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Bills from NC lawmakers expand gun rights, limit cellphone use

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carolinapublicpress.org – Sarah Michels – 2025-02-21 08:00:00

What we’re watching: These bills from NC lawmakers could go the distance

Less than a month into the 2025 legislative session, lawmakers have filed nearly 300 bills. Before the filing deadline next month, there will likely be another couple hundred bills presented. 

Not all will survive the grueling legislative process, particularly considering North Carolina’s divided government. 

After the 2024 election barred GOP legislators from a supermajority by one seat, Democratic Gov. Josh Stein may be able to deny many Republicans’ wishes with his veto pen. 

Several bills will probably attract more attention than others. 

Here are a few whose progress Carolina Public Press is tracking. 

Gun bills hit their target audience

Expanding Second Amendment rights has emerged as an early theme of the 2025 General Assembly. 

Chief among several gun-related bills is House Bill 5, the North Carolina Constitutional Carry Act

Current law bars North Carolinians from carrying concealed deadly weapons, including handguns, without a permit outside of one’s property. House Bill 5 removes that restriction for adults 18 and older. 

It also abolishes firearms from the statutory list of deadly weapons — a list that includes daggers and stun guns. 

The bill loosens some additional concealed-carry restrictions. If passed, state residents could carry a concealed weapon at a public event where admission is charged and at parades and funeral processions. Elected officials would be allowed to have a concealed firearm while performing official duties if they have a permit. 

Anyone who carries a hidden weapon must have their ID with them and present it to law enforcement if approached. 

Those convicted or charged with certain crimes, dishonorably discharged from the military, ruled by a court to be mentally ill or addicted to a controlled substance are not allowed to have a concealed firearm without a permit under this proposed legislation. 

Senate Bill 50 is a twin bill in the other chamber, which suggests a higher priority level for this legislation. 

Other gun-related bills this session: 

  • House Bill 38, also known as the Second Amendment Financial Privacy Act, bans gun dealers from creating a record of people in the state who own firearms.
  • House Bill 9 bans local governments from regulating firearm use on private property as long as it is “conducted with reasonable care.”
  • House Bill 28 creates a new crime to be treated as a separate offense under the law: possessing a firearm or weapon of mass destruction while attempting or committing a felony. 

Helene on the horizon

As Helene recovery continues, the legislature begins work on its next funding package. 

Thus far, lawmakers have passed three relief packages that collectively dedicate $1.1 billion to the recovery effort, though not all of the funds have been specifically allocated. 

As it stands, the fourth package draws $275 million from the State Emergency Response and Disaster Relief Fund. 

The latest Helene relief package from the General Assembly would withdraw $275 million from a state emergency fund. Colby Rabon / Carolina Public Press

While the bill is continually being amended, some of the current allocations include:

  • $140 million for home reconstruction and repair 
  • $75 million for farmers to resume production and protect against future flood damage
  • $100 million for repair of private roads and bridges 
  • $55 million for small business infrastructure grants
  • $20 million to local governments for outstanding debris removal
  • $10 million to supplement rental assistance payments 
  • $5 million for targeted media campaigns to get tourists back in Western North Carolina 

The bill is set to be heard on the House floor as early as Tuesday. 

‘Breathtaking legislation’

Last year, Republican legislators told future Democratic Attorney General Jeff Jackson he couldn’t make an argument in court that would invalidate any law passed by the General Assembly. 

Now, with House Bill 72 and Senate Bill 58, they’re extending that limitation to presidential executive orders. 

One of the most common actions of attorneys general is joining their counterparts in other states in opposition to presidential actions like executive orders. 

Some North Carolina Republicans would end the practice as the second Trump administration settles into power. 

Democratic state Sen. Graig Meyer, who represents Caswell, Orange and Person counties, said he’s been very critical of the bill, which he called “breathtaking legislation.” 

“If you don’t want your attorney general to be able to sue the federal government over things that may be unconstitutional … then you actually want a king,” he said. “But even in just blunt political terms, it’s a very short-sighted bill. Because what if, in four years from now, we’re in the reverse situation, and they have a Republican attorney general and a Democratic president?” 

Hold the phone

Lawmakers have had it with technology in classrooms. 

Or, at least, that’s what they appear to be saying with bills in the House and Senate requiring school boards to create cellphone or wireless communication-free educational environments. 

Enter House Bill 87, which aims to eliminate or severely restrict student access to cellphones during class. 

Senate Bill 55 goes a step further, including tablet computers, laptops, paging devices, two-way radios and gaming devices as banned technologies. 

Election bills in abundance

Coming off an intense election cycle, lawmakers are looking to make a few changes. 

House Bill 31 would establish Election Day as a North Carolina holiday for general statewide elections.

House Bill 66 would reduce the number of early voting days in North Carolina. Current law requires early voting to begin 20 days before the election. The proposed bill would allow for nine days. 

