Budget

A group of business leaders founded the organization NCInnovation to address a problem: North Carolina’s research universities — particularly those outside the Triangle — are struggling to turn their big ideas into business opportunities.

The state Senate’s budget includes a plan to give the legislature more power to pick judges.

While most state employees would get a 2.5% raise next year, the Senate offers a much bigger raise to the governor.

Cooper, a Democrat, released his budget proposal in March. The Republican-led House passed its budget in April. The Senate’s vote this week kicked off weeks of closed-door budget negotiations between House and Senate leaders.

The proposal spends less on raises than the spending plan proposed by Gov. Roy Cooper. Most state employees would receive an increase of 4.25% this year and 3.25% next year. Overall, the budget increases state spending by 6.5% in the fiscal year that begins in July.

Legislative leaders announced Wednesday that they’ve agreed on how much to spend in the state budget for the next two years.

North Carolina will see $232 million in earmarks, or just 2.4% of the $9.7 billion in total earmarks going to projects across the country.

Lower state income taxes and stronger mandates addressing the mental health of law enforcement officers in North Carolina take effect with the new year.

Educators will see more money in their paychecks this year from a combination of raises, bonuses and a new county-based supplement for teacher pay.

The latest budget offer that North Carolina Republicans sent to Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper wouldn't expand Medicaid broadly as Cooper seeks, but it does sweeten a previous proposal on worker pay raises, a top GOP legislator says.