North Carolina GOP targets gubernatorial task force powers

North Carolina Republicans are seeking to roll back the authorities state governors hold to appoint task forces, an effort they say will keep “soft-on-crime” recommendations from such commissions from being carried out.

In the wake of viral footage depicting the fatal stabbing of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska on a North Carolina train, Republicans have accused the state’s former governor, Democrat Roy Cooper, of setting the killing in motion by creating a task force in 2020 that they say encouraged policies that led to the attack.