Thursday Wrap: Piecemeal budgeting, billboards and NC 540

Raises for correctional officers and money to switch Medicaid to a managed care system both cleared Senate committees, but Gov. Roy Cooper, who vetoed the $24 billion budget and is pushing for Medicaid expansion to be part of budget negotiations, called the piecemeal budgeting effort a gimmick to avoid dealing with him.

It's also a tactic to force him to veto popular notions like state employee pay raises and tax refunds, which GOP leaders are offering as a way to spend much of the budget surplus, before the 2020 elections.

Meanwhile, Cooper issued his second veto in two days, shooting down legislation changing state regulations on billboards.

Also Thursday, the state Department of Transportation settled lawsuits filed by environmental groups over construction of the southeast portion of the N.C. Highway 540 toll road loop in Wake County. The deal means construction can finally begin on sections of the planned highway that have been stalled for years.