North Carolina
Weekend reads: Homeowners fight a major rate hike, water woes, and hope for Black mothers, babies | NC Newsline
Homeowners push back against proposed 42% insurance rate increase
By Greg Childress
Dozens of North Carolinians attended a public comment session Monday to speak against a North Carolina Rate Bureau request to increase homeowner insurance rates by an average of 42%.
The Rate Bureau, which represents companies that write insurance policies, made the request to the North Carolina Department of Insurance earlier this month, citing a higher cost of doing business due to climate change, which produces more powerful hurricanes and more severe flooding.[Read more...]
Associate dean, department head resigns in protest of program eliminations at UNCG
By Joe Killian
An associate dean and department head at UNC Greensboro resigned Wednesday in protest of the process used to identify programs that may be cut on the campus, pointing to a lack of transparency and “egregious behavior from senior administration,” according to a resignation letter obtained by Newsline.
Charles Bolton, associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and interim head of the university’s anthropology department, tendered his resignation in a scathing letter to the college’s dean, John Kiss. Programs in Bolton’s own department were on a list of 19 potential eliminations the university released last week. That list, and the process university administrators used to create it, has been hotly debated since.[ Read more…]
Burlington finds high levels of 1,4-Dioxane in wastewater, which is headed downstream; Apollo Chemical again named as source
By Lisa Sorg
Wastewater leaving a City of Burlington treatment plant contained 545 parts per billion of a likely carcinogen 1,4-Dioxane, a level is more than 1,500 times the target value set by the state for surface water. The slug of the compound is headed downstream in the Haw River to Pittsboro and other communities. [Read more...]
North Carolina faces a child care cliff. Will state lawmakers step up as federal support ends?
By Clayton Henkel
It may feel like a lifetime ago, but Ariel Ford remembers fondly when she worked as a preschool teacher with a room full of rambunctious and creative two-year-olds.
“It is my favorite job I have ever had by far.”
Ford, who now serves as the Director of the Division of Child Development and Early Education for the NC Department of Health and Human Services, said there was only one problem with the best job ever — she couldn’t make ends meet even working full-time. [ Read more…]
A Raleigh-based health center works to reduce rates of Black maternal and infant deaths
By Lynn Bonner
A Raleigh-based community health center that low-income and uninsured people have relied on for decades is opening an OBGYN clinic with the intention of addressing, head-on, the factors that have Black mothers and babies dying at higher rates than white mothers and infants.
Services for expectant parents at Advance Community Health will feature a type of group prenatal care that’s been credited with reducing rates of preterm births. The center is also starting a parenting program for fathers. [ Read more…]
Proposed homeowners’ insurance hike could send 75-year-old Swansboro man back to work
By Greg Childress
Seventy-five year-old Swansboro resident Boyd Pate is reluctantly thinking about returning to work to help make ends meet.
The retired Durham firefighter who moved to the coast decades ago to enjoy his twin passions — boating and fishing — said expenses are beginning to outpace the modest increases in his state pension and Social Security checks. [ Read more…]
Grasping at straws: Anti-Trump GOP’ers are failing to acknowledge the choice that confronts them (commentary)
By Rob Schofield
Some county boards of election violated “the text and spirit” of the voter ID law when they baselessly questioned the reasons voters didn’t have photo identification last November, three voting rights groups told the State Board of Election in a letter.
The Southern Coalition for Social Justice, Common Cause North Carolina, and Democracy North Carolina want the State Board of Elections to make it clear what local boards can and cannot do when they’re considering accepting ballots from people who vote without photo ID. [Read more.…]
UNC System, community colleges offer scholarships to families making less than $80,000
By Joe Killian
North Carolina students whose families make $80,000 or less are eligible for a minimum $5,000 scholarship at any of the UNC System’s 16 universities, the system office announced this week. Families with greater financial need could see more aid.
The Next NC Scholarship, a combination of federal Pell grants and state funded financial aid, is open to qualifying families who fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) by June 1.
Students and their families who need help with the application can get it through dozens of institutions, public and private, on FASFA Day, January 27. [Read more...]
NC utilities to receive $47 million to keep toxic lead out of drinking water
By Lisa Sorg
Under EPA’s proposed rule, all lead-contaminated service lines would be replaced within 10 years
Beneath the yards of an untold number of homes in North Carolina lay water lines installed 100 years ago, when Calvin Coolidge was president. Some of these service lines, which send drinking water from the main pipes to the houses, contain lead, a neurotoxin.
When the drinking water passes through the contaminated line, it could carry the lead into the home. From there, the contaminated water flows through the tap into the glass of sweet tea, bottle of baby formula, and kettle of homemade soup. [Read more…]
Federal judge blocks part of Republicans’ new election law
By Kelan Lyons
A federal judge issued a ruling over the weekend blocking part of an elections law passed by Republicans last year that required the ballots of voters who register and vote during early voting to be thrown out if mail meant to verify their addresses could not be delivered.
