Government stumbles, complex problems. The N&O held the powerful in NC accountable in 2023

Good local journalism always informs and sometimes entertains. It keeps communities up-to-date on the good and awful to help us better understand where we live. Day after day after day.

Among our highest callings is publishing fair, accurate and timely investigative and accountability reporting. That journalism holds powerful people and institutions to account for their actions and inaction — challenging work long embraced by The News & Observer.

Sometimes the reporting develops into multi-story packages exploring complex problems. Hopes Foreclosed, a recent investigation by McClatchy NC I-team members David Raynor and Ames Alexander, exposed the toll taken by NC HOAs, which can seize and sell homes for any amount of unpaid dues, no matter how small.

Other reporting is propelled by recent news, such as Teddy Rosenbluth’s discovery that some obstetricians, a group already in short supply in rural parts of this state, are fleeing North Carolina due to new abortion restrictions. Even some who did not put abortion at the core of their work or studies.

Throughout 2023, N&O reporters across beats delivered public service journalism, always deepened by collaborations with N&O visual journalists Robert Willett, Ethan Hyman, Travis Long, Kaitlin McKeown and Kevin Keister.

Below are more examples, focused on issues relevant across North Carolina. On Dec. 29, look for samples of N&O accountability reporting focused on the Triangle and nearby communities.

POLITICAL POWER & INFLUENCE

Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan, Luciana Perez Uribe Guinassi and Alexander, a Charlotte Observer reporter, explored the lobbying power of prosecutors, showing how a powerful group wields its influence.

• This DAs’ group wields influence in NC legislature. Now it could get more lobbyists

• Prosecutors lobbied NC lawmakers to kill criminal justice reform bills, emails show

A powerful state lawmaker was unusually candid with NC McClatchy congressional correspondent Danielle Battaglia about how state money is steered to the districts of those with influence.

• How House Speaker Tim Moore’s former employee benefited from last year’s NC budget

On another topic, Battaglia documented how common it was for power players to get around rules meant to keep federal pandemic relief money from going to lobbyists and political consultants.

• How US allowed pandemic relief to go to NC companies involved in politics and lobbying

Dan Kane revealed how Republican Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey hired political allies and friends and organized parts of his agency to accommodate them.

• NC insurance commissioner ran against ‘good ol boy’ politics. Critics say he embraced it

Kyle Ingram and Kane brought sunshine to a new decision by state lawmakers to keep their own records secret. Kane also fact-checked a leader’s reason cited for dramatic move.

• NC lawmakers would be able to keep more records secret with new provision in state budget

• NC agency disputes Berger’s reason for exempting legislators from public records law

Vaughan and Perez Uribe explored how the state budget added new powers for legislative leaders.

• How ‘a couple of very powerful individuals’ gave themselves more power in NC budget

• Democrats blast ‘intrusive’ power granted in NC budget to GOP-led oversight committee

Ingram and Rosenbluth gave a full accounting of how the budget steered public money to churches and faith-based groups.

• Separation of church and state? Religious groups get $26 million in NC taxpayer money

Vaughan revealed a provision in the budget that was a surprise to some lawmakers, and led to lawmakers removing it.

• NC House budget gives better pension payout to one person, with the state paying for it

Avi Bajpai examined what was happening behind the scenes in a secretive effort to legalize casinos.

• ‘Our neighborhood deserves better’: Man regrets deal after learning land may host casino

• NC’s election ended. Then gambling money showed up in campaign reports, complaint says

GOVERNMENT STUMBLES

Tyler Dukes investigated the rollout of a new digital records system in state courts, showing it was linked to multiple problems — mistaken arrests included, lawyers say. District attorneys asked for an independent review but none came.

• Wrongful arrests, court slowdowns: Despite complaints, eCourts expansion moves forward

Virginia Bridges revealed that the state continues to lock kids up in small rooms, an isolating practice long deemed risky, due to administrative problems such as staff shortages and detention center overcrowding.

• NC isolates incarcerated youth in locked rooms. Is it solitary confinement?

Kane detailed a spike in deaths of people locked up in county jails. In all cases, state investigators concluded that detention officers weren’t checking inmates as frequently as state rules require.

• Violence-linked deaths rise in NC jails. Inspectors find the same lapse every time.

In their Burdened After Death series, Alexander and Raynor revealed big delays by state officials on completing state-mandated death investigations. In nearly 1,400 cases since 2020, they took more than a year, burdening families financially and emotionally.

• North Carolina autopsy backlog brings pain, financial crises to grieving families

• When medical examiner investigations are delayed in NC, so is justice‘

• We’ve got to do better’: Lawmakers plan more funding to tackle NC autopsy crisis

HEALTH & ENVIRONMENT

Dukes, Rosenbluth and Charlotte Observer editor and reporter Lisa Vernon Sparks detailed the toll of the NC maternal death rate being higher than the country overall. Dukes discovered that the one state group tasked with understanding why is years behind other states in studies.

• Pregnancy can be risky in the US. In North Carolina, the threat of death is even higher.

• Maternal deaths just ‘one part of the story’ in NC. Pregnancy complications are rising

• Charlotte women strive for better outcomes amid NC’s high Black maternal death rate

Rosenbluth showed how for a brief few weeks, NC State Health Plan members had a rare window into the secretive world of drug pricing. But documents were removed due to pressure from a company.

• NC wanted to share information on drug pricing. Here’s how it got shot down.

Battaglia followed up on a law that aimed to secure long-delayed justice for families and explained why delays were continuing despite the rules.

• These Marines drank Camp Lejeune’s poison. The road to justice is long

Perez Uribe, Alexander and Rosenbluth found on-the-ground examples of how important Medicaid expansion could be. For some, it was potentially the difference between life and death.

• Medicaid expansion offers hope for those wrestling with addiction. Will it be enough?

• He’s no longer eligible for NC Medicaid — by $7. Will he get life-saving heart care?

• Can her life be extended or not? One NC cancer patient’s wait for Medicaid expansion

UNC & HIGHER EDUCATION

After the daytime killing of a faculty member at UNC-Chapel Hill, Korie Dean uncovered gaps in the campus’ active shooter training, and how the university had missed a chance to fill those gaps.

• Audit urged UNC to require active shooter training for faculty, staff. It didn’t comply

• During UNC lockdown, some professors continued to teach. Is that university policy?

In her coverage of changing rules governing the public UNC System, Dean also revealed what was happening to diversity efforts despite assurances that a new policy did not target them.

• Some diversity efforts are ending or pausing after UNC System banned ‘compelled speech’

Public figures in hot water

Vaughan questioned state House Speaker Tim Moore about an “alienation of affection” lawsuit filed against him.

• Speaker Moore says he had ‘on-again, off-again’ relationship, denies using influence

Bajpai used public records to deepen his reporting on evolving details linked to former State Auditor Beth Wood’s car crash.

• ‘I made a sharp sudden turn and struck a parked vehicle,’ Beth Wood reported last month

• Officials believe NC Auditor Beth Wood made personal use of state car, records show

• State fleet temporarily suspends NC auditor’s vehicle assignment in light of crash

• Newly released records show speed NC Auditor Beth Wood was driving at before crash

Politics and government editor Jordan Schrader contributed to this report.