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The FBI is analyzing shell casings found near power facilities in North Carolina and South Carolina, a law enforcement memo revealed Friday, after North Carolina gunfire led to nearly 96 hours of darkness in one county. The "target attacks" at two Duke Energy substations in Moore County, North Carolina on Saturday night knocked out power to 45,000 homes and businesses before local electricity was restored Wednesday night. No one lost power in the South Carolina shootings. So far there's no indication whether the North Carolina attacks have any connection to Wednesday night's gunfire in South Carolina, according to a law enforcement memo reviewed by NBC News. Authorities haven't publicly disclosed any possible motive for the North Carolina shooting.

☆ North Carolina power grid attack stokes fear in rural LGBTQ community
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

However, authorities are considering the timing overlap and recent attacks on similar events nationwide as they proceed with their investigation. Regardless of whether investigators connect the two events, Sandhills Pride Director Lauren Mathers said repeated efforts to shut down what was billed as a family friendly drag performance have left the county’s LGBTQ community feeling vulnerable. The FBI posted a notice seeking information related to the North Carolina investigation, and Gov. Of the 124 incidents documented across 47 states as of late November, at least 10 occurred in North Carolina. Opponents of drag events catered toward families often falsely claim they “groom” children, implying attempts to sexually abuse them or somehow influence their sexual orientation or gender identity.

☆ Ronna McDaniel locked down votes for RNC chair despite the midterm debacle. Here's how she did it.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Jonathan-Allen-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Jonathan Allen | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +9 min

An ally, Richard Porter, an RNC member from Illinois, met with her in Washington to make sure she wanted to run for another two-year term. And the most ardent Trump critics among RNC members say McDaniel, Trump's pick for the post six years ago, is too close to him. Bill Palatucci, an RNC member from New Jersey, said he opposes McDaniel's re-election for that reason. For McDaniel to lose, an opponent would have to win the remaining undecided RNC members and swipe nearly two dozen avowed McDaniel backers. Lori Klein Corbin, an RNC member from Arizona who hasn’t committed to any candidate, said McDaniel hasn’t asked for her vote yet.

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK, Dec 8 (Reuters) - The U.S. Commerce Department will continue to deny three U.S.-based firms' export privileges, the government announced on Thursday, saying the companies had illegally exported satellite, rocket and defense technology to China. Since June, the Commerce Department found additional U.S. companies that worked with the firms, involving the unlicensed export to China of firearm component and space technology details. The new order denies the companies' export privileges for another 180 days, and gives notice to other companies to avoid doing business with them. The department did not identify the companies who had contracted with the North Carolina firms. But, according to the department's June order, a U.S. aerospace and global defense technology company notified the department in February 2020 of a third-party supplier's unauthorized export of controlled satellite technology.

The recent attack on two North Carolina substations that cut power to thousands of people has raised concerns about security standards for the country’s electric grid and its numerous power stations, which have faced greater threats in recent years. Nearly 600 electric emergency incidents and disturbances were caused by suspected and confirmed physical attacks and vandalism on the electric grid in those nine years, the reports show. The incidents, which are self-reported by power companies to the federal government, provide little to no detail about what occurred. Paths forward for a new standardThose who want a new security standard said there remain significant bureaucratic headwinds against such a proposal. The North American Electric Reliability Corporation, a nonprofit originally created by the electricity industry, said it created security requirements based on risk, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.

Another state court then replaced that map with one drawn by a bipartisan group of experts. Conservative Chief Justice John Roberts wondered whether such broadly worded provisions provide proper "standards and guidelines" for state courts to apply. The Republican lawmakers argued that the state court usurped the North Carolina General Assembly's authority under that provision to regulate federal elections. Justice Brett Kavanaugh emphasized the "historical practice" that "nearly all state constitutions regulate federal elections in some way." David Thompson, arguing for the North Carolina lawmakers, said the Constitution "requires state legislatures specifically to perform the federal function of prescribing regulations for federal elections.

