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Morning Headlines: Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Credit: DonkeyHotey/Flickr Creative Commons

Trump and Clinton Win North Carolina Primary

Victories in North Carolina boosted Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump's efforts to secure their parties' nominations.

Clinton won the Democratic contest in North Carolina on Tuesday along with Florida and Ohio — two states seen as the day's biggest prizes. On the Republican side, Trump topped Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in North Carolina to add to wins in Florida and Illinois.

You'll find complete primary results here.  

NC OKs Borrowing $2 Billion For Infrastructure

North Carolina voters have agreed to borrow $2 billion for repairs, renovations and new buildings at universities and community colleges.

The bond package overwhelmingly approved Tuesday will also pay for local water and sewer projects and construction on state parks, National Guard buildings and the North Carolina Zoo.

With Tuesday's Primary Over, New Campaign Filings Begin

Another primary election cycle is starting up in North Carolina just hours after Tuesday's primary polls closed.

The filing period for North Carolina's 13 congressional seats begins at midday Wednesday and continues until noon March 25th.

Voters were supposed to make congressional primary choices Tuesday. But court rulings last month about the state's congressional district lines forced the General Assembly to redraw the boundaries and delay those elections until June 7.

Earline Parmon, 1st Black Senator From Forsyth County, Dies

Earline Parmon, the first black state senator from Forsyth County, has died. She was 72.

Rep. Alma Adams confirmed that Parmon died on Tuesday. A cause of death wasn't immediately known. Parmon most recently worked as the outreach director for Adams, who represents the 12th Congressional District.

Court Upholds Firing Of Prison Captain Over Inmate Death

The North Carolina Court of Appeals says a state prison captain can't get his job back after he was fired following the death of a mentally ill inmate in 2014.

The court on Tuesday upheld the firing of Shawn Blackburn.

Blackburn, who was the former captain at Alexander Correctional Institution, was fired in April 2014 for "grossly inefficient job performance" following Michael Anthony Kerr's death.

The 54-year-old inmate, who had schizophrenia, died of dehydration in March 2014 after being locked in a solitary cell for 35 days.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

 

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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