Law

Police and prosecutors are working to enforce a state Supreme Court ruling that outlaws web-based sweepstakes games.    The justices' ruling last December upheld a law passed two years earlier by the General Assembly.  Since then, sheriff's departments have had the backing of prosecutors and Attorney General Roy Cooper in conducting stings to shut down the industry.

Victims of North Carolina's discontinued eugenics program could get the compensation they've sought if Gov. Pat McCrory's budget proposal is accepted.  He's allocated $10 million in his spending plan to compensate past victims of forced sterilization.  The program ran from 1929 to 1974.  State researchers said during hearings in 2011 that there could be anywhere from 1,500 to 2,000 victims still alive. 

North Carolina is among 39 states to reach a settlement with Google over privacy concerns about the company's Street View feature.

Google used cars equipped with cameras and antennas to capture street level photos across the country from 2008 to 2010.  Authorities say the vehicles gathered personal information over open wi-fi networks during that time. 

"In broad terms, it might include URLs of web pages and possibly partial or complete email communications,"  says Kevin Anderson, head of the Consumer Protection Division of the North Carolina Department of Justice.

North Carolina is among 33 states that face penalties for not complying with federal regulations designed to crack down on drunken drivers. 

The largest law enforcement agencies in the state are being questioned about their use of military style weapons, technology and arrest tactics.  The North Carolina American Civil Liberties Union has sent public records requests to 62 law enforcement agencies.

“One of the reasons that we were very interested in sending out these public records requests, we learned that Gaston County had a drone.  And that was a big revelation,” says state ACLU director Chris Brook.