State Policy

June 22, 2012 - Following the General Assembly's passage of legislation legalizing fracking, North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue's office reports receiving thousands of calls and emails asking for a veto. She also got a letter from the former mayor of a Texas community where fracking is big business warning about the bill's threats to property rights.

June 21, 2012 - A journal funded by leading North Carolina conservative benefactor Art Pope attacks the science of sea level rise, offering as evidence an article that appeared in a periodical published by Lyndon LaRouche supporters, by someone who champions the pseudoscience of dowsing.

June 20, 2012 - Responding to fracking opponents' concerns over how cash-strapped North Carolina can afford to regulate the industry, the legislature's Republican leadership is reportedly in talks with the American Petroleum Institute about paying for its own regulators. But given API's role leading up the BP disaster in the Gulf, does that really serve the public interest?

June 15, 2012 - North Carolina's Republican-controlled legislature has voted to legalize fracking in the state. Opponents are putting pressure on Democratic Gov. Beverly Perdue to veto the bill, which does not appear to have enough support for an override.

June 11, 2012 - Trayvon Martin's is far from the only shooting in which the controversial law has been at issue, as shown by other incidents in places including Texas, Louisiana and Florida.

June 6, 2012 - Conservative political activists connected to Wal-Mart and Amway are funding a campaign to funnel public money to religious and other private schools.

June 1, 2012 - The campaign calling on companies to sever ties with the American Legislative Exchange Council is one of the most successful corporate accountability initiatives in history, but it now faces the challenge of persuading those unfazed by consumer unrest.