The U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, April 9, 2024. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom) WASHINGTON — U.S. House lawmakers will no longer be able to request earmarked funding for some nonprofits under a change in eligibility made by the Republican chairman of the Appropriations Committee on Thursday. The alteration is related to an uproar during last year’s annual government funding process, when House Republicans, who are in the majority, included three LGBTQ projects in one of their spending bills and then stripped that funding during a tense public markup. The change ..read more

Soil testing for lead in five Durham parks was conducted last summer. This site is at East Durham Park, 2500 E. Main St., near an apartment complex. (Photo: Lisa Sorg) Durham Parks and Recreation is temporarily closing playgrounds today in Northgate, Walltown, East End, East Durham and Lyon Park to conduct further tests for lead contamination, the city announced this morning. Playgrounds with liners and 12 inches of mulch were not originally tested, because the material is a barrier between bare soil and children playing. However, to ensure no lead has reached the surface, the playgrounds wil ..read more

Seventy-four hurricane survivors are now eligible for homeowner recovery funds, according to a settlement between Legal Aid and ReBuild NC. (File photo: Lisa Sorg) ReBuild NC erroneously disqualified 74 hurricane survivors from its Homeowner Recovery Program because they could not prove they owned a share of heirs’ property, but those applicants are now eligible for assistance under an agreement announced yesterday. Legal Aid of North Carolina, which represented a homeowner whose application had been rejected, reached a conciliation and voluntary compliance agreement with the N.C. Office of R ..read more

Durham Rep. Marcia Morey and other anti-gun violence advocates speak at a Thursday press conference. (Photo: Ahmed Jallow) Dozens of Moms Demand Action members and advocates, including elected officials, rallied at the General Assembly on Thursday to urge lawmakers to address gun violence during the legislative session. Moms Demand Action was founded after the 2012 Newtown, Connecticut shooting at which Adam Lanza killed 26 people, including 20 children, at Sandy Hook Elementary School. The group, which advocates for stronger gun laws to combat gun violence, has 10 million supporters across t ..read more

Dozens of anti-Trump protesters gathered outside the U.S. Supreme Court on April 25, 2024, while the justices heard arguments about whether former President Donald Trump has immunity from prosecution on criminal charges related to his actions while in office. (Photo by Jane Norman/States Newsroom) WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court appeared skeptical Thursday of former President Donald Trump’s argument he is immune from criminal charges that he tried to overturn his loss in the 2020 election. But conservatives who dominate the court appeared open to returning key questions to a trial court ..read more

The author says that soaring prices for groceries are largely attributable to greed and price gouging by giant chain grocery retailers. (Photo: Brandon Bell/Getty Images) In 2004, I was a single mom raising three daughters on my own. I worked three jobs, including an overnight shift as a translator at our local hospital, to make ends meet. Every time I stood in line at the supermarket, I worried about what I would have to put back on the shelf to stay within our weekly $100 food budget. My daughters are all grown now. But whenever I’m buying groceries, I still get that horrible feeling in the ..read more

Joey Hopkins, Gov. Cooper's nominee to serve as Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT), answered questions in an April 24th legislative hearing. (Photo: Screengrab NCGA livefeed) Governor Roy Cooper tapped Joey Hopkins to serve as Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) last September, but Wednesday was his first day before the Senate Transportation Committee that will vote on the appointment. Hopkins, who has worked at NCDOT for more than 30 years in a variety of capacities, fielded numerous questions from senators worried about ..read more

Protesters gather outside the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday, April 24, 2024, while justices hear oral arguments about whether federal law protects emergency abortion care. (Sofia Resnick/States Newsroom) U.S. Supreme Court justices spent two hours Wednesday morning debating whether a federal law about emergency treatment encompasses abortion care even in states with strict abortion bans, with no clear indication of how they may ultimately rule. A decision could come as soon as the end of June whether Idaho’s near-total abortion ban means doctors who might need to terminate a pregnancy durin ..read more

Photo: Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector About one in six people released from North Carolina prisons in 2023 were homeless, according to figures provided to NC Newsline — a rate the state hopes to cut in half by 2030. That goal is one part of an executive order issued by Gov. Roy Cooper in January to improve reentry supports for people getting out of prison. In issuing that mandate, Cooper set a series of ambitious goals, enrolling North Carolina in a national initiative known as Reentry 2030. Newsline requested data from the Department of Adult Correction to see the baseline metrics Cooper aims ..read more

Photo: Getty Images The post The absolute last thing the General Assembly should do this spring appeared first on NC Newsline ..read more