The position of others including Chief Justice John Roberts was harder to read, raising the possibility of a ruling less broad than the Republican state lawmakers pursuing the appeal seek. The Republican lawmakers are asking the Supreme Court to embrace a once-marginal legal theory that has gained favor among some conservatives called the "independent state legislature" doctrine. The Republican lawmakers have argued that the state court unconstitutionally usurped the North Carolina General Assembly's authority to regulate federal elections. Thompson also argued that state constitutions cannot impose substantive limits on the actions of legislatures on federal elections. A lower state court subsequently rejected the legislature's redrawn map and adopted one drawn by a bipartisan group of experts.

The Supreme Court's eventual decision, due by the end of June, could apply to 2024 elections including the U.S. presidential race. The Republican lawmakers have argued that the state court unconstitutionally usurped the North Carolina General Assembly's authority to regulate federal elections. Kagan noted that in a series of cases over the years the Supreme Court expressed that state courts had a role to play in this area. A lower state court subsequently rejected the legislature's redrawn map and adopted a new map drawn by a bipartisan group of experts. The Supreme Court in March declined a Republican request to put those lower court actions on hold.

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Wednesday will hear a major case that could upend election law as the justices consider whether to reinstate Republican-drawn congressional districts in North Carolina. The case, which could have a broad impact on an array of election issues, is being closely watched for its potential impact on the 2024 presidential election. Republicans led by Tim Moore, the Republican speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives, invoked the theory after the state Supreme Court in February struck down the congressional district map. Activists protest partisan gerrymandering at the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. on Mar. Moore and other Republicans immediately asked the Supreme Court to reinstate the maps, saying the state court had overstepped its authority.

The Republicans are asking the Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, to embrace a once-marginal legal theory that has gained favor among some conservatives called the "independent state legislature" doctrine. The Supreme Court's eventual decision, due by the end of June, could apply to 2024 elections including the U.S. presidential race. The Republican lawmakers have argued that the state court unconstitutionally usurped the North Carolina General Assembly's authority to regulate federal elections. A lower state court subsequently rejected the legislature's redrawn map and adopted a new map drawn by a bipartisan group of experts. The Supreme Court in March declined a Republican request to put those lower court actions on hold.

☆ The Supreme Court’s Elections Opening in Moore v. Harper
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The Supreme Court’s argument Wednesday in Moore v. Harper is being called a case that will determine the fate of democracy. Or can state courts do it? The dispute in Moore v. Harper involves a House redistricting plan passed in 2021 by the North Carolina Legislature. That map was invalidated by the state Supreme Court, which said it was a partisan gerrymander and therefore prohibited under the state constitution. The North Carolina constitution says nary a word about partisan gerrymandering.

On its face, Moore v. Harper, the case being considered by the Supreme Court on Wednesday, deals with whether the North Carolina Supreme Court acted within its rights last year. In 2021, the state's highest court overturned the congressional redistricting maps drawn by the GOP-controlled state Legislature for being gerrymandered along partisan lines. The Independent State Legislature doctrine could open the door to giving state legislators the power to decide, for example, which presidential candidate will receive their state’s Electoral College votes. With the Supreme Court potentially lending their imprimatur to ISL this spring, each state legislative election could put the integrity of our democracy at risk. For those of us who believe in democracy, that means only one thing: We cannot rest on our laurels.

☆ Mitch McConnell could've tried to block a bill to protect same-sex marriage. He stayed silent about it instead.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Mitch McConnell never publicly offered his position on a bill to protect same-sex marriage. Susan Collins of Maine and Thom Tillis of North Carolina on amendments to the bill, told Insider. "You know, the leader has to look at his conference," Tillis told Insider, referencing his own time as the Speaker of the North Carolina House. Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, a conservative opponent of the bill, told Insider that "of course" he wished McConnell had taken a vocal position on the bill. As Sinema stood up to embrace the Iowa Republican, McConnell rose from his seat and voted no.

