AltWeeklies Wire
Election shows impact of redistricting and why voting-rights groups are suingnew

Even though North Carolinians split their 2012 votes almost evenly between the parties, far fewer Democrats were elected than Republicans. Voting-rights groups are pointing to the results to press their case that the 2011 redistricting maps should be thrown out.
Tags: redistricting
GOP-drawn districts and a torrent of cash could flip seats, but how many?new

The president may complete the same climb he undertook in 2008 and win North Carolina. But when it comes to the congressional races, it's nothing but blue skies for the Grand Old Party.
INDY Week |
Kirk Ross |
09-19-2012 |
Commentary
The GOP hatches a plan to win North Carolina. Will it work?new

Is North Carolina in play? Or as Nate Silver of The New York Times recently wrote, does it matter in the electoral math?
Public policy and indifference punish the very poornew

No one knows how many North Carolinians live in extreme poverty, but it's estimated to be between 700,000 and 1 million. What we do know is that although the number is increasing, the poor remain almost invisible to many of us.
INDY Week |
Kirk Ross |
05-16-2012 |
Commentary
Campaign finance reports show huge sums pouring into candidate coffersnew

Most of the Super PAC funds will roll in during the fall elections, but as we've seen in other states, Super PACs are starting to creep into our North Carolina primaries.
Despite GOP promises to clean up campaign finance, it's as dirty as evernew

During the 2010 election, Republicans used the Jim Black and Meg Scott Phipps scandals to illustrate the need for a clean break from Democratic rule. But recently released campaign finance reports paint a much different picture of what happened once the gavel changed hands.
INDY Week |
Kirk Ross |
03-28-2012 |
Commentary
Cost of Electricity is Devastating Eastern North Carolinanew

Residential customers of North Carolina Eastern Municipal Power Agency pay an average of 13.6 cents per kilowatt hour; the state average is 9.9 cents.
Touch-Screen Voting Machines Sucknew
While I'm paraphrasing a bit, the National Institute of Standards and Technology has compiled a draft report that says touch-screen machines without a verifiable paper trail "in practical terms cannot be secure."
Like Hogs to Slaughternew
The walkout at Smithfield Packing is the latest collision between an industry built on cheap labor, a dysfunctional immigration system, and homeland security policies drafted in a reality-proof bubble.
INDY Week |
Kirk Ross |
11-30-2006 |
Business & Labor
Tags: business & labor