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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

NC Lawmakers Head Back to Work for Lame Duck Session

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Tuesday, December 13, 2016   

RALEIGH, N.C. – Today, North Carolina lawmakers are taking a break from their own holiday, purportedly to vote on relief for people affected by Hurricane Matthew. However, legally the state Assembly can vote on any measure while in session – and many are concerned Republican leadership may use it as an opportunity to address unfinished business.

Among the possibilities: adding two seats to the state Supreme Court to allow Gov. Pat McCrory to appoint two Republican judges before his term ends in January.

Rob Schofield, director of research for NC Policy Watch, explained the significance of such a move.

"This would be a remarkably brazen act, and really unprecedented in state history," he explained, "and would be, in effect, a way of overturning the results of the election and there are a lot of people that are very concerned about that possibility."

Sixteen years ago, a Democrat-led state Assembly voted to expand the state Court of Appeals, but experts say at the time the court had a growing caseload, and the new judicial positions would not have the legal impact a larger state Supreme Court could.

Regarding relief for hurricane victims, the economic damage to the state is estimated at $2 billion, and McCrory has asked for $1 billion in federal assistance.

Several state lawmakers have said there are no plans to bring up plans to expand the state Supreme Court in the lame-duck session this week, but Republican leaders made a similar attempt in a bill that would have expanded the court in 2013.

Schofield says regardless, it's important that citizens pay attention to what happens in the state Capitol this week.

"There are lots of rampant rumors in Raleigh right now that the General Assembly might take up some other matters," he said. "They might take up some legislation that wasn't passed during the regular session this past summer, they might even take other actions to reduce the powers of the newly-elected Governor Cooper."


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