Paul Andy Specht

1 week ago | wral.com | Paul Andy Specht

North Carolinians are leery of proposals to loosen gun laws and slash state government, but they’re supportive of other bills under consideration at the state legislature, according to a new poll from Meredith College. The Meredith Poll found that North Carolinians support bills that would limit cellphone use in public school classrooms. A majority of respondents also said they support a bill that would limit public restroom use based on someone’s sex.

1 week ago | wral.com | Maria Ramirez Uribe |Paul Andy Specht

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins blamed former President Joe Biden for the rising agricultural trade deficit, while defending President Donald Trump’s tariffs on nearly every country. "In the last four years, we had an agriculture export deficit that increased from zero when President Trump left to $49 billion," Rollins said in an April 6 CNN interview. She was responding to host Jake Tapper’s question about uncertainty for U.S. farmers amid implementation of Trump’s tariffs.

2 weeks ago | wral.com | Paul Andy Specht |Jack Hagel

One evening last month, North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein pushed through a gauntlet of lawmakers who had gathered for his first State of the State address, shaking hands with colleagues on both sides of the aisle. As the Democrat neared the lectern, he received something unexpected: a hug from a powerful Republican. “I welcomed him into the building, gave him a little bro hug,” said state Rep. John Bell, a longtime legislator in the GOP-controlled House of Representatives.

2 weeks ago | wral.com | Louis Jacobson |Paul Andy Specht

During a Senate floor debate over a budget resolution that could tee up President Donald Trump’s fiscal policies, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., warned her colleagues to proceed with caution before approving tax cuts for wealthier Americans. The Republican budget resolution being debated, Murray said Feb. 20, is "not about balancing the budget. We all know that. Because they don’t plan to reverse one of the biggest drivers of the debt: Republican tax cuts.

2 weeks ago | wral.com | Paul Andy Specht

North Carolina lawmakers want to loosen certain building rules to make it easier for people to reconstruct buildings damaged by Hurricane Helene. State Sen. Tim Moffitt, R-Henderson, recently introduced Senate Bill 266, which would allow victims of a historic flood to rebuild their buildings to their original specifications — exempting those property-owners from construction regulations enacted into law after the structure was first built.