Wednesday Wrap: Guns and special session

The House voted 65-54 to relax laws governing the carrying of concealed weapons, and the final vote on the bill is expected Thursday. About eight Republicans broke rank and voted against the bill, which would make it legal for anyone who legally owns a gun to carry it concealed without a permit anywhere they can carry it openly.

Cooper announced he would call lawmakers into a special session to redraw legislative maps that have been declared unconstitutional. The special session is set to begin Thursday and will last for two weeks.

After bills passed in the House have repeatedly stalled in the Senate, cancer patients and advocates called on the Senate to pass legislation requiring insurers to cover oral chemotherapy drugs in the same way they cover injected or IV-administered chemotherapy protocols.

Meanwhile, as the House and the Senate continue to negotiate a compromise state budget, retired state employees and teachers asked lawmakers to consider a cost-of-living adjustment for their pensions in the final spending plan.