Casinos Dropped from Budget

State lawmakers plan to hold votes Thursday and Friday on a long-delayed $30 billion budget – without a controversial casino proposal that had stalled negotiations.

House Speaker Tim Moore and Senate leader Phil Berger held a hastily scheduled news conference Tuesday night to announce their plans. Earlier in the day, they’d planned votes on two separate bills, one with the budget, and one that would launch Medicaid expansion and casinos.

But that plan would likely have required Democrats to vote for the Medicaid and casinos bill, because some conservative Republicans opposed both measures. (Excerpt from WUNC.)