Several local bills align odd-year municipal elections with even-year state and federal elections. Others extend mayoral terms from two to four years. 

Finally, House Bill 85 would ban staffers found to not have exercised “due care and diligence” from future election work.

This article first appeared on Carolina Public Press and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

The post Bills from NC lawmakers expand gun rights, limit cellphone use appeared first on carolinapublicpress.org

News from the South - North Carolina News Feed

PETA sues American Kennel Club over standards for French bulldogs, other breeds

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www.youtube.com – ABC11 – 2025-07-10 12:44:35


SUMMARY: PETA is suing the American Kennel Club (AKC) over breeding standards for popular dog breeds like French bulldogs, pugs, and dachshunds. PETA argues these standards promote unhealthy traits causing lifelong suffering, such as bulldogs’ large skulls and shortened faces that impede breathing. The lawsuit cites UK research showing French bulldogs have poorer health, and notes the Netherlands banned breeding short-nosed dogs. Dachshunds’ long backs and short legs also lead to painful conditions. The AKC rejects PETA’s claims, stating it is committed to dogs’ health and well-being. This lawsuit continues a long-standing conflict between PETA and the AKC.

The animal rights group PETA sued Tuesday to try to force the American Kennel Club to abandon the standards it backs for hyper-popular French bulldogs and some other breeds, contending that the influential club is promoting unhealthy physical features.

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News from the South - North Carolina News Feed

Cellphone use in schools to be regulated under new NC law

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carolinapublicpress.org – Kate Denning – 2025-07-10 07:02:00


North Carolina Governor Josh Stein signed House Bill 959, requiring public schools to develop policies limiting students’ use of cellphones and wireless devices during instructional time. The law mandates yearly compliance reports and includes social media education at various grade levels, focusing on mental health, misinformation, cyberbullying, and internet safety. Schools set enforcement measures, such as confiscation, with exceptions for educational or health needs. The bill aims to reduce classroom distractions and enhance learning environments, supported by educators and emphasizing bipartisanship. It also addresses parental concerns by encouraging communication and ensuring emergency communication access. The measure aligns with a student safety advisory council’s recommendations.

Public school regulation of cellphone use is now law in North Carolina after Gov. Josh Stein signed House Bill 959 last week. 

The new law prompts public schools to develop a wireless device policy that will limit students’ access to their cellphones and other wireless electronic devices throughout the school day. It will require the Department of Public Instruction to submit a yearly compliance report to legislators.

This completes the legislature’s mission to effectively ban cellphones in schools. This particular legislation was once a social media literacy bill aiming to “protect students in a digital age,” but previous failed attempts at cellphone regulation this session forced lawmakers to adapt.

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The signed bill calls on schools to require the regulation of students’ use of wireless communication devices during instructional time, as well as education on the dangers of social media, as was intended in the original legislation sponsored by state Rep. Hugh Blackwell, R-Burke. 

Wireless communication devices are defined in the bill as “any portable wireless device that has the capability to provide voice, messaging, or other data communication between two or more parties,” and includes cellphones, tablets, laptops, gaming devices, two-way radios and pagers. 

While the bill does not establish a policy itself, it requires public schools to develop their own and specifies that it shall “prohibit students from using, displaying, or having a wireless communication device turned on during instructional time.” 

It allows the schools to determine the consequences for violating the cellphone policy, including confiscation and further disciplinary measures as permitted by the school’s code of conduct. 

President of the North Carolina Association of Educators Tamika Walker Kelly told Carolina Public Press educators are overwhelmingly concerned about the impact of cellphones and social media on the learning environment. Students are technology consumers, and that doesn’t just stop because they are at school, she said.

“It does cause disruptions that are unrelated to the learning of our students, but more so peer-to-peer relationships in the classroom that spill over because of something that happened on social media,” Kelly said. 

“Educators do welcome the level of protecting the learning environment, not only for them as the facilitators of teaching in that space, but also especially for the students, so that they have a chance to engage with one another more authentically through person-to-person relationships, but also that they are able to have that focus on the academics.”

While each school will determine its own policy, the legislation will help maintain consistency in enforcement and potential consequences, Kelly said. It also removes a burden from teachers, who have tended to be responsible for setting and enforcing device policies on a classroom-by-classroom basis.

“This actually takes one more task out of the realm of the educator, gives it to the school district to not only train and equip their school leaders, principals, assistant principals across the board, but also school district staff on how to encourage that enforcement because it allows the educator in the room to teach and not have to worry about policing cellphones in the classroom,” Kelly said.

The bill leaves room for exceptions to the cellphone law, including if a device is needed in accordance with a student’s individualized education plan or to manage a student’s health care and for educational purposes or in the event of an emergency if authorized by the teacher.

