EEOC Sues Bojangles Over Workplace For Transgender Worker
The federal agency that enforces workplace discrimination laws is going to court on behalf of a transgender woman fired from a North Carolina fast-food restaurant.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said Wednesday it's filed a lawsuit against Bojangles Restaurants Inc. The EEOC accuses the company of subjecting a transgender employee to a hostile work environment because of her gender identity. The lawsuit also alleges Bojangles fired Jonathan Wolfe in retaliation for reporting the sexual harassment.
The agency says Wolfe is a transgender woman who worked at a Fayetteville Bojangles restaurant.
Bitcoin, Innocence Panel Among Topics Of Bills McCrory Signs
Gov. Pat McCrory has signed nearly a third of the bills the North Carolina legislature sent him before its annual session ended last weekend, including legislation addressing Bitcoin and how a special judicial panel examines innocence claims.
McCrory's office announced Wednesday he'd signed 16 bills into law.
One measure gives more tools to the state banking commissioner to better regulate virtual currencies like Bitcoin, considered online money swapped with cash at Internet exchanges. Another signed bill changes practices involving the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission.
McCrory's news release focused on bills that provide a free state identification card for someone with a developmental disability and change insurance laws.
Rowan To Provide Water To Community Near Duke Coal Ash Pond
Rowan County commissioners have agreed to provide water to a community that has been using bottled water since state regulators said their wells were contaminated.
The Salisbury Post reports the commission's vote Tuesday was unanimous.
The new water system could provide safe drinking water to the Dukeville area, where people were told last year their well water was unsafe to drink. State officials found high levels of some metals that may be associated with coal-ash ponds at Duke Energy's nearby Buck Steam Station.
County officials say it could cost nearly $5 million to provide service to the area. It's unclear whether Duke Energy will be required to pay for the waterline extensions.
House Ethics Committee Taking Longer On Meadows Pay Probe
A congressional ethics committee says it's taking more time as it looks into payments Republican U.S. Rep Mark Meadows of North Carolina made to a former employee.
The House Ethics Committee says it's giving itself until mid-August to make a decision on whether Meadows improperly paid his departed chief-of-staff after he left his job. The committee can punish House members who violate ethics rules.
The committee has considered the Meadows matter since March.
Case Pushed Back For Officer Who Threatened Mosque
The lawyer for an Army Reserve officer who authorities say left bacon outside a North Carolina mosque and threatened to kill its members is asking the state to remember more than a decade of distinguished military service from his client.
Attorney Kelly Dawkins said Wednesday that bronze star recipient Russell Thomas Langford of Fayetteville deserves "all the due process we can give him." Langford appeared in Hoke County Court on Wednesday for the first time since posting bail last month.
Dawkins says the court modified the conditions of Langford's release to prohibit him from contacting any potential witnesses, possessing any firearms and going on the property of the mosque in Raeford.
His case has been continued to August 17.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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