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In their second Republican primary battle for the 10th District state House seat, Willie Ray Starling of Mount Olive finished with a nine-vote edge over incumbent Rep. Stephen LaRoque of Kinston, according to unofficial results.Although LaRoque defeated Starling in his home county of Lenoir 731-494 votes, the margin of victory was not enough to overcome Starling’s victories in both Greene and Wayne counties. That scenario was the same as two years ago, except for the winner. The final tally Tuesday gave Starling 906 votes and LaRoque, 897.“I’m ecstatic, but it’s not over until the fat lady sings,” Starling said...

RALEIGH, N.C. -- A state lawmaker whose son died when a woman sped past the lowered arm and flashing lights of a stopped school bus introduced legislation Wednesday to toughen the penalty for the crime. A bill introduced by Rep. Dale Folwell, R-Forsyth, would make passing a stopped school bus a higher level misdemeanor. Striking someone after passing the bus would become a felony. The bill was among more than 90 introduced Wednesday, a key deadline for filing bills that do not generate or require revenue. Bills not introduced by Wednesday will have a difficult time being considered before the...

<p>An anti-tax group and Republican legislators called yesterday for an audit, an investigation by the attorney general and the resignations of three legislative leaders over revelations that they controlled more than $16 million in "discretionary" grants distributed through several state agencies.</p>

(snip)In January 2003, Decker, who was among the furthest right (barf) Republicans, switched his registration to Democratic and announced he would vote for Black for speaker. That meant that a 61-59 Republican advantage slipped into a 60-60 tie. Here's where history is now being distorted. Reporters and bloggers have said two historically inaccurate things. One was that Decker's party switch is the root of the power-sharing arrangement. The second is that Decker ignited the civil war that still rages in the Republican Party regarding former Republican House Co-Speaker Richard Morgan. (snip)Here's why that's wrong: The Republicans couldn't get 61 votes...

The Rhodes Report Week of Dec 13, 2004 Inside the Legislature and Across North Carolina Rep. John W. Rhodes - Mecklenburg ******************************************************************************************************************************* NC House Reaches Party Parity/Parity Amendment One - Trojan Horse Poised At The Open Gates Ready to Strike. Governor - Dude, You’re Getting a Dell - Oops, Your Hard Drive Just Crashed Incentives - The Crack Addiction of N.C. Politics ******************************************************************************************************* NC House Reaches Party Parity/Parity "We will see if Rep. Kiser will start pushing a Republican agenda or if he will continue to enable the Democrats to increase spending and taxes like he did last session". N.C....

Friday, January 31, 2003 5:48AM EST House is still without speaker Adjournment gives time for maneuver By DAN KANE, LYNN BONNER AND AMY GARDNER, Staff Writers House Republicans and Democrats began serious negotiations Thursday on a framework for an unprecedented experiment in shared government after a sixth ballot in the House speaker's race ended with no one winning a majority. The outcome of the vote forced Rep. Jim Black, who saw another opportunity for a third term as speaker dashed by a flurry of Republican maneuvers, to open talks with Republican leaders about possible co-speakerships. "We are going to do...

Thursday, January 30, 2003 11:58AM EST State House still deadlocked on speaker Members are split between 3 men By LYNN BONNER, AMY GARDNER, AND DAN KANE, STAFF WRITERS, Staff Writers At mid-morning, the state House remained deadlocked over the election of a new speaker of the House. With the House evenly divided 60 to 60, Republicans had to essentially filibuster because one of their members, Rep. Cary Allred of Burlington, wasn't there. That gave Democrats a temporary 1 vote advantage. But Republicans successfully used procedural moves to delay a vote on the speaker until Allred showed up an hour late....

Wednesday, January 29, 2003 3:21PM EST Five ballots and no new speaker By AMY GARDNER AND LYNN BONNER, STAFF WRITERS After five ballots, the state House of Representatives recessed for the day Wednesday afternoon when neither Republicans nor Democrats could marshal 61 votes to elect a new speaker. On each ballot, the 60 House Democrats united to back Rep. Jim Black's bid for a third term. Republicans were divided, with 55 voting for the party's nominee, Rep. George Holmes of Yadkin County, and five for Rep. Richard Morgan of Moore County. It was the first time since 1866 that the...