12 UNC SYSTEM SCHOOLS MISS DEADLINE ON VOTER ID REQUIREMENTS: Student IDs from a dozen University of North Carolina schools, including UNC-Chapel Hill, didn't get the signoff they needed Friday for students to use them at the polls during the 2020 elections. With a deadline in state law passing, it's up to the General Assembly to act, or these IDs won't satisfy the state's new voter ID law next year. The problem for most of the universities: They let students provide pictures for their own IDs. A law passed after voters approved a constitutional amendment in November requiring photo identification at the polls requires universities to take those pictures themselves or to have a contractor do it. Campus-by-campus practices also vary on Social Security numbers and other key identifiers, leaving some schools out of step with the law.
https://www.wral.com/no-voter-id-approval-for-12-unc-campuses-including-chapel-hill/18263233/

CHEROKEE COUNTY DECLARES ITSELF A "GUN SANCTUARY" ZONE: A sparsely populated mountain county in North Carolina has declared itself a “gun sanctuary county” and intends to defy attempts by federal or state government to enforce strict gun control measures. Cherokee County passed the three-page resolution with a slim 3-2 vote, after resolution author Dan Eichenbaum told fellow commissioners that the “first thing dictators do is confiscate guns,” reported the Cherokee Scout. Among the provisions is a warning that Cherokee County “will not authorize or appropriate government funds, resources, employees, agencies, contractors, buildings, detention centers or offices for the purpose of enforcing...laws, orders, mandates, rules or regulations that infringe on the right by the people to keep and bear arms.”
https://www.newsobserver.com/latest-news/article227784574.html

AUTHOR OF HB2 IS RUNNING FOR CONGRESS IN NC09: The best-known Republican candidate is probably state Sen. Dan Bishop of Charlotte, the architect of one of the most controversial laws in recent state history. House Bill 2 repealed a Charlotte ordinance expanding LGBT rights and prevented similar anti-discrimination rules anywhere else in the state. A 2017 Associated Press analysis found the law will cost the state more than $3.76 billion over several years. Bishop said his HB2 advocacy proved he'll tell voters where he stands despite pushback. "I think the people of North Carolina, they put that controversy behind them and they're ready to move on," Bishop said after filing as a candidate Thursday. "It did the state no good to have that controversy, but it's an exhausted issue. And as I said, everyone understands where I stand. But we're on to a new campaign and new issues."
https://www.wral.com/filing-deadline-looms-in-open-n-carolina-congressional-seat/18261049/

BLACK EDITOR STEPS DOWN AFTER RACIST ALABAMA NEWSPAPER OWNER INTERFERED WITH OPERATIONS: Amid the controversy last month, Sutton, 80, offered to hand the paper over to Dexter, who had been working there as an office clerk. Though she did not have journalism experience, she said she was excited about the opportunity to make a difference in the community. But in the weeks since, Dexter said she ran into problems with Sutton, who retained ownership of the paper, which had been in his family for decades. She said he emailed an altered version of the Feb. 28 issue of the paper to local news outlets and advertisers. She shared copies of both versions of the front page with The New York Times, which showed that an article about his retirement had been replaced with one defending the editorial and criticizing The Advertiser for its coverage. The subject line of one of the emails, which were sent from a work account and which Dexter shared with The Times, read: “fake news hurts little paper.”
https://www.wral.com/black-editor-who-took-over-alabama-newspaper-that-called-for-kkk-to-ride-again-...

TRUMP VETOES CONGRESSIONAL EFFORT TO BLOCK BORDER EMERGENCY DECLARATION: Mr. Trump was undeterred by the Republican opposition and quickly signaled his next step when he tweeted “VETO!” not long after the vote. The president said on Friday that there was nothing less than an “invasion” of the United States by migrants, and he added that so many of them had been apprehended that there was “nowhere left to hold all of the people that we’re capturing.” Even if Congress fails to override the veto, the emergency declaration is already drawing court challenges. A coalition of 20 states, including California and New York, sued last month over Mr. Trump’s use of emergency powers, arguing that the president does not have the authority to divert funds for building a wall along the Mexican border because it is Congress that controls spending.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/15/us/politics/trump-veto-national-emergency.html