Breast cancer cluster suspected at NC State’s Poe Hall, contaminated with PCBs; separate study shows those chemicals linked to that cancer
Testing showed five rooms in Poe Hall at NC State University contained materials with high levels of PCBs, a likely carcinogen. (Photo: Lisa Sorg)
By Lisa Sorg
A 2020 study of nearly 800 North Carolina women found that PCBs might increase the risk death from breast cancer, raising questions about a suspected cluster at N.C. State’s Poe Hall, which is contaminated with high levels of the toxic chemical. In addition, among women who already have breast cancer, the study found PCBs could contribute to deaths from all causes. PCBs are known to accumulate in breast tissue.
Sampling results from Poe Hall in November showed extremely high levels of PCBs in multiple rooms and in air handling systems, Newsline reported. [Read more…]
Expanded Medicaid managed care for people with mental illness or disabilities to begin July 1
Map: NC Department of Health and Human Services
By Lynn Bonner
New managed care plans for North Carolinians whose mental health treatment or disability care is coordinated and paid through regional mental health offices will launch on July 1.
Under these “tailored plans,” regional mental health offices called “Local Management Entities/Managed Care Organizations” will pay for health care for people with mental illnesses, developmental disabilities, substance use disorder, or traumatic brain injury. [Read more...]
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US Army to begin excavating up to 300 tons of contaminated soil at former missile plant in Burlington
By Lisa Sorg
The U.S. Army Environmental Command this month is scheduled to begin excavating as much as 300 tons of contaminated soil at the Tarheel Army Missile Plant in Burlington, city officials announced this week. This is the first step in a renewed effort to cleanup extensive contamination at the abandoned 22-acre site at 204 N. Graham-Hopedale Road. The site is known locally as the Western Electric plant because it had a military contract to build Nike missile guidance systems there during the Cold War. [Read more...]
Rocky Mount charter school leader says ‘coding error’ caused unexplained expenses
Photo: https://www.rmprep.org/
By Greg Childress
The leader of Rocky Mount Preparatory Academy told the Charter School Review Board on Monday that the more than $804,000 in unexplained expenses that threatened to close the school last year was mostly a coding error.
Last August, the former Charter School Advisory Board warned school leaders that it could be forced to close due to its poor academic performance and unexplained expenses. [Read more…]
Bonus read: Charter renewals spark debate among review board members
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DOJ lawyer tells Appeals Court imprisoned man can serve the same sentence twice
A North Carolina Court of Appeals panel hears arguments in a case in which a trial court seemed to ignore a Supreme Court directive in resentencing a defendant. (Photo: Court of Appeals video stream)
By Kelan Lyons
A lawyer for the North Carolina Department of Justice argued in court Wednesday that a man should be allowed to serve the same prison sentence twice, even though he had already done his time for that crime.
“This is a question of what authority does North Carolina’s statutory law give a trial judge at re-sentencing,” said Heidi M. Williams, special deputy attorney general. “If the language of that statute confers that authority on the sentencing judge to exercise in his or her discretion, this court should not limit that authority that has been given to the sentencing court by the General Assembly.” [Read more…]
North Carolina AG’s office pushes for delay in key Racial Justice Act hearing
The North Carolina attorney general’s office has petitioned the state Supreme Court to overrule a Johnston County’s Superior Court’s plans to commence a review on Feb. 26 of evidence of racism in jury selection in North Carolina capital cases. (Photo: NCCourts.gov)
By Kelan Lyons
Johnston County prosecutor once compared Black defendants to wild dogs and hyenas, hunting their victims “like the predators of the African plain”
A hearing scheduled for later this month could clear a path for the 136 people on North Carolina’s death row to one day get resentenced to life without the possibility of parole — or bring them one step closer to the execution chamber.
