Mental health experts who are also parents with students in Wake County Public Schools are sounding an alarm over a rising mental health crisis due to a lack of full-time classroom instruction. “Stop hiding behind fear and listening to the politically based [N.C. Association of Educators],” said mental health specialist…
A group of Wake County parents has written Gov. Roy Cooper asking him to reopen schools for in-person instruction. Wake is the state’s largest school system. “There is no rational basis for restricting public-school children in one set of schools while allowing private school children in…
Mitch Kokai, John Locke Foundation senior political analyst, discusses Gov. Roy Cooper’s latest executive order setting COVID-19 restrictions for North Carolina. Kokai offered these comments during the Feb. 24, 2021, edition of Spectrum News 1’s “Capital Tonight.”…
Private bars will open at limited capacity under a new executive decree from the governor, although at the same time he called for more direct government aid to prop up failing businesses. As opposed to easing restrictions even further, as states…
Legislation introduced by Republican lawmakers would mandate recipients of unemployment benefits actively search for work, a requirement that hasn’t been in place since the pandemic began in March. Traditionally, unemployment benefits have been linked to a job-search requirement. But in a March 10 executive order, Gov. Roy Cooper waived that…
Republicans in the General Assembly are criticizing Gov. Roy Cooper for his inaction on a bill that would reopen schools for in-person instruction. Lawmakers passed Senate Bill 37 last week in a bipartisan vote: 31-16 in the Senate and 77-42 in the House. Three Democrats in the Senate and…
An audit released by State Auditor Beth Wood’s office Thursday, Feb. 18, found the state Department of Health and Human Services did a poor job of gatekeeping the Medicaid Provider Enrollment process. The auditor’s office says HHS didn’t properly ensure that…
Gov. Roy Cooper may not even realize it, but he’s fallen into a weird pattern of announcing priorities. Cooper issues executive orders — using broad powers granted him under the auspices of the N.C. Emergency Management Act — like a firefighter tossing out candy at a Christmas parade. That…
As state lawmakers try to sort out when students can go back to school full time, members of the House are sponsoring a bill that would offer a voluntary summer school program for North Carolina students. House Republicans held a news conference Tuesday, Feb. 16, to…
Majorities of the House and Senate agree that N.C. schools need legislative prodding to reopen, but they’re struggling to come to terms on how to do it. Both houses of the General Assembly have passed a version of Senate Bill 37, which would require school…
