Gov. Roy Cooper is walking back reopening with a new stay-at-home order, starting Friday, Dec. 11, when North Carolina effectively shuts down from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. Cooper’s order will require nonessential businesses to close by 10 p.m., as well as banning private gatherings and nonessential travel. The order won’t affect construction, manufacturing, or...
On Monday, May 18, the opinion team for The News & Observer and The Charlotte Observer called for Gov. Roy Cooper to take responsibility for North Carolina’s disastrous unemployment insurance system. “NC unemployment delays have been a disaster. Own it, Gov. Cooper,” read the headline for the editorial appearing in both papers. I agree with...
Tattoo parlors are safe enough to reopen. Gyms, yoga studios, and public playgrounds aren’t. Gov. Roy Cooper issued an executive order Wednesday, May 20, allowing a partial reopening of some businesses under what he termed a “Safer at Home Phase Two” to combat the COVID-19 outbreak in North Carolina. While some businesses can conduct limited...
A handful of House Republicans have introduced a series of bills to limit the governor’s powers in a state of emergency, a move that’s likely to further divide politics in Raleigh, political scientists say. House Bill 1059 would prohibit the governor from preventing religious organizations from gathering in a place of worship during a state...
Gov. Roy Cooper, in a news conference Monday, May 18, failed to provide definitive answers about whether North Carolina would enter Phase Two of his reopening plan this weekend. The second phase of his three-pronged plan would relax some of the country’s most stringent rules on state businesses and residents. North Carolina entered Phase One...
UPDATED, 5:30 p.m. The COVID-19 outbreak can’t be an excuse to outlaw most indoor worship services in North Carolina, a federal judge ruled Saturday, May 16. U.S. District Judge James Dever issued a temporary restraining order preventing law enforcement from enforcing parts of executive orders Gov. Roy Cooper began issuing in March to limit the...
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 barber shops in some capacity, Berger says in a...
A Raleigh lawyer is criticizing Gov. Roy Cooper’s decision to allow only outdoor church services. The lawyer, Anthony Biller, with Michael Best & Friedrich LLP, says an executive order Cooper issued Tuesday continues to discriminate against religious practice. Biller criticized the order in a letter on behalf of Hope Baptist Church and congregants Ashok and...
Gov. Roy Cooper is easing restrictions on North Carolinians because of COVID-19, but the stay-at-home order remains in place. Cooper said Tuesday, May, 5, that he signed an executive order allowing the state to enter Phase One of a plan to reopen the state, though restaurants, private clubs, hair salons, and gyms will remain closed....
COVID-19 trends are headed in the right direction, Gov. Roy Cooper said Thursday, April 30, but North Carolinians are going to be at home at least a week longer — and most shuttered businesses won’t be up-and-running again anytime soon. For some, that’s too long to wait. On Wednesday, April 29, the Gaston County Board...
UPDATED with statements from Lt. Gov. Dan Forest and Senate leader Phil Berger. North Carolinians face a few more months of at least partial isolation, based on recommendations Gov. Roy Cooper made at a Thursday, April 23, news conference. The governor extended his stay-at-home order, imposed March 27 to limit the spread of COVID-19, from...
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