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NC Court Blocks Law Stripping Governor Of Election Powers

Credit: Neal Charnoff for WFDD

North Carolina's Supreme Court has again blocked a law that would strip new Gov. Roy Cooper of gubernatorial powers to oversee elections.

The high court on Monday stepped into the ongoing fight over the law approved by Republican lawmakers two weeks before the Democratic governor took office. A lower appeals court briefly allowed the law to take effect, which led to a revamped state elections board meeting for the first time Friday.

It's one of the changes passed in late December that shifts power over running elections away from governors.

The law stops Democrats from holding majorities on all state and county elections panels and evenly divides the slots between major-party partisans. Republicans would control elections during even-numbered years, when big races for president, legislature or other major statewide offices are held.

The measure also merges the state ethics and elections boards into one.

Cooper is also fighting the legality of another new law that requires Senate confirmation of his Cabinet secretaries.

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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