News Roundup

This week it was widely reported that federal investigators have issued subpoenas to the North Carolina State Board of Elections as well as to elections boards in 44 counties in the eastern part of the state requesting the production of millions of voter records.  The Associated Press says that the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina issued the subpoenas on behalf of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, suggesting that the underlying investigation concerns illegal voting by people who are not citizens.  The AP piece notes that two weeks ago the Eastern District U.S. Attorney announced charges against 19 foreign nationals arising from alleged illegal voting activities.  Keep reading for more news. Traffic Stop Analysis.  UNC political science professor Frank Baumgartner is the co-author of a new book entitled “Suspect Citizens: What 20 Million Traffic Stops Tell Us About Policing and Race” in which he and his coauthors analyze data from every traffic stop in North Carolina since 2002.  In a recent interview with the Daily Tar Heel, Baumgartner says that his analysis suggests that, compared to white drivers, black drivers are about twice as likely to be pulled over and also are more likely to be searched after being pulled over. Unsolved Crime.  The Greensboro News & Record has an article this week describing attorney Deborah Moy’s continuing search for justice in the years following her survival of a brutal unsolved crime in 2008.  Nearly a decade ago, Moy and a friend, Billy Hobbs, were discovered badly [...]