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3 days ago | 
wral.com | Brian Murphy |Will Doran |Jack Hagel
North Carolina senators on Monday approved a plan to pay the commercial fishermen impacted by a proposed inland shrimp trawling ban. The approval came ahead of a planned Tuesday protest by shrimpers at the state legislature. The bill would provide “annual transition payments to eligible holders of commercial fishing licenses with verifiable lands of shrimp” from 2023 to present day. It passed 45-2 on Monday. The payments would last until Oct.
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4 days ago | 
wral.com | Will Doran |Jack Hagel
The North Carolina Senate rolled out a mini budget proposal Monday, indicating that negotiations over the broader $33 billion state budget are all but dead — at least for this summer, if not the year. The chamber also moved ahead with a large funding package for hurricane recover in western North Carolina. The Senate proposed and then passed a massive new Hurricane Helene relief bill, with more than $2 billion aimed at various efforts. Some would come from state funds and most from federal funds.
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4 days ago | 
wral.com | Pritchard Strong |Will Doran |Jack Hagel
A file photo of people lined up outside of a North Carolina DMV office. The North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles needs to focus more on improving its workforce situation — including staffing and personnel flexibility — to improve customer service, North Carolina’s state auditor said Monday. State Auditor Dave Boliek, in a news release, disclosed preliminary findings of his office’s audit into the DMV.
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6 days ago | 
wral.com | Paul Andy Specht |Jack Hagel
The office of the lieutenant governor on Blount Street in Raleigh. (Photo courtesy of Richard Thomas Bower, Raleigh Public Record)Dan Forest’s term as North Carolina lieutenant governor ended like an episode of “This Old House.”An architect by trade, Forest took great pride in raising hundreds of thousands of dollars in private donations to painstakingly renovate and refurnish the 140-year-old Hawkins-Hartness House, which serves as the lieutenant governor’s office.
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1 week ago | 
wral.com | Jack Hagel |Laura Leslie |Will Doran |Paul Andy Specht
North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein vetoed a pair of immigration-enforcement bills Friday, likely setting up the Democratic governor’s first override battle with the state’s Republican-led legislature. Stein rejected Senate Bill 153, which would require state and local government agencies to cooperate with deportation efforts by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. He also vetoed House Bill 318, which was intended to make adjustments to an existing immigration law.
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1 week ago | 
wral.com | Jack Hagel
Durham-based chipmaker Wolfspeed, which has been working to pay down debt and cut costs amid softer demand for semiconductors, appears to be edging closer to filing for bankruptcy protection. The company is in talks with lenders and investment groups as part of a deal that would help the company reorganize under a Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan, enabling the company to unload billions of dollars in debt, Bloomberg News reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
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1 week ago | 
wral.com | Jack Hagel
House Bill 612, which sponsors call the Fostering Care in NC Act, would give the state more power to hold county-run social services departments accountable. House lawmakers on Wednesday unanimously approved changes proposed by the Senate, the last approval needed before heading to the governor. Stein can approve the measure, veto it, or let it become law without signing it.
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1 week ago | 
wral.com | Brian Murphy |Jack Hagel
Trawlers wouldn’t be allowed to net shrimp in North Carolina’s inland waters or within a half-mile of the coast under a proposal in the North Carolina Senate that has divided Republicans. Critics say the measure, if approved, would destroy the state’s shrimping industry. The new shrimp trawling prohibition was added Monday without much notice to a bill previously passed by the House. That bill was intended to create a pilot program to allow recreational fishing for flounder and red snapper.
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1 week ago | 
wral.com | Brian Murphy |Paul Andy Specht |Jack Hagel
A North Carolina representative apologized to fellow lawmakers Tuesday for a social media post that brought her national attention following the weekend shootings of two Minnesota legislators. Representative Julie von Haefen, D-Wake, on Saturday posted an image of a protester’s sign featuring a guillotine and a fake severed head resembling President Donald Trump. The image, from an anti-Trump protest in Raleigh, led to calls for her resignation by Republicans, who said it showed poor judgment.
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1 week ago | 
wral.com | Brian Murphy |Jack Hagel
The North Carolina Senate wants to ban some hemp products and prohibit the sale of certain THC drinks and gummies to anyone under the age of 21 — a proposal that could set up a fight with the House, which passed a more limited measure earlier in the session. A Senate committee is scheduled to discuss and vote on the new proposal Tuesday morning, fast-tracking the legislation as lawmakers prepare to adjourn before the end of the month, likely without a budget agreement.
