The notion of a bypass around U.S. 74 from Charlotte into Union County had been kicking around for years before the newly formed Turnpike Authority in 2007 proposed the construction of a 20-mile toll road that would run parallel to U.S. 74, skirt Monroe and connect to the I-485 beltway southeast of Charlotte. Under the supervision of the Federal Highway Administration, the state Department of Transportation moved ahead with the project, the Monroe Connector, and appeared to be on track to begin construction — until May 3.
In politics, it’s known as the non-apology apology.
Political strategist Ed Rapp offered one in the wake of an accusation he posted on his blog about Brunswick County Superior Court Judge Ola M. Lewis. But it didn’t help: The Court of Appeals ruled that while Rapp couldn’t be sued for his initial mistake, he committed libel per se when he stuck to his accusation in the apology, even knowing he was wrong.
A judge has decided that a man convicted of a double murder in North Carolina won’t be released as soon as originally ordered.
Bank of America said last week that it had begun mailing out letters to customers who may qualify to have their home loans reduced as part of a multistate settlement over alleged foreclosure abuses.
A former energy trader from Fayetteville has been sentenced to seven years in prison for bank fraud and wire fraud.
Cumberland County authorities have charged a Fort Bragg soldier after a break-in at a Spring Lake gun shop that netted more than $68,000 in weapons and accessories.
An agriculture chemical company faces a $102,000 federal penalty for mislabeling pesticides at facilities in Nebraska and Missouri.
A Durham County judge has filed a written order elaborating on a previous ruling which freed novelist Michael Peterson to await a new trial in the 2001 death of his wife.
The difference between plain old hardheadedness and refusing to back down on principle is often illusory. Luckily, the courts are around to help clear the fog of subjective righteousness and settle disputes when both sides of an argument are unwilling to bend, no matter the cost.
In one such case, the stakes are high for a pair of homeowners who are going up against a neighborhood association in an affluent area of North Carolina’s coast. They built an $800 fence to hide some garbage cans in their backyard without first seeking the association’s approval and then refused to take the fence down, choosing instead to sue.
A Senate subcommittee has finished studying a bill that would make it virtually impossible for North Carolinians injured by federally approved medications to sue pharmaceutical manufacturers.
The pharmaceutical liability subcommittee tossed the proposed law back to a Senate judiciary committee without suggesting changes. Now, the question of whether the bill will be introduced to the General Assembly when it convenes May 16 hinges on the pending recommendation of subcommittee chair Sen. Thom Goolsby.
