Plaintiffs challenging Greenville’s red-light camera enforcement program are asking the N.C. Supreme Court to stay out of the case. The state’s highest court agreed Wednesday to block an Appeals Court ruling against Greenville’s red-light program. That decision was labeled a temporary stay. Now the Supreme Court must decide whether to grant a “writ of superseadas.”...
The N.C. Supreme Court has agreed to block a lower court ruling against Greenville’s red-light camera enforcement program. The court granted a temporary stay Wednesday. It will allow the program to proceed as a lawsuit against red-light cameras continues. Greenville and the Pitt County school system jointly requested the stay Tuesday. A unanimous three-judge panel...
Greenville and the Pitt County school system are asking the N.C. Supreme Court to block a ruling throwing out the city’s red-light camera enforcement program. The city and local school board filed paperwork Tuesday with the state’s highest court. The request would allow the red-light camera program to stay in place while the Supreme Court...
The Local Government Commission is stepping in to help the town of Spring Lake in Cumberland County. The move by the commission, which voted Wednesday, March 23, will avoid payment processing problems, a news release says. A scathing report from State Auditor Beth Wood’s office last week found that a former accounting technician in the...
The state auditor’s office found that a former accounting technician in the town of Spring Lake misappropriated more than $430,000 in taxpayer funds for personal use and has referred its report to the FBI and State Bureau of Investigation for a possible criminal investigation. In the scathing report released Thursday, March 17, State Auditor Beth...
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with additional information about Raleigh’s red-light camera enforcement program. A court ruling this week against the funding scheme for Greenville’s red-light camera enforcement program could lead to questions about similar programs in three other N.C. cities. Raleigh, Fayetteville, and Wilmington all have red-light camera enforcement systems that could...
A unanimous three-judge panel of the N.C. Court of Appeals has ruled Greenville’s red-light camera program unconstitutional. The judges agreed the program does not provide enough of its proceeds to local schools. In a separate case, the same panel rejected an argument that Greenville’s Red Light Camera Enforcement Program violated a constitutional ban on local...
In 2021, Durham’s homicide rate jumped by 30%, reaching a record of 50 murders for the year. City leaders have been scrambling for solutions, and by a 4-3 vote, decided to adopt a pilot program for the gunshot-detection system ShotSpotter. ShotSpotter is used by 120 police departments across the country — including New York City,...
The city of Durham is set to give monthly checks worth $500 to 115 formerly incarcerated people. The move is part of a nationwide basic income experiment, primarily bankrolled by Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey. Applications for the program open on Wednesday, Jan. 5, and checks will be sent throughout the year. Recipients...
State Auditor Beth Wood is questioning a plan by the Local Government Commission to sell bonds to buy the assets of the Bald Head Island Transportation System, saying the body needs to verify system valuation before placing the applications on the agenda. Wood sent a letter to State Treasure Dale Folwell on Nov. 15, insisting...
North Carolina’s tourism industry lost more than half of its jobs in the first part of 2020 following Gov. Roy Cooper’s lockdowns. Annual visitor spending decreased 32% from 2019. Buncombe County in particular took a significant hit. Visitor spending decreased by a whopping 34.9% from 2019, the 10th largest among North Carolina counties. Given the county...
