State Policy
July 19, 2013 -
In May, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) announced a plan to automatically restore voting rights on an individual basis to nonviolent felons who completed their sentence. This week, his administration revealed the details of the plan, which was crafted with the help of voting rights advocacy groups.
July 19, 2013 -
The Republican-led state Senate unveiled legislation this week that will make it harder for hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians to vote. Voting rights advocates are protesting the latest example of the state's regressive political turn.
July 15, 2013 -
Civil rights and gun safety leaders are calling for the repeal of what some decry as racially biased "shoot-first" laws, which are especially popular in the South. Some are putting renewed pressure on the corporate members of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the business advocacy group that promoted such laws in the states.
July 11, 2013 -
More legislators in North Carolina than in any other state have signed Americans for Prosperity's pledge that discourages action on climate change. Credit for the pledge's political success goes to the billionaire brothers of Koch Industries who founded AFP -- but also to North Carolina's own Art Pope, a conservative mega-donor and longtime AFP leader.
July 10, 2013 -
A three-judge panel has ruled that North Carolina's GOP-drawn voting districts should stand despite charges of gerrymandering. What does it mean for voters of color -- and for voters in general?
July 8, 2013 -
With another Moral Monday protest getting underway at the North Carolina General Assembly, a group affiliated with the tea party movement offers a satirical song for the occasion titled "Marxist Mondays."
July 2, 2013 -
The N.C. commission charged with regulating fracking is protesting state lawmakers' effort to preempt its authority to require strong public disclosure rules for chemicals used in fracking for natural gas. Will North Carolina join other Southern states in adopting weak disclosure requirements?
