Near the end of a marathon day at the General Assembly on Thursday, Representative Grier Martin, D-Wake, asked a question about why the doors to the House floor were still locked to the public. Well after the hundreds of protesters who had previously occupied the House balcony had dispersed following threats from police, and after […]
Paul Blest
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Congressman Butterfield: North Carolina Is a “Testing Ground for Alt-Right and Ultra-Conservative Ideas”
In an interview with the INDY, Congressman G.K. Butterfield – a Democrat who represents Durham and is the outgoing chair of the Congressional Black Caucus – expressed his frustration with the current special session, the legislation being considered, and Republican governance in the state overall. Speaking to the INDY via phone, Butterfield, echoing other Democrats, […]
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Here’s What Happened at the General Assembly Yesterday, and What Might Happen Next
As you no doubt have heard, General Assembly Republicans put on quite a show yesterday. Minutes after passing a $200 million relief package for victims of Hurricane Matthew and the wildfires in western North Carolina, Senate President pro tem Phil Berger announced that another special session —that’s two in one day and four this year […]
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Special Session Part II: “This Is as Serious as It Gets in North Carolina”
The House and Senate convened for the second special session of the day, and the fourth of the year, at 2 p.m. The House rules set a filing deadline of 7 p.m. for new bills to be filed (later amended to 7:30), while the Senate set a deadline of 3 p.m. Here is the running […]
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Stay Tuned for Shenanigans: The General Assembly Just Called Another Special Session
Minutes after the Senate passed a “clean” version of the Disaster Recovery Act of 2016—meaning there was nothing nefarious in it—Senate leader Phil Berger announced that Speaker Tim Moore, Lieutenant Governor Dan Forest, and 60 percent of the members were calling another special session, to convene at 2 p.m. today, with a filing deadline of […]
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Special Session Number Five: Here’s What We Know So Far
The fifth special session of the year has begun, an hour after Charlotte fully repealed its February 22 ordinance and gave no deadline for the NCGA to repeal HB 2: The city council, meeting early Wednesday, voted 7-2 to redo its Monday vote following reports that some legislators were unwilling to vote for a repeal […]
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N.C. Cops Have Shot a Lot of People in 2016
On November 30, twenty-eight-year-old Chijoke Kennedy Madueke was shot and injured by Raleigh police officers responding to a call that he was breaking into an apartment from which he’d been evicted. According to an initial report, Madueke pulled a knife on three officers, who fired their weapons, striking him in the arm, leg, and torso. […]
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Is North Carolina Soccer Ready for Prime Time?
If Steve Malik gets his way, the Triangle will leap into the first tier of American soccer by the end of 2018. Last Tuesday, the Carolina RailHawks owner got his push started with a huge coming-out party. At an event at City Market in downtown Raleigh, Malik announced that the club is rebranding itself with […]
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Special Session, Day One: The Calm Before the Storm
The North Carolina General Assembly reconvened on Tuesday morning to debate a relief package for victims of Hurricane Matthew and western North Carolina wildfires. At the same time, however, questions persisted that Republicans might try to pack the state Supreme Court they lost control of in November or take certain powers and responsibilities away from […]
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The Morning Roundup: An Oil Spill in the Swamp
Good morning. Here’s what you missed over the weekend.1. Trump nominating (???) Exxon CEO for Secretary of State. Over the weekend, The New York Times broke the story that the president-elect would select Rex Tillerson, whose name sounds exactly like the villainous oil baron you’d expect, to be the nation’s top diplomat. In a shocking […]