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North Carolina Legislative Remap Complete; Court Review Next

The General Assembly has completed redrawing dozens of North Carolina legislative districts that a court declared were drawn with extreme partisan bias favoring Republicans.

The House voted for the Senate remap on Tuesday, hours after the Senate approved the House proposal. The chambers already approved their own replacement maps.

Redistricting plans aren't subject to Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper's veto, but the judges will now review the plans with the help of an outside expert. The judges could sign off on the plans as they are or redraw some or all of the altered districts.

Medicaid Expansion In NC Getting Revived In House Committee

Some North Carolina House Republicans are taking another crack at advancing a proposal to expand Medicaid coverage to hundreds of thousands of low-income adults.

The House Health Committee scheduled debate Wednesday on legislation that it heard and approved in July, but has been idled during the state budget impasse.

House Speaker Tim Moore said last week that his chamber would consider it again now that the chamber overrode Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper's budget veto.

Confidentiality On Late NC Mapmaker's Files Extended Further

North Carolina judges are extending further an order keeping confidential a massive number of electronic documents from a late Republican mapmaker that were subpoenaed by plaintiffs in a redistricting lawsuit.

The three-judge panel had already delayed the expiration of its order directing parties in the litigation not to disclose files from Thomas Hofeller by one week until late Tuesday. But earlier Tuesday the judges extended that order until Sept. 27.

Hofeller's consulting firm had wanted time to review the files and designate those it wanted to stay private. But the plaintiffs wrote last week the firm's demands were too extensive and should be rejected.

North Carolina AG Sues Family That Owns Purdue Pharma

North Carolina's attorney general is the latest to file a lawsuit against the family that owns OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma as part of an effort to address the opioid epidemic.

A lawsuit filed Tuesday in North Carolina court names eight members of the Sackler family as defendants.  Attorney General Josh Stein alleges that the family members directed the company to deceptively market OxyContin while making billions of dollars in profits for themselves.

North Carolina previously sued the company itself, and a number of other states have also sued the family.

Former Group-Home Worker Charged With Multiple Sex Offenses

Authorities have filed multiple charges against a former group home worker accused in a series of sexual assaults.

The News & Record reports 51-year-old Richard Vernell Heath is already jailed on several charges, including statutory sex offense and two counts of indecent liberties with a minor. Those charges involve two boys from a group home in Greensboro.

Court records show Guilford County sheriff's deputies added the charge of first-degree sexual offense with a child against Heath on Tuesday, stemming from alleged assaults in the 1980s.

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