RALEIGH — Nearly 20 members of the General Assembly, including several powerful veteran lawmakers, will not be running for re-election in 2016, and that number could swell as the candidate filing period that opens today at noon moves forward. Meanwhile, the State Board of Elections is busy training poll workers, and preparing for the flow of prospective office holders coming in to file.
RALEIGH — In what is evolving into a war of words and political philosophies, Gov. Pat McCrory said he would pursue what Attorney General Roy Cooper would not — formal opposition to a Virginia transgender student’s lawsuit that could force North Carolina to allow both sexes to use the same K-12 public school bathrooms and locker rooms.
RALEIGH — The Obama administration has issued a directive ordering school authorities in North Carolina and around the country to allow transgender students to use sex-specific bathrooms designed for students of the opposite sex, “and is threatening resistant schools with legal action and loss of federal funding,” Gov. Pat McCrory said in a news release asking Attorney General Roy Cooper to intervene in opposition to the directive.
WILMINGTON — U.S. Rep. David Rouzer, a Johnston County Republican, says federal rules and regulations “are just stifling this economy,” and the final Waters of the United States rule proposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency could be devastating for North Carolina.
RALEIGH — Expressing disappointment in President Obama’s threat to veto his bill requiring a more thorough screening process of refugees from Syria and Iraq, U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson, R-8th District, said Thursday he hopes the measure gets the same veto-proof support in the Senate it received in the House. The bill passed by a 289-137 vote, with 47 Democrats joining all but two Republicans in support of the measure.
RALEIGH — One day after national refugee organizations accused 31 governors of discrimination and fear-mongering in seeking a halt in the flow of Syrian refugees into their states, North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper came out in support of Gov. Pat McCrory’s request for such a moratorium.
RALEIGH — Two House bills intended to reduce partisan manipulation of legislative redistricting could be acted on in the short session starting in April, though retiring Sen. Bob Rucho, R-Mecklenburg, chairman of the Senate Redistricting Committee, predicted the Senate would not approve either. House members backing reform say they may not advance their measures if they have no chance of passing.
WILMINGTON — Two prominent state lawmakers pushing to make North Carolina’s energy policy more friendly to consumers say they will press vigorously for freezing or reducing state mandates to use more renewable energy when the General Assembly returns for the 2016 short session. The goal is to allow the use of more low-cost fuels.
RALEIGH — From Jan. 1, 2014, through October 31, North Carolina has accepted 59 Syrian refugees, and as many as 270 others are expected to be relocated throughout the state, according to Gov. Pat McCrory’s office. The governor's office updated the information Monday, three days after it responded to an open-records request from Carolina Journal seeking a tally on the number of refugees that have been relocated to North Carolina from the war-torn country.
RALEIGH — Amy Walsh remembers vividly the day she quit her job as primary-care doctor at a medical practice to seek a better way to provide health care. In a few weeks she will join nearly a dozen direct primary care family practices in North Carolina that deliver primary services for a monthly fee while not accepting medical insurance.
RALEIGH — While environmental activists believe New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s investigations of oil giant Exxon Mobil and coal producer Peabody Energy could develop into a multistate class-action matter on the scale of the lawsuit against cigarette makers, North Carolina has not joined Schneiderman’s campaign. Environmental groups have pushed Schneiderman to determine if Exxon Mobil and Peabody Energy misled the public about the public health risks from climate change.
