VOLUME 9 ISSUE 42 | THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2024
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WILFREDO LEE / AP PHOTO
Lara Trump, pictured with husband Eric last month at an NFL game in Miami, said she would consider a U.S. Senate opening in Florida should Marco Rubio get confirmed for a position in the Trump administration.
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Lara Trump leaves RNC, eyes Senate
BRIEF this week
N.C. Senate passes two state amendments, congressional term limits resolution Raleigh The North Carolina Senate has passed two amendments the state constitution as well as a joint resolution backing congressional term limits. The two constitutional amendments, if passed by the House, would be decided on by the voters in the November 2026 election. The governor has no veto power over the amendment proposals. Senate Bill 920 contains an amendment to the state constitution capping the state income tax at 5%, and Senate Bill 921 would amend the state constitution by expanding the requirement of photo ID for all voters in the state. In addition to the two amendments, House Joint Resolution 151 was passed by the Senate and calls for a limited convention for proposing a constitutional amendment on congressional term limits and requests cooperation from other state legislatures to engage in the process.
House pushes back override of Helene relief bill veto Raleigh The bill containing an additional $252 million in Hurricane Helene relief that was vetoed by Gov. Roy Cooper over provisions unrelated to recovery efforts has made it halfway through the veto override process. The Senate overrode the veto of Senate Bill 382 on Dec. 2 by a vote of 30-19. The House was expected to hold an override vote Wednesday after having moved the vote date twice prior. Cooper issued a statement on X calling the bill a “sham” and a “disgrace,” accusing Republicans of using the relief bill to “mask political power grabs.”
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Feds increase Helene recovery cost reimbursement rate The standard rate of 75% has been bumped to 90% By A.P. Dillon North State Journal RALEIGH — Gov. Roy Cooper announced that the federal government will cover 90% of recovery costs for areas impacted by Hurricane Helene, an increase from the standard
The Wilmington native and daughter-in-law of President-elect Donald Trump could be considered to represent Florida By Juliet Linderman and Martha Mendoza The Associated Press
75% reimbursement rate. “A complete recovery in Western North Carolina will require an investment of billions of dollars and agreement by the Biden Harris Administration to cover more of the cost is a tremendous boost to our efforts,” Cooper said in a Dec. 7 press release. “We will continue working to get more funding into Western North
LARA TRUMP will step down as co-chair of the Republican National Committee as she considers a number of potential options with her father-in-law, President-elect Donald Trump, set to return to the White House. Among those possibilities is replacing Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, whom Trump tapped as the next secretary of state. If Rubio is confirmed, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will choose who takes the seat through the remainder of Rubio’s term, which expires in 2026. “It is something I would seriously consider,” she told The Associated Press in an interview. “If I’m being completely transparent, I don’t know exactly what that would look like. And I certainly want to get all of the information possible if that is something that’s real for me. But yeah, I would 100% consider it.”
See RECOVERY, page A3
See TRUMP, page A3
Veteran acquitted in NYC subway chokehold death Daniel Penny was charged in the 2023 death of Jordan Neely By Jennifer Peltz The Associated Press NEW YORK — A Marine veteran who used a chokehold on an agitated subway rider was acquitted on Monday in a death that became a prism for differing views about public safety, valor and vigilantism. A Manhattan jury cleared Daniel Penny of criminally negligent homicide in Jordan Neely’s 2023 death. A more serious manslaughter charge was dismissed last week because the jury deadlocked on that count. Penny, who had shown little expression during the trial, briefly smiled as the verdict was
read. Both applause and anger erupted in the courtroom, and Neely’s father and two supporters were ushered out after audibly reacting. Another person also left, wailing with tears. “It really, really hurts,” Neely’s father, Andre Zachery, said outside the courthouse. “I had enough of this. The system is rigged.” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, the Democrat whose office brought the case, said prosecutors “followed the facts and the evidence from beginning to end” and respect the verdict. Penny’s attorneys had said he was protecting himself and other subway passengers from a volatile, mentally ill man who was making alarming remarks and gestures. See VERDICT, page A2
“I had enough of this. The system is rigged.” Andre Zachery, Jordan Neely’s father
“I would 100% consider it.” Lara Trump on whether she would be open to succeeding Sen. Marco Rubio