North Carolina
Abortion in N.C.: AG’s office says court should not allow 20-week ban
A 2016 modification to state abortion legislation, handed by the North Carolina Normal Meeting, would have banned abortion after 20 weeks of being pregnant. However due to the Supreme Courtroom’s ruling in Roe v. Wade legalizing abortion, a federal decide discovered the North Carolina legislation unconstitutional.
Final yr an appeals courtroom upheld the 2019 resolution on North Carolina’s legislation. Now that the Supreme Courtroom has overturned the 1973 ruling in Roe v. Wade, a decide is now taking a brand new take a look at the North Carolina legislation.
Legal professionals for the plaintiffs within the case, together with Deliberate Parenthood South Atlantic and docs, say there isn’t a purpose to reopen the case since neither they, nor the state Lawyer Normal’s Workplace have requested for the courtroom to reverse the choice.
GOP leaders within the Normal Meeting have requested the courtroom to permit them to file a movement to permit the legislation to enter impact.
“It seems the injunctive reduction granted on this case could now be opposite to legislation,” Choose William Osteen, the federal decide for the MIddle District of North Carolina overseeing the case, mentioned in an order issued final month.
“Lifting the injunction would create apprehension and uncertainty amongst suppliers about what sort of affected person care they will legally present in North Carolina with out threat of prison legal responsibility, particularly beneath the terribly slim emergency exception,” Deliberate Parenthood and the opposite plaintiffs mentioned of their newest courtroom submitting.
“Reinstating the 20-week ban would criminalize the availability of medical care to individuals struggling miscarriages and to victims of rape and incest; it might threaten the lives of those that will expertise grave bodily and psychological ache and struggling if compelled to hold a being pregnant and to present start,” attorneys for the plaintiffs wrote.
The North Carolina Lawyer Normal’s Workplace, representing the defendants within the case, agreed. The Lawyer Normal himself recused himself within the case, however attorneys in his workplace argued the courtroom shouldn’t revisit the ruling.
“Different states have acted quickly to severely prohibit or remove entry to abortion companies,” the Lawyer Normal’s Workplace mentioned. “Lifting or modifying the injunction in these circumstances would seemingly additional confuse the general public concerning the legality and availability of abortion companies in North Carolina, and the chance of prison prosecution to themselves and their healthcare suppliers.”
“For these causes, and since no defendant with direct enforcement authority intends to take any motion that might be affected by any motion by this Courtroom, Defendants are usually not now searching for lifting or modification of the injunction,” in keeping with a quick filed by the Lawyer Normal’s workplace late Monday.
“Lifting the injunction, after almost fifty years during which the existence of a constitutional proper to abortion was settled legislation, will inevitably create a considerable threat of additional public confusion,” the defendants mentioned.
The Supreme Courtroom’s ruling issued in June gave the query of abortion rights to state lawmakers, permitting state legislators to limit entry to abortion. Quite a few states, together with North Carolina’s neighbors to the south and west, moved shortly to additional prohibit entry to abortion.
North Carolina Senate President Professional Tem Phil Berger and Home Speaker Tim Moore, the 2 high Republicans within the Normal Meeting, are asking the federal decide to reverse the choice within the case.
“The courtroom ought to train its inherent energy to vacate the injunction and judgment, following the Supreme Courtroom’s emphatic instruction to return the difficulty of abortion to the ‘individuals and their elected representatives,’” Moore and Berger mentioned in a courtroom submitting final month.
GOP leaders within the Normal Meeting additionally faulted North Carolina Lawyer Normal Josh Stein for not asking the courtroom to reverse its ruling within the case, referred to as Bryant v. Woodall.
North Carolina Lawyer Normal Josh Stein speaks in favor of defending abortion entry alongside U.S. Rep. Deborah Ross at a press convention on the North Carolina Division of Justice in Raleigh, N.C., Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2022. Stein, an abortion rights supporter, has recused himself from involvement in a case that would reinstate a 20-week abortion ban. (AP Photograph: Hannah Schoenbaum)
“With the authorized underpinning of the Bryant courtroom’s injunction now erased, we respectfully name on you and the Division of Justice to take all obligatory authorized motion to carry the injunction at present barring the total enforcement of our State’s abortion restrictions,” Berger and Moore mentioned in a joint assertion.
