Calling DNA "the 21st century version of fingerprints," Gov. Bev Perdue signed into law a measure that will have police and sheriffs' deputies taking DNA from people arrested for certain offenses.
"We need to give our law enforcement officers the most advanced tools that we can when they head out on the streets," Perdue said Thursday.
People arrested for everything from murder and rape to cyberstalking will have their DNA collected with a cheek swab. The samples will be analyzed for their identifying markers and the information stored in a state database.
State Attorney General Roy Cooper worked for the measure, saying it would help solve crimes.
The legislature passed the bill overwhelmingly, though some lawmakers argued that it violates Constitutional protections against unreasonable searches and seizures.
In the final debate before the bill passed state House, opponents vigorously objected to adding DNA records from people who are presumed innocent to the DNA database.
The State Bureau of Investigation must remove the DNA records and destroy the samples from people who have their charges dismissed or are acquitted.
'Jesus' guideline decried
Some lawmakers' offices have received faxed petitions asking members to reverse what critics call a ban on "the forbidden name of 'Jesus'" during prayers in the state House.
Earlier this week, House Speaker Joe Hackney named a committee of legislators to review the guidelines for prayer in the House chamber after a guest chaplain complained he was asked not to refer to Jesus.
The Rev. Ron Baity of Berean Baptist Church in Winston-Salem said he declined to give a nonsectarian prayer at the opening of a House session in late May. He gave the prayer he intended to give, but was then told his services were no longer needed, Baity told media outlets.
Hackney's office received a 180-page faxed petition Tuesday filled with signatures of people who say a prohibition on prayers "in Jesus name" is unconstitutional.
"Jesus is not an illegal word, the Bible is not a banned book and evangelistic speech is not a crime," said the letter, signed by Chaplain Gordon James Klingenschmitt of The Pray In Jesus Name Project, a Colorado-based group.
Hackney spokesman Bill Holmes said at least one other House member had also received the fax.
The eight-member bipartisan committee will review guidelines for prayers in the chamber. Each day's session typically begins with a nonsectarian prayer from an invited House member or volunteer member of the clergy.
N.C. judges blocked
U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan went to the Senate floor again Wednesday asking for votes on two North Carolina judges nominated for a higher court.
Once again, she was rebuffed.
In a procedural request to the Senate, Hagan, a Greensboro Democrat, sought "unanimous consent" to conduct three hours of debate on the nominations of Judges James Wynn of Raleigh and Albert Diaz of Charlotte, followed by a vote.
President Barack Obama nominated both men last fall for the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. Hagan had lobbied for months to expand North Carolina's presence on the bench.
Wynn and Diaz were recommended by the Senate Judiciary Committee in January. "But for over five months now, the nominations have languished on the calendar," Hagan said in her remarks Wednesday evening. "It is past time that these two fine judges be confirmed to the 4th Circuit."
Hagan said she worried that partisan divisions were keeping the vote from happening.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell immediately objected to Hagan's request for unanimous consent. McConnell pointed out Democrats routinely blocked judiciary nominations during the Bush administration.
Among those was the nomination of Judge Robert Conrad of North Carolina to the same court. "Judge Conrad had the strong support of his home-state senators," McConnell argued on the floor Wednesday. "He received the blessing of the [American Bar Association], the Democrats' so-called gold standard, and he would fill a judicial emergency. Yet Judge Conrad could not even get so much as a hearing."
U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, a Winston-Salem Republican, also supports Wynn's and Diaz' confirmation. Neither Burr's nor McConnell's office said Wednesday whether Burr has lobbied the Republican leader about the confirmation votes for Wynn and Diaz.
But Burr's spokesman said in a statement that the senator supports Hagan's efforts in calling for a vote.
By staff writers Lynn Bonner, Jane Stancill, and Washington correspondent Barbara Barrett.
