The 19th: “What keeps you up at night? When field organizers with Down Home North Carolina knock on a door in rural North Carolina, that’s the first question they ask. Health care comes up a lot. So does housing. And recently, abortion rights.  North Carolina has the second-highest rural population of any state after Texas…

NC Newsline: “Despite pressure from Republicans in Washington, the state Board of Elections again put off a decision that would allow well-known third-party presidential candidates on North Carolina’s ballot while it investigates petitions asking to form their political parties. The state Board on Tuesday delayed certifying Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s We the People Party and…

WBTW: “A tribal-owned medical marijuana dispensary in western North Carolina is also now selling cannabis products for adult recreational use just weeks after the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians governing board approved its expanded use on tribal lands. The Great Smoky Cannabis Co. began recreational marijuana sales on July 4 to adults at least 21 years of…

The Guardian: “The state of Georgia has dragged its feet for months on allowing defense attorneys to visit the forest where a criminal conspiracy allegedly operated in opposition to the “Cop City” police training center, according to a motion filed this week and the Guardian’s reporting…. Since January, deputy attorney general John Fowler has failed to schedule a visit…

USA Today: “The backers of a measure to allow Arkansas voters the chance to loosen the state’s near-total abortion ban said Friday they submitted more than 100,000 signatures, more than enough to qualify for the November ballot.  Friday marked the deadline for Arkansas ballot question committees to submit their petitions, a major milestone which will determine whether…

WPLN: “Dozens of self-proclaimed white nationalists marched through downtown Nashville on Saturday. They wore matching uniforms, with ski masks and sunglasses to obscure their faces, and carried Confederate and upside-down American flags. Witnesses say they chanted the Nazi “Seig Heil” salute and called for mass deportations of nonwhite people. This is the second time this…

Austin American-Statesman: “After a historic ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court that upholds city and state laws barring people experiencing homelessness from sleeping and camping in public spaces, Austin-based advocates protested camping bans like the one Austin has and renewed calls for the city to invest in housing and other supportive services. “We cannot arrest our way…

Austin American-Statesman: “President Joe Biden is set to deliver a major speech on civil rights and democracy at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library and Museum in Austin on July 15, the same day the Republican National Convention begins in Milwaukee, two sources familiar with the engagement told the American-Statesman. The event, which will commemorate…

Advocate: “The Texas Supreme Court has refused to block the state’s ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors, allowing the ban to remain in effect while a lawsuit against it proceeds. The court ruled that the families, health care professionals, and organizations challenging the ban are unlikely to succeed in proving that it violates the Texas constitution. “We conclude…

New Republic: “Mark Robinson, the extremist GOP nominee for governor in North Carolina, appeared to endorse political violence in a bizarre and extended rant he delivered on June 30 in a small-town church. “Some folks need killing!” Robinson, the state’s lieutenant governor, shouted during a roughly half-hour-long speech in Lake Church in the tiny town of White…