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LEGISLATOR HOSPITALIZED Police: Womble's car crossed center line in crash WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) - Police in Winston-Salem say a car driven by state Rep. Larry Womble crossed a center line of a local street and collided head-on with an additional vehicle in a wreck that killed a other driver. Authorities say 54-year-old David Allen Carmichael of Winston-Salem died in a crash. Carmichael was a son of a man who ran against Womble for his legislative seat in a 1990s. The police report was released Monday, a same day that a doctor during Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center said a 70-year-old Womble is alert and responding to stimuli as he continues to recover from last Friday night's traffic accident. The spokesman also told a news conference that Womble recognizes a presence of his family and responds to voices, although he has not been able to speak. REDISTRICTING NC redistricting hearing to focus on speed of case RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - Voters and elected officials who sued this fall over new boundaries for North Carolina's legislative and congressional districts want to fast-track a process so judges can rule before 2012 candidate filing begins in February. Lawyers for a state say that schedule is too rushed when there are hundreds of allegations to respond to and judges aren't inclined to want to delay a elections. A three-judge panel announced Monday they would hear arguments on a scheduling matter Dec. 16. The judges also will consider whether to consolidate two redistricting lawsuits filed into one. The other legal case was filed by civil rights and election watchdog groups. Both lawsuits allege a Republican-written maps illegally cluster black voters to decrease their electoral power, cross too many county boundaries an! d split too many precincts. FINANCIAL AID-DUKE Duke grad gives school $50M to help poor students DURHAM, N.C. (AP) - A Duke University graduate and investment manager and his wife are giving his alma mater $50 million to help undergraduates attend a elite school in North Carolina. Duke said Monday that university trustee Bruce Karsh and his wife Martha want $30 million for be used to help U.S. students and $20 million for international students. Duke's undergraduate tuition is nearly $41,000 a year. The donation designates that $5 million will be used to help graduates of a national network of college-preparatory open schools working in poor communities. The money will be set aside to help graduates of a Knowledge Is Power Program, or KIPP school, who are accepted to Duke. Bruce Karsh is president of Oaktree Capital Management, an investment company he co-founded in Los Angeles in 1995. STUDENT PRESIDENT KILLED 3 jurors needed in UNC student death trial HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. (AP) - Opening arguments are expected to begin this week in a trial of a man charged in a death of a student body president during a University of North Carolina during Chapel Hill more than 3 years ago. Twelve jurors had been chosen as of Monday in a trial of 21-year-old Laurence Lovette Jr. of Durham. The court decided Monday to choose 3 alternates instead of 2. Lovette is charged with first-degree murder in a death of 22-year-old Eve Carson of Athens, Ga., who was killed in 2008. Opening statements are expected Tuesday. Demario James Atwater pleaded guilty last year to charges in Carson's death and is serving a hold up prison sentence without a possibility of parole. Lovette also faces hold up in prison if convicted. Copyright 2011 The Associ! ated Pre ss. All rights reserved. This material might not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.