Weekly Wrap: Hagan resurfaces, DEQ peeved

Not only did Hagan take a job at a Washington, D.C., lobbying firm, word also surfaced that the U.S. Department of Energy is investigating a federal grant her husband's company obtained in 2010 for possible self-dealing, an issue that dogged Hagan during her 2014 campaign.

Also this week, the state Department of Environmental Quality says the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is dragging its feet on issuing permits for draining coal ash ponds so the ash can be excavated. Duke Energy and its contractors are under a state deadline to clean up some of the ash ponds by 2019.

Meanwhile, environmental groups and people who live near ash ponds are upset over a private dinner Gov. Pat McCrory and his advisers had with Duke officials last summer, days before the state issuing permits to allow Duke to dump some of the ash in old clay mines in Chatham and Lee counties.