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October 3, 2012 - Indiana Republican Steve Buyer, who fought tobacco regulation while in the House, is now representing the North Carolina-based tobacco giant, which has been aggressively marketing smokeless tobacco products in the face of declining U.S. cigarette consumption rates.

October 2, 2012 - Unallowable expenses the utility giant submitted as part of recent North Carolina rate hike cases included lobbying, political junkets and costs related to a criminal investigation in Indiana. A watchdog group calls for an audit and penalties for improper future submissions.

October 2, 2012 - A citizen lawsuit under the Clean Air Act seeks to force the Environmental Protection Agency to impose stricter limits on hazardous air pollution from oil refineries, which has been linked to cancer and other serious health problems.

October 1, 2012 - Today marks 50 years since James Meredith became the first black person to enter the University of Mississippi, sparking a riot that some have called "the last battle of the Civil War." Now 80, he has continued to baffle admirers and detractors throughout his life.

September 28, 2012 - The U.S. Geological Survey verifies earlier EPA findings that fracking for natural gas contaminated groundwater in rural Wyoming.

September 28, 2012 - Most of this campaign's rhetoric has focused on creating jobs and helping the middle class. But many of the few jobs being created are low-wage jobs, highlighting that job growth alone will not address the plight of hard-working poor families, who make up a fast-growing portion of the electorate.

September 27, 2012 - The Democratic-controlled Wake County School Board fires a superintendent hired by Republicans bent on ending a successful desegregation policy -- but the move may have put the system's funding in political peril.