Politics

July 29, 2016 - This week 69 state lawmakers from the Carolinas and Georgia, both Democrats and Republicans, sent a letter asking the Obama administration to block seismic testing permits for oil and gas deposits off the East Coast. They joined hundreds of other local communities, elected officials, business groups and scientists opposed to offshore exploration and drilling.

July 27, 2016 - This is the first time in 40 years the Democratic and Republican presidential nominating conventions will not receive public financing, the culmination of an long trend of growing private funding of the gatherings.

July 22, 2016 - The National Basketball Association's decision to pull its 2017 All-Star Game from Charlotte because of HB2 could cost the city up to $100 million and may cause the law's economic damage to become an even bigger issue in North Carolina's closely watched 2016 elections.

July 21, 2016 - Half a million eligible voters have moved to North Carolina in the past five years. They are bringing new views to the state while at the same time grappling with its complicated new voting requirements.

July 15, 2016 - Last week's shooting deaths of five police officers at a Black Lives Matter demonstration in Dallas have led to calls for new state and federal hate-crime legislation stiffening penalties for attacks on police officers. But critics of such laws contend they could deter efforts to protect against identity-based crimes and stifle calls for police accountability.

July 15, 2016 - In different ways, members of the South's small but fast-growing Asian-American community are demonstrating unity with the Black Lives Matter movement.

July 15, 2016 - This week North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory signed a bill that blocks public access to footage from body cameras worn by police. The state joins others across the South that have taken similar action.