N.C. Waste Awareness and Reduction Network, better known as WARN, is taking aim at Duke Energy again. On Wednesday, the nonprofit said its attorney filed a complaint with Attorney General Roy Cooper’s office asking Cooper to “assert his explicit legal authority” in an investigation of the billion-dollar utility. WARN said the investigation should determine whether […]
Billy Ball
Bio: Billy Ball is an INDY Week staff writer.Email: [email protected]: http://twitter.com/billy_k_ball
Posted inNews
Campaign spending on the rise in Chapel Hill
If it feels like this year’s municipal election in Chapel Hill has been far more contentious, you’re not imagining things. According to the most recent campaign finance reports filed for town races, this year’s crowded roster of hopefuls has already outspent candidates in the 2011 municipal election. Since that year also included a mayoral contest […]
Posted inUncategorized
What the state’s coal-ash capitulation to Duke means for the rest of us
Tiffany Haworth got the phone call at about 1:30 p.m. “It was a postal worker,” recalls Haworth, executive director of the Dan River Basin Association. “He said, ‘I’ve been working this job for 30 years, and every day I stop and look at the Dan on my route. Today, it’s running black. It’s pitch black.’” […]
Posted inNews
N.C. environmental group promises legal challenge on climate change
This isn’t the first time someone has accused Duke Energy of “criminal behavior.” Earlier this year, when the energy giant pleaded guilty to nine misdemeanor violations of the Clean Water Act, federal prosecutors accused the company of ignoring repeated warnings that its coal ash ponds were not safe. Many speculated that criminal charges could be […]
Posted inNews
Alliance Behavioral Healthcare has imposed sanctions on Family Legacy Mental Health
Today, we’ve published an in-depth look at a Durham and Raleigh mental health provider, Family Legacy Mental Health Services, that received almost $3 million in Medicaid money over the last two years. Yet, many of its past and present employees say they haven’t been paid regularly since March. A key question here is how this […]
Posted inUncategorized
Where’s the money? A local mental health provider takes $1.2 million from the state, doesn’t pay its employees
In the video clip, Will Smith sprawls on the floor of a bathroom stall, clutching his son, on a bed of toilet paper. Tears well in his eyes. “I remember sleeping in abandoned buildings,” a motivational speaker barks. “I remember eating out of garbage cans.” The clip, a portion of the 2006 film Pursuit of […]
Posted inNews
DENR and the “total surrender and collapse” of its $7 million coal ash deal with Duke Energy
Because it’s been a few days since environmentalists were primed to eviscerate North Carolina’s top environmental agency, the former N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources, now named the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), has announced a $7 million settlement agreement with Duke Energy. Both parties are claiming that this agreement, a significant cut to […]
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Legal challenge to N.C.’s voter ID law to go forward next year
It seems North Carolina is due a legal autopsy of its voter identification law next year, no matter what. This week, a Superior Court judge denied North Carolina’s motion to dismiss a pending voter ID lawsuit. State lawyers attempted to argue that the case—brought by plaintiffs that include the League of Women Voters of N.C. […]
Posted inNews, Housing
Report touts the housing benefits of inclusionary zoning
We’ve written extensively in these pages about the Triangle’s affordable housing struggles. Chapel Hill is still waiting for the fruits of its 2008 inclusionary zoning ordinance, a policy that requires new developments to include affordable housing components or make a payment in lieu. Durham doesn’t seem quite sure how it will approach this issue. Leaders […]
Posted inNews
Early polling shows Mark Kleinschmidt with a sizable lead in Chapel Hill mayoral race
We’re in for a treat. Rarely do you get the chance for some real insight into local municipal races. Per Chapelboro’s Blake Hodge, a recently-commissioned Chapel Hill survey by Public Policy Polling found Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt with a somewhat comfortable spot atop the candidates. Of course, we’re still seven weeks out from the election, but […]
