Policy Watch Investigates

Huge pools of standing flood water still surround houses in South Lumberton’s Turner Terrace neighborhood, drawing roving clouds of mosquitoes. Downed power lines float in the deep brown pools and lay tangled in the many fallen trees.

Last week Hurricane Florence crippled much of Southeast North Carolina. This week, as Governor Roy Cooper and the North Carolina General Assembly look at how best to help those whose lives were upended by the storm, we take a look at the relief effort so far by the numbers.

When the Silent Sam Confederate Statue was toppled at UNC-Chapel Hill last month, a flurry of text messages and e-mails began. The UNC Board of Governors. UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor Carol Folt. UNC President Margaret Spellings. The University Police.

When the North Carolina Courts Commission meets Friday, it will begin to take a look at an issue making national headlines: bail reform. Last month, California became the first state in the country to officially end cash bail. Republicans and Democrats in the state came together to end a system the Chief Justice of the California called “outdated, unsafe and unfair.”

When N.C. Superintendent of Public Instruction Mark Johnson announced a $6.6 million purchase of iPads to support early grade literacy in August, it seemed welcome news for North Carolina school districts that have long complained of inadequate state resources.

A week after protesters toppled the only Confederate monument on a UNC campus, the fate of Silent Sam is still uncertain. The UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees and the UNC Board of Governors held overlapping special meetings Tuesday, a week after protesters tore the statue down.

Two days after protesters forcefully removed the "Silent Sam" statue in Chapel Hill, a dramatic scene that fetched jeers from many state leaders and cheers from long-time Confederate statue critics, members of a key state commission voted against the removal of three similar monuments to Confederate soldiers in downtown Raleigh.

On Wednesday the North Carolina Historical Commission's Confederate Monument Study Committee will meet. It will give its recommendation on whether to remove three Confederate monuments in downtown Raleigh. The full commission will then vote on the issue.

The emails began going out at the University of North Carolina earlier this summer. Warnings that federal and state agents might be visiting campus to ask questions about immigration, export control, compliance with applicable laws and national security issues. “I had a briefing today...

At a standing-room only gathering to discuss the six proposed amendments to the North Carolina constitution Wednesday, Gerry Cohen had a simple summation of the Republican-controlled legislature's message to Democrats. "You can win the governorship and the state Supreme Court," Cohen said the message went. “But we'll make it worthless for you."

Members of a key state commission on Monday fleshed out descriptions for two of the six controversial constitutional amendments on the ballot this fall. Yet the Constitutional Amendments Publication Commission, which is tasked with crafting succinct...

When Dr. Nora Dennis spoke before the UNC Board of Governors last week, her palpable frustration was shared by many UNC alumni.

Dennis, now a physician and Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science at Duke University, was a Morehead Scholar who graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2001.

As Harry Smith opened Thursday’s UNC Board of Governors meeting – the first since he took over as chairman – he struck a conciliatory tone even as he doubled down on conservative changes he’s championed for the system.

When Sarah Jessenia Lopez plead guilty last month to attempted notary fraud related to bail bonding, it was not earth shattering. After all, fraud and criminality in North Carolina’s for-profit bail industry has been rampant for years.

Lack of implementing language in amendment legislation raises additional concerns When the General Assembly’s legislative session closed last week, six amendments to the state constitution had been approved for November’s ballot.

Viola Williams has been crunching numbers and working out possible solutions since last week, when the General Assembly fast-tracked a controversial bill that makes sweeping changes to early voting.