Politics
December 21, 2012 -
Dec. 22 marks four years since a coal ash impoundment collapsed at a TVA power plant in Tennessee, inundating a community and two rivers. As EPA drags its feet over issuing federal coal ash rules, politicians backed by industry interests are maneuvering to block the agency's ability to protect people and the environment -- even though their states have been adversely affected by poor regulation.
December 14, 2012 -
What does it say about the current state of North Carolina politics that not only is voter suppression legislation expected to pass early in the 2013 legislative session but that the head of Raleigh's leading conservative think tank doesn't even believe it's controversial?
December 13, 2012 -
Today's right-to-work movement can trace its origins to the Jim Crow and Red Scare South.
December 11, 2012 -
In addition to hearing challenges to laws banning same-sex marriage, the Supreme Court will consider the constitutionality of a key part of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, landmark civil rights legislation that's been increasingly under attack.
December 7, 2012 -
A proponent of abolishing the minimum wage and corporate income taxes, Dan Forest is quite likely the most conservative statewide elected official in North Carolina. But his work with a nonprofit that criticizes retailer Sears for promoting pornography by showing photos of women in lingerie crosses the line into wacky.
December 6, 2012 -
The N.C. Utilities Commission and attorney general have settled their probes into Duke Energy's controversial $32 billion merger with Progress Energy. But a watchdog group calls the settlements a "sell-out of the public" and says it will continue to fight the merger in court.
December 5, 2012 -
U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms died in 2008 without ever disavowing his support for racial segregation, which is why some are protesting a bill to name a post office after him in his hometown of Raleigh, N.C. But there's something apropos about the proposal, as Helms pioneered the use of the postal service to promote his divisive politics.