That policy change was part of a wide-ranging elections bill Republicans passed last year over Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto. This is one of several lawsuits dealing with that new law that are wending through the courts; voting rights advocates also contend it discriminates against young people, and others claim it makes it harder for other state residents to register to vote or have their ballot count. [ Read more…]
Longtime New Bern community leader Linda J. Staunch has received North Carolina’s highest civilian honor, the Order of the Long Leaf Pine.
Staunch was surprised with the award during the North Carolina Symphony’s Concert in Your Community Patriotic Pops event celebrating America 250 in New Bern. Former Gov. Beverly Perdue presented the award.
The Order of the Long Leaf Pine recognizes individuals who have demonstrated extraordinary service and dedication to the state of North Carolina, according to a release.
According to the North Carolina Symphony, Staunch has been a trustee of the North Carolina Symphony Society since 2006 and served as the founding president of the Symphony’s Craven County Chapter.
In many respects, she is the face of the North Carolina Symphony in New Bern and across the region,” said Sandi Macdonald, president and CEO of the North Carolina Symphony. “The Symphony’s thriving presence in New Bern and throughout Craven and Jones counties would not exist without Mrs. Staunch’s vision and leadership.
Beyond her work in the arts, Staunch has been recognized for decades of service in education, community development, church leadership and civic organizations throughout eastern North Carolina.
An ambassador for the city, Linda is known for her tireless energy and integrity, making New Bern and Craven County a better place to live and work,” said Jeff Minges, president and CEO of Minges Bottling Group.
Staunch also played a key role in organizing New Bern’s 100th anniversary celebration of Pepsi-Cola in 1998 and has spent more than five decades serving First Presbyterian Church.
Linda Staunch is the very definition of an exemplary ambassador for the State of North Carolina,” said Rev. Anna Pinckney Straight, pastor of First Presbyterian Church.
She is widely regarded as the go-to person in New Bern — someone who brings people together, connects organizations, and gets things done,” Macdonald added.
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The award was presented during opening remarks before the concert, honoring Staunch’s lasting impact on New Bern, eastern North Carolina and the state of North Carolina.
ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — Some North Carolina lawmakers are pushing age restrictions on the sale of hemp consumables and kratom.
Senate Bill 59 would prohibit the sale of hemp-derived consumable products to anyone under the age of 21 in the state. It would also require the seller to verify a buyer’s age.
INSIDE NORTH CAROLINA’S CANNABIS ‘WILD WEST’: $4B MARKET, FEW RULES AND GROWING CONCERNS
The bill also makes it unlawful for anyone under the age of 21 to possess hemp-derived consumable products.
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BUNCOMBE COUNTY, N.C. (WLOS) — A North Carolina bill that would halt this year’s home reappraisals in Buncombe County has passed both chambers of the General Assembly and is headed to the governor for final action. The measure would also pause new property tax revaluations in several other counties.
Even if the governor vetoes the measure, political experts say supporters likely have enough votes to override that veto and enact Senate Bill 889, known as the Property Tax Reappraisal Moratorium. The bill would halt new property tax revaluations not only in Buncombe County but in several other counties across the state.
BUNCOMBE COUNTY SEES THOUSANDS OF PROPERTY TAX APPEALS AMID SHARP VALUE SURGE
The legislation comes after Buncombe County completed its latest property revaluation. The average Buncombe County home is now assessed at about $500,000 for tax purposes, up from an average assessed value of roughly $350,000 before the revaluation. The change translates to more tax collection for the county to run government and public services.
Republicans, who hold majorities in both chambers of the legislature, say SB 889 is intended to protect homeowners from rapidly increasing tax bills tied to rising property values.
“Clearly it’s a concern about local government spending,” said Chris McLaughlin, a faculty member at UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Government whose expertise includes local government tax and finance issues.
“Anything’s possible,” McLaughlin said of efforts to limit tax increases. “But I would then ask, how are we going to pay for the services we all expect and want, like fire protection and police and roads and parks?”
AFFORDABLE HOUSING INTEREST SURGES IN BUNCOMBE COUNTY, BUT LEADERS SAY CHALLENGES REMAIN
FILE – A home for sale in Buncombe County, North Carolina. (Photo: WLOS Staff)
The debate mirrors discussions taking place in states like Florida as homeowners grapple with rising housing costs and inflation.
“It is absolutely a national question,” said Chris Cooper, chair of the political science department at Western Carolina University.
“What the Republicans are arguing in the North Carolina General Assembly, the majority, are arguing is we’re in a time of high inflation, we’re in a time of people being pinched economically, therefore we want to make sure property taxes hold before the revaluation so they cannot get priced out of their homes,” Cooper said.
In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis has proposed changes aimed at significantly reducing homeowners’ property tax bills. Part of his argument is that local governments have nearly doubled their revenue collections over the past seven years, according to DeSantis.
Among DeSantis’ proposals is raising Florida’s homestead tax exemption to $250,000. Under that plan, local and state governments would not collect property taxes on the first $250,000 of a home’s assessed value.
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