Beginning Feb. 26, attorneys are scheduled to present evidence to a Johnston County Superior Court judge arguing that race significantly affected prosecutors’ actions during jury selection, not just in the underlying case of Hasson Bacote, but in capital cases throughout North Carolina.[Read more…]
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Latest NC campaign finance reports raise important questions, concerns
Board of Elections (Photo: Clayton Henkel)
By Bob Hall
North Carolina candidates and political committees recently filed their final campaign finance reports for 2023, disclosing who gave them money and how they spent it. A slew of news articles tell you who’s ahead in the fundraising horse race, but there’s so much more to explore in these reports. They offer a unique window into our state’s political culture. Here are eight examples, aided by a review of earlier reports and a little research. Look for more examples soon. [Read more.…]
Monday numbers: a closer look at school technology and learning loss recovery
As North Carolina students show signs of academic recovery, many school districts do not have a plan to update technology provided during the pandemic. (Photo: Adobe Stock)
By Clayton Henkel
Hard to believe it, but this March will mark four years since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. As students and teachers switched to remote learning, federal pandemic relief dollars helped school districts purchase laptops, tablets, software, and other technology to minimize learning loss and allow students to study from home.
But now, in 2024, those cutting-edge tools from 2020 are beginning to show their age.
The chief information officer for the NC Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) shared the status of the school technology with the House Select Committee on Education Reform last week. [Read more…]
Big data companies: Extracting millions from NC residents…with state government’s help (commentary)
Ads leading up to the Super Bowl stress the ease of placing a bet from your phone. (Photo: Screen grab)
By Rob Schofield
North Carolina will soon have legal sports gambling. The state Lottery Commission voted last month to allow bookmakers to start taking bets – both on the ground and online – starting March 11. It won’t be in time for this week’s Super Bowl, but it will be easy to lose big bucks on the ACC men’s basketball tournament that commences March 12.
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And while many have greeted this development as ho-hum news in a society in which gambling has become ubiquitous in recent years – for instance, the lottery is already plugging something called “digital instants” and as most sports fans are aware, even ESPN now has an entire website and significant programming devoted to gambling — it’s actually an important and deeply worrisome development.[Read more…]
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Last year, Paramount said it would use $24 billion in funding from Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, and Qatar to help buy WBD.
Now that Paramount has won that deal, it won’t say whether that’s still the plan.
A key Paramount backer suggests that Gulf money would be a good thing for this deal.
We still don’t know if Paramount intends to use billions of dollars from Gulf states like Saudi Arabia to help it buy Warner Bros. Discovery.
But if Paramount does end up doing that, it wouldn’t be a bad thing, says a key Paramount backer.
That update comes via Gerry Cardinale, who heads up RedBird Capital Partners, the private equity company that helped finance Larry and David Ellison’s acquisition of Paramount last year and is doing the same with their WBD deal now.
In a podcast with Puck’s Matt Belloni published Wednesday night, Cardinale wouldn’t comment directly on Paramount’s previously disclosed plans to use $24 billion from sovereign wealth funds controlled by Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, and Qatar to help buy WBD.
Instead, he reiterated Paramount’s current messaging on the deal’s financing: The $47 billion in equity Paramount will use to buy WBD will be “backstopped” by the Ellison family and RedBird — meaning they are ultimately on the hook to pay up. The rest of the $81 billion deal will be financed with debt.
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Cardinale also acknowledged what Paramount has disclosed in its current disclosure documents: It intends to sell portions of that $47 billion commitment to other investors: “We haven’t syndicated anything at this time,” he said. “We do expect to syndicate with strategic, domestic, and foreign investors. But at the end of the day, that alchemy shouldn’t matter because it’ll be done in the right way.”
And when asked about concerns about Middle Eastern countries owning part of a media conglomerate that includes assets like CNN, Cardinale suggested that could be a plus.
“I think we want to be a global company,” he said. “You look at what’s going on right now geopolitically. What’s going on right now geopolitically out of the Middle East wouldn’t be, the positives of that would not be happening without some of those sovereigns that you’re referring to.”
