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Former Unaffiliated Voter Back On Election Board As Democrat
Gov. Roy Cooper has picked a nonprofit's executive to rejoin North Carolina's Board of Elections days after the chairman resigned following criticism about an inappropriate joke he made at a training conference for election officials.
Cooper said Wednesday that Damon Circosta of Raleigh will fill the vacancy created by Bob Cordle's departure.
Circosta runs the A.J. Fletcher Foundation and served on the board last year when it had nine members. That board was struck down as unconstitutional and replaced with a five-member board.
Circosta was a registered unaffiliated voter while serving last year. He's now one of three registered Democrats — like Cooper — on the five-member board.
The board picks the next chairman.
Cooper Seeks Weigh-In After Remapping Trial
Gov. Roy Cooper and Attorney General Josh Stein have formally asked North Carolina judges to quickly strike down dozens of legislative districts drawn by Republicans that are at the center of a partisan gerrymandering lawsuit.
The top elected Democratic leaders on Wednesday requested that the judges accept their legal briefs in litigation filed by Common Cause, the state Democratic Party and voters against Republican legislators. The judges heard two weeks of testimony but haven't yet ruled.
Winston-Salem/Forsyth County School Board Names New Superintendent
The Winston-Salem/Forsyth County school system has a new leader.
The school board voted unanimously to hire Angela Pringle as the next superintendent during a special meeting on Wednesday. She was among more than 40 candidates vying for the job.
Board members say Pringle stood out from the list because she met many of the qualifications that the community wanted. Those include teaching experience and success with raising student achievement in low performing schools.
Lawsuit: Deputy Fired For Not Training Woman Due To Faith
A former sheriff's deputy in North Carolina is suing over his firing, saying he lost his job because his religious beliefs prevented him from training a woman.
The Sanford Herald reports that Lee County Deputy Manuel Torres is claiming religious discrimination in the lawsuit he filed July 31 in U.S. District Court.
The lawsuit says the 51-year-old Torres believes the Bible prohibits him from being alone with a woman who's not his wife for extended periods of time. It says he requested a religious accommodation in July 2017 when he was told to train a female deputy.
It says he was fired about two months later.
NC Town Awarded For Promoting Monarch Butterfly Population
A North Carolina town is being recognized for its commitment to preserving monarch butterflies.
Wake Forest announced Wednesday that the recognition was awarded by Monarch City USA, a nonprofit organization that promotes the species and recognizes areas that work on recovering butterfly populations.
The nonprofit group says that the butterflies rely on milkweed and nectar plants. Wake Forest, which is northeast of Raleigh, features the plants that attract the butterflies at E. Carroll Joyner Park.
The town has installed signs that identify the butterfly habitat and one noting Wake Forest's designation as a "Monarch Town USA." The nonprofit says it's the first in the state to receive the designation.
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