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GOP Medicaid Expansion Bill Could Get Closer Look This Year

Several North Carolina House Republicans are renewing their pitch to expand Medicaid coverage to more uninsured adults who can't otherwise qualify because they make too much money.

Chief bill sponsor Rep. Donny Lambeth says the proposal could cover over 540,000 people, more than half of whom don't currently have coverage. Like a failed 2017 bill, enrollees would have to pay premiums and meet work requirements. Health care providers would pay the state program's share.

Abortion Debate Returning To North Carolina Legislature

The North Carolina legislature is entering again the contentious debate over abortion.

A Senate committee scheduled discussion on Wednesday over a measure focused on what happens should an abortion procedure result in a live birth.

The bill co-sponsored by nearly 20 Republicans says the newborn is a "legal person" subject to the same protections of the law and care from health providers as any other newborn. The measure says failure to do so could result in a felony and even murder charges for anyone whose overt action kills a child born alive.

Bill Gives School, Gov't IDs Second Chance For 2020 Election

Bipartisan legislation would ease some standards for student and employee identification cards from North Carolina colleges and universities that must be met before they could be used as photo voter ID starting with next year's elections.

House Republicans and Democrats on Tuesday filed the bill, which also would give more time to colleges, government agencies and tribes to comply with those rules.

Investigation Underway After 7 Shot Outside Nightclub

Local and state authorities are investigating a shooting outside a nightclub in a Triad city in which seven people were wounded.

The Winston-Salem Journal reports both Winston-Salem police and N.C. Alcohol Law Enforcement are looking into the shooting in the 500 block of North Cherry Street around 1:37 a.m. Sunday.

When officers arrived, they found six people outside the nightclub had been shot. All six victims were taken to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Police later learned a seventh victim came forward and was treated at a local hospital for a graze wound to their chest.

Police Lt. Gregory Dorn says investigators think there were at least two shooters in the incident, and that one of them fired from a car.

High Point Dentist Has License Revoked After Death Of Two Patients

A dentist in High Point has had her license revoked after the death of two of her patients following surgery.

The North Carolina State Board of Dental Examiners revoked Shawana Patterson's license to practice dentistry and her general anesthesia permit.

Evidence and testimony allege that Patterson was negligent in treating two patients using anesthesia and that this negligence contributed to their deaths.

Legal documents indicate there was no qualified assistant monitoring patients during the procedures.   

Charges Dropped Against Man Accused Of Abandoning Pet Fish

Charges have been dropped against a North Carolina man accused of leaving his pet fish behind without food when he was evicted.

New Hanover County District Attorney Ben David said Tuesday that 53-year-old Michael Hinson is no longer charged with animal cruelty and abandonment. He says fish aren't protected under related statues that define "animal" as amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals, excluding humans.

Sheriff's Lt. Jerry Brewer said this was the county's first animal cruelty case involving a fish.

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