North Carolina officials say the catastrophic flooding and destruction from Hurricane Helene likely caused at least $53 billion in damages and recovery needs in the state.

North Carolina legislators have approved an initial $273 million relief package to help address Hurricane Helene’s devastation and recovery in the mountains.

North Carolina was ground zero in the nationwide fight over transgender rights with the passage of its 2016 “bathroom bill.”.

North Carolina Republican legislative leaders say there is agreement within their chambers on backing a measure that would prohibit abortion in nearly all cases after roughly the first trimester of pregnancy.

Lawmakers and voters in North Carolina have rejected past efforts to remove from the state constitution an unenforceable literacy test requirement that had been used to disenfranchise Black voters during the Jim Crow era.

Democrats celebrated winning North Carolina's lone toss-up race for the U.S. House this month as Wiley Nickel won the 13th District seat.

A deal on Medicaid expansion in North Carolina is within reach after both legislative chambers passed competing measures before ending their annual session.

The Supreme Court is giving Republican legislative leaders in North Carolina a win in an ongoing fight over the state’s latest photo identification voting law.

The Supreme Court seems poised to take on a new elections case being pressed by Republicans.

North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis has endorsed a state legislator over U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn in the upcoming Republican primary.

In politically divided North Carolina, hostilities between Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper and majority-Republican lawmakers have eased somewhat as 2021 nears its end.

One of several legal challenges to North Carolina’s contentious voter ID law is on hold amid a dispute over whether two justices on the state Supreme Court should recuse themselves.

A milestone energy bill that targets sharply reducing greenhouse gas emissions from North Carolina power plants has become law.

North Carolina House Republicans have given final legislative approval to a bill to limit how teachers can discuss certain racial concepts inside the classroom.

A North Carolina Senate committee has advanced a measure that would limit how teachers can discuss racial concepts inside the classroom.

North Carolina Republicans are moving forward with a bill that defines what teachers can and can't say about race and racism in classrooms.

Republican-controlled legislatures across the country are advancing measures to limit how students can be taught about race and racism.

A top North Carolina GOP lawmaker will not advance a proposal seeking to limit medical treatments for transgender people under 21.

Henry McMaster remains firmly opposed to the Medicaid expansion. The bump in federal funding would last two years for the states that join the Medicaid expansion. Laura Kelley this year called for legalizing medical use of marijuana and using the tax revenue to pay for expanding Medicaid. "It’s a nonstarter, and we will continue to oppose the liberal wish list item of Medicaid expansion,” he said. Kay Ivey left open the possibility of expanding Medicaid at some point in the future, but there are no plans to do so.

FILE - In a May 2006 file photo, Senate leader Marc Basnight speaks on the Senate floor at the Legislative Building in Raleigh, N.C. Basnight died Monday, Dec. 28, 2020, at age 73. Despite humble beginnings and little formal education, Basnight rose through state politics to serve in the Senate for 26 years. His nine two-year terms as Senate president pro tempore made him the longest-serving head of a legislative body in North Carolina history. While Senate leader, GOP senators complained Basnight had consolidated too much power. Bob Jordan died in February, while Sen. Tony Rand, who was majority leader and rules committee chairman under Basnight, died in May.

“This was a status quo election.”Heading into Tuesday, Republicans had full control of 29 state legislatures compared to 19 for Democrats. “The reality is we are still running on very gerrymandered maps,” said Christina Polizzi, national press secretary for the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee. They were countered by the Republican state leadership committee, which had a target of about $70 million. But Republican redistricting power will be diminished in some states because of changes that occurred in recent years. Instead, Republicans added to their House ranks with more conservatives, increasing the potential to override vetoes by Democratic Gov.

The state board made the change as part of a legal settlement in state court with a union-affiliated group that had challenged what it saw as restrictive voting rules during the coronavirus pandemic. A federal judge considering the deadline and other absentee ballot procedures, U.S. District Judge William Osteen, ruled last week that absentee ballots that arrive without a witness signature can’t be counted. The court battle had caused absentee ballots with a range of errors to be set aside for about two weeks while the procedures were debated. The appeal filed Thursday by the Trump campaign argues that the Supreme Court should go further than just shortening the ballot deadline. The Trump campaign has also asked the state Supreme Court to overturn the court settlement that included the rule changes.

(AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)NEW DELHI: Indias coronavirus cases have passed 800,000 with the biggest spike of 27,114 cases in the past 24 hours, causing nearly a dozen states to impose a partial lockdown in high-risk areas. The new confirmed cases took the national total to 820,916. With a population of 26 million, Australia has recorded more than 9,000 coronavirus cases, with 107 deaths. About 175 of the newly reported cases arose from a batch of private lab results, according to the state Health Department. Health officials reported another 32 virus-related deaths, raising the statewide toll to 6,880.