GOP Leaders Agree To Streamline Dueling Cases Over LGBT Law
North Carolina Republican legislative leaders have agreed to streamline dueling lawsuits over a state law that limits protections for LGBT people.
Lawyers for state Senate leader Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore filed a motion Thursday voluntarily dropping their lawsuit because they are pursuing the same arguments in another case.
In that other case, Moore and Berger have intervened as defendants to fight U.S. Justice Department allegations that the North Carolina measure violates federal civil rights laws.
Several cases are before a federal judge in Winston-Salem, while one remains in a Raleigh federal court.
Civil Rights Museum Officials Won't Meet With City About Debt
Officials with the museum that honors the 1960 sit-in at a whites-only lunch counter in Greensboro say they won't meet with city council members next week to help determine how much the museum owes taxpayers.
The News & Record of Greensboro reports that the chief executive officer of the International Civil Rights Center & Museum said in a letter earlier this week that such a meeting would be premature.
Mayor Nancy Vaughn says the council will discuss the issue anyway at its meeting Monday. Vaughn is a member of the museum's board.
The city made $1.5 million in forgivable loans to help keep the museum operating. City officials say the museum owes more than $900,000. The museum says the figure is closer to $280,000.
Caterpillar Wants Jobs Deal Redo, Avoid Returning Tax Breaks
Caterpillar Inc. wants to renegotiate a deal to avoid refunding local tax breaks after failing to create a minimum number of jobs.
The Winston-Salem Journal reported Thursday that Caterpillar failed to meet job-creation goals for the past three years at its Winston-Salem axle-manufacturing plant.
Caterpillar wants Forsyth County to lower the number of jobs from nearly 200 to 50 that must be maintained and avoid returning some of the more than $5 million the company has collected.
County commissioners may consider the request next month. Caterpillar says it also wants amendments to its incentives deal with Winston-Salem.
Four North Carolina Officers Cleared In 2015 Fatal Shooting
An investigation has cleared four North Carolina police officers involved in the 2015 fatal shooting of a man.
Randolph County District Attorney Garland Yates said in a news release Thursday that officers Tim Coats, Andrew Lanier, Zach Trotter and John Antignano were cleared in the shooting death of 53-year-old Bobby T. Norris of Archdale.
According to a North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation report, the officers shot Norris nine times on Aug. 23, 2015, after he pointed a shotgun at them. The incident occurred after police responded to a domestic dispute. Norris died from his wounds at the scene.
Yates says that the officers were presented with an imminent threat of death or serious injury. Yates called the officers' actions lawful, justified and proper.
Memorial To 1st Black Marines Dedicated At Camp Lejeune
A memorial is being dedicated at Camp Lejeune to honor the Montford Point Marines, the nation's first black Marines.
Forty-five Montford Point Marines are scheduled to attend the dedication Friday at Lejeune Memorial Gardens. The first phase of the memorial cost about $1 million and includes a statue of a Montford Point Marine.
About 20,000 men trained at the segregated Montford Point camp from 1942 to 1949 after President Franklin Roosevelt signed an executive order that led to the desegregation of the Marine Corps, the last branch of the U.S. Armed Forces to admit blacks. In 1948, President Truman signed an executive order that officially ended segregation in the military.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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