Unemployment rates (not seasonally adjusted) decreased in all 100 of North Carolina’s counties in September. Scotland County had the highest unemployment rate at 7.8 percent while Orange County had the lowest at 2.8 percent.
A year ago, would you have correctly guessed that meetings of local school boards would be among the most politically charged events of 2021, and that school-board races would be among the most contested of the next election cycle? If so, more power to you. I would have gotten those questions wrong.
Children ages 5 to 11 can now receive a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine. The Food and Drug Administration has authorized a lower dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children in this age group, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend all children 5–11 get the vaccine to protect against serious illness and help keep them healthy.
As the North Carolina General Assembly plans for the first votes on new legislative and congressional district maps this week, interest groups have already filed lawsuits to block them. The maps are still in development with several map proposals having been presented to the public in recent hearings.
Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, has vetoed a bill to limit his powers as a governor, as well as the power of his successors. House Bill 264, Emergency Powers Accountability Act, would have required that the governor receive concurrence from the 10-member elected Council of State for an emergency declaration of more than seven days, and legislative approval for it to extend beyond 45 days.
North Carolina will celebrate “Employ A Veteran Week,” Nov. 8-12, with a variety of events to help connect veterans to jobs and other services, Governor Roy Cooper announced today.
“North Carolina is emerging from a global pandemic with lives saved and a strong economy because of effective statewide measures to protect public health under the Emergency Management Act. Critical decisions about stopping deadly diseases, or responding to any other emergency, should stay with experts in public health and safety, not a committee of partisan politicians.”
As they witness rapidly escalating costs for building, buying, and maintaining homes, the vast majority of North Carolinians clearly want their leaders to do something about affordable housing.
The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services released the North Carolina Violent Death Reporting System (NC-VDRS) Data Dashboard, an interactive online dashboard that provides aggregate information on violent deaths for all 100 counties in North Carolina. The NC-VDRS dashboard, funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was created to make data more accessible to public health partners to inform the development, implementation and evaluation of prevention efforts around violence and safety.