Policy would admit illegals

RALEIGH -- North Carolina community colleges leaders have drawn up a new policy that would allow illegal immigrants into the two-year colleges.

The state Board of Community Colleges' policy committee on Thursday drafted rules that would admit undocumented immigrants if they graduated from a U.S. high school. A vote by the full community colleges board isn't expected until next month's meeting.

The immigrant students would have to pay out-of-state rates of about $7,000 a year. Lawful U.S. residents would have priority when classrooms are crowded.

The country's third-largest community college system has changed its illegal immigrant admission policy four times since 2000. The latest look comes as laid-off workers fill classrooms.

Girl, 6, killed next to bus

RALEIGH -- A 6-year-old North Carolina girl has died after being struck by a sport utility vehicle driven by an 83-year-old woman.

Multiple media outlets reported that Ashley Ramos Hernand died when she was hit Wednesday afternoon in Raleigh while crossing the street after getting off a bus traveling from an elementary school.

Geraldine Baron Deitz is charged with misdemeanor death by motor vehicle and passing a stopped school bus.

A police report indicated that Deitz told police the school bus had not activated all its warning signals. Witnesses, though, told police that the signals and markers were properly activated.

Police gone, sheriff steps in

FAYETTEVILLE -- A North Carolina sheriff's office has made arrests in a string of convenience store robberies and a robbery-slaying at a doughnut shop in a town where the police department has been stripped of its powers.

Cumberland County Sheriff Earl R. Butler announced the arrests at a news conference Thursday at the Law Enforcement Center in Fayetteville.

Sheriff's deputies have handled law enforcement duties for the town of Spring Lake since early May, when a judge effectively took away the town police department's remaining powers. That came after two supervising officers were arrested on charges that included embezzlement and obstruction of justice.

The department's problems resulted in the resignations of police chief and town manager. The SBI is investigating the department.

Inmate's death linked to Taser

GREENSBORO -- An inmate at a North Carolina jail has died after being shocked with a Taser by a guard during a struggle.

The News & Record of Greensboro reported that 38-year-old Ronald Eugene Cobbs died late Tuesday at a Greensboro hospital.

The medical examiner has not determined a cause of death.

The Guilford County Sheriff's Office says the guard, who's name has not been released, entered Cobbs' cell to recover contraband. The sheriff's office says Cobbs resisted and assaulted the guard, who tried to restrain the inmate before using a Taser.

Cobbs was taken to a nurse at the jail where he lost consciousness and was taken to the hospital.

The State Bureau of Investigation is reviewing the case.

Cobbs was being held on charges of kidnapping, armed robbery and a probation violation.

Seven prisons to be shuttered

RALEIGH -- The shutdown of seven North Carolina prisons because of state budget cuts will begin next month.

Seven of the state's 79 prisons are closing because of state budget cuts that will also eliminate nearly 1,000 jobs at the Department of Correction.

WRAL-TV reported that the prison closures beginning September 1 will affect about 1,000 inmates. Correction officials say the Wilmington Residential Facility for Women will be the first to close. Other facilities in Cleveland, Gates, Granville, Guilford and Union counties will close by December 1 and McCain Correctional Hospital will close April 1.

Some probation managers could also lose their jobs after the Department of Correction merges 14 of its judicial districts, bringing the total number of districts from 45 down to 31.

Ex-UNC-G official dies

GREENSBORO -- The retired head of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro has died after a two-year battle with pancreatic cancer.

The university said former chancellor Patricia Sullivan died Thursday at age 69. She had been living in a Greensboro hospice.

Sullivan led the campus for 13 years before retiring in July 2008.