News
NCDHHS says Monkeypox virus spreading in NC
Of the 45 Mpox cases in the past six months, there have been five hospitalizations and zero deaths.
Opinion
Medicaid expansion supporters should listen carefully to Berger’s analysis
The Senate leader has opened the door to supporting Medicaid expansion. But expansion supporters might not like the compromises they would be required to make.
Video
Locke’s Jordan Roberts explains benefits for N.C. of granting nurses full practice authority
Jordan Roberts, director of government affairs at the John Locke Foundation, discusses “Granting Nurses Full Practice Authority: Benefits for NC.” Roberts offered these remarks March 29, 2022, to the N.C. General Assembly’s Joint Legislative Committee on Access to Healthcare and Medicaid Expansion.
News
State of emergency continues with new ways to measure COVID
Gov. Roy Cooper said North Carolina’s state of emergency will continue, despite declining COVID numbers. The announcement came during a news conference Thursday, March 17, announcing new guidelines to measure COVID-19 levels. Cooper has shifted responsibility for dealing with the pandemic to the General Assembly. He explained the move like this: “It’s a legal tool...
News
State Supreme Court rules government retirees had contractual health care right
The N.C. Supreme Court has ruled, 4-2, that 220,000 state government retirees had a contractual right to premium-free health care benefits that had been promised to them. Now a trial court will have to determine whether state changes to those benefits a decade ago violated the contract. The decision reverses the state Court of Appeals,...
News
Berger: No end in sight to ongoing COVID state of emergency
N.C. Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, says the governor’s long-running COVID state of emergency is now the “status quo.” “For 730 days,” Berger said in a statement Thursday, March 10, “Gov. Roy Cooper has kept North Carolina in a state of emergency, even as COVID-19 restrictions and guidelines have disappeared.” Emergency declarations are typically reserved...
News
Durham, Orange counties now free from indoor mask mandates
Even if things are still tense after the Tar Heels beat the Blue Devils during Coach K’s final home game this weekend, the counties where UNC Chapel Hill and Duke University respectively reside can come together on one thing: The need for indoor masking is officially over. As of Monday, March 7, two of the...
Video
Senate leader Phil Berger highlights 2022 priorities at CLC
Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, discusses upcoming 2022 legislative priorities during an appearance at the John Locke Foundation’s 2022 Carolina Liberty Conference.
News
Cooper vetoes bill that would end mandatory masks in schools
Gov. Roy Cooper has vetoed the Free the Smiles Act. The bipartisan measure would have blocked mandatory mask policies in N.C. schools. It’s Cooper’s second veto this year and a record-extending 71st veto since he took office in 2017. “I have encouraged local boards to lift mask mandates, and they are doing it across the...
Video
Carolina Journal’s Donna King analyzes rollback of mask mandates
Donna King, Carolina Journal editor-in-chief, discusses the nationwide push to end mask mandates. King offered these comments during the Feb. 18, 2022, edition of PBS North Carolina’s “Front Row with Marc Rotterman.”
News
Lawmakers vote to ditch masks as Cooper signals end to mask mandates
Gov. Roy Cooper on Thursday, Feb.17, called for an end to local mask mandates for schools and local governments, though state lawmakers are seemingly forcing his hand. Cooper, a Democrat, cited declining COVID-19 cases, vaccines and boosters, expanded testing, available PPE, and treatments. Kody Kinsley, state health secretary, echoed Cooper’s comments in a news conference...
Video
Locke’s Mitch Kokai discusses new report critiquing N.C. nonprofit hospitals
Mitch Kokai, John Locke Foundation senior political analyst, discusses a report questioning N.C. nonprofit hospitals’ commitment to charity care. Kokai offered these comments during the Feb. 11, 2022, edition of PBS North Carolina’s “Front Row with Marc Rotterman.”
