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NC Court Blocks Law Stripping Governor Of Election Powers
North Carolina's Supreme Court has again blocked a law that would strip new Gov. Roy Cooper of gubernatorial powers to oversee elections.
The high court on Monday stepped into the ongoing fight over the law approved by Republican lawmakers two weeks before the Democratic governor took office. A lower appeals court briefly allowed the law to take effect, allowing a revamped state elections board to meet for the first time Friday.
The law stops Democrats from holding majorities on all state and county elections panels and evenly divides the slots between major-party partisans. Republicans would control elections during even-numbered years, when big races for president, legislature or other major statewide offices are held.
NC Budget-Writers Meet Amid Positive Revenue Signs
North Carolina legislators are getting together to discuss what looks like encouraging state budget prospects for the next two years.
Tuesday's joint meeting of the House and Senate appropriations committees comes just days after state economists projected a revenue surplus of more than $550 million for the fiscal year ending June 30. Executive and legislative branch staffers believe the surplus could result in an additional $1.5 billion in collections starting July 1 through mid-2019.
Racial Bias Alleged In N. Carolina County's Election Method
A national civil rights organization has sued on behalf of black voters in a rural North Carolina county, alleging how officials there are elected constitutes racial discrimination.
The lawsuit Monday in federal court is among many recently filed by North Carolina black voters or their allies alleging voting rights violations.
Four Jones County residents want eliminated the at-large method by which county commissioners are elected. They say a black candidate hasn't been elected a commissioner since 1994 although the population is one-third African American.
Death Row Inmate Resentenced Amid Discrimination Allegations
A judge has resentenced an inmate on North Carolina's death row amid allegations that prosecutors discriminated on the basis of race during jury selection.
The Charlotte Observer reports the N.C. Center for Death Penalty Litigation said prosecutors purposefully excluded the only qualified black juror from the 1997 jury that decided the sentence for 39-year-old Phillip Antwan Davis.
In a news release sent Monday, the center said prosecutors had attended a training session where they learned how to give excuses for striking jurors. It said such excuses were used to hide the intent of keeping blacks off the jury.
Zeekrewards Founder Sentenced For Role In $850 Million Scam
The founder of ZeekRewards has been sentenced to nearly 15 years behind bars for his role in an $850 million online Ponzi scheme that bilked nearly a million people in the U.S. and abroad.
Seventy-year-old Paul Burks was given three concurrent prison sentences of 14 years and eight months Monday after being convicted on four felony fraud charges.
Burks owned ZeekRewards.com, a Lexington, North Carolina-based penny-auction website which gave incentives for recruiting new investors. The site made fanciful promises of 125 percent returns at a time when the economy limped out of the Great Recession.
Elon University President To Step Down When Successor Picked
The president of Elon University plans to leave the post when a replacement is found.
The school said in a news release Monday that Leo Lambert has decided to step down and will take a year off. He will serve as president emeritus and a professor after the sabbatical.
Lambert has been president at Elon since 1999. He told the school's board he will remain in place until a successor is ready to take over.
The school hopes to have a new president in place by Jan. 1.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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