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Eight protesters were arrested when they refused to leave the Legislative Building on Wednesday, as part of a larger demonstration by the NAACP.

One of the arrested was Durham City Councilman Steve Schewel.

The eight were arrested as they and supporters loudly sang spirituals outside the chamber where the state House of Representatives was debating the budget. House Speaker Thom Tillis had the doors to the chamber locked for the duration of the protest.

The supporters filled the third-floor rotunda and looked down at the group on the second floor that chose to be taken into custody.

The arrests followed a rally outside the statehouse led by the NAACP’s Rev. William Barber, who led a crowd of about 100 into the building.

Barber said seven of those who volunteered for arrest symbolize the deaths of key figures in the civil rights movement, including Medgar Evers, the NAACP activist who was murdered 50 years ago Wednesday. The eighth person was guiding a man in a wheelchair who was arrested. Two of the eight protesters were confined to wheelchairs.

The NAACP dubbed the event “Witness Wednesday,” following several weeks of “Moral Mondays,” which have drawn thousands of protesters and resulted in more than 350 arrests.

The North Carolina NAACP plans to risk arrests at the General Assembly with its third consecutive week of protests, AP reports. What the Rev. William Barber is now calling "Moral Mondays" will continue following back-to-back weeks of protests resulting in nearly 50 arrests.

Thirty people were arrested last Monday, a week after 17 protesters were taken into custody. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and other activists say the Republican majorities in the legislature are backing a regressive agenda on social programs, voting rights, education and tax policy. The civil rights groups and others say the GOP actions disproportionately hurt the poor and minorities. Barber won't say how long protests will continue. He says they're a part of a wider strategy that includes legal action and political organizing.

Saying they could stay silent no longer, a group of protesters shouted “we fight” outside the N.C. Senate chamber in an act of civil disobedience that led to 17 arrests.

General Assembly Police Chief Jeff Weaver warned the protesters to disperse from the second floor rotunda three times before arresting them minutes before the Senate convened a 7 p.m. session.

The protest was led by N.C. NAACP President Rev. William Barber, who was among those arrested, along with Duke University professor Tim Tyson. Weaver said the people arrested will likely face charges of disorderly conduct, second degree trespass and violation of building rules.

In the rotunda, Barber condemned the Republican legislature’s agenda for hurting the poor and minorities, saying the voter ID measure approved by the House last week prompted the escalation. “We cannot stand for that silently,” Barber said.

CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE AT LEGISLATURE: Clergy and students will participate in an act of civil disobedience Monday at the Legislative Building "in response to the collective acts of the legislature," said the Rev. William Barber, president of the state NAACP. The action, from 5 p.m.- 6 p.m., will be a "form of a pray-in," Barber said. The House convenes at 4 p.m., the Senate at 7 p.m. The NAACP has opposed the legislative actions reducing unemployment benefits, state House approval of photo voter ID, and other legislative measures.

FOXX TO TAKE OBAMA POST: President Barack Obama on Monday will nominate Mayor Anthony Foxx to be secretary of transportation, a White House official said Sunday on the condition of anonymity. The nomination of Foxx, whose city hosted last year’s Democratic National Convention, would make him the only African-American selected for a Cabinet opening in Obama’s second term. (More below.)

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The NAACP’s Rev. William Barber is again raising the threat of protests leading to arrests at the General Assembly.

On Saturday, Barber announced a meeting will be held at 5:30 p.m. Sunday at Pilgrim United Church of Christ in Durham to talk about reacting to voter ID legislation.

It’s time, Barber writes, “to discuss and pray over the possibility of nonviolent civil disobedience and peaceful direct action at the N.C. General Assembly, The People’s House.”

Barber also raised that possibility last week. Barber was arrested last session with six others after chanting from the House gallery during a session on the state budget. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct.

The NAACP and a group of pastors Monday issued “a call to action” against the Republican legislature for what it said were a series of actions or proposals that would take North Carolina back to “the old South.''

