Will Doran

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.

4 days ago | wral.com | Brian Murphy |Will Doran

A shrimp boat that washed ashore in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, by Hurricane Ian was finally freed from the sand on Tuesday with the help of a backhoe and another boat. Ahead of a planned Tuesday protest by shrimpers to a proposed inland trawling ban, North Carolina senators on Monday approved a plan to pay the commercial fishermen impacted by the potential restriction.

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.

4 days ago | wral.com | Will Doran

The North Carolina Senate plans to roll out a so-called “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. Both chambers of the state legislature are controlled by Republicans. But they harbor strong disagreements over several major items in the budget and have in recent months proven unable to negotiate a deal to pass a new budget into law.

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.