Governor McCrory To Run For Reelection

Governor Pat Mccrory announced in a video put out by his campaign earlier this week that he is running for reelection next year.

McCrory, 59, announced that he has more work to do in improving the economy and life for North Carolinians. He also cites school, transportation and tax reform as areas he wants to tackle during his next four years should he be reelected.

The video features candid shots of him and his wife Ann, with McCrory's voiceover telling the listener about how he understands the struggles of average North Carolinians.

"One of the hardest things I've ever had to do in my life is come home after my job had been eliminated," he says somberly. "And tell Ann that I didn't have a job anymore. So when I put my hand on the family bible three years ago… I knew what too many families in our state were going through."

After more shots of him in classrooms with smiling children, touring factories, and driving through rural towns in blue jeans, he continues to cite his accomplishments of lower income taxes and a slowing unemployment rate.

He ends with "I'm running for governor because our comeback story isn't over. There's still more to do and with your support we'll finish the job."

Despite hovering only at around 35% in approval ratings according to Public Policy Polling, the governor faces little competition. Thus far no Republican has emerged to challenge him in the primaries  and the establishment seem to have been waiting ever since he was elected for him to run again.

He faces only two opponents on the Democratic side. Durham lawyer Ken Spaulding and North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper announced their candidacies over the summer.

The latest poll on the state of the race show a tight race between McCrory and Cooper should they become their respective party's nominee. The North Carolina gubernatorial race will be held on November 8, 2016.

McCrory previously served as Mayor of Charlotte and was a City Councilman before that. He is the first Charlotte Mayor to attain the office of Governor and the first GOP Governor of the state since 1988.

NC Legislature Sued Over "Blackbeard's Law"

Two and a half centuries ago the Queen Anne's Revenge, the infamous pirate captain Blackbeard's flagship was a problem for merchant ships. Now, in the year 2015 the sunken pirate vessel is proving to be a nuisance again.

Rick Allen, who owns the Fayetteville video company Nautilus Productions, is suing the North Carolina legislature over a law that he argues hurt his company. He also claims that the law is completely unconstitutional.

House Bill 184, or "Blackbeard's Law" states that any vessel of shipwreck that is state property (such as the Revenge) is public record and therefore any photos or video of it that exist are public property. Allen claims that this law caused his footage of the wreck to be publicly distributed by the state without being paid a royalty.

Allen is specifically suing Governor Pat McCrory, various state legislators, and the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

"As caretakers of archival records who care strongly about openness in government and public records, House Bill 184 is part of an ongoing effort of the Department of Cultural Resources' desire to clarify what is a public record and when it can be made available to the public," said Department of Cultural Resources spokeswoman Cary Cox in a statement.

The Queen Anne's Revenge wreck was discovered in 1996 about a mile from Atlantic Beach, North Carolina in the Atlantic Ocean.