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North Carolina House Proposes New Legislative District Map
Mapmakers are proposing new districts for most members of the North Carolina House, a move forced after federal judges ruled state Republicans illegally gave too much emphasis to race in the current version of legislative voting lines.
The state House map released Saturday is the first made public ahead of a statewide public hearing Tuesday. State lawmakers are expected to finalize new House and Senate district lines the following week.
The senior chairman of the House redistricting committee says the proposed map would create two districts in which incumbent Republicans could go head-to-head and two in which an incumbent Democrat could face a sitting Republican lawmaker.
Confederate Soldier Statue In Winston-Salem Defaced
Another North Carolina city is cleaning up after vandals defaced the base of a Confederate soldier statue.
Someone spray-painted unintelligible black letters on at least two sides of the downtown Winston-Salem memorial, but did not deface the soldier portrayed atop the base. The damage was mostly cleansed within two hours of the incident Friday night.
Police earlier issued a statement responding to queries about a downtown Ku Klux Klan rally rumored for Saturday. Police said they had received no requests from the white supremacist organization for a rally.
The Winton-Salem Journal reports about 75 people gathered near the statue Sunday night for a prayer vigil that emphasized overcoming racism.
Stokes County Barred From Using Polling Site
State authorities have barred a North Carolina county from using a polling site where a candidate also has been banned from the property.
The Winston-Salem Journal reports the Stokes County elections board voted last week to keep the American Legion building in King as a voting site even though a King City Council candidate is banned from the property.
The State Board of Elections & Ethics Enforcement then barred use of the American Legion building for voting.
State and federal law prohibits a site being used for voting if a person has banned from the site. The American Legion banned candidate Steven Hewitt, who sued over a Christian flag being flown at a veterans' memorial and a statue of a soldier kneeling at a cross. The lawsuit was settled in 2015.
Civil Rights Museum Settles Dispute Over Late Power Bills
The nation's largest utility is dropping a demand for an advance payment to cover the possibility of delinquent power bills from a museum that honors a historic lunch-counter sit-in.
The North Carolina Utilities Commission on Friday posted terms of a settlement between Duke Energy and the operators of the International Civil Rights Center & Museum in Greensboro.
Duke Energy briefly turned off the museum's power during Black History Month in February and demanded that the nonprofit pay an $18,244 credit deposit or risk losing power. The nonprofit now agrees that future delinquencies mean disconnection, late and reconnection fees and a two-month advance.
Sales Fail For Batteries Aimed At Utility Efficiency
A start-up company is shutting down its North Carolina factory three years after announcing it would employ hundreds building batteries that help power companies save energy or shift to wind and solar power.
Alevo informed state officials Friday that it was immediately shutting down its factory inside a massive, former Philip Morris USA cigarette plant and filing for bankruptcy protection. The company said it was terminating 245 workers Friday and laying off the remaining 45 by the end of September.
The company said in 2014 it projected employing up to 2,500 workers by this year at its factory in Concord.
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