North Carolina
New judge taking over North Carolina school funding case
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/CJDJXIZUB5H3PEND6TGFG7QI6U.jpg "New judge taking over North Carolina school funding case")
RALEIGH, N.C. — A brand new trial decide is presiding over a long-running North Carolina faculty funding case — particularly compliance with a current state Supreme Court docket ruling that declared the judicial department appropriately ordered funds be spent to deal with schooling inequities.
Chief Justice Paul Newby assigned Superior Court docket Choose James Ammons final week to supervise what is called the “Leandro” case, named after an authentic plaintiff in a lawsuit filed in 1995. Amongst Ammons’ first duties will probably be to find out how a lot extra authorities cash should be spent to adjust to a 2021 order that discovered the state was nonetheless falling wanting giving all kids the “alternative for a sound fundamental schooling.”
Ammons, from Cumberland County, succeeds Choose Mike Robinson, who requested Newby in a Nov. 30 letter that he be eliminated, citing his workload inside North Carolina Enterprise Court docket. Newby had directed Robinson lower than a yr in the past to supervise the case from Choose David Lee, who had not too long ago reached the judiciary’s necessary retirement age.
In a 4-3 ruling on Nov. 4, the Supreme Court docket declared it had been authentic for Lee to order the motion of $1.75 billion from state coffers to companies to implement two years of an eight-year schooling remedial plan that he accepted earlier. The justices within the majority — all the court docket’s registered Democrats — mentioned it was applicable for Lee to direct the switch and not using a particular Normal Meeting regulation. They cited constitutional provisions and the unwillingness of the remainder of state authorities — notably the legislature — to spend the funds. The switch was blocked on attraction.
Primarily based on the passage of the 2021 price range regulation, Robinson had already lowered the proposed switch to $785 million earlier than the justices dominated in November. The bulk opinion directed {that a} trial court docket take one other take a look at the determine in gentle of the 2022 price range regulation. Chief deputy state price range director Anca Elena Grozav filed an affidavit on Dec. 19 calculating the hole at $678 million.
A briefing schedule offered to Robinson final month by key events within the case gave everybody within the litigation, together with Republican legislative leaders, till Jan. 20 to reply. A listening to presided over by Ammons has not been scheduled.
Any ruling by Ammons might be appealed once more to the Supreme Court docket, the place now 5 of the seven justices are Republican following the Nov. 8 elections. Three of these 5 already on the court docket wrote a dissenting opinion Nov. 4, contending that Lee couldn’t order the switch as a result of solely the Normal Meeting has energy beneath the state structure to allocate funds from state coffers. It’s attainable an attraction may carry a distinct consequence than the one in November.
(WATCH BELOW: CMS names interim superintendent)
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DALLAS — Lexi Donarski had 15 points, Alyssa Ustby scored 12 and matched her career-high with 18 rebounds and No. 14 North Carolina rolled to a 64-33 victory over SMU on Thursday night.
Donarski did her damage from 3-point range, sinking 5 of 6 attempts for the Tar Heels (16-3, 3-2 Atlantic Coast Conference). Ustby collected her seventh double-double of the season with five of them coming in the last six games.
Indya Nivar had 11 points and Maria Gakdeng totaled 10 points and seven rebounds for North Carolina, which has won three in a row and 6 of 7.
Kaysia Woods scored 12 to lead the Mustangs (10-8, 2-4).
Nivar had nine points in the first half as North Carolina turned a 13-6 first-quarter lead into a 31-14 advantage at halftime. The Tar Heels shot just 39.4% from the floor before the break, but that looked red-hot compared to SMU, which shot 13.8% overall (4 for 29).
Donarski hit her only two shots of the third quarter — both from beyond the arc — and the Tar Heels led 44-22 heading to the fourth.
Woods had five points in the final period to help SMU top the 10-point mark in a quarter for the first time in the game.
North Carolina guard Alyssa Ustby dribbles during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against SMU, Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025, in Dallas. Credit: AP/LM Otero
SMU allowed the biggest comeback in NCAA women’s basketball history its last time out when the Mustangs saw a 32-point lead with 1:37 left in the first half turn into a 72-59 loss to Pittsburgh. SMU was outscored 28-0 in the third quarter and 26-10 in the fourth.
North Carolina travels to play Pittsburgh on Sunday. SMU travels to play No. 3 Notre Dame on Sunday.
North Carolina
Fact Check: California, North Carolina get same recovery cost coverage from federal gov’t
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) – As wildfires ravage parts of Los Angeles and Southern California this month, federal, state, and local authorities have mobilized resources to combat the flames and assist affected communities.
Their response echoes the efforts made in North Carolina just months ago, when Hurricane Helene left widespread devastation in its wake.
A viewer named Dina asked the following question: “Why is the federal government covering 100% of the recovery costs for the California wildfires, but not doing the same for Hurricane Helene recovery efforts in North Carolina?”
Her question relates to a claim being spread around social media that the government is allegedly paying for 100% of the damage in California, but not in North Carolina.
WBTV’s Fact Check team investigated the claims and found them to be false.
Here’s what we found.
Federal funding for wildfire recovery
On Tuesday, Jan. 14, President Joe Biden announced that the federal government would cover 100% of certain wildfire recovery costs in California for the next 180 days.
“The federal government is going to cover 100% of the cost for the next 180 days for things like firefighter overtime pay, debris removal, temporary shelters … It’s going to cost tens of billions of dollars to get Los Angeles back to where it was,” Biden said during a press conference.
Typically, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, aka FEMA, covers 75% of disaster recovery costs, with the remaining 25% funded by state and local governments. However, under federal law, the U.S. president has the authority to increase the federal cost-share for recovery efforts.
What about North Carolina?
Turns out, less than a week after Hurricane Helene hit North Carolina in September 2024, President Biden and FEMA announced that the same adjustment was made for Helene recovery in North Carolina.
Put another way: North Carolina has also had 100% of public recovery funds covered by the federal government since Oct. 2, 2024.
A release from the North Carolina governor’s office and FEMA explained how the president raised the federal contribution from 75% to 100% for the first 180 days of recovery. (The same time period that was just established in California).
After the six-month period, the cost-share for public assistance projects was increased from 75% to 90%. Click here to read the official FEMA release about this.
—> North Carolina Red Cross volunteers deploy to support wildfire victims in California
The verdict
President Biden’s decision to increase the federal cost-share for California wildfires is consistent with the aid provided to North Carolina following Hurricane Helene.
Claims that the federal government is covering a higher percentage of recovery costs in California compared to in North Carolina are false. Both states received identical cost-share adjustments.
If you have further questions or claims you’d like us to investigate, feel free to reach out to us at factcheck@wbtv.com.
—> State releases names of 104 Helene victims in North Carolina for 1st time: See list here
Copyright 2025 WBTV. All rights reserved.
North Carolina
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