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INSTITUTE INDEX: Follow the fracking money
A gusher of political cash is flowing into Congress from the natural gas industry to fight regulation of the environmentally risky drilling method known as "fracking."Image: Facing South Appreciate...
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The New Vigilantes: Trayvon Martin and the 'shoot first' lobby
Across the South and country, the gun lobby has pushed laws like Florida's "Stand Your Ground" measure, which local police say is the reason they haven't brought charges in the shooting death of...
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VOICES: Same old song as oil money secures the support of Congress
The recent Senate vote to maintain oil company subsidies didn't fall just along party lines -- it also fell along money lines.Image: Facing South Appreciate this post? Please donate & share below....
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How did ALEC get exempted from South Carolina lobbying ethics law?
Want proof that the corporate-backed American Legislative Exchange Council has a powerful say in state government? Look no further than South Carolina, where lawmakers specifically exempted the group...
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Toxics lobby pours money into North Carolina politics
Big industrial polluters have been investing millions in lobbying and campaign contributions while seeking to weaken North Carolina standards governing health-damaging pollution.Image: Facing South...
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Billionaire privatization activists pushing 'neovouchers' for North Carolina
Conservative political activists connected to Wal-Mart and Amway are funding a campaign to funnel public money to religious and other private schools.Image: AFC's money has funded some rather nasty...
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By the numbers: The U.S.'s growing for-profit detention industry
From private prisons to immigration detention, we break down the numbers and companies in the industry.Image: Facing South Appreciate this post? Please donate & share below. Donate » Tweet » Share...
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Who's behind petition opposing coal ash regulation with hundreds of bogus...
An analysis of Chinese names on a petition urging the Obama administration to oppose strict regulations for toxic coal ash reveals hundreds of bogus monikers including "Big Steamed Bun" and "Come to...
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NC legislative leaders breaking records for special-interest fundraising
The North Carolina General Assembly's Republican leaders are raising more money from special-interest political action committees than their predecessors, despite promises to end the state's "pay to...
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Congressman who compared cigarettes to smoking lettuce becomes lobbyist for...
Indiana Republican Steve Buyer, who fought tobacco regulation while in the House, is now representing the North Carolina-based tobacco giant, which has been aggressively marketing smokeless tobacco...
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INSTITUTE INDEX: Pressure grows to open presidential debates to third parties
A grassroots effort to open up the presidential debates to third-party candidates has succeeded in getting three of the 10 corporate sponsors of the debates that begin tonight to withdraw their...
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Home builders lobby weakens drywall legislation
Federal lawmakers trumpeted last week's passage of the Drywall Safety Act of 2012. But thanks to the efforts of U.S. Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) on behalf of the industry lobby, the bill doesn't actually...
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In North Carolina, full speed in reverse
The legislative session that starts today promises to bring big changes to North Carolina as the leaders of the once-progressive state seek to slash unemployment insurance, create a more regressive tax...
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INSTITUTE INDEX: Three years into the BP disaster
Saturday, April 20, marks the third anniversary of the deadly BP Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. We take a by-the-numbers look at the still-unfolding disaster...
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NC lawmakers embrace Koch-backed pledge against climate action
More legislators in North Carolina than in any other state have signed Americans for Prosperity's pledge that discourages action on climate change. Credit for the pledge's political success goes to the...
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Why is the White House aiding and abetting lawbreaking by coal plants?
A new report from environmental groups documents widespread disregard for the Clean Water Act by electric utilities -- and an effort by the White House Office of Management and Budget to dilute...
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INSTITUTE INDEX: Promoting the myth of 'sustainable coal'
A group of prominent Democrats has launched a project to promote the idea that coal is part of a sustainable U.S. energy future -- even as new evidence emerges showing just how environmentally...
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Are conservative think tanks breaking lobbying laws?
The State Policy Network -- a national alliance of right-wing think tanks funded by businessmen including the Kochs of Koch Industries, the Waltons of Wal-Mart, and Art Pope of Variety Stores -- is...
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INSTITUTE INDEX: Will Trayvon Martin killing bankrupt ALEC?
The American Legislative Exchange Council lost members and money after the 2011 shooting death of unarmed Florida teen Trayvon Martin and the acquittal of his assailant under the state's Stand Your...
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After a political setback in NC, ALEC retools assault on renewable energy
Corporate interest advocacy groups including the controversial American Legislative Exchange Council made repealing North Carolina's renewable energy law a top priority last year. Their effort failed,...
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The U.S. Gulag: Incarceration and the 'immorality' of private prisons
The private prison industry is fueling high incarceration rates in Mississippi and elsewhere in the United States. It's a way to keep an indentured class in a state and nation built on slavery.Image:...
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Art Pope think tank behind campaign to discredit and defund Medicaid
The Civitas Institute, a conservative think tank founded and bankrolled by N.C. budget director Art Pope, sought funding to portray the Medicaid program as "failed" and to urge funding cuts, according...
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How ALEC helped Duke Energy block stricter coal ash rules
Duke Energy has long fought strict federal regulations on coal ash, which is in the spotlight again following a spill from one of the company's North Carolina plants. Duke got help from the American...
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Coal ash polluting NC river was once Appalachian mountaintops
Before its coal-fired units were shuttered in 2012, Duke Energy's Dan River plant burned coal from mountaintop removal mines in Appalachia. The reality that the arsenic-laden ash now contaminating a...
