
WRAL.com Public Records Researcher/Reporter Tyler Dukes introduced a new WRAL.com tool on Wednesday, May 25, 2016. Here is the article he wrote about the new feature that helps WRAL viewers and visitors easily find more about state lawmakers:
A shot of the entrance area to the N.C. Legislative Building. (Photo by Mark Binker)
Whether they're convened on Jones Street or not, the 170 members of the North Carolina General Assembly generate a lot of data.
Votes, campaign contributions, annual conflict of interest disclosures - all information designed to help voters track and assess the job they elected their representatives to do.
For the most part, this information isn't too hard to track down, even as scattered as it is across state government websites.
But on the @NCCapitol team, we felt this lawmaker-related data would be most useful when it's available alongside the coverage you see every day on WRAL.com.
Tracking who gives what to NC lawmakers (Click graphic for tool)
Starting Wednesday, we're rolling out a new feature that allows you find out more about the state lawmakers you're reading about with a click of the mouse.
When we mention a sitting state lawmaker in a story on @NCCapitol - say Democratic Rep. Larry Hall or Republican Senate leader Phil Berger - you can still hover over the name to get the same snapshot of each lawmaker's top donors, a feature called Donor Reveal we launched last year. But now, users can click on the name to get a detailed rundown of each lawmaker's stats, including a searchable database of donors, a current conflict-of-interest disclosure and an up-to-date calculation of how often he or she misses votes or votes with his or her party.
The feature also tracks the sponsors and votes on the most newsworthy bills the @NCCapitol team is watching this session, such as budgets, tax changes and efforts to reform environmental regulations.
Find Your Lawmakers (Click graphic for tool)
In addition to finding the profiles linked on story pages, you can find out more about your own legislators through our Find Your Lawmakers application.
All of the voting data, updated every evening, is provided by the legislative tracking service Legiscan. Campaign contributions are provided by the National Institute for Money in State Politics, which regularly parses and cleans donation data from each state's board of elections.
Under the hood, the legislative profiles are powered by a system we've built called Venus, which siphons up bill and rollcall vote information, calculates key statistics and stores everything in a database that allows our reporters to prioritize the most notable bills (the code, by the way, is available on GitHub).
Our profiles are still in beta, meaning there are still plenty of rough edges. But we're launching now so users can begin to weigh in on what they'd like to see added to the information that's already on the page. If you can think of more data that would be helpful in revealing how the legislature and its members operate - or you want to report something that's just not working - contact me.
We're by no means done here. But with our audience's help, we're hoping to build a truly valuable service that provides more options to understand the ins and outs of Tar Heel State politics - whether it's through a quick dip in the data or a much deeper dive.
Thanks to WRAL.com's Tyler Dukes for this capcom story and WRAL-TV's Mark Binker for this capcom photo.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
01/04/2026
January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION
Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...
04/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/02/2026
Katie Vitolins Announced as Vice President of Alumni Products and Services An alumna and former trustee, Vitolins will lead the relaunch of Berklee's alum...
03/02/2026
Tagboard, a modern, interactive graphics system for news, sports, and entertainm...
03/02/2026
Studio Network Solutions (SNS) announces the launch of Trio, a new S3-compatible cloud storage service fully integrated with EVO for media backup, archival, and...
03/02/2026
50 Production Trucks at center of 160 U.S.-based productions...
03/02/2026
Nielsen, which specializes in audience measurement, data, and media intelligence, announces that it is piloting a new methodology enhancement to more accurately...
03/02/2026
Appear's X Platform will be used by NBC Sports to deliver video compression, satellite modulation and transport stream aggregation for its production of the...
03/02/2026
Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, includ...
03/02/2026
NHL Network announces its comprehensive programming schedule for the upcoming Winter Olympic Games, underscoring the highly anticipated return of NHL players to...
03/02/2026
NBC Sports has chosen Canon to deliver 115 Canon UHD broadcast lenses for its production of the 2026 Winter Olympics and Paralympics. Canon will also send suppo...
03/02/2026
Audio-Technica equipment will be used by NBC Sports to deliver much of its audio capture requirements across all sporting venues for its production of the 2026 ...
03/02/2026
NBC Sports will use Cisco to deliver AI networking technology for its all-IP production of the 2026 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, including the deployment of...
03/02/2026
NBC Sports will utilize Chyron PRIME CG to produce live broadcast graphics to display names, athlete information, scores, statistics, leaderboards, headshots an...
