NC Legislature

A federal judge has ruled a provision in North Carolina's abortion laws requiring doctors to document the location of a pregnancy before prescribing abortion pills should be blocked permanently. But U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagles restored on Friday another provision she halted last year that required abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy be performed in hospitals. She said the law requiring physicians to document the "intrauterine location of a pregnancy" before a medication abortion is performed is unconstitutionally vague. Her decisions don't halt most of the 2023 abortion law enacted by the Republican-controlled General Assembly. That says abortions can be performed after 12 weeks only under some exceptions.

The bill affecting several towns in Forsyth County is not subject to a veto by the governor and becomes law immediately.

Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper has vetoed a North Carolina masking bill that previously removed a pandemic-era exemption that allowed people to mask in public for health reasons. That provision was later changed after pushback to include language that protects masking for health purposes. But Cooper said his veto of the bill Friday was mostly for a different reason. Cooper and Democrats objected to a campaign finance provision tacked onto the end of the bill that could allow wealthy donors to give money to federal political committees that can then donate to state parties.

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The North Carolina Senate added an amendment to an existing hemp regulations bill that would legalize medical marijuana on Wednesday. The addition comes as the U.S. Department of Justice considers dropping marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III. The original bill addressed regulations on federally legal hemp that has a delta-9 THC concentration of less than 0.3%. The amended version still contains those provisions but adds a plethora of regulations for allowing medical marijuana in the state. It is unclear if the House would approve the measure after the House Speaker said earlier this month that it did not have support.

A group of legislators are pushing to guarantee the right to access to public records and meetings in the state Constitution, but that proposed amendment likely isn’t headed anywhere during this ye

A bipartisan group of North Carolina lawmakers has approved a bill codifying a definition of antisemitism into law. A nearly unanimous House voted Wednesday in favor of the SHALOM Act, which adopts the definition provided by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. Republican House Speaker Tim Moore sponsored the bill. He says that it could guide educators and help law enforcement agencies and local prosecutors to determine whether someone should be charged under hate crime laws already on the books. Some critics say the bill could stifle political dissent against Israel amid the war in Gaza. Four Democrats voted against the legislation.

Republicans in the state Senate want to crack down on recent protests by restricting the use of masks in public. The new bill also would create a felony offense for blocking traffic.

The District 3 school board seat has been the center of a months-long controversy going back to December. 

Winston-Salem/Forsyth County School Board members spoke about the potential impact of pending education legislation during a town hall Wednesday night. 

A new state law will require the Guilford County Board of Education to approve a previously rejected GOP candidate to fill a vacant seat, and make five other counties’ scho