Politics

February 24, 2012 - For-profit businesses have contributed $31 million to date to super PACs, independent committees that can raise unlimited funds to influence elections -- and companies in Southern states have been especially generous.

February 21, 2012 - Wake County, N.C. Commission Chair Paul Coble, who is running for Congress, led an effort to support a constitutional ban on gay marriage. He is also battling a sustainability initiative that he suggests is part of a shadowy United Nations plot to take over the world.

February 21, 2012 - Democrats and voting rights advocates successfully rebuffed an effort to pass a voter photo ID requirement in North Carolina in 2011. Now state Republicans are giving mixed signals about whether voter ID is back on the agenda.

February 17, 2012 - On an island off the coast of Florida, the billionaire brothers behind Koch Industries recently gave an order to push the privatization of schools, prisons and anything else standing in the way of the almighty Corporation.

February 16, 2012 - Internal documents obtained from the Heartland Institute, a leading player in the climate disinformation campaign, show that the group is counting on continuing support from the North Carolina conservative benefactor and retail magnate.

February 15, 2012 - Students in Raleigh, North Carolina -- the home base of top Republican donor Art Pope -- are picketing Pope's stores, hoping to highlight a disconnect between his low-income, minority shoppers and the conservative agenda his money supports.

February 13, 2012 - A new study finds that wage theft is a shockingly common problem -- and a growing number of states and local communities are looking for solutions.