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Paul Wright, a little known Republican candidate for governor, is slamming Attorney General Roy Cooper for his statement against the constitutional amendment on marriage.

Wright writes this: "This is appalling. As a former Superior Court judge, I saw many laws that could have been better written and yet I had the duty to enforce them. Mr. Cooper has already disappointed many by not joining our sister states (VA, GA, and SC) in the lawsuit currently before the Supreme Court against Obama Care. He decided that North Carolina should sit on the sidelines in this epic struggle. Now it appears Mr. Cooper does not want the marriage amendment. I publicly ask all Republicans, conservatives, and particularly all candidates for Governor to request the Attorney General to not interfere and let the people decide and vote their conscience on this amendment May 8th."

Attorney General Roy Cooper announced today that he’s against the marriage amendment. While several other statewide Democratic officeholders have come out against the referendum, this is the first time Cooper has weighed in. 

 "I am writing you today to let you know I am voting against Amendment One in next month's primary elections on May 8th. I believe it is unclear, unwise and unnecessary. Amending our constitution demands careful deliberation along with precise language - both are missing here.  Amendment One's lack of clarity will also result in a significant amount of litigation on many issues which will be decided by courts for years to come. This should be avoided. Thank you for the opportunity to serve as your Attorney General and letting me share my thoughts with you about this issue.

Democratic Attorney Roy Cooper will hold a major fund raiser for his re-election campaign Thursday night in Raleigh.

The event, which costs between $100 and $4,000 is being held at the home of Nina Szlosberg-Landis, a member of the State Board of Transportation and businessman Kel Landis.

Among those sponsoring the event are John and Sandra Atkins, Bill and Betsy Bennett, Rick Carlisle, Frank & Julia Daniels, Ken Eudy and Linda Davis, Joel Fleishman, Bill Holman, Gov. Jim and Carolyn Hunt, John Kane, Keith and Chancy Kapp, Betty Kenan, Andy Penry, Greg Poole Jr., Jane Preyer, Roger & Bonnie Smith, Eddie Speas, Willis Whichard, Brad and Carole Wilson, Charlie & Flo Winston, and Steve & Judy Zelnak.

Attorney General Roy Cooper announced today that N.C. will receive $338 million in assistance as part of a multibillion dollar federal settlement with five of the nation’s largest banks over foreclosure abuses.

The deal offers some help to struggling homeowners, but experts view it as more of a moral victory with limited impact on the broader housing market.

Cooper was in Washington, D.C. this morning joining other state attorney generals and federal officials in announcing a $26 billion settlement with Bank of American, Wells Fargo and three other major banks. The settlement aims to give financial relief to homeowners and establish new homeowner protections for the future.

The protections also include installing an independent national monitor to oversee the banks. That team will be led by N.C. Banking Commissioner Joe Smith. Smith will work from Raleigh

Bank of America will bear the bulk of the settlement. They’re responsible for an $11.8 billion payout, including a $3.24 billion in federal and state payments and $8.58 billion in relief to borrowers. Wells Fargo will pay $5.4 billion; J.P. Morgan, $5.3 billion; Citigroup, $2.2 billion; and Ally, $310 million.

The national funds coming to North Carolina include $63.7 million to provide for legal help, financial fraud detection and prosecution, $33.57 million in payments to foreclosure victims and $179.51 million in principal reduction and other assistance for at risk homeowners, and $61.52 million for refinancing loan.

“We think this is a big step,” Cooper said. “It certainly will not be a cure all for all of the financial meltdown and for all of the problems. But it’s a big step to help correct the problems up to servicing of loans and the foreclosures and the fraudulent documents that were filed. Banks just did not do what they were supposed to do on the back end of these loans.”

N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper, one of the state's top Democrats, will not run for governor after indications that Bev Perdue will not seek a second term.

"I am honored to serve as Attorney General and plan to file for re-election for that office to continue my work keeping people safe and moving North Carolina forward," he said in a statement.

