News from the South - North Carolina News Feed

Griffin, attorneys retread familiar ground in latest court hearing

Published

4 months ago

March 21, 2025

Staff Editor

carolinapublicpress.org – Sarah Michels – 2025-03-21 17:29:00

As Griffin case drags on, some NC voters can’t help but feel ‘targeted’

by Sarah Michels, Carolina Public Press
March 21, 2025

RALEIGH — In less than 24 hours, Danielle Brown left an out-of-state bus tour, came home to North Carolina to cast a vote in the 2024 general election and then boarded a plane to rejoin the tour. Now, her vote is one of nearly 67,000 ballots contested by Republican Court of Appeals Judge Jefferson Griffin as part of his attempt to overturn his apparent loss to Democratic Judge Allison Riggs for a seat on the state Supreme Court.

On Election Night, Griffin appeared to be the victor. However, as provisional and absentee ballots were counted, he slowly lost his lead. By the time election staff tallied official results during their canvasses, Riggs was up by a mere 734 votes. Two recounts confirmed Riggs’ win.

Griffin then filed a series of election protests attempting to discard tens of thousands of ballots from the count, on grounds that the State Board of Elections illegally allowed certain categories of voters to cast a ballot. In the past four months, Griffin’s election protests have journeyed through state and federal courts.

On Friday, a panel of N.C. Court of Appeals judges heard the latest arguments and will decide whether a lower state court was right to affirm the State Board of Elections’ dismissal of Griffin’s protests.

Attorneys for Griffin, Riggs and the State Board covered much of the same territory of the past few months. Their arguments centered on whether the election rules the board established for the 2024 general election were the correct ones, and if they weren’t, whether the law allows Griffin to retroactively remove votes from the count.

Whatever the appellate court decides will be subject to appeal. The case will most likely return to the state Supreme Court, which previously paused election certification until the case is resolved but declined to take it up early.

What Griffin is disputing

Griffin is challenging ballots cast by three categories of voters.

First, he contests the ballots of over 60,000 people Griffin alleges were improperly registered to vote because they didn’t provide either a driver’s license or social security number under a faulty voter registration form. The State Board argues that voters who don’t have these numbers have to prove their identity at the polls, so their votes are valid.

Second, Griffin seeks to remove votes of about 5,500 military and overseas voters who did not include a photo ID with their absentee ballots. He argues that the State Board misinterpreted state law by allowing this category of voters to skip voter ID requirements.

Third, Griffin identified about 500 voters, who he calls “Never Residents,” who don’t live in North Carolina but claim inherited residency through a special state law provision. He argues that the state law violates the North Carolina Constitution’s residency requirements, and therefore, those votes should not count.

‘Taking it very personally’

As the case continues, more voters and organizations are getting involved. Carolina Public Press spoke to several of them.

Brown, a national co-field director for Black Voters Matter, found out that she was on the list through a text from an organization called Democracy NC. Her county board of elections told her they didn’t have her driver’s license on file, but she knows she did everything right.

Black voters like Brown are twice as likely as white voters to be in the largest Griffin challenge. Other voters of color and younger voters also disproportionately appear on his protest lists, according to an analysis conducted by Western Carolina University political science professor Chris Cooper.

“I’m taking it very personally because I do feel as if I am being targeted as a Black woman that works for a Black organization that seeks to empower voting across the country,” Brown said. “You’re making voters feel as if their vote does not count or they have to fight for their vote to count when that’s not democracy.”

Latino voters faced hurdle after hurdle this election, said Veronica Aguilar of El Pueblo, an advocacy group for that community.

The new voter ID law presents more of an obstacle for Latino voters and other voters of color than their white counterparts. Voter education tends to be in English, which may hinder the Latino community from staying updated on election rules. Also, many naturalized immigrants come from countries with different voting laws and election processes which may present a learning curve.

