NC Senate

A judge has refused to block the use of two North Carolina Senate districts drawn by Republican legislators starting with the 2024 elections and to order them replaced with different boundaries.

Sen. Lisa Grafstein, D-Wake, moved to a different district in November. She made the move after new redistricting maps put her old home in the same district as fellow Sen. Jay Chaudhuri.

First-term Mayor Elaine O’Neal announced last month she wasn’t seeking reelection. Three candidates had formally joined the race as of Wednesday. The top two vote-getters during Durham’s nonpartisan mayor primary in October advance to the general election in November.

The state Senate on Tuesday approved a ban on hormone therapy, puberty blockers and surgeries that is more stringent than what the House recently passed.

The Senate voted separately Tuesday for each of the four measures by margins wide enough to enact them over Cooper’s objections contained in his veto messages. They will become law should the House also vote to override the vetoes.

The state Senate’s budget includes a plan to give the legislature more power to pick judges.

The proposal would create a statute making it a high-grade felony to purposefully damage or attempt to damage an energy facility, including those that transmit or distribute electricity or fuel. Senators on Tuesday opted to tack on cybersecurity safeguards before sending the bill to the House.

The chamber voted 36-10 on Tuesday to give initial support to an idea that its supporters say would offer relief to those with debilitating or life-ending illnesses. A final Senate vote is needed Wednesday before it goes to the House.

North Carolina's Republican-controlled Senate has passed a bill requiring teachers to alert parents in most circumstances before calling a student by a different name or pronoun. Sponsors say the bill is needed to keep parents informed about what their children are being taught in public schools. Critics say it would make schools unsafe spaces for LGBTQ and questioning children to explore their identities.

The bill up for debate Tuesday would require public school personnel to alert parents before calling their child by a different name or pronoun and prohibit instruction about gender identity and sexuality in K-4 classrooms.