An executive order issued by Gov. Roy Cooper on Friday, May 21, requires recipients of unemployment benefits to prove they are searching for work to continue receiving benefits. The move makes North Carolina part of a growing number of states to reimplement the work-search requirement. The order, which kicks into effect June 6, requires all...
Lift the mask mandate, governor. Lift it now. Today. It’s OK. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says so. You know, the people with all that science and data, of which you’re so fond. The CDC on Tuesday, April 27, said fully vaccinated people don’t need to wear masks outdoors, except in crowds. Almost...
It seems Gov. Roy Cooper doesn’t get out much, meaning outside North Carolina. A quick trip to South Carolina, for instance, would show a sense of freedom unavailable — from my experience — in Wilmington, Boone, or Raleigh. Wearing a mask is a personal choice. But I can’t get my head around the need to...
Epidemiologists and infectious disease experts have consistently maintained that the risk of spread of the COVID-19 virus among young children is low. But that hasn’t stopped policymakers like N.C. Gov. Roy Cooper from — for most of the past year — keeping in-person instruction closed for all K-12 students. Many families have suffered as a result. Rachel and Troy Ackerman of...
Editor’s note: This story was updated Tuesday, April 13. A House Judiciary committee on Tuesday, April 13, quickly approved a bill that would fully reopen bars and restaurants, as long as they follow specific safety guidelines. The bill, House Bill 211, heads to that body’s Alcohol Beverage Control Committee. Restrictions on N.C. businesses continues, even...
Gov. Roy Cooper on Friday, April 9, signed two bills into law designed to help students who lost more than a year of in-person learning because of the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns. House Bill 82, Summer Learning Choice for NC Families, establishes learning recovery and enrichment programs districts to mitigate the effects of COVID-19 on...
Nearly two-thirds of North Carolinians worry about harmful side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine, even as a growing majority say they’ll take it to get back to normal life. A new public opinion survey released by the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services reported that more than a quarter of North Carolinians say they...
It’s no surprise the number of homeschool families swelled during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, the U.S. Census Bureau has released new data showing just how significant that growth has been. Nationwide, the number of homeschoolers doubled in 2020. Between April 25 and May 5, 2020, the Census reported 5.4% of all U.S. households with school-age...
The federal government sent nearly $4 billion in COVID relief money to North Carolina, but a sizable chunk of it was returned, unwanted, a new report from the state auditor’s office finds. The report from State Auditor Beth Wood determined North Carolina’s budget office properly distributed the $3.6 billion in COVID relief money allocated by...
The N.C. State Board of Education has voted unanimously to switch social-distancing requirements under a “Plan A” return to public school classrooms to 3 feet rather than the previous six feet. The new rules are in accordance with new guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that cut in half the social-distancing...
Gov. Roy Cooper is further easing restrictions on state residents and businesses that began one year ago because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Cooper’s latest executive order takes effect 5 p.m. Friday, March 26, and expires April 30. The state’s general mask mandate remains in effect. Cooper says 31% of North Carolinians older than 18 have...