03/02/2026
NBC Sports will utilize Grass Valley to deliver advanced signal conversion, rout...
03/02/2026
NBC Sports will utilize Planar to deliver leading-edge fine pixel pitch LED video wall technology for its production of the 2026 Winter Olympics and Paralympics...
03/02/2026
Taking place in two venues, the 2026 production celebrates the 150th Anniversary of the Super Bowl of Dogs'
When the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show conc...
03/02/2026
For the indoor production, NEP Specialty Capture has mounted a 100-ft. overhead ...
03/02/2026
MTVG Edge, the production-services supplier's software-based production solu...
03/02/2026
In the league's second year, new partnerships enhance broadcast quality for ...
03/02/2026
Rocket Surgery will showcase the combined creative strength of Ross Video, with ...
03/02/2026
NBC Sports will utilize Sony Electronics to deliver imaging, monitoring, and tec...
03/02/2026
SMT will provide TVI (broadcast television interface) support services for figur...
03/02/2026
Spotify's annual Best New Artist celebration returned to Los Angeles last ni...
03/02/2026
The smash-hit series The Hospital: In the Deep End returns to shine a spotlight ...
03/02/2026
FoMa Antares: Redefining Camera Stabilization for Modern ProductionsIn high-end broadcast and cinematic environments, precision, reliability, and flexibility ar...
03/02/2026
Viper Shield's robust phase of flight-testing production representative hard...
03/02/2026
Countries throughout the Indo-Pacific have made the ability to defend their people and sovereign borders a top priority, but no single nation can monitor every ...
03/02/2026
U.S. Marine loads a round in an 81 mm mortar system during an exercise. (Credit: U.S. Marines)...
03/02/2026
9905MPx Card features unprecedented level of density with four independent signa...
03/02/2026
Champaign, IL - November 15, 2021 - Cobalt Digital, announced today that three of its products have received 2021 NAB Show Product of the Year Awards. Cobalt, ...
03/02/2026
Cobalt is pleased to confirm that Log4j vulnerability does NOT affect ANY Cobalt products including the HPF-9000 frame.
Given the recent concerns regarding wi...
03/02/2026
Software-based embedding and de-embedding solution will be highlighted at NAB 20...
03/02/2026
Series developed to fill an industry need.
Champaign, IL April 13, 2022 Cobalt Digital will introduce a new series of BlueBox Group (BBG) EO/OE 12G mini...
03/02/2026
Company receives Best in Shows from Next TV and TVB Europe, and two Product of the Year awards from NAB
Champaign, IL - May 6, 2022 - Cobalt Digital Inc. head...
03/02/2026
IBC Preview - IBC Stand 10.B44Journalists: Click to visit Cobalt
Cobalt will al...
03/02/2026
IBC Stand 10.B44Journalists: Click to visit Cobalt
Dr. Ciro Noronha, CTO, tapped as a panelist and speaker by many - and then there's the party!
Amsterda...
03/02/2026
IBC Stand 10.B44Journalists: Click to visit Cobalt
Growth Drives Cobalt Digital to Promote Dr. Ciro Noronha to CTO, and Appoint Anthony Tan as Director of Sale...
03/02/2026
IBC Stand 10.B44Journalists: Click to visit Cobalt
Dr. Ciro Noronha, CTO, tappe...
03/02/2026
Manufacturer plans also include solutions that provide a path to the cloud and redundancy updatesCABSAT Stand S1-I42Journalists: Click to visit Cobalt
Dubai - ...
03/02/2026
Award-Winning Product Portfolio is Being Presented on Smart Video Group Stand, and Company's Berend Blokzijl is Scheduled to Share RIST Insight on Innovatio...
03/02/2026
NEW Location IBC Stand 10.F42 Same Hall, NEW StandJournalists: Click to visi...
03/02/2026
TVBEurope spoke with our very own Dr. Ciro Noronha about RIST and more.Reliable Internet Stream Transport (RIST) is growing in popularity for contribution and d...
03/02/2026
NEW Location IBC Stand 10.F42 Same Hall, NEW StandJournalists: Click to visi...
03/02/2026
NEW Location IBC Stand 10.F42 Same Hall, NEW StandJournalists: Click to visit CobaltCatch Cobalt's Blue WAVE of Innovation in a New LocationHighlights t...