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Judge Questions NC Redistricting Pace
A federal judge says North Carolina's GOP lawmakers have not taken their duty to redraw illegally race-based districts seriously enough.
U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagles is a member of a three-judge panel considering the timetable for when North Carolina must redraw its legislative districts.
At a hearing Thursday, Eagles noted that legislative leaders have known since August 2016 that nearly 30 districts were considered illegal racial gerrymanders. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed this summer that the districts need to be redrawn.
Guilford School Board Approves Budget That Incudes TA Cuts, Sports Fee
A new budget for Guilford County Schools will mean fewer teacher assistants and a $45 fee to play sports.
The Guilford County Board of Education voted Thursday to pass a roughly $664 million operating budget for the 2017-18 school year, which is about a 2.5 percent increase over the previous year's budget.
The News and Record of Greensboro reports the budget plan calls for 51 of the district's nearly 500 teaching assistant positions to be cut.
It also institutes a $45 per year athletic fee for most students and calls for the closing of High School Ahead Academy.
School officials say money saved by closing the academy will to go toward expanding opportunities for students to take online courses.
Power Outage Sends Visitors Packing From Outer Banks Island
An estimated 10,000 tourists have been ordered to evacuate an island on North Carolina's Outer Banks after a construction company caused a power outage, leaving people stranded without air conditioning or places to eat.
The evacuation order issued for visitors to Ocracoke Island in Hyde County went into effect at 5 p.m. Thursday. Officials say no one will be allowed onto the island unless they can prove residency.
Hyde County public information officer Donnie Shumate says there are some 10,000 visitors on the island. He said the main concern was for their safety, adding that officials want to get visitors off the island by noon Friday.
3 Wake Forest Student-Athletes Injured By Knife At Party
Three Wake Forest University student-athletes have been injured in a fight at a house party.
The Winston-Salem Journal reports that Winston-Salem police said they responded to a report of an assault at a home rented by Wake Forest students early Sunday morning. Police say students had gathered for a private party that escalated into a fight, resulting in three students being cut by a knife.
Police identified the injured students as 19-year-old sophomore women's basketball player Tyra Whitehead, 19-year-old sophomore men's basketball player Sam Japhet-Mathias and 17-year-old freshman football player Tyler Marquis Williams. They were treated at local hospitals for non-life-threatening injuries.
Sheriff Holds Out Hope Missing Man Is Alive
Authorities are holding out hope that a missing 68-year-old man is alive after a suspect who ran from law officers for six days was found driving the missing man's truck in western North Carolina.
Henderson County Sheriff Charles McDonald says investigators are trying to retrace 39-year-old Phillip Michael Stroupe II's steps to figure out what might have happened to Thomas Bryson of Mills River.
Authorities say Stroupe was driving Bryson's truck when he was arrested about 1:30 a.m. Thursday following a chase on U.S. Highway 70, west of Marion in the Pisgah National Forest.
North Carolina Town Looking For Someone To Run For Mayor
A North Carolina town looking to elect a mayor in the fall is in search of someone who may actually want the job.
WRAL-TV reports election officials say no one has filed to run for the office of mayor in the Nash County town of Bailey in advance of the November election.
The lack of a candidate has prompted officials to extend the deadline to file by one week with the goal of encouraging somebody to run for the job. Any interested parties have until noon Friday to file a petition.
If no one steps forward, the position will be open to write-in candidates.
Bailey, with a population of 569 as of the 2010 census, is 35 miles east of Raleigh.
Copyright 2017 WFDD. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. AP contributed to this report.
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