December 31, 2016

McCrory asks US Supreme Court to pause court-ordered 2017 elections

RALEIGH — With just one day to go before he leaves office, Republican Gov. Pat McCrory threw a legal hail mary to the U.S. Supreme Court in another apparent effort to undermine his Democratic successor’s ability to govern.

McCrory filed an emergency request to the Supreme Court asking the justices to pause court-ordered special elections for more than two dozen state legislative districts in 2017 — special elections in which Democrats could have an opportunity to pick up seats in North Carolina’s GOP-dominated legislature.

A federal court found this summer that 28 state House and Senate districts were racially gerrymandered, but the three-judge panel made the unusual decision to let the election go forward in those districts because they decided it was too late to redraw the maps. After the election, the court ordered the legislature to redraw the lines by March and hold special elections later in 2017.

Republicans have a veto-proof supermajority in both North Carolina chambers. Democrats, who seized the governor’s mansion this fall, were excited at the prospect of having a rare second chance to pick up state House and Senate seats in 2017. If the Supreme Court grants McCrory’s request for a stay, though, Democrats could have to wait until the 2018 midterm elections to try to win more seats under a new electoral map.

Read more: http://www.greensboro.com/washingtonpost/news/mccrory-asks-us-supreme-court-to-pause-court-ordered-elections/article_98dfcb6b-f46e-50c9-bff7-d7fb633528d3.html

December 31, 2016

Bankruptcy judge approves sale of Stokes County hospital

A federal bankruptcy court judge has approved the sale of Stokes County’s hospital and other medical facilities for $400,000 to a for-profit organization with limited experience running hospitals.

An affiliate of LifeBrite Hospital Group LLC of Lilburn, Ga., has been running the Stokes facilities since July 9 — three days before the Stokes Board of Commissioners said it would stop paying for the hospital’s financial commitments.

There is little public information about LifeBrite, including whether it runs any other hospital. According to the Georgia Corporations Division, it was formed in October 2015 with Christian Fletcher as its only listed officer. LifeBrite formed a Stokes subsidiary on Oct. 12.

The court set a closing date of Jan. 31 for the Stokes transaction.

Read more: http://www.journalnow.com/news/local/bankruptcy-judge-approves-sale-of-stokes-county-hospital/article_4755c3ea-bcb8-5fd7-9d51-fc7a060171ba.html

December 31, 2016

Ronald Reagan portrait defaced during break-in reported at Goldsboro GOP office

Someone drew graffiti on a portrait of former President Ronald Reagan during a break-in reported this week at the Wayne County Republican Party headquarters in Goldsboro.

The vandal kicked in a door to the downtown Goldsboro building and defaced an image of Reagan sporting a cowboy hat, which was part of a wall mural that also includes the North Carolina flag, elephants and an image of the World Trade Center burning on Sept. 11, 2001.

Wayne County GOP Chairman Brent Heath said the intruder also “scratched out the word ‘Republican’ ” in the mural and replaced it with a misspelled variation of an offensive slur used to describe gay people. The person also wrote “(Expletive) Trump and da opps,” which can be a slang term to describe the police.

Heath said nothing appears to have been stolen, and nothing other than the mural appears to be damaged. Police are investigating. “It appears to me that their motive was to get in and deface that mural,” he said.

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/article123663244.html

December 31, 2016

Mayor says Charlotte backed deal because GOP leaders vowed for first time to repeal HB2

Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts says the City Council agreed to rescind its nondiscrimination ordinance because, for the first time, Republican legislative leaders in Raleigh gave their word that such action by the city would cause the General Assembly to fully repeal House Bill 2.

“It was the first time we had heard the actual word ‘repeal,’ ” Roberts, a Democrat, told the Observer in an interview last week.

In the days following the council’s Dec. 19 vote to rescind its ordinance, many have wondered why it took such a step after previously drawing a hard-line position on keeping the ordinance on the books.

There had been discussions in May and September about a possible deal, but Roberts and the mostly Democratic Council had rejected both times the idea of symbolically rescinding an ordinance – designed to protect the LGBTQ community from discrimination – that had been nullified by the legislature’s approval of House Bill 2.

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/article123757364.html

December 31, 2016

Franklin Graham, who said God intervened in Trump's election win, tapped to pray at inauguration

North Carolina evangelist Franklin Graham, who came under fire the last time he gave the prayer at a presidential inauguration, is among six clergy who will pray and offer readings at Donald Trump's Jan. 20 ceremony at the U.S. Capitol.

The Presidential Inaugural Committee announced Wednesday that Graham, who heads the Charlotte-based Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, will be among those giving an invocation, a benediction and readings at the Trump inauguration. The others: Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Rabbi Martin Hier, Bishop Wayne T. Jackson, the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez and Pastor Paula White.

Graham did not endorse Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign. But he did back one of Republican Trump’s most controversial proposals, to temporarily bar Muslims from entering the United States. And last week, Graham joined the president-elect at a Trump “Thank You” rally in Mobile, Ala. He told the crowd that he believed that God had intervened in the election to give Trump the win.

