North Carolina
Medicaid expansion bill debate is renewed in North Carolina
RALEIGH, N.C. — The North Carolina Normal Meeting started on Tuesday what may develop into the ultimate push to broaden Medicaid to a whole bunch of hundreds of low-income adults within the state with a Home measure that shortly superior via committee with bipartisan assist.
The laws scheduled for debate on the Home ground Wednesday would direct the state to simply accept Medicaid protection of adults who make an excessive amount of to qualify for standard Medicaid however not sufficient to obtain closely backed medical insurance that the 2010 Reasonably priced Care Act supplies. North Carolina is amongst 11 states that haven’t adopted Medicaid enlargement.
“We’re preventing to cross this invoice to assist folks in North Carolina have a greater way of life (and) get higher well being care,” Rep. Donny Lambeth, a Forsyth County Republican and chief invoice sponsor, informed the Home Well being Committee. “Let’s actually make a distinction in North Carolina.”
The Medicaid enlargement query has been mentioned within the state for over a decade, with Republicans answerable for the Normal Meeting normally blocking the thought and Democrats led by Gov. Roy Cooper pleading for them to enact. However GOP heavyweights, specifically Senate chief Phil Berger, have come round to the thought lately.
Final yr, each chambers overwhelmingly accepted competing enlargement measures that by no means bought boiled all the way down to a compromise. Senate Republicans insisted any package deal include provisions designed to ease “certificates of want” legal guidelines that require well being regulators to log out on enlargement plans by medical suppliers. The Senate additionally needs to present some specialty nurses independence to observe and not using a doctor’s supervision.
Tuesday’s Home invoice contained neither, as Lambeth has stated Home GOP leaders wished a streamlined enlargement measure that extra Republicans within the chamber may assist. However Lambeth stated he expects add-ons can be thought of once more by the Senate, with the aim to hammer out a closing settlement.
“My guess is we’ll come out with a complete invoice that may embrace extra than simply enlargement in some unspecified time in the future,” Lambeth informed reporters after the well being committee accepted the measure after barely quarter-hour of debate on a voice vote that contained a couple of “nos.”
The measure would direct the state beginning subsequent January to cowl candidates who would qualify for enlargement — probably as much as 600,000 folks — underneath the 2010 federal well being care legislation via a program named NC Well being Works.
The federal authorities covers 90% of the price of Medicaid recipients underneath enlargement. The invoice would once more pay for the state’s 10% share via assessments paid by hospitals, which in flip profit from getting reimbursed as they cowl extra Medicaid sufferers.
The state additionally may get an additional $1.5 billion over two years via a monetary sweetener in a COVID-19 federal aid package deal if it accepts enlargement. About half of that cash may very well be earmarked for psychological well being providers, stated Rep. Wayne Sasser of Stanly County, a well being committee chairman.
The measure does include a provision sought by the Senate and the state’s hospitals that will lead to greater reimbursements — probably $3 billion yearly — for hospital methods once they deal with Medicaid sufferers.
The Home invoice additionally would not embrace a piece requirement for enrollees. However it directs the state to beef up workforce growth initiatives as enrollees search to return to employment or set up new careers.
All however six Republicans voted for final yr’s Home enlargement invoice, which really would not have enacted enlargement. As an alternative, it will have directed a vote six months in a while a package deal introduced by well being officers in Cooper’s administration.
Whereas Lambeth nonetheless anticipated a powerful bipartisan vote to approve the present invoice on Wednesday, he acknowledged many Republican colleagues nonetheless have reservations about enlargement. Home Republicans assembly privately on Monday mentioned enlargement for over three hours, he stated.
North Carolina state Medicaid enrollment is 2.9 million. The state Division of Well being and Human Companies had stated as much as 300,000 present beneficiaries may lose full well being care protection because the federal authorities ends a pandemic-era prohibition on eradicating folks from the Medicaid rolls and requiring states to conduct annual eligibility verifications.
The primary enrollees may lose protection underneath this modification beginning July 1, however DHHS stated many being eliminated would qualify via Medicaid enlargement. Lambeth stated passing Medicaid enlargement in early 2023 may imply avoiding the laborious means of re-enrolling those that would qualify.
