Thursday, April 24, 2025

NC State Wire

Ruling: Election board appointment power stays with governor

Wed, 23 Apr 2025
Ruling: Election board appointment power stays with governor

(The Center Square) – State Board of Elections members are to remain the appointments of the governor of North Carolina and not shift to the state auditor on May 1, a three-judge panel in Wake County Superior Court said Wednesday.

... Read more

Kelsey Smith Act reaches North Carolina Senate 4th time in 10 years

Wed, 23 Apr 2025
Kelsey Smith Act reaches North Carolina Senate 4th time in 10 years

(The Center Square) – Getting through North Carolina’s House of Representatives hasn’t been a problem.

The Senate’s rules committee? That’s a hurdle three times in the last 10 years too high to clear.

... Read more

Permitless concealed carry proposal still parked in House rules

Wed, 23 Apr 2025
Permitless concealed carry proposal still parked in House rules

(The Center Square) – As the General Assembly resumes its long session next week, still parked in a rules committee having passed one chamber is a proposal for North Carolina to join more than half the country with constitutional carry.

... Read more

Stay granted by 4th Circuit in nation’s last unresolved election

Wed, 23 Apr 2025
Stay granted by 4th Circuit in nation’s last unresolved election

(The Center Square) – A federal judge, said the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday night, is next up to consider a North Carolina Supreme Court decision in the nation’s last unresolved race from the Nov. 5 elections.

... Read more

Bill: Oversight on rules generated by executive branch would be increased

Tue, 22 Apr 2025
Bill: Oversight on rules generated by executive branch would be increased

(The Center Square) – Increased oversight of making rules in state agencies is expected to be discussed in the North Carolina Senate when lawmakers return from an Easter break.

The NC REINS Act, known also as House Bill 402... Read more


RFK Jr. asked to help lawmen with human trafficking hotline

Tue, 22 Apr 2025
RFK Jr. asked to help lawmen with human trafficking hotline

(The Center Square) – With the change in leadership for the organization that handles the national hotline not showing direction sought, North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson is on board with nearly every other attorney general in the country requesting the help of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

... Read more

On Earth Day 2025, zero emission vehicle registrations declining

Tue, 22 Apr 2025
On Earth Day 2025, zero emission vehicle registrations declining

(The Center Square) – Zero emission vehicle registrations are in decline and charging stations for them are rising, says a report from the North Carolina Office of State Budget and Management in conjunction with Wednesday’s observance of Earth Day.

... Read more

Bills could enhance military service, UNC System

Tue, 22 Apr 2025
Bills could enhance military service, UNC System

(The Center Square) – Already championed as a military-friendly state, North Carolina’s public university system is a step closer to enhancing its alliance with students planning to serve or having already done so.

The Senate Rules Committee, when session... Read more


State impact $2.2M first year if Make Elevators Great Again passes

Tue, 22 Apr 2025
State impact $2.2M first year if Make Elevators Great Again passes

(The Center Square) – The route to making elevators great again, literally per the bill title, doesn’t even have opposition from Democrats in the North Carolina House of Representatives.

Make Elevators Great Again, known also as House Bill 559,... Read more


Proposal: Estate settlements, child custody, insurance claims could be helped

Mon, 21 Apr 2025
Proposal: Estate settlements, child custody, insurance claims could be helped

(The Center Square) – Alena’s Law would create an exemption from the seven-year requirement when a person has likely died in an area hit by a natural disaster.

Among final actions Thursday before the Easter break, the legislation passed... Read more


Bill: State property should only have ‘official government flags’

Mon, 21 Apr 2025
Bill: State property should only have ‘official government flags’

(The Center Square) – Ten categories of flags are approved to be flown or displayed on property owned by the state of a political subdivision of the state, says a proposal passed in the North Carolina House of Representatives and awaiting action in the Senate.

... Read more

Taking video of military bases using drones could be outlawed

Mon, 21 Apr 2025
Taking video of military bases using drones could be outlawed

(The Center Square) – Taking video footage of military bases using a drone could land some in hot legal water if proposed bipartisan legislation becomes law.

The Drone Espionage Act, introduced by Reps. Jen Kiggans, R-Va. and Don Davis,... Read more


Blue, Mayfield join Republicans favoring repeal of certificate of need laws

Mon, 21 Apr 2025
Blue, Mayfield join Republicans favoring repeal of certificate of need laws

(The Center Square) – Former minority party leader Dan Blue of Wake County and Julie Mayfield of Buncombe County are on record as the lone Democrats in the North Carolina Senate favoring repeal of what critics say are burdens imposed by certificate of need laws.

... Read more

Helene: Election board’s efforts earn national award

Fri, 18 Apr 2025
Helene: Election board’s efforts earn national award

(The Center Square) – Planning and response to Hurricane Helene with early voting already underway has been deemed worthy of an award for the North Carolina State Board of Elections.

Fifty-three programs from 258 nominations earned the Exemplary Contingency... Read more


General Assembly taking week off, returning April 28

Fri, 18 Apr 2025
General Assembly taking week off, returning April 28

(The Center Square) – Twenty-two bills are on the first day’s docket when North Carolina’s House of Representatives resumes its long session following a break for Easter.

The Senate also returns on April 28. Both chambers, in a joint... Read more


K-12 cellphone policy, by one means or another, en route to North Carolina

Thu, 17 Apr 2025
K-12 cellphone policy, by one means or another, en route to North Carolina

(The Center Square) – Restrictions on K-12 students’ use of cellphones is in the Senate’s state budget proposal and in legislation originating in the state House of Representatives that has reached the Senate’s rules committee.

The outcome of negotiations... Read more


Senate budget passes with $25M for state employees' weight loss drugs

Thu, 17 Apr 2025
Senate budget passes with $25M for state employees' weight loss drugs

(The Center Square) – The budget passed by the North Carolina State Senate on Thursday includes $25 million to pay for weight loss drugs for state employees, only a fraction of the $100 million requested.

Four Democrats were for... Read more


Easter holiday prices 30 cents below national norm

Thu, 17 Apr 2025
Easter holiday prices 30 cents below national norm

(The Center Square) – Easter holiday weekend gas prices in North Carolina, on average for a gallon of unleaded regular, are 30 cents below the national average of $3.16.

County averages of $2.92 to $3.16 are sprinkled from the... Read more


North Carolina braced for harsh impact of trade war tariffs

Wed, 16 Apr 2025
North Carolina braced for harsh impact of trade war tariffs

(The Center Square) – Within North Carolina’s $111.1 billion agriculture industry, American tariff target China is the leading export market including for pork, poultry, lumber and tobacco.

The 2024 agricultural exports there topped $691 million. President Donald Trump’s moves... Read more


Military, farmland proposal unanimously supported in North Carolina House

Wed, 16 Apr 2025
Military, farmland proposal unanimously supported in North Carolina House

(The Center Square) – Not a single member of the North Carolina House of Representatives opposed a prohibition of hostile foreign governments such as China or Russia from purchasing farmland and property within 75 miles of a miliary installation.

... Read more