News

  In Winston-Salem this morning, a federal judge will continue questioning U.S. Justice Department lawyers on whether North Carolina's election overhaul violates the Voting Rights Act. All week, Judge Thom Schroeder has heard the Justice Department try to make that case, along with the NAACP, the League of Women Voters and other groups. They're suing North Carolina, and this week they're trying to convince a judge to put the changes on hold.

WFAE's Michael Tomsic has been in Winston-Salem covering the hearings.

A Rowan County doctor and his wife turned themselves in Wednesday morning after being indicted in connection with a scheme to fraudulently obtain the prescription pain killer hydrocodone. Overall, police have charged eight people, most of whom are teachers or teacher assistants.

The South Carolina Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that South Carolina’s attorney general does not need permission from lawmakers to prosecute a lawmaker. The Supreme Court overturned an earlier decision that said Attorney General Alan Wilson had overstepped his authority in trying to prosecute House Speaker Bobby Harrell.

Lawmakers in Raleigh Wednesday took a major step in their budget negotiations.  A step backward.

If there was any sense of congeniality and cooperation at the state capitol it was not found in room 643, where House Senior Budget Chairman Nelson Dollar called to order select members of the House and Senate  to negotiate the now overdue state budget.

North Carolina’s teachers will no longer face the choice of getting a pay raise or keeping their tenure.

Senate budget negotiators Tuesday abandoned their proposal to eliminate tenure in exchange for an 11 

percent pay raise.

Though major issues remain, the offer removes another obstacle toward adoption of a state spending plan and adjournment of the legislative session.

Tenure allows public school teachers due-process hearings but does not prevent low-performing teachers from being fired. As many as 75 

Lawyers for the U.S. Justice Department will be back in a federal courtroom in Winston-Salem this morning to continue making their case that North Carolina's sweeping election overhaul is discriminatory. The hearings that began Monday morning have included personal stories of voting challenges, allegations of voter fraud, and even a 25-minute math exercise. WFAE's Michael Tomsic has been in Winston-Salem covering the hearings.

The City of Charlotte has undertaken several large capital projects in recent years, including the streetcar, the Blue Line Extension, and the transformation of Bojangles Arena into an amateur sports complex. One of the largest has received comparatively little attention: a new, $80 million emergency communications center, which also fits into a larger effort to upgrade an aging 911 system.

The family of Brandon Yam, the man who was shot in the head by a stray bullet on the Fourth of July, says he may be released from the hospital this week.

Family members are asking for any information that will help them identify the kind of bullet that struck him.

A group of clergy abuse survivors is criticizing the Catholic Diocese of Charlotte for its handling of sexual abuse cases. This comes on the heels of a meeting between Pope Francis and abuse survivors yesterday, and the recent dismissal of criminal and civil sexual assault cases in the Charlotte Diocese.

UNC Charlotte has been on something of a building spree for several years now.  That trend will continue with the approval of some renovations and another new dorm.