“I don't have any scientific information. I don't have a stack of emails to read to you,” Graham said at the gathering, according to the Washington Examiner. “But I have an opinion: I believe it was God. God showed up. He answered the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people across this land who had been praying for this country.”

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/living/religion/article123330714.html

December 31, 2016

Judge puts NC GOP elections board makeover on hold after Roy Cooper sues

RALEIGH -- Governor-elect Roy Cooper filed a lawsuit Friday challenging the General Assembly’s special session law that revamps the state elections board.

The lawsuit was the second filed in the waning days of Gov. Pat McCrory’s administration that challenge changes that were adopted by the General Assembly in a special session in December and signed into law by the Republican governor.

On Thursday, the state Board of Education sued legislators over a law that would transfer their power to set education policy to the new state superintendent, a Republican.

An attorney representing Cooper said at a court hearing Friday that more challenges could be filed next week by the new Democratic governor contesting other changes to his appointment powers – setting the stage for a contentious beginning between the state’s chief executive officer and the Republican lawmakers at the helm of both General Assembly chambers.

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/article123763694.html

December 31, 2016

Outgoing Gov. McCrory: Politics prevented bathroom bill' repeal

RALEIGH -- North Carolina’s outgoing Republican Gov. Pat McCrory said Friday that he blames political pressure – especially from liberal groups – for thwarting a deal to repeal the law known as “the bathroom bill.”

On the eve of his last day in office, McCrory discussed a wide range of topics, including the law, referred to as House Bill 2. The law is best known for requiring transgender people to use restrooms corresponding to the sex on their birth certificates in many public buildings. McCrory called the General Assembly into special session earlier this month to consider repealing the law, but a deal fell apart.

“There is so much political pressure – primarily from the left – not to get an agreement,” he said in a phone interview.

“There are a lot of people who like this conflict to be ongoing,” he added. “They’re raising money off of it. I was hoping for the best but not surprised that it broke down.”

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/article123848524.html

December 30, 2016

Women who said they were secretly filmed by Johns Hopkins gynecologist to get up to $26K

BALTIMORE (AP) — More than 5,500 women who said they were secretly recorded during pelvic exams by a gynecologist at Johns Hopkins will each receive at least $20,000 as part of a $190 million settlement with the hospital system.

Determination letters have been sent to the about 9,600 women who said they were victimized by Dr. Nikita Levy at a Johns Hopkins-affiliated clinic in Baltimore, WBAL-TV reported (http://bit.ly/2iNGfOc ). The settlement, which was approved in 2014, is one of the largest on U.S. record involving sexual misconduct by a physician.

The plaintiffs have been divided into four categories based on the severity of injuries. Citing documents it has obtained, the television station reports that about 8,300 of the plaintiffs will receive money ranging from about $1,800 to about $26,000.

Levy was fired after 25 years with the Johns Hopkins Health System in February 2013 after a female co-worker spotted the pen-like camera he wore around his neck and alerted authorities.

Read more: http://www.richmond.com/news/national-world/ap/article_c5737522-417d-51c7-984f-a7df27902257.html

December 30, 2016

In Arizona, vandals turned a Jewish family's menorah into a swastika

When Naomi and Seth Ellis' young sons said that they wanted lights on their house in Chandler, Ariz., like all their neighbors' Christmas decorations, the parents knew what to tell their three Jewish boys: Yes.

One trip to Lowe's, $100 worth of PVC pipe, nine solar-powered lights and a coat of shiny gold paint later, the Ellises had a shining 7-foot-tall Hanukkah menorah on their lawn.

But on Friday morning, the Ellises had something new to tell their boys, and they weren't sure how to say it.

After the boys went to bed on the sixth night of Hanukkah, someone dismantled their special menorah and turned it into a giant swastika.

Read more: http://pilotonline.com/news/nation-world/national/in-arizona-vandals-turned-a-jewish-family-s-menorah-into/article_1b65acff-53a5-5efc-8f2e-20cc3db89a11.html

December 30, 2016

Norfolk Sheriff Bob McCabe announces retirement 4 months after saying he would seek reelection

NORFOLK -- Four months after saying he would seek another term, longtime Norfolk Sheriff Bob McCabe announced Friday that he plans to retire after 23 years in office.

In a news release, McCabe, who ran an unsuccessful campaign earlier this year to become the city's new mayor, said he would step down effective Feb. 1. He added that Col. Joe Baron, his second in command, would take over the daily operation of the Sheriff's Office until after the general election is held on Nov. 7.

Baron plans to run for sheriff, an office spokeswoman said. The job pays about $176,000 a year.

McCabe's announcement came one week after the longtime sheriff stepped down as the interim administrator of the Hampton Roads Regional Jail and six weeks after The Virginian-Pilot published a story revealing that businessman Ronnie Boone Sr. told federal investigators he bribed McCabe in addition to Treasurer Anthony Burfoot. The article cited two unnamed sources familiar with the interview.

Read more:http://pilotonline.com/news/government/local/norfolk-sheriff-bob-mccabe-announces-retirement-months-after-saying-he/article_f7c71217-d8d0-5f10-8e63-0dc0fa4a382c.html