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GOP Consultant's Private Files Viewed In Gerrymandering Case
A lawsuit challenging North Carolina's legislative districts for having excessively political boundaries is going to trial, just days after the U.S. Supreme Court declared it has no authority to rule on partisan gerrymandering claims.
What's different about the case in Raleigh is that it's getting heard in state court, and the claims are based on alleged violations of the North Carolina Constitution, not the U.S. Constitution.
The Supreme Court's majority opinion last week involving North Carolina's congressional map focused only on federal courts.
The state lawsuit challenging state House and Senate districts is scheduled to go to trial July 15.
A big issue during Tuesday's pretrial hearing will be whether a Republican consultant's private files will be allowed as evidence.
Bill Addressing Absentee Ballot Mischief Advances In Senate
The procedure for requesting North Carolina absentee ballots would be altered and request records would become confidential in legislation advancing after an investigation into a congressional election last fall.
The Senate's elections committee voted on Monday for the measure, which would eliminate a statewide absentee ballot request form that can be mass copied, filled out and turned in to local county boards. Now, individuals would have to write personal requests.
Rolls of absentee ballot requesters would now stay private until Election Day.
Standfield Brandon First African American Judge To Represent Rockingham County
Governor Roy Cooper has appointed a new District Court judge. Erica Standfield Brandon has been a state prosecutor in the Rockingham County District Attorney's office for nearly a decade.
Standfield Brandon is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and received her law degree from North Carolina Central University School of Law.
According to The News & Record, she's the first African American judge, elected or appointed, to represent Rockingham County. The 17A Judicial District also serves Caswell County.
2 Teens Now Charged With Murder After Shooting Victim Dies
Police in Winston-Salem say two teens accused in a shooting involving a Texas man are now charged with murder Police said in a news release Monday that 28-year-old Tevin Lamar Bonner of El Paso, Texas, died on June 22, five days after he was found in the street with at least one gunshot wound in his back. According to police, Bonner was in Winston-Salem as part of his job installing alarm systems and had been in Louisiana and High Point for work the week before he was shot.
Police say a 13-year-old and a 15-year-old are now charged with murder. When they were initially charged, a police spokesman said the teens and the victim appear to have known each other.
North Carolina's Original Bill Of Rights Copy On Display
It's not every day you can see North Carolina's copy of the Bill of Rights, but you've got a chance this week in Raleigh.
The original copy is on display to visitors at the North Carolina Museum of History through Sunday, including July 4.
Each of the 13 original states received a copy of what were initially 12 amendments to the Constitution, signed by then-Vice President John Adams. Ten amendments were soon ratified.
Historians say the copy was stolen from the old Capitol building in 1865 by a Union soldier. The document wasn't recovered until 2003 during an FBI sting operation involving an antiques dealer.
Some Closed Lanes In North Carolina To Open For Holiday Traffic
North Carolina's Transportation Department is suspending most road construction projects that cause lane closures on major routes across the state for the July Fourth holiday.
The department says in a news release that it will suspend those projects Wednesday through Friday, where possible. In some locations, the roads must remain closed for safety reasons.
In addition, sobriety checkpoints will be in place in all 100 counties through Sunday as part of the N.C. Governor's Highway Safety Program's Operation Firecracker. That campaign began this week and is geared toward catching people who are driving under the influence.
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