☆ Supreme Court justices grapple with a Republican challenge that could upend how elections are run: 'This is a theory with big consequences'
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Oma Seddiq | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The Supreme Court heard three hours of oral arguments on a GOP-led challenge from North Carolina. Barrett said adopting the North Carolina Republicans' approach would mean judges would have "notoriously difficult lines to draw." The state supreme court ruled that the map was a partisan gerrymander that favored Republicans, deeming it a violation of the state constitution. Alito noted that in some places, like North Carolina, state supreme court judges are elected by voters. The Supreme Court is expected to hand down its decision in the case by June.

Under this doctrine, they contend that the U.S. Constitution gives state legislatures, and not other entities such as state courts, power over election rules and electoral district maps. The Republican lawmakers have argued that the state court unconstitutionally usurped the North Carolina General Assembly's authority to regulate federal elections. 'CONFUSION AND CHAOS'Jason Snead, a conservative elections expert who embraces the doctrine, said the North Carolina case gives the Supreme Court an opportunity to "shut down a lot of the confusion and chaos" occurring around elections. The North Carolina Supreme Court struck down the map on Feb. 4, finding the districts were crafted to dilute the "fundamental right to equal voting power" of Democrats. A lower state court then rejected a redrawn map by Republican lawmakers and adopted one devised by a bipartisan group of experts.

☆ House Ethics Committee admonishes Rep. Madison Cawthorn over crypto promotion, failure to disclose stake
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Dan Mangan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Rep. Madison Cawthorn, R-N.C., watches results from the North Carolina primary election with staff, volunteers, family and friends at his campaign headquarters on Tuesday, May 17, 2022 in Hendersonville, NC. The House Ethics Committee on Tuesday said it admonished outgoing Rep. Madison Cawthorn and ordered the North Carolina Republican to pay more than $15,000 for violating conflict of interest rules by publicly promoting a cryptocurrency he owned, and for failing to promptly disclose crypto transactions. The panel's report comes nearly a month after Cawthorn reportedly vacated his Washington, D.C., and district offices. Cawthorn lost his bid for a second term in May, when he was narrowly defeated in the GOP primary by Chuck Edwards. Days after Cawthorn lost to Edwards, the Ethics Committee revealed it was probing the congressman for possibly improper promotion of the so-called Let's Go Brandon coin, and for a possible improper relationship with a staffer.

☆ Human Composting Should Be an Option for New Yorkers - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Caitlin Doughty | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +12 min

Human composting — or, as it’s sometimes referred to, natural organic reduction — fulfills many people’s desire to nurture the earth after dying. In its place, Ms. Spade founded Recompose, a new for-profit company designed to bring human composting to the public. I have no stake in Recompose or any other human composting company.) Human composting, by Recompose’s reckoning, uses just an eighth of this energy and falls in total price between cremation and conventional burial at around $7,000. Human composting reframes the dead body: not something to be protected from nature and the elements, but something meant to return to them.

☆ Dispute over North Carolina congressional districts tees up major elections case at Supreme Court
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Lawrencehurley_Pic.Jpg | Lawrence Hurley | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +9 min

WASHINGTON — When the North Carolina Supreme Court struck down the Republican-drawn congressional district maps in February, Rep. Tim Moore, the Republican speaker of the state’s House of Representatives, reached for some potent ammunition. Moore said in an interview that he backed the theory because it is the only way to challenge a state court ruling that he believes was not based on law or precedent. Republicans, led by Moore, immediately asked the Supreme Court to reinstate the maps. Gary D. Robertson / AP fileThe independent state legislature theory claims state legislatures have the final say over election laws, potentially shielding their actions from state courts. He also said he believed that the governor had the power to veto elections legislation, a procedure cast into doubt by at least one interpretation of the independent state legislature theory.

☆ Virginia Rep. Donald McEachin Dies at 61 After Cancer Struggle
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +2 min

Rep. A. Donald McEachin (D., Va.) died Monday after a battle with colorectal cancer, his office said. Tonight, he lost that battle.”Mr. McEachin represented Virginia’s fourth congressional district, which includes part of Richmond and extends south to the North Carolina border. Tonight, Virginia has lost a great leader and I have lost a great friend.”Rep. Gerry Connolly , (D., Va.), called Mr. McEachin an “environmentalist, civil rights advocate, faithful public servant, and a man of consequence. He earned a master of divinity degree at Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University in 2008. Mr. McEachin and his wife, Richmond Commonwealth’s Attorney Colette McEachin, raised three children, Mac, Briana and Alexandra.

