north carolina

August 2, 2018 - State supreme court seats across the South are up for grabs this year, and contributions are pouring into partisan races. What does the research tell us about the effects of big-money politics on the judiciary?

July 30, 2018 - North Carolina lawmakers recently called a special session to make major changes to election ballots. The changes aim to influence the outcome of the state Supreme Court election and referenda on constitutional amendments that would give the legislature more power. 

July 20, 2018 - With President Trump nominating a judge with a record of hostility to voting rights to the U.S. Supreme Court, state courts and constitutions are likely to play an increasingly critical role in protecting those rights — but those institutions are under political assault by conservatives.

June 29, 2018 - In the final days of its 2018 session, the General Assembly approved a series of constitutional amendments for the November ballot that if passed would restrict voting and expand the legislature's power over the courts and the executive branch.

June 18, 2018 - Once deemed among the most restrictive states for ballot access, North Carolina changed its law recently and will have two new parties on this year's ballot. But other Southern states are less welcoming to political newcomers.

June 15, 2018 - A North Carolina voter charged with violating the state's ban on voting while on probation for a felony is arguing that the policy violates the U.S. Constitution's equal protection clause. 

June 8, 2018 - The United Daughters of the Confederacy didn't just memorialize Confederate veterans. It also memorialized the Ku Klux Klan and shared its ideology of white supremacy.

June 7, 2018 - Two Southern communities that once embraced a federal program that lets local police enforce federal immigration law signaled their rejection of it in recent sheriff elections. To see which communities have been involved in the program, we mapped state and local participants nationwide and over time.

May 25, 2018 - Because 90 percent of those who fall in the Medicaid coverage gap reside in the South, thousands of Southerners have already died because of a lack of health care access. Now Southern states are beginning to adopt Medicaid work requirements that will strip many of their health care coverage. 

May 24, 2018 - A key permit voided. An environmental justice complaint. Accusations of fraud. In recent weeks, Dominion and Duke Energy's proposed pipeline to carry fracked gas from West Virginia at least as far south as North Carolina has faced several setbacks. But the developers plan on moving ahead with the $6.5 billion project anyway — and they're investing in creating a political climate favorable to those plans.