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Pipeline panel chairmen rebuff governor, saying he has no power to demand records

In North Carolina, the legislative branch oversees the operations of the executive branch. Not the other way around. That’s the message delivered by the Republican leaders of a legislative subcommittee probing Gov. Roy Cooper’s controversial $57.8-million Atlantic Coast Pipeline discretionary fund. Rep. Dean Arp, R-Union, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Brown, R-Onslow, Dec. 17 hand-delivered...

Dan Way
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NCGA pipeline panel hires investigators, gets records request from Cooper

A team of former federal special agents with a rich background investigating public corruption and fraud will dig through documents and interview members of Gov. Roy Cooper’s administration to determine whether his $57.8 million Atlantic Coast Pipeline discretionary fund was a political pay-to-play scheme. “This matter is not a criminal matter so far as we...

Dan Way
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Lawmakers will hire investigator to probe Cooper’s creation of pipeline fund

A legislative panel is hiring a special outside investigator to get answers from Gov. Roy Cooper about his creation of a $57.8 million discretionary fund tied to payments from Atlantic Coast Pipeline partners. A Joint Legislative Commission on Governmental Operations subcommittee voted Wednesday, Nov. 14, to probe whether Cooper’s conduct was legal. The special investigator...

Dan Way
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Navy study says no more wind turbines at Amazon site

Editor’s note: This story has been corrected to state the Amazon Wind Farm is in Pasquotank County. We regret the error. A new study from the U.S. Navy says expanding the Amazon Wind Farm site near Elizabeth City, as the operator planned to do, may cause interference with the Navy’s radar-tracking facility in southern Virginia....

Don Carrington
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State employees guaranteed ‘living wage’ in budget proposal

The minimum wage for state employees will rise to $15 an hour if the budget proposed by legislative leaders becomes law. GOP leaders announced some details of the $23.9 billion General Fund budget for 2018-19 Thursday, May 24, at an impromptu press conference. The briefing featured Senate Majority Leader Harry Brown, R-Onslow; senior House appropriator Rep....

CJ Staff
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Cooper spokesman faces barrage of questions about pipeline fund

Lee Lilley did little to assuage Republicans’ concerns over a $57.8 million “voluntary” payment to Gov. Roy Cooper’s office from companies building the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. Lawmakers doggedly questioned Lilley, who Cooper hired as his director of legislative affairs less than a week ago, during the meeting a joint appropriations committee of the General Assembly...

John Trump

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UPDATE: Cooper will decide immediate fate of proposed wind farms

UPDATE: Gov. Roy Cooper says he is “considering all of the options” when it comes to House Bill 589. Cooper told reporters Tuesday morning that he fully supported the original House version of the bill but has concerns about the bill as approved. The governor plans, “in the next week or so,” to hear from...

Will Rierson
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