PHIL BERGER

North Carolina received final approval for a deal for Medicaid expansion. The bill marked a turning point in debate over whether state should accept federal government aid.

Mandating voter identification for elections in North Carolina was once struck down by Democrats, but may be revived now that Republicans hold a majority in the Supreme court.

This latest edition of the court soon granted requests by Republican legislative leaders to rehear separate voter ID litigation and redistricting litigation decisions. But they pushed the 2018 law through anyway, said Paul Brachman, who represented the plaintiffs on Wednesday. Associate Justice Phil Berger Jr., a Republican, questioned whether under Brachman's viewpoint identical voter ID legislation could ever be approved. Republicans at the legislature, which first passed a voter ID law in 2011 that was vetoed, say requiring identification at the polls will bolster confidence in elections, root out any voter fraud and is broadly popular. Voter ID critics say the incidence of such fraud is overblown.

A North Carolina judge granted a request allowing state lawmakers to defend laws regarding abortion pills. The request was made by House Speaker Tim Moore and Senate leader Phil Berger.

North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson will give the GOP response to Democratic Gov. Cooper's State of the State address next week. Cooper's address will be Monday night.

RALEIGH, N.C. — (AP) — North Carolina lawmakers and voters have rejected past efforts to strip an unenforceable literacy test requirement from the state constitution that was used for decades to disenfranchise Black voters. A House judiciary committee voted unanimously to advance a bipartisan measure that would allow voters to decide next year whether to strike the controversial section from the state constitution. Added to the state constitution in 1900, the literacy test requirement was used for decades to prevent Black residents from casting ballots. Although the requirement had already become unlawful under the federal Voting Rights Act, North Carolina voters in 1970 defeated a constitutional amendment to remove the provision. Senate leader Phil Berger said on Tuesday that he thinks a majority of North Carolina voters recognize or will recognize why the section should be removed.

Lawmakers and voters in North Carolina have rejected past efforts to remove from the state constitution an unenforceable literacy test requirement that had been used to disenfranchise Black voters during the Jim Crow era.

The extraordinary decisions, granted in orders backed by five justices with Republican voter registrations on the seven-member court, means the issues will return to the court for oral arguments in mid-March. Two new Republican justices took office in early January after winning November elections for seats held by Democrats. That landmark redistricting ruling prevented maps drawn by Republican legislators that were expected to secure long-term Republican advantages in the General Assembly and within the state's congressional delegation. The court's rehearing orders mentioned little about the topics to be reconsidered. Rather, the court said a case can be reheard “if the petitioner makes a satisfactory showing that the opinion may be erroneous."

One of North Carolina's most important Senate leaders has supported the literacy test repeal. Senate leader Phil Berger said he believes such language should not be in the constitution.

Democrats celebrated winning North Carolina's lone toss-up race for the U.S. House this month as Wiley Nickel won the 13th District seat.

Democrats celebrated winning what was billed as North Carolina's lone toss-up race for the U.S. House this month, as state Sen. Wiley Nickel’s narrow victory over Republican Bo Hines in the 13th Congressional District helped weaken any national GOP midterm wave. Nickel's win creates a 7-7 split in the state’s delegation, marking the best showing for state Democrats after a decade of trailing the GOP in an otherwise closely divided state. Trial judges drew the latest district boundaries after redistricting litigation successfully blocked maps passed by the Republican-controlled legislature that could have whittled Democrats down to four seats.

Medicaid Expansion North Carolina Rebecca Cerese, a policy advocate at the North Carolina Justice Center, speaks at a vigil in front of the North Carolina Legislative Building in Raleigh, N.C., Tuesday, July 26, 2022, to remember people lacking Medicaid coverage or insurance who have died. “We need coverage in North Carolina for the working poor.”The two chambers couldn’t work out their differences before adjourning, and talks between legislative leaders and Democratic Gov. They said the state’s Medicaid program — now with 2.7 million enrollees — had been overspending for years and was ill-prepared to take on more. Republicans say North Carolina Medicaid spending is now largely under control and they don't think Congress will increase the state's share of the cost beyond 10%. He signed this year's, saying "we are closer than ever to agreement on Medicaid expansion," and a veto "would be counterproductive."

