Opinion
Utilities commissioner warns against ‘throwing good money after bad’
Commissioner Donald van der Vaart compares Duke Energy's solar energy planning to buying seven substandard cars and hoping one always works.
News
Stein opposes expedited court review in utilities appointment dispute
Gov. Josh Stein is urging North Carolina’s second-highest court to reject a proposal from Treasurer Brad Briner to speed up an appeal in a separation of powers dispute. The case involves a shift of a state Utilities Commission appointment from the governor to the treasurer.
News
Briner seeks to intervene in legal fight over utilities appointment
A three-judge panel has allowed State Treasurer Brad Briner to intervene in a legal dispute between Gov. Josh Stein and state legislative leaders. Stein challenges a law that shifts one of his state Utilities Commission appointments to Briner.
News
Briner nominates van der Vaart to NC Utilities Commission
North Carolina State Treasurer Brad Briner announced Wednesday that he has chosen former North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Donald van der Vaart as his nominee to the North Carolina Utilities Commission.
News
Judge rejects latest challenge to mining permit for quarry near park, RDU
A group opposing operations of a stone quarry near William B. Umstead State Park has faced another legal setback. The state’s top administrative law judge issued a ruling on Feb. 21 rejecting the group’s challenge of two changes to the quarry's permit.
News
Former top lawmaker loses political discrimination case at state Appeals Court
The state Court of Appeals has rejected a political discrimination claim from Bill Culpepper, the former high-ranking Democratic lawmaker who was fired in 2022 from his job as general counsel at the Office of Administrative Hearings.
News
Bill requiring safe disposal of spent solar panels gets Senate committee hearing
If all the solar panels from industrial-scale electric plants in North Carolina were laid end to end, they would stretch from Raleigh to San Francisco and back nearly four times. Yet the state has no plan to handle the 475,000 tons of panels once they wear out and become waste. Sen. Paul Newton, R-Cabarrus, a...
News
Moore says election-year politics clouds ethics complaint
Editor’s note: See update below. House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, says an ethics complaint filed against him by a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit research organization is tainted by election-season politics. Campaign for Accountability filed the complaint Monday, March 5. It alleges Moore might have improperly used the power of his office to skirt state Department of...
News
Van der Vaart: Trump expected to scrap excessive green regulations
President-elect Donald Trump is likely to reshape the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and alter some of its most burdensome regulations, which will benefit North Carolina farmers, businesses, and utility ratepayers, state Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Donald van der Vaart says. Two of President Obama’s signature regulations, the Clean Power Plan, and Waters of the...
Podcast
The Life and Legacy of Former Gov. Jim Martin
Gov. Jim Martin on politics & governing; Don van der Vaart on concerns over federal water & air rules; legislators debate cyberstalking law; Molly Worthen on media coverage of evangelicals & politics; Katherine Restrepo on expanded medical coding system