Stein, a Democrat who has been outspoken in his assist for abortion rights, mentioned he stands by his resolution to recuse himself. Talking with reporters final week, Stein mentioned different attorneys in his workplace will file a quick with the courtroom.
“My workplace and I defended the statute as it’s written,” Stein mentioned. However because the courtroom resolution, he recused himself from being concerned within the case. “It’s not correct for a lawyer that’s defending a legislation to talk out towards it.”
Abortion stays authorized in North Carolina till “fetal viability,” which comes between 24 and 28 weeks. After that, there are exceptions for medical emergencies. North Carolina is without doubt one of the few remaining states within the South the place abortion is predicted to stay authorized and accessible.
The query of abortion entry within the state has develop into central to the midterm elections, when each seat within the North Carolina Home and Senate is up for election. Republicans maintain majorities in each chambers of the Normal Meeting, however they’re a handful of seats wanting with the ability to override the governor’s veto.
Gov. Roy Cooper has mentioned repeatedly that he would veto any efforts from the legislature so as to add new abortion restrictions in North Carolina.
“North Carolinians can relaxation assured that we’re taking the mandatory steps to make sure that present restrictions on the books will probably be enforced. North Carolinians may also anticipate pro-life protections to be a high precedence of the legislature once we return to our regular legislative session in January,” Moore mentioned in a press release after the Supreme Courtroom ruling.
Democrats within the state hope the difficulty of abortion will get extra voters to the polls in November.
“Republican leaders within the Normal Meeting are scheming to show the clock again 50 years,” Rep. Deborah Ross. “They’ve made it abundantly clear that, if given the possibility, they’ll enact restrictive abortion bans similar to the draconian legal guidelines we’re seeing in states throughout the nation.”
Ross joined the state lawyer common final week to speak to reporters about defending abortion rights in North Carolina. They spoke the day after voters in Kansas roundly rejected a poll measure that might have allowed the state legislature there so as to add extra abortion restrictions to the books.
“I feel what it reveals is public sentiment,” the congresswoman mentioned. “Kansas was the canary within the coal mine for this and we obtained that type of outcome, I feel sends a really sturdy message to the remainder of the nation.”
Irrespective of how the courtroom decides on North Carolina’s 20-week abortion ban, the outcomes of the Nov. 8 election might set the tone for the state’s abortion legal guidelines for many years to come back.
North Carolina’s solar energy landscape is at a crossroads as the state works to meet its ambitious climate goals.
Under House Bill 951, passed in 2021, North Carolina is required to cut carbon emissions in the energy sector by 70% from 2005 levels by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. However, meeting these targets is proving difficult as energy demand surges.
Jeff Hughes, a commissioner with the North Carolina Utilities Commission, says that it’s challenging to maintain grid reliability while pursuing aggressive decarbonization goals.
“If we have two gigawatts of load coming in the next three or four years, it’s going to be very difficult to model our way, to solarize our way out of it,” Hughes said, pointing to the growing demand from industries like AI-driven data centers.
Duke Energy, the state’s largest utility, has said fossil fuels are essential to ensuring reliable power amid increasing demand. Critics argue that the company’s reliance on natural gas and coal could derail progress toward cutting emissions.
North Carolina has long been a leader in solar energy, initially driven by smaller, five-megawatt projects. Today, the focus has shifted to larger installations, which are more efficient but face growing local opposition.
Carson Hart, CEO of Carolina Solar Energy, said scaling up has been key to increasing clean energy capacity. “Moving to these bigger projects has been really beneficial for getting more megawatts in the ground and meeting the state’s climate goals,” Hart said. But she noted that large projects often draw pushback from residents concerned about aesthetics and land use.
Rural areas are at the heart of the state’s solar boom, hosting about 80% of large-scale projects. Reginald Bynum Jr., director of community outreach at the Center for Energy Education, said rural North Carolina plays a critical role in meeting the state’s clean energy goals.
“My job is to make sure rural communities don’t miss the movement,” Bynum said. “These projects bring jobs, economic growth, and opportunities to areas that desperately need them.”
The economic impact of solar energy is substantial. In counties with significant solar development, property tax revenues have increased by as much as 1,600%, according to the North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association. These funds have supported schools, infrastructure, and emergency services in areas facing population declines and economic challenges.
The state’s clean energy sector also supports more than 110,000 full-time jobs, according to a report from e2, with many more expected as solar development continues.
Hughes said the state’s carbon plan, which is updated every two years, will play a key role in charting a path forward.