A deal on Medicaid expansion in North Carolina is within reach after both legislative chambers passed competing measures before ending their annual session.

The Supreme Court is giving Republican legislative leaders in North Carolina a win in an ongoing fight over the state’s latest photo identification voting law.

The Supreme Court seems poised to take on a new elections case being pressed by Republicans.

North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis has endorsed a state legislator over U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn in the upcoming Republican primary.

In politically divided North Carolina, hostilities between Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper and majority-Republican lawmakers have eased somewhat as 2021 nears its end.

One of several legal challenges to North Carolina’s contentious voter ID law is on hold amid a dispute over whether two justices on the state Supreme Court should recuse themselves.

Roy Cooper of North Carolina signed a milestone energy bill into law Wednesday that aims to sharply reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the state's power plants by 2030, celebrating the legislative accomplishment with Republican lawmakers. At least 16 states previously have passed legislation establishing greenhouse gas emissions reduction requirements, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. To get there, coal-fired power plants operated by Duke Energy, the state's dominant utility, are expected to be retired early, replaced by an evolving mix of alternate fuels for electricity. The new law also allows Duke Energy to seek multiyear rate increases and performance-based earnings incentives from the state Utilities Commission — a significant win for the Charlotte-based company. This led to extensive talks between state senators and Cooper for an agreement that was announced almost two weeks ago.

A milestone energy bill that targets sharply reducing greenhouse gas emissions from North Carolina power plants has become law.

Teaching Race North Carolina Republican Senate leader Phil Berger speaks Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2021, in Raleigh, N.C., as Senate Republicans advanced a measure that would limit how teachers can discuss racial concepts inside the classroom. Berger hopes the measure will shed light on possible "indoctrination" of public-school children and teachings of "critical race theory." (AP Photo/Bryan Anderson) (Bryan Anderson)RALEIGH, N.C. — (AP) — North Carolina Republicans sent a bill Wednesday to the state's Democratic governor that would limit how teachers can discuss certain racial concepts in the classroom. Even so, Republican leaders insist the bill will hold teachers accountable by shedding light on questionable classroom activities. Republicans across the country are using “critical race theory” and “indoctrination” as catchall phrases to describe racial concepts they find objectionable, including white privilege, systemic inequality and inherent bias.

North Carolina House Republicans have given final legislative approval to a bill to limit how teachers can discuss certain racial concepts inside the classroom.

A North Carolina Senate committee has advanced a measure that would limit how teachers can discuss racial concepts inside the classroom.

The Senate leader’s fundraising email dismissed CDC advice

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Teaching Race North Carolina North Carolina Republican Senate leader Phil Berger speaks at a news conference on Wednesday, July 14, 2021, in the Legislative Building in Raleigh, N.C. North Carolina Republicans are moving forward with a plan to limit how teachers can discuss certain racial concepts inside the classroom, according to the state's most powerful senator. Berger said his chamber will advance a measure seeking to ban the promotion of critical race theory in K-12 public school classrooms. (AP Photo/Bryan Anderson) (Bryan Anderson)RALEIGH, N.C. — (AP) — North Carolina Republicans advanced legislation on Wednesday that defines how teachers can discuss certain concepts about race and racism inside the classroom. Architects of the theory accuse Republicans of hijacking a national conversation on race and inaccurately representing their ideas. They say the GOP is simply appealing to its largely white base of supporters ahead of next year’s elections.

North Carolina Republicans are moving forward with a bill that defines what teachers can and can't say about race and racism in classrooms.

