News
NC House rejects public mask ban
After a brief question and one comment, the motion was promptly approved by the majority of the chamber.
News
Legal experts weigh in on unintended outcomes of public mask ban
Republicans in the North Carolina General Assembly are quickly pushing legislation forward to crack down on criminals who wear masks in public. While they claim that the legislation wouldn’t criminalize the wearing of masks in public for common-sense health reasons, the language ultimately revokes health and safety exemptions, a concern expressed by legal experts at the John Locke Foundation.
News
Law restricting mask-wearing in public moves one step closer to passing
State legislators are working to reinstitute a law prohibiting the wearing of face masks in public as a way to hide a criminal’s identity amid pro-Palestinian demonstrations on college campuses across North Carolina.
News
Citizens slam potential mask mandates at Tuesday hearing
More than 100 people attended the North Carolina Department of Labor’s two public hearings on Tuesday to consider re-implementing masking and social distancing requirements for businesses.
News
Judge ends Biden’s mask mandate on planes and trains
On Monday, a federal judge rejected President Joe Biden’s mask mandates for trains and planes. Florida-based U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle ruled that the Centers for Disease Control had skipped a crucial responsibility to get public impact on the mandate, and improperly used the “good cause exemption” to skirt public notice requirements. “Because ‘our...
News
New vote to Free the Smiles would mark first veto override attempt in a year
The speaker of the N.C. House of Representatives wants colleagues to override the governor’s veto of a bill ending school mask mandates. It would mark the first time in a year that lawmakers have tried to overturn a gubernatorial veto. “This isn’t over,” Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, tweeted Friday. “Looking forward to overriding @NC_Governor‘s veto...
News
Wake County School Board votes to end masks in class March 7
The Wake County Public School Board voted for making masks recommended but not required for athletics immediately. The vote includes extracurricular activities, ending masks requirements on Friday, Feb. 25, and for classes starting March 7. The school board made the decision during a special Board of Education meeting on Feb. 22, despite passionate objections from...
News
UPDATE: Wake to end mask mandate Feb 25
UPDATE: Wake County, including the capital city of Raleigh, will end its indoor mask mandate starting Feb. 25. That announcement came on Friday afternoon, February 18, 2022 The Wake County Public School System announced in a letter to parents on its website Friday, Feb. 18, that masks will become optional in their schools “in the...
News
Protest of mask mandates planned Tuesday during meeting of Wake school board
The state’s Department of Health and Human Services says its newly revised K-12 Toolkit is a guideline for school districts, but it won’t hold up to state laws. The clarification came in a January letter to Sen. Deanna Ballard, R-Watauga. “The toolkit itself is not a legally enforceable document but rather a strong recommendation for...
News
Cooper extends mask mandate … again
Democrat Gov. Roy Cooper issued his first executive order of the pandemic in March 2020, at the time implementing a interminable state of emergency, a move that’s typically reserved for hurricanes and other natural disasters. On Friday, June 11, Cooper issued yet another order in the long series. His latest move extends the mask mandate...
Opinion
Moving beyond the mask and our culture of fear
“Operation Warp Speed” sounds like one of those made-up superpowers from a cartoon, but the speed of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout is a reminder America is still on top. From an entrepreneurial and medical technology standpoint, the United States remains the gold standard. Yet, in many other ways for the nation, the cracks are in...
