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NC House Republicans Defend Veto Override Action

North Carolina House Republican leaders say they never made any announcement or decision that would have prevented the chamber from voting to override Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper's veto of the state budget bill.

Speaker Tim Moore and one of his top lieutenants held a news conference hours after their chamber held an unexpected and successful override vote Wednesday. Very few Democrats appeared when the morning floor session began. That's because they say they were told there would be no recorded votes during that session.

Rules Committee Chairman David Lewis says he never told any legislator that no recorded votes would occur. But House Democratic Leader Darren Jackson said he remembers hearing differently from Lewis.

NC House Speaker Says Medicaid Expansion Bill To Move Again

A Republican version of a proposal to expand Medicaid to hundreds of thousands of additional working adults in North Carolina will get another look in the state House now that the chamber has voted to override Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper's budget veto.

Speaker Tim Moore said Wednesday he anticipates more action on the GOP-written Medicaid measure next week. That's because he says he's keeping his earlier promise to consider expansion after a successful override vote, which occurred Wednesday morning when dozens of Democrats were absent from the House floor.

NC Senator Apologizes After Reporter Says He Was Assaulted

A North Carolina state senator has apologized after an online news reporter said the lawmaker assaulted him within the Legislative Building and threw his phone.

NC Policy Watch says reporter Joe Killian was covering the budget override debate on Wednesday when he heard screaming behind a closed door, then a shout for police help. That's when he said Sen. Paul Lowe of Forsyth County and two other senators left the room.

Killian says Lowe approached him when he began recording video on his phone, asked Killian what he was doing and grabbed at his hand. Killian says he wasn't injured.

Lowe apologized later Wednesday for what he called "an unfortunate circumstance" but declined to discuss what happened.

Lawsuit: Zaxby's Worker Fired For Reporting Sex Harassment

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is suing a Greensboro Zaxby's franchise after a worker says she was fired for reporting sexual harassment by the franchise's general manager.

The News & Observer reports the complaint states the woman began working at the restaurant in November 2018. The complaint says the general manager soon began making sexually inappropriate comments on a near-daily basis and requests to "perform various sexual acts."

The lawsuit says the manager invited the woman for an expense-paid night at a hotel to have sex in December 2018 and requested she wear fishnet stockings.

The woman says she was fired when she reported the alleged harassment.

North Carolina's Disaster Relief Fund Approaches $6 Million

Gov. Roy Cooper's office says donations to North Carolina's Disaster Relief Fund following Hurricane Florence have reached nearly $6 million.

Cooper thanked contributors on Wednesday as he met with storm survivors and non-profit partners in communities affected by the storm. The relief fund has raised $5.9 million from thousands of donors after Florence struck in September 2018. Individuals, schools, corporations, small businesses, foundations, and philanthropists make up the majority of the donors.

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