Weekend reads: New session, new poll, recordkeeping discrepancies, and Duke’s new carbon plan
Apr 28, 2024 | 9:16 am ET
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North Carolina State Capitol Photo: Clayton Henkel
NC General Assembly’s “short session” convenes
By Staff
The North Carolina General Assembly returns to Raleigh today for the 2024 “short session” — a session that figures to feature debates over familiar topics like public and higher education and funding for state agencies, as well as new proposals to expand legalized gambling and to further restrict access to certain substances linked to drug abuse.
Big ticket budget items
As NC Newsline reported last week, the session will convene at a time in which the state faces big challenges in meeting its obligations and commitments for providing core public services. [Read more...]
Bonus read: NC Gov. Cooper presents his budget as the legislative “short session” begins
New poll shows AG Josh Stein widening gap over Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson in NC’s governor’s race
With six and a half months before Election Day, the latest Meredith College poll shows Democrat Josh Stein gaining a bit more ground over Republican Mark Robinson in North Carolina’s gubernatorial contest. Stein now leads Robinson 45%-36% — up from a five percentage point advantage in February. [Read more…]
DHHS cites nonprofit operated by Lt. Governor’s wife for recordkeeping discrepancies
By Ahmed Jallow
Documents obtained by Newsline show that Balanced Nutrition was cited for failing to properly track subsidized meals provided to childcare centers
Balanced Nutrition, Inc., a nonprofit operated by Yolanda Hill, the wife of Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, failed to properly track the number of subsidized meals it provided to its participating childcare centers, according to a 2023 review by the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services and obtained by Newsline.
Earlier this month Hill informed clients that she was shutting down her nonprofit because of her husband’s campaign for governor, as reported by The Assembly, saying the demands of the campaign have become impossible for her to continue operating the nonprofit.[Read more...]
Duke Energy feeling the heat as public hearings continue this week on carbon plan
By Lisa Sorg
While monthly average carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere reached a record high of 425.4 parts per million last month, Duke Energy’s proposed carbon plan could delay legally required greenhouse gas reductions, rely on the expansion of natural gas, and burden low-income households with higher monthly energy bills — as much as 73%. [Read more…]
NC meets goal for zero-emissions vehicle registrations, falls short on energy usage in buildings
By Lisa Sorg
In the time it takes to bake a potato in an oven — about an hour — the state of North Carolina spends $40,000 on energy costs for all of its 4,400 buildings. When the clock strikes midnight, the state will have run a $960,000 tab.
Now repeat those totals. Every day.[Read more…]
After complaint filed with HUD, owners of heirs’ property prevail in dispute with ReBuild NC
By Lisa Sorg and Greg Childress
ReBuild NC erroneously disqualified 74 hurricane survivors from its Homeowner Recovery Program because they could not prove they owned a share of heirs’ property, but those applicants are now eligible for assistance under an agreement announced April 25.
Legal Aid of North Carolina, which represented a homeowner whose application had been rejected, reached a conciliation and voluntary compliance agreement with the N.C. Office of Recovery and Resiliency, also known as ReBuild NC. The agreement includes new rules to address challenges owners of heirs’ property face when applying for recovery assistance.[Read more...]
Anti-poverty advocates call on lawmakers to change course during legislative short session
On Wednesday, nearly 200 supporters of the North Carolina Poor People’s Campaign traveled to Raleigh to remind lawmakers returning for the legislative short session that low-income voters make up more than 41% of the state’s electorate.
If low-income eligible voters voted at the same rate as higher-income voters, campaign leaders warned, they could control the outcome of elections.[Read more.…]
Three thousand people were released from NC prisons to homelessness last year
By Kelan Lyons
About one in six people released from North Carolina prisons in 2023 were homeless, according to figures provided to NC Newsline — a rate the state hopes to cut in half by 2030.
That goal is one part of an executive order issued by Gov. Roy Cooper in January to improve reentry supports for people getting out of prison. In issuing that mandate, Cooper set a series of ambitious goals, enrolling North Carolina in a national initiative known as Reentry 2030.[Read more...]
Gun rights group calls on lawmakers to further loosen state firearm regulation
Members of Grass Roots North Carolina will be lobbying lawmakers on the opening day to pass “constitutional carry” for North Carolina. The gun rights group has been working behind the scenes, collecting signatures and on Wednesday will deliver a hand truck with thousands of petitions to Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger urging him to support a proposal to enshrine the freedom to carry a concealed firearm without a permit.
In the last legislative session, lawmakers repealed North Carolina’s longstanding pistol purchase permit requirement and were quick to override Governor’s Roy Cooper’s veto of Senate Bill 41.[Read more…]
Bonus read: Advocates rally for gun safety measures at the General Assembly
When conservatives balk at scrutinizing public spending (commentary)
Robinson nonprofit, crisis pregnancy centers resist oversight of how state dollars were spent
For many years, it’s been a mantra on the political right that state government should be “run like a business” – a business that’s lean and efficient, and in which any hint of waste and self-dealing must be aggressively investigated and rooted out.
Several years back, a Raleigh conservative think tank railed repeatedly against the state’s K-12 school lunch program on the grounds some children were receiving free or reduced-price school meals even though their parents had – perish the thought – managed to bump their household incomes above the rather pathetic eligibility threshold.[Read more…]
Raleigh, NC
