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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. 

There are certain stories that just come out every election cycle like clockwork, akin to a consistent dog whistle for some reporters who really don’t want to take the time to investigate the past to discover what might be in the present.

Rodger Rochelle is the NC Department of Transportation’s director of technical services, working deep in the trenches on contracts, technical specifications and research and development. After Monday night’s Town Board meeting at Cornelius Town Hall, he can add “punching bag” to his job description.

The U.S. Justice Department is arguing before a federal judge in Winston-Salem this week that North Carolina's sweeping election overhaul will deny or curtail African-Americans' right to vote. The Justice Department and civil rights groups are asking the judge to put the changes on hold.

Reverend Milton Williams was among dozens of people stuck in line outside the courthouse, unable to get into the packed hearing.