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Your weekly North Carolina political news report.
Business & Regulations
NEWS & OBSERVER: North Carolina legislators cautious on more onlinesales
Legislators sounded cautious and divided Thursday about the North Carolinalottery’s latest pitch to expand online sales, with some worried it couldcannibalize ticket sales at convenience stores and complicate flushing outillegal video sweepstakes parlors.
Economic Development
CHARLOTTE OBSERVER: NC must do a better job educating workers to landfirms like Amazon, Cooper says
North Carolina has to do a better job of educating its workforce if thestate wants to land major employers like Amazon.
Education
WRAL-NEWS: Cooper backing class size measure despite ‘political attacksand power grabs’
In a blistering attack on the Republican-controlled legislature, DemocraticGov. Roy Cooper accused lawmakers Wednesday of violating an order of theNorth Carolina Supreme Court and manufacturing a dispute over a fund tiedto a natural gas pipeline.
NEWS & OBSERVER: NC lawmakers will consider dividing schooldistricts, including Wake County
State lawmakers will begin studying this week how to break up NorthCarolina school districts, potentially paving the way for splitting largeschool systems like Wake County and Charlotte-Mecklenburg.
Energy & Environment
WRAL-NEWS: Chief of staff says Cooper never would have decided pipelinefund grants
Gov. Roy Cooper’s office shed a bit more light Thursday on a $57.8 millionpipeline fund that he and state legislative leaders have tussled over,saying it grew from talks among eastern North Carolina developers concernedabout the cost of hooking into the natural gas pipeline.
WILMINGTON STAR NEWS: Can a rare law prevent GenX lawsuits? Probablynot
Legislative tweaks made in recent years to a rare law that limits whenlegal claims can be filed in contamination cases will likely benefitresidents around the Fayetteville Works plant at the center of GenX cases,said a North Carolina environmental law expert.
WILMINGTON STAR NEWS: NC hits Chemours with another violation notice
State regulators have slapped Chemours with second a notice of violation,according to a N.C. Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) release.
Health Care
NC HEALTH NEWS: Health officials alarmed at uptick in teen vaping
Six years after North Carolina legislators eliminated funding for teentobacco cessation programs, health officials are noting a sharp uptick inthe number of kids using nicotine products.
NEWS & OBSERVER: NC Treasurer to UNC Health Care: Put up $1 billionto guarantee cost savings
NC Treasurer Dale Folwell is asking UNC Health Care to put up a $1 billionbond to back its promise to cut medical costs after UNC creates a businesspartnership with Charlotte’s Atrium Health.
In the Courts
WRAL-NEWS: State Board of Education makes its case to be let out ofLeandro lawsuit
Judge David Lee heard arguments from attorneys for the State Board ofEducation on why they think they should no longer be defendants in thelong-running Leandro education case.
Justice & Public Safety
WRAL-NEWS: Moore to create school safety committee
In the wake of Wednesday’s shooting at a Florida high school that killed 17people, North Carolina House Speaker Tim Moore plans to appoint a committeenext week to come up with plans to improve school safety in the state, hisspokesman said Friday.
ASHEVILLE CITIZEN TIMES: North Carolina still unsure how often policeleave rape kits untested
The state Department of Justice is preparing a report to go to lawmakersnext month detailing to what extent DNA evidence has been left untested inrape kits statewide.
WRAL-NEWS: Mass shooting prompt call for accessible emergency exits
One day after a gunman killed 17 people at a Florida high school, NorthCarolina lawmakers on Thursday demanded more accountability from merchantsand building owners to ensure exits can be easily accessed during anemergency such as an active shooter situation.
Local Government
GREENSBORO NEWS & RECORD: Guilford commissioners move forward onpublishing public notices
The Guilford County Board of Commissioners moved Thursday night to end along-standing practice of publishing public notices in newspapers,switching the notices to a county-run website.
Transportation
Durham officials used an unusual move recently to remove Chapel Hill’s busrapid transit (BRT) plans from the queue for state funding to give the $3.3billion Durham-Orange light rail project a better shot.