In the 15 years that Steve Harrison has covered politics in Charlotte, a handful of votes have sharply divided the City Council and captured the public’s attention. Here's a look back at five standouts.

The North Carolina General Assembly is back in session, and lawmakers have a lot on their plate even though they're hoping to only meet for a couple of months. Journalist Bryan Anderson joined WFAE's Marshall Terry to talk about what the major issues might be this session.

Mark Meadows, the former North Carolina congressman and presidential chief of staff, was indicted again last week. WFAE’s Tommy Tomlinson, in his "On My Mind" commentary, says Meadows now sits at the top of a notorious list.

Now that Gov. Roy Cooper has checked expanding Medicaid off his gubernatorial to-do list, he has shifted his health care focus to the needs of North Carolina’s most vulnerable — the young, the old and the disabled — in his proposed spending plan for the coming fiscal year.

Johnson is the sixth Republican elevated to the speakership since 1994. The five who preceded him all saw their time in the office end in relative degrees of defeat or frustration.

A new regulation to protect the rights of pregnant workers is the subject of an anti-abortion lawsuit because it includes abortion as a pregnancy "related medical condition."

The state currently bans most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. That will drop to six weeks, with a few exceptions — a timetable that abortion rights advocates say is hard to meet

South Africans celebrate their "Freedom Day" every April 27, when they remember their country's pivotal first democratic election in 1994 that announced the official end of apartheid.

Rep. Mauree Turner has been censured by colleagues and carried the stress of being in a legislature that passes laws restricting trans rights.

NPR's Steve Inskeep speaks with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken following his talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and top Chinese officials in Beijing.