North Carolina Republicans advanced legislation Wednesday defining how teachers can discuss certain concepts about race and racism inside the classroom. GOP Senate leader Phil Berger said his chamber is taking action as Republicans across the country seek to combat what they view as "critical race theory,” a framework legal scholars developed in the 1970s and 1980s that centers on the idea that racism is systemic in the nation’s institutions, maintaining the dominance of whites in society. The latest version of the North Carolina bill would prevent teachers from compelling students to personally adopt any ideas from a list of 13 beliefs, even though they cannot identify a single case of this happening inside the state’s classrooms, which serve about 1.5 million K-12 public school students.

Critical race theory? Transcript from the speech shows little mention of it.

Republicans have made the UNC System’s flagship campus nearly impossible to sail.

Republicans have made the UNC System’s flagship campus nearly impossible to sail.

NC leaders Phil Berger and Tim Moore gave big raises to some staff, but minuscule ones to teachers, state workers. (Letters to the Editor)

The vote is the first time the Republican-led Senate has denied one of Gov. Cooper’s Cabinet secretaries since the approval process began.

Republican-controlled legislatures across the country are advancing measures to limit how students can be taught about race and racism.

The change in policy follows new guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday.

Our Republican lawmakers have spent much of the last decade trying to repeal the 1960s. Now they’ve cast their eyes on the 1920s as well.

A top North Carolina GOP lawmaker will not advance a proposal seeking to limit medical treatments for transgender people under 21.

Henry McMaster remains firmly opposed to the Medicaid expansion. The bump in federal funding would last two years for the states that join the Medicaid expansion. Laura Kelley this year called for legalizing medical use of marijuana and using the tax revenue to pay for expanding Medicaid. "It’s a nonstarter, and we will continue to oppose the liberal wish list item of Medicaid expansion,” he said. Kay Ivey left open the possibility of expanding Medicaid at some point in the future, but there are no plans to do so.

FILE - In a May 2006 file photo, Senate leader Marc Basnight speaks on the Senate floor at the Legislative Building in Raleigh, N.C. Basnight died Monday, Dec. 28, 2020, at age 73. Despite humble beginnings and little formal education, Basnight rose through state politics to serve in the Senate for 26 years. His nine two-year terms as Senate president pro tempore made him the longest-serving head of a legislative body in North Carolina history. While Senate leader, GOP senators complained Basnight had consolidated too much power. Bob Jordan died in February, while Sen. Tony Rand, who was majority leader and rules committee chairman under Basnight, died in May.

“This was a status quo election.”Heading into Tuesday, Republicans had full control of 29 state legislatures compared to 19 for Democrats. “The reality is we are still running on very gerrymandered maps,” said Christina Polizzi, national press secretary for the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee. They were countered by the Republican state leadership committee, which had a target of about $70 million. But Republican redistricting power will be diminished in some states because of changes that occurred in recent years. Instead, Republicans added to their House ranks with more conservatives, increasing the potential to override vetoes by Democratic Gov.

The state board made the change as part of a legal settlement in state court with a union-affiliated group that had challenged what it saw as restrictive voting rules during the coronavirus pandemic. A federal judge considering the deadline and other absentee ballot procedures, U.S. District Judge William Osteen, ruled last week that absentee ballots that arrive without a witness signature can’t be counted. The court battle had caused absentee ballots with a range of errors to be set aside for about two weeks while the procedures were debated. The appeal filed Thursday by the Trump campaign argues that the Supreme Court should go further than just shortening the ballot deadline. The Trump campaign has also asked the state Supreme Court to overturn the court settlement that included the rule changes.

(AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)NEW DELHI: Indias coronavirus cases have passed 800,000 with the biggest spike of 27,114 cases in the past 24 hours, causing nearly a dozen states to impose a partial lockdown in high-risk areas. The new confirmed cases took the national total to 820,916. With a population of 26 million, Australia has recorded more than 9,000 coronavirus cases, with 107 deaths. About 175 of the newly reported cases arose from a batch of private lab results, according to the state Health Department. Health officials reported another 32 virus-related deaths, raising the statewide toll to 6,880.