Morning Headlines: Thursday, June 18

McCrory Unhappy With Local Sales Tax Change In Senate Budget

Gov. Pat McCrory says he is opposed to part of the North Carolina Senate budget that reworks how local sales taxes are distributed to benefit smaller counties.

The governor says the change could result in millions of residents seeing taxes increased to make up for lost revenues.

The Senate plan would shift sales tax revenues so that more of the proceeds would be distributed on a per-capita basis instead of where purchases are made. Urban and beach counties could be the biggest losers under the shift.

10 Arrested Including NAACP President In Legislative Protest

The state NAACP president and nine others were arrested as they protested North Carolina's voter identification law inside the legislative building.

The arrests happened Wednesday afternoon after lawmakers complained the noise was too loud to conduct business.

Demonstrators want the General Assembly to repeal a 2013 law which cut the early voting period by one week and requires most voters to have state photo identification.

Methane Reading Leads To More Tests Near Bowman Gray

City officials in Winston-Salem are searching farther into a neighborhood west of Bowman Gray Stadium after new tests detected methane vapors in a crack in an apartment driveway.

The Winston-Salem Journal reports the location on Gholson Avenue is near the stadium's west-side parking lot. The lot covers an old landfill that's believed to be the source of the methane contamination in parts of the stadium property.

Group Hopes To Provide Solar Power To Greensboro Church

A North Carolina energy advocacy group is testing the state's utility monopoly law with the installation of solar panels on a Greensboro church.

NC WARN and Faith Community Church of Greensboro announced the arrangement Wednesday, calling their challenge a “test case” to break Duke Energy's state control of power sales.

The News and Observer of Raleigh reports the group plans to sell electricity to the church and its community center for 5 cents a kilowatt hour, less than half the price the church currently pays to Duke. NC Warn can't begin selling power to the church until Duke changes the church's utility meter to allow the solar power to flow into the building.

Town Considers Shark Fishing Ban After Attacks

The weekend shark attack on a girl in surf about 100 yards from a North Carolina fishing pier has the town considering a ban on shark fishing.

Officials in Oak Island are exploring if it can ban shark fishing at least temporarily this summer after two people were attacked Sunday within about 90 minutes of each other. Town manager Tim Holloman says officials want to limit luring sharks close to shore at least through the busy Independence Day holiday. Fishermen say they don't think they should be blamed or punished for the rare shark attacks.