AN ACT TO CHANGE THE ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR THE OPPORTUNITY SCHOLARSHIP GRANT FUND PROGRAM TO ALLOW ANY STUDENT ELIGIBLE TO ATTEND A NORTH CAROLINA PUBLIC SCHOOL TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR A SCHOLARSHIP GRANT AND TO APPROPRIATE FUNDS FOR THE EXPANSION OF THE PROGRAM.
This is actually Stage 3 of the scheme. Stage 1 was getting the voucher program passed by focusing on poor kids, Stage 2 was adding an additional $10 Million per year even though it was not needed, and now Stage 3 will funnel tax revenues to rich families, so they can segregate their little darlings in posh corporate creches. And you can expect Dan Forest to be leg-humping this bill very soon:
PHASE 1 OF GOVERNOR COOPER'S REOPEN PLAN BEGINS FRIDAY: We’ll still have a stay-at-home order in Phase 1, but it’ll be modified to ease us into reopening. Prior to 5 p.m. on May 8, people were only supposed to venture out for essential tasks, such as grocery shopping and health care. During Phase 1, more businesses can open and people are allowed to venture out for more reasons. Businesses that do open have to implement social-distancing and cleaning rules, just like those currently in place at grocery and hardware stores. State parks can also open, but with limits on the number of people who can gather there. Businesses will still be encouraged to continue teleworking (working from home) when possible. We will live in Phase 1 for two weeks, as long as trends continue to move in the right direction. Even during Phase 1, public schools and non-essential businesses such as gyms and salons remain closed, but other activities will be allowed. If all goes well during Phase 1, Cooper suggested that Phase 2 can begin on May 22. https://www.newsobserver.com/news/coronavirus/article242508921.html
LAWSUIT FILED TO MAKE NC'S MAIL-IN VOTING LESS COMPLICATED: A group of voters backed by Democratic legal groups sued North Carolina on Monday seeking to loosen rules around absentee mail-in ballots amid predictions that the coronavirus pandemic will make voting by mail a widespread practice. They want the state to provide prepaid postage on all absentee ballots, change a requirement for two witnesses to sign a ballot, extend the deadline for receipt of ballots until nine days after Election Day and give voters a chance to fix signature discrepancies before election officials reject those ballots. North Carolina’s state board of elections endorsed the first two provisions in a proposed list of election changes released in March. The new lawsuit was filed in Wake County Superior Court with support from the Right to Vote Foundation and the National Redistricting Foundation, which is affiliated with the National Democratic Redistricting Committee led by former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/election/article242482266.html
This past weekend was supposed to be the wedding day for my daughter and her fiance. They're a very sweet couple who met each other two years ago playing Pokemon Go in downtown Chapel Hill, currently living in Atlanta. The wedding has been postponed to a date uncertain. No one knows when or if a good-sized wedding (around a hundred people) might be possible. Everything around the event is up in the air.
Insert an angry, frustrated observation in this space:
The chamber opposed the proposal to expand the state’s maximum unemployment benefits by $50 a week, Starling said.
Starling said the way that proposal had been written, it wasn’t clear if the extra money would go to everyone receiving unemployment, or only people receiving the maximum amount. And without a financial estimate of how much it would cost, he said, many businesses were wary of potentially having to pay more into the unemployment system in the future.
Yeah, nevermind the fact that extra $50 would be injected directly into the economy, at a time when that economy needs it desperately. Oh no, the possibility businesses might have to contribute an extra few dollars into the unemployment insurance fund sometime down the road is intolerable. But what is tolerable to the Chamber are the loans the government is giving them:
AVERY IS THE LAST REMAINING NC COUNTY WITH NO COVID 19 CASES: As state officials consider relaxing social restrictions by the end of the week, the coronavirus has now been recorded in all but one of North Carolina’s 100 counties. The state’s Department of Health and Human Services reported the first case in Yancey County, located on the western side of the state along the Tennessee border. That leaves only Avery County, another sparsely populated county in western North Carolina, as the lone county not to record a COVID-19 case. The state has now recorded 11,664 cases statewide in 99 counties. That’s a relatively small increase of 155 cases over Saturday’s updated total from DHHS. The state recorded two new coronavirus-related deaths Sunday morning, increasing that total to 422. The number of hospitalized patients dipped to 475, the first time that total has been below 500 since Tuesday. https://www.newsobserver.com/news/coronavirus/article242468216.html
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