Senate Leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, wants the governor to give counties the option to reopen hair salons and barber shops, which, like other small businesses, are left crippled by the COVID-19 lockdowns. Twenty-five states, including nearly every state in the Southeast, have reopened hair salons and…
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought many questions with precious few answers. It’s tough to debate otherwise. A dearth of data, beyond the numbers of confirmed cases and deaths, allowing people to make reasonable decisions about their safety —…
The N.C. General Assembly is in session, but it’s unclear how long it may take lawmakers to deal with economic fallout caused by COVID-19 . Lawmakers converged on the legislative complex to begin work as a few hundred people gathered in downtown Raleigh to protest shutdown…
Two state senators are asking Gov. Roy Cooper to respond to Raleigh police’s decision to end Tuesday’s protest from the Reopen NC group. The senators suggest in a letter that Cooper might have engaged in a “grave overstep in your authority.” Meanwhile, a state constitutional watchdog has submitted…
The John Locke Foundation is leading a national effort to highlight a critical flaw in the $2 trillion federal relief package tied to the COVID-19 pandemic. Fixing the flaw could help state governments avoid unsustainable budget spending increases. Working with the Nebraska-based Platte Institute, the two organizations drafted a…
• Why didn’t you publish a print edition for April? As Amy and Rick said in our original message, the COVID-19 outbreak completely overturned the news cycle. Stories were changing within days if not hours. By the time we would have sent our materials to the printer and the Postal…
Gov. Roy Cooper says the state Division of Employment Security is buried under a “mountain of claims,” receiving more than 20,000 requests for Unemployment Insurance benefits Sunday, March 29. By contrast, the agency dealt with about 25,000 claims a month during the Great Recession and is set up…
North Carolinians laid off as a result of the coronavirus outbreak could receive benefits as early as Monday, March 30. A spokesman for the Division of Employment Security told Carolina Journal that moves by the Cooper administration streamlining the benefit process will…
The fight against coronavirus will be a long haul, Gov. Roy Cooper and health officials said after declaring a state of emergency Tuesday, March 10. Five new cases of the novel virus were identified Monday in Wake County. All were linked to a Boston conference last…
Former Vice President Joe Biden rode a big win in South Carolina to a primary surge, highlighted by an outstanding showing during Super Tuesday, a day in which he won Democratic primaries in neighboring North Carolina and Virginia. Those states carry 209 delegates. In all, Biden,…
