North State Journal Vol. 4, Issue 28

Page 1

VOLUME 4 ISSUE 28

|

WWW.NSJONLINE.COM |

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2019

Sports Panthers shuffle roster ahead of opener

NOAA VIA AP

This GOES-16, GeoColor satellite image taken Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2019, at 17:10 UTC and provided by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), shows Hurricane Dorian moving off the east coast of Florida in the Atlantic Ocean.

the Wednesday

NEWS BRIEFING

NC to hold special elections Voters in the 3rd and 9th congressional districts will decide on new representation in the U.S. House next week as state officials urged voters to cast ballot early with Hurricane Dorian threatening the N.C. coast. The two special elections are seen by national pundits as a key indicator of President Donald Trump’s strength in the Tarheel State. Trump is scheduled to stump for Sen. Dan Bishop on Monday in Fayetteville.

Texas shooter purchased rifle at private sale The gunman in a West Texas rampage that left seven dead obtained his ARstyle rifle through a private sale, allowing him to evade a federal background check that previously blocked him from getting a gun, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press. The official spoke to The Associated Press Tuesday on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation. Officers killed 36-year-old Seth Aaron Ator on Saturday outside a busy Odessa movie theater after a spate of violence that spanned 10 miles, injuring around two dozen people in addition to the seven dead.

North Carolina prisoner accused of killing fellow inmate Sheriff’s deputies in Craven County have accused a prisoner of killing a fellow inmate. The Craven County Sheriff’s Office says in a Facebook post that a man was found dead in a cell at the county jail on Monday. The victim’s name has not been released pending notification of relatives, The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation looked into the death and charged 60-year-old Gary Scott Garfield of New Bern with an open count of murder.

5

20177 52016 $2.00

NORTH

Dorian pummels Bahamas, path could include NC

JOURNaL

The Associated Press and NSJ staff

STATE ELEVATE THE CONVERSATION

Cooper vetoes Medicaid transition bill, signs pay measures By Gary D. Robertson The Associated Press RALEIGH — Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper responded to Republicans passing piecemeal legislation to break their budget impasse by signing four employee pay bills on Friday. But he vetoed a funding measure needed to stand up North Carolina’s forthcoming Medicaid managed-care system his administration will operate. Cooper signed measures that gave most state employees and state law enforcement officers 2.5% annual raises this year and next. Top state executive and judicial branch officials also got similar raises, although Cooper said he donated his included annual salary increase of about $3,700 to a group that helps teachers buy classroom supplies.

The vetoed measure would provide hundreds of millions of dollars to run the Medicaid program for the next two years with the transition to managed-care treatment that’s been expected to go online in 27 counties on Nov. 1. Meeting that deadline already was highly unlikely even before Friday’s veto, a key Republican legislator said this week. Cooper’s health and human services department has been working to bring managed care to 1.6 million Medicaid enrollees statewide, and needs the changes and funding identified in the bill to get the massive project over the finish line. Like the pay raises, most of the Medicaid bill provisions were in the two-year state budget measure See COOPER VETO, page A2

GERRY BROOME | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

8

Gov. Roy Cooper responds to a question during an interview at the Governor’s mansion in Raleigh in this undated file photo.

RALEIGH — Weather-tested residents along the coasts of Georgia and the Carolinas are using their past experience with intense storms to guide them as they safeguard their homes and decide whether to heed evacuation orders. As of Tuesday morning, locations along the entire N.C. coast were under evacuation orders. Dare County was under a Hurricane Watch with mandatory evacuation orders in effect. Vacationers were ordered out of the county by sundown on Tuesday with residents able to remain until 6 p.m. Wednesday. UNC Wilmington closed its campus at

5 p.m. Tuesday and will be closed through Friday at 5 p.m. East Carolina University cancelled classes for Thursday and Friday. Gov. Roy Cooper has ordered mandatory evacuations from Kure Beach to the Outer Banks. During a news conference Tuesday, Cooper said, “do not try to ride this out.” Dorian weakened to a Category 2 hurricane Tuesday after slamming into the Bahamas as a terrifying Category 5 storm with 185 mph winds. The threat of a direct hit on Florida had all but evaporated, but Dorian was expected to pass dangerously close to Georgia and South See DORIAN, page A2

North Carolina judges toss legislative district maps By Emery P. Dalesio The Associated Pressl RALEIGH — A North Carolina trial court has rejected state legislative district maps, saying lawmakers took advantage from drawing districts to help elect a maximum number of Republicans. The three-judge panel of state judges ruled Tuesday that courts can step in to decide when partisan advantage goes too far. “Partisan intent predominated over all other redistricting criteria resulting in extreme partisan gerrymandered legislative maps,” the judges wrote in their ruling. “The effect of these carefully crafted partisan maps is that, in all but the most unusual election scenarios, the Republican Party will control a majority of both chambers of the General Assembly. In other words, the Court finds that in many election environments, it is the carefully crafted maps, and not the will of the voters, that dictate the election outcomes in a significant number of legislative districts and, ultimately, the majority control of the General Assembly.” Republicans argued there’s no clear way for judges to know what kinds of redistricting are unacceptable. Democrats and their allies said the districts were so gerrymandered See REDISTRICTING, page A2


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.