Free Republic

RALEIGH — A new legal-research group in Raleigh will wage lawsuits over constitutional issues involving the use of tax dollars for business incentives and to broadcast public-service ads using state officials, its chairman said yesterday. The N.C. Institute for Constitutional Law will challenge state policies on business recruitment and tax issues, said William Graham, the former Superior Court judge and state banking commissioner who will head the group's board.

By GARY D. ROBERTSON, Associated Press Writer RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - Federal attorneys said Friday they only have a couple of questions about North Carolina's legislative districts, a sign that the plans may be approved in time for a primary now set for July. The U.S. Department of Justice, writing to a three-judge federal panel in Washington, said the state's latest House and Senate maps don't appear to have been designed to reduce the political power of minority voters. The attorneys also aren't worried that black residents may be worse off compared to maps approved in 2002, except in two...