Politics
February 4, 2013 -
Critics say the president's plan for a new nonprofit group to push his second-term agenda opens the door to influence by corporations and other big donors.
February 1, 2013 -
A by-the-numbers look at how claims of "states' rights" -- once used to defend racial segregation -- are being used to justify legislative assaults on the interests of economically struggling citizens in North Carolina, Mississippi and elsewhere across the South.
January 31, 2013 -
The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy fought the Obama administration in court to get it to disclose details about the $8.3 billion in loan guarantees it offered private companies to build two nuclear reactors at Georgia Power's Plant Vogtle. Though heavily redacted, the documents they got suggest there may be trouble for taxpayers if the deal is finalized as now structured.
January 30, 2013 -
Every December, the family foundation run by GOP mega-donor Art Pope publicizes the money it gives to the arts and community services. But it rarely mentions its grants to conservative groups and causes -- even though they make up 70% of the Pope Foundation's philanthropy.
January 30, 2013 -
The legislative session that starts today promises to bring big changes to North Carolina as the leaders of the once-progressive state seek to slash unemployment insurance, create a more regressive tax code, impose voter ID requirements, increase private control of public schools, and enshrine right-to-work in the state constitution.
January 25, 2013 -
Super PACs and outside spending groups spent millions on state-level races in North Carolina. Who are these groups? Where did there money come from, and where did it go?
January 25, 2013 -
At the same time North Carolina is dramatically expanding the number of charter schools operating in the state, new research from Duke University finds that charter schools are much more likely than traditional public schools to be racially unbalanced -- and that can have negative educational consequences for students.