Tyler Dukes

In the wake of the 2008 recession, about four of every 10 of the jobs state officials hoped to lure to North Carolina with the promise of millions in taxpayer money failed to materialize, new Commerce Department data show. A WRAL News analysis of grants from the state’s two largest incentive programs, the Job Development Investment Grant and the One North Carolina Fund, shows that more than one-third of the companies that announced relocations and expansions failed to hire a single worker. The analysis covers grants awarded from 2009 through 2012, under the administration of former Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue. Almost...

Gov. Roy Cooper on Thursday signed into law a measure that overhauls the state’s solar energy policy, despite an 18-month moratorium on new wind farm projects that lawmakers tacked onto the plan. “A strong renewable energy industry is good for our environment and our economy,” Cooper said in a statement. “This bill is critical for the future of significant increases in our already booming solar industry. I strongly oppose the ugly, last-minute, politically motivated wind moratorium. However, this fragile and hard fought solar deal will be lost if I veto this legislation and that veto is sustained.” The governor...

North Carolina primary voters handed Gov. Pat McCrory a decisive victory Tuesday after overwhelmingly approving a bond measure that will pour $2 billion into universities and other statewide projects. With virtually all precincts reporting, unofficial elections data showed North Carolina voters backed the bond by an almost two-to-one margin with 1.38 million in favor, or 65 percent, to 727,000 saying no, or 35 percent. Addressing a crowd earlier in the evening, McCrory attributed the win to a collaborative effort with partners from all sides of the political spectrum. More coverage of bond issue: State’s tech community backed bond issue...

A group made up of students and staff at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will receive a $150,000 grant to develop a project to help track political speeches on the campaign trail. The Reese News Lab, an experimental media research project housed in the UNC School of Media and Journalism, was one of 22 winners of the Knight News Challenge on elections for an application called Campaign Hound. The grant program, run by the nonprofit Knight Foundation, was designed to accelerate ideas to inform voters and increase civic participation. Using crowd-sourced recordings and transcripts, Campaign Hound will...

State senators on Wednesday took up a suite of bills intended to extend the state’s expiring job incentives program. The Senate Finance Committee took no action on three bills, which also propose a number of other steps to reduce taxes and change how they’re calculated. But with one of the bills already approved by the House, the committee’s task in the coming weeks will be to work out which strategies the Senate will move forward for job creation in the state. “All of those bills have some overlap,” Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Bob Rucho, R-Mecklenburg, said. “Some of them...

A new analysis of one of the state’s largest programs to entice job growth in North Carolina says a majority of those projects fail to deliver on promises of hiring, wages and investment. The report from the left-leaning North Carolina Justice Center, a Raleigh-based nonprofit, comes as state House lawmakers work to complete new legislation to expand existing job incentive programs at the request of Gov. Pat McCrory. McCrory has argued for months that he needs new tools to help attract major employers, such as automakers and other manufacturers, to continue job creation in the state. Chief on McCrory’s wish list is the expansion of...

An audit released Tuesday says state officials can’t back up a projected $1.2 billion in cost savings used to help justify several major technology upgrades. After examining IT projects across five different agencies, state auditors found limited or no effort to track expected cost savings used for nine different projects. The state spends about $3 billion on technology products and services during every two-year budget cycle. The audit also notes the State Board of Elections got nothing for the $1 million it paid a vendor to replace its campaign finance system and that agencies need stronger oversight of technology management and purchases. In their review, auditors examined...