North Carolina

Rural broadband spending measure heading to NC governor

RALEIGH, N.C. — RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - Another spending proposal that contains another small portion of the North Carolina state budget bill idled since Gov. Roy Cooper's veto is now heading to his desk.

[New SC area code coming for central part of state]

The House gave final legislative approval on Tuesday to a measure which expands a recently created matching grant program to improve rural broadband access. It directs $15 million be set aside for the program annually for the next 10 years.

The bill is the latest "mini-budget" measure that Republicans have advanced by taking provisions from the vetoed budget and running them separately.

More spending measures addressing transportation and community college spending will be considered on Wednesday by the House. The full Senate is slated to debate bills that would fund a new juvenile justice initiative and enact several tax-related measures in the budget.