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INSTITUTE INDEX: Big Oil aims to kill Louisiana coastal damage lawsuit
After a flood protection authority in Southeast Louisiana filed a lawsuit against almost 100 oil and gas companies seeking to recoup billions of dollars for damages they've caused to the coast, the...
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The money behind Big Oil's win on Atlantic drilling
Environmentalists and others have condemned the Obama administration's decision to open up the Atlantic to seismic testing for oil and gas reserves, blaming political pressure from deep-pocketed oil...
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Ballot proposals across the South: The good, the bad, and the ugly
Propositions dealing with hot-button issues including the minimum wage, fracking, marijuana, income taxes, abortion, Islamic Sharia law, and political corruption were on state and local ballots across...
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INSTITUTE INDEX: Tallying up returns on corporations' political investments
A report released this week by the Sunlight Foundation calculated what 200 of America's most politically active corporations invested in federal lobbying and campaign contributions over six years --...
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EPA gives weak protections to communities threatened by toxic coal ash
Environmentalists say a long-awaited federal rule governing disposal of the toxic waste left over after burning coal is "too little and too late" -- and that when the next disaster inevitably occurs...
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Governors' Big Oil-assisted lobbying pays off in Obama's Atlantic drilling plan
The Obama administration has proposed opening Atlantic waters to offshore oil and gas drilling after years of being lobbied by a coalition of coastal-state governors that had more than a little...
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Tar Heel Power Brokers
In a new report, "Tar Heel Power Brokers," Facing South/Institute for Southern Studies ranks the top 101 most influential special interests in North Carolina politics through a combination of lobbying...
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Tar Heel Power Broker Profiles
In a new report, "Tar Heel Power Brokers," Facing South/Institute for Southern Studies ranks the top 101 most influential special interests in North Carolina politics through a combination of lobbying...
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Tar Heel Power Brokers: Special interests spend big to get their way in Raleigh
A Facing South/Institute for Southern Studies report reveals the top power players in North Carolina politics, based on their lobbying clout and spending on state elections. It's a snapshot of the...
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Conditions at for-profit immigrant detention facilities in Texas draw legal...
Though its immigrant deportation relief efforts have been put on hold, the Obama administration continues to carry out its policy of detaining Central American immigrant children and families...
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Southern Company caught promoting bad climate science again
The Atlanta-based utility giant is in the news for funding a controversial researcher whose work has been used to cast doubt on the overwhelming scientific consensus that human activity is driving...
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Home Builders among North Carolina's top political power brokers
The N.C. Home Builders Association has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars supporting legislators' campaigns and employs a team of powerful lobbyists in Raleigh. What does it want in return?Image:...
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Koch Industries tops list of water polluters spending big on politics
With a fight underway in Congress over protecting more U.S. waterways from industrial pollution, Environment America has issued a report looking at the millions of dollars spent on politics each year...
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Duke Energy called out for targeting black community with 'cynical'...
In a letter to Duke CEO Lynn Good, an African-American minister and an environmental advocate criticize the utility's campaign to block the shift to solar power by trying to convince black community...
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'Profiting From Misery': Private prison corporations driving harsh...
Companies spent millions in lobbying on immigration issues that led to a spike in incarceration levels and, in turn, boosted corporate profits.Image: A new report by Grassroots Leadership, a group...
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DRIVE TO DRILL: Energy lobbyists behind governors' crusade for Atlantic oil
Five years after the BP disaster, a group of governors led by North Carolina's Pat McCrory is pushing for drilling in the Atlantic. A Facing South special investigation looks at the group's secretive...
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Corporations under growing shareholder pressure to disclose political...
Over 100 corporations will receive shareholder resolutions this year calling on them to voluntarily disclose their political spending and lobbying activities. Some companies have already begun...
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Higher ed lobby quietly joins for-profit schools to roll back tighter rules
Traditional colleges and universities have become unlikely allies of the beleaguered for-profit industry as each group tries to fend off the government's push for more accountability.Image: via...
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Pro-privatization money behind bills to boost N.C. charter schools
Bills to provide additional funding for charter schools were introduced this session at the North Carolina legislature. Most of the sponsors have benefited from campaign donations or independent...
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Texas company behind California oil spill a repeat offender
The disaster near Santa Barbara, the site of a 1969 oil spill that sparked the modern environmental movement, comes amid a push to open the Atlantic and Eastern Gulf to oil and gas drilling. It...
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DRIVE TO DRILL: Gov. McCrory goes to bat for Big Energy
North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory has become a leading national advocate for expanded offshore drilling — a role that builds on almost three decades of his close personal, economic and political ties to...
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INSTITUTE INDEX: Atlantic drilling push meets opposition in coastal communities
An alliance of pro-drilling coastal state governors and the energy industry is pressing the Obama administration to open the Atlantic to oil and gas development. But a growing grassroots movement is...
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INVESTIGATIVE SERIES: The Drive to Drill
A three-part Institute investigation looked at the politics behind the push for Atlantic oil and gas development. It documented close ties between a group of pro-drilling governors and the energy...
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INSTITUTE INDEX: Who's behind the latest assault on the Southeast's lone...
An effort is underway to kill a North Carolina law — the only one like it in the region — that requires utilities to generate an increasing amount of electricity from clean sources like solar and wind....
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INSTITUTE INDEX: President Obama takes on gun lobby with executive actions
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...
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INSTITUTE INDEX: As oil prices crash, a beholden Congress scrambles to aid a...
With oil prices at their lowest point in over a decade, House and Senate leaders will meet next week to discuss ways to shore up the industry, which has invested heavily in Congress.Image: via...
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