Additionally, Aguilar claims that Latino voters experienced voter intimidation during the election, including a proliferation of “unnecessary” signs telling them that if they aren’t citizens, they can’t vote. U.S. citizenship is required to even register to vote, she said, so this was an effort to make naturalized citizens “question whether or not they could vote.”

The fact that Latino voters disproportionately appear on the protest lists aligns with political rhetoric that immigrants “don’t belong” in the U.S., Aguilar said.

“So even if it is not intentional, it is contributing to the narrative that Latino immigrants, naturalized citizens in this country aren’t allowed to participate in our processes and that their voices don’t count,” she said.

Voters of color aren’t the only ones feeling targeted.

Carrie Conley is a military spouse living in Italy. Last year, she requested her absentee ballot through the Guilford County Board of Elections just like she had done seven times before.

Nobody ever asked for her to attach a photo ID to her absentee ballot because under the State Board’s interpretation, North Carolina law doesn’t require voter identification for military and overseas voters.

Conley heard about the Griffin case on social media, found the list and discovered her name was on it. However, none of her fellow military spouses were on the list. She soon learned that ballots from only four Democratic-leaning counties — Durham, Forsyth, Buncombe and Guilford — were being challenged as part of the photo ID protest.

“Why these four counties? Why now?” Conley asked. “It just makes me very upset that this is happening in my state.”

From 1986 to 2013, Debra Blanton served as Cleveland County’s election director. She loved her job and what it meant to voters to know that their vote would be “sacred,” “safe” and “counted correctly.”

Griffin’s attempt to retroactively take away some North Carolinians’ votes “just really raised the hairs on the back of my neck,” Blanton said.

Blanton is one of 42 former election directors who filed an amicus brief, or “friend of the court” argument, meant to offer courts additional insight.

Election directors, current or former, rarely speak publicly on issues. They make a point of being professionally nonpartisan. But Blanton has never seen anyone try to retroactively remove voters from the rolls like this before.

“It is foreign to me that anybody thinks they could attempt to do that,” she said. “There are rules in place, and the rules in place were in effect for this election.”

By the rules?

What were the rules in place for the 2024 general election?

That’s the question lawyers from Griffin, Riggs and the State Board of Elections’ teams tried to answer Friday for a panel of three N.C. Court of Appeals judges.

Were they rules the State Board established for the election, based on their interpretation of state law and the North Carolina constitution? Or were their interpretations incorrect, deeming those rules invalid?

Griffin lawyer Craig Schaeur argued in favor of the latter. The State Board can’t decide to conduct elections based on rules that violate state law and the North Carolina Constitution, he said.

“To be clear, this case is not about changing laws after the election,” Schaeur said. “It’s a case about enforcing the laws that were already on the books before the election.”

State Board lawyer Nick Brod disagreed. If the State Board’s interpretations were incorrect, there was plenty of opportunity to challenge them before the election, he argued.

The state law allowing so-called “Never Residents” to inherit the residency of their parents in order to vote was passed unanimously in 2011 and has been enforced in over 40 elections since, he explained.

The photo ID exception for overseas and military voters has been in place for five elections, he added. And the voter registration form issue that may have led to missing drivers license and social security numbers on file is currently being litigated in a federal lawsuit to apply to future elections.

“From the voters’ perspective,” Brod said, “they did everything that they were asked to do in order to cast a ballot.”

Judges Fred Gore, Toby Hampson and John Tyson will decide the case. Gore and Tyson are Republicans and Hampson is a Democrat. If the panel spits 2-1, then the case may be appealed to the state Supreme Court.

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

The post Griffin, attorneys retread familiar ground in latest court hearing appeared first on carolinapublicpress.org

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News from the South - North Carolina News Feed

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

Published

10 hours ago

July 10, 2025

Staff Editor

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

Published

16 hours ago

July 10, 2025

Staff Editor

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

by Kate Denning, Carolina Public Press
July 10, 2025

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.

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.

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.

News from the South - North Carolina News Feed

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

Published

19 hours ago

July 10, 2025

Staff Editor

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.

Read the full article

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