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Two weeks after meeting to approve a $1.6 billion package that distributed COVID-19 funds from Washington, the North Carolina General Assembly resumed its annual session on Monday. Republicans in the N.C. Senate unveiled spending priorities on Tuesday for the coming fiscal year, rolling out more than 18 separate bills. The N.C. house has yet to…
Read MoreRepublican Senate Leader Phil Berger recently called on Gov. Roy Cooper to relax specific executive orders on coronavirus-related closures. In Trumpian fashion, Berger has been pushing for the reopening of the state, despite COVID-19’s continuous spread around North Carolina. While the coronavirus outbreak has taken more than 90,00 American lives, Berger is seeking out a…
Read MoreU.S. Senator Richard Burr is temporarily stepping down as Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee as federal investigators look into timely stock sales he and his wife made after receiving coronavirus briefings from U.S. public health officials. This comes after federal agents served a search warrant on the lawmaker and seized a cellphone on Wednesday…
Read MoreIn late March, the State Board of Elections asked legislative leaders and Gov. Roy Cooper to make it easier for North Carolinians to vote absentee by mail because of the coronavirus pandemic. The State Board of Elections executive director Karen Brinson Bell, asked for voters to be allowed to request mail ballots through an online…
Read MoreDespite health officials concerns, Trump has made clear that he wants the Republican National Convention in Charlotte, N.C. to proceed in late August. With Mecklenburg County having over 2,132 confirmed coronavirus cases — the highest cases in the state — the convention is scheduled to begin Aug. 24 at the 20,000-seat Spectrum Center. Yet, as…
Read MoreAccording to a federal Public Financial Disclosure Act filing, Gerald Fauth, U.S. Sen. Richard Burr’s brother-in-law, sold six stocks valued at between $97,006 and $280,000. The stock sales were conducted on the same day that Burr and his wife dumped over $1.72 million of their stock holdings. All the sales were made after Burr attended…
Read MoreThe time to protect every North Carolinian came two weeks ago as the North Carolina General Assembly came back for a legislature session. Medicaid expansion and improving unemployment benefits were viable and important measures to be added onto the COVID-19 relief package but neither came to fruition. Blocked by Republican leaders once again, the expanded…
Read MoreA new study released from the Urban Institute has revealed the devastating cost of states not expanding Medicaid, as more than 25 million workers could lose employer-based health insurance due to COVID-19-related unemployment. According to the study, in the states that rejected Medicaid, about 40 percent of the people who lose their jobs and their…
Read MoreCOVID-19 cases are approaching 12,256 in North Carolina; 1.2 million in the nation and 3.7 million worldwide. Instead of increasing testing and treatment; providing adequate protection for healthcare workers; and reducing the spread of the virus that is taking a toll on lives and the economy — Trump chooses to dodge responsibility and deny the…
Read MoreNorth Carolina currently has 49 rural and independent hospitals around the state, but the financial toll caused by the COVID-19 outbreak may strain the remaining hospitals already struggling from decades of funding cuts. As the pandemic continues to sweep across the state, rural hospitals are set to lose more than $145 million per month. The…
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