Politics

October 22, 2018 - While its customers suffered this year in hurricanes whose unusual intensity scientists have attributed to climate change, Duke Energy was contributing overwhelmingly to Republican politicians, whose party platform denies that climate change is a pressing concern.

October 19, 2018 - A new ad from Republican Justice Barbara Jackson raises ethical questions due to its partisan tone and stoking of conservative voters' fears about immigrants. Jackson has also shared alt-right followers' tweets and raised First Amendment concerns by blocking a Twitter follower for pointing out that she was retweeting a racist account.

October 18, 2018 - As Republicans in Florida and West Virginia were about to replace most of the members of their supreme courts, the courts asserted their independence and blocked the partisan moves. But North Carolina's high court still faces the threat of a GOP takeover plan.

October 17, 2018 - Oil, gas and coal companies are bankrolling the Florida governor's campaign to join the U.S. Senate as increasingly intense storms batter his state.

October 12, 2018 - A look at the South's major state and federal elections this year, and how a Democratic surge could shift regional politics for years to come.

October 11, 2018 - The same secret-money group that pushed the U.S Senate to confirm Justice Brett Kavanaugh is dominating spending in judicial elections in Arkansas and elsewhere in the South. In some states, justices are looking to be re-elected with the help of campaign cash from corporations and law firms that have business before the courts.

October 11, 2018 - After the Civil War, new state constitutions drafted with the help of freedmen required former Confederate states to establish their first public school systems. But 150 years later, education advocates are still fighting to ensure that Southern states live up to their mandate to offer every student a decent education.