Monday Wrap: Odds and ends on light legislative day

Odds and ends on a light legislative day include the signing of the Dorothea Dix sale contract, gun control TV ads and a DHHS statement on voter registration that doesn't hold up under scrutiny.

Posted 11:10 p.m. May 11, 2015 — Updated 11:10 p.m. May 11, 2015

RALEIGH, N.C. — Gov. Pat McCrory and Raleigh Mayor Nancy McFarlane signed the sale contract Monday for the city's $52 million purchase of the former Dorothea Dix property from the state, and McFarlane turned over $2 million in earnest money. The city now has until the end of the year to come up with the rest of the money.

Elsewhere, emails and other information contradict a statement from the state Department of Health and Human Services that officials there were unaware that they weren't complying with federal law by not offering people signing up for public assistance a chance to register to vote or to update their registration information.

A gun-control group will soon start airing television ads statewide to encourage people to lobby lawmakers to oppose a House bill that would loosen state restrictions on gun ownership, including eliminating the pistol purchase permit – and its state background check – in private firearms sales.

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