North Carolina
North Carolina state government passes $30 billion budget for fiscal year
Amid bipartisan tensions, the Republican-controlled North Carolina state government passed a new $30 billion budget for the 2023-24 fiscal year.
The 2022-23 budget expired on June 30, and the legislature was tasked with designing a new one. The current fiscal year began July 1, but the new budget, which provides the primary source of funding for several of the state government’s chief functions, including education, healthcare and infrastructure, wasn’t passed until Sept. 22 — about three months later.
Democratic Governor Roy Cooper announced that he will allow the new budget to become law without his signature, but that he considers the new budget to be “a bad budget that seriously shortchanges our schools, prioritizes power grabs, keeps shady backroom deals secret and blatantly violates the Constitution,” according to a statement he released Sept. 22.
The late budget delayed the enactment of a landmark bill passed in March, which expanded Medicaid to over 600,000 North Carolinians. The implementation of this bill was dependent on the passing of the new budget and therefore stagnant during the last three months when the old budget was in place.
Cooper will allow the new budget to pass, despite his disapproval, primarily because of this Medicaid expansion.
“Health insurance for 600,000 more North Carolinians that brings more mental health and substance use disorder treatment, help for desperate rural hospitals and billions of dollars into our economy is a life-saving, monumental decision for our state,” Cooper wrote in his statement. “I will not allow people who are crying for help to wait any longer.”
Medicaid expansion is the one issue on which the new budget accurately reflects the consensus of North Carolinians, according to Mac McCorkle, professor of the practice in the Sanford School of Public Policy.
State Democrats stand with Governor Cooper in opposing several aspects of the new budget. Their criticisms are mainly concerned with the amount of money allocated towards private school vouchers.
The budget designates $250 million for the Opportunity Scholarship Grant Reserve, a scholarship that sends children to private schools who otherwise wouldn’t have the means to do so. However, this year’s budget has removed a clause from the scholarship that required recipients to have previously attended public school and come from a low-income family. Now, anyone can qualify for the scholarship, and the wealthiest recipients will receive “awards equal to 45% of what the poorest would receive.”
Based on similar programs in other states, the State Department of Public Instruction predicts that the majority of these vouchers will now go to students who are already attending private schools.
The absence of previous requirements will likely also result in more white students receiving the voucher, despite students of color being a majority in public schools in North Carolina.
Public schools will now potentially have to pay “$200 million in state funding from lost student enrollment.”
“I do not think that if you tapped a majority of North Carolinians they would be comfortable with how expansive the voucher program is and what it can do to the public schools,” McCorkle said.
The budget allocates about $480 million towards teachers’ salaries and estimates an average two-year pay raise of 7% across the state.
Another point of contention is that the budget aims to significantly cut individual income taxes from 4.75% to 3.99% by 2026.
The budget also attempts to give more power to the general assembly and less power to the governor. It grants the legislature more authority to elect members to the Judicial Standards Commission and strips the governor of appointments to the State Board of Community Colleges.
“The Republicans really seem to be grabbing for power,” according to McCorkle, but Medicaid is the “silver lining” in which Democrats and Republicans were able to find consensus.
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ASHEBORO, N.C. (WTVD) — The North Carolina Zoo is celebrating 50 years.
Located in Asheboro, the zoo houses about 1,700 animals and over 250 species primarily from Africa and North America.
On social media, NC Zoo wrote Friday:
“Throughout our history, we’ve been home to a diverse array of remarkable animals, dedicated keepers, and passionate employees who work tirelessly behind the scenes. Join us in honoring this milestone by visiting the Zoo in 2024!”
The Zoo also mentioned the Zoo’s first animals, which were two Galapagos tortoises named Tort and Retort.
The post said in part: “These two tortoises symbolize the early days of the North Carolina Zoo and are cherished deeply in our hearts.”
The North Carolina Zoo is one of two state-supported zoos in the country. The other is the Minnesota Zoo.
Copyright © 2024 WTVD-TV. All Rights Reserved.
North Carolina
NC has some of the most dangerous roads in the US: See how Wilmington-area counties rank
With a recent study revealing North Carolina as one of the states with the riskiest roads to travel, some may wonder how safe the roads are here in the Cape Fear region.
MarketWatch Guides, a site that provides “reviews of consumer products and services to help readers make educated purchasing decisions,” focuses in part on car insurance comparisons, vehicle safety and more.
A recent study by the site analyzed factors including annual miles driven per 100,000 system miles, percentage of rough roads and fatal injuries per 100,000 licensed drivers. States were given a rating out of 10 points, with 10 being the most dangerous.
More: Distracted driving in Wilmington: How big of a problem is it?
North Carolina’s ranking among the most dangerous
According to the study, the states with the most dangerous drivers based on the factors studied are:
- Louisiana – 7.55/10
- California – 7.21/10
- New Mexico – 6.74/10
- Hawaii – 6.73/10
- Delaware – 6.67/10
- New Jersey – 6.53/10
- Mississippi – 6.47/10
- North Carolina – 6.39/10
- Massachusetts – 6.33/10
- Maryland and Texas – 6.26/10
According to the study, North Carolina had 32.5 fatal injuries per 100,000 licensed drivers, but only 2.1% of rough roads, which was the lowest percentage out of the other ranked states.
For a more localized perspective, the North Carolina Department of Transportation releases annual traffic crash facts data. The most recent 2022 report includes a ranking of counties based on several factors, including reported crashes, crash severity, crash rates based on population, registered vehicles and estimated vehicle miles traveled.
The most dangerous county for drivers, ranked at No. 1 for the past five years, was Robeson County. The county had 60 fatal crashes in 2022 with 1,136 non-fatal injury crashes. The rest of the total 4,056 crashes were property-damage-only. The county with the best ranking was Hyde County, coming in at No. 100. The county had one fatal crash in 2022 and 10 non-fatal injury crashes. The county had a total of 45 crashes, the rest of which were property damage only.
More: MyReporter: Which intersections see the most red-light camera violations in Wilmington?
Here’s where the Cape Fear region counties ranked.
Brunswick County
Ranked No. 76 in 2022, Brunswick County had 25 fatal crashes and 715 non-fatal injury crashes. The total crashes for that year were 3,146. The remainder of the crashes were property damage only.
New Hanover County
Ranked No. 58, New Hanover had 19 fatal crashes and 1,313 non-fatal injury crashes, both of which went down from 2021. The total crashes in New Hanover were 5,617. The remainder of the crashes were property damage only.
Pender County
Ranked No. 47, Pender County had the worst ranking despite having the lowest number of crashes. The county had 12 fatal crashes and 374 non-fatal injury crashes, and a total of 1,156 crashes. The rest of the crashes were property damage only.
Iris Seaton, USA Today Network, contributed to this report.
Tropical Storm Debby already has parts of Florida under tropical storm warnings. The Florida Big Bend is currently under a Hurricane Warning. Debby is forecast to briefly strengthen into a category 1 hurricane as it moves over the Gulf of Mexico where water temperatures are near 90 degrees.
As it continues its path over land it is expected to dial back to tropical storm strength as it reaches the Carolinas mid to late next week. Moderate rainfall is possible for northeast North Carolina and southern Virginia by the end of the week.
Higher amounts of rain are possible for southernmost portions of the Outer Banks but generally models show 2-4 inches for northeast North Carolina and 1-2 inches for southern Virginia through Thursday.
Stay with News 3’s First Warning Weather Team for the latest updates as the storm develops.
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