Money In Politics

January 6, 2016 - By the time President Obama announced a series of executive actions to restrict firearms this week, 147 Americans had already lost their lives to gun violence in the new year, with the first fatal shooting taking place in Florida just 15 minutes into 2016. But the ongoing carnage didn't stop the gun lobby and politicians it backs from threatening to block the plan.

December 10, 2015 - Twenty-two out of the South's 26 U.S. senators voted against two gun-safety measures the day after last week's massacre in San Bernardino, California. All but one Southern senator voting "nay" received direct campaign donations from the National Rifle Association, benefited from outside political spending by the NRA, or both.

November 20, 2015 - Dirty-energy interests including Duke Energy and Koch Industries' owners are spending aggressively to kill policies that aim to speed the transition to a more environmentally sustainable energy future in states including North Carolina and Florida.

October 30, 2015 - With the rising flood of campaign cash in state supreme court elections, incumbent judges of color are having a harder time winning re-election than white incumbents, a new study finds. How bad is the problem, and what's the solution?

October 28, 2015 - North Carolina-based Duke Energy, already the nation's largest electric utility, has announced plans to buy Piedmont Natural Gas for $4.9 billion in cash. The merger would expand Duke's natural gas operations — and boost its already outsized political might.

October 23, 2015 - Two "social welfare" nonprofits that supported Marco Rubio and Thom Tillis in federal elections have been accused of violating a law that bars such groups from putting most of their resources towards political campaign activities. A watchdog group filed complaints with the IRS this week.

October 22, 2015 - Elected officials and scholars gathered in North Carolina recently to discuss how to transform the way the public thinks about money in politics.