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Morning News Briefs: Friday, July 7th, 2017

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Small-Town, Big-City Elections Begin With Candidate Filings

The next round of North Carolina elections is starting up, this time for towns and cities.

Candidates for elections to city councils and town boards can begin filing their paperwork to run starting Friday at noon at county election boards statewide. The filing period ends at noon July 21.

In all, there will be more than 1,000 election contests statewide when some local school board races are included. The biggest races are expected in the biggest cities, such as Charlotte, Raleigh and Greensboro, where mayors and council members will be elected.

Official: North Carolina Officer Justified In Fatal Shooting

A North Carolina prosecutor says a police officer was justified in fatally shooting a mentally ill man who pointed a rifle at the back of a fellow officer who was running for cover.

District Attorney R. Andrew Murray said Thursday that no criminal charges should be filed against Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Officer Brian Walsh because he fired his gun after perceiving a threat during the March 8 confrontation.

Murray said in a 175-page report that Walsh killed 25-year-old Iaroslav Mosiiuk with a single shot to the back. Mosiiuk was pointing a rifle that was loaded, but it was missing a critical piece and wouldn't work. The state official said Walsh could not have known that when he acted.

Report: No Easy Alternative For UNC Center For Civil Rights

A committee studying alternative paths for the UNC Center for Civil Rights has found no options that would allow the center to continue the full breadth of its work while also satisfying opponents.

A new report offers five ways to revamp the center, founded in 2001 by African-American attorney Julius Chambers.

The report says only the alternative of renaming the center after Chambers and defining its educational role more precisely allows the center to continue the work it does now. The report notes that's not likely to satisfy critics, who say they don't like that a center associated with the law school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill sues other government entities.

The Latest: Infosys Could Get $22M In NC Incentives

An India-based information technology consulting company could receive more than $22 million in taxpayer-funded incentives from North Carolina if it follows through on building a technology hub and hiring workers in the state as announced.

Infosys announced Thursday plans to hire 2,000 workers in the county surrounding Raleigh by 2021. Earlier in the day, a state panel finalized an agreement under which Infosys could receive more than $22 million through 2029 if they meet job creation, investment and wage thresholds. The state community college system is also chipping in $3 million for Infosys worker training.

Man Sentenced To 5 Years For Fires Set In Federal Forests

A man will serve five years in federal prison after setting a series of forest fires last year in the North Carolina mountains.

Federal prosecutors said 50-year-old Keith Eugene Mann of Franklin was sentenced Thursday for destroying federal property in the Nantahala National Forest.

Prosecutors say several fires were set intentionally on federal wildlands in October and November, but the blazes did little damage. Court documents say Mann reported the November fire and admitted to investigators that he set them.

2 Plead Guilty In Winston-Salem Man's Fatal Stabbing

A transgender woman and her female accomplice are admitting to crimes after the stabbing death of a North Carolina man they solicited for sex but who refused to pay.

The Winston-Salem Journal reports 20-year-old Fred Harris Thompson and 34-year-old Katisha Ann Smith were convicted Thursday.

Thompson pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for fatally stabbing Vierl Banks Jr. in June 2016. Smith pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact of second-degree murder for cleaning and hiding the knife.

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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