PROTESTS SCHEDULED FOR CONFEDERATE "INSTITUTE" HELD IN RALEIGH THIS WEEKEND: A group of protesters will try to disrupt a Sons of Confederate Veterans symposium this weekend in Raleigh that is billed by organizers as an educational event and condemned by opponents as racist. The national Sons of Confederate Veterans has staged the Stephen D. Lee Institute annually in different cities around the South since 2003, inviting members to come listen as teachers, writers and researchers lecture about the Civil War, the Confederacy and Southern history. McCollum, an N.C. State University junior from Apex studying political science and French, said she decided to rally the group’s energy against the SCV’s institute after studying some of the writings of its featured speakers. McCollum said the institute and its speakers’ arguments that the Civil War was about states’ rights and was the result of unconstitutional acts by an overreaching federal government are attempts to rewrite history.
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article240670326.html

GOVERNOR COOPER WILL NOT ENDORSE IN PRIMARY: North Carolina’s governor has decided not to endorse anyone in the Democratic presidential primary. Gov. Roy Cooper already voted — on Saturday during early voting for the state primary on March 3, which is also Super Tuesday. “The Governor hasn’t endorsed in past primaries and won’t be endorsing this year either,” his campaign said in a statement. “He encourages all voters to be sure they get to the polls and make their voices heard.” The North Carolina Democratic Party doesn’t endorse in primaries, either, according to the state party spokesperson Robert Howard. “We like our voters to decide who our nominee is, rather than put any thumb on the scale or anything,” Howard told The News & Observer in a phone interview Tuesday. He said the party has not discussed potential endorsements with any of its elected officials or candidates.
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/election/article240626002.html

DEM PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES HEADING TO NC BEFORE SUPER TUESDAY: Sanders will take part in a 7 p.m. interfaith Ash Wednesday service and forum at Greenleaf Christian Church. Doors for the event will open at 6 p.m. U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar will make her first campaign stop in North Carolina on Thursday to hold a town hall-style meeting in Cary that will be televised on Fox News. Former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg bookends rallies he held across the state on the first day of early voting with a stop in Charlotte on Feb. 29, the last day of early voting in North Carolina. Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Ind., returns to the state for a get-out-the-vote rally in Raleigh on March 1, two days before the Super Tuesday primary. Not to be outdone, President Donald Trump will hold a rally in Charlotte on March 2, the eve of the primary.
https://www.wral.com/super-tuesday-primary-bringing-presidential-candidates-to-nc/18969087/

SUPERMAJORITY OF VOTERS SUPPORT COOPER'S BUDGET VETO AND MEDICAID EXPANSION: Almost three-quarters of those polled said they would prefer school funding be increased rather than taxes cut, and a majority called for expanding Medicaid coverage to more of the state's working poor, according to the exclusive poll by SurveyUSA. SurveyUSA polled 2760 adults statewide between Feb. 13 and Sunday in the scientific survey, producing a credibility interval in the results of plus or minus 2.1 to 2.6 percent. Given a choice between providing more money for public schools or cutting business taxes to boost the economy, 71 percent of respondents said school funding was more important. Fewer than one-fifth said tax cuts should be the budget priority, while 9 percent said they weren't sure. Support for Cooper's stance cut across all demographics in the poll. Even more than three in five of Republicans questioned and a majority of those who identify themselves as conservative ranked funding schools ahead of cutting taxes in the budget debate.
https://www.wral.com/wral-news-poll-nc-residents-back-cooper-s-positions-in-state-budget-debate/1896...

CAUSEY WORE A WIRE WHILE LINDBERG TRIED TO BRIBE HIM: Recordings played for the jury on Wednesday showed that Lindberg was clearly unhappy with Jackie Obusek, the deputy insurance commissioner responsible for overseeing his companies. They contended Obusek didn’t like Lindberg and was unfairly tarnishing his reputation. In those conversations, Lindberg and Gray urged Causey to remove Obusek from overseeing Lindberg’s companies and replace her with a new regulator — Palermo, who at the time was working for Lindberg. In a March 2018 meeting that Causey recorded for the FBI, he and Lindberg talked about how the insurance department could hire Palermo. Lindberg also told the commissioner at that meeting that his people could set up an independent expenditure committee to support his reelection campaign and “put in a million or two or whatever.”
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/state/north-carolina/article240424146.html