A Senate bill would make displaying a noose a felony.

Sen. Doug Berger, a Youngsville Democrat, said he was moved to introduce the bill after hearing reports about high-profile noose hangings in North Carolina and other states.

Racial intimidation is currently a misdemeanor under state law.

The legislation would make displaying a noose or burning a cross a low-grade felony punishable by up to about two years in prison as long as it wasdesigned to intimidate someone who is of another race, color, creed, nationality or country of origin.

Berger said the intent requirements were included to avoid infringing on First Amendment rights. 

The state chapter of the NAACP supports the bill. (AP) 

Barack Obama drew a "rowdy" crowd in Charlotte.

Speaking before 2,500 people at the Grady Cole Center, the Democratic presidential candidate was greeted by a deafening ovation and shouts of "We love you, Obama!"

"I love you too," he replied.

Obama repeated his proposals to fix health care, make college more affordable and fight the influence of lobbyists. But he spent much of his time talking about the Iraq war and issues of race.

"The war in Iraq was unwise," he said. "It distracted us from a war that had to be fought against al-Qaida in Afghanistan. ... I was opposed to it in 2002. I'll bring it to a close in 2009."

In response to a question, he also spoke about "black-on-black" crime, saying part of the problem is welfare policies that have encouraged single-parent homes. (Char-O) 

Jack Betts says the differing treatment of Rep. Thomas Wright and former Speaker Jim Black is not about race.

It's about power, the Charlotte Observer reporter writes on his blog.

Betts says that it's true that state legislators never took as forceful an action against Black as they are now against Wright, who may be expelled from the House.

Some have said the treatment may be because Wright is black.

In the South you can never totally discount that. But in this case, it’s more likely that House Democrats didn’t move against Black not just because he was their leader and in a position of power, but also because so many members were in his debt. Black had personally helped raise a lot of money for Democratic legislators’ campaigns, and many of them owed their seats, their political success and their own share of power to Jim Black.

But, he adds, they did not owe anything to Wright. 

A moratorium bill didn't get any traction today, but death penalty opponents were still celebrating.

That's because two other bills that did pass the House would help death row inmates, Andrea Weigl reports.

The N.C. Racial Justice Act would allow death row inmates to use statistics to try to prove prosecutors sought the death penalty against them because of their race.

And a proportionality review bill would allow the state Supreme Court to compare their appeals with other cases in which the defendant was given a life sentence.

Currently, when the state Supreme Court reviews death row inmates' appeals, it evaluates whether the sentence was fair in comparison to other cases in which the defendant received death.

But the bill would only allow an expanded review when the defendant was convicted of felony murder, where a killing occurs during another crime. A classic example of felony murder is when a clerk is killed during a convenience store robbery.