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Your weekly North Carolina political news report.
Education
NEWS & OBSERVER: Charter schools could get more money if NClawmakers overhaul K-12 funding system
Charter school supporters lobbied state lawmakers Thursday for more moneyat a time when charter schools and traditional public schools are arguingwith each over about how much funding they receive.
CHARLOTTE OBSERVER: Legislator: Panel won’t propose splitting certaindistricts
A legislative committee studying the pros and cons for students and localgovernance of splitting up North Carolina school districts won’t recommendbreaking up specific school systems, a panel leader said Wednesday at itsfirst meeting.
Energy & Environment
WRAL-NEWS: Duke Energy rate increase partly approved by stateregulators
State regulators have approved Duke Energy’s efforts to impose higher rateson its electric customers in the eastern half of North Carolina, butgranted the utility less than half of what it wanted.
WILMINGTON STARNEWS: Samples confirm DEQ suspicions about GenX inrainwater
Rainwater samples recently taken near the Chemours’ facility on theBladen-Cumberland county lines have confirmed regulators’ suspicions thatGenX is being transported via wind and brought to the ground byprecipitation, according to a Friday release from the N.C. Department ofEnvironmental Quality.
WILMINGTON STARNEWS: Still squabbling over GenX funding
At the end of a Wednesday committee meeting, a New Hanover County member ofthe N.C. House of Representatives took to task the N.C. Senate’s overhaul– led by a senator from New Hanover County — of a short-term GenXmeasure.
Gov. Roy Cooper’s administration on Monday refused to answer additionalquestions from legislators about a $57.8 million mitigation fund for theAtlantic Coast Pipeline, saying the questions “appear to be political innature, as well as moot.”
Health Care
WINSTON-SALEM JOURNAL: Child health conditions in NC remain mixed bagin 2018
North Carolina continued to perform below average overall when it comes tohealth conditions for children.
In the Courts
WINSTON-SALEM JOURNAL: Trial on NC primary cancellation is in June
A trial over the legality of a North Carolina law canceling primaryelections this year for state appellate court judgeships is scheduled forlate spring.
NEWS & OBSERVER: Another redistricting lawsuit filed in NC – thisone over Wake election districts
Organizations that have challenged North Carolina redistricting plans aregoing back to state court over the General Assembly’s redrawing last yearof election districts — this time with a new lawsuit challenging fourstate House districts in Wake County.
WRAL-NEWS: Judges quiz attorneys on constitutional right to ‘instructlegislators’
A three-judge panel heard arguments Wednesday in a case seeking to overturntwo 2016 laws on the grounds that the session in which they were introducedand passed was unconstitutional.
Justice & Public Safety
WNCN-NEWS: After auditor’s report, NC company says missing cars areaccounted for
A North Carolina state auditor’s report found a contractor mishandled astate program that is intended to get drunk drivers off the road andbenefit schools.
DAILY ADVANCE: NC House school safety panel to meet in March
State lawmakers’ new school safety committee aims to hold its first meetingin March and identify both short- and long-term steps to protect schools, acommittee co-chairman told The Daily Advance Friday.
A 2013 North Carolina law allowing volunteer officers in schools may getmore attention in the aftermath of the Florida high school massacre.
WRAL-NEWS: NC lawmaker seeks option to take guns from potential threats
A lawmaker and former judge wants to add North Carolina to the small numberof states where a judge can order that firearms temporarily be taken frompeople deemed to be threats to the public.
Gov. Roy Cooper should consider deploying the North Carolina National Guardto provide emergency help for the state’s critically understaffed prisons,two lawmakers say.