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Advocates Say Greensboro's New Panhandling Ordinances Are Still Problematic
Advocates for the homeless say the latest panhandling ordinances passed by the Greensboro City Council are still unconstitutional.
At a special session Tuesday, city leaders unanimously repealed the controversial “aggressive solicitation” ordinance they passed in July.
In its place, they created three new measures: one that prohibits anyone from blocking sidewalk access; another that bans soliciting in public parking lots; and a third that penalizes anyone exhibiting “harassing conduct” in public spaces.
Marcus Hyde, an organizer with the Homeless Union of Greensboro, says the new measures are an improvement, but still discriminatory, and could appeal to unconscious bias in policing and crime reporting.
Greensboro Inspectors Condemn Apartment Complex Where Refugee Children Died
The City of Greensboro is condemning the apartment complex where five children died in a fire earlier this year after finding hundreds of code violations had still not been resolved.
Greensboro's Code Compliance inspectors took another look at the Summit Avenue Apartments on Monday.
The city found just one unit was in compliance with local housing standards, while 41 others were still not up to code.
In all, inspectors cleared 144 building violations, but found 696 others had still not been fixed.
The owners of the property, ARCO Realty, had already been granted one extension, which recently expired. The company requested another one on Monday, which the city denied.
Judges Weigh Blocking Referendums As Misleading
A panel of judges is deciding whether North Carolina's Republican-dominated legislature is trying to fool voters with cleverly worded amendments that would change the constitution by stripping more power from Gov. Roy Cooper in favor of lawmakers.
A three-judge panel heard Wednesday from lawyers arguing whether lawmakers previously blocked by courts from diminishing Cooper can put two proposed amendments before voters without describing their full effect.
If approved, Cooper believes the amendments would enhance the legislature's power by letting it take over some judicial appointments. It would also gain control of boards and commissions that decide rules for everything from beauty salons to natural gas fracking and running community colleges.
Panel To Decide Whether To Move 3 NC Confederate Monuments
A North Carolina committee tasked with deciding the fate of three prominent Confederate monuments now located at the State Capitol grounds will announce its plan next week.
State officials said in a news release Wednesday that the Confederate monuments study committee of the North Carolina Historical Commission will meet Aug. 22 in Raleigh. The full commission will meet immediately afterward to consider the committee's recommendation on the monuments.
Late last year, Gov. Roy Cooper asked the commission to move the monuments to the Bentonville Battlefield State Historic Site located 45 miles away.
New Info Could Mean Centenarian Is Older Than She Thought
A North Carolina centenarian is already considered the nation's third oldest person, but newly uncovered research could make her the oldest.
Hester Ford was born in Lancaster County, South Carolina and she raised 12 children with her husband in Charlotte.
As Ford prepared for her 113th birthday Wednesday, WBTV in Charlotte reported that its research with Ford's family uncovered census data suggesting Ford may need one more candle on her cake.
Ford believed she was born in 1905 though births weren't officially recorded then, but the report says an April 1910 census record lists Ford as 5, meaning she could have been born in 1904.
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