Your weekly North Carolina political news report.

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Education

CHARLOTTE OBSERVER: Are student exams ‘developmentally cruel?’ NC lawmakers look at reducing testing
There’s a new push by state lawmakers to reduce the amount of tests that North Carolina students are required to take each school year.

THE VIRGINIAN PILOT: School funding litigation option eliminated by legislature
The North Carolina legislature is ready to bar local education boards from suing county commissioners when they can’t agree on how much to spend operating district schools.

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Economic Development

NEWS & RECORD: Raleigh still in contention for new Army command headquarters
A U.S. Army spokesman says officials have narrowed to five the number of cities under consideration to house a prestigious command center that’s meant to modernize Army operations and technology.

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Elections

WRAL NEWS: Cooper vetoes elections, judiciary bills
Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed two bills late Friday, one dealing with elections laws and the other one of two judicial redistricting efforts passed by the General Assembly.

WNCN NEWS: NC General Assembly sends altered early voting bill to Gov. Cooper
The North Carolina General Assembly voted Friday to pass a bill that would change early voting in the state.

HERALD-SUN: Republicans consider asking voters to limit Roy Cooper’s power
Legislative leaders are considering a constitutional amendment that would limit Gov. Roy Cooper’s power over the state elections board.

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General Government

WRAL NEWS: NC may be first state to pay employees $15 an hour
Come July 1, North Carolina may well be the first state in the nation to pay its employees at least $15 an hour.

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Healthcare

WINSTON-SALEM JOURNAL: Revised Medicaid bill brings clarity, hope to how reform proceeds
A willingness to take a breather in the midst of years’ worth of intense and heated debate over the state’s Medicaid program has led to the legislature reaching an unexpected compromise.

HERALD-SUN: Police access to prescription database approved in the NC legislature
Some Republicans and Democrats disputed the need to give law enforcement access to a statewide database of drug prescriptions, but a proposal including that change won final approval in the North Carolina legislature Thursday.

NEWS & OBSERVER: Senators say no to a study of expanding Medicaid in North Carolina
A North Carolina House effort to study the costs and benefits of expanding Medicaid was stripped from legislation Wednesday at the Senate Health Committee.

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In the Courts

WFAE: Candidate Filing Opens For North Carolina Judicial Elections
Candidate filing begins Monday for this year’s judicial elections in North Carolina. The filing period comes in the wake of a series of political and court battles over how judges should be elected in the state.  

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Transportation

CHARLOTTE OBSERVER: Could Senate vote signal the end to hated I-77 toll lanes? House doesn’t agree.
The N.C. Senate passed an amendment that would have let tolls be removed from the controversial Interstate 77 widening project in northern Mecklenburg County, although the state House failed to agree to it late Thursday.

WCNC: House kills funding to modify I-77 toll project
The North Carolina House this afternoon killed an amendment that would have provided funding to pay for fines associated with modifications to the I-77 toll project.