Law

An environmental group is trying to halt new rules that allow more vegetation to be cut around billboards that line the state's roadways. Billboard owners say the new guidelines are needed to preserve visibility. But the group Scenic NC has filed a lawsuit seeking a temporary restraining order on the rules, which go into effect today. Molly Diggins is the executive director of the North Carolina chapter of the Sierra Club. She says the law allows clear cutting in front of the signs with no mandate for tree replacement.

Congressman Walter Jones has filed a bill to overturn new rules on beach driving along the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. The eastern North Carolina Republican says new restrictions to protect sea turtles and birds will harm the local recreational economy.

Walter Jones: Instead of finding a balance between the endangered species and the people, it seems like that they're always giving more consideration to the endangered species. And I'm for protecting the endangered species, you know my work to protect the horses at Shackleford Banks and up in Corolla.

Wilmington's police chief says a new gunshot-detection technology is helping officers make arrests. The city used a federal grant to install the ShotSpotter system in November. Acoustic sensors around a 3-square-mile area detect gunshots and immediately relay the information to police. Chief Ralph Evangelous is urging the city council to continue ShotSpotter once the federal funding runs out next year. It would cost about $120,000 dollars. Officials in other cities where the system has been proposed have objected to the cost in a time of tight budgets. Evangelous disagrees.

Drivers in Chapel Hill may soon have to refrain from talking on their cell phones. A proposed ban on the practice is being considered in a public hearing tonight. Penny Rich serves on the town council. She says a second draft makes the proposal more enforceable by making it a second offense rather than a primary offense. She says that means drivers won't be pulled over for speaking on cell phones, but if they commit another violation while using the device, they would be written up for both offenses.

North Carolina Law Enforcement officials plan to crack down on methamphetamine labs in 2012. Jeff Tiberii has more.

Jeff Tiberii: Last year there were 331 illegal methamphetamine lab busts in North Carolina, an all-time high. The main ingredient in the drug is pseudoephedrine, which is found in Sudafed. Beginning this week all retailers will be hooked into a tracking system tracing pseudoephedrine purchases. North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper: