Receive the morning news briefs delivered to your email inbox every morning. Click here to sign up.

Party Recommendation On Senate Vacancy Approved

The General Assembly has decided new restrictions should be placed upon North Carolina's governor when the governor names someone to fill temporarily a U.S. Senate seat vacated by death or resignation.

The House gave final legislative approval Wednesday night to a measure requiring the governor to appoint someone from a list of three people recommended by the executive committee of the party with which the outgoing senator was affiliated.

Currently the governor only must choose someone affiliated with the same political party as the outgoing senator. 

Gov. Roy Cooper now must decide whether to sign the bill, veto it or let it become law without his signature.

General Assembly Aims To Cap Income Taxes At 5.5 Percent

Leaders in the General Assembly have introduced a measure that would limit legislators' ability to raise income taxes. It's the second constitutional amendment filed this session.

The bill in question would enshrine a cap to personal income taxes in the state's highest law for everyone at 5.5 percent.

The current statewide threshold is ten percent, although residents pay less.

Earlier this session, lawmakers introduced another constitutional amendment that would reinstate voter ID at the polls.

Rep. Carney Facing New Health Challenge With Cancer

A longtime North Carolina lawmaker who's suffered heart troubles for years is facing a new health challenge.

Eight-term Rep. Becky Carney of Charlotte told colleagues on the House floor Wednesday she's been diagnosed with breast cancer.

Carney says she's already had surgery and will undergo chemotherapy starting next week. She says the cancer isn't a "death sentence."

Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools Hits The Road With Its Summer Meals Program

The Winston-Salem/Forsyth County school district is using a food truck to reach kids facing food insecurity throughout the county.

The district provides free meals for kids during summer break at several school sites. But officials say this is the first time the district has been able to take meals right into their students' community.

District leaders say nearly 60 percent of students in the Winston-Salem Forsyth County School System receive free or reduced price lunch.

Richards says the truck, along with a small fleet of vans, will rotate through various locations.

The district received federal funding for the mobile food truck. The cost for the project was around $195,000.

Public Memorial For Marriage Equality Advocate Pearl Berlin Held Thursday

A public memorial is taking place on Thursday for celebrated LGBTQ rights advocate Pearl Berlin. She and her partner Lennie Gerber were plaintiffs in the historic 2014 takedown of North Carolina's Amendment One, which would have defined legal marriage as between a male and a female.

‘Lennie and Pearl,' as Berlin and her spouse were affectionately known, were in many ways the poster-couple of the debate over same-sex marriage and the fight for LGBTQ equal rights. Their faces were on billboards, and the story of their 50 plus year romance was told in newspapers and on television.

The memorial service will be held at UNC Greensboro, where Berlin was a professor and where the Pearl Berlin Writing Award is given to graduate students for excellent thesis and dissertation writing.

300x250 Ad

300x250 Ad

Support quality journalism, like the story above, with your gift right now.

Donate