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Winston-Salem Plans To Move Confederate Statue
Winston-Salem officials say they'll move a Confederate monument for safety reasons and won't go to court to do so.
In a letter Wednesday to the lawyer for the United Daughters of the Confederacy, Winston-Salem's attorney said the city will remove the Confederate statue sometime after Thursday and eventually will relocate it to a cemetery.
The letter from city attorney Angela Carmon says the presence of the statue in its current location jeopardizes the preservation of the statue and is harmful to public safety. The statue has been vandalized twice in less than one and a half years.
Energized Democrats Promote Medicaid Expansion
Larger and energized Democratic blocs in the North Carolina House and Senate say finally expanding Medicaid in the state is their top priority during this year's legislative session.
Dozens of Democratic legislators held a Legislative Building news conference to discuss bills they filed Wednesday that would provide health coverage to hundreds of thousands of additional low-income people. They say it would help rural economies and hospitals in addition to making people healthier and treating opioid addiction.
Legislative Republicans essentially blocked expansion in 2013.
Court Of Appeals Judge Inman Plans To Run For Supreme Court
Another North Carolina Court of Appeals judge is interested in moving up to the Supreme Court with the approaching resignation of Chief Justice Mark Martin.
Court of Appeals Judge Lucy Inman announced Wednesday she planned to run for a vacant Supreme Court seat in 2020. In a news release, Inman anticipates that will be the seat currently held by Associate Justice Paul Newby.
Newby's associate seat already was on the 2020 ballot. But since Martin announced last week he was leaving Feb. 28 for a Virginia law school, a top state Republican Party leader and a news outlet said Newby told them he now intends to run for chief justice.
Court of Appeals Judge Phil Berger Jr. said earlier this week he was interested in running for Newby's current seat.
After Slayings, North Carolina Prison Workers Want Pay Raised
North Carolina needs to spend millions to sharply raise pay for prison guards to more than a fast-food restaurant manager's salary and attract applicants to fill hundreds of vacant positions, a problem outside experts say contributed to the slayings of five workers in 2017.
The State Employees Association of North Carolina and legislative supporters said Wednesday higher pay is a top priority among several changes they want from lawmakers just starting their two-year session.
The labor organization says North Carolina prison workers were paid an average of $37,000 in 2017, about 22 percent less than the national average.
North Carolina Updates Gender Change Process For Licenses
The North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles is issuing a new application form making it easier for some transgender people to list their gender on their driver's licenses and identification cards.
The left-leaning news outlet NC Policy Watch first reported the change, saying the new form replaces a requirement for a surgeon's letter when changing the gender marker on the cards. The release says while it still requires authorization from medical providers, it allows for a broader range of providers.
The new form still calls for "male" or "female," which doesn't acknowledge people who identify as neither, but LGBTQ advocates call the new form a step in the right direction.
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