On a Tuesday in June, mothers who lost children to distracted driving took a minute to speak. The mothers stood alongside N.C. lawmakers, who are pushing for legislation requiring drivers to put down their phones. Holding a phone while driving is akin to holding a weapon, Jeanette Nash told those who gathered for the news...
A bill expanding where automatic license plate readers can be deployed has passed the N.C. House Transportation Committee, despite objections from several members over privacy concerns. House Bill 87 would allow the Department of Transportation to approve requests from municipalities, counties, and other government agencies to install automatic license plate readers within state rights-of-way. Automatic...
State Democrats accomplished a major goal in Tuesday’s midterm election, breaking the Republican Party’s supermajority in the General Assembly. Unofficial results show the GOP, which has a 75-45 advantage in the 2017 session — three votes more than needed to override a veto by Gov. Roy Cooper with a unified caucus — lost nine seats....
North Carolina electric ratepayers would save a projected $849 million on their power bills over the next 10 years under legislation that begins to peel away some of the most favorable state mandates for the renewable energy industry. House Bill 589 sailed through the Energy and Public Utilities and the Finance committees Tuesday. It will...
Roy Cooper was mending fences. Just not the ones you might have imagined. The governor spent most of Thursday’s press conference, after he signed the measure repealing House Bill 2, going after the Republican General Assembly, the lawmakers with whom he had spent the last day trying to hold together the tenuous deal. He said...
State Rep. Jeff Collins had enough. The Nash County Republican sat through two legislative meetings in two weeks hearing Duke Energy officials describe subsidies and carve-outs handed over to the solar energy industry at taxpayer expense. Often the utility was forced to buy renewable power that wasn’t needed, Collins learned. “It gives me great heartburn...
(UPDATED, 4:05 p.m. Wednesday. The House passed the bill, 65-51. After the vote, Rep. Justin Burr, R-Stanly, issued a statement including the following: “North Carolina already identifies party affiliation in other judicial elections, so it is not a new approach to provide local voters this information. This informed elections process of providing party identification is...
RALEIGH — In a state primary race with national implications, House Speaker Thom Tillis, R-Mecklenburg, defeated seven other candidates and won the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate seat held by freshman Democrat Kay Hagan. Supreme Court Justice Robin Hudson, a Democrat, was able to survive a challenge from Republicans Eric Levinson and Jeanette Doran and will face Levinson in the general election.
RALEIGH — Freshman state Rep. Dana Bumgardner of Gastonia and longtime Gaston County Commissioner Michael Allen “Mickey” Price of Belmont have similar platforms on education, tax reform, Medicaid, teacher tenure, and merit pay for teachers. Bumgardner says the current system works. Price said reform would eliminate gerrymandered districts.
RALEIGH — House Republicans presented a newly minted version of a Senate bill to transfer ownership of Charlotte Douglas International Airport from the City of Charlotte to a regional authority, but opponents presented old arguments that have dogged the measure since it was first introduced in the Senate.
RALEIGH — The bill aims to accelerate repayment of the debt by increasing unemployment taxes on some businesses while reducing the maximum benefits that some laid-off workers receive and the number of weeks of eligibility. Without a change, the debt likely would be paid back no sooner than 2019.
