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Labor leader Shuler touts union support as possible auto strikes loom
Support for unions is growing amid shifting working conditions and labor disputes around the country, according to Liz Shuler, the president of the largest labor group in the country. In Shuler’s comments Tuesday at the AFL-CIO’s first State of the Unions event in Washington, she cited polling that showed support for unions cut across party […]
State Board of Education denies charter school’s relocation request
The State Board of Education on Thursday denied Dogwood Classical Academy’s request to relocate to Iredell County on a 6-3 vote. The K-8 school is scheduled to open next year in Cabarrus County. School officials requested the move to Iredell County after having trouble finding an affordable school site in Cabarrus County. State board members […]
Gov. Roy Cooper nominates two to serve on State Board of Education
Gov. Roy Cooper has nominated former state representative Linda Cooper-Suggs and businessman John M. Blackburn to fill seats on the State Board of Education. The governor’s nominations must be approved by the General Assembly. Board members serve eight-year terms. Cooper-Suggs, a Democrat from Wilson County, would replace Amy White as the board’s District 3 representative, […]
NC has a $3.25 billion surplus. What will legislators do with it?
As legislators begin building a state budget, they’re getting a boost from a $3.25 billion surplus thanks to more money than anticipated flowing into state coffers from tax collections and interest earnings. Legislators heard the details of the state’s revenue forecast Tuesday morning, a financial report compiled by economists working for the legislature’s fiscal research […]
Weekend humor from Celia Rivenbark: Harry & Meghan make me tired
Let’s begin the new year with the lofty goal of finding something we can all agree on. OK, I’ll go first. Somebody needs to tell Harry and Meghan that if they don’t want to be in the awful limelight maybe they should stop making tell-all documentaries for fun and profit. Do I think the royal […]
Weekend humor from Celia Rivenbark: It’s reigning men
Where are the men? Have you noticed the peculiar absence of them from the Roe v. Wade discussions? It’s as if no one realizes they supply half the genetic material. Have they “gone fishin’?” Outside of a few depressing references to some shadowy rapist whom a young woman may or may not be related to […]
Republican-written NC budget easily clears first hurdles. Passage expected Friday
The state legislature approved the $27.9 billion Republican-written budget Thursday with bipartisan votes and by comfortable margins. The budget passed 84-28 in the House and 38-9 in the Senate in preliminary votes. Republican budget writers said their plan deals head-on with inflation and prepares the state for a recession. “No one can predict what can […]
‘Heartbroken’ by ‘unspeakable evil’: NC politicos react to Texas mass shooting that leaves 19 children dead
North Carolina lawmakers are responding to the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas in which an 18-year-old fatally shot 19 children and two adults at an elementary school. A Border Patrol agent shot the teenage gunman ending the rampage. Tuesday’s attack at Robb Elementary School came ten days after a deadly racially-motivated shooting in Buffalo, New […]
Weekend humor from Celia Rivenbark: Madison Cawthorn, boy blunder
When is someone going to report on the very worst thing about Madison Cawthorn? The freshman congressman from Western North Carolina may lack the name recognition of Will “Bonecrusher” Smith, but to those of us who live in the Tar Heel state, he’s omnipresent as the aroma of chicken houses down east. (And, yes, it […]
New report confirms what advocates have been saying: Anti-poverty programs work
[Editor’s note: The following is from a new “BTC Brief” entitled “Public Poilcy Must Tackle Poverty” from North Carolina Budget & Tax Center Policy Advocate Heba Atwa and BTC Director Alexandra Sirota. Its central finding: “Evidence shows that programs that provide food and housing assistance and tax credits do help North Carolinians move out of […]
Virginia health providers: “Kids are completely excited about getting a shot.”
Editor’s note: Earlier this week, Policy Watch reported on North Carolina’s progress in administering 24,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine to children ages 5 to 11. Our neighbors to the north report nearly 5 percent of Virginia’s 5 to 11-year-olds have gotten their first doses and officials are hoping for continued demand. The Virginia Mercury’s […]