Local NAACP members still fighting for voters

coverBy Katie Reeder • SMN Intern 

It may be too late to change North Carolina’s new voting laws, but it’s not too late to have a say in how those laws are going to be implemented.

SEE ALSO:
Be prepared at the polls
• WCU students react to NC voting law changes

Even though members of local NAACP chapters are not happy with North Carolina’s new voting laws pushed through by a Republican-led General Assembly in 2013, they now want to focus on how those laws may be implemented.

Be prepared at the polls: Voting changes are coming in 2016

fr idcardsThe days of simply walking into a polling place and casting a ballot are over.

Raleigh comes to Sylva in support of historic tax credit bill

fr mccrorysylvaIf traffic seemed a bit slow through downtown Sylva on Friday (May 22), it probably had something to do with Gov. Pat McCrory’s afternoon stroll along Main Street that day.

Western could get largest share of proposed state infrastructure bond

fr mccrorybelcherOf all the constructions on Western Carolina University’s campus, the distinctly non-glamorous Natural Sciences Building might have seemed like an odd place to host a visit from Gov. Pat McCrory. In the classroom where McCrory sat with a panel of university representatives and state administrators, a tile hung loosely from the ceiling and the hum of the HVAC system reverberated through the concrete walls, which weren’t quite expansive enough to comfortably contain the assembly of officials and media representatives gathered there.

Sales tax shuffle

What the bill says: The method of doling out sales tax to towns and counties would be changed to give more to rural counties and less to towns and cities than under the current formula.

Statewide issues

Hunting on Sundays

What the bill says: The Sunday hunting ban would be lifted on private land. (House bill 640)

Local Issues

Lake Junaluska annexation

What the bill says: Lake Junaluska would become part of the town of Waynesville pending approval by voters of both Lake Junaluska and the town.

Legislation crosses over, has chance to become law

coverState lawmakers unleashed a torrent of proposed bills in the halls of the General Assembly this year — more than 1,650 bills in all, from possum drops and bobcat mascots to abortion restrictions and coal ash rules.

SEE ALSO:
Local issues
Statewide issues
• Sales tax shuffle

Most of the bills are doomed from the start, with fewer than 100 likely to make it to the finish line. To help winnow the list and weed out the losers, a bill must prove its merit by making cross-over — the bill has to pass the Senate or the House and “cross-over” to the other  chamber by the end of April to stay alive, with a few exceptions for certain types of bills.

Fracking regulators served with lawsuit

fr frackingA section of legislation giving the Mining and Energy Commission the authority to decide which local ordinances are OK and which are not when it comes to fracking could be struck down, if a state court sides with a lawsuit recently filed by Clean Water for North Carolina.

Soaking in the sun: Solar energy movement comes to WNC

out frSolar power is on the rise across the U.S., and a campaign recently launched in Western North Carolina is urging mountain folk to join the trend. 

“You can only do what you can afford to do, and now that it’s affordable, people are taking advantage of it and getting involved,” said Avram Friedman, executive director of The Canary Coalition, one of the two groups collaborating on the Solarize WNC campaign. “I think we’ve sort of reached that critical mass when things are turning around.”

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