Posts

NC Health News: Mental health advocates use gathering to push for funding, priorities

By Alanna Joyner / February 5, 2020 / Comments Off on NC Health News: Mental health advocates use gathering to push for funding, priorities

On Saturday, hundreds of mental health advocates raised questions about the priorities and concerns of the mental health community in North Carolina.  The 42nd annual Mental Health Legislative Breakfast at UNC Chapel Hill, brought over 400 health providers, advocates and consumers into a discussion to make state lawmakers aware of the need for improved and…

Read More

WRAL: Forest Campaign Manager Initiated Meetings with Indicted Financier Greg Lindberg

By Alanna Joyner / February 5, 2020 /

Documents show Lt. Gov. Dan Forest’s chief of staff initiated meetings with indicted financier Greg Lindberg, who had deposited $2.4 million in political committees backing Forest’s current run for governor. Forest’s Chief of Staff Hal Weatherman, set up a meeting through his private email between Greg Lindberg, John Gray, and Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey. This…

Read More

NC Policy Watch: A federal appeals court judge’s remarkable speech is the latest surprise in NC’s hog nuisance lawsuits

By Alanna Joyner / February 5, 2020 / Comments Off on NC Policy Watch: A federal appeals court judge’s remarkable speech is the latest surprise in NC’s hog nuisance lawsuits

Last Friday, attorneys for a subsidiary of Smithfield Foods, the world’s largest pork producer, went before the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and asked three judges to overturn a $3.25 million jury award in a lawsuit filed by neighbors of a large North Carolina hog farm. The attorneys were met with surprise as a…

Read More

Rural Hospitals in Greater Jeopardy in Non-Medicaid Expansion States

By Alanna Joyner / February 4, 2020 / Comments Off on Rural Hospitals in Greater Jeopardy in Non-Medicaid Expansion States

According to the Center for Health Services Research at UNC Chapel Hill, over one hundred rural hospitals have closed across the United States since 2010. In a recent report by iVantage Health Analytics, almost 600 rural hospitals are at risk of closing.  In these studies, both closures and at-risk hospitals are in the 14 states…

Read More

News & Observer: ECU trustees accused of offering money for student campaign to gain a voting ally

By Alanna Joyner / February 4, 2020 / Comments Off on News & Observer: ECU trustees accused of offering money for student campaign to gain a voting ally

The UNC Board of Governors is not the only board under scrutiny. Two members of the East Carolina University Board of Trustees are accused of offering money to fund an ECU student’s campaign for student body president in order to gain a vote.  A letter from ECU board chairman Vern Davenport, Vice Chairman Fielding Miller…

Read More

UNC-Chapel Hill faculty petition to end moratorium on renaming university buildings

By Alanna Joyner / February 4, 2020 / Comments Off on UNC-Chapel Hill faculty petition to end moratorium on renaming university buildings

On Monday, a group of prominent UNC-Chapel Hill professors delivered a petition to the new UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz, petitioning to end the moratorium. UNC professors are asking the UNC Board of Trustees to allow the university to rename buildings and historical places on campus — particularly those tied to a racist or white…

Read More

Emotions run high at a public hearing over Duke Energy rate hike request

By Alanna Joyner / February 3, 2020 / Comments Off on Emotions run high at a public hearing over Duke Energy rate hike request

Last Friday marked the first of several public hearings in Alamance County over the potential Duke Energy rate hike request. Numerous residents spoke out against the rate increase — emphasizing the financial hardships that Duke Energy’s rate increase would cause. If Duke has its way, ratepayers’ bills would go up by 6.8 percent — essentially…

Read More

News & Observer: Sens. Burr and Tillis vote against calling witnesses at Trump impeachment trial

By Alanna Joyner / February 3, 2020 /

North Carolina’s U.S. Senators Richard Burr and Thom Tillis chose party over country on Friday evening, voting with their Republican colleagues to block the Senate from calling witnesses in the impeachment trial. The final vote of 51-49 with Republicans Susan Collins of Maine and Mitt Romney of Utah joining 47 Democrats and independents, cleared way…

Read More

As NC Utilities Commission Holds Public Hearing in Charlotte TONIGHT on Duke Energy’s Rate Hike Request, State Lawmakers Must Return to Raleigh to Pass Legislation to Ban “Coal Ash Rate Hikes”

By Eleanore Wood / January 30, 2020 / Comments Off on As NC Utilities Commission Holds Public Hearing in Charlotte TONIGHT on Duke Energy’s Rate Hike Request, State Lawmakers Must Return to Raleigh to Pass Legislation to Ban “Coal Ash Rate Hikes”

So far, the GOP-controlled state legislature has sided with Wall Street shareholders of the Duke Energy power monopoly and utterly failed to protect ratepayers from Duke’s mammoth coal ash clean up costs. CHARLOTTE – As the North Carolina Utilities Commission will tonight hold a hearing at the Mecklenburg Co. Courthouse at 7 pm in Charlotte to…

Read More

As NC Utilities Commission Holds Public Hearing in Triad TONIGHT on Duke Energy Rate Hike Request, State Lawmakers Must Return to Raleigh to Pass Legislation to Ban “Coal Ash Rate Hikes”

By Eleanore Wood / January 29, 2020 / Comments Off on As NC Utilities Commission Holds Public Hearing in Triad TONIGHT on Duke Energy Rate Hike Request, State Lawmakers Must Return to Raleigh to Pass Legislation to Ban “Coal Ash Rate Hikes”

So far, the GOP-controlled state legislature has sided with Wall Street shareholders of the Duke Energy power monopoly and utterly failed to protect ratepayers from Duke’s mammoth coal ash clean up costs. GRAHAM, NC – As the North Carolina Utilities Commission will tonight hold a hearing at the Alamance Co. Historic Courthouse at 7pm in Graham…

Read More