GUN DEATHS IN NORTH CAROLINA RISE ABRUPTLY IN 2016: North Carolina has reached a grim milestone: More people died from guns in 2016 than any of the previous 35 years, new federal data shows. In 2016, more than 1,400 people died from guns in North Carolina, according to the most recent data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The firearm death toll rose by 120 that year. Experts are not yet sure why the numbers are rising. But a jump in firearm-related homicides appears to have driven the increase. Homicides involving guns climbed to 558 in 2016 – a 27 percent increase over the previous year. Gun control advocates – including Becky Ceartas, executive director of North Carolinians Against Gun Violence – blame the state’s laws. In its scorecard of state gun laws, the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence gives North Carolina a D-. “It’s incredibly troublesome, saddening and frustrating,” Ceartas says of the rising gun toll in North Carolina. “Because we know there are gun laws out there that have been proven to save lives … We do know it’s a public health crisis and it needs to be handled as one.”
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article203713144.html

FATE OF DACA RECIPIENTS UNCERTAIN AS COURT-BLOCKED DEADLINE ARRIVES: Cervantes Garcia visited a federal immigration office to renew his DACA status Sept. 4. That same month, President Donald Trump moved to rescind DACA, giving Congress a March 5 deadline to come up with replacement legislation. Two federal judges ruled against rescinding DACA and the Supreme Court declined to review the lower courts’ rulings, however, putting the president’s order on hold. With Congress unlikely to pass a new immigration bill by Monday, the future of Dreamers like Cervantes Garcia is unclear again. The Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank, estimates 915 young unauthorized immigrants across the country would have lost their DACA permits each day beginning Tuesday had the deadline held.
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/counties/durham-county/article203196534.html

JUDGE MIFFED AT BERGER & MOORE FOR ADOPTING RULES BY THEMSELVES: On Friday, Fox told attorneys for Carol Anderson and Dale Herman, the Durham residents who challenged the constitutionality of the rules, that he still agreed that General Assembly members had the authority to delegate rulemaking to a Legislative Services Commission. But Fox said he had trouble with the part of the law that allows rules to be made with just the House speaker and Senate leader present, not a quorum of the 10-member commission. “What I’m saying is if you have 10 members of a commission, you can’t have two deciding ... anything that involves criminal sanctions should require that there be a quorum,” Fox said.
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article203211994.html

DEMOCRATIC REP DUANE HALL ASKED TO RESIGN AFTER SEXUAL HARASSMENT ALLEGATIONS: Top Democratic leaders, including Gov. Roy Cooper, called for state Rep. Duane Hall, D-Wake, to resign Wednesday after a left-leaning news site reported sexual harassment allegations against him. NC Policy Watch said it had five sources, one of whom the website named, describing "persistent sexual innuendo from the three-term legislator and, in some cases, repeated, unwanted sexual overtures." The site quotes Jessie White, described as a top campaign official for several Democratic legislative candidates, as saying Hall commented on her looks and weight. After she mentioned some relationship troubles to Hall at a bar in 2016 he whispered in her ear, “If you give me two hours, you’ll forget about all those other guys," the article states. "We must create a culture where harassment of any kind is unacceptable," Cooper said.
http://www.wral.com/calls-for-local-rep-duane-hall-to-resign-after-sexual-harassment-allegations/173...

SUPERINTENDENT MARK JOHNSON OPPOSES ARMING TEACHERS IN CLASSROOMS: North Carolina's schools chief is opposed to arming teachers in classrooms, an idea President Donald Trump and some legislators in North Carolina and other states have suggested following the shootings at a Florida high school that killed 17 people. Superintendent of Public Instruction Mark Johnson said Monday he supports the General Assembly increasing money to hire more law enforcement officers in the schools. But Johnson says in a release teachers should not be asked to take on the "massive responsibility" of having firearms in the classroom. He says he's been working to reduce burdens on teachers. A North Carolina House committee has been formed to evaluate school safety and how it can be improved. Johnson says firearms on school grounds should be in the hands of trained, uniformed law-enforcement professionals.
http://www.wral.com/north-carolina-schools-chief-opposed-to-arming-teachers/17375397/