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Another NC legislative finally comes to a close with Medicaid expansion unrealized

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Another NC legislative finally comes to a close with Medicaid expansion unrealized


By Anne Blythe

North Carolina lawmakers had been again in Raleigh on Tuesday for Senate and Home periods during which Republican leaders of every chamber used completely different methods for conducting the day’s enterprise.

Phil Berger, the Republican from Eden who leads the state Senate, used a fast gavel for a so-called “skeletal session,” with the naked minimal of members or process: Open for a prayer, the pledge of allegiance, then adjourn once more till 11 a.m. Friday.

No time even for Sen. Wiley Nickel, a Democrat from Wake County, to make a valedictory speech from the Senate ground. He requested to take a “level of non-public privilege” to record accomplishments throughout his three two-year phrases, in addition to record his hopes for these following him as he strikes to the U.S. congressional seat he gained in November. However Berger minimize him off when he made the request, telling him that in skeletal periods, there have been no alternatives for private privilege.

As an alternative, Nickel, who begins his congressional time period subsequent month, met with reporters earlier than the Senate session together with his spouse Caroline, daughter Adeline and son Prescott on the press room podium with him. There, one of many achievements he listed was the Senate’s vote earlier this 12 months to increase Medicaid, a thorny matter for Republicans that Democrats have advocated for a few years.

In June, Berger informed his chamber that increasing Medicaid “is the suitable factor to do, and it’s not even shut.”

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But it surely was to not be.

Medicaid enlargement stalemated

Tim Moore (R-Kings Mountain), Speaker of the North Carolina Home of Representatives talks with Greensboro Democrat Dear Harrison after the chamber’s session Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. Credit score: Anne Blythe

The enlargement, one thing made potential by the 2009 Reasonably priced Care Act, would permit some half million or extra low wage staff onto this system to achieve entry to well being care. Normally, Medicaid is restricted to low earnings kids, a few of their dad and mom, individuals with disabilities and low earnings seniors.

Moore asserted all through the summer time that the Home may come again in late November or December to take a vote on Medicaid enlargement, as soon as the election was over.

In June, Moore put ahead a proposal to create a legislative committee with members from each chambers that might hear a Medicaid Modernization Plan to be developed by the state Division of Well being and Human Companies. This committee would come on the heels of a distinct examine committee that met six instances from February to April. 

The Home by no means took a vote on the invoice adopted by the Senate and championed by Berger. Embedded within the Senate’s proposal was a measure to weaken North Carolina’s certificates of wants system, a set of legal guidelines and laws meant to chop down on well being care competitors. Additionally a part of the Senate’s proposal was a provision to offer superior observe nurses extra latitude of their observe.

Speaker Tim Moore, the Republican from Kings Mountain who leads the Home, stated his chamber doesn’t assist the proposed certificates of want modifications, which face opposition from the highly effective foyer of the North Carolina Healthcare Affiliation. In the meantime, the North Carolina Medical Society opposed modifications to how nurses observe.

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Berger was unwilling to maneuver ahead with enlargement with out modifications to the opposite proposals. So the 2 chambers remained in a stalemate that lasted for the remainder of the 12 months, leaving enlargement tantalizingly out of attain for advocates.

This implies the enlargement of Medicaid in North Carolina can be delayed till not less than 2023 as all these low earnings staff, household caregivers, college students and others who might qualify for the publicly-funded well being care proceed ready on the subsequent step.

What’s forward in 2023?

Moore, who gave members of the Home the chance to offer goodbye speeches and phrases of appreciation to colleagues and legislative employees they’d labored with, met with reporters afterward to speak about what’s subsequent for his chamber.

After the 2023 legislative session opens in January and lawmakers start to get right down to critical enterprise someday in February, Moore stated he anticipated there to be speak amongst Republicans about new legal guidelines proscribing abortion in North Carolina, a testing of the urge for food for medical marijuana entry and, as soon as once more, the perennial problem — Medicaid enlargement.

The Home will get 30 new members in January, and Moore stated Tuesday he doesn’t have an amazing sense of the place all of them stand politically.

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If the lawmakers in his chamber vote a straight occasion line, there will not be sufficient votes to overturn any legal guidelines that Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat who has generally been a thorn of their aspect on politically divisive points.

Cooper has stated he meant to veto any payments that might limit abortion entry.

Moore informed reporters he thought he may be capable to deliver some Democrats together with him on some points, however declined to disclose who these members is likely to be and exactly which social points he thought they could take part with the bulk.

“We’ve got, basically what I’d name a governing supermajority,” Moore stated.

He hopes.

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Most NC schools don’t have carbon monoxide detectors in classrooms

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Most NC schools don’t have carbon monoxide detectors in classrooms


Thousands of school buildings in North Carolina, including many in Wake County, do not have carbon monoxide detectors.

