Less than a week after the Parkland shooting, Robinson made a gun rights’ speech before the Greensboro City Council that launched his political career. He was praised and scorned for the video, which has been viewed millions of times.
“What I want to know is, when are you all going to start standing up for the majority? And here is who the majority is. I’m the majority. I’m a law abiding citizen whose never shot anybody,” said Robinson said during the council meeting.
It's illegal for government employees to go on strike in North Carolina. And there's debate over whether calling out sick en masse constitutes a strike under state law. Now some Republican leaders are wondering if they need to be explicitly banned.
Recent sickouts by bus drivers and other public school system employees in Durham are the latest front in an increasing number of efforts by state and local government employees to push for better pay. And the effort is drawing the attention of state lawmakers, inviting discussion of whether to ban the protest tactic in the future.
Beyond shutting down public schools in Durham for at least four days this month so far, the sickouts have also highlighted key strategic differences between groups that advocate for public employees. It also places a spotlight on a national trend of labor actions across sectors — 2023 saw strikes, slowdowns or other tactics from national unions representing actors, airline pilots and autoworkers, as well as workers in cities from Durham to Charlotte to Los Angeles. Just last week, drivers for Uber and Lyft went on strike across the country on Valentine’s Day.
For years, North Carolina has been ranked as one of the lowest states for education funding — a situation that has had a ripple effect for mental health support for students.
In January, the Education Law Center ranked North Carolina at No. 48 out of 51 states (including Washington, D.C.) for education funding. Heather Koons, the communications director for Public Schools First NC, said when schools can’t afford the appropriate number of specialized support staff, students don’t get the mental and behavioral health support that they need.
In 1994, a set of students, parents and school districts in five counties filed theLeandro v. State of North Carolina landmark case. In 1997, the N.C. Supreme Court decided that the state had a constitutional obligation to provide a sound, basic education for all students. That decision led to a 30-year-long battle for public schools to receive more funding from the North Carolina legislature.
Following the Leandro decision, no significant changes have been made to fully fund the Leandro plan, despite multiple court cases affirming that the legislature has an obligation to do so — most recently in November 2022. During the 2022-23 fiscal year, North Carolina finished with a more than $3 billion surplus, and theeducation budget fell $443 million short of fully funding the Leandro Plan for the year.
WRAL News tested tap water across the region and found forever chemicals in most of North Carolina's drinking water.
WRAL News tested water from homes across North Carolina for forever chemicals, also known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). They're called forever chemicals because of how long PFAS can persist in the environment and the human body.
Studies have linked some PFAS to adverse health effects, including cancer. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said exposure to very low levels of some forever chemicals can be harmful. The EPA has proposed limits on six types of PFAS, but there are no current regulations for utilities.
Chemours, the company responsible for polluting the drinking water of 800,000 people in the Lower Cape Fear River Basin with GenX, is asking a court to negate the EPA’s health advisory for the toxic chemical.
The Third Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Philadelphia, heard arguments last week. There is not a timetable for a decision.
A ruling for Chemours could save the company hundreds of millions of dollars because it would not have to provide alternate water supplies to households whose private wells contain GenX between10 parts per trillion and 140 ppt.
Multiple independent scientific studies have shown GenX can harm the liver, kidneys, immune and reproductive systems, and has an association with cancer. However, Chemours has long denied that GenX is harmful or toxic, based on internal studies, or those the company has paid for.
Edwards posted the photo on X, writing no words with it.
The problem, as others were quick to point out, is that the image was from when Trump was still in office and therefore has nothing to do with the current U.S. president.
"This is a photo from 2018 when Donald Trump was president," said Josh Schwerin, the communications director for Priorities USA.
Edwards responded to Schwerin, not acknowledging that he was in the wrong. Instead, he posted another purported border photo and wrote, "Satisfied?"
"I'm just here waiting on Community Notes to correct another Republican's lies," one X user wrote.
"From 2018. Guess who was president then? Nice try," another internet user wrote.
National security lawyer Bradley P. Moss also joined in the conversation, saying, "Impressive given that photo is from 2018."
Early in-person voting for the March 5 primary kicked off Thursday morning across North Carolina.
State Board of Elections Executive Director Karen Brinson Bell said more than 340 early voting sites are open statewide for those wishing to cast their ballot ahead of next month’s primary election. Early voting is popular for busy North Carolinians. In the 2022 primary, nearly 4-of-10 voters (39%) opted to voted early and in-person.
The first day and the last couple of days of early voting are the busiest, so election officials remind voters to plan ahead and be patient if there is a short wait. You can also find the location in your county by using the Early Voting Sites search tool. Sample ballots for all eligible voters are also available through the voter search tool on the state board’s website.
Election officials offered additional guidance to reporters Thursday in hopes of making the process as smooth as possible in all 100 counties. SEE NEW VOTING REQUIREMENTS in the story.
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