Local & North Carolina state news from Raleigh, NC

Local/State

Wake County Judge Joy Hamilton listens as Alan McSurely, defense attorney for Saladin Muhammad, pleads his case. Muhammad is one of the over 900 demonstrators who face charges of second-degree trespassing, failure to disperse on command and posting or displaying signs or placards in violation of building rules during Moral Monday protests at the state legislature this spring. Many will be watching the outcome of the trials as tests of what might happen to people arrested over the summer who have chosen not to take the deferred prosecution plea deals offered by Wake County District Attorney Colon Willoughby. She found the first defendant , Saladin Muhammad, guilty on all three counts.

Judge dismisses 2 ‘Moral Monday’ cases after daylong trial

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First-time Chief Judge R Michael Trainor, at the Garner Advent Christian Church gives a voting sticker to Barbara Matthews, of Garner, who has known him since he was a little boy. He and other registered Republican judges across the state are having the opportunity to be chief judges, because the position is held by the political party of the sitting governor of the state. A light turn-out of voters trickled into polling locations in Garner, N.C. on Tuesday, October 8, 2013.

Election | 10.08.13

Voters go to the polls

Triangle arrests

See photos of arrests from around the Triangle.

Archive by category ''Local/State

LOCAL/STATE

Mountain tourism hit by national park shutdown

The closure of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park during the federal shutdown cost the region $33 million in lost tourism, according to an analysis released Friday.
CRIME

Police arrest man suspected to be the ATM robber

Police have arrested and charged a man they think is responsible for a series of kidnappings and ATM robberies last month in and around North Raleigh. Walter Kevin Johnson, 28, faces 23 separate charges and the investigation is still ongoing.
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NATIONAL

Groups criticize NC officer arrest in man's death

Hours after a Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer fatally shot an unarmed man, the department made a rare move: It charged the officer with voluntary manslaughter.
EDUCATION

Wake’s school board becomes more homogeneous

Supporters say having a new nearly all Democratic Wake County school board will end partisan fighting, but critics say it could lead to dissenting opinions being ignored.
LOCAL/STATE

Tattoo shops see spike in business as new Army restrictions loom

Current soldiers who have tattoos that violate the new Army regulations would be “grandfathered,” but new recruits would have to remove skin art that stretches onto arms and legs before they would be allowed to join.
CELEBRITIES

AP Source: Dead 2-year-old Peterson's son

Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson mourned the death of his young son Friday, while words of support poured in from all corners of the sports world.
STATE POLITICS

NC governor spending $230,000 on mansion bathrooms

Gov. Pat McCrory plans to spend up to $230,000 in taxpayer funds remodeling bathrooms in his private living quarters at North Carolina's Executive Mansion even as he demands belt-tightening for public schools and social programs.
WAKE COUNTY

Artisans vie for ‘big cheese’ at NC State Fair

Judges sampled an avalanche of cheeses at the unofficial start to the NC State Fair, trying more cheeses than any dinner party guest would ever endure. And, like dinner guests, the cheeses came in many varieties: Some were salty, some were smoky, some beautiful but shallow, and a few divine.
LOCAL POLITICS

Democrats crow after Wake County school elections

This week’s Wake County school election results are drawing very different reactions from the two major political parties.
CRIME

Lovette lawyers argue for murder trial outside Durham

Superior Court Judge James Hardin said Friday he would consider a change of trial venue motion by attorneys for Laurence Lovette, who is charged with murdering Duke University graduate student Abhijit Mahato in 2008. Hardin said, though, that he will not render a decision before Dec. 16.