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McCrory Will File Appeal On Open Records Decision

Gov. Pat McCrory is standing firm in an open records battle with the media. The governor will appeal a judge's decision refusing to dismiss a lawsuit brought by several media outlets.

The suit filed by The Charlotte Observer and several other media outlets argues the McCrory administration has failed to comply with the state's open records law.

Superior Court Judge John Craig last week rejected the administration's request that the lawsuit be dismissed.

According to the Observer, the governor's office filed a request Monday to prevent news media attorneys from taking statements from witnesses while an appeal is prepared.

The news organizations contend the state has systematically defied the public records law by failing to provide requests as quickly as possible.

McCrory spokesman Graham Wilson said Tuesday the administration has fulfilled thousands of requests for public records.

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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