WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden, who heads to Wilmington, North Carolina Thursday to talk about the economy, is detouring to Charlotte to meet with the families of law enforcement officers shot to death on the job — just a week after he sat down with the grieving relatives of two cops killed in Upstate New York.

The visit is expected to take place with little fanfare behind closed doors, as the White House aims to respect the privacy of grieving families and avoid the appearance of using their grief for political purposes. The meeting was expected at the airport, an option meant to be the least taxing for local law enforcement still reeling from the deaths but who would have a hand in securing the president’s trip.

Once again, Biden will seek to be an empathetic leader for a community reeling from gun violence, while also calling for stricter rules around firearms and better funding for law enforcement on the front lines.

Four officers were killed earlier this week in North Carolina, when a wanted man opened fire on a joint agency task force that had come to arrest him on a warrant for possession of a firearm as an ex-felon, and fleeing to elude capture. They were: Sam Poloche and William Elliott of the North Carolina Department of Adult Corrections; Charlotte-Mecklenburg Officer Joshua Eyer; and Deputy U.S. Marshal Thomas Weeks.

Four other officers were wounded in the gunfire; the suspect was killed. An AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, a 40-caliber handgun and ammunition were found at the scene.

An AR-15 is among the weapons most often used in mass shootings, and it’s the type of gun Biden is talking about when he says the U.S. should ban “ assault weapons.” Congress passed the most comprehensive gun safety legislation in decades in 2022, after a horrific school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. But it didn’t go far enough, Biden often says.

And as he campaigns for the 2024 election, Biden has made curbing gun violence a major campaign platform, elusive to Democrats even during the Obama era, as he fends off attacks from Republican challenger Donald Trump that he is soft on crime and anti-police.

Biden said this week in a statement after the North Carolina killings that the U.S. must “do more to protect our law enforcement officers. That means funding them — so they have the resources they need to do their jobs and keep us safe.”

The violence came just about two weeks after another fatal shooting of law enforcement officers in Syracuse, New York; Lieutenant Michael Hoosock and Officer Michael Jensen were killed while looking for a driver who fled a traffic stop. After his speech, Biden met with relatives of both of the officers’ families.

Biden had already been scheduled to come to Syracuse to celebrate Micron Technology’s plans to build a campus of computer chip factories, but the local police union said officers were still coming to terms with the deaths and weren’t happy with the president’s trip and had hoped he would delay.

On Thursday, Biden will also travel on to Wilmington, where he’s announcing his administration is providing states an additional $3 billion to replace lead pipes across the country, building on $5.8 billion in federal funds for water infrastructure projects around the country announced in February.

Money for the pipe replacement comes from one of the administration’s key legislative victories, the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law that Biden signed in 2021. The infrastructure law includes over $50 billion to upgrade America’s water infrastructure.

“It’s far past time to get the lead out once and for all,″ Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan said Wednesday. “This is a matter of public health, a matter of environmental justice, and a matter of basic human rights.”

Biden and his administration are committed to using all tools available “to achieve a 100% lead-free future for all Americans,” Regan told reporters at a White House briefing. “Every single day we are one step closer to a future where no child has to suffer from the lasting effects of lead exposure.″

The new round of funding will help pay for projects nationwide as Biden seeks to replace all lead pipes in the country.

EPA estimates that North Carolina has 370,000 lead pipes, and $76 million will go to replace them statewide. Biden also will meet with faculty and students at a Wilmington school that replaced a water fountain with high levels of lead with funding from the law.

___

Associated Press writers Zeke Miller, Matthew Daly and Josh Boak contributed to this story.

84,052. That is the number of abortions reported in Florida in 2023, according to the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration.

With a six-week ban on abortions taking effect Wednesday, abortion providers in other states say they’re already bearing the burden of that demand.

“It’s not even noon, and we’re absolutely already seeing an impact, especially in requests for appointments,” said Calla Hales, executive director of Preferred Women’s Health Center, which provides abortions and has two clinics in North Carolina. “We’re seeing an influx of calls coming in from patients trying to figure out what the laws are and what they need to do to receive care outside of Florida since they are no longer able to.”

Abortion is currently banned after 12 weeks in North Carolina. That’s one of the least restrictive bans in the southeastern U.S.

Hales said North Carolina abortion providers have managed an influx of patients since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in its 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health decision..

“When Dobbs went into effect… the last half of 2022, we were operating at a 167% capacity,” Hales said.

While some of that demand quieted when North Carolina’s current abortion restriction took effect in 2023, Hales said providers in the state are already stretched thin as they brace for the impact of Florida’s new restrictions in the coming weeks and months.

“The unfortunate reality is North Carolina is already maxed,” Hales said. “There’s only so much we can do to continue to expand.”

Other businesses are preparing to absorb the demand as well.

GetStix is a website that sells women’s health products including pregnancy tests, condoms and the morning-after pill.

“After the Dobbs decision, we found that sales honestly skyrocketed,” the site’s co-founder, Cynthia Plotch, said. “And today with the latest news out of Florida, we expect to see the same.”

Stix shared sales data with WPTV, which shows a 43% increase in sales of its morning-after pill compared with last year.

Stix also reported a 123% increase in sales of the medication to Florida customers since 2022.

To date this year, AHCA reports 14,735 abortions performed in Florida. Ninety percent of those occurred during the first trimester of pregnancy.

One abortion was reported this year during the third trimester. Because Florida abortion providers are required to report the reason for ending a pregnancy to the state, we know it was due to a fatal fetal abnormality.

