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Mention "The Summer Games," and most people think first of the Olympics next month in China.

But state lawmakers just wrapped their own version of the summer games, complete with legislative sprints and marathons, plenty of high hurdles and flip turns, and more than a few bills that couldn't quite make it across the finish line.

Legislators spent more than two months in Raleigh for what was supposed to be the "short session" in their two-year cycle. Their primary mission was to make adjustments to the $21 billion state budget. They managed to increase spending slightly without raising taxes, give teachers and state employees modest pay raises, and authorize a lot of borrowing for more construction at state universities and elsewhere.

Like the Olympics, the legislature has plenty of different games. Legislators debated whether to outlaw bullying in schools, whether to allow longer trucks and wider boats on the road, how to patch the state's mental health system and how to combat rising gang activity.

With that in mind, we take a look back at North Carolina's legislative Olympics.

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