A group of high school and college students want state lawmakers to crack down on the loosely regulated sales of vaping products. They're pushing for action on a bipartisan bill filed last year to regulate retailers that sell tobacco and vape products and ban sales to people under age 21. The legislation has been parked for months in the Rules committees without a hearing. The Tobacco 21 Coalition Youth Council recently came to the legislature to push for movement on the bill. UNC-Chapel Hill student Taylor Ward and Lake Norman Charter School student Pranika Senthil joined WUNC News' Colin Campbell to talk about the effort and why the regulations are needed to protect young people.

Senate leader Phil Berger lost his primary in March to Rockingham County sheriff Sam Page by just 23 votes. When the margin is that close, every factor that influenced at least 23 voters could be considered the deciding element in the race. Berger’s support for a controversial casino wasn't the only aspect of Berger’s legislative record that faced criticism during the primary.

Sheila Mikhail, a prominent biotechnology executive in the Triangle, spent more than $200,000 on the race for a very different reason. She’s been advocating for a bill that would require insurance companies to cover supplemental breast cancer exams. Mikhail blames Berger and the lobbying influence of insurance companies like Blue Cross Blue Shield for keeping the bill from a vote on the Senate floor after it passed the House nearly unanimously. She spoke with WUNC News Capitol Bureau Chief Colin Campbell about her advocacy and why she decided to help Page.

Duke Energy says it needs to increase your power bill, and the fate of that request will soon be decided by a commission that recently changed to a Republican majority. The N.C. Utilities Commission has been holding a series of public hearings about Duke Energy’s plan to increase residential rates by up to 18 percent over the next two years.

Duke says the rate increase is needed to keep up with higher demand for electricity and the need for a more modern grid that can handle storms with fewer outages. To learn more about what’s happening at the Utilities Commission and the energy policy landscape more broadly, WUNC's Colin Campbell spoke with state Sen. Jay Chaudhuri, D-Wake, and Dan Crawford, senior director of public affairs for the N.C. League of Conservation Voters.