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British American Tobacco Buying Reynolds Approved
Shareholders of British American Tobacco and Reynolds American Inc. support merging into the world's largest publicly traded tobacco company.
Shareholders of both companies on Wednesday approved London-headquartered BAT buying the nearly 60 percent of Reynolds it doesn't already own. The purchase is expected to become effective next week.
British American Tobacco sells Dunhill, Rothmans and Lucky Strike cigarettes. Winston-Salem-based Reynolds owns the Camel, Newport and Pall Mall brands.
BAT projects saving at least $400 million a year through cost-cutting of corporate operations, increased purchasing power, and other efficiencies.
North Carolina Court To Rule On Law On Governor's Elections Role
North Carolina's highest court is speeding up a final decision on whether Republican legislators could strip down the election oversight powers of the state's new Democratic governor.
The state Supreme Court said Wednesday it will take up Gov. Roy Cooper's lawsuit against state legislative leaders. The decision bypasses an intermediate appeals court and schedules a Supreme Court hearing on Aug. 28.
GOP lawmakers have sought to dilute Cooper's powers since he narrowly beat incumbent GOP Gov. Pat McCrory last year.
School Board To Appeal Loss In Struggle With Superintendent
North Carolina's statewide school board wants a higher authority to reconsider shifting many powers to run public schools to the elected superintendent.
The State Board of Education decided Wednesday to appeal a decision upholding the shift approved by state lawmakers last December.
The new state law allows state Superintendent Mark Johnson to administer some education funds, oversee charter schools and hire senior aides.
The state school board challenged the law, pointing to constitutional language that it "shall supervise and administer the free public school system."
NC To Limit Use Of Solitary Confinement
Prisoners in North Carolina will be spending less time in solitary confinement.
A new disciplinary policy took effect Monday that says inmates who commit offenses generally can't be sent to solitary for longer than 30 days. An older policy allowed prison officials to hold prisoners in solitary for 60 days.
State leaders say they hope the new policy will help make prisons safer.
According to The Charlotte Observer, about 2,300 North Carolina prisoners were being held in solitary as of March. That means they spent nearly 23 hours alone each day in small cells.
The change in policy is a response to a global outcry against the practice, which critics say can cause and worsen mental illness.
Endangered Snail Species Survives Wildfires, Broadens Range
The historic 2016 wildfires in North Carolina burned almost 100 percent of the known habitat of the noonday globe snail, yet the federally threatened species survived.
The Asheville Citizen-Times reports U.S. Fish and Wildlife biologist spring surveys found that the tiny mollusks survived the fires in the Nantahala River Valley, and were found in previously unrecorded areas, showing that their range had expanded.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife biologist Jason Mays says that while some snails did die, the fire did not dramatically affect overall numbers.
The snail was placed on the federal endangered species list in 1978. Before the fires, the only place the snails were known to exist were in a 2-mile stretch of the river valley. After the fire, snails were found in a 5-mile-long area.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.