North Carolina
Bill Belichick's girlfriend seemingly shuts down rumors coach will leave North Carolina for NFL
Bill Belichick’s girlfriend on Thursday seemingly shut down any talk of her boyfriend leaving the North Carolina Tar Heels football program for a job in the NFL.
Jordon Hudson responded to rumors that suggested Belichick had one foot out the door when it came to his Tar Heels gig. Belichick had been rumored to be interest in coaching the Dallas Cowboys, but the head coaching job wasn’t open until he had already committed to North Carolina. CBS Sports reported that Belichick didn’t sign his contract with the school.
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She posted a photo on her Instagram showing the two posing with a football and Belichick dressed in Carolina blue.
“Pictured: two people who are overtly committed to @uncfootball,” she wrote as the caption.
Michael Lombardi, who is the general manager of the North Carolina football program, also threw cold water on the rumors of Belichick jumping back to the pros.
EX-NFL COACH JON GRUDEN RIPS STATE OF COLLEGE SPORTS
“Bill is recruiting in DC today, and Baltimore tomorrow. His focus is on North Carolina football, hiring staff members and developing the team. The NFL isnt a option so please stop making it one. Thank you,” he wrote on X in response to the CBS Sports report.
“The reception towards UNC and Coach Belichick has been amazing from every school we visit. We are going to fight to keep North Carolina players here and bring the best to Chapel Hill,” he added.
Belichick was hired as the Tar Heels’ coach in December. He called the job a “dream come true.”
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“I’ve always wanted to coach in college football,” Belichick said in his introductory press conference. “It just never really worked out. Had some good years in the NFL, so that was OK. But this is really a dream come true.”
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North Carolina
North Carolina man arrested for pandering – The Tribune
North Carolina man arrested for pandering
Published 2:19 pm Friday, January 17, 2025
Met up with Scioto County juvenile
A North Carolina man is in the Scioto County jail after he traveled by to Scioto County to meet up with a with a minor and then allegedly took videos of them participating in sexual acts.
Scioto County Sheriff David Thoroughman said in a press release that his office was contacted on Jan. 13 by a female wanting to report a juvenile runaway. A deputy responded and obtained information and the preliminary investigation revealed the juvenile had been in contact with Braceon Madison, 18, of Laurinburg, North Carolina.
Two days later, deputies got information that the runaway juvenile and Madison were seen at Burger King in Wheelersburg. Deputies found them and the juvenile female was taken to the Southern Ohio Medical Center for evaluation. The initial contact with Madison revealed no probable cause for an arrest.
Deputies obtained all the needed information to continue their investigation and released Madison. The investigation was then turned over to detectives.
As this was occurring, the detectives were contacted and advised that the Madison had shown up at the hospital requesting to see the juvenile. Detectives responded to the hospital and observed Madison walking away as they were nearing the hospital and he was detained.
Detectives interviewed the juvenile and her guardians and they learned that Madison and juvenile met through Facebook on Dec. 24, 2024.
The two remained in contact and Madison traveled by bus from North Carolina to Portsmouth.
Upon his arrival, he obtained a ride to Wheelersburg and was snuck into the juvenile’s residence. The two then took off on foot and they located a building on Ohio River Road where they stayed for a few nights before being found.
Thoroughman said the detectives learned through the investigation that Madison had taken videos and pictures on his phone of a juvenile participating in sexual acts.
On Jan. 15, deputies arrested was Madison and charged him with eight counts of second-degree felony pandering sexually oriented matter involving a minor and is currently being held in the Scioto County Jail on a $250,000 bond.
Thoroughman stated that this is still an ongoing investigation that will result in more charges being presented to the Scioto County Grand Jury on a later date.
Anyone with information should contact Detective Sergeant Jodi Conkel at 740-351-1091.
North Carolina
North Carolina fans should embrace the Bill Belichick experience and not worry how long it lasts
Bill Belichick’s longevity at UNC doesn’t matter. He was hired to get the Tar Heels really good, really fast, and he might pull it off.
Bill Belichick introduced as new UNC head football coach
Bill Belichick is officially the new head coach at UNC and addressed the media where he discussed his deep roots in college football.
Sports Pulse
By any measure, Bill Belichick’s first five weeks as North Carolina’s football coach have been unusual.
The way he got the job practically out of nowhere was weird.
The justification for taking the job — largely because he believed NFL teams were no longer interested in him — was weird.