Florida’s new abortion restriction provide exceptions for abortions to take place between six and 15 weeks into a pregnancy in cases of rape, incest, human trafficking. If a patient claims any of those exceptions, they are required bring legal or medical documentation to the abortion provider.

In 2023, the AHCA reported 11 pregnancies were terminated in Florida due to incest, 107 were terminated due to rape, and 2 were terminated due to human trafficking.

An exception in the new restriction also provides for abortion between 6 and 15 weeks gestation if “there is a medical necessity for legitimate emergency medical procedures for termination of the pregnancy to save the pregnant woman’s life or avert a serious risk of imminent substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman other than a psychological condition.”

This exception requires certification from two physicians in writing, unless one physician certifies in writing that a second doctor is unavailable to consult.

The AHCA reports 2,325 pregnancies in 2023 were terminated due to the emotional or psychological health of the mother, 1,334 abortions were performed due to a physical health condition that was not life-threatening for the mother, and 251 were performed due to a condition that threatened the mother’s life.

Scripps Only Content 2024

The Biden administration may change the federal government’s position on marijuana, according to reports about a plan that would recognize the medical use of cannabis. 

The Drug Enforcement Administration will propose that marijuana be recategorized under the Controlled Substances Act, according to reporting by the Associated Press and NBC News. The outlets cite anonymous sources with knowledge of the plans. 

The plan would not legalize marijuana, but it would reclassify it from a Schedule I drug — believed highly dangerous, addictive and without medical use — to a Schedule III drug that can be lawfully prescribed as medication.  

The historic shift in American drug policy could have implications across the country, including in North Carolina, one of just 12 states that have not legalized cannabis for recreational or medical use. 

Here’s a look at what the DEA plan could mean for the legalization of marijuana in North Carolina.

What would the federal reclassification of marijuana mean for North Carolina residents? 

If the DEA recategorizes marijuana, it would have no effect on the legal standing of marijuana in North Carolina, said Phil Dixon, a professor at the University of North Carolina School of Government. 

“This doesn’t change much of the situation on the ground,” he said Wednesday. “This has no impact on our own state criminal law.” 

Marijuana is illegal in the Tar Heel State. Lawmakers would have to pass a bill to legalize the drug and Gov. Roy Cooper would have to sign the bill into law to change that, Dixon said. Or, if the governor does not sign the bill, both chambers would have to override the veto with a three-fifths majority vote. 

More on the historic move: Biden administration plans to drastically change federal rules on marijuana, reports say

Federal reclassification of the drug, however, would loosen restrictions on the research of marijuana and medicine derived from marijuana, Dixon said. It could lead to more marijuana studies done on college campuses and at private pharmaceutical firms, he said. 

How soon could marijuana dispensaries open in North Carolina? 

When North Carolinians can expect to see marijuana dispensaries on state land depends on when the state legalizes the drug, Dixon said. 

While the federal reclassification may lead to some momentum for marijuana legalization advocates, the administrative move alone does not necessarily mean that North Carolina residents will be able to shop at dispensaries any sooner, he said. 

“It’s not going to lead to dispensaries because it doesn’t authorize medical nor recreational marijuana,” he said.  

Could military cannabis regulations loosen? 

Dixon said that although military installations are on federal land, the armed forces make their own rules. Federal reclassification of marijuana would not affect whether military personnel can use it, he said. 

Can weed be purchased in North Carolina? 

Marijuana can be purchased at one dispensary in the mountains of western North Carolina. 

The first cannabis dispensary in the state opened April 20 in Cherokee. The 10,000-square-foot facility is on Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians land, where medical marijuana is legal under tribal law.

On state land outside of the Qualla Boundary, however, the drug remains illegal. Marijuana possession can result in misdemeanor and felony charges with up to $500 fines, a year in jail, or both.

Meanwhile in the mountains: North Carolina’s 1st dispensary opens on 4/20, but only for medical cannabis

Great Smoky Cannabis Company can only sell to people with medical marijuana cards issued by the EBCI, other tribal bodies or another state. 

North Carolina residents with a medical attestation from a doctor that they suffer from one of 18 qualifying conditions can apply for a medical marijuana card at ebci-ccb.org. 

The following conditions qualify a patient for an EBCI medical marijuana card: 

• Acquired immune deficiency syndromes. 
• Anxiety disorders. 
• Autism spectrum disorder. 
• An autoimmune disease. 
• Anorexia nervosa. 
• Cancer. 
• Dependence upon or addiction to opioids. 
• Glaucoma. 
• A medical condition related to the human immunodeficiency virus. 
• A neuropathic condition, whether or not such condition causes seizures. 
• Post-traumatic stress disorder. 
• Crohn’s disease. 
• Sickle cell anemia. 
• Amyotrophic lateral syndrome. 
• Parkinson’s disease. 
• A condition resulting in the patient receiving hospice care. 
• A medical condition or treatment for a medical condition that produces, for a specific patient, one or more of the following: cachexia; muscle spasms, including, without limitation, spasms caused by multiple sclerosis; seizures, including, without limitation seizures caused by epilepsy; nausea; or severe or chronic pain. 

Have North Carolina legislators moved to legalize marijuana? 

Last year, a bill that would legalize medical marijuana in North Carolina passed in the Senate, but was still pending in the House when the legislative session adjourned in late October. 

Details on last year’s bill: The state Senate approved a medical marijuana bill, The Compassionate Care Act

If the Compassionate Care Act passes, it would be among the strictest medical marijuana programs in the country, Dixon said. The bill narrowly defines where marijuana can be grown, sold, smoked and the medical conditions that would qualify a patient for a medical marijuana card. 

Reporter Taylor Shook can be reached at tshook@gannett.com.