He continued:
“The world is changing. We can stick our head in the sand and pretend it’s not, or we can embrace globalization and the derivative benefits both geopolitically and otherwise that come from that. Content generation coming out of Hollywood is one of America’s greatest exports.I firmly embrace the global nature and orientation that we bring to this from a capital standpoint, from a footprint standpoint, etc. At the end of the day, I do understand some of the concerns that you’ve raised, but that will work itself out between signing and closing because at the end of the day, worst-case scenario, Ellison and RedBird are 100% of this thing.”
All of which suggests to me that Paramount still intends to use money from Gulf-based sovereign wealth funds to buy WBD.
What I don’t understand is why the company won’t say that out loud. Does that mean it’s still negotiating with potential investors? Or that it’s reticent to disclose outside investors, for whatever reason, until it has to? A Paramount rep declined to comment.
Talks on landmark crypto legislation have hit a new impasse after banks said they could not back a compromise pushed by the White House, a development that cast doubt on whether the bill will pass this year and sparked criticism from President Donald Trump who accused lenders of trying to undermine it.
A tenacious team of finance majors, who sacrificed most of their winter break to prepare for the CFA Institute Research Challenge, took first place in that regional competition last week.
Students Hunter Baillargeon, Dylan Fischetto, Richard Opper, Philip Ochocinski and Rushit Chauhan were tasked with researching and analyzing a major utility company, and then producing a 10-page report about whether to buy, hold, or sell its stock. They chose to sell.
One of the CFA judges said both the team’s report and presentation were among the best he had seen in many years.
“As a team, we were thrilled our hard work paid off and our many hours of work allowed us to achieve what we did,’’ Baillargeon said. “What we accomplished couldn’t have been done without working with such a cohesive and collective unit.’’
“From a technical perspective, I realize how valuable true analysis is and the importance of looking where others don’t for a differentiated approach,’’ Baillargeon said.
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The first round of competition featured 24 college teams from the Stamford-Hartford-Providence region. The Stamford team, composed of seniors all of whom all participate in UConn’s Student Managed Fund program, received its first-place award Feb. 26 in a ceremony in Hartford. The team will advance to the East Coast competition later this month.
Stamford Finance Program is Robust
“The Stamford team’s advancement in this competition reflects not only the students’ exceptional talent and work ethic, but also the rigor and applied focus of the UConn finance curriculum,’’ said professor Yiming Qian, head of the Finance Department.
“Our Stamford campus hosts approximately 200 financial management majors. The Stamford program is a vital part of the School and continues to demonstrate outstanding strength,” she said.
Professors Steve Wilson and Jeff Bianchi, who combined have 75 years of experience in the investment industry, were the team’s advisers and were supported by academic director Katherine Pancak.
Wilson said the task of analyzing a utility is particularly complex because of the company’s structure and the regulatory environment in which it operates.
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“I believe the Stamford team stood out because of the depth of their research, and willingness to take a bold stand, including the decision to ‘go out on a limb’ and recommend selling the stock,’’ he said. “They didn’t ‘play it safe.’’’
“This clean-sweep was a true team effort. They were tireless throughout, and sleepless too often, but they never wavered from their desire to always dig deeper and uncover any information that would strengthen our investment case,’’ he said. “What a phenomenal job they did!’’
Competition in Hong Kong Is Ultimate Goal
The Stamford team will compete against Loyola, Canisius, Sacred Heart; Seton Hall, Villanova, St. Michaels, Western New England, University of Maine, Fordham and Penn State next. In total, some 8,000 students are expected to participate in various competitions worldwide, culminating in a championship round in Hong Kong in May.
Wilson said the financial industry is always welcoming of new talent. And when one of the judges told him that the Stamford team produced some of the best work that he’d seen in years, Wilson felt tremendous pride for the students.
“Finance is an open playing field. In investments, the best idea wins,’’ he said.
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Baillargeon said he will always appreciate the whole team’s dedication.
“What I’ll remember most is the help of our advisers and our cohesive, close-knit team where everyone pulled their weight,’’ Baillargeon said. “We put in long hours, did a tremendous amount of research, and collaborated well together. I hope when I enter the workforce I get to work with a team as committed as this one is.’’
