracy.

July 1, 2016 - An environmental group wants the N.C. Ethics Commission to investigate whether the McCrory administration withheld information about a dinner meeting with Duke Energy officials and used state resources to benefit his re-election campaign. It's not the first ethics complaint filed against McCrory — or the first involving his relationship with the utility.

June 30, 2016 - In Southern battleground states, the growing Latino electorate could be a decisive voting bloc — and especially motivated after last week's 4-4 Supreme Court deadlock effectively halted President Obama's deportation relief programs.

June 24, 2016 - The political donor class is overwhelmingly white, male, older and wealthy, and policies reflect their interests, worsening inequality. New reports show how public campaign financing diversifies contributors and helps elect officials who better represent constituents' interests, leading to policies that promote equity.