Month: April 2024

2. North Carolina welcomes a historic visitor in Japan’s Prime Minister Kishida

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida cemented economic links and cultural amity with North Carolina on Friday, following up time in Washington during his official U.S. visit by checking up on benchmark Japanese companies building in the ninth-most populous state and meeting with students. In between, Kishida lunched at the governor’s mansion in Raleigh, a historic […]

Written by on April 14, 2024

3. Jim Hunt’s daughter tries to win in a new North Carolina

When Democrat Jim Hunt was elected lieutenant governor in 1972, tobacco was still the undisputed king in Eastern North Carolina. And no place was it celebrated as much as in the city of Wilson. Festive tobacco auctions were an annual ritual in the city, not far from the farming community of Rock Ridge where Hunt […]

Written by on April 14, 2024

4. Environmentalist groups oppose Rouzer’s water permit reform bill, which helps some of his campaign donors

The Southern Environmental Law Center is among more than 40 environmentalist groups who sent a letter warning a permit reform bill, co-introduced by Congressman David Rouzer, would “put polluter profits ahead of public health.” On March 21, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 7023 — the “Creating Confidence in Clean Water Permitting Act” — […]

Written by on April 14, 2024

5. Signature verification pilot behind schedule in North Carolina

The search for a suitable software program to verify absentee voters’ signatures has proven more difficult than expected, according to a North Carolina State Board of Elections official. The Republican-controlled North Carolina General Assembly passed sweeping elections legislation last year. One expansive law required a pilot program for signature verification, comparing an absentee voter’s signature […]

Written by on April 14, 2024

6. An Army veteran running for Congress as an independent makes it onto the ballot

Voters in the 9th Congressional district will see an independent candidate on their ballots this fall. Shelane Etchison, a former Army officer with two graduate degrees from Harvard, has collected enough verified signatures to make it onto the ballot, according to the state Board of Elections website. She faces incumbent Republican Congressman Richard Hudson and […]

Written by on April 14, 2024

8. Duke ends full-ride scholarship program for select Black students in wake of affirmative action ruling

Duke is discontinuing its Reginaldo Howard Memorial Scholarship Program, a program for “top applicants of African descent,” in the wake of last year’s Supreme Court decision that ended race-based affirmative action in college admissions. The announcement comes amidst a nascent national trend, with a number of public universities ending their own race-based scholarship programs in […]

Written by on April 14, 2024

9. Gray’s Creek community, elementary schools to get PWC water

Cumberland County and the Fayetteville Public Works Commission are partnering to bring public water to Gray’s Creek and two elementary schools where residents have used specialized filters and bottled water for years to avoid exposure to toxic PFAS chemicals. The news on Friday came two days after Michael Regan, the administrator of the Environmental Protection […]

Written by on April 14, 2024

10. Former Commissioner Alan Branson chosen to fill Hardister’s shoes

The Guilford County Republican Party has made a decision as to who it wants to fill the remaining term of NC Representative Jon Hardister, who announced recently that he was stepping down from his NC House District 59 seat. And the winner is, to little surprise of anyone, highly conservative former Guilford County Commissioner Alan […]

Written by on April 14, 2024

1. N.C.’s Medicaid expansion has interest in Florida

As the debate over Medicaid expansion continues in Florida, lawmakers are turning their attention to North Carolina as a potential model. North Carolina, which recently expanded its Medicaid program despite initial resistance, has caught the interest of Florida legislators seeking insights into the process. Florida is one of only 10 states that has not expanded […]

Written by on April 11, 2024

2. UNC-Chapel Hill Trustees could begin to defund DEI efforts

The dismantling of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts at UNC-Chapel Hill could begin in earnest as soon as this month, say two members of the university’s board of trustees. Trustees will likely meet this month in a yet-to-be-scheduled special meeting, finalizing the campus budget before forwarding it to the UNC System Board of Governors […]

Written by on April 11, 2024

3. FAFSA complications delay UNC-Chapel Hill financial aid packages

Although UNC-Chapel Hill has released its admissions decisions, the university hasn’t been able to make any financial aid offers. Complications with the form college-bound students fill out to qualify for federal financial aid are delaying university financial aid packages. The U.S. Department of Education redesigned its Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) this year […]

Written by on April 11, 2024

5. Loss of F-15E Strike Eagles raises caution from senator

Divesting from F-15E Strike Eagles, which have a North Carolina home at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, and purchasing F-15EXs and F-35s will generate a fighter gap with China, said U.S. Sen. Ted Budd, R-N.C. His comments were directed to Gen. Charles C.Q. Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, during an Armed Services […]

Written by on April 11, 2024