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WSFC School Board Votes Down Measure For Mandatory Black History Course

The Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Board of Education voted down a measure that would have required high school students to take an African American history class to graduate. The district's superintendent offered an alternative that will give more time to assess the issue.

The mandated black history course failed by a 7 to 1 vote. But the board unanimously passed a motion to support Superintendent Angela Pringle Hairston's plan to expand the district's Infusion Program, which includes African American Studies.

It wouldn't be required for graduation, but high schools in the district would have to offer a black history course, regardless of how many people sign up to take it. Hairston says it will also include courses for Latino students and other ethnicities.

Clergy Seek Apology For Greensboro Massacre

A group of Greensboro clergy and civil rights leaders is asking for an apology from the city for its role in the 1979 Greensboro Massacre. The request comes ahead of the 40th anniversary of the event.

On November 3, 1979, 5 people were killed and others wounded when Ku Klux Klan members and American Nazis clashed with protestors from the Communist Workers' Party in Greensboro.

Now, pastors from Greensboro's Pulpit Forum have outlined seven issues for which they believe the city should apologize.

Reverend William F. Wright, Jr. is the pastor at New Zion Missionary Baptist Church. He says the repercussions of that day linger, especially in the black community.

The City Council issued an apology in 2017, but the clergy say it did not go far enough in addressing the complicity of the Greensboro police. 

Federal Judge Says Gerrymander Case Stays In NC State Court

A judge has quickly dismissed an effort by Republican leaders at the North Carolina legislature to move a lawsuit challenging the congressional map they drew in 2016 from state court to federal court.

U.S. District Judge Louise Flanagan ordered on Tuesday that the partisan gerrymandering case be returned to Wake County Superior Court, where the litigation was originally filed last month.

Flanagan rejected the arguments of the lawmakers who wrote last week the venue change was necessary because a new map would conflict state redistricting rules with the U.S. Constitution and Voting Rights Act.

Managed Care Shift Uncertain For Medicaid In NC Since Veto

A massive overhaul of how North Carolina government administers the state Medicaid program likely won't take off soon unless legislators and Gov. Roy Cooper's administration agree on final funding for those changes.

The House Health Committee meets Wednesday to get an update from state health officials and insurers awarded contracts to offer treatment through managed care.

The first batch of plan enrollees was supposed to benefit starting Nov. 1, but that isn't happening after Cooper vetoed a measure in August that contained funds to cover the transition and language needed to set coverage rates. The veto is connected to the absence of expanding Medicaid coverage to hundreds of thousands of additional adults. Republicans are largely opposed to such expansion.

Now managed care is set to go online in February.

Great Smoky Mountains Park Ends Backcountry Campfire Ban

Great Smoky Mountains National Park has lifted a ban on backcountry campfires.

Parks officials say in a news release that they ended the ban Tuesday after it was put in place Sept. 26. Officials say that recent rain and cooler temperatures in the last couple of weeks have lowered drought risks and fire danger in the park.

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