Pardon Our Dust
We recently launched this new site and are still in the process of updating some of our archived content. Some details of this article may be incomplete, links may be broken, and other elements may not display properly yet. We appreciate your patience and understanding.
Economic Development
WRAL TECH WIRE: VinFast delays production of EVs in NC until 2025
VinFast, the electric SUV maker out of Vietnam with a $4 billion commitment to open an factory in Chatham County, told WRAL News on Friday that plant would not start producing vehicles until at least 2025. “Because we need more time to complete administrative procedures, VinFast’s EV factory project in North Carolina is expected to start production from 2025,” a spokesman said.
Education
CBS 17: NC Board of Education calls for teacher raises. Will they see them?
Republican leaders of the General Assembly are considering how much to increase pay for educators after Gov. Roy Cooper (D) this week said he would push for them to receive “double-digit raises.” The governor made the comment in his State of the State address, saying the budget proposal he puts forth soon will fully fund a court-ordered plan for schools and would not raise taxes.
ABC 11: Thousands of NC students remain ‘unaccounted for’ after pandemic, state using money to locate them
Students have been opting out of public schools in North Carolina since the pandemic. Now years after enrollment shifted across the state, new data shows thousands of students aren’t reported enrolled in any type of school. While many families ditched public schooling for private or homeschooling options, an Associated Press analysis of enrollment data found around 12,000 students across North Carolina are ‘unaccounted’ for.
Government
WRAL NEWS: Cooper details $1B mental health plan; GOP sets budget limits
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper unveiled on Wednesday a $1 billion plan to address the state’s mental health and substance abuse needs, which have surged amid increasing overdose deaths and spiraling rates of suicide among young people. The Democratic governor’s office said his initiatives, which will be outlined in his upcoming state budget proposal, include more behavioral health services for those in schools and in jails.
THE CAROLINA JOURNAL: State government lawyers seek ‘expeditious’ schedule to resolve Leandro issues
Lawyers with N.C. Attorney General Josh Stein’s Justice Department are urging the state Supreme Court to move quickly on its latest review of the long-running Leandro education funding case. A document filed Friday asks the court to schedule no more than 52 days for new briefing in the case, with a new oral argument to be scheduled “promptly.”
Healthcare
Gov. Roy Cooper prompted loud cheers, whoops and a standing ovation during his state of the state address on Monday evening when he mentioned Medicaid expansion. The governor came to the General Assembly as part of a biannual tradition to provide lawmakers and the people of North Carolina his take on how best to approach the future.
WRAL NEWS: New law will fast-track youth mental health hospital near Durham
Children in North Carolina who are facing serious psychological issues will soon face shorter wait times to get treatment under a bill Gov. Roy Cooper signed into law Friday. The law will allow a state-run hospital in Butner, just outside Durham, to transition from an adult substance abuse center to an adolescent mental health hospital, starting this summer.
SPECTRUM NEWS: Medicaid expansion a ‘game changer’ for rural health care in N.C.
There is one doctor’s office in Aurora, North Carolina, a rural Beaufort County town of 450 on the Pamlico River. But ECU Health plans to shutter the Vidant Health Family Medicine clinic by the end of March, closing the only doctor’s office for miles in this eastern North Carolina farming community. A new deal to expand Medicaid coverage to another estimated 600,000 people, announced last week by leaders in the General Assembly, will help keep clinics open and get more health care resources to people in rural communities.
Politics
WRAL NEWS: ‘It will irreparably damage the legitimacy and reputation of NC’s highest court’: Rehearings could have major impact on 2024 elections
In just a few days, the state Supreme Court will rehear oral arguments in two voting rights cases. The court’s decisions could have major ramifications for the 2024 elections — and could set the tone for just how aggressive the court’s new GOP majority plans to be in future cases with major political implications.
THE NEWS & OBSERVER: Mecklenburg Democrat to run for NC treasurer, says office shouldn’t have ‘partisan games’
The 2024 North Carolina treasurer’s race gained its first major candidate Monday. State Rep. Wesley Harris, a Democrat who represents parts of south Charlotte and Pineville, said in his announcement North Carolina is overflowing with potential and it should invest in its people.
Transportation
THE NEWS & OBSERVER: Federal grant for Alligator River Bridge hailed again, this time at the water’s edge
Gov. Roy Cooper and Federal Highway Administrator Shailen Bhatt posed for pictures together on a dock along the Alligator River late Thursday morning, with the U.S. 64 bridge stretched out behind them. The two men had just delivered speeches on the river’s shore toasting a $110 million federal grant that will allow the N.C. Department of Transportation to replace the 60-year-old bridge starting in 2025.