By Mark Starling Buncombe Elementary Schools Going To Plan A (Buncombe County, NC) -- Elementary school students can soon stay in the classroom full-time in Buncombe County. The school board voted yesterday to begin a transition to North Carolina's Plan A next month. Kindergarteners through 3rd grade will be able to attend school five-days-a-week starting March 8th. Remaining elementary schoolers can begin full-time on the 15th. Governor Roy Cooper has not yet recommended Plan A for upper grades. State To Release Thousands Of Prisoners Early (Raleigh, NC) -- The state is agreeing to released thousands of prisoners early. As part of a settlement over inmate conditions during the pandemic, North Carolina will let 35-hundred out early over a span of six-months. Some of the affected inmates will have their sentence reduced to the mandatory minimum to make that happen. The lawsuit filed by the NAACP, ACLU and more cited overcrowding and spreading of the virus during prison transfers.