☆ Vietnam's VinFast ships first electric vehicles to U.S. customers
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( Phuong Nguyen | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The first cars are expected to be handed over to customers by the end of December, the company said. Thuy said VinFast expected to be able to ship a second batch of cars to the United States, its first export market, around January. VinFast is in the process of building an electric vehicle plant in North Carolina that is awaiting final regulatory approval from local officials. VinFast said last week that Autonomy had ordered 2,500 electric vehicles, its largest corporate order to date. VinFast officials said the number 999 for the vehicles shipped in the first batch had been chosen because it is considered a lucky number in Vietnam.

☆ 85,000 Ukrainians Fled to the U.S., and Twice as Many Americans Offered to Help
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-24 | by ( Ben Cohen | Photographs Veasey Conway For The Wall Street Journal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WINTERVILLE, N.C.—Mariia Holovan left Ukraine on a bus to Poland, waited for what felt like forever at the border, flew to Chicago, then connected to Charlotte, N.C., and met an American named Grant Jones. Together they went to her new home in the United States. “I can’t believe I’m here,” Ms. Holovan thought as they drove to the North Carolina suburbs.

Companies Honeywell International Inc FollowNov 18 (Reuters) - Honeywell International Inc (HON.O) will pay $1.3 billion to end asbestos-related claims stemming from its former unit, the industrial giant said on Friday, helping it reduce its environmental liabilities. Honeywell said the one-time, lump sum payment will have 'limited obligations' to the trust following the completion of the deal. The company's former unit, North American Refractories Company (NARCO), had filed for bankruptcy in 2002 after facing lawsuits over asbestos-related illnesses. Following the bankruptcy, Honeywell set up the compensation trust to resolve billions of dollars worth of asbestos claims. Additionally, the North Carolina-based company reaffirmed its previously announced full-year and fourth-quarter outlook.

☆ Krispy Kreme agrees to pay workers more than $1.1 million over wage theft claims
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Krispy Kreme has agreed to pay 516 workers more than $1.1 million in back wages and damages. Federal investigators had uncovered "widespread and systemic" wage theft at the company. According to investigators, the North Carolina-based company failed to include those employees' monthly bonuses when calculating their overtime rate. "Employers who fail in their obligation to pay minimum wage and overtime wages as the law requires make it harder for workers and their families to make ends meet." Krispy Kreme, for its part, said it is "strongly committed" to paying its workers fairly.

☆ Walker's campaign tells Republicans to stop 'deceptive fundraising' in Georgia runoff
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Marc Caputo | Marc Caputo Is A Senior National Political Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

Walker’s campaign, which has trailed Warnock’s in fundraising throughout the election, is now asking fellow Republicans to stop their fundraising practices — or at least start sharing more with the candidate. "We need everyone focused on winning the Georgia Senate race, and deceptive fundraising tactics by teams that just won their races are siphoning money away from Georgia,” Walker campaign manager Scott Paradise told NBC News on Monday. After the 90:10 split was highlighted on Twitter, Trump’s committee changed the allocation to a 50:50 split. A Vance spokesman declined to comment, but subsequent fundraising emails for Walker have defaulted to a 50:50 split as well. Those new donors' emails and their money are then shared along with the cash raised in the joint fundraising endeavor.

☆ Roberta Flack has ALS, now ‘impossible to sing,’ rep says
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

A representative for Roberta Flack announced Monday that the Grammy-winning musician has ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, and can no longer sing. The progressive disease “has made it impossible to sing and not easy to speak,” Flack’s manager Suzanne Koga said in a release. Flack also plans to publish a children’s book co-written with Tonya Bolden, “The Green Piano: How Little Me Found Music,” that month. Flack had a stroke in 2016 and spoke to The Associated Press a little over two years later about returning to performing. “I could sing any number of songs that I’ve recorded through the years, easily, I could sing them, but I’m going to pick those songs that move me,” Flack said.

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