News
“Real dialogue” at university commission listening session
In its fifth public listening session Tuesday, the Governor’s Commission on the Governance of Public Universities in North Carolina had a surprise guest: Marty Kotis, 8 year veteran of the UNC Board of Governors and current member of the UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees. The sessions, which the commission has been holding since February, have […]
Trump hit with 34 felony counts of falsifying New York state business records
Former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty Tuesday to 34 New York state felony offenses related to what prosecutors say were hush money payments to an adult film star. In a brief but historic appearance in a Manhattan trial court, Trump, the first former president to face criminal prosecution, learned he was charged with falsifying […]
New NC Child health report card focuses on mental health concerns
This year’s NC Child Health Report Card includes a special focus on mental health and adds another document highlighting increased youth suicide rates. NC Child and the NC Institute of Medicine publish the report card every two years. With the percentage of children with health insurance inching up slightly to 94.5% since the last report, […]
NC House committee approves absentee ballot restrictions
A bill that would make it harder for voters to return absentee ballots in time to have them counted passed a state House committee along party lines Tuesday. The bill would eliminate the three-day grace period for absentee ballots mailed to local boards of elections. Under the current law, those ballots count as long as […]
Another bill becomes law without NC Gov. Cooper’s signature
A bill handing control of the state’s schools for blind and deaf students from the State Board of Education to boards of trustees has become law without Gov. Roy Cooper’s signature. Cooper vetoed a similar bill last year. This is the third bill this session that Cooper decided to neither veto nor sign after having […]
NC Supreme Court hasn’t ruled on Voter ID yet. House Republicans budgeted for it anyway.
The North Carolina Supreme Court hasn’t yet ruled on whether a voter ID law was intended to discriminate against prospective voters of color, but that didn’t stop House Republicans from funding it. Legislators released a budget proposal last week that would give $3.5 million to the State Board of Elections to implement voter ID requirements. The board also […]
Weekend reads: Loosening state gun laws, diversity efforts targeted, and a new wave of book banning
Big changes start Monday: NC Policy Watch is becoming NC Newsline For nearly two decades, people who care about North Carolina’s most vulnerable, who relish understanding the people and politics that factor into the state’s policies, and who have strong opinions about what our state should look like in the 21st Century, have been loyal […]
Trump indicted by Manhattan grand jury, according to reports
WASHINGTON — A New York criminal grand jury has indicted former President Donald Trump, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office confirmed following news reports. A former president has never been indicted before. Trump is also a Republican candidate in the 2024 race for the presidency. “This evening we contacted Mr. Trump’s attorney to coordinate his surrender […]
House Republicans revive ‘academic transparency’ legislation in budget proposal
The North Carolina House budget proposal calls for a 10% pay increase for teachers over the next two years, but would have to work harder for the extra money under a substantive provision that would require “Academic Transparency.” The House budget bill would require teachers to prominently post, course materials, lessons plans and supplemental materials […]
U.S. judge rules insurers don’t have to cover many free preventive health services
[This story has been updated.] WASHINGTON — Health insurance companies may no longer need to cover a wide swath of preventive health care services that were required by the 2010 Affordable Care Act, under a federal judge’s ruling issued Thursday in Texas. The decision could affect millions of Americans’ access to no-cost preventive health care […]
State data: Black students suspended from NC public schools at four times the rate of whites
Black and American Indian students are suspended and expelled from schools at dramatically higher rates than their white peers, according to recent state data. During the 2021-22 school year, these groups had the highest rates of short-term suspensions, according to data compiled in the NC Department of Public Instruction’s Consolidated Data Report 2021-22.
Bernie Sanders confronts former Starbucks CEO over union-busting allegations
WASHINGTON — Democratic senators at a hearing on Wednesday grilled the former CEO of Starbucks over allegations that the giant coffee company intimidated, harassed and fired workers who tried to form unions. Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent and former presidential candidate who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, focused on Starbucks’ […]