Source: Cammie Bellamy, WILMINGTON STAR-NEWS, 1/31/17

The New Hanover County school board has joined a lawsuit against the state Attorney General's office, asking that millions of dollars in settlement money be given to public schools. The conservative Raleigh-based Civitas Institute announced the move in a news release Tuesday. In October Civitas' President Francis De Luca filed the lawsuit against N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper, now the state's governor, alleging that settlement money given to the state by Smithfield Foods Inc. was improperly funneled to environmental groups. Newly elected Attorney General Josh Stein is now the defendant.

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