Seeing him on the road recruiting, meeting with kids in high schools and embracing social media has been kinda weird.
Watching him every week on the Pat McAfee Show, where he’s still asked about everything going on in the NFL, is also pretty weird.
And even as he hires assistant coaches and insists North Carolina is where he’s going to be next season, the speculation that he might bail if the right NFL offer comes along — spurred on by his murky contract status — is extremely weird.
You know it has been frustrating for North Carolina and Belichick’s new staff that every day during the NFL’s silly season seems to come with a new report that one team or the other might gauge his interest. Michael Lombardi, Belichick’s right-hand man and general manager, has twice this week gone on social media to shoot down the chatter, going so far as to say, “The NFL isn’t a option so please stop making it one.” And Belichick’s girlfriend posted an Instagram picture of the two of them Thursday with the caption: “Two people who are overtly committed to @uncfootball.”
For better or worse, this is going to be the Belichick experience as long as he stays at North Carolina. Every month, maybe even every week, is going to bring a new rumor. Every chatty agent or NFL general manager is going to whisper his name to reporters who know that his potential return to the league would be a massive story. And every mention of his contract, which apparently isn’t signed yet, is going to emphasize how easy it would be for him to abandon college football should he be tempted by one last shot in the NFL.
For better or worse, that’s what North Carolina signed up for. It’s what Belichick signed up for, too. The narrative that he’s only doing this until something better comes along is mostly the product of his own history and the strangeness of taking on a college program for the first time at age 72.
Belichick almost certainly understood that better than anyone going into this, and it’s not going to change as long as he’s wearing that Carolina baby blue.
At this point, we have to take Belichick’s people at their word that his entire focus right now is building a roster and getting the Tar Heels ready for the 2025 season. Despite the reports and rumors, the odds of him bailing on North Carolina before he even gets started seem remarkably low.
But because of how unconventional all of this is, you have to at least allow for the possibility that North Carolina’s administration will wake up one day and feel used by a coach who never really unpacked his suitcase. Maybe in a year, maybe in a month. Who knows.
Rather than worry about how long Belichick will stay, though, or the potentially devastating circumstances under which he might leave, North Carolina and its fan base should lean into the experimental nature of this pairing. Embrace the uncertainty of how long it might last.
Every athletics director hopes the football coach they hire stays 10 years. But Belichick’s tenure has to be judged by a different standard.
His longevity just doesn’t matter. He was hired to get North Carolina really good, really fast — and when you consider how weak the ACC has been, there’s a chance he might just pull it off.
If SMU and 41-year-old coach Rhett Lashlee can come directly from the American Athletic Conference to the ACC and make the College Football Playoff right away, a similar leap is not outside the capability of a six-time Super Bowl champion.
Maybe Belichick is exactly where he needs to be. Sure, the idea of Belichick working for Jerry Jones or coaching the Raiders is media catnip. The narrative that he longs for 15 more coaching wins to overtake Don Shula as the NFL’s all-time leader is easy and obvious.
But think of it this way. What would actually enhance Belichick’s coaching legacy more: Doing something he’s already done a whole bunch of times or coming into a situation where he has no history or experience and elevating a college program to a place it’s never been before?
The answer is easy. For all Belichick has accomplished in the game of football, even getting North Carolina to the CFP just once would add more to his legend than another Super Bowl ever could.
So why do so many people think he isn’t serious about North Carolina? Why is the NFL rumor mill working overtime to pull him back after rejecting him completely as a coaching candidate last year?
Belichick may not have envisioned himself on a college sideline a few months ago, but he’s there now. And his tenure will be judged by quality, not quantity.
North Carolina had nothing to lose here. It was an underachieving program stuck in the middle of the ACC without the kind of financial backing it needed to compete at the highest level. Even if Belichick bounces back to the NFL next year, the entire mentality of North Carolina has changed. It’s gone all-in on football in a way it never did before.
Sure, every time an NFL job opens, Tar Heel fans are going to be nervous because Belichick’s name is going to get thrown in the mix. Get used to it. It’s better than the comfortable alternative North Carolina had under Mack Brown and most of its previous coaches: Irrelevant and ignored.
As long as Belichick is there, that’s not going to be the case. And even if it doesn’t last a long time, this is still an experiment without a downside — NFL rumors and all.
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