Politics

July 21, 2017 - When Gov. Roy Cooper of North Carolina announced this week that his administration would submit formal comments against offshore seismic testing for oil and gas, Terry McAuliffe of Virginia became the last governor along the Southeast coast who's continuing to press for offshore drilling.

July 14, 2017 - Eight justices who had previously dismissed a challenge to same-sex spousal benefits recently changed their minds. Some have argued they were riding a change in political tides, but there may be more to the story than a nationwide conservative swing.

July 14, 2017 - Two years ago this week Sandra Bland was found dead inside a Texas jail cell. Last month Texas passed a law named in her honor, but it focuses on mental health issues in jails and ignores the other factors that contributed to her suicide.

July 14, 2017 - When the North Carolina legislature passed its so-called "raise the age" law last month, it became the last state to stop automatically treating 16- and 17-year-olds as adults in the criminal justice system. But some still will be, and that puts them at risk of serious harm.

July 14, 2017 - After the controversial commission requested voter data from all 50 states, it faced an onslaught of resistance and lawsuits. Meanwhile, rattled voters have been contacting elections officials to get their names off of the rolls.

July 14, 2017 - A ballot initiative campaign in Florida and a lawsuit against Louisiana seek to restore voting rights to people convicted of felonies after they're released from prison. The efforts are parts of a broader movement to overturn felony disenfranchisement laws rooted in white-supremacist politics.

July 12, 2017 - A perennial bill to create a national single-payer public health insurance program has record support in this Congress. Though none of the cosponsors are Republicans, they include a growing number of conservative Southern Democrats, signaling a shift in health care politics.