RALEIGH -- The General Assembly is scheduled to hold full meetings Thursday and possibly close out their May sessions, but leave open the possibility of coming back to town to deal with Medicaid later this year. Issues surrounding coal ash from Duke Energy's power plants remain unresolved, although Ran Coble with the North Carolina Center for Policy Research says he thought that would be a high priority for lawmakers, but issues such as will oversee the effort have slowed things down.

Coble said, "How many appointments everybody gets, that kind of thing can be negotiated. The priorities and how fast is a little bit stickier."

The spill of coal ash from a facility on the Dan River led to a broader effort to deal with coal ash ponds and to create other environmentally friendly ways to handle the waste.