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State lawmakers are showing no signs of a budget breakthrough as the fiscal year marks it's 40th day. On this episode of the WUNC Politics Podcast, Travis Fain (@travisfain), statehouse reporter for WRAL, addresses that as well as the latest mass shootings and why policy action is unlikely in Raleigh. Fain also meanders through life as a journalist, SEC football venues, and Big Sky country.

North Carolina House Speaker Tim Moore is a nine-term legislator from Cleveland County.

It’s the fourth week of the fiscal year, however, legislators and the Governor have yet to agree on a new budget for North Carolina.

North Carolina State lawmakers and the governor have still not agreed on a new spending plan for the budget year which began now more than two weeks ago.

There was plenty of budget discussion at the North Carolina General Assembly this week. But for now, still no agreement on a state spending plan. Many Democrats, led by the Governor, are pushing for the expansion of Medicaid as part of any compromise. Some Republicans, led by legislative leaders, continue to balk at that request, and say the minority party is holding the budget hostage.

Medicaid expansion is not the only major healthcare fight going on in state government these days. There is also a squabble over what to do about the state health plan.

Two major opinions were handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday.

Many cities across the country are dealing with a housing crisis. The problems are a complex intersection of, among many issues, affordability, capacity, poverty, wage growth and eviction. In a reporting collaborative, NPR member station WFDD (Winston-Salem) recently produced three stories about the challenges facing urban centers.

A test of divided government played out this week at the General Assembly, where Republicans failed to override a veto from Democratic Governor Roy Cooper. It was the first time in North Carolina political history that a veto-override was approved by one chamber, and then voted down by the other chamber. Colin Campbell of the NC Insider joins WUNC Capitol Bureau Chief Jeff Tiberii to talk about the failed veto override, as well as the political effects of the Born Alive Act, and also delves into budget negotiations and craft distillery regulations.

There were plenty of political happenings in Raleigh and Washington this week.

Josh Stein became the 50th attorney general of North Carolina in January 2017. The Wake County Democrat has taken a more proactive role than his predecessor, both sparring and collaborating, with the Republican led legislature.

Significant changes are coming to the North Carolina State Board of Elections.

It was a relatively anticlimactic, non-controversial week at the General Assembly where lawmakers completed the biennial self-imposed exercise of crossover.

Thousands of teachers gathered outside the General Assembly this week to call on lawmakers to improve resources, funding, and student support.

This week on the podcast, our focus turns to two special congressional elections underway in the state. North Carolina's Ninth District was marred in an absentee election fraud scandal and November's apparent winner was never certified.

North Carolina House majority leader John Bell IV (R-Wayne) joins this edition of the podcast to discuss recent legislation, the current power dynamic with the Governor, and a special Congressional election. He also looks ahead to another major teacher rally planned for next month, and even offers his all-time hunting foursome.

The latest proposal to close the health care gap was introduced at the legislature this week.

North Carolina politics is the focus of a federal investigation into corruption. Four men, including the chair of the state Republican Party, were arrested this week for conspiring to bribe the state insurance commissioner.

North Carolina's congressional maps are partisan gerrymanders, but does that make them illegal?

Marcia Morey is a two-term House lawmaker from Durham County. The Democrat is a former judge, Olympian, and NCAA investigator.