Latino leaders gathered outside North Carolina’s legislative building Thursday to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month and look ahead to the future.

This summer, arrests of immigrants in the United States soared to the highest levels since President Donald Trump returned to office. An unprecedented increase in cooperation between local and state law enforcement and federal immigration officers through collaborations known as 287(g) agreements helped drive numbers up.

Potential scenarios range from armed federal personnel deploying at or near the polls to Trump declaring a national emergency — ideas widely condemned as illegal by election law experts. Homeland Security denies it plans to specifically target polling locations.

With only a month left until Nov. 3, it’s unclear whether they can or will call Republican lawmakers off the campaign trail before what’s expected to be a tough election for the GOP.. 

The Senate Leadership Fund is diverting tens of millions of advertising dollars away from North Carolina’s closely watched U.S. Senate race between Republican Michael Whatley and former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper.

The N.C. Board of Elections is planning to ask the 1,599 registered voters identified by a federal database as potential noncitizens to either confirm their citizenship or ask to be removed from the state voter list. 

Cook Political Report rates the race as “solid Republican.”

North Carolina counties are now paying more for a federal program that helps some hungry people eat, as a law shifting more of the cost of the nutrition assistance program to states takes effect. 

Artificial intelligence is making it easier to create realistic political images, videos and audio, leaving voters with a new question as they head toward the midterm elections: How do they know what they are seeing is real? 

North Carolina’s State Board of Education says it could take action against CMS if reviews find violations involving district finances.