STATE ELECTIONS BOARD BEGINS ITS INVESTIGATION INTO NC09 TODAY: Republican Mark Harris leads Democrat Dan McCready by 905 votes in the unofficial count. But the board doesn't necessarily have to show that there are 905 votes in question. The law allows for a new election to be called if "irregularities or improprieties occurred to such an extent that they taint the results of the entire election and cast doubt on its fairness.” Some Republicans, citing court precedent, have said that only calling enough votes into question satisfies the law. But there are four separate reasons in the law for calling a new election, and the "taint" one doesn’t say anything about number of votes, while the three others do. There are allegations, including an affidavit from a poll worker, that totals from early in-person voting were shared with someone before Election Day. The state GOP is on record saying that, if this occurred, it’s a strategic advantage for Election Day turnout operations and enough on its own to warrant a new election.
https://www.wral.com/what-s-at-stake-in-state-investigation-into-alleged-fraud-in-9th-congressional-...

DOWLESS CREW HANDLED 1 IN 5 ABSENTEE BALLOTS: One out of every five absentee ballots counted in Bladen County in 2018 were handled by people linked to the Republican political operative at the center of an investigation that has stalled the results of a North Carolina congressional election. That’s according to an analysis by WRAL News, which this month closely examined more than 1,500 signed envelopes from accepted absentee ballots made public by the State Board of Elections in its probe of voting irregularities in the 9th Congressional District. The agency’s investigation has largely focused over the last few months on two southeastern North Carolina counties – Bladen and Robeson – both the subject of scrutiny in previous elections.
https://www.wral.com/9th-district-dowless-crew-handled-1-in-5-absentee-votes-in-bladen-county/18193986/

GROUPS WANT STATE TO ALLOW COMPETITION FOR DUKE ENERGY: Organizers said they're not calling for deregulation but for a regulated model that allows more competition. They pointed to a number of states as examples, including Texas, Ohio, New York, Illinois, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and California. They also pointed to a recent study from the Retail Energy Supply Association that said monopoly states saw their average energy prices increase nearly 19 percent from 2008 to 2017. Prices fell 7 percent in competitive markets over the same period, the study said. This sort of shift would be a massive change, with hundreds of details. Organizers said they were working on legislation and that they had not yet lined up a sponsor to carry the bill. The state's legislative session began three weeks ago, and state leaders didn't immediately respond to requests for comment on the initial proposal.
https://www.wral.com/environmental-groups-push-to-break-duke-energy-s-monopoly/18190382/

NC FARMERS GIVE PERDUE AN EARFUL OVER TRUMP'S TRADE WARS: In a pair of question-and-answer sessions, Secretary Sonny Perdue heard from farmers who are frustrated and trending toward desperate with weeks to go before new crops go into the ground. A trade war has stopped the flow of tobacco to China, once the crop's No. 1 buyer. Trade deals with Mexico and Canada have been reworked, but their approval depends on Congress. A pair of hurricanes devastated crops across this part of the state two out of the last three years. "It's the most critical time I've seen in agriculture, and I started farming in 1975," Jerome Vick told Perdue. Take this message back to Washington, Vick said: "This is not just a bump in the road. In eastern North Carolina, the house is on fire." Take this one back, too, Brent Leggett said, reading a text message from his 12-year-old son, Colin: "Tell (Perdue) to tell Trump to make a deal with China."
https://www.wral.com/worry-without-answer-as-us-agriculture-secretary-meets-with-nc-farmers/18185618/

DON'T LET DRILLING PUT THE NC COAST AT RISK: Since the New Year, seven state legislatures along the East Coast have proposed bills to prohibit or restrict offshore drilling in their states in addition to the four states that have already passed their own measures in 2018. Many of these localized bills have been filed in conjunction with legislation at the national level to prevent offshore gas and oil infrastructure development. Even before the drills start spinning, environmental damage occurs during the seismic testing phase of exploration planning, during which sonic airguns are fired to detect pockets of oil beneath the ocean floor. These airgun bursts are disruptive to wildlife behaviors and patterns, as well as drastically increasing the mortality of zooplankton, an important segment of the food web. Oil and gas infrastructure is particularly susceptible to damage from extreme weather conditions. With the wounds of this past hurricane season still fresh, the Southern Environmental Law Center published a report last fall highlighting the dangers and risks of constructing gas and oil infrastructure in hurricane-prone regions.
https://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/article225927380.html