A bill would let you deduct income lost while on jury duty.

Sen. Jerry Tillman, a Randolph County Republican, said he filed the bill after he heard from a constituent who lost thousands of dollars while on a federal grand jury.

"They were paying him $40 a day," Tillman said. "That will barely cover his travel and his food, and he would lose several hundred dollars a day by not being able to run his business." 

Under Tillman's proposal, North Carolinians who serve on state or federal juries, whether it's for a Superior Court trial or a grand jury, would be allowed to deduct the lost income from their state taxes.

Tillman, a retired school principal, said he wasn't sure it would affect him directly, since defense attorneys typically try to get him tossed out of the jury pool.

"Sometimes you go down there and sit for three or four days while they haggle," he said. 

Attorney General Roy Cooper says the state needs tools to investigate former Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong.

State and local authorities have long relied on help from federal prosecutors, who can convene investigative grand juries and charge people with lying to investigators. Under state law, those grand juries can only investigate drug conspiracy cases.

The feds have helped in the public corruption cases of former House Speaker Jim Black and Agriculture Commissioner Meg Scott Phipps. But the U.S. Department of Justice will not help in the Nifong case.

"We can't expect federal authorities to help us every time we ask," Cooper said. "(But) the refusal of federal authorities to get involved makes it difficult to conduct (an) additional investigation." (AP)