With its trailblazing public financing program for judicial elections targeted for elimination by Republican state leaders, North Carolina got a visit this week from two prominent West Virginia conservatives who made a case for why such programs benefit a state's people and economy.

Under legal pressure from environmental advocates, North Carolina regulators are seeking court orders to force Duke Energy to clean up groundwater contamination from unlined coal ash storage ponds at power plants near Asheville and Charlotte, where the pollution threatens the region's drinking-water supply.

Facing South's editorial director is honored by North Carolina's League of Conservation Voters for her in-depth coverage of environmental and energy issues.