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Cooper Quickly Vetoes Immigration Bill
Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper has quickly vetoed legislation requiring North Carolina sheriffs to recognize requests by federal immigration agents to hold jail inmates believed to be in the country illegally.
Cooper vetoed the measure Wednesday, a day after the GOP-led General Assembly gave it final approval.
The bill responds to several recently elected Democratic sheriffs who are refusing to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, particularly as it relates to detainers. The documents aren't arrest warrants but ask that a suspect be held another 48 hours for pickup.
Cooper says the bill is unconstitutional and all about Republicans "scoring partisan political points."
North Carolina Republicans Unveil Tax Refund Bill
North Carolina Republicans say they want to return to taxpayers much of the largest state government revenue surplus in over a decade.
House Speaker Tim Moore and Senate leader Phil Berger say their chambers will advance a bill that would give refunds to more than 5 million taxpayers.
Refunds would range from up to $125 of the taxes that individual filers paid this year to up to $250 for couples. Most checks would be sent in mid-December.
The announcement also signaled a new method by which Republicans will address spending and taxes as they remain in a budget standoff with Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper.
NC Farm Bill Containing Smokable Hemp Ban OK'd By House
Legislation that prohibits North Carolina production and possession of smokable hemp next year has cleared a second legislative chamber. The bill also lays regulatory groundwork to expand the state's industrial and medicinal hemp industry.
The House voted 63-48 on Wednesday for the General Assembly's annual farm bill.
House members defeated an amendment to delete the proposed May 1 smokable hemp ban. Hemp growers say smokable hemp is an emerging moneymaker for them.
The bill now returns to the Senate, where a version already passed but the measure's top backer wants the ban delayed until next June.
Pfizer Expands North Carolina Gene Therapy Plant, Adds 300 Jobs
Drug giant Pfizer is expanding its North Carolina manufacturing plant for gene-therapy medicines to treat rare diseases, adding about 300 jobs.
The New York City-based company said Wednesday it plans to spend about $500 million to expand its plant in Sanford to improve production of the highly specialized drugs to treat diseases caused by genetic mutation. The plant's 650 employees now also produce components for Pfizer's vaccines.
Jury Backs Writer Sparks In Employment Lawsuit
A federal jury has sided with novelist Nicholas Sparks and the private Christian school he founded in his North Carolina hometown, dismissing claims by the school's former headmaster that he was unjustly fired, then slandered by the author.
Jurors spent about three hours Wednesday before deciding that Sparks, his foundation and Epiphany School of Global Studies didn't injure Saul Hillel Benjamin.
Benjamin sued in 2014, contending he was fired without cause, then defamed when Sparks told a job recruiter and others that Benjamin suffered mental illness.
Sparks says the jury rejected efforts by Benjamin and his lawyers to discredit him.
Sparks and the school are based in New Bern.
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