In an open letter to Gov. Pat McCrory, Senate leader Phil Berger and House Speaker Thom Tillis, the pastors cited a litany of bad policy proposals – including new restrictions on voting, a decline to expand the Medicaid health insurance program, cuts in public education, reductions in unemployment benefits, and an end in tax credits for the working poor.

The Rev. William Barber, state NAACP president, said the ministers were planning a series of efforts to focus a spotlight on the legislature, including a 15-county tour of key lawmaker's districts, and a possible “pray-in” when the state House begins debate on a photo ID bill on Wednesday.

TODAY AT THE STATEHOUSE: A controversial voter ID measure gets a double billing Wednesday, appearing in a 1 p.m. House Election Committe meeting for discussion only and a 4 p.m. public hearing. A lawyer from the Indiana Secretary of State's Office and the N.C. NAACP's William Barber will present at the earlier meeting. The House will also unveil a major education bill at a 2 p.m. press conference, just hours after a Senate panel considers President Pro Tem Phil Berger's own overhaul plan at a 10 a.m.

Senate committees will also consider bills to increase the speed limit on some highways to 75 mph and provide tax money to the Carolina Panthers for stadium renovations. Gov. Pat McCrory will attend a private reception for the N.C. Homebuilders Association at 5 p.m. The group is advancing two controversial measures this session to limit local control of inspections and design standards for homes that are angering counties and cities. Wonder how Mayor Pat would have reacted to the legislation?

McCRORY'S FIRST 100 DAYS: The governor is nearing the 100-day mark of his term -- a benchmark that means little but will generate a media extravaganza. McCrory is sitting down with various media outlets this week, about 10 minutes at a time, to discuss his accomplishments. WRAL-TV is the first with an interview. Check it out here. 

***Good morning and thanks for reading the Dome Morning Memo. More North Carolina political news and analysis below.***

UPDATED:The president of the N.C. NAACP picked the wrong door. Rev. William Barber went to visit House Speaker Thom Tillis on Tuesday to deliver a flyer condemning the Republican majority's policies.

He entered the outer door to Tillis' office on the second floor at the legislative building and turned left to knock on a closed inner-office door. Behind door No. 1? Chief of Staff Chris Hayes' office.

At the same time Barber knocked on the door, Tillis emerged from the office door to the right -- his office -- and slipped past the gathered crowd of activists into the freedom of the hallway.

Many of the activists didn't recognize Tillis or realize he escaped, others sought to talk to him.

The speaker's office said Tillis and Barber talked later in the day when they crossed paths on the third floor of the legislative building -- but now the NAACP is calling that "an outright lie" and suggested the speaker avoided Barber again. They promised video soon.

(In top photo, Barber knocks on office door, while in bottom photo Tillis exits.)

--Takaaki Iwabu and John Frank

The NAACP is taking issue with a Fayetteville legislator's remarks on the floor of the Senate on Wednesday during the debate over repealing the Racial Justice Act.

Republican Sen. Wesley Meredith argued that Cumberland County Superior Court Judge Gregory Weeks should have recused himself from hearing claims filed under the RJA because he had presided over some of the cases earlier. Meredith asked "why do we need a minority judge who knew the case?"

Weeks is black. The argument was not about the judge's race, but whether people convicted of capital murder should have their sentences converted to life in prison without parole if there was racial prejudice in their trial. However, prosecutors fought hard to stop the first RJA cases before they went to Weeks, and then tried to have him removed from the hearings.

Rev. William Barber issued a news release calling Meredith's remark offensive.

At the end of Wednesday's debate, Sen. Dan Blue, a Raleigh Democrat who is African-American, spoke on the floor in defense of Weeks, adding that he was sure Meredith didn't intend to disparage the judge.

Gov. Pat McCrory is getting all kinds of feedback on unemployment and Medicaid expansion.

On Friday, he received a petition from Action NC with nearly 9,000 signatures asking him to expand Medicaid as allowed under the Affordable Care Act. Expanding Medicaid would give about 500,000 more people health insurance. McCrory has said the Medicaid system is "broken" and needs to be fixed before lots more people are allowed to use it.