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N.C. Governor Signs Order That Clarifies Controversial ‘Gender Identity’ Bill

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Public_toilet_in_JapanResponding to criticisms over his state’s controversial new law that voids cities’ anti-discrimination rules protecting members of the LGBT community, North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory has issued an executive order that “seeks legislation to reinstate the right to sue in state court for discrimination.”

The law, HB2, spawned a lawsuit by the ACLU and brought cancellations of high-profile events that were planned to take place in North Carolina — everything from a Bruce Springsteen concert to an expansion by PayPal.

The governor said he is acting “to protect the privacy and equality of all North Carolinians,” by both clarifying the law and adding new protections.

“I have come to the conclusion that there is a great deal of misinformation, misinterpretation, confusion, a lot of passion and frankly, selective outrage and hypocrisy, especially against the great state of North Carolina,” McCrory said in a video address Tuesday, citing feedback about the bill.

The North Carolina chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union is calling McCrory’s order “a poor effort to save face,” with Acting Executive Director Sarah Preston saying that the governor’s actions “fall far short of correcting the damage done” by the bill. She added that legal protections are still lacking and that “transgender people are still explicitly targeted by being forced to use the wrong restroom.” (Read more from “N.C. Governor Signs Order That Clarifies Controversial ‘Gender Identity’ Bill” HERE)

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After Secret Service Seized $115,000, North Carolina Man Continues Fight for ‘Justice’

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Photo Credit: Marla Bednar On the morning of Sept. 25, 2014, Tom Bednar was sitting in the bedroom of the Raleigh, N.C., home he shared with his wife, Marla, and two sons when Marla entered the room crying.

She had just looked at the bank account for their three-decade old business, Marla Enterprises, to find it empty. Now, Capital Bank was requesting close to $18,000 to cover the outstanding checks the couple had written.

After transferring money to straighten out their finances with the bank, the Bednars learned just what had happened with the $115,018.01 they had in their bank account: The United States Secret Service seized the money . . .

After months of litigation against the United States government, Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen West moved to dismiss the case earlier this month, meaning the Bednars will get their money back.

However, the government refused to cover the Bednars’ $25,000 in legal fees, which the couple is entitled to under the Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act. Though the fight to get their $115,000 back is now over, the family is continuing to push to have their expenses covered. (Read more from “After Secret Service Seized $115,000, North Carolina Man Continues Fight for ‘Justice'” HERE)

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North Carolina And Alaska Issue Same-Sex Marriage Licenses

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Photo Credit: Jeff Siner / MCT / LandovSame-sex couples in Alaska and North Carolina are receiving marriage licenses, after courts in those states recently overturned bans on gay marriage. The two states are part of the cascading effects of the Supreme Court’s refusal to review any appeals in same-sex marriage cases in its current term.

Some couples say they’re rushing to marry out of concern that future rulings could go against them; others are merely pouncing on an opportunity they had long awaited.

In North Carolina, a few counties began issuing the licenses to same-sex couples late Friday, after a federal judge in Asheville struck down the state’s ban. Member station WUNC has been reporting on the weddings that followed.

By the time the Mecklenburg County Register of Deeds opened at 8 a.m. this morning in Charlotte, about 20 couples were already waiting in line, according to member station WFAE.

Read more from this story HERE.

North Carolina Joins List of States Banning Muslim Sharia Law

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Photo Credit: Bebeto Matthews, APNorth Carolina has become the seventh state to prohibit state judges from considering Islamic law in family cases, joining what critics say is a national anti-Muslim campaign.

Gov. Pat McCrory allowed the law, which was passed by state lawmakers in July, to take effect without his signature.

In an interview with The Associated Press, McCrory said the measure doesn’t do anything. “I didn’t think it was worth the time to pass, nor do I think it’s worth the time to have someone come back and vote on it again,” he said.

North Carolina now joins Arizona, Kansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Tennessee, according to Religion News Service, in banning Islamic Sharia law. A constitutional amendment seeking the same change in Alabama will be on the 2014 ballot. In Missouri, the governor vetoed an anti-Sharia bill because of its potential impact on international adoptions.

But the law in Oklahoma was struck down in court as unconstitutional, according to the Progressive Pulse, because it discriminated among religions without justification.

Read more this story HERE.

North Carolina Democrat Warns Private School Vouchers Will Lead to Terrorist Kids

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Photo Credit: Getty Images

Photo Credit: Getty Images

North Carolina’s superintendent of public instruction has warned that the state’s new voucher law could end up funding schools run by hardened terrorists who will churn out little terrorists hell-bent on the destruction of America.

June Atkinson made the comments while speaking at the state school board association’s public policy conference last week in Wilmington, reports local NBC affiliate WECT.

“With the voucher legislation that we have we could be in dangerous territory as far as taxpayers’ dollars going to private schools,” Atkinson told reporters.

The elected Democrat’s appears to be laboring under the belief that no state or federal laws prevent that sort of thing now. Only the limitation of not being flush with tax dollars precludes private schools from offering coursework in suicide bombing to North Carolina’s ready-to-be-radicalized grade schoolers.

Read more from this story HERE.

Justice Department to Challenge North Carolina Voter ID Law

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

The Justice Department will file suit against North Carolina on Monday, charging that the Tar Heel State’s new law requiring voters to show photo identification at the polls violates the Voting Rights Act by discriminating against African Americans, according to a person familiar with the planned litigation.

Attorney General Eric Holder is expected to announce the lawsuit at 11 a.m. Monday at Justice Department headquarters, flanked by the three U.S. Attorneys from North Carolina.

