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Morning Headlines: Thursday, April 14, 2016

The North Carolina Legislative Building in Raleigh. Legislators return April 25th. Credit: W Edward Callis III/Wikimedia Public Domain

Democrats Plan To Introduce Bill To Repeal Law

Democratic legislators opposed to the law limiting LGBT protections approved by Republicans are floating bills they'll file to repeal the law or scale it back.

Rep. Billy Richardson said Wednesday he would introduce a bill that would give local governments the ability to set their anti-discrimination protections and would extend a new statewide non-discrimination policy to cover sexual orientation, gender identity and veterans.

Democratic Rep. Darren Jackson tweeted Wednesday an image of draft legislation he's sponsoring with other Democrats that would repeal the law altogether.

Ringo Cancels Show Over HB2

Ringo Starr has joined Bruce Springsteen in taking action against House Bill 2. The former Beatle has cancelled his June 18th concert in Cary. 

Starr said in a statement Wednesday that he was sorry to disappoint fans, "but we need to take a stand against this hatred." 

Several musicians and entertainers have protested laws and legislation in several states that opponents say is discriminatory toward gay, bisexual and transgender people.

A joint statement on Wednesday from the Recording Industry Association of America, a trade group representing music labels, and the Music Business Association, representing music retailers and services, condemned similar legislation in Tennessee.

Judge Dismisses Duke From Lawsuit Over Parking Incident

A Durham County judge is dismissing Duke University from a lawsuit that helped spark a student sit-in that lasted a week.

WRAL reports the judge on Wednesday dismissed the Durham university from the lawsuit alleging campus executive vice president Tallman Trask hit a parking attendant with his car and called her a racial slur in 2014.

Parking attendant Shelvia Underwood's lawsuit had argued the university and its police department conspired with Trask to thwart a fair investigation into the incident.

Longtime Charlotte Police Official Nominated To Lead SBI

Governor Pat McCrory has nominated a longtime officer and leader in Charlotte's police department to be the next director of the State Bureau of Investigation.

The governor announced Wednesday that he's chosen Robert Schurmeier for the post, pending confirmation by the General Assembly.

Schurmeier served for three decades with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department. He retired in 2004 as deputy chief over investigations. Since then he served as president of a security consulting and private investigation firm.

2 In Winston-Salem Accused Of Taking $3 Million From Job

Two people have been indicted on charges of taking $3 million from a Winston-Salem businessman.

The Winston-Salem Journal reports that a Forsyth County grand jury this week indicted two former employees of Slate Marketing Inc. and La Casa Real Estate and Investment LLC.

A former bookkeeper, 56-year-old Rhonda Lea Byrd of Davidson County and 52-year-old Charles Dewayne Washington of Winston-Salem have been charged with taking the money.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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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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