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Education
NEWS & OBSERVER: African-American legislators in NC voice support for school vouchers and charters
African-American legislators voiced their support for charter schools and vouchers at a news conference Tuesday, backing positions espoused most frequently by Republicans.
WILMINGTON STAR NEWS: 4 bills in Raleigh that could change education
Amid a flurry of bills moving through the N.C. General Assembly, here are four with potentially big implications for education in Southeastern North Carolina and across the state.
ABC-11: Democratic Gov. Cooper signs first bill received into law
Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper signed into law Friday the first bill he’s received from the General Assembly, a Republican measure reducing the membership of the University of North Carolina system board in the name of efficiency and effectiveness.
NEWS & OBSERVER: Some NC lawmakers want to let schools start earlier in the year
More than two dozen legislative bills have been filed this year that would relax state mandates on the start and end dates for the school year, even though a state report recommends giving that kind of discretion only to low-performing schools.
Elections
CHARLOTTE OBSERVER: Should NC politicians stop drawing their own districts?
Leading House Republicans are pushing the latest attempt to let a nonpartisan commission — and not politicians — draw North Carolina’s voting districts.
NEWS & OBSERVER: Term limits sought for NC legislature
Rep. Harry Warren, R-Rowan, said Tuesday that voters already have the ability to limit the terms of elected officials.
HB 2
NEWS & OBSERVER: Efforts to repeal NC ‘bathroom bill’ are at an impasse again
The drive supporting a new proposal to repeal North Carolina’s “bathroom bill” is stuck in idle as Republican lawmakers and the new Democratic governor disagree about how to empower local governments to expand some LGBT rights.
Health Care
WRAL-NEWS: Doctors don’t see eye-to-eye on laser surgery legislation
Two different sets of eye doctors are battling over who should have the right to perform a certain set of surgeries, including two treatments for glaucoma patients that involve lasers.
WLOS-NEWS: Drug control bill seeks restrictions on doctors, pharmacists
North Carolina lawmakers can save patients’ lives, spare their families and combat an ongoing opioid-abuse crisis by putting tighter controls on physicians and pharmacists who hand out powerful pain-killing medicines, supporters of a drug control bill said Thursday.
A state legislator said Wednesday that there are plans to remove language in a bill that gives public school parents the power to determine whether their child is healthy enough to return to sports after suffering a concussion.
Immigration
GREENSBORO NEWS & RECORD: NC Senate bill tougher on immigration sanctuary cities than House proposal
While the N.C. House is already considering a bill to penalize immigration “sanctuary cities,” a Republican senator filed his own proposal Tuesday that includes tougher penalties than the House version.
In the Courts
WRAL-NEWS: Supreme Court skeptical of sex offender social media ban
With a nod to the importance of social media in American life, the Supreme Court signaled Monday it could strike down a North Carolina law that bars convicted sex offenders from Facebook, Twitter and other popular sites.
State & Local Government
WINSTON-SALEM JOURNAL: Cooper’s address to legislature penciled in for March 13
The legislature is making plans for Roy Cooper to give the North Carolina governor’s biennial speech to the General Assembly.
NEWS & OBSERVER: Cooper unveils his first state budget proposal as governor
Gov. Roy Cooper’s first budget, unveiled on Wednesday, proposes increased funding for education and other priorities that he says will seed a more prosperous state but which Republicans describe as a reckless return to Democratic overspending.
ASHEVILLE CITIZEN TIMES: Bill could allow Sunday morning alcohol sales
A bipartisan bill filed Wednesday in the N.C. Senate would change one of North Carolina’s best-known blue laws: The ban on alcohol sales before noon on Sundays.
WNCN-NEWS: Committee approves Hall as Military & Veterans Affairs secretary
Two Senate committees unanimously recommended approving Larry Hall as head of the state’s military affairs department on Thursday, a mostly collegial resolution to weeks of contentious legal standoff that resulted in lawmakers forcing Hall to testify.
NEWS & OBSERVER: Gov. Cooper picks coastal mayor, once a convicted felon, to lead ABC Commission
Gov. Roy Cooper has appointed Surf City Mayor Zander Guy as the new chairman of the N.C. Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission.
NEWS & OBSERVER: Ethics panel reverses conflict caution for Cabinet pick
The state Ethics Commission has revised its evaluation of Gov. Roy Cooper’s pick for environmental secretary, finding Michael Regan’s past employment does not pose a potential conflict of interest after all.