McCrory Orders Flags Lowered After Orlando Shootings
Gov. Pat McCrory has ordered American and state flags on state property lowered to half-staff through sunset on Thursday in memory of those killed in the Orlando nightclub shootings.
Police say a gunman killed at least 50 people in the worst mass shooting in American history.
McCrory calls the shootings a tragedy that should never happen in America and those that were killed were "innocent victims of an inexcusable act of violence."
Cooper Rallies North Carolina Democrats At State Convention
The North Carolina Democratic candidate for governor is rallying the party with promises to fuel public schools and reject the state's controversial LGBT law as he gears up to challenge incumbent Republican Pat McCrory this fall.
North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper spoke to about 600 Democratic activists at the annual Jefferson-Jackson Dinner after the party's convention Saturday calling for Democrats to take back the GOP-dominated state.
Cooper compared McCrory's rhetoric to divisive Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and said McCrory's continued support of the state's law limiting protections for LGBT people will cost jobs and business from major companies.
Burr: Bill Will Give States, Cities Tools To Fight Zika
A group of senators, including North Carolina's Richard Burr, has introduced a bill they say will give states and municipalities tools to fight the Zika virus.
Burr, a Repubican, submitted the bill along with Democrat Bill Nelson of Florida and Independent Angus King of Maine. The senators say the Strengthening Mosquito Abatement for Safety and Health Act would reauthorize public health tools that help control mosquitoes.
The senators say up to $130 million in grants to support state and local mosquito control work will be authorized every year under the bill.
Trump, Clinton Schedule North Carolina Stops In June
Donald Trump will be spending part of his 70th birthday in North Carolina.
The presumptive GOP presidential nominee released a schedule Saturday saying he would hold a campaign rally Tuesday at Greensboro Coliseum. He turns 70 years old on Tuesday.
Trump is likely to face Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee, in the general election. Clinton will be 69 years old in October.
Clinton's campaign says she'll visit the Raleigh area on June 21st.
Report: Charlotte Police Destroy 1,000 Rape Kits Since 2000
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police have destroyed rape kits from about 1,000 cases during the past 16 years, even though evidence from sexual assault exams is used to identify and prosecute rapists.
The Charlotte Observer reports it asked for the department's records under the state Public Records Act.
Those records show that of about 3,000 sexual assault exams performed, the results of about one third were destroyed.
1st 'Moral Monday' In Far Western Part Of NC Planned
The first "Moral Monday" event in the far western part of North Carolina is coming up in Sylva.
The "Mountain Moral Monday" event will be held Monday in Bridge Park in Sylva. NAACP President William Barber is the architect of the Forward Together Moral Movement and is speaking at the event.
Organizers tell the Asheville Citizen-Times that other speakers include a physically disabled Sylva woman hurt by the state's refusal to expand Medicaid and a Franklin teacher who will discuss school funding.
Barber says five majority-white NAACP branches have formed in the far western area of the state over the past three years. He says the branches formed in counties that never had NAACP branches before.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Receive the morning news briefs delivered to your email inbox every morning, click here to sign-up.