Politics
June 17, 2016 -
After the June 12 massacre at an Orlando nightclub, some politicians refused to even acknowledge the targets were LGBT people. Could it be because of their own animus toward LGBT people, which has found expression in a record number of anti-LGBT bills introduced in recent years?
June 17, 2016 -
A watchdog group has filed complaints against 10 "social welfare" nonprofits for allegedly breaking campaign finance laws. Six of the nonprofits are also targets of a criminal complaint submitted to the FBI and Justice Department accusing them of lying to the IRS. Several are part of the Koch brothers' conservative spending machine.
June 10, 2016 -
MapLight has compiled a database of all politically active "social welfare" nonprofits, many of which formed after a 2010 U.S. Supreme Court ruling loosening rules for political spending. It documents 650 such groups in the South, with some of the top-grossing ones part of the billionaire Koch brothers' formidable political spending machine.
June 10, 2016 -
North Carolina lawmakers recently proposed drastically cutting tuition at several historically black public universities but altered the bill after protests by HBCU students and alumni. One of the lawmakers behind the measure was also a key player behind a law that limited voting rights and dramatically affected HBCU students, and they haven't forgotten.
June 9, 2016 -
Two climate watchdogs will now have a chance to continue their appeal of North Carolina regulators' decision allowing Duke Energy to build a $1.1 billion fracked gas power plant thanks to an order handed down this week by the state appeals court rejecting a $10 million bond requirement from the nonprofit groups.
June 3, 2016 -
After North Carolina lawmakers' attempt to help the reelection of a conservative state Supreme Court justice failed, a business group has spent nearly half a million dollars backing his campaign in hopes of preserving the court's conservative majority.
June 3, 2016 -
North Carolina will hold a special primary election for Congress on June 7 because of a court ruling that the legislature unconstitutionally gerrymandered districts. The election is costing the state millions, with turnout expected to be extremely low. Will the debacle boost the case for independent redistricting?