Only about 30% of North Carolina legislators next year will be women. Data in a new book on state politics shows women are underrepresented at all levels of elected offices here.

North Carolina Senate Republicans have left their leadership team mostly intact for the next two years. That includes choosing Sen. Phil Berger again to hold the chamber's most powerful position.

Mark Robinson is routinely absent from some of the lieutenant governor鈥檚 primary job responsibilities, including presiding over sessions of the state Senate and serving on the State Board of Education and other boards.

The North Carolina House has approved a budget bill for the next 12 months that covers a massive increase in school-voucher demand and raises worker and teacher pay beyond what's already scheduled. Four House Democrats joined all Republicans present to vote for the bill late Wednesday.

The state Senate passed a bill Thursday designed to protect Jockey's Ridge on the Outer Banks from damaging development projects.

A judge has refused to block the use of two North Carolina Senate districts drawn by Republican legislators starting with the 2024 elections and to order them replaced with different boundaries.

Sen. Lisa Grafstein, D-Wake, moved to a different district in November. She made the move after new redistricting maps put her old home in the same district as fellow Sen. Jay Chaudhuri.

First-term Mayor Elaine O鈥橬eal announced last month she wasn鈥檛 seeking reelection. Three candidates had formally joined the race as of Wednesday. The top two vote-getters during Durham鈥檚 nonpartisan mayor primary in October advance to the general election in November.

The state Senate on Tuesday approved a ban on hormone therapy, puberty blockers and surgeries that is more stringent than what the House recently passed.

The Senate voted separately Tuesday for each of the four measures by margins wide enough to enact them over Cooper鈥檚 objections contained in his veto messages. They will become law should the House also vote to override the vetoes.