The suit, set to be filed in Greensboro, N.C., will ask that the state be barred from enforcing the new voter ID law, the source said. However, the case will also go further, demanding that the entire state of North Carolina be placed under a requirement to have all changes to voting laws, procedures and polling places “precleared” by either the Justice Department or a federal court, the source added.

Until this year, 40 North Carolina counties were under such a requirement. However, in June, the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional the formula Congress used to subject parts or all of 15 states to preclearance in recent decades.

The justices’ 5-4 ruling outraged civil rights advocates, but did not disturb a rarely-used “bail in” provision in the law that allows judges to put states or localities under the preclearance requirement. Civil rights groups and the Justice Department have since seized on that provision to try to recreate part of the regime that existed prior to the Supreme Court decision.

Read more from this story HERE.

North Carolina Governor Signs Extensive Voter ID Law

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North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory (R) on Monday signed into law one of the nation’s most wide-ranging Voter ID laws.

The move is likely to touch off a major court battle over voting rights, and the Justice Department is weighing a challenge to the new law, which is the first to pass since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down part of the Voting Rights Act.

The measure requires voters to present government-issued photo identification at the polls and shortens the early voting period from 17 to 10 days. It will also end pre-registration for 16- and 17-year-old voters who will be 18 on Election Day and eliminates same-day voter registration.

Democrats and minority groups have been fighting against the changes, arguing that they represent an effort to suppress the minority vote and the youth vote, along with reducing Democrats’ advantage in early voting. They point out that there is little documented evidence of voter fraud.

Republicans say that the efforts are necessary to combat such fraud and that shortening the window for early voting will save the state money. They also note that, while the North Carolina law makes many changes to how the state conducts its elections, most of its major proposals — specifically, Voter ID and ending same-day registration — bring it in line with many other states. More than three-fifths of states currently have some kind of Voter ID law, and even more have no same-day registration. Not all states allow in-person early voting.

Read more from this story HERE.

North Carolina Lawmakers Pass Bill Allowing Concealed Handguns in Bars, Restaurants

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North Carolina is on the verge of letting handgun owners with concealed-carry permits bring their weapons into bars and restaurants and other places where alcohol is served, as long as the businesses don’t forbid it.

The bill, passed Tuesday by North Carolina’s House and Senate, is on the desk of Republican Gov. Pat McCrory, who is expected to sign it.

Backed by Republican lawmakers as well as gun rights groups, the law would also allow concealed-gun permit holders to bring weapons on hiking trails, playgrounds and other public recreation areas.

And it would let gun owners store weapons in their cars on the campuses of public schools or colleges.

Read more from this story HERE.

N.C. House Approves Restrictive Abortion Legislation

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Photo Credit: Gerry BroomeRepublican lawmakers pushed ahead Thursday with their demand for new rules at North Carolina’s abortion clinics, saying they will make the procedure safer for women. Opponents argued it was a blatant attempt to shut down clinics and curb a woman’s right to choose.

The House voted 74-41 to approve new rules after a highly-charged, three-hour debate watched from the gallery by advocates on both sides of the issue.

The bill directs state regulators to change standards for abortion clinics to bring them in line with more regulated outpatient surgical centers. It also requires doctors to be present for an entire surgical abortion and when a patient takes the first dose for a chemically induced abortion.

The bill was tweaked after Republican Gov. Pat McCrory threatened to veto a separate bill approved quickly by the Senate last week. The governor said he supported more safety measures but was worried it would result in restricting a woman’s access to an abortion.

House leaders adjusted the Senate’s language with input from McCrory’s top health agency administrator. The standards have not been changed since 1994, officials have said. The governor hasn’t spoken publicly about the updated measure, which now must return to the GOP-led Senate next week. It would have to get approved there before it goes to McCrory’s desk.

Read more from this story HERE.

NC Becomes 1st State To Drop Federal Jobless Funds

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Photo Credit: CESAR MANSO/AFP/Getty Images

Photo Credit: CESAR MANSO/AFP/Getty Images

With changes to its unemployment law taking effect this weekend, North Carolina not only is cutting benefits for those who file new claims, it will become the first state disqualified from a federal compensation program for the long-term jobless.

State officials adopted the package of benefit cuts and increased taxes for businesses in February, a plan designed to accelerate repayment of a $2.5 billion federal debt. Like many states, North Carolina had racked up the debt by borrowing from Washington after its unemployment fund was drained by jobless benefits during the Great Recession.

The changes go into effect Sunday for North Carolina, which has the country’s fifth-worst jobless rate. The cuts on those who make unemployment claims on or after that day will disqualify the state from receiving federally funded Emergency Unemployment Compensation. That money kicks in after the state’s period of unemployment compensation — now shortened from up to six months to no more than five — runs out. The EUC program is available to long-term jobless in all states. But keeping the money flowing includes a requirement that states can’t cut average weekly benefits.

Because North Carolina leaders cut average weekly benefits for new claims, about 170,000 workers whose state benefits expire this year will lose more than $700 million in EUC payments, the U.S. Labor Department said.

Lee Creighton, 45, of Cary, said he’s been unemployed since October, and this is the last week for which he’ll get nearly $500 in unemployment aid. He said he was laid off from a position managing statisticians and writers amid the recession’s worst days in 2009 and has landed and lost a series of government and teaching jobs since then — work that paid less half as much. His parents help him buy groceries to get by.

Read more from this story HERE.