“There’s a lot of check and adjust that will occur over the next few years,” he said.
As North Carolina advances its solar energy ambitions, balancing the needs of developers, communities, and environmental goals will be essential to achieving a sustainable and reliable energy future.
North Carolina
3 men charged in connection with woman’s death at Cook Out restaurant in North Carolina
Two men have been charged with murder in the death of 29-year-old Davicia Jean Ann Lee at a Cook Out restaurant in Durham, North Carolina, last month. A third is facing a weapons charge.
Two men have been charged with murder in the fatal shooting of a woman at the fast-food restaurant Cook Out in North Carolina.
Twenty-three-year-old Alexander Kenyon Carlton Jr. and 19-year-old Calvin Jerade Spence Jr. have been charged with first-degree murder in the killing of 29-year-old Davicia Jean Ann Lee late last month in Durham, the Durham County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release on Friday.
A third man, 18-year-old Jamari Treyvon McKnight, is charged with one count of going armed to the terror of the people, which basically means terrorizing someone with a weapon like a gun.
USA TODAY could not immediately find attorneys representing the three men.
The shooting occurred just after 10:30 p.m. on Oct. 26 at the Cook Out on South Miami Boulevard, according to the sheriff’s office. When deputies arrived at the scene, they found Lee dead.
The sheriff’s office called the shooting “an isolated incident” that happened after shots broke out following a fight, WNCN-TV reported.
Arrests made in fatal shooting of Davicia Jean Ann Lee
Detectives arrested Spence and Carlton on Thursday and took them to the Durham County Detention Center without bond on charges of carrying a concealed gun, felony conspiracy, going armed to the terror of the people and first-degree murder, the sheriff’s office said.
McKnight was also taken into custody and arrested Thursday night on misdemeanor going armed to the terror of the people, according to the sheriff’s office. The Morrisville police arrested him and he is currently being held in the Wake County Detention Center until his first court appearance, the agency added.
The investigation into Lee’s homicide is ongoing, while all findings are now in the process of being turned over to the Durham County District Attorney’s Office for prosecution, according to the sheriff’s office.
The USC Trojans are in pursuit of flipping two class of 2025 recruits, Nela Tupou and Alex Payne. Can the Trojans flip one or both of these players before national signing day?
Nela Tupou Player Profile
Nela Tupou is a 6-4, 220 pound tight end/defensive end out of Folsom, California. He is rated as a three-star recruit and ranked as the 43rd-best ATH in the class of 2025 per 247Sports.
Tupou committed to the Utah Utes in February of 2024, but he just recently visited USC last weekend for the Trojans’ 28-20 win over the Nebraska Cornhuskers.
On3 is now predicting that Tupou will likely flip this commitment from Utah to USC.
Alex Payne Player Profile
Alex Payne is a 6-5, 265 pound offensive tackle out of Gainesville, Florida. He is rated as four-star recruit and ranked as the 16th-best offensive tackle in the class of 2025.
Payne committed to the North Carolina Tar Heels in January of 2024, but he as well as Tupou, visited USC last weekend.
In 247Sports recruiting analyst Tom Loy’s updated crystal ball prediction, he had Payne flipping his commitment from North Carolina to USC. Loy has a good track record of predicting where recruits will end up as his all-time hit rate for predicting recruits’ final destinations is 81.64 percent.
USC Bolstering Up Offensive Line to Go Along With Weapons
One of the glaring holes for the USC Trojans this season has been the offensive line. For USC to bounce back next season, they will have to get much better in the trenches. This has been exposed in their first season in the Big Ten. Landing Tupou, who can both be a factor in the run blocking scheme as a blocker, and Payne, one of the top tackle prospects in the country, would go a long way for next season and the future of the program.
Barring a flurry of transfer portal decisions, the Trojans will have an abundance of skill position talent coming back next season.
Freshman running back Quinten Joyner has been the second best back this season behind senior running back Woody marks.
Four of the Trojans five leading receivers are sophomores. Makai Lemon, Zachariah Branch, Ja’Kobi Lane, and Duce Robinson all have shown flashes of potentially being a number one wide receiver next season.
Add in the Trojans starting sophomore quarterback Jayden Maiava and they have one of the youngest teams in the Big Ten. If USC continues to address the offensive line in the last days of the 2025 recruiting cycle and in the transfer portal this offseason, the Trojans could be a dangerous team next season.
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