Nickel joined the WUNC Politics Podcast this week to talk about how he plans to take on incumbent Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, the prospects that former Gov. Roy Cooper could enter the race, and what he thinks Democrats should do differently to fight the Trump administration.

The two top administrators of the fast-growing Wake County town of Zebulon resigned in the same week, as the town seeks to resolve a legal battle with a housing developer whose plans were rejected by Zebulon commissioners.

The U.S. Election Assistance Commission is now central to President Donald Trump’s executive order seeking to overhaul elections. One of the commission’s boards will meet Thursday in North Carolina, the first commission-related meeting since the directives were announced.

Bipartisan legislation House Bill 765 aims to address affordable housing crisis, largely by limiting planning and zoning powers of local governments.

Democratic incumbent Allison Riggs has a 734-vote lead over Republican Jefferson Griffin for a seat on the state Supreme Court.

The state Senate’s budget proposal, which passed its final vote Thursday, would eliminate the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission. Its executive director is lobbying state lawmakers to keep funding it.

North Carolina's Supreme Court decided recently that ballots from two categories should have been left out of the tally of an unresolved November election for a seat on the court. But there's still legal friction about the number of ballots that must be scrutinized by election officials tasked with removing them from the count and giving voters the chance to provide information so their race choices can remain.

Utilities in and around Wilmington have spent more than $240 million installing filters since learning of PFAS contamination in the Cape Fear River.

The state House voted Wednesday to add an official state TV show to North Carolina's long list of state symbols. Lawmakers chose "The Andy Griffith Show" for the honor.

Steve Gray said his two acres were forcibly annexed into the city of Greensboro in 2008. He's asking state lawmakers for help.