Some lawmakers raised concerns about the bill’s restrictions. Prior to the Senate’s vote, state Sen. Terence Everitt, D-Wake, said while he was generally on board with the bill, requiring students turn their phones off gave him pause.

“We’ve spent a lot of time in the last 15 years making sure that we promote the proliferation of handguns and firearms,” Everitt said. 

“Now we’re waiting on a veto override so we can get guns in the hands of 18 year olds with concealed carry without a permit. We’re making this state more and more dangerous, and more and more dangerous for our kids at school, and what I don’t want is for some child — we’ve all heard the 911 calls, those last moments when they’re calling for help or wanting a kind word from their parents or some sort of comfort — I don’t want their last moments to be spent waiting for their phone to turn on.”

For that reason, it will be important for districts to engage families when crafting its cellphone policy and create it with these safety concerns in mind, Kelly said. 

“Parents and caregivers do really have concerns, and one of the reasons why they give their children cellphones is because they have great concerns around school safety,” she said. 

“It’s really important to establish guidelines and be overly communicative with parents around their safety concerns so that they understand why we want to have cellphone free learning environments. But it doesn’t mean that students won’t have access to ways to communicate in case there is a school safety emergency on campus.”

Kelly noted that many schools and classrooms have systems like cellphone cubbies or lockers that allow students’ phones to be nearby, but not physically on their persons during instruction time, which could alleviate some parents’ concerns. 

State Rep. Neal Jackson, R-Moore, said this very system at Union Pine High School is what gave him inspiration for House Bill 87, one of the first attempts at cellphone regulation earlier this year.

Social media instruction and cellphones

In addition to cellphone regulation, the bill maintained its initial goal of providing social media education.

All districts will be required to include instruction on social media and effects on health at least once during elementary school, once during middle school and twice during high school beginning at the start of the 2026-2027 school year.

Legislators view the instruction as related to cellphone use, as these are a key means by which students access social media.

According to the new law, the instruction must include education on the negative effects of social media on:

  • mental health such as addiction
  • the distribution of misinformation on social media, methods of manipulating behavior using social media
  • the permanency of information shared online, how to maintain personal security
  • how to identify cyberbullying
  • predatory behavior and human trafficking on the internet
  • how to report suspicious behavior encountered on the internet
  • personal and interpersonal skills or character education that enhances individual level protective factors and mitigates or reduces risk-taking or harmful behavior 

Bipartisanship

The cellphone and social media bill passed unanimously in the House and with just one negative vote in the Senate. Both chambers have strong Republican majorities.

The governor, a Democrat, praised the bill, highlighting its bipartisanship and alignment with a report issued by the Advisory Council on Student Safety and Well-being, a council Stein organized earlier this year with the intention of focusing on student safety and cellphones in classrooms.

“When teachers don’t have to compete with cellphones for student attention, real learning happens,” Stein said in a press release. 

“This bipartisan bill gives students a distraction-free learning environment so they can focus on their education, and it provides a seven-hour mental break from the unrelenting pressures of phones and social media.

“Earlier this month, my Advisory Council on Student Safety and Well-being released its first report recommending this step and outlining best practices for creating cellphone-free classrooms.

“It will serve as a resource for our school systems as they implement these common-sense policies. I appreciate the General Assembly’s work here. Let’s keep working together to set up North Carolina students for success.” 

This article first appeared on Carolina Public Press and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

The post Cellphone use in schools to be regulated under new NC law appeared first on carolinapublicpress.org



Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.

Political Bias Rating: Center-Left

The article presents the cellphone regulation law in North Carolina in a mostly factual and balanced tone, highlighting bipartisan support and quoting lawmakers from both parties. However, the inclusion of concerns raised by a Democratic senator linking cellphone restrictions with broader gun policy issues, as well as the positive framing of social media education and student mental health, reflects a subtle emphasis on progressive social concerns like student wellbeing and safety. The article’s respectful portrayal of educator and parental perspectives alongside bipartisan cooperation suggests a center-left leaning, supportive of regulatory measures aimed at improving educational environments without strong ideological rhetoric.

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North Carolina is hit by yet another climate wake-up call

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ncnewsline.com – Rob Schofield – 2025-07-10 04:01:00

SUMMARY: Chantal, a tropical depression, unleashed up to 10 inches of rain in North Carolina on July 8, 2025, causing severe flooding and significant damage to roads like Camp Easter Rd. and N.C. 2 in Southern Pines. Scientists warn that climate change intensifies such storms by increasing air moisture, leading to more frequent and severe downpours. Aging infrastructure and inadequate warning systems worsen the impact. Despite this, Republican leaders in Washington and Raleigh oppose renewable energy initiatives, promoting fossil fuel use instead. Urgent public demand is needed to reverse these harmful policies and address the climate crisis.

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The post North Carolina is hit by yet another climate wake-up call appeared first on ncnewsline.com

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