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Choice For Board Of Historically Black NC College Criticized
Some alumni and politicians are questioning a choice for the board of trustees of a historically black university in Winston-Salem because he successfully pushed to move a voting site from the school's campus.
The Winston-Salem Journal reports the criticism is directed at Ken Raymond, a Republican who is chair of the Forsyth County Board of Elections and a WSSU alumnus. Senate Leader Phil Berger appointed Raymond in June to the board of trustees of Winston-Salem State University.
Forsyth County commissioner Fleming El-Amin says he's concerned that Raymond has a bias against the university because of his effort to remove campus precinct voting. In 2013 while serving as an election observer, Raymond said he overheard WSSU students say they would receive class credit for voting.
Raymond says he hasn't personally heard any criticism from alumni.
NC Keeps Cancer-Causing Chemical Standard
Gov. Roy Cooper's environmental agency is keeping for now the same standard for a cancer-causing contaminant in well water that led Cooper to blast the Republican he defeated last fall.
The state Department of Environmental Quality says a science advisory board will study how much hexavalent chromium is safe to ingest and offer suggestions.
The agency last week announced guidelines for well-water-filtering systems that Duke Energy will be required by law to install for neighbors of its North Carolina coal-ash dumps. The department set the standard at 10 parts per billion for all types of chromium despite state health officials arguing a far lower level was needed for human safety.
Former Gov. Pat McCrory's administration also adopted the looser standard, which the Democrat Cooper criticized last year.
Farm Bill With Anti-Union Language Signed By Cooper
Unions are unhappy that Gov. Roy Cooper has signed a wide-ranging farm bill because it contained a last-minute provision that seeks to ensure growers don't have to collect dues for organized workers.
Cooper announced Thursday the legislature's annual agriculture measure was among six bills on his desk he's signed into law.
The farm bill includes a provision designed to prevent farms from being forced into future agreements to collect workers' dues and transfer them to unions. Farmers also could not be required to enter into union contracts as part of settling worker lawsuits.
Farr Gets Another Crack At North Carolina Federal Judgeship
The chief attorney defending North Carolina redistricting maps and a voter identification law authored by Republican state legislators is getting another chance at a federal judgeship vacant for more than 11 years.
The White House announced Thursday that President Donald Trump intends to nominate Thomas Farr as a U.S. District Court judge for a region covering 44 counties from Raleigh to the coast. Farr has backing from Republican U.S. Sens. Thom Tillis and Richard Burr.
The position has sat empty since the end of 2005, making it the longest federal judicial vacancy in the country. President Barack Obama's nominations to the judgeship were scuttled.
Judge: Barber, Others Still Can't Visit Legislative Building
The president of North Carolina's NAACP will remain barred from the state Legislative Building until a case involving his arrest during a May sit-in is resolved.
The Rev. William Barber was among more than 30 protesters charged with second-degree trespassing. A magistrate set the prohibition, but an NAACP attorney told a Wake County judge the blanket ban was unconstitutional by preventing citizens from petitioning lawmakers. A prosecutor disagreed.
District Court Judge Michael Denning told attorneys by email late Wednesday that Barber and four others still won't be allowed to return to the building until their cases are over. Another four can't visit unless a legislator invites them for a certain time and stays with them.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.