State Attorney General Roy Cooper will make monthly appearances on an hour-long radio call-in show on WSHA, the Shaw University station.

Cooper joins the rotation of other public figures on the station's community program. State Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin, Raleigh Police Chief Harry Dolan and Wake County Manager David Cooke appear one Monday a month.

Cooper's appearances begin Monday at noon, according to the station.

Eighteen health care providers from across the state were arrested last week and charged with defrauding Medicaid, the state Attorney General's office announced.

The accused come from 10 counties and include mental health, home health and speech therapy providers.

Attorney General Roy Cooper's office alleges they collected more than $500,000 in fraudulent payments from the government insurance program for the elderly and disabled. The allegations include billing for services not provided, billing for unauthorized services, and billing for personal care services provided to people who are dead.

Charges include Medicaid provider fraud and obtaining property under false pretenses.

One of the 18 people arrested Thursday has pleaded guilty and paid restitution, according to the Attorney General's office. The state is looking for two more people facing charges.

"Ripping off Medicaid hurts needy patients, wastes taxpayer money and drives up health care costs,"  Cooper said in a statement. "We're sending a strong signal to those who defraud Medicaid that we will find you and make you pay."

Attorney General Roy Cooper is putting pressure on North Carolina's two senators to oppose a U.S. Senate resolution that he says could hurt the state’s efforts to protect its air quality from the emissions of out-of-state power plants.

Washington correspondent Franco Ordoñez reports that Cooper sent Republican Richard Burr and Democrat Kay Hagan a letter Tuesday urging them to oppose a resolution that would void new rules by the Environmental Protection Agency. 

The resolution is scheduled for a vote in the Senate on Thursday.  House members have already approved it but it's not expected to pass the Senate.

Burr was one of the 30 plus members who signed a petition to allow the resolution to come to a vote.

The rules require 27 states to significantly improve air quality by reducing power plant emissions that contribute to ozone and fine particle pollution in other states.

“These out of state emissions are linked to increased incidence of premature mortality, asthma, chronic bronchitis and other cardiopulmonary illnesses in North Carolina,” Cooper wrote.
 

Who is the highest ranking elected official in North Carolina that nobody knows? The award goes to Beth Wood, the state auditor. 

A National Research poll commissioned by the Civitas Institute looks at voter's thoughts on the nine elected Council of State officials and found only two -- Attorney General Roy Cooper and Secretary of State Elaine Marshall -- who were known by more than half the voters.

Wood topped the "never heard of" list (75 percent of voters), followed closely by State Treasurer Janet Cowell (74 percent), Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin (73 percent) and Superintendent of Education June Atkinson (61 percent).

Among Council of State officials, voters had the most favorable opinions of Cooper (30 percent), Marshall (29 percent), Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler (21 percent) and Labor Commissioner Cherie Berry (21 percent).

Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton won the curious designation as the top elected official who voters knew but didn't know how they felt about (54 percent).

A nursing home chain will pay the state about $900,000 as part of a national settlement of allegations that it took kickbacks from a drug company.

Mariner Health Care, Inc. will pay the federal government and states $14 million in civil damages and penalties to resolve allegations that it accepted kickbacks from Omnicare, Inc. in exchange for directing patients to Omnicare prescription drugs.

"We're working to keep medical costs down and save taxpayers' money by aggressively going after fraud by health care providers and drug companies," state Attorney General Roy Cooper said in a statement.

Cooper's office announced three additional payments to the state from other national Medicaid fraud settlements over the past year.

North Carolina is getting $250,000 as part of a $16.3 million national agreement with Ameritox that resolves allegations that the drug testing company paid money or provided other kickbacks to induce health care providers to make patient referrals to the company.

Novo Nordisk paid the state about $260,000 as part of a $7.5 million agreement to resolve allegations that the company improperly marketed one of its drugs.

UCB paid the state nearly $790,000 as part of a $25.7 million national agreement to settle charges that it filed false Medicaid claims for unapproved uses of the epilepsy drug Keppra.