Longtime State Representative Cary Allred resigned from the General Assembly Monday afternoon.

The Alamance County Republican told NBC 17 News, “I’m sick of the legislature.  I’m sick of the legislative process.”

Read the full story

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Former tobacco lobbyist and North Carolina Rep. Horace Kornegay has died. He was 84.

A spokesman at The Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital in Kornegay’s hometown of Greensboro said he died early Wednesday morning.

The Democratic lawmaker served four terms in the House before moving in 1969 to the Tobacco Institute. The since shuttered institute represented the nation’s cigarette manufacturers and was among the most influential lobbyists on Capitol Hill.

Kornegay rose to serve as chairman of the institute, becoming the industry’s chief voice. He retired in 1986 to join a Greensboro law firm.

Kornegay was born in Asheville and raised in Greensboro. He got a law degree from Wake Forest University and worked as prosecutor for nine years before running for Congress.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Brad Miller of Raleigh plans a news conference in Washington today to promote legislation that would allow home mortgages to be restructured in bankruptcy like other types of personal debt.

The Wake Forest Area Chamber of Commerce is hosting a Candidates Forum on Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. at Wake Forest Town Hall. 

Candidates for the following positions have been invited to participate:  NC State Senate District 15, NC State House District 40 and Wake County Commissioner District 6, all of which represent Wake Forest. 

Candidates will have five minutes to discuss the issues they feel are most important and the forum will be followed by an informal meet and greet.

The following candidates have confirmed their participation at the Forum: 

Senator Neal Hunt, incumbent State Senate District 15

Chris Mintz, challenger, State Senate District 15

Jan MacKay, challenger, State Senate District 15

Representative Marilyn Avila, incumbent, State House District 40

Stan Morse, challenger, State House District 40

Commissioner Betty Lou Ward, incumbent Wake County Commissioner District 6

Larry Tilley, challenger, Wake County Commissioner District 6

The forum is open to the general public to attend.  The comments made by candidates will be rebroadcast for the two weeks prior to the election on Cable Channel 10.  For more information, contact the Wake Forest Area Chamber of Commerce at 919-556-1519.

RALEIGH, N.C – Prosecutors say the evidence is clear: former Rep. Thomas Wright had something to hide, and did so by failing to respond truthfully to questions from state election officials.

That argument came Tuesday at the end of the Wilmington Democrat’s trial on a charge of obstruction of justice. Jurors started their deliberations around 4 p.m.

Wake County District Attorney Colon Willoughby told them Wright hid hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years, money he used to supplement his income as a lawmaker. He said Wrigh’s actions were not an oversight or an inadvertent mistake.

Wright attorney Douglas Harris argued prosecutors had trumped up charges against his client. Wright is already serving a prison term of roughly six to eight years after being convicted on four fraud counts in April.

RALEIGH, N.C. – A Wake County prosecutor says the obstruction of justice case against convicted former Rep. Thomas Wright is simple.

District Attorney Colon Willoughby told jurors during opening arguments Monday that Wright violated state finance laws by failing to report $185,000 in campaign contributions. Willoughby said reporting such donations is similar to checking a monthly bank statement.

Defense attorney Douglas Harris acknowledged that Wright didn’t accurately fill out some paperwork, but said Wright never altered or destroyed documents. Harris said sloppy paperwork didn’t justify a felony charge.

Wright is a former New Hanover County Democrat who was sentenced in April to at least six years in prison for mishandling charity contributions and fraudulently obtaining a loan.

BY Kerry Hall, NBC17
WAKE COUNTY, N.C. – A candidate for the North Carolina House of Representatives, is drawing voters’ attention in a unique way.

Stan Morse, Democratic contender to represent north Wake County in the 40th District seat, has made his campaign brochures into raffle tickets– in hopes that potential voters read the pamphlets rather than tossing them aside.

Each brochure has a raffle number printed on the back. Morse says the winner, to be chosen at random right before the November election, will get $1,000 to donate to a charity, church, or school.

“People will cut box tops and bottle caps for their church and schools,” he said. “So for $1,000, I thought maybe they’d at least hang on to this.”

People can also register for a raffle number on Morse’s campaign website.

It’s another unusual tactic, in what has already been an unconventional campaign. Morse won the Democratic primary election, despite campaigning for and endorsing his opponent.  Morse said he only wanted to run if there was no other qualified Democratic candidate on the ballot.

He now faces Republican incumbent, Rep. Marilyn Avila, who acknowledges Morse’s raffle idea is creative.

“This is a serious job though, and I’d really like to get an idea of how he would approach it if he were in my shoes,” said Avila. “And that I haven’t heard yet, and the voters in the district haven’t heard yet.”