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1 week ago | 
qcitymetro.com | Lucas Thomae
In one of the most sweeping clemency actions in U.S. history, hundreds of people convicted of federal nonviolent drug offenses in North Carolina will return home this year. Days before leaving office in January, former president Joe Biden commuted the sentences of 2,490 such individuals nationwide.
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1 week ago | 
carolinapublicpress.org | Lucas Thomae
In one of the most sweeping clemency actions in U.S. history, hundreds of people convicted of federal nonviolent drug offenses in North Carolina will return home this year. Days before leaving office in January, former president Joe Biden commuted the sentences of 2,490 such individuals nationwide.
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2 weeks ago | 
wunc.org | Lucas Thomae
When Tropical Storm Helene tore across North Carolina in September, it left behind more than just downed trees and flooded homes. It ripped open a hidden fault line in the state’s transportation system — one that has existed for the state's roads, largely unquestioned, for nearly a century. North Carolina is one of just a handful of states where counties don’t own any public roads.
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2 weeks ago | 
carolinapublicpress.org | Lucas Thomae
When Tropical Storm Helene tore across North Carolina in September, it left behind more than just downed trees and flooded homes. It ripped open a hidden fault line in the state’s transportation system — one that has existed for the state’s roads, largely unquestioned, for nearly a century. North Carolina is one of just a handful of states where counties don’t own any public roads.
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1 month ago | 
carolinapublicpress.org | Lucas Thomae
RALEIGH — Securing federal relief funds after Tropical Storm Helene has been a challenge. Now, a new NC agency must prove it can wisely manage a $1.4 billion home rebuilding program after the last effort fell short. State lawmakers are still fuming after ReBuild NC, the recovery office created in the aftermath of Hurricanes Matthew (2016) and Florence (2018), informed them that it went broke with more than 1,000 homes yet to be rebuilt.
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1 month ago | 
qcitymetro.com | Lucas Thomae
A decade after a federal judge ordered North Carolina to adopt a plan to give juvenile offenders serving life sentences a “meaningful opportunity” for parole, a lawsuit making its way through the court system says the state has failed to follow through. Earlier this month, a judge denied the state’s motion to dismiss the suit, which was filed in 2023, noting “concerning” accounts of omitted and false information in plaintiff Brett Abrams’ parole file.
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1 month ago | 
thecharlottepost.com | Lucas Thomae
UNSPLASH
Despite changes to how North Carolina incarcerates minors, they often win up serving longer sentences once they become adults.
A decade after a federal judge ordered North Carolina to adopt a plan to give juvenile offenders serving life sentences a “meaningful opportunity” for parole, a lawsuit making its way through the court system says the state has failed to follow through.
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1 month ago | 
carolinapublicpress.org | Lucas Thomae
With only two months remaining until Yancey County officially exits its regional library system, local opponents to the change are urging elected officials to reconsider their decision in the wake of economic challenges incurred by Tropical Storm Helene. Up to this point, they haven’t been convinced.
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1 month ago | 
carolinapublicpress.org | Lucas Thomae
A decade after a federal judge ordered North Carolina to adopt a plan to give juvenile offenders serving life sentences a “meaningful opportunity” for parole, a lawsuit making its way through the court system says the state has failed to follow through. Earlier this month a judge denied the state’s motion to dismiss the suit, which was filed in 2023, noting “concerning” accounts of omitted and false information in plaintiff Brett Abrams’ parole file.
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1 month ago | 
carolinapublicpress.org | Lucas Thomae
RALEIGH — In summer 1997, well before Brad Briner became state treasurer, he worked as an intern at the investment banking company Goldman Sachs. While he was there, Briner needed to acquire data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. His supervisor offered him a plane ticket to the nation’s capital and told him to go down to the USDA building to comb through paper records and get the information he needed. But the late 1990s marked a new age in technology.