On Wednesday, state schools leaders will look at how to address that. Talks are happening inside the state education building about ways to keep your student safe.

On Wednesday, we’ll get a breakdown of what it would take to install carbon monoxide detectors in schools.

State education leaders will be reviewing a report Wednesday afternoon. It shows most North Carolina schools don’t have them.

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In Wake County, about 200 school buildings don’t have the devices. That’s more than a third of school buildings in the county. It would cost about $2.1 million to get them installed. It would cost $40 million to install them in schools across the state.

Nikki James Zellner with CO Safe Schools said not having these detectors puts children at risk.

“We think that we’re protected when we’re going into these establishments,” she said. “We think that our children are protected, but in reality, we’re relying on institutional standards that haven’t really been updated in a significant amount of time.”



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North Carolina governor says Harris 'has a lot of great options' for running mate

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North Carolina governor says Harris 'has a lot of great options' for running mate


SUPPLY, N.C. — A day after confirming he wouldn’t be a candidate for Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said Tuesday at a public event that he’s excited that Democrats “have a lot of great options for her to choose from.”

Speaking in coastal Brunswick County with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan to celebrate federal funding for land conservation, Cooper reiterated his Monday message by saying “this was not the right time for our state or for me to potentially be on a national ticket.”

Cooper, barred by term limits from seeking reelection this year, had been among roughly a dozen potential contenders that Harris’ team was initially looking at for a vice presidential pick. He’s been a surrogate for President Joe Biden’s reelection bid and now for Harris.

“I am going to work every day to see that she is elected,” Cooper told WECT-TV. “I believe that she will win, and I look forward to this campaign because she has the right message and she is the right person for this country.”

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In making his decision, Cooper confirmed Tuesday that he was concerned in part about what Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson could do if he left the state to campaign as part of the Democratic ticket. The state constitution says that “during the absence of the Governor from the State … the Lieutenant Governor shall be Acting Governor.” Robinson is running for governor this fall.

“We had concerns that he would try to seize the limelight because there would be a lot, if I were the vice presidential candidate, on him, and that would be a real distraction to the presidential campaign,” Cooper said.

Cooper pointed to when he traveled to Japan last fall on an economic development trip. As acting governor at the time, Robinson held a news conference during his absence to announce he had issued a “NC Solidarity with Israel Week” proclamation after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack inside the country.

Cooper also said Tuesday that he informed Harris’ campaign “early in the process” that he would not be a candidate, but that he didn’t reveal publicly that decision at first so as not to dampen enthusiasm for Harris within the party.

“My name had already been prominently put into the media and so I did not want to cause any problems for her or to slow her great momentum,” he told WRAL-TV while in Supply, located about 160 miles (258 kilometers) south of Raleigh. Cooper said he announced his decision when “there had begun to be a lot of speculation about the fact that I was not going to be in the pool of candidates, and in order to avoid the distraction of the speculation.”

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Tuesday’s event at Green Swamp Preserve celebrated a $421 million grant for projects in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and Maryland to reduce climate pollution. The money will be used to preserve, enhance or restore coastal habitats, forests and farmland, Cooper’s office said.



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Josh Heupel Explains Important of North Carolina To Tennessee Vols

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Josh Heupel Explains Important of North Carolina To Tennessee Vols


The state of North Carolina is uber-important to the Tennessee Volunteers on the recruiting trail and should only get more important in the coming years.

The Tennessee Volunteers are currently on a hot streak on the recruiting trail. They added commitments from Toombs County safety Lagonza Hayward and Derby High School tight end Da’Saahn Brame over the weekend, putting them at the No. 8 overall class in the 2025 cycle. They still have several important announcements in the near future, several from the state of North Carolina.

The Vols have been adamant about successfully recruiting the state of North Carolina for years, and as more blue-chip talent continues to come from the Tarheel state, the more Tennessee will spend its time within that footprint. They’re firmly in the race for Providence Day School offensive tackle David Sanders Jr., who ranks as the No. 2 prospect in the 2025 class. He announces his decision on August 17th, and the North Carolina native is quite high on the Vols.

Additionally, Grimsley High School quarterback Faizon Brandon decides between Alabama, LSU, North Carolina State, and Tennessee this weekend. The No. 9 prospect in the 2026 class also hails from North Carolina and is Tennessee’s top target at the quarterback position.

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There are plenty of examples of future standouts coming from the state and past ones who’ve made an impact at the University of Tennessee – the school’s first 1,000-yard rusher since 2015 was North Carolina native Jaylen Wright, who was selected in the fourth round of the 2024 NFL Draft by the Miami Dolphins. Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel met with the media ahead of fall camp and discussed why they continue investing so much in the state.

“It is a border state,” Heupel explained to media on Tuesday. “For us, we believe and look at it and view it as part of our footprint. We are intentional in how we recruit that state.”

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