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Judges Delay Law Shifting Schools Control In NC
Control over about $10 billion a year in taxpayer spending and the jobs of some state education workers won't change after North Carolina judges agreed to delay a new state law.
A three-judge panel on Thursday gave lawyers for the State Board of Education another 30 days to tell an appeals court that shifting power to the elected state schools superintendent is unconstitutional and the law should be scrapped. The Republican-majority school board wants to keep the status quo and its upper hand over new GOP Superintendent Mark Johnson.
ERA Supporters Work For Support On North Carolina Campuses
Advocates of the Equal Rights Amendment are seeking to build support for it again in North Carolina on college campuses this week while showing a film about challenges for women in America.
ERA supporters will hold a meeting Friday at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill featuring national and state ratification movement leaders, including Feminist Majority Foundation President Eleanor Smeal. The discussion will also feature a Nevada legislator who helped get the amendment ratified in her state in March.
The film was being shown on other state campuses this week.
Carolina Theater Announces Major Fundraising Campaign
Greensboro's historic Carolina Theater has announced a $2.5-million fundraising campaign.
The News and Record of Greensboro reports the theater, which celebrates its 90th anniversary next month, is already halfway toward reaching its goal. Theater officials say the money will go toward rejuvenating the auditorium, bathrooms, lobby and other amenities in the downtown venue.
Last year the theater hosted more than 100,000 people at over 400 events.
Work on the upgrade is expected to take place next summer.
No Charges In Home Invasion Shooting
A North Carolina man will not face charges for shooting a man who broke into his home.
The Winston-Salem Journal reports Winston-Salem police said Wednesday that 79-year-old James Thomas Noah will not face criminal charges in the shooting of 26-year-old Lourenco Marcus Reed of Lawrenceville, Georgia, after District Attorney Jim O'Neill of Forsyth County reviewed the evidence in the case.
Noah and 77-year-old Barbara Ella Melton were in their apartment Saturday afternoon when Melton answered a knock at the door. Police say Reed and another man shoved past Melton and assaulted Noah with a blunt object, at which point Noah drew a handgun and fired once, striking Reed in the head.
Police say Reed remains hospitalized with life-threatening injuries. Authorities are searching for the second suspect in the attempted robbery.
Police: 5-Year-Old Girl Found Locked In Closet Without Food
Police say they found a 5-year-old girl locked inside a closet in her empty North Carolina house without food or water and burns, scratches and bruises on her body.
Randleman police went to the house Tuesday after someone reported a child was being physically and mentally abused.
A police statement says 33-year-old Adam Joshua Byrd and 34-year-old Crystal Dawn Carnahan were charged with negligent child abuse and other crimes.
Carnahan was identified as the girl's caretaker and Byrd as her father. Both are in jail.