Morning News Briefs: Thursday, December 22, 2016

Deep Divide Stops Effort To Repeal House Bill 2

A bid to repeal a North Carolina law that limits anti-discrimination protections for LGBT people has fallen apart because of deep divides over partisan politics and transgender rights.

State legislators tried and failed Wednesday to push through a deal to scrap the law known as House Bill 2 and went home.

Outgoing Gov. Pat McCrory blamed left-wing groups for scuttling an agreement that would have repealed the law.

Gay rights groups and others who pushed for repeal blamed Republican lawmakers for failing to keep its promise to act after the Charlotte City Council repealed its ordinance. Democratic Gov.-elect Roy Cooper says GOP leaders have broken their trust with the people of the state.

Lawsuit That Sought To Delay Cooper Election Results Dropped

The head of a Raleigh-based conservative think tank is dropping a lawsuit filed while outgoing Gov. Pat McCrory was fighting for every last vote to stave off defeat.

Lawyers for Civitas Institute president Francis De Luca filed papers in federal court on Tuesday to drop the case. The lawsuit challenged the way North Carolina ensured people who use same-day registration to vote are whom they claim.

NC Supreme Court Slaps Lawmakers In Asheville Water Fight

North Carolina's highest court says state legislators went too far in stripping Asheville of the municipal water system it built with taxes, borrowing and grants.

The state Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that the General Assembly violated the state Constitution by interfering in local government decisions involving health and sanitation.

The decision scraps the 2013 move by Republican-led legislators to take millions of dollars of assets from Asheville and place them in a newly created metropolitan water and sewer district. Lawmakers also pushed a measure that would have taken Charlotte's airport from city control in 2013. Both cities are run by Democrats.

NC Supreme Court: 3 Juvenile Killers Must Be Resentenced

North Carolina's Supreme Court says three convicted murderers who were teenagers when they committed their crimes must be resentenced.

The state Supreme Court's decision Wednesday cited U.S. Supreme Court rulings that it's unconstitutional to sentence juveniles to mandatory terms of life without parole.

The defendants who won resentencing hearings are Sethy Tony Seam, David Martin Beasley Young and Dominique Jevon Perry.

Duke Awarded Licenses To Build 2 Nuclear Power Reactors

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has awarded Duke Energy licenses to build two nuclear power reactors in South Carolina, a decade after the project was first announced.

The federal agency announced Wednesday the licenses allow the utility to build and operate two reactors near Gaffney, South Carolina, that use "advanced passive" safety.

But the Charlotte Observer reports that Duke may never build the $11 billion William States Lee plant. Duke applied for the licenses in December 2007, but officials